The inspired Prince Telemachus heard his pleas
and quickly said to his father close beside him,
"Stop, don’t cut him down! This one’s innocent.
So is the herald Medon – the one who always
tended me in the house when I was little –
spare him too."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 22, lines 374-379. With Odysseus killing everyone in his path, the bard Phemius has just begged him for mercy for himself and the herald Medon. Telemachus intervenes to prevent his father from slaughtering two innocent servants who have not been disloyal.