Ambush Read online

  The wily Odysseus does not wait to listen to the flattery heaped upon him by his comrades. He is ready to get underway immediately:

  Let’s move out. The night is well on its way

  and daybreak is near. The stars go wheeling by

  the full of the dark is gone – two watches down

  but the third’s still ours for action.29

  The Greek scouts do not wish to be seen. They arm themselves with gear suitable for night work. They hide themselves in dark skins and leather helmets which are completely unlike what warriors wear at other times, e.g. Hector of the flashing helmet. They are dressed here for stealth.30 Yet there are elements that link this episode to daytime combat. The arming of heroes is standard at the beginning of an aristeia – a scene in which a hero in battle has her or his finest moments.31 An arming scene in the Doloneia links the mission of Odysseus and Diomedes with the combat scenes of the battle books. Arming is a ritualised form of preparation for combat, and in this case for the accomplishment of a deed of bravery, and it is another method of indicating the danger of the undertaking. This night mission is different, however, in its choice of night gear; uncommon valour requires a distinguishing dress. In the night-raid tradition, the dressing and arming of heroes has a poetic impact similar to the expanded arming scenes of conventional battle.32 Like such scenes in the rest of the poem, they contribute both to the suspense by increasing the audience’s anticipation of the coming ambush or raid. The details of each dressing or arming passage reveal important aspects of the heroes’ character as a fighter.33

  Odysseus is distinguished from Achilles in many ways. Other warriors are noted for their backs, muscles or swift feet. But Homer draws attention to the eyes of Odysseus.34 The eyes indicate his foresight, provision and ability to size up a situation at a glance. Diomedes does all the killing in Book 10, but Odysseus is the first to see both Dolon and Rhesus. Spying is the perfect vehicle for expressing this practical sight, for it is, by definition, vision with a mission. As in a night ambush, almost anything goes.35

  A good omen comes to them as they set out. A night heron, sent by Pallas Athena, can be heard on their right honking in the darkness although they cannot see it.36 Odysseus is glad for the sign and prays to Athena:

  Grant our return in glory back to the warships

  once we’ve done some feat that brings the Trojans pain!37

  Homer describes graphically how they set off like a pair of lions through the black night.38 They must crawl over dead bodies on the ground as they await their victim, picking their way among the corpses ‘through piles of armour and black pools of blood’.39

  Meanwhile, in the Trojan camp, Hector wants to know if his guards are awake and alert or if they are asleep on watch. The danger is so very real he has put boys, old men and women on guard. All the city must stay awake and watch for signs of enemy movement.40 He also enlists volunteers to spy on the Greeks. Dolon, son of Eumedes the herald, speaks:

  Hector, the mission stirs my fighting blood –

  I’ll reconnoitre the ships and gather all I can.

  Come, raise that sceptre and swear you’ll give me

  the battle-team and the burnished brazen car

  that carry great Achilles – I will be your spy.

  And no mean scout, I’ll never let you down.

  I’ll infiltrate their entire army, I will,

  all the way till I reach the ship of Agamemnon!

  That’s where the captain’s must be mapping tactics now,

  whether they’ll break and run or stand and fight.41

  Dolon’s enthusiasm is not matched by his qualifications. He is described as ‘no feast for the eyes, but lightning on his feet’.42 He lacks self-criticism, suggesting that he has been spoiled by his five sisters. He is arrogant to think that he, an insignificant person, will be rewarded with the chariot and horses of the great Achilles. In offering him this reward, Hector has not thought the matter out specifically. It is ironic that Dolon and Hector speak about getting the best horses and chariot of the Greeks, whereas the result of the night’s event will be that Diomedes and Odysseus get the best horses of the Trojan camp.43

  Dolon slings bow and arrows over his shoulder and wraps himself in a grey wolf skin, symbolic of the scout.44 He puts on a cap of marten skin, takes a sharp spear and away he goes toward the ships. But Homer tells us he was never to come back from those ships with news for Hector.45

  When Dolon gets clear of the crowds of men and horses, he sets out full of eagerness. Odysseus almost immediately sees him coming and says to Diomedes:

  … Who is this?

  A man heading out of the Trojan camp!

  Why? I can’t be sure – to spy on our ships

  or loot the dead, one of the fighters’ corpses?

  Let him get past us first, into the clear a bit,

  then rush him and overtake him double quick!

  If he outruns us, crowd him against the ships,

  cut him off from his lines, harry him with your spear

  and never stop – so he can’t bolt back to Troy.46

  They lay hidden just off the path, among the dead bodies, while Dolon runs quickly by without seeing them. When Dolon gets a furlong past them and into the clear, the two men run after him. Dolon stands still, hearing a noise. He thinks someone has come from the camp to fetch him back, perhaps Hector wants to retreat. But when they are only ‘a spear-cast off’47 he realises they are enemies.

  Dolon runs as quickly as he can to escape, but they pursue him like a couple of savage dogs on the hunt, chasing a fawn or a hare through the woods, while Dolon runs whimpering before them. Odysseus and Diomedes cut him off from the Trojan line and chase him until he nearly reaches the watchmen beside the Greek ships.48

  Diomedes charges with a spear, and calls out: ‘Stop or I’ll run you through! You’ll never escape my spear!’49 As he speaks he casts his spear, but he misses Dolon on purpose, as it passes over Dolon’s right shoulder and sticks in the ground. This is the only place where a warrior purposely misses his enemy with his spear.50 The goal here is not heroic conquest of a worthy opponent, but intelligence. They must keep him alive until they get the information they want.

  The spear stops Dolon dead in his tracks. He is terrified, stammering, with teeth chattering in his mouth, and pale with fear.51 The others come up panting and seize both his arms. He bursts into tears and pleads not very nobly:

  … Take me alive!

  I’ll ransom myself! …

  father would give you anything,

  gladly, priceless ransom –

  if only he learns I’m still alive in the Argive Ships!52

  Odysseus tries to lull him into a false security:

  … Courage,

  Death is your last worry. Put your mind at rest.

  Come tell me the truth now, point by point.

  Why prowling among the ships, cut off from camp,

  alone in the dead of night when other men are sleeping?

  To loot the dead, one of the fighter’s corpses?

  Or did Hector send you out to spy on our ships,

  reconnoitre them stem to stern?

  Or did your own itch for glory spur you on?53

  There is something coldly efficient about this interrogation. Odysseus appears sympathetic, and later he even smiles at Dolon. It is, after all, Diomedes who will do the killing. Dolon admits to being a spy, lured on by the promise of Achilles’ horses.

  There is a great deal of attention paid to spatial orientation and geographical intelligence here.54 Odysseus, smiling, continues his interrogation:

  Now out with it, point by point. Hector –

  where did you leave the captain when you came?

  Where’s his war-gear lying? where’s his chariot?

  How are the other Trojans posted – guards, sleepers?

  What plans are they mapping, what manoeuvres next?

  Are they bent on holding tight by the ships, exposed?

 
; Or heading home to Troy, now they’ve trounced our armies?55

  Dolon does not think about how much damage the information can do, information he is so willing to give up in the hope of saving his own life. He is petrified with fear as he confesses:

  I’ll tell you everything, down to the last detail!

  Hector’s holding council with all his chiefs,

  mapping plans on old King Ilus’ barrow,

  clear of the crowds at camp. Guards my lord?

  Nothing. No one’s picked to defend the army.

  Only our native Trojans hold their posts –

  many as those with hearth fires back in Troy –

  our men have no choice, shouting out to each other.

  ‘Stay awake! Keep watch!’ But our far-flung friends,

  they’re fast asleep, they leave the watch to us –

  their wives and children are hardly camped nearby.56

  Odysseus asks for details not only of the night watch, but also for detailed arrangements of the Trojan camp:57

  Be precise.

  Where are they sleeping? Mixed in with the Trojans?

  Separate quarters? Tell me. I must know it all.58

  Dolon identifies the troops and gives their exact positions:

  To seaward, Carians, Paeonian men with bent bows,

  Leleges and Cauconians, crack Pelasgians – inland,

  towards Thymbra, camp the Lycians, swaggering Mysians,

  Fighting Phrygian horsemen, Maeonian chariot-drivers –

  but why interrogate me down to the last platoon?

  You really want to raid some enemy units.59

  Dolon’s question is ingenuous. He can hardly think that Odysseus is seeking this information from idle curiosity. He continues:

  There are Thracians, look, just arrived,

  exposed on the flank, apart from all the rest

  and right in their midst Eioneus’ son, King Rhesus.

  His are the best horses I ever saw, the biggest,

  whiter than snow, and speed to match the wind!

  His chariot’s finished off with gold and silver,

  the armour he brought with him, gold too.60

  The fact that Rhesus and his men are separated from the others makes them a better target for an ambush. The detailed intelligence is necessary because of the difficulties of moving and fighting in the dark. The Greeks do not wait for verification. Once they have gotten what they need to know, Diomedes tells Dolon his fate:

  Escape? Take my advice and wipe it from your mind,

  good as your message is – you’re in my hands now.

  What if we set you free or you should slip away?

  Back you’ll slink to our fast ships tomorrow,

  playing the spy again or fighting face to face.

  But if I snuff your life out in my hands,

  you’ll never annoy our Argive lines again.61

  Dolon tries to put up his hand and caress his captor’s chin. The attitude of a supplicant was to clasp the knees of the person appealed to with one hand and reach for his chin with the other and beg for mercy, but Diomedes gives him no time. He runs his sword through Dolon’s neck and cuts through both sinews; while Dolon speaks his head is rolling in the dust.62 Spies, when caught, can expect no protection or mercy.63 They pull off his leather cap, wolf skin, bow and spear, and Odysseus holds them up high and gives thanks to Athena.64

  Dolon is a living example of the coward described in 13.276–94 by Idomeneus. Ugly and arrogant, raised among sisters, he has only one of the virtues necessary for successful spying. But his speed was of no avail to him when he encountered a fleet-footed man with judgement and courage as well. Despite his name, he is devoid of cunning (dolos) and appropriately loses his head. By describing an inferior spy as a prelude to the successful foray which ends Book 10, Homer makes us accept night ambush as a part of military virtue, while showing us how this mode differs from heroic combat in broad daylight.65

  The Greeks continue toward the Trojan camp. They come first upon the Thracians, three ranks of them, all dead tired and asleep. The lack of a night watch is perfect for an ambush. They are there exactly as Dolon has described them. Odysseus and Diomedes divide the tasks to be done and act as a team.66 Odysseus offers his companion the choice, to get the horses or to kill the men. Diomedes chooses the killing. The ‘combat’ part of the mission is accomplished in complete silence. Diomedes begins the quiet carnage as Homer describes the impressionistic scene; his thirteenth victim is the Thracian King Rhesus. The Thracians never know who kills them. Rhesus’ dream suggests the ordinary shame of dying unawares. The enemies do not exchange boasts or names as they do elsewhere in the Iliad. There is no chance of ransom or the discovery of a guest friendship.67 They are not wringing victory from fully conscious individuals who recognise them as superior. They are killing silent bodies, already prone and on the ground. Except for Rhesus, none of them is identified.68

  Odysseus shows his cool intelligence by dragging the corpses out of the way, so that their retreat may not be impeded. Diomedes and Odysseus ride on horseback out of the Trojan camp, leaving behind the magnificently ornamented chariot of Rhesus among the dead Thracians. Odysseus and Diomedes stop briefly to collect the spoils of Dolon that they had left on the way and ride toward the Greek ships.69

  Some scholars still refuse to see ambushes, raids and spying as a respectable part of military operations. They identify these activities as dishonourable, the ‘tactics of transgressors’.70 Such people even question if the nighttime Odysseus is a hero to admire. Mera Flaumenhaft, for example, claims that darkness obscures the line between honourable and dishonourable. She compares the ambushers to animals that have no shame. She criticises Diomedes, who sparkles among men and gods on the battlefield in Book 5, but in Book 10 chases a lesser man in the dark, as a hound would pursue a hare or doe.71 By treating the enemy as less than human, Flaumenhaft says the victor becomes less human, too. To her, the ambushers even look like beasts. She ignores the fact that Homer is using a lion here to describe Odysseus and Diomedes as a mark of their heroism. The lion simile is frequently used of warriors in combat elsewhere in the Iliad including Diomedes72 and Achilles.73 Flaumenhaft sees it rather as a human contest deteriorating into bestial predation. It is not surprising to her that Odysseus is the first warrior to threaten to feed his conscious victim’s corpse to scavenger birds.74 His threat suggests to her something other than the notion of combat as heroic duel.75

  In response to this, we must think about the situation to which his deeds are appropriate. The Doloneia leaves us no illusions about the shamelessly grim and inhumane deeds war makes one commit. There are human virtues to be admired in the context of the conflict, for example, intelligence and foresight; Odysseus and Diomedes are, after all, intelligence operatives. They are sent forth as Achaeans against Trojans, and their glory is shared, with each other and their comrades whose morale is markedly raised by their success.76 Darkness is appropriate to the work that spies or ambushers need to do. They have to move about undetected and remain unseen.77

  While face-to-face combat may turn the tide of a battle and is an affair of glory, ambushes promise progress in the course of the war, too. They can bring honour and are eminently useful. Spying missions can often become ambushes, but this is not true of all of them. In this case, the expedition that began as a reconnaissance ends up as a raid for booty.78 On an earlier visit to Troy, Diomedes killed many Trojans and returned bearing much news but no booty. In the spying and ambush in the Iliad, Odysseus never uses a weapon except in his last ambush, when he strings the great bow that will destroy the unsuspecting suitors. His use of poison arrows points more to efficacy than glory.79

  Back in the Greek camp, the sound of the galloping horses announces their arrival. Diomedes takes the magnificent horses to his stable while Odysseus hangs the blood-stained spoils of Dolon on the stern of his own ship, until he can prepare a sacrifice for Athena. The horses, rather than any intelligence ga
thered, are the subject of conversation in the camp now. The booty provided more than enough reason for their little adventure; intelligence has turned out to be an incidental purpose. Better-trained scouts would have saluted Agamemnon and reported the story. But Diomedes and Odysseus, satisfied with themselves, just wash up, sit down to dinner and dip their cups into an overflowing bowl of wine. A couple of scouts had pulled off what a brigade of cavalry might have attempted in vain. The ill-fated Dolon, brash but not careful, had not only lost his own life but also provided the intelligence which resulted in the death of almost an entire contingent of allied soldiers. The game of espionage is not for amateurs.

  The Doloneia as Ambush

  Ambush in Book 10 is thus distinguished from heroic battle by its stealthy stratagems. Book 10 takes place at night, a unique time for military action in the Iliad. The action in this book has been criticised by some scholars as unheroic and even un-Greek. They have argued that Odysseus’ killing of Dolon is inappropriate for the epic since the killing does not take place in combat and Diomedes lacks any anger that might justify ignoring supplication in battle. Diomedes’ slaughter of the sleeping Rhesus has been viewed as non-heroic since there is no combat and the murder of a sleeping man requires no particular courage.80

  They are right in that these are not daylight battles that follow the pattern of heroic combat set up elsewhere in the Iliad, but the changes in behaviour are quite appropriate. Book 10 consists of an account of two espionage missions – one ambushing the other. This is precisely the reason for the changes in behaviour, background, theme and tone in this book. Although they are partly reconnaissance missions, Odysseus and Diomedes gain much more information that they expected, which enables them to ambush Rhesus and carry off his horses for their own glory.

  This mode of warfare is not to be scorned. Odysseus and Diomedes work in the dark in Book 10, but their deeds do not remain in the dark. Homer’s scouts return triumphant to the acclaim of their comrades. They all know that the courage required by ambush is cold-blooded. This is silent bravery, not the kind shown in public confrontations. On the battlefield there is company, but in ambush, one is alone.81 This is why Achilles taunts Agamemnon for never having the courage to go forth on ambush with the Achaean chiefs.82 Menelaus worries that no one will be brave enough for the spying mission83 and Idomeneus says that in ambush the coward will reveal himself.84