sued the son of Peleus nor offered him
gifts. He is proud enough as it is, and you have encouraged him in his
pride still further. Let him stay or go as he will. He will fight later
when he is in the humour, and heaven puts it in his mind to do so. Now,
therefore, let us all do as I say; we have eaten and drunk our fill,
let us then take our rest, for in rest there is both strength and stay.
But when fair rosy-fingered morn appears, forthwith bring out your host
and your horsemen in front of the ships, urging them on, and yourself
fighting among the foremost."

Thus he spoke, and the other chieftains approved his words. They then
made their drink-offerings and went every man to his own tent, where
they laid down to rest and enjoyed the boon of sleep.

BOOK X

Ulysses and Diomed go out as spies, and meet Dolon, who gives
them information: they then kill him, and profiting by what
he had told them, kill Rhesus king of the Thracians and take
his horses.

NOW the other princes of the Achaeans slept soundly the whole night
through, but Agamemnon son of Atreus was troubled, so that he could get
no rest. As when fair Juno's lord flashes his lightning in token of
great rain or hail or snow when the snow-flakes whiten the ground, or
again as a sign that he will open the wide jaws of hungry war, even so
did Agamemnon heave many a heavy sigh, for his soul trembled within
him. When he looked upon the plain of Troy he marvelled at the many
watchfires burning in front of Ilius, and at the sound of pipes and
flutes and of the hum of men, but when presently he turned towards the
ships and hosts of the Achaeans, he tore his hair by handfuls before
Jove on high, and groaned aloud for the very disquietness of his soul.
In the end he deemed it best to go at once to Nestor son of Neleus, and
see if between them they could find any way of the Achaeans from
destruction. He therefore rose, put on his shirt, bound his sandals
about his comely feet, flung the skin of a huge tawny lion over his
shoulders--a skin that reached his feet--and took his spear in his hand.

Neither could Menelaus sleep, for he, too, boded ill for the Argives
who for his sake had sailed from far over the seas to fight the
Trojans. He covered his broad back with the skin of a spotted panther,
put a casque of bronze upon his head, and took his spear in his brawny
hand. Then he went to rouse his brother, who was by far the most
powerful of the Achaeans, an