, and from
this my father will satisfy you with a very large ransom, should he
hear of my being alive at the ships of the Achaeans."

"Fear not," replied Ulysses, "let no thought of death be in your mind;
but tell me, and tell me true, why are you thus going about alone in
the dead of night away from your camp and towards the ships, while
other men are sleeping? Is it to plunder the bodies of the slain, or
did Hector send you to spy out what was going on at the ships? Or did
you come here of your own mere notion?"

Dolon answered, his limbs trembling beneath him: "Hector, with his vain
flattering promises, lured me from my better judgement. He said he
would give me the horses of the noble son of Peleus and his
bronze-bedizened chariot; he bade me go through the darkness of the
flying night, get close to the enemy, and find out whether the ships
are still guarded as heretofore, or whether, now that we have beaten
them, the Achaeans design to fly, and through sheer exhaustion are
neglecting to keep their watches."

Ulysses smiled at him and answered, "You had indeed set your heart upon
a great reward, but the horses of the descendant of Aeacus are hardly
to be kept in hand or driven by any other mortal man than Achilles
himself, whose mother was an immortal. But tell me, and tell me true,
where did you leave Hector when you started? Where lies his armour and
his horses? How, too, are the watches and sleeping-ground of the
Trojans ordered? What are their plans? Will they stay here by the ships
and away from the city, or now that they have worsted the Achaeans,
will they retire within their walls?"

And Dolon answered, "I will tell you truly all. Hector and the other
councillors are now holding conference by the monument of great Ilus,
away from the general tumult; as for the guards about which you ask me,
there is no chosen watch to keep guard over the host. The Trojans have
their watchfires, for they are bound to have them; they, therefore, are
awake and keep each other to their duty as sentinels; but the allies
who have come from other places are asleep and leave it to the Trojans
to keep guard, for their wives and children are not here."

Ulysses then said, "Now tell me; are they sleeping among the Trojan
troops, or do they lie apart? Explain this that I may understand it."

"I will tell you truly all," replied Dolon. "To the seaward lie the
Carians, the Paeonian bowmen, the Leleges, the Cauconians, and the
noble