Stasimon 1
[Episode]
Dolon the Wolf! A wise wolf and a true!
HECTOR.
Thy father’s house was praised when first I knew
Troy: this shall raise it twofold in our eyes.
160
DOLON.
’Tis wise to do good work, but also wise
To pay the worker. Aye, and fair reward
Makes twofold pleasure, though the work be hard.
HECTOR.
So be it: an honest rule. Do thou lay down
What guerdon likes thee best—short of my crown.
165
DOLON.
I care not for thy crowned and care-fraught life.
HECTOR.
Wouldst have a daughter of the King to wife?
DOLON.
I seek no mate that might look down on me.
HECTOR.
Good gold is ready, if that tempteth thee.
DOLON.
We live at ease and have no care for gold.
170
HECTOR.
Well, Troy hath other treasures manifold.
DOLON.
Pay me not now, but when the Greeks are ta’en.
HECTOR.
The Greeks! . . . Choose any save the Atridae twain.
DOLON.
Kill both, an it please thee. I make prayer for none.
HECTOR.
Thou wilt not ask for Ajax, Ileus’ sonP. 12, 1. 175, Ajax, Ileus’ son.]—Ajax is mentioned here and at 11. 463, 497, 601, as apparently next in importance to the two Atreidae or to Achilles. That is natural, but it is a shock to have him here described as son of Ileus. In the Iliad we should have had Ajax son of Telamon. The son of Ileus is Ajax the less, a hero of the second rank. Scholars have conjectured on other grounds that in some older form of the Iliad-saga Ajax son of Ileus was of much greater importance. The father Telamon and the connection with Aegina are neither of them original in the myth.?
175
DOLON.
A princely hand is skilless at the plough.
HECTOR.
’Tis ransom, then? . . . What prisoner cravest thou?
DOLON.
I said before, of gold we have our fill.
HECTOR.
For spoils and armour . . . thou shalt choose at will.
DOLON.
Nail them for trophies on some temple wall.
180
HECTOR.
What seeks the man? What prize more rich than all?
DOLON.
Achilles’ horses!P. 12, 1. 182, Achilles’ horses.]—They are as glorious in the Iliad as they are here. Cf. especially the passages where they bear Automedon out of the battle (end of XVI.), and where Xanthos is given a human voice to warn his master of the coming of death (end of XIX.). The heroic age of Greece delighted in horses. Cf. those of Aeneas, Diomedes, Eumêlus, and Rhesus himself. Murmurs of surprise.
Prize. I am dicing for my life with Fate.
HECTOR.
’Fore God, I am thy rival, if thy love
Lies there. Undying was the breed thereof,
185
And these shall never die, who bear to war
