Then did Agamemnon bid his brother go and awake the lords of his host and call a council together, while he himself went to rouse Nestor, the oldest of all the warriors. And as they passed through the host they found the sentinels sitting wide awake with their arms, like dogs that watch by a lonely sheepfold amongst the hills and listen to the cries of the savage wild beasts that come towards them through the woods. Gladly did old Nestor see them. ‘Even so keep watch, dear children,’ he said, ‘lest we allow our enemies to triumph over us.’ Out in the open field, beyond the deep trench which they had dug, the chiefs of the Greeks sat themselves down in council. To them, then, spake Nestor. ‘O friends,’ said he, ‘is there among you a man with heart so fearless that all alone he will go into the camp of the Trojans this night and there learn what are their plans for battle? If such an one there be, and he return to us scathless, great will be his fame among all men, and great the rewards that he wins.’ Then said Diomedes of the loud war-cry: ‘With willing heart will go, Nestor: yet if another man will come with me, more comfort and courage will be ours.’ Many there were who asked with eagerness to be that one who should go with Diomedes. But Agamemnon spoke. ‘Diomedes, joy of mine heart, verily shalt thou choose thine own comrade,’ he said. And Diomedes made answer: ‘If indeed I may choose, then shall I choose Odysseus, for with him as comrade we might pass through raging flames and yet return in safety.’ ‘Praise me not overmuch, Diomedes,’ said Odysseus, ‘but let us be going. The night wanes, the stars have gone onward, and the dawn is near.’ Then did they don their armour, and set forth, like two lions seeking their prey, treading underfoot the men who lay still and dead in their blood. And through the dark night they heard the shrill cry of a heron, and knew it for an omen sent by the gods, a promise to them of victory. In the Trojan camp was a council also held. And brave Hector offered great rewards to the man who would go in the darkness to where the Greek ships lay and find out how it fared with the men of Agamemnon, and what plans were theirs. And Dolon, the swift-runner and ill-favoured man, but one who owned great riches of gold and bronze, stood up and said: ‘To the swift-sailing ships will I go as thy spy. But for reward must I have the horses and bronze chariots of Achilles.’ ‘No other man of the Trojans shall mount these horses,’ swore Hector. Then Dolon took his bow, on his shoulders cast a great wolf-skin, on his head drew his helmet of ferret-skin, and with his sharp javelin in his hand, went forth towards the seashore. In the darkness Odysseus heard his stealthy footsteps. ‘Lo, here is some man, Diomedes,’ he said; ‘I know not whether he be a spy or a plunderer of the dead. But let him pass, and then will we rush on him and take him.’