|
"No man of knightly soul
would deign by stealth to slay his foe; he meets
him face to face. This man who skulks, you say,
like a thief, and weaves his plots, him will I take
alive, and at your gates' outgoings set him up
impaled, a feast for vultures ..." [Rhesus 2
to Hector 1. Euripides,
Rhesus
510]
|
|
Rhesus 2 is chiefly remembered because he came
from Thrace to defend Troy
with great pomp and circumstance, but died on the
night of his arrival, without ever engaging in
battle.
|
|
The Trojans camp in the plain
|
In the tenth year of the
Trojan War, the nereid
Thetis kissed Zeus' knees
and touched his chin, begging him to avenge her son
Achilles, whom
Agamemnon had
outraged. And while
Achilles, nurturing his
wrath, refused to fight, the god, listening to her
prayers, acquainted the Achaeans with defeat, so
that they would learn to honour him that so often
had brought them victory. This is why
Hector 1, the pillar of
Troy, could make fierce
attacks against the wall and ditch that the
Achaeans had built to protect themselves,
threatening to destroy their camp and their ships.
And so Hector 1,
after a victorious day, besieged the besiegers, and
the Trojans did not seek refuge within the walls,
but instead camped outside the city, midway between
the enemy ships and the river Scamander. And when
night came, they lit innumerable fires through the
plain producing an impressive sight, and round each
one sat fifty men with their horses and chariots
beside them, waiting for
Dawn to renew their attack.
|
|
Agamemnon cannot
sleep
|
In the meantime,
Agamemnon could not
snatch a moment's sleep, having glanced from the
Achaean camp at the enemy plain with its many fires
burning. For he feared that after ten years of
efforts the whole expedition would end in disaster.
And since a sleepless king means a sleepless court,
several commanders were woken up to discuss the
situation; for the enemy was sitting close, and the
Trojan plans being unknown, even a night attack
could be feared.
|
|
Hector 1's temerity
|
These movements were perceived by the Trojans,
who from the plain noticed the torches going back
and forth. When Hector 1
was informed of the activity in the Achaean camp,
he supposed that the Achaeans, after suffering
defeat the day before, had decided to return to
Hellas. And believing that their escape deprived
him of his final victory, he lamented:
"Ah Fortune,
that you should in triumph's hour rob of his prey
the lion, before my spear with one swoop make and
end of Argos' host!"
[Hector 1.
Euripides,
Rhesus
56]
Such was Hector 1's
self-confidence at the time when
Zeus, not for his but for
Achilles' sake, let him
be victorious.
|
|
Aeneas talks for
moderation
|
Assuming then that the lights moving in the
enemy camp meant that the Achaeans were boarding
the ships in panic, he wished to attack them, and
by preventing their flight, catch the elusive
victory. But his intent was stopped by
Aeneas, who admonished
him:
"Would that
your prudence matched your might of hand! So is it:
one man cannot be all-wise, but diverse gifts to
diverse men belong—prowess to you, to others
prudent counsel."
[Aeneas to
Hector 1. Euripides,
Rhesus
105]
There was no reason, continued
Aeneas, to deduce from
the fires that the enemy was fleeing. Nor was it
wise, he added, to lead the host over the trenches
in the hush of night, perhaps to find that the
enemy was not in the act of fleeing, but waiting
and well prepared to make a stand.
|
|
The Trojan spy
|
Since others shared
Aeneas' opinion,
Hector 1 resolved to
send a spy to find out which stratagems, if any,
the Achaeans were conceiving. It was then that
Dolon 1 volunteered to help, and consented to risk
his life, as he put it, for the sake of his
country. Yet not without a reward; for as he
explained:
"... all work
that has reward in prospect, is with double
pleasure wrought" [Dolon 1 to
Hector 1. Euripides,
Rhesus
162]
This was no difficulty, since
Hector 1, as it appears,
was a generous man, ready to share many things,
except his royal power. The exception did not pose
a difficulty to Dolon 1 either, who clearly stated
that he was not interested in carrying the burden
of royalty. He also refused to be taken, through
marriage, into the royal family, and likewise he
rejected gold, since he was son of the sacred
herald Eumelus 3, a rich man. And when
Hector 1's other guesses
also failed, Dolon 1 revealed that he would consent
if he were presented, after victory, with the
immortal horses of
Achilles, which once
Poseidon had given to
Peleus.
Hector 1 replied with
an oath:
"Let
Zeus himself ... hear me swear that no
other Trojan shall ride behind those horses, and
that you shall rejoice in them for the rest of your
days." [Hector 1
to Dolon 1. Homer,
Iliad
10.329]
This was the agreement; and cherishing both
promise and prospect in his heart, Dolon 1 went on
his mission, disappearing in the evil night.
|
|
The Achaean spies
|
In the meantime, similar thoughts occupied the
minds of the assembled Achaean commanders, who
deemed it opportune to send someone to spy the
Trojans, on the chance of overhearing some talk
about their plans. And after offering the rewards
they judged appropriate (or perhaps only those
rewards that could be afforded, since they were not
as great as that promised to Dolon 1),
Odysseus and
Diomedes 2 were
appointed to steal into the Trojan camp.
|
|
Arrival of Rhesus 2
|
It was approximately at this time, on this fatal
night, that Rhesus 2, king of Thrace, having
crossed the Hellespont with a host, appeared in the
plain, purposing to assist the city that so many
times before had entreated him to come to its help.
Wearing a magnificent golden armour, and driving
a chariot beautifully finished with gold and
silver, drawn by horses whiter than snow, Rhesus 2
was a fantastic sight. And to let his arrival gain
even more splendour, he declared that already the
day after he would storm the enemy camp, and
falling upon the fleet, he would slay the Achaeans.
And for that prowess, he asserted, no one else was
needed except himself and his Thracians.
|
|
Reproaches
|
Allies are almost always welcome. Yet
Hector 1 did not receive
this golden-mailed commander with an open heart.
For feeling that victory was at hand, he thought
that the Thracian had arrived for the feast rather
than for the fight. He therefore reproached him his
late arrival, saying:
"Long, long
since should you have come to aid this land
..."
and
"You cannot
say that you did not come to your friends, nor
visited them, for lack of bidding. What Trojan
herald, or what embassy came not with instant
prayer for help ...? What splendour of gifts did we
not send to you?"
[Hector 1 to Rhesus 2.
Euripides,
Rhesus
396ff.]
This said, Hector 1
also reminded him of how he in the past had come to
Thrace to help Rhesus 2 get rid of his enemies,
thus securing the Thracian kingdom for him.
|
|
Boasts
|
But as Hector 1 soon
learned, this man had simply been too busy, and as
vexed as anyone else on account of his own absence.
For each time he had wished, during the last ten
years, to march to Troy,
the Scythians, he
explained, had fallen upon his kingdom. But now,
having defeated them, taken hostages, imposed
tribute, and so on, he was finally at
Troy; and although his
coming was late, he said, it was nevertheless
timely, since Hector 1,
in ten years, had achieved nothing. By way of
contrast, he now purposed to defeat the Achaeans in
one battle, and besides march afterwards against
Hellas, and destroy it for all time to come.
When they had thus exchanged enough boasts and
reproaches, Hector 1
assigned a place to encamp and rest to Rhesus 2 and
his troops.
|
|
The spies meet
|
In the meanwhile,
Odysseus and
Diomedes 2,
conveniently equipped for their mission, left the
Achaean camp, picking their way among the dead of
the last day's battle. Soon, as they went through
the darkness of night, they discovered a man coming
towards them, and having hidden among the dead
beside the path, they let him pass and go a little
way, before they pounced on him from behind.
|
|
Dolon 1 captured
|
On hearing footsteps behind him, Dolon 1 (for
that was the man) stopped, since these could be
Trojans, perhaps bringing him a message from the
camp. But when the other two came closer, he knew
them for enemies and started to run as fast as he
could, although in the wrong direction. As he came
closer to the Achaean outposts,
Diomedes 2 reached
him, threatening him with his spear, and Dolon 1
came to a halt pale with fear and with his teeth
chattering in his mouth.
|
|
Interrogation
|
When his pursuers gripped his arms, Dolon 1
burst into tears, begging to be taken alive, and
promising to ransom himself with the bronze and
gold that his father would gladly pay, on learning
that his son had been made a prisoner.
Odysseus replied by
exhorting him to pull himself together, and not be
troubled by the thought of death. And then he let a
rain of questions fall on Dolon 1: on his reason to
leave his camp, on the whereabouts of his commander
in chief, on the position of the Trojan sentries,
on the Trojan plans, and on the places where
everybody was sleeping.
|
|
Dolon 1's answers
|
Dolon 1, for whom life was now more precious
than Achilles' immortal
horses, did pull himself together in his own way,
and answered truthfully all the questions, telling
that Hector 1 had sent
him, revealing where this same commander now was,
how the guards kept a lookout, in which parts of
the camp the allies of the Trojans were sleeping,
and which the positions were of the Carians, the
Mysians, the Phrygians, the Lycians, and several
others. And Dolon 1's fear make him so helpful that
he even came with proposals:
"If your idea
is to raid our positions, what about the Thracians,
newcomers, on their own, at the very end of the
line? Rhesus, their king ... is with them. That man
has the loveliest and biggest horses I have ever
seen. They are whiter than snow and they run like
the wind. And his chariot is cunningly wrought with
gold and silver, and he brought a huge armour of
gold with him too, a wonderful sight."
[Dolon 1 to Odysseus.
Homer,
Iliad
10.435]
|
|
Death of Dolon 1
|
Having truthfully revealed all these excellent
things, Dolon 1 expected to be taken as a prisoner
to the ships, or to be tied up, while the other two
found out whether he had told them the truth or
not. But Diomedes 2,
having decided not to let the man ever be a
nuisance again, fell on him with his sword, just as
Dolon 1 was about to plead for mercy, and cut off
his head, which, as they say, met the dust before
it ceased to speak. Such was the end of Dolon 1.
|
|
The Thracian encampment
|
Now Odysseus and
Diomedes 2 went ahead
through the night, the arms, and the dead, coming
soon to the Thracian encampment, where they found
the equipment neatly piled and the men asleep, with
a pair of horses beside each one of them.
Soon they discovered the horses whiter than
snow; and they knew that the man beside them,
breathing heavily under the influence of evil
dreams (as they say), was Rhesus 2.
|
|
The carnage
|
In the silence of the night, the two saboteurs
quickly divided the tasks among them; and while
Diomedes 2 killed the
men with his sword,
Odysseus dragged aside
the bodies, so that the horses might easily pass
and not be frightened if they trod over a corpse.
In such way they slew twelve men, Rhesus 2 being
the thirteenth; and having unfastened the horses
whiter than snow from the chariot, they mounted and
hastily returned to the Achaean camp.
|
|
Tears and laughter
|
Such was the end of Rhesus 2, who came to the
war with decorated chariot, and ornamented armour,
but for having been caught by death unawares, is
remembered for all that wasted paraphernalia.
Some may find his fate tragic, and had they
known the man personally, they would have probably
lamented and wept. But others, not founding
proportion between his looks and ambition, and on
the other hand, the way in which he, so suddenly,
was deprived of both life and glory, may find it
laughable. For Nemesis,
they may argue, is known for reestablishing
proportion, through the punishment of excessive
pride.
Not seldom the experiences of men, in war or in
peace, are met with either tears or laughter. And
those who weep believe themselves to be more loving
and pious, taking everything to heart, and sighing
and groaning in the company of others like them.
But those who laugh at human fate, not out of
cruelty, but for knowing that human happiness has
an end, deem it more dignified to face with a smile
what fate will anyway impose. This is their method
for reducing misery in their hearts; and for
despising tears, they believe themselves to be
wiser.
|
|
Amazement
|
In any case, with either tears or laughter, few
escape amazement. And certainly not Hippocoon 1 and
the other Thracians. For they were amazed beyond
measure when they discovered the hideous carnage,
the absence of the horses whiter than snow, and
their dead king. And since amazing things may have
an amazing origin, there were those who believed
that the carnage had been staged by treason within
the Trojan camp.
|
|
Bath and supper
|
But Hector 1, who had
no joy in seeing his ally dead, knew that spies had
killed the king, and that for him nothing could be
done except burn him with splendour, thereby
calming tears. As for cruel laughter, it moved to
the Achaean camp, where
Odysseus and
Diomedes 2, after
taking a bath, had supper together, during which
they made libations to
Athena, the goddess who
helped them.
|
|
Another with identical name
|
Rhesus 1 is one of the
RIVER GODS.
|
|
|
|
|