Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
on his way, but Ulysses perceived his coming and said to Diomed,
“Diomed, here is some one from the camp; I am not sure whether
he is a spy, or whether it is some thief who would plunder the
bodies of the dead; let him get a little past us, we can then spring
upon him and take him. If, however, he is too quick for us, go after
him with your spear and hem him in towards the ships away from
the Trojan camp, to prevent his getting back to the town.”
With this they turned out of their way and lay down among the
corpses. Dolon suspected nothing and soon passed them, but when
he had got about as far as the distance by which a mule-plowed
furrow exceeds one that has been ploughed by oxen (for mules can
plow fallow land quicker than oxen) they ran after him, and when
he heard their footsteps he stood still, for he made sure they were
friends from the Trojan camp come by Hector’s orders to bid him
return; when, however, they were only a spear’s cast, or less away
form him, he saw that they were enemies as fast as his legs could
take him. The others gave chase at once, and as a couple of welltrained
hounds press forward after a doe or hare that runs
screaming in front of them, even so did the son of Tydeus and
Ulysses pursue Dolon and cut him off from his own people. But
when he had fled so far towards the ships that he would soon have
fallen in with the outposts, Minerva infused fresh strength into the
son of Tydeus for fear some other of the Achaeans might have the
glory of being first to hit him, and he might himself be only second;
he therefore sprang forward with his spear and said, “Stand, or I
shall throw my spear, and in that case I shall soon make an end of
you.”
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