The Guards pass out to waken the Lycians.
The stage is empty and dark except for
the firelight, when a whisper is heard
at the back. Presently enter ODYSSEUS
and DIOMEDE in dull leather armour,
DIOMEDE carrying at his belt DOLON'S
wolf-skin and mask.
ODYSSEUS.
Diomede, hist!-A little sound of arms1
Clanking . . . or am I full of void alarms?
DIOMEDE.
No. 'Tis some horse tied to the chariot rail
That clanks his chain.-My heart began to fail
A moment, till I heard the horse's champ.
They steal on further, keeping in the shadow.
ODYSSEUS.
Mind-in that shade-the watchers of the camp.
DIOMEDE.
I keep in shadow, but I am staring hard.
ODYSSEUS.
Thou know'st the watchword, if we stir some guard?
DIOMEDE.
Phoebus. 'Twas the last sign that Dolon gave.
They creep forward in silence to the entrance
of HECTOR'S tent.
ODYSSEUS.
Now, forward!
They dash into the tent, swords drawn; then
return.
God! All empty as the grave!
DIOMEDE.
Yet Dolon told us Hector's couch was made
Just here. For none but him I drew this blade.
ODYSSEUS.
What means it? To some ambush is he gone?
DIOMEDE.
Maybe, to work some craft on us at dawn.
ODYSSEUS.
He is hot with courage when he is winning, hot.
DIOMEDE.
What must we do, Odysseus?-He was not
Laid where we thought him, and our hopes are lost.
ODYSSEUS.
Back to our own ship-rampart at all cost!
The God who gave him victory saves him still.
We cannot force Fortune against her will.
DIOMEDE.
Could we not find Aeneas? Or the bed
Of Paris the accurst, and have his head?
ODYSSEUS.
Go by night searching through these lines of men
For chiefs to kill? 'Twere death and death again.
DIOMEDE.
But to go empty back-what shame 'twill be!-
And not one blow struck home at the enemy!
ODYSSEUS.
How not one blow? Did we not baulk and kill
Dolon, their spy, and bear his tokens still?
Dost think the whole camp should be thine to quell?
DIOMEDE takes DOLON'S wolf-mask off his
belt and hangs it in HECTOR'S tent, then
turns.2
DIOMEDE.
Good. Now for home! And may the end be well!
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
1 P. 31, 1. 567 ff., Odysseus and Diomedes.]-Observe how we are left gradually to discover that they have met and killed Dolon. They enter carrying, as far as we can make out, a wolf-skin that looks like his: they had evidently spoken to him, 11. 572, 575: it is his and they have killed him-l. 592 f.
All the Odysseus-Diomedes scenes have something unusual about them, something daring, turbulent, and perhaps lacking in dramatic tact. The silent rush on Hector's empty tent is hard to parallel. The cruel Athena is Euripidean; but her appearance in the midst of the action is startling, though it may be paralleled from Sophocles' Ajax. In Euripides Gods are generally kept for the prologue or epilogue, away from the ordinary action. (The vision of Iris and Lyssa in the middle of the Heracles has at least the stage clear of mortals and the Chorus apparently in a kind of dream.) Again the conception of Athena pretending to be Cypris is curious. The disguised Athena is common in the Odyssey, but she does not disguise herself as another goddess. (It is sometimes held that this scene requires four actors, which would be a decisive mark of lateness; but this is not really so. The actor who took Odysseus could easily get round in time to take Paris also-especially if he made his exit at 1. 626, before Athena sees Paris. And the Greek stage had no objection to such doubling.) Lastly, the scene of turmoil between the spies and the Guards is extraordinary in a tragedy, though it would suit well in a pro-satyric play. See Introduction.2 P. 33, l. 594, Stage direction.]-They bear Dolon's "spoils" or "tokens": probably his wolf-skin. If they bring it with them they must probably do something with it, and to hang it where it may give Hector a violent start seems the natural proceeding. Also, they can hardly be carrying it in the scene with the Guards, 1. 675 ff., p. 38 f. That would be madness. They must have got rid of it before then, and this seems the obvious place for doing so.
The Rhesus of Euripides. Translated into English rhyming verse with explanatory notes by Gilbert Murray, LL.D., D.Litt, F.B.A., Regius Professor of Greek in the University of Oxford. Euripides. Gilbert Murray. New York. Oxford University Press. 1913.
This text has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.