enemy, and learn accurately whether the swift ships be guarded as before, or whether, already subdued by our hands, ye plan flight with yourselves, nor choose to keep watch during the night, overcome by severe toil."
But him crafty Ulysses smiling addressed: "Assuredly thy mind aimed at mighty gifts, the horses of warlike Æacides; but these are difficult to be governed by mortal men, and to be driven by any other than Achilles, whom an immortal mother bore. But come, tell me this, and state correctly; where now, when coming hither, didst thou leave Hector, the shepherd of the people? Where lie his martial arms, and where his steeds? And how [stationed are] the watches and tents of the other Trojans? What do they consult among themselves? Do they meditate to remain there at a short distance from the ships, or will they return again to the city, since, forsooth, they have subdued the Greeks?"
But him Dolon, the son of Eumedes, again addressed: "Therefore will I indeed detail these things to thee very correctly. Hector, with those, as many as are counsellors, is deliberating upon plans at the tomb of divine Ilus, apart from the tumult: but for the watcher of which thou inquirest, O Hero, no chosen [band] defends or watches the camp. But as many as are the hearths of fires among the Trojans, those at them are they to whom there is compulsion;[1] and they are both wakeful, and exhort one another to keep watch. But the allies, on the contrary, summoned from afar, are sleeping: for they commit it to the Trojans to keep watch, for their children and wives lie not near them."
But him much-planning Ulysses answering addressed: "In what manner now do they sleep: mingled with the horse-breaking Trojans, or apart? Tell me, that I may know."
But him Dolon, the son of Eumedes, answered; "Therefore will I indeed detail these things also very correctly. On the one hand, toward the sea, [are] the Carians and Pœonians, armed with crooked bows, the Lelegans, and Cauconians, and noble Pelasgians. Toward Thymbra, on the
- ↑ Construe, κατὰ τόσας μὲν πυρὸς ἐσχάρας, ὅσαι εἰσὶ Τρώων, οἳδε οἶσιν ἀνάγκη ἐστὶν, ἐγρηγόρθασι, κ. τ. λ.
be intended to mark the swiftness and imminency of danger which threaten men who go διὰ νύκτα μέλαιναν."
