Epeisodion 3
DIOMEDE.
I take the killing, thou the stablery:
It needs keen wit and a neat hand. The post
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A man should take is where he helpeth most.
ATHENA.
Behold, ’tis Paris, hasting there toward
This tent. Methinks he knoweth from the guard
Some noise of prowling Argives hither blown.
DIOMEDE.
Comes he alone or with his guards?
630
Toward Hector’s quarters, as I deem, he plies
His message. He hath heard some tale of spies.
DIOMEDE.
Then he shall be the first dead Trojan!
Beyond the ordainèd end thou canst not go.
Fate hath not willed that Paris by thy deed
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Shall die; it is another who must bleed
To-night. Therefore be swift!
Shall melt and change in Alexander’s eyes,
Yea, till he dream ’tis Cypris, his delight P. 36, 11. 637 ff., Athena as Cypris.]—It is not clear how this would be represented on the Greek stage, though there is no reason to think there would be any special difficulty. On a modern stage it could be worked as follows:—The Goddess will be behind a gauze, so that she is invisible when only the lights in front of the gauze are lit, but visible when a light goes up behind it. She will first appear with helmet and spear in some hard light; then disappear and be rediscovered in the same place in a softer light, the helmet and spear gone and some emblems of Cypris—say a flower and a dove—in their place. Of course the voice will change too.
The next scene, where the two spies are caught and let go, is clear enough in its general structure; the details must remain conjectural.
And help in need, that meets him in the night,
And soft shall be my words to him I hate.
So speak I; but on whom my spell is set
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He hears not, sees not, though so near I stand.
PARIS.
Ho, Hector! Brother! General of the land!
Sleepest thou still? We need thy waking sight.
Our guards have marked some prowler of the night,
We know not if a mere thief or a spy.
645
ATHENA.
Have comfort thou! Doth not the Cyprian’s eye
Mark all thy peril and keep watch above
Thy battles? How shall I forget the love
