Stasimon 1
[Episode]
It pleases me well; so change your mind and adopt this counsel. I do not love hazardous commands in generals. What is better than for a swift-footed spy to approach the ships
Chorus
and learn why our foes are lighting fires in front of their naval station?
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Hector
Since this finds favor with you all, prevail. To Aeneas. Go and calm the allies; perhaps the army hearing of our midnight council is disturbed.
Mine shall it be to send one forth to spy upon the foe. And if I discover any plot among them, you shall fully hear of it and be present to learn the report; but in case they are starting off in flight, with eager ear await the trumpet’s call,
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for then I will not stay, but will this very night engage the Argive army there where their ships are hauled up.
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Aeneas
Send out the spy at once; there’s safety in your counsels now. And you shall find me steadfast at your side, whenever occasion calls.
Hector
What Trojan of those present in council
volunteers to go and spy on the Argive fleet? Who will be that patriot? Who says yes? I myself cannot at every point serve my country and my friends in arms.
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Dolon
I for my country will gladly run this risk
and go to spy on the Argive fleet, and when I have learned fully all that the Achaeans plot I will return. I undertake this toil on these conditions.
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Hector
True to his name indeed, his country’s friend is Dolon. Your father’s house was famed before,
but now you have made it doubly so.
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Dolon
So must I toil, but for my pains I should receive fitting wages. For set a reward on any deed, and it breeds a double favor.
Hector
Yes, that is fair; I cannot dispute it.
Name your wage, except for my sovereignty.
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Dolon
I do not covet your toilsome sovereignty.
Hector
Well then, marry a daughter of Priam and become my brother-in-law.
Dolon
No, I do not wish to marry among those beyond my station.
Hector
There’s gold, if this you’ll claim as your prize.
Dolon
I have it in my home; I lack no sustenance.
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Hector
What then is your desire of all that Ilium stores within her?
Dolon
Promise me my gift when you conquer the Achaeans.
Hector
I will give it to you; ask anything except the captains of the fleet.
Dolon
Slay them; I do not ask you to keep your hand off Menelaus.
Hector
Is it the son of Oileus you would ask me for?
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Dolon
Hands that are well brought up are worthless at farming.
Hector
Whom then of the Achaeans will you have alive to hold to ransom?
Dolon
I told you before, my house is stored with gold.
Hector
Why then, you shall come and with your own hands choose out some spoil.
Dolon
Nail up the spoils for the gods on their temples.
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Hector
Then what greater prize than these will you ask me for?
Dolon
Achilles’ horses. The prize must be worth the toil when one stakes one’s life on Fortune’s dice.
Hector
Ah! but your desires clash with mine about those horses;
for they are immortal and born from immortals, who bear the son of Peleus on his headlong course. Poseidon, lord of the ocean, broke them and gave them to Peleus, so runs the legend. Yet, for I urged you on, I will not break my word; I will give to you
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Achilles’ team, a fair possession for your house.
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Dolon
I thank you; in receiving then, I assert that I am taking a fairer gift than any other Phrygian for my bravery. Yet you should not be envious; you have other things to gladden your heart, in your kingship over this land.
Chorus
Great the enterprise, and great the reward you design to receive. Happy, yes, happy will you be, if you succeed; fair the fame your toil shall win. Yet it is a great thing to become the brother-in-law of princes. On the gods’ decrees let Justice keep her eye!
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what man can give you have, it seems, in full.
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Dolon
I will set forth; but going within my house I will clothe myself in fitting attire, and then I will hasten to the Argive fleet.
Chorus Leader
Why, what dress in place of this will you assume?
Dolon
One that fits my task and furtive steps.
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Chorus Leader
One should ever learn wisdom from the wise; tell me, what will be your equipment?
Dolon
I will fasten a wolf-skin about my back, and over my head put the brute’s gaping jaws;
then fitting its fore-feet to ny hands and its hind-feet to my legs, I will go on all-fours in imitation of a wolf’s gait to puzzle the enemy, when I approach their trenches and barriers round the ships. Rut whenever I come to a deserted spot,
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I will walk on two feet; such is the ruse I have decided on.
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Chorus Leader
May Hermes, Maia’s child, escort you safely there and back, prince of tricksters as he is! You know what you have to do; good luck is all you need now.
Dolon
I shall return in safety, and bring to you the head of Odysseus
when I have slain him, or the son of Tydeus, and with this clear proof before you you shall assert that Dolon went to the Argive fleet; for, before the dawn, I will come back home with bloodstained hand. Exit Dolon.
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[Choral 1]
Lord of Thymbra and of Delos, who haunt
Chorus
your temple in Lycia, Apollo, O divine head, come with all your archery, appear this night, and by your guidance save this man,
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and aid the Dardanians, O almighty god whose hands in days of old built the walls of Troy.
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May he come to the ships! May he reach the army of Hellas and spy it out, then turn again and reach the altars of his father’s
May he mount the chariot drawn by Phthia’s horses, when our master has sacked Achaea’s camp,
those horses that the sea-god gave to Peleus, son of Aeacus.
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[Choral 2]
For he alone had heart enough for home and country to go and spy on the naval station; I admire
Chorus
his spirit; how few stout hearts there are, when on the sea the sunlight dies and the city labors in the surge.
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Phrygia yet has left a valiant few, and bold hearts in the battle’s press; it is only Mysia’s sons who scorn us as allies.
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Which of the Achaeans will the earth-treading murderer slay
in their beds, as he pretends to be a four-footed beast on the ground? May he lay Menelaus low, slay Agamemnon and bring his head
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to Helen’s hands, causing her to lament her evil kinsman, who has come against my city, against the land of Troy with his army of a thousand ships.
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