“when we lay in ambush below Troy,”[1414] and he adds afterwards, “for we had advanced too far from the ships.”[1415] Scouts are despatched to learn whether the Trojans will remain near the ships when drawn away far from their own walls, or whether “they will return back to the city.”[1416] Polydamas also says, “Consider well, my friends, what is to be done, for my advice is to return now to the city, for we are far from the walls.”[1417] Demetrius (of Scepsis) adds the testimony of Hestiæa[1418] of Alexandreia, who composed a work on the Iliad of Homer, and discusses the question whether the scene of the war was about the present city, and what was the Trojan plain which the poet mentions as situated between the city and the sea, for the plain seen in front of the present city is an accumulation of earth brought down by the rivers, and formed at a later period. 37. Polites also, “who was the scout of the Trojans, trusting to his swiftness of foot, and who was on the summit of the tomb of the old Æsyetes,”[1419] was acting absurdly. For although he was seated “on the summit of the tomb,” yet he might have observed from the much greater height of the citadel, situated nearly at the same distance, nor would his swiftness of foot have been required for the purpose of security, for the tomb of Æsyetes, which exists at present on the road to Alexandreia, is distant five stadia from the citadel. Nor is the course of Hector round the city at all a probable circumstance, for the present city will not admit of a circuit round it on account of the continuous ridge of hill, but the ancient city did allow such a course round it.[1420]