hauntest thy fane in Lycia, come with all thy archery, appear this
night, and by thy guidance save our friend now setting forth, and
aid the Dardans' scheme, almighty god whose hands in days of yore
upreared Troy's walls! Good luck attend his mission to the ships!
may he reach the host of Hellas and spy it out, then turn again and
reach the altars of his father's home in Ilium! Grant him to mount
the chariot drawn by Phthia's steeds, when Hector, our master, hath
sacked Achae's camp, those steeds that the sea-god gave to Peleus,
son of Aeacus; for he and he alone had heart enough for home and country
to go and spy the naval station; his spirit I admire; how few stout
hearts there be, when on the sea the sunlight dies and the city labours
in the surge; Phrygia yet hath left a valiant few, and bold hearts
in the battle's press; 'tis only Mysia's sons who scorn us as allies.
Which of the Achaeans will their four-footed murderous foe slay in
their beds, as he crosses the ground, feigning to be a beast? May
he lay Menelaus low or slay Agamemnon and bring his head to Helen's
hands, causing her to lament her evil kinsman, who hath come against
my city, against the land of Troy with his countless host of ships.
DOLON reappears disguised and departs for the Greek camp. (Enter
MESSENGER.)
MESSENGER (a Shepherd) .
Great king, ever in days to come be it mine to bring my masters such
news as I am bearing now unto thine ears. (Enter HECTOR.)
HECTOR Full oft the rustic mind is afflicted with dulness; so thou,
as like as not, art come to this ill-suited place to tell thy master
that his flocks are bearing well. Knowest thou not my palace or my
father's throne? Thither thou shouldst carry thy tale when thou hast
prospered with thy flocks.
MESSENGER Dull herdsmen are; I do not gainsay thee.
But none the less I bring thee joyful news.
HECTOR A truce to thy tale of how the sheep-fold fares; I have battles
to fight and spears to wield.
MESSENGER The very things of which I, too, came to tell thee; for
a chieftain of a countless host is on his way to join thee as thy
friend and to champion this land.
HECTOR His country? and the home that he hath left?
MESSENGER His country, Thrace: men call his father Strymon.
HECTOR Didst say that Rhesus was setting foot in
MESSENGER Thou hast it; and savest me half my speech.
HECTOR How is it that he comes to Ida's meadows, wandering from the
broad waggon track across the plain?
MESSENGER I cannot say for certain, though I might guess. To make
his entry by night is no idle scheme, when he hears that the plains
are packed with foemen's troops. But he frightened us rustic hinds
who dwell alog the slopes of Ida, the earliest settlement in the land,
as he came by night through yon wood where wild beasts couch. On surged
the tide of Thracian warriors with loud shouts; whereat in wild amaze
we drove our flocks unto the heights, for fear that some Argives were
coming to plunder and harry thy steading, till that we caught the
sound of voices other than Greek and ceased from our alarm. Then went
I and questioned in the Thracian tongue those who were reconnoitring
the road, who it was that lead them, and whose he avowed him to be,
that came to the city to help the sons of Priam. And when I had heard
all I wished to learn, I stood still awhile; and lo! I see Rhesus
mounted like a god upon his Thracian chariot. Of gold was the yoke
that linked the necks of his steeds whiter than the snow; and on his
shoulders flashed his targe with figures welded in gold; while a gorgon
of bronze like that which gleams from the aegis of the goddess was
bound upon the frontlet of his horses, ringing out its note of fear
with many a bell. The number of his host thou couldst not reckon to
a sum exact, for it was beyond one's comprehension; many a knight
was there, and serried ranks of targeteers, and archers not a few,
with countless swarms of light-armed troops, in Thracian garb arrayed,
to bear them company. Such the ally who comes to Troy's assistance;