Rhesus
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Original / primary: Perseus Eng3
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Is it possible he has plunged into a hidden ambush and been slain? Perhaps. I am afraid. My counsel is we go and rouse the Lycians for the fifth watch, as the lot ordained. Exit Chorus
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Odysseus
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Did you not hear, Diomedes, the clash of arms or is it an idle noise that rings in my ears?
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Diomedes
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No, it is the rattle of steel harness on the chariot rails; I, too, was afraid, till I perceived it was the clang of horses’ chains.
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Odysseus
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Beware lest you stumble upon the guard in the darkness.
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Diomedes
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I will take good care how I advance even in the gloom.
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Odysseus
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If however you should rouse them, do you know their password?
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Diomedes
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Yes, it is Phoebus; I heard Dolon use it.
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Odysseus
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Ah! I see the enemy have left this bivouac.
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Diomedes
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Yet Dolon surely said that here was Hector’s couch, against whom this sword of mine is drawn.
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Odysseus
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What can it mean? Has his company withdrawn elsewhere?
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Diomedes
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Perhaps to form some stratagem against us.
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Odysseus
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Yes, for Hector is bold now, by reason of his victory, bold.
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Diomedes
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What then are we to do, Odysseus? We have not found the man asleep; our hopes are dashed.
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Odysseus
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Let us go to the fleet with what speed we may. Some god, whichever it be that gives him his good luck, is preserving him; against fate we must not strive.
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Diomedes
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Then should we two not go against Aeneas or Paris, most hateful of Phrygians, and with our swords cut off their heads?
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Odysseus
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Well, how in the darkness can you find them among a hostile army, and slay them without risk?
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Diomedes
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Yet it would be shameful to go to the Argive ships
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if we have done the enemy no harm.
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Odysseus
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What! no harm! Have we not slain Dolon who spied upon the anchored fleet, and have we not his spoils safe here? Or do you expect to sack the entire camp?
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Diomedes
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I agree, let us return; and good luck go with us!
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Athena
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Where are you going, away from the Trojan ranks, with sorrow gnawing at your hearts, because the god does not grant you two to slay Hector or Paris? Have you not heard that Rhesus has come to aid Troy in no mean fashion?
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If he survives this night until the dawn, neither Achilles nor Aias’s spear can stop him from utterly destroying the Argive fleet, razing its palisades and carrying this the onslaught of his lance far and wide within the gates.
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Slay him, and all is yours; let Hector’s sleep alone, no throat-cutting slaughter; for he shall find death at another hand.
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Odysseus
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Queen Athena, it is the well-known accent of your voice I hear; for you are always
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at my side to help me in my toil. Tell us where that man lies asleep; in what part of the barbarian army is he stationed?
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Athena
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Here lies he close at hand, not marshalled with the other troops, but outside the ranks Hector has given him quarters,
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till night gives place to day. And near him his white horses are tethered to his Thracian chariot, easy to see in the darkness; they shine like the plumage of a river swan. Slay their master and bear them off
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home, glorious spoils; for nowhere else in all the world is such a team to be found.
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Odysseus
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Diomedes, either you slay the Thracian folk, or leave that to me, while your care must be the horses.
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Diomedes
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I will do the killing, and you master the horses.
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For you are well versed in clever tricks, and have a ready wit. And it is right to station a man where he may best serve.
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Athena
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Look! there I see Paris coming towards us; perhaps he has heard from the guard a vague rumor that foes are near.
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Diomedes
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Are others with him or does he come alone?
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Athena
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Alone; to Hector’s couch he seems to wend his way, to announce to him that spies are in the camp.
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Diomedes
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Ought he not head the list of slain?
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Athena
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You can not overreach destiny.
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It is not decreed that he should fall by your hand. But hasten on your mission of fore-ordained slaughter, while I, feigning to be Cypris, his ally, and to aid him in his efforts, will answer the foe with unsound words.
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I tell you this; but the fated victim does not know, nor has he heard, for all he is so near. Exeunt Odysseus and Diomedes.
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Paris
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To you I call, general and brother, Hector, are you asleep? Should you not awake? Some enemy draws near our army,
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or thieves perhaps, or spies.
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Athena
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Courage! See, Cypris watches over you in gracious mood. Your warfare is my concern, for I do not forget the honor you once did me, and I thank you for your good service. And now, when the army of Troy is triumphant,
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I have come bringing to you a powerful friend, the Thracian child of the Muse, the heavenly singer; his father’s name is Strymon.
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Paris
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Always to this city and to me you are a kind friend, and I am sure that decision I then made
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conferred you upon this city, the highest treasure life affords. I came when I heard a vague report—for a rumor prevailed amlng the guards—that Achaean spies are here. One man, that did not see them, says so, while another, that saw them come, cannot describe them;
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and so I am on my way to Hector’s tent.
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Athena
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Fear nothing; all is quiet in the army, and Hector has gone to assign a sleeping-place to the Thracian army.
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Paris
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You persuade me, and I believe your words, and will go to guard my post, free of fear.
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Athena
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Go, for it is my pleasure ever to watch your interests, that so I may see my allies prosperous. Yes, and you too shall recognize my zeal. Exit Paris.
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In a loud voice, to Odysseus and Diomedes. Son of Laertes, I bid you sheath your whetted swords, you warriors all too keen.
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For the Thracian chief lies dead and his horses are captured, but the enemy know it, and are coming against you; fly with all speed to the ships’ station. Why delay saving your lives, when the enemy’s storm is just bursting on you?
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Chorus
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Oh, oh! At them, at them! Strike them, strike them!
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Who goes there?
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Come here, here, everyone! I have them, I have clutched them fast.
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What is your company? Where did you come from? Who are you?
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Odysseus
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It is not for you to know; for you will die today for your villainy.
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Chorus
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Will you not declare the password, before my sword finds its way to your heart?
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Odysseus
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Halt! Be of good heart.
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Odysseus
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What! have you slain Rhesus?
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Odysseus
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Stay, every man of you!
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Chorus
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What is the password, then?
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Do you know where the men have gone?
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Chorus
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Close on their track each man of you! Or should we shout for aid?
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The print edition attributes line 691 to Odysseus.No, it would be strange conduct to disturb our friends with wild alarms by night. Exeunt Odysseus and Diomedes.
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Chorus
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Who was that man who slipped away? Who was he that will loudly boast his daring in escaping me?
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How shall I catch him now? To whom shall I liken him, the man who came by night with fearless step passing through our ranks and the guard we set? Is he a Thessalian or
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a dweller in some seacoast town of Locris? Or does he make his living among the islands scattered in the sea? Who was he? Where from? What is his fatherland? What god does he avow as lord of all the rest?
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Whose work is this? is it the deed of Odysseus?
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If one may conjecture from his former acts, of course it is.
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Do you think so really?
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He is a bold foe for us.
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What strength? Whom are you praising?
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Do not praise the crafty weapons that a robber uses.
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Chorus
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Once before he came into this city, with swimming bleary eyes, clad in rags and tatters, his sword hidden in his cloak.
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And like some vagrant menial he slunk about begging his living, his head rough and dirty; and he spoke bitterly of the royal house of the Atreidae—as though he were really opposed to those chiefs!
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Would, oh! would he had perished, as was his due, before he set foot on Phrygia’s soil!
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Whether it was really Odysseus or not, I am afraid;
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for Hector will blame us sentinels.
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What can he allege?
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What have we done? Why are you afraid?
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They got past us—
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The ones who came this night to the Phrygian army.
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Charioteer
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Oh, oh! Cruel stroke of fate. Woe, woe!
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Chorus Leader
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Hush! be silent all, crouch low; for perhaps there comes someone into the snare.
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Charioteer
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Oh, oh! dire mishap to the Thracians.
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Charioteer
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Oh, oh! woe to me and to you, O king of Thrace, how cursed the sight of Troy to you!
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what an end to your life!
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Chorus Leader
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Who are you? One of the allies? Night’s gloom has dulled these eyes and I cannot clearly recognize you.
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Charioteer
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Where can I find some Trojan chief? Where does Hector
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take his rest under arms? To which of the captains of the army am I to tell my tale? What sufferings ours! what dark deeds someone has wrought on us and gone his way, when he had wound up a ball of sorrow manifest to every Thracian!
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Chorus Leader
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From what I gather of this man’s words, some calamity, it seems, is befalling the Thracian army.
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Charioteer
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Lost is all our army, our prince is dead, slain by a treacherous blow. Oh! Oh!
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The cruel anguish of this bloody wound that racks my frame within! Would I were dead! Was it to die this inglorious death that Rhesus and I came bringing aid to Troy?
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Chorus Leader
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He does not declare the disaster in riddles;
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no, he clearly asserts our allies’ destruction.
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Charioteer
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A sorry deed it was, and more than that a deed most shameful; yes, it is an evil doubly bad; to die with glory, if die one must, is bitterness enough I think to him who dies—how not?—
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though to the living it may add dignity and honor for their house. But we have died foolishly and without glory. No sooner had great Hector given us our quarters and told us the password than we lay down to sleep upon the ground, overcome by weariness. No guard our army set
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to watch by night, nor were our arms set in array, nor were the whips hung ready on the horses’ yokes, for our prince was told that you were masters now, and had encamped hard on their ships; so carelessly we threw ourselves down to sleep.
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Now I with thoughtful mind awoke from my slumber, and with ungrudging hand measured out the horses’ feed, expecting to harness them at dawn for the fray; through the thick gloom two men I see roaming around our army. But when I roused myself
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they crouched low and were gone once more; and I called out to them to keep away from the army, for I thought they might be thieves from our allies. Nothing from them, so I too said no more, but came back to my couch and slept again.
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And as I slept a strange fancy came over me: those horses that I had reared and used to drive, stationed at Rhesus’ side, I saw, I thought as in a dream, with wolves mounted on their backs; and these with their tails lashed the horses’ flanks