Rhesus   

shouldst not thou awake? Some foeman draws anigh our host, or thieves
maybe, or spies.
ATHENA Courage! lo! Cypris watches o'er thee in gracious mood. Thy
warfare is my care, for I do not for the honour thou once didst me,
and I thank thee for thy good service. And now, when the host of Troy
is triumphant, am I come bringing to thee a powerful friend, the Thracian
child of the Muse, the heavenly songstress, whose father's name is
Strymon.
PARIS Ever unto this city and to me a kind friend art thou, and I
am sure that decision I then made conferred upon this city the highest
treasure life affords in thy person. I heard a vague report, and so
I came, for there prevailed amongst the guard a rumour that Achaean
spies are here. One man, that saw them not, saith so, while another,
that saw them come, cannot describe them, and so I am on my way to
Hector's tent.
ATHENA Fear naught; all is quiet in the host, and Hector is gone
to assign a sleeping-place to the Thracian army.
PARIS Thou dost persuade me, and I believe thy words, and will go
to guard my post, free of fear.
ATHENA Go, for 'tis my pleasure ever to watch thy interests, that
so I may see my allies prosperous. Yea, and thou too shalt recognize
my zeal. (Exit PARIS., Enter ODYSSEUS and DIOMEDES.) O son of
Laertes, I bid you sheathe your whetted swords, ye warriors all too
keen; for dead before you lies the Thracian chief, his steeds are
captured, but the foe have wind thereof, and are coming forth against
you; fly with all speed to the ships' station. Why delay to save your
lives when the foemen's storm is just bursting on you?
CHORUS On, on! strike, strike, lay on, lay on! deal death in every
blow!
SEMI-CHORUS Who goes there?
Look you, that man I mean. There are the thieves who in the gloom
disturbed this host. Hither, come hither, every man of you! I have
them-I have clutched them fast.
What is the watchword? Whence cam'st thou? Thy country?
ODYSSEUS 'Tis not for thee to know.
SEMI-CHORUS Speak, or thou diest as a vile traitor this day.
Wilt not the watchword declare, ere my sword finds its way to thy
heart?
ODYSSEUS What! hast thou slain Rhesus?
SEMI-CHORUS Nay, I am asking thee about him who came to slay us.
ODYSSEUS Be of good heart, approach.
SEMI-CHORUS Strike every man of you, strike, strike home!
ODYSSEUS Stay every man of you!
SEMI-CHORUS No, no, lay on!
ODYSSEUS Ah! slay not a friend.
SEMI-CHORUS What is the watchword, then?
ODYSSEUS Phoebus.
SEMI-CHORUS Right! stay every man his spear! Dost know whither those
men are gone?
ODYSSEUS Somewhere here I caught a sight of them.
SEMI-CHORUS Close on their track each man of you, or else must we
shout for aid.
ODYSSEUS Nay, 'twere conduct strange to disturb our friends with
wild alarms by night. (Exeunt ODYSSEUS and DIOMEDES.)
CHORUS Who was that man who slipped away? Who was he that will loudly
boast his daring in escaping me? How shall I catch him now? to whom
liken him? the man who came by night with fearless step passing through
our ranks and the guard we set. Is he a Thessalian or a dweller in
some seacoast town of Locris, or hath he his home amid the scattered
islands of the main? Who was he, and whence came he? What is his fatherland?
What god doth he avow as lord of the rest?
SEMI-CHORUS Whose work is this? is it the deed of Odysseus?
If one may conjecture from his former acts, of course it is.
Dost think so really? Why, of course.