while, bursting into tears, he spake:—
“Take me alive, and ye shall have from me A ransom: there is store of brass and gold And well-wrought steel, of which a princely share My father will bestow when he shall hear Of me alive and at the Grecian fleet.”
The crafty chief Ulysses answered thus:— “Take heart, and cease to think of death, but tell, And truly, why thou camest to our fleet: Was it to strip the bodies of the dead? Camest thou, sent by Hector, as a spy Among our ships, or of thine own accord?”
And Dolon answered, trembling still with fear:— “Hector, against my will and to my hurt, Persuaded me. He promised to bestow On me the firm-paced coursers, and the car Engrailed with brass, which bear the illustrious son Of Peleus, and enjoined me by the aid Of darkness to approach the foe and learn Whether ye guard your galleys as before, Or, overcome by us, consult on flight, And, wearied with the hardships of the day, Have failed to set the accustomed nightly watch.”