The Iliad of Homer
Page 33
“Hektor, my own heart and my proud spirit arouse me
320 to go close to the swift-running ships and to learn about them.
Come then, hold up your scepter before me, and swear upon it
that you will give me the horses, and the chariot made bright
with bronze, that carry the blameless son of Peleus. I shall not
be a vain spy for you, nor less than your expectation,
325 for I shall go straight on through their army, until I come to
the ship of Agamemnon, where their greatest men must be gathered
to deliberate the question of running away or of fighting.”
He spoke, and Hektor took the staff in his hand, and swore to him:
“Let Zeus, loud-thundering lord of Hera, now be my witness
330 himself, that no other man of the Trojans shall mount these horses,
since I say they shall be utterly yours, and your glory.”
He spoke, and swore to an empty oath, and stirred the man onward.
And at once Dolon cast across his shoulders the bent bow.
He put on about him the pelt of a gray wolf, and on his head set
335 a cap of marten’s hide, and took up a sharp throwing spear
and went on his way toward the ships from his own camp, nor was he ever
to come back again from the ships, and carry his word to Hektor.
Now when he had left behind the throng of men and of horses
he went on his way, eagerly, but illustrious Odysseus
340 was aware of him coming and spoke to Diomedes:
“This is some man, Diomedes, on his way from the army.
I do not know whether he comes to spy on our vessels
or to strip some one of the perished corpses, but we must let him
first go on past us a little way in the open
345 and afterward we will make a rush and fasten upon him
suddenly. But if in the speed of his feet he eludes us
then keep him crowded upon the ships, and away from the army
always, feinting with the spear, nor let him escape to the city.”
So they spoke, and bent aside from their way, through the corpses,
350 while he in the thoughtlessness of his heart ran swiftly by them.
But when he was gone from them as far as the range of a plough yoke
of mules, since these are better beasts than oxen for dragging
the wrought ploughshare through the depth of the harvest land, these two
ran after him, and he heard the thudding of their feet and stopped still.
355 He thought in his heart these would be friends from among the Trojans
to turn him back, and that Hektor had sped them to summon him again.
But when they got to a spear’s throw from him, or less even,
he saw that these were enemy men, and moved his knees rapidly
to run away, and these set out in rapid chase of him.
360 And, as when two rip-fanged hounds have sighted a wild beast,
a young deer, or a hare, and go after it, eagerly always
through the spaces of the woods, and the chase runs crying before them,
so the son of Tydeus, and Odysseus, sacker of cities,
kept always hard on his heels and cut him off from his people.
365 But when he was on the point of reaching the Achaian pickets,
as he fled toward the vessels, then Athene put great power
in Tydeus’ son, so that no other bronze-armored Achaian
might win the glory of striking him down, and he come in second.
Powerful Diomedes threatening with the spear spoke to him:
370 “Either wait, or my spear will catch you. I think that you will not
thus get clear from my hands for long, and sudden destruction.”
He spoke, and let fly with his spear, but missed, on purpose,
his man, as the point of the polished spear went over his right shoulder
and stuck fast in the earth. And Dolon stood still in terror
375 gibbering, as through his mouth came the sound of his teeth’s chatter
in green fear; and these two, breathing hard, came up to him
and caught him by the hands, and he broke into tears and spoke to them:
“Take me alive, and I will pay my ransom: in my house
there is bronze, and gold, and difficultly wrought iron,
380 and my father would make you glad with abundant ransom
were he to hear that I am alive by the ships of the Achaians.”
Then resourceful Odysseus spoke in turn, and answered him:
“Do not fear, and let no thought of death be upon you.
But come, tell me this thing and recite it to me accurately:
385 where is it that you walk alone to the ships from the army
through the darkness of night when other mortals are sleeping?
Is it to strip some one of the perished corpses, or is it
that Hektor sent you out to spy with care upon each thing
beside our hollow ships? Or did your own spirit drive you?”
390 Then Dolon answered him, but his legs were shaking beneath him:
“Hektor has led my mind astray with many deceptions.
He promised me the single-foot horses of proud Achilleus,
Peleus’ son, and the chariot bright with bronze, for my gift,
and gave me an order, to go through the running black night,
395 and get close to the enemy men, and find out for him
whether the swift ships are guarded, as they were before this,
or whether now the Achaians who are broken under our hands
are planning flight among themselves, and no longer are willing
to guard them by night, now that stark weariness has broken them.”
400 Then Odysseus the resourceful smiled and spoke to him:
“Surely now, these were mighty gifts that your heart longed after,
the horses of valiant Aiakides. They are difficult horses
for mortal men to manage, or even to ride behind them
for all except Achilleus, who was born of an immortal mother.
405 But come, tell me this thing and recite it to me accurately.
Where did you leave Hektor, the people’s shepherd, when you came here?
Where is his gear of war lying? Where are his horses?
How are the rest of the Trojans disposed, the guards and the sleepers?
What do they deliberate among themselves? Do they purpose
410 to stay where they are, close to the ships? Or else to withdraw back
into the city, now that they have beaten the Achaians?”
Then in turn Dolon the son of Eumedes spoke to him:
“See, I will accurately recite all these things to you.
Hektor is now among those who are the men of counsel
415 and they hold their deliberations by the barrow of godlike Ilos
apart from the confusion. But those guards that you ask of, hero—there
is no detail that protects the army and guards it.
As for the watchfire hearths of the Trojans, those who must do it
keep awake by the fires and pass on the picket duty
420 to each other, but their far-assembled companions in battle
are sleeping, and pass on to the Trojans the duty of watching,
since their own children do not lie nearby, nor their women.”
Then resourceful Odysseus spoke in turn, and answered him:
“How, then, are these sleeping? And are they mixed with the Trojans,
425 breakers of horses, or apart? Tell me, so I may be clear.”
Then in turn Dolon the son of Eumedes answered him:
“See, I will accurately recite all these things to you.
Next the sea are the Karians, and Paionians with their curved bows,
the Leleges and Kaukonia
ns and the brilliant Pelasgians.
430 By Thymbre are stationed the Lykians and the proud Mysians
with the Phrygians who fight from horses, and Maionians, lords of chariots.
But why do you question me on all this, each thing in detail?
For if you are minded to get among the mass of the Trojans,
here are the Thracians, new come, separate, beyond all others
435 in place, and among them Rhesos their king, the son of Eïoneus.
And his are the finest horses I ever saw, and the biggest;
they are whiter than snow, and their speed of foot is the winds’ speed;
his chariot is fairly ornate with gold and with silver,
and the armor is golden and gigantic, a wonder to look on,
440 that he brought here with him. It is not like armor for mortal
men to carry, but for the immortal gods. And therefore
take me with you to some place by the fast-running vessels,
or else tie me fast here in a pitiless bond, and leave me,
until you can make your venture, and try out the truth of my story,
445 whether I have told you this fairly, or whether I have not.”
But powerful Diomedes looked darkly at him and spoke then:
“Do not, Dolon, have in your mind any thought of escape
now you have got in our hands, though you brought us an excellent message.
For if we let you get away now, or set you free, later
450 you will come back again to the fast ships of the Achaians
either to spy on us once more, or to fight strongly with us.
But if, beaten down under my hands, you lose your life now,
then you will nevermore be an affliction upon the Argives.”
He spoke, and the man was trying to reach his chin with his strong hand
455 and cling, and supplicate him, but he struck the middle of his neck
with a sweep of the sword, and slashed clean through both tendons,
and Dolon’s head still speaking dropped in the dust. They took off
his cap of marten’s hide from his head, and stripped off also
the wolf’s pelt, and the back-strung bow, and the long spear.
460 Brilliant Odysseus held these up to Athene the Spoiler
high in his hand, and spoke a word, and prayed to Athene:
“Hail, goddess. These are yours. To you first of all the immortals
on Olympos we will give your due share. Only guide us
once again to where the Thracians sleep, and their horses.”
465 So he spoke, and lifting the spoils high from him he placed them
upon a tamarisk bush, and piled a clear landmark beside them,
pulling reeds together and the long branches of tamarisk
that they might not miss them on their way back through the running black night.
These two went ahead on their way through war gear and dark blood
470 and came suddenly to the Thracians for whom they were looking.
These were asleep, worn out with weariness, and their armor
lay in splendor and good order on the ground beside them
in three rows, and beside each man stood his team of horses.
Rhesos slept in the center with his fast horses about him
475 tethered by the reins to the outer rail of the chariot. Odysseus
was the first to see him and pointed him out to Diomedes:
“Here is our man, see, Diomedes, and here are his horses,
those that Dolon, the man we killed, pointed out to us.
Come then, put forward your great strength. Here is no matter
480 for standing by idle in your weapons. Untie the horses;
or else let me look after them, while you kill the people.”
He spoke, and gray-eyed Athene breathed strength into Diomedes
and he began to kill them one after another. Grim sounds rose
from there as they were stricken with the sword, and the ground reddened with blood.
485 As a lion advancing on the helpless herds unshepherded
of sheep or goats pounces upon them with wicked intention,
so the son of Tydeus attacked the Thracian people
until he had killed twelve. Meanwhile resourceful Odysseus
as Tydeus’ son stood over each man with the sword, and struck him,
490 would catch each dead man by the foot from behind, and drag him
away, with this thought in his mind, that the bright-maned horses
might pass easily through and not be shaken within them
at stepping on dead men. These horses were not yet used to them.
But when the son of Tydeus came to the king, and this was
495 the thirteenth man, he stripped the sweetness of life from him
as he lay heavily breathing—since a bad dream stood by his head
in the night—no dream, but Oineus’ son, by device of Athene.
Meanwhile patient Odysseus was untying the single-foot horses,
and pulled them together with the reins, and drove them from the confusion
500 and whipped them with his bow, since he had not noticed nor taken
in his hands the glittering whip that was in the elaborate chariot.
He whistled to brilliant Diomedes as a signal to him.
But he waited, divided in his mind as to what he would best do,
whether to seize the chariot, wherein lay the bright armor,
505 and draw it away by the pole, or lift it and carry it off with him,
or strip the life from still more of the Thracians. Meanwhile
as he was pondering all this in his heart, Athene
came and stood beside him, and spoke to great Diomedes:
“Think now, son of great-hearted Tydeus, of getting back
510 to the hollow ships; else you might go back with men pursuing
if there should be some other god to waken the Trojans.”
So she spoke, and he knew the voice of the goddess speaking
and lightly mounted behind the horses. Odysseus whipped them
with his bow, and they ran for the rapid ships of the Achaians.
515 Neither did Apollo of the silver bow keep blind watch,
since he saw Athene attending the son of Tydeus. Angered
with her he plunged into the great multitude of the Trojans
and roused a man of counsel among the Thracians, Hippokoön
the lordly cousin of Rhesos; and he, starting out of his sleep,
520 when he saw the place left empty where the fast horses had been standing
and his men in the shambles of slaughter gasping their lives out,
he groaned, and called aloud by name his beloved companion.
And a clamor rose up from the Trojans and a vast turmoil
as they swept together in confusion and stared at the ghastly work done
525 by these two men, before they went back to their hollow vessels.
But when these had come back to the place where they killed Hektor’s scout,
Odysseus beloved of Zeus reined in his running horses
while Tydeus’ son leaping to the ground took the bloody war spoils
and handed them to Odysseus, and got up behind the horses.
530 Odysseus lashed them on, and they winged their way unreluctant
back to the hollow ships, since this was the way he desired it.
Nestor was the first to hear their thunder, and spoke forth:
“Friends, who are leaders of the Argives and keep their counsel,
shall I be wrong, or am I speaking the truth? My heart tells me.
535 The thunder is beating against my ears of fast-running horses.
Might this only be Odysseus and strong Diomedes
driving rapidly away from the Trojans their single-foot horses!
Yet terribly I fear in my heart that these bravest Achaians
540 Yet he had not spoken all his words, and they came. The two men
dismounted to the ground, and their companions rejoicing
congratulated them with clasped hands and with words of welcome.
First to question them was the Gerenian horseman, Nestor:
“Come, tell me, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians,
545 how did you win these horses? Did you go into the great company
of the Trojans, or did some god meet you and give them to you?
They shine, like the rays of the sun, terribly. Yet over and over
I encounter the Trojans, I say that I am not at all one
to hang back beside the ships, though I am an aged fighter.
550 Yet I have never seen horses like these, nor laid eyes upon them.
I think it must be some god who met you, and gave them to you.
Since both of you are beloved to Zeus who gathers the clouds, both
to the gray-eyed maiden of Zeus who wears the aegis, Athene.”
Then resourceful Odysseus spoke in turn and answered him:
555 “Son of Neleus, Nestor, great glory of the Achaians:
lightly a god, if he wished, could give us horses even better
than these, seeing that the gods are far stronger than we are.
These horses, aged sir, that you ask about are newcomers
from Thrace, and as for their master brave Diomedes killed him
560 and at his side killed twelve companions, all of them great men;
our thirteenth man killed was their scout, here by the vessels,
one whom Hektor and the rest of the haughty Trojans
had sent out between the lines to spy on our army.”
He spoke, and guided across the ditch the single-foot horses
565 laughing aloud, and the rest of the Achaians went with him
rejoicing. When they came to Diomedes’ strong-fashioned shelter
there they tied up the horses by the carefully cut reins
by the horse trough where already the horses of Diomedes
were standing, rapid of foot, and eating their welcome provender.
570 And by the stern of the ship Odysseus laid down the bloody
battle spoils of Dolon, to dedicate to Athene.
And the men themselves waded into the sea and washed off
the dense sweat from shin and shoulder and thigh. Afterward
when the surf of the sea had rinsed the dense-running sweat away
575 from all their skin, and the inward heart had been cooled to refreshment,