Homer ILIAD : Rhapsody 10

Page 15

He said, and hurled his spear, but intentionally missed the man. Over the right shoulder the point of the well-polished spear stuck in the ground. Then indeed he stood still, and trembled, stammering (and there arose a chattering of the teeth in his mouth), pale through fear. Panting they overtook him, and seized his hands; but he weeping, spoke thus:

"Take me alive, and I will ransom myself; for within [my house] I have brass, and gold, and well-wrought iron; from which my father will bestow upon you countless ransoms, if he shall hear that I am alive at the ships of the Greeks."

But him much-planning Ulysses answering addressed: "Take courage, nor suffer death at all to enter thy mind; but come, tell me this, and state it correctly: Why comest thou thus alone from the camp towards the fleet, through the gloomy night, when other mortals sleep? Whether that thou mightst plunder any of the dead bodies, or did Hector send thee forth to reconnoitre everything at the hollow ships? Or did thy mind urge thee on?"

But him Dolon then answered, and his limbs trembled under him: "Contrary to my wish, Hector hath brought me into great detriment, who promised that he would give me the solid-hoofed steeds of the illustrious son of Peleus, and his chariot adorned with brass. And he enjoined me, going through the dark and dangerous[353] night, to approach the 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."

[Footnote 353: Buttm. Lexil. p. 369: "I translate [Greek: thon nyx] by the quick and fearful night; and if this be once admitted as the established meaning of the Homeric epithet, it will certainly be always intelligible to the hearer and full of expression. 'Night,' says a German proverb, 'is no man's friend;' the dangers which threaten the nightly wanderer are formed into a quick, irritable, hostile goddess. Even the other deities are afraid of her, who is (Il. th, 259) [Greek: theon oneteira kai andron]; and Jupiter himself, in the midst of his rage, refrains from doing what might be [Greek: nykti thon apothymia]. Nor is the epithet less natural when the night is not personified: for as [Greek: oxeis kairoi] are dangerous times, so by this word [Greek: thoe] it may be intended to mark the swiftness and imminency of dangers which threaten men who go [Greek: dia nukta melainan]."]

Previous / First / Next Page of this Rhapsody

HOMER'S ILIAD COMPLETE

Rhapsody 10

Homer Bilingual Anthology Studies Homer in Print

Learned Freeware