Take me alive, and I will pay the price Of my redemption. I have gold at home, Brass also, and bright steel, and when report Of my captivity within your fleet Shall reach my father, treasures he will give450 Not to be told, for ransom of his son. To whom Ulysses politic replied. Take courage; entertain no thought of death.[16] But haste! this tell me, and disclose the truth. Why thus toward the ships comest thou alone455 From yonder host, by night, while others sleep? To spoil some carcase? or from Hector sent A spy of all that passes in the fleet? Or by thy curiosity impell’d? Then Dolon, his limbs trembling, thus replied.460 To my great detriment, and far beyond My own design, Hector trepann’d me forth, Who promised me the steeds of Peleus’ son Illustrious, and his brazen chariot bright. He bade me, under night’s fast-flitting shades465 Approach our enemies, a spy, to learn If still as heretofore, ye station guards For safety of your fleet, or if subdued Completely, ye intend immediate flight, And worn with labor, have no will to watch.470 To whom Ulysses, smiling, thus replied. Thou hadst, in truth, an appetite to gifts Of no mean value, coveting the steeds Of brave Æacides; but steeds are they Of fiery sort, difficult to be ruled475 By force of mortal man, Achilles’ self Except, whom an immortal mother bore. But tell me yet again; use no disguise; Where left’st thou, at thy coming forth, your Chief, The valiant Hector? where hath he disposed480 His armor battle-worn, and where his steeds? What other quar4ers of your host are watch’d? Where lodge the guard, and what intend ye next? Still to abide in prospect of the fleet? Or well-content that ye have thus reduced485 Achaia’s host, will ye retire to Troy? To whom this answer Dolon straight returned Son of Eumedes. With unfeigning truth Simply and plainly will I utter all. Hector, with all the Senatorial Chiefs,490 Beside the tomb of sacred Ilius sits Consulting, from the noisy camp remote. But for the guards, Hero! concerning whom Thou hast inquired, there is no certain watch And regular appointed o’er the camp;495 The native[17] Trojans (for _they_ can no less) Sit sleepless all, and each his next exhorts To vigilance; but all our foreign aids, Who neither wives nor children hazard here, Trusting the Trojans for that service, sleep.500 To whom Ulysses, ever wise, replied. How sleep the strangers and allies?—apart? Or with the Trojans mingled?—I would learn. So spake Ulysses; to whom Dolon thus, Son of Eumedes. I will all unfold,505 And all most truly. By the sea are lodged The Carians, the Pæonians arm’d with bows, The Leleges, with the Pelasgian band, And the Caucones. On the skirts encamp Of Thymbra, the Mæonians crested high,510 The Phrygian horsemen, with the Lycian host, And the bold troop of Mysia’s haughty sons. But wherefore these inquiries thus minu4e? For if ye wish to penetrate the host, These who possess the borders of the camp515