“… a thousand fires blazing against the walls of Troy/and the shrill of pipes and flutes …”

At the start of book 10 of the Iliad, Agamemnon can’t sleep. Possibly he’s a bit freaked out by his men’s conviction that of course they’re going to kick butt, so long as Agamemnon is leading them. Then again, it could be those thousand Trojan fires burning out there, too. Or the fact that he’s convinced Zeus has taken Hector’s side, and that that–rather than his own poor leadership skills–are to blame for their losses. (As it turns out, he’s right. But even so.)

Menelaus can’t sleep either, what with the guilt about so many men having crossed the sea to fight a war on his account and all. One imagines he’s been having a lot of sleepless nights, all told.

ANyway, Agamemnon and Menelaus agree that what’s called for now is stealth, guile, and a few men stupid daring enough to go out and do some serious spywork.

It will surprise no one whatsoever that when Nestor (who seemed to be sleeping just fine until Agamemnon woke him up) asks for volunteers, Diomedes says, “I’m up for that.”

Diomedes is allowed to choose one spying companion. He proves he’s not quite as foolish as he seems when he goes right for Odysseus. They say some prayers to Athena and head out.

All the Greeks seem to be wearing lion and leopard pelts at this point, by the way. Not sure why this first came up here in book 10, but it did.

Anyway Hector, who apparently also can’t sleep, puts out a call for spies among the Trojans, too. A guy named Dolon volunteers.

(Break for thoughts of Spy vs. Spy. Only, you know. With bronze-age battle armor.)

Dolon, alas, is only wearing a wolf pelt, and besides, he didn’t get to choose a spy buddy. So of course Diomedes and Odysseus capture him almost immediately.

Dolon: “I’ll tell you everything! Just don’t kill me!”
Odysseus: “Okay, spill.”
Dolon tells them everything. In great detail.
Diomedes kills him.

Explain to me again why Hector dies, but Diomedes (“the man who fights the gods does not live long “) survives to the end of the book?

Anyway, everything included the location of some brand new king who’s come to help the Trojans out and has some really nice horses with him. Diomedes and Odysseus go raiding. Athena breathes fury into Diomedes. Apparently Zeus is sleeping just fine, too, because he doesn’t stop Athena, even though breathing fury into someone seems to go directly against his new no-one-helps-the-mortals-out-but-me rule.

Diomedes and Odysseus kill the king. They steal the horses. They run back home before Apollo–who’s apparently awake, if less alert than Athena–can rouse some Trojans to run after them. All the Greeks are impressed by the new horses.

Nestor: “Surely Athena is on your side!”
Odysseus: “No, no, it’s no big deal, really. The gods are so powerful–if they were helping us out, we’d have even better horses. We just found out about these from some spy.”

Well, to be fair, Athena didn’t breathe battle fury into him.

Even so, after a bath and some time in the hot tub, Odysseus joins Diomedes in offering the goddess some honeyed wine. Perhaps because when it comes to the gods, even though you can’t win, it’s still best not to take any chances.

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