Page:The Story of the Iliad.djvu/173

Rh And Diomed answered: "Nay, but if I may choose, whom should I choose rather than the wise Ulysses? Brave is he, and prudent, and Athené loves him well."

But Ulysses said: "Praise me not overmuch, nor blame me. Only let us go, for the night is far spent."

So these two armed themselves. Diomed took a two-edged sword and a shield, and a helmet without a crest, and Ulysses a bow and a quiver and a sword, and a helmet of hide with the white teeth of a wild boar about it. Then both prayed to Athené that she would help them, and after that they went through the darkness like to two lions, trampling over dead bodies and arms and blood.

But Hector, meanwhile, was thinking on the same things, for he called the chiefs to a council and said: "Who now will go and spy among the Greeks, and see what they purpose to do on the morrow, and whether they are keeping watch through the night. A goodly reward shall he have, even a chariot and horses, the best that there are in the camp of the Greeks."