ramparts. While this man Was wroth with Agamemnon, we maintained A strife of far less peril with the Greeks, And I was ever ready to encamp By night beside the galleys, which we hoped To make our prize; but now I fear the might Of swift Pelides. He will not remain Content upon the space between the fleet And town, where Greeks and Trojans wage a war Of changeful fortune, but will strive to take The city, and to carry off our wives. March we then homeward. Let my words prevail— It must be so. The gentle Night now keeps The nimble-footed hero from the war. But if tomorrow, issuing forth in arms, He find us here, there are among us those Who will have cause to know him. Gladly then Will he find refuge who escapes his arm In sacred Troy, and many a Trojan corpse Will feed the dogs and vultures. May mine ear Hear of it never. But if ye will heed My words, though sorrowful, ye shall be safe Assembled in the city squares at night. The lofty towers and gates, with massive beams Polished and strongly fitted each to each, Will keep the town. Tomorrow we shall take, At dawn, our station on the towers, arrayed In armor, and his difficult task will be, Far from his ships, to fight us from below; And after he has tired his high-necked steeds With coursing round the ramparts to and fro, Back to his galleys he must go; nor yet With all his valor can he force his way Into the town to lay its dwellings waste— The dogs will feed upon his carcass first.”
And crested Hector answered with a frown: “The counsel thou hast given, Polydamas, Pleases me not—that we return to be Pent up in Troy. Are ye not weary yet Of lying long imprisoned within walls And towers? The time has been that in all lands, Wherever human speech is heard, the fame Of Priam’s city, for its treasured gold And brass, was in all mouths. Those treasures now Have passed away; our dwellings have them not. Much that we had was sold on Phrygia’s coast, And in Maeonia’s pleasant land, for Jove The mighty was displeased with us. But now, When politic Saturn’s son hath granted me To win great glory at the fleet, and hold The Greeks imprisoned by the sea, refrain, Idler, from laying counsels such as these Before the people. Not a Trojan here Will