<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410291" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Iliad: Book 10</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole<br>night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he<br>could get no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning in<br>token of great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten the<br>ground, or again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws of hungry<br>war, even so did Agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh, for his soul<br>trembled within him. When he looked upon the plain of Troy he<br>marvelled at the many watchfires burning in front of Ilius, and at the<br>sound of pipes and flutes and of the hum of men, but when presently he<br>turned towards the ships and hosts of the Achaeans, he tore his hair<br>by handfuls before Jove on high, and groaned aloud for the very<br>disquietness of his soul. In the end he deemed it best to go at once<br>to Nestor son of Neleus, and see if between them they could find any<br>way of the Achaeans from destruction. He therefore rose, put on his<br>shirt, bound his sandals about his comely feet, flung the skin of a<br>huge tawny lion over his shoulders- a skin that reached his feet-<br>and took his spear in his hand.<br>Neither could Menelaus sleep, for he, too, boded ill for the Argives<br>who for his sake had sailed from far over the seas to fight the<br>Trojans. He covered his broad back with the skin of a spotted panther,<br>put a casque of bronze upon his head, and took his spear in his brawny<br>hand. Then he went to rouse his brother, who was by far the most<br>powerful of the Achaeans, and was honoured by the people as though<br>he were a god. He found him by the stern of his ship already putting<br>his goodly array about his shoulders, and right glad was he that his<br>brother had come.<br>Menelaus spoke first. "Why," said he, "my dear brother, are you thus<br>arming? Are you going to send any of our comrades to exploit the<br>Trojans? I greatly fear that no one will do you this service, and<br>spy upon the enemy alone in the dead of night. It will be a deed of<br>great daring."<br>And King Agamemnon answered, "Menelaus, we both of us need shrewd<br>counsel to save the Argives and our ships, for Jove has changed his<br>mind, and inclines towards Hector's sacrifices rather than ours. I<br>never saw nor heard tell of any man as having wrought such ruin in one<br>day as Hector has now wrought against the sons of the Achaeans- and<br>that too of his own unaided self, for he is son neither to god nor<br>goddess. The Argives will rue it long and deeply. Run, therefore, with<br>all speed by the line of the ships, and call Ajax and Idomeneus.<br>Meanwhile I will go to Nestor, and bid him rise and go about among the<br>companies of our sentinels to give them their instructions; they<br>will listen to him sooner than to any man, for his own son, and<br>Meriones brother in arms to Idomeneus, are captains over them. It<br>was to them more particularly that we gave this charge."<br>Menelaus replied, "How do I take your meaning? Am I to stay with<br>them and wait your coming, or shall I return here as soon as I have<br>given your orders?" "Wait," answered King Agamemnon, "for there are so<br>many paths about the camp that we might miss one another. Call every<br>man on your way, and bid him be stirring; name him by his lineage<br>and by his father's name, give each all titular observance, and<br>stand not too much upon your own dignity; we must take our full<br>share of toil, for at our birth Jove laid this heavy burden upon us."<br>With these instructions he sent his brother on his way, and went<br>on to Nestor shepherd of his people. He found him sleeping in his tent<br>hard by his own ship; his goodly armour lay beside him- his shield,<br>his two spears and his helmet; beside him also lay the gleaming girdle<br>with which the old man girded himself when he armed to lead his people<br>into battle- for his age stayed him not. He raised himself on his<br>elbow and looked up at Agamemnon. "Who is it," said he, "that goes<br>thus about the host and the ships alone and in the dead of night, when<br>men are sleeping? Are you looking for one of your mules or for some<br>comrade? Do not stand there and say nothing, but speak. What is your<br>business?"<br>And Agamemnon answered, "Nestor, son of Neleus, honour to the<br>Achaean name, it is I, Agamemnon son of Atreus, on whom Jove has<br>laid labour and sorrow so long as there is breath in my body and my<br>limbs carry me. I am thus abroad because sleep sits not upon my<br>eyelids, but my heart is big with war and with the jeopardy of the<br>Achaeans. I am in great fear for the Danaans. I am at sea, and without<br>sure counsel; my heart beats as though it would leap out of my body,<br>and my limbs fail me. If then you can do anything- for you too<br>cannot sleep- let us go the round of the watch, and see whether they<br>are drowsy with toil and sleeping to the neglect of their duty. The<br>enemy is encamped hard and we know not but he may attack us by night."<br>Nestor replied, "Most noble son of Atreus, king of men, Agamemnon,<br>Jove will not do all for Hector that Hector thinks he will; he will<br>have troubles yet in plenty if Achilles will lay aside his anger. I<br>will go with you, and we will rouse others, either the son of<br>Tydeus, or Ulysses, or fleet Ajax and the valiant son of Phyleus. Some<br>one had also better go and call Ajax and King Idomeneus, for their<br>ships are not near at hand but the farthest of all. I cannot however<br>refrain from blaming Menelaus, much as I love him and respect him- and<br>I will say so plainly, even at the risk of offending you- for sleeping<br>and leaving all this trouble to yourself. He ought to be going about<br>imploring aid from all the princes of the Achaeans, for we are in<br>extreme danger."<br>And Agamemnon answered, "Sir, you may sometimes blame him justly,<br>for he is often remiss and unwilling to exert himself- not indeed from<br>sloth, nor yet heedlessness, but because he looks to me and expects me<br>to take the lead. On this occasion, however, he was awake before I<br>was, and came to me of his own accord. I have already sent him to call<br>the very men whom you have named. And now let us be going. We shall<br>find them with the watch outside the gates, for it was there I said<br>that we would meet them."<br>"In that case," answered Nestor, "the Argives will not blame him nor<br>disobey his orders when he urges them to fight or gives them<br>instructions."<br>With this he put on his shirt, and bound his sandals about his<br>comely feet. He buckled on his purple coat, of two thicknesses, large,<br>and of a rough shaggy texture, grasped his redoubtable bronze-shod<br>spear, and wended his way along the line of the Achaean ships. First<br>he called loudly to Ulysses peer of gods in counsel and woke him,<br>for he was soon roused by the sound of the battle-cry. He came outside<br>his tent and said, "Why do you go thus alone about the host, and along<br>the line of the ships in the stillness of the night? What is it that<br>you find so urgent?" And Nestor knight of Gerene answered, "Ulysses,<br>noble son of Laertes, take it not amiss, for the Achaeans are in great<br>straits. Come with me and let us wake some other, who may advise<br>well with us whether we shall fight or fly."<br>On this Ulysses went at once into his tent, put his shield about his<br>shoulders and came out with them. First they went to Diomed son of<br>Tydeus, and found him outside his tent clad in his armour with his<br>comrades sleeping round him and using their shields as pillows; as for<br>their spears, they stood upright on the spikes of their butts that<br>were driven into the ground, and the burnished bronze flashed afar<br>like the lightning of father Jove. The hero was sleeping upon the skin<br>of an ox, with a piece of fine carpet under his head; Nestor went up<br>to him and stirred him with his heel to rouse him, upbraiding him<br>and urging him to bestir himself. "Wake up," he exclaimed, "son of<br>Tydeus. How can you sleep on in this way? Can you not see that the<br>Trojans are encamped on the brow of the plain hard by our ships,<br>with but a little space between us and them?"<br>On these words Diomed leaped up instantly and said, "Old man, your<br>heart is of iron; you rest not one moment from your labours. Are there<br>no younger men among the Achaeans who could go about to rouse the<br>princes? There is no tiring you."<br>And Nestor knight of Gerene made answer, "My son, all that you<br>have said is true. I have good sons, and also much people who might<br>call the chieftains, but the Achaeans are in the gravest danger;<br>life and death are balanced as it were on the edge of a razor. Go<br>then, for you are younger than I, and of your courtesy rouse Ajax<br>and the fleet son of Phyleus."<br>Diomed threw the skin of a great tawny lion about his shoulders- a<br>skin that reached his feet- and grasped his spear. When he had<br>roused the heroes, he brought them back with him; they then went the<br>round of those who were on guard, and found the captains not<br>sleeping at their posts but wakeful and sitting with their arms<br>about them. As sheep dogs that watch their flocks when they are<br>yarded, and hear a wild beast coming through the mountain forest<br>towards them- forthwith there is a hue and cry of dogs and men, and<br>slumber is broken- even so was sleep chased from the eyes of the<br>Achaeans as they kept the watches of the wicked night, for they turned<br>constantly towards the plain whenever they heard any stir among the<br>Trojans. The old man was glad bade them be of good cheer. "Watch on,<br>my children," said he, "and let not sleep get hold upon you, lest<br>our enemies triumph over us."<br>With this he passed the trench, and with him the other chiefs of the<br>Achaeans who had been called to the council. Meriones and the brave<br>son of Nestor went also, for the princes bade them. When they were<br>beyond the trench that was dug round the wall they held their<br>meeting on the open ground where there was a space clear of corpses,<br>for it was here that when night fell Hector had turned back from his<br>onslaught on the Argives. They sat down, therefore, and held debate<br>with one another.<br>Nestor spoke first. "My friends," said he, "is there any man bold<br>enough to venture the Trojans, and cut off some straggler, or us<br>news of what the enemy mean to do whether they will stay here by the<br>ships away from the city, or whether, now that they have worsted the<br>Achaeans, they will retire within their walls. If he could learn all<br>this and come back safely here, his fame would be high as heaven in<br>the mouths of all men, and he would be rewarded richly; for the chiefs<br>from all our ships would each of them give him a black ewe with her<br>lamb- which is a present of surpassing value- and he would be asked as<br>a guest to all feasts and clan-gatherings."<br>They all held their peace, but Diomed of the loud war-cry spoke<br>saying, "Nestor, gladly will I visit the host of the Trojans over<br>against us, but if another will go with me I shall do so in greater<br>confidence and comfort. When two men are together, one of them may see<br>some opportunity which the other has not caught sight of; if a man<br>is alone he is less full of resource, and his wit is weaker."<br>On this several offered to go with Diomed. The two Ajaxes,<br>servants of Mars, Meriones, and the son of Nestor all wanted to go, so<br>did Menelaus son of Atreus; Ulysses also wished to go among the host<br>of the Trojans, for he was ever full of daring, and thereon<br>Agamemnon king of men spoke thus: "Diomed," said he, "son of Tydeus,<br>man after my own heart, choose your comrade for yourself- take the<br>best man of those that have offered, for many would now go with you.<br>Do not through delicacy reject the better man, and take the worst<br>out of respect for his lineage, because he is of more royal blood."<br>He said this because he feared for Menelaus. Diomed answered, "If<br>you bid me take the man of my own choice, how in that case can I<br>fail to think of Ulysses, than whom there is no man more eager to face<br>all kinds of danger- and Pallas Minerva loves him well? If he were<br>to go with me we should pass safely through fire itself, for he is<br>quick to see and understand."<br>"Son of Tydeus," replied Ulysses, "say neither good nor ill about<br>me, for you are among Argives who know me well. Let us be going, for<br>the night wanes and dawn is at hand. The stars have gone forward,<br>two-thirds of the night are already spent, and the third is alone left<br>us."<br>They then put on their armour. Brave Thrasymedes provided the son of<br>Tydeus with a sword and a shield (for he had left his own at his ship)<br>and on his head he set a helmet of bull's hide without either peak<br>or crest; it is called a skull-cap and is a common headgear.<br>Meriones found a bow and quiver for Ulysses, and on his head he set<br>a leathern helmet that was lined with a strong plaiting of leathern<br>thongs, while on the outside it was thickly studded with boar's teeth,<br>well and skilfully set into it; next the head there was an inner<br>lining of felt. This helmet had been stolen by Autolycus out of<br>Eleon when he broke into the house of Amyntor son of Ormenus. He<br>gave it to Amphidamas of Cythera to take to Scandea, and Amphidamas<br>gave it as a guest-gift to Molus, who gave it to his son Meriones; and<br>now it was set upon the head of Ulysses.<br>When the pair had armed, they set out, and left the other chieftains<br>behind them. Pallas Minerva sent them a heron by the wayside upon<br>their right hands; they could not see it for the darkness, but they<br>heard its cry. Ulysses was glad when he heard it and prayed to<br>Minerva: "Hear me," he cried, "daughter of aegis-bearing Jove, you who<br>spy out all my ways and who are with me in all my hardships;<br>befriend me in this mine hour, and grant that we may return to the<br>ships covered with glory after having achieved some mighty exploit<br>that shall bring sorrow to the Trojans."<br>Then Diomed of the loud war-cry also prayed: "Hear me too," said he,<br>"daughter of Jove, unweariable; be with me even as you were with my<br>noble father Tydeus when he went to Thebes as envoy sent by the<br>Achaeans. He left the Achaeans by the banks of the river Aesopus,<br>and went to the city bearing a message of peace to the Cadmeians; on<br>his return thence, with your help, goddess, he did great deeds of<br>daring, for you were his ready helper. Even so guide me and guard me<br>now, and in return I will offer you in sacrifice a broad-browed heifer<br>of a year old, unbroken, and never yet brought by man under the<br>yoke. I will gild her horns and will offer her up to you in<br>sacrifice."<br>Thus they prayed, and Pallas Minerva heard their prayer. When they<br>had done praying to the daughter of great Jove, they went their way<br>like two lions prowling by night amid the armour and blood-stained<br>bodies of them that had fallen.<br>Neither again did Hector let the Trojans sleep; for he too called<br>the princes and councillors of the Trojans that he might set his<br>counsel before them. "Is there one," said he, "who for a great<br>reward will do me the service of which I will tell you? He shall be<br>well paid if he will. I will give him a chariot and a couple of<br>horses, the fleetest that can be found at the ships of the Achaeans,<br>if he will dare this thing; and he will win infinite honour to boot;<br>he must go to the ships and find out whether they are still guarded as<br>heretofore, or whether now that we have beaten them the Achaeans<br>design to fly, and through sheer exhaustion are neglecting to keep<br>their watches."<br>They all held their peace; but there was among the Trojans a certain<br>man named Dolon, son of Eumedes, the famous herald- a man rich in gold<br>and bronze. He was ill-favoured, but a good runner, and was an only<br>son among five sisters. He it was that now addressed the Trojans.<br>"I, Hector," said he, "Will to the ships and will exploit them. But<br>first hold up your sceptre and swear that you will give me the<br>chariot, bedight with bronze, and the horses that now carry the<br>noble son of Peleus. I will make you a good scout, and will not fail<br>you. I will go through the host from one end to the other till I<br>come to the ship of Agamemnon, where I take it the princes of the<br>Achaeans are now consulting whether they shall fight or fly."<br>When he had done speaking Hector held up his sceptre, and swore<br>him his oath saying, "May Jove the thundering husband of Juno bear<br>witness that no other Trojan but yourself shall mount those steeds,<br>and that you shall have your will with them for ever."<br>The oath he swore was bootless, but it made Dolon more keen on<br>going. He hung his bow over his shoulder, and as an overall he wore<br>the skin of a grey wolf, while on his head he set a cap of ferret<br>skin. Then he took a pointed javelin, and left the camp for the ships,<br>but he was not to return with any news for Hector. When he had left<br>the horses and the troops behind him, he made all speed on his way,<br>but Ulysses perceived his coming and said to Diomed, "Diomed, here<br>is some one from the camp; I am not sure whether he is a spy, or<br>whether it is some thief who would plunder the bodies of the dead; let<br>him get a little past us, we can then spring upon him and take him.<br>If, however, he is too quick for us, go after him with your spear<br>and hem him in towards the ships away from the Trojan camp, to prevent<br>his getting back to the town."<br>With this they turned out of their way and lay down among the<br>corpses. Dolon suspected nothing and soon passed them, but when he had<br>got about as far as the distance by which a mule-plowed furrow exceeds<br>one that has been ploughed by oxen (for mules can plow fallow land<br>quicker than oxen) they ran after him, and when he heard their<br>footsteps he stood still, for he made sure they were friends from<br>the Trojan camp come by Hector's orders to bid him return; when,<br>however, they were only a spear's cast, or less away form him, he<br>saw that they were enemies as fast as his legs could take him. The<br>others gave chase at once, and as a couple of well-trained hounds<br>press forward after a doe or hare that runs screaming in front of<br>them, even so did the son of Tydeus and Ulysses pursue Dolon and cut<br>him off from his own people. But when he had fled so far towards the<br>ships that he would soon have fallen in with the outposts, Minerva<br>infused fresh strength into the son of Tydeus for fear some other of<br>the Achaeans might have the glory of being first to hit him, and he<br>might himself be only second; he therefore sprang forward with his<br>spear and said, "Stand, or I shall throw my spear, and in that case<br>I shall soon make an end of you."<br>He threw as he spoke, but missed his aim on purpose. The dart flew<br>over the man's right shoulder, and then stuck in the ground. He<br>stood stock still, trembling and in great fear; his teeth chattered,<br>and he turned pale with fear. The two came breathless up to him and<br>seized his hands, whereon he began to weep and said, "Take me alive; I<br>will ransom myself; we have great store of gold, bronze, and wrought<br>iron, and from this my father will satisfy you with a very large<br>ransom, should he hear of my being alive at the ships of the<br>Achaeans."<br>"Fear not," replied Ulysses, "let no thought of death be in your<br>mind; but tell me, and tell me true, why are you thus going about<br>alone in the dead of night away from your camp and towards the<br>ships, while other men are sleeping? Is it to plunder the bodies of<br>the slain, or did Hector send you to spy out what was going on at<br>the ships? Or did you come here of your own mere notion?"<br>Dolon answered, his limbs trembling beneath him: "Hector, with his<br>vain flattering promises, lured me from my better judgement. He said<br>he would give me the horses of the noble son of Peleus and his<br>bronze-bedizened chariot; he bade me go through the darkness of the<br>flying night, get close to the enemy, and find out whether the ships<br>are still guarded as heretofore, or whether, now that we have beaten<br>them, the Achaeans design to fly, and through sheer exhaustion are<br>neglecting to keep their watches."<br>Ulysses smiled at him and answered, "You had indeed set your heart<br>upon a great reward, but the horses of the descendant of Aeacus are<br>hardly to be kept in hand or driven by any other mortal man than<br>Achilles himself, whose mother was an immortal. But tell me, and<br>tell me true, where did you leave Hector when you started? Where<br>lies his armour and his horses? How, too, are the watches and<br>sleeping-ground of the Trojans ordered? What are their plans? Will<br>they stay here by the ships and away from the city, or now that they<br>have worsted the Achaeans, will they retire within their walls?"<br>And Dolon answered, "I will tell you truly all. Hector and the other<br>councillors are now holding conference by the monument of great<br>Ilus, away from the general tumult; as for the guards about which<br>you ask me, there is no chosen watch to keep guard over the host.<br>The Trojans have their watchfires, for they are bound to have them;<br>they, therefore, are awake and keep each other to their duty as<br>sentinels; but the allies who have come from other places are asleep<br>and leave it to the Trojans to keep guard, for their wives and<br>children are not here."<br>Ulysses then said, "Now tell me; are they sleeping among the<br>Trojan troops, or do they lie apart? Explain this that I may<br>understand it."<br>"I will tell you truly all," replied Dolon. "To the seaward lie<br>the Carians, the Paeonian bowmen, the Leleges, the Cauconians, and the<br>noble Pelasgi. The Lysians and proud Mysians, with the Phrygians and<br>Meonians, have their place on the side towards Thymbra; but why ask<br>about an this? If you want to find your way into the host of the<br>Trojans, there are the Thracians, who have lately come here and lie<br>apart from the others at the far end of the camp; and they have Rhesus<br>son of Eioneus for their king. His horses are the finest and strongest<br>that I have ever seen, they are whiter than snow and fleeter than<br>any wind that blows. His chariot is bedight with silver and gold,<br>and he has brought his marvellous golden armour, of the rarest<br>workmanship- too splendid for any mortal man to carry, and meet only<br>for the gods. Now, therefore, take me to the ships or bind me securely<br>here, until you come back and have proved my words whether they be<br>false or true."<br>Diomed looked sternly at him and answered, "Think not, Dolon, for<br>all the good information you have given us, that you shall escape<br>now you are in our hands, for if we ransom you or let you go, you will<br>come some second time to the ships of the Achaeans either as a spy<br>or as an open enemy, but if I kill you and an end of you, you will<br>give no more trouble."<br>On this Dolon would have caught him by the beard to beseech him<br>further, but Diomed struck him in the middle of his neck with his<br>sword and cut through both sinews so that his head fell rolling in the<br>dust while he was yet speaking. They took the ferret-skin cap from his<br>head, and also the wolf-skin, the bow, and his long spear. Ulysses<br>hung them up aloft in honour of Minerva the goddess of plunder, and<br>prayed saying, "Accept these, goddess, for we give them to you in<br>preference to all the gods in Olympus: therefore speed us still<br>further towards the horses and sleeping-ground of the Thracians."<br>With these words he took the spoils and set them upon a tamarisk<br>tree, and they marked the place by pulling up reeds and gathering<br>boughs of tamarisk that they might not miss it as they came back<br>through the' flying hours of darkness. The two then went onwards<br>amid the fallen armour and the blood, and came presently to the<br>company of Thracian soldiers, who were sleeping, tired out with<br>their day's toil; their goodly armour was lying on the ground beside<br>them all orderly in three rows, and each man had his yoke of horses<br>beside him. Rhesus was sleeping in the middle, and hard by him his<br>horses were made fast to the topmost rim of his chariot. Ulysses<br>from some way off saw him and said, "This, Diomed, is the man, and<br>these are the horses about which Dolon whom we killed told us. Do your<br>very utmost; dally not about your armour, but loose the horses at<br>once- or else kill the men yourself, while I see to the horses."<br>Thereon Minerva put courage into the heart of Diomed, and he smote<br>them right and left. They made a hideous groaning as they were being<br>hacked about, and the earth was red with their blood. As a lion<br>springs furiously upon a flock of sheep or goats when he finds without<br>their shepherd, so did the son of Tydeus set upon the Thracian<br>soldiers till he had killed twelve. As he killed them Ulysses came and<br>drew them aside by their feet one by one, that the horses might go<br>forward freely without being frightened as they passed over the dead<br>bodies, for they were not yet used to them. When the son of Tydeus<br>came to the king, he killed him too (which made thirteen), as he was<br>breathing hard, for by the counsel of Minerva an evil dream, the<br>seed of Oeneus, hovered that night over his head. Meanwhile Ulysses<br>untied the horses, made them fast one to another and drove them off,<br>striking them with his bow, for he had forgotten to take the whip from<br>the chariot. Then he whistled as a sign to Diomed.<br>But Diomed stayed where he was, thinking what other daring deed he<br>might accomplish. He was doubting whether to take the chariot in which<br>the king's armour was lying, and draw it out by the pole, or to lift<br>the armour out and carry it off; or whether again, he should not<br>kill some more Thracians. While he was thus hesitating Minerva came up<br>to him and said, "Get back, Diomed, to the ships or you may be<br>driven thither, should some other god rouse the Trojans."<br>Diomed knew that it was the goddess, and at once sprang upon the<br>horses. Ulysses beat them with his bow and they flew onward to the<br>ships of the Achaeans.<br>But Apollo kept no blind look-out when he saw Minerva with the son<br>of Tydeus. He was angry with her, and coming to the host of the<br>Trojans he roused Hippocoon, a counsellor of the Thracians and a noble<br>kinsman of Rhesus. He started up out of his sleep and saw that the<br>horses were no longer in their place, and that the men were gasping in<br>their death-agony; on this he groaned aloud, and called upon his<br>friend by name. Then the whole Trojan camp was in an uproar as the<br>people kept hurrying together, and they marvelled at the deeds of<br>the heroes who had now got away towards the ships.<br>When they reached the place where they had killed Hector's scout,<br>Ulysses stayed his horses, and the son of Tydeus, leaping to the<br>ground, placed the blood-stained spoils in the hands of Ulysses and<br>remounted: then he lashed the horses onwards, and they flew forward<br>nothing loth towards the ships as though of their own free will.<br>Nestor was first to hear the tramp of their feet. "My friends," said<br>he, "princes and counsellors of the Argives, shall I guess right or<br>wrong?- but I must say what I think: there is a sound in my ears as of<br>the tramp of horses. I hope it may Diomed and Ulysses driving in<br>horses from the Trojans, but I much fear that the bravest of the<br>Argives may have come to some harm at their hands."<br>He had hardly done speaking when the two men came in and dismounted,<br>whereon the others shook hands right gladly with them and<br>congratulated them. Nestor knight of Gerene was first to question<br>them. "Tell me," said he, "renowned Ulysses, how did you two come by<br>these horses? Did you steal in among the Trojan forces, or did some<br>god meet you and give them to you? They are like sunbeams. I am well<br>conversant with the Trojans, for old warrior though I am I never<br>hold back by the ships, but I never yet saw or heard of such horses as<br>these are. Surely some god must have met you and given them to you,<br>for you are both of dear to Jove, and to Jove's daughter Minerva."<br>And Ulysses answered, "Nestor son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean<br>name, heaven, if it so will, can give us even better horses than<br>these, for the gods are far mightier than we are. These horses,<br>however, about which you ask me, are freshly come from Thrace.<br>Diomed killed their king with the twelve bravest of his companions.<br>Hard by the ships we took a thirteenth man- a scout whom Hector and<br>the other Trojans had sent as a spy upon our ships."<br>He laughed as he spoke and drove the horses over the ditch, while<br>the other Achaeans followed him gladly. When they reached the strongly<br>built quarters of the son of Tydeus, they tied the horses with<br>thongs of leather to the manger, where the steeds of Diomed stood<br>eating their sweet corn, but Ulysses hung the blood-stained spoils<br>of Dolon at the stern of his ship, that they might prepare a sacred<br>offering to Minerva. As for themselves, they went into the sea and<br>washed the sweat from their bodies, and from their necks and thighs.<br>When the sea-water had taken all the sweat from off them, and had<br>refreshed them, they went into the baths and washed themselves.<br>After they had so done and had anointed themselves with oil, they<br>sat down to table, and drawing from a full mixing-bowl, made a<br>drink-offering of wine to Minerva.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Homer">Homer</a>, translated by Samuel Butler<div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=410291" data-title="The Iliad: Book 10 de Homer" data-description="Now the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole/night through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he/could get no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning in/token of great rain or hail or snow when the sno..."></div> </div> </div>

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