177-178. mvp-comment-57-1 10.177–178 ἑέσσατο δέρμα λέοντος / αἴθωνος μεγάλοιο ποδηνεκὲς, εἵλετο δ᾽ ἔγχος Verse 177, after the caesura, and 178 are also used to describe what Agamemnon wears in 10.23–24, which is indicative of their formulaic nature and also suggestive of their use in night raid contexts generally.

179. mvp-comment-58-1 10.179 βῆ δ᾽ ἰέναι See on 10.32.

180-189. mvp-comment-59-1 10.180–189 As we discuss in the introductory essay “The Poetics of Ambush,” this simile emphasizes the sounds that are made in the dark, as well as describing a scenario of being on the defensive against a nocturnal attack (see above, pp. 63–64).

183. mvp-comment-60-1 10.183 δυσωρήσωνται is another hapax legomenon, appearing only in Iliad 10, but we can understand why it might only appear once in our extant Homeric epics from the simile’s interaction with its context. Although in other parts of the poem there are similes describing predatory animals attacking domestic flocks at night, and the retaliation of men and dogs (see e.g. Iliad 11.546–557), here the simile is for a particularly “painful” night watch. It is painful both because the young men on guard duty have had an extremely hard day of fighting and because the Trojans are camped out for the first time, closer than ever, during this night. (See also the commentary on 10.331 for more on words that appear only in Iliad 10.)

194. mvp-comment-61-1 10.194 τάφροιο διέσσυτο The act of crossing the ditch for the meeting conveys a spatial significance to the need the Achaeans feel and the plan they will construct to meet it. In Iliad 7, the Achaeans created a new boundary on the landscape by building their wall and ditch. The wall was built in the dark, before the dawn ( Iliad 7.433). In the subsequent daytime battles, the boundary created by these two elements is of the utmost importance. M. L. West notes that “once they have been built they are frequently mentioned again, in every book from the eighth to the eighteenth, as well as in the twentieth and twenty-fourth” (1969:255). The boundary is mentioned either in order to indicate who is winning at that point or whenever the tide of battle turns. In the battle that takes place on the day before the night of Iliad 10, for example, Hektor pens in the Achaeans behind the wall so that the entire space is filled with men and horses ( Iliad 8.213–216). The Achaeans rally after some inspiration from the gods and cross the ditch on the offensive ( Iliad 8.253–265), but Hektor forces them back over the ditch as he once again takes the upper hand ( Iliad 8.340–343). And, of course, the boundary will become even more significant the day after the night of Iliad 10, as the Trojans themselves cross it and threaten the ships with fire (the Trojans pass over the ditch and wall at the end of Iliad 12). Since the wall and ditch act as a threshold between the camp and the battlefield, one way of understanding the leaders crossing the ditch to hold their meeting is as a shift toward being on the offensive. Only the ditch is mentioned here: Petegorsky (1982:238n13) suggests that the “absence” of the wall presages its breach the next day. (For more on the poetic possibilities and traditional associations offered by the Achaean wall, see Boyd 1995.)

199. mvp-comment-62-1 10.199 ἐν καθαρῷ, ὅθι δὴ νεκύων διεφαίνετο χῶρος Another significant feature of the landscape on this night is the number of corpses left on the battlefield. No truce has been allowed this time for the gathering of the dead (compare the truce agreed to at Iliad 7.407–411). The Trojan camp is also in a space specifically said to be free of corpses (this same line is also used at Iliad 8.491), and a picture of the landscape covered with corpses is repeatedly evoked (10.298, 10.343 = 10.387, 10.469). Such a detail is a reminder of the intense battle of the day before, which is the reason both for the embassy to Achilles and for this meeting, which will result in the spying mission and ambush. It is also a harbinger of the even greater battle that will happen on the next day, adding to the eerie atmosphere of the nighttime landscape.

205. mvp-comment-63-1 10.205 θυμῷ τολμήεντι For the importance of a “daring (or enduring) heart” for spying missions or ambush, see below on 10.231, 10.244, and 10.248, as well as “The Poetics of Ambush.”

206-210. mvp-comment-64-1 10.206–210 Fenik (1964:41) excoriates these lines, calling the idea that the Trojans might retreat into the city “wholly fatuous,” and he uses them to inquire “whether some special grounds, other than general incompetence, were responsible for the K poet’s extraordinary failure here.” But the assumption that a different, individual author composed these lines leads to the kind of evaluation that Fenik makes. Instead, using approaches based in oral poetics, we can see how these lines do not ignore the situation that the Iliad has presented, but rather resonate with what is to come. Diomedes and Odysseus will indeed capture (and kill, ἕλοι can mean both) someone at the edge of the enemy ( ἐσχατόωντα): in fact, this can allude to both Dolon, from whom they will get information, and Rhesos, whose army is described as encamped at the edge: ἔσχατοι ἄλλων (10.434). Just so, the Trojans will not consider retreating on this night, though they will the next night (see Iliad 18.243–313). Petegorsky (1982:225–230) argues that Nestor’s proposal anticipates the later Trojan council scenes, during the next day’s fighting, particularly that in Iliad 18, in anticipation of Achilles’ return.

211-212. mvp-comment-65-1 10.211–212 καὶ ἂψ εἰς ἡμέας ἔλθοι / ἀσκηθὴς When he proposes the spying mission, Nestor includes the crucial completion of the mission: namely, that the spy return to report what he has found out. The return of the spy ‘unscathed’ connects to the greater theme, and it shares concepts with the theme of the journey. One concern with any of these nighttime or secret operations, such as spying missions or ambushes, is that, if those who undertake them do not return, their comrades may never know what happened to them. Whether, how, and by whom a spy has been killed cannot be verified, and it is such knowledge that allows a warrior to be buried and honored after death. This lack of knowledge provides a strong contrast to daytime battle, in which one comrade will see another fall, and will subsequently go to protect his corpse or to attack his killer in retaliation. That sequence in battle is a pattern we see again and again in the Iliad. The same contrast between a death in open battle (bringing honor) and a death that occurs on a journey (resulting in an inability to bury and honor the person lost because of a lack of knowledge as well as the lack of the corpse) is expressed by loved ones of Odysseus in the Odyssey. The sentiment is first expressed by Telemakhos:

But now the gods have willed it otherwise, devising evils,

235 who have made that man [Odysseus] unseen beyond all

mortals, since I would not grieve this way at his death

if among his comrades he was subdued in the district of the Trojans

or in the hands of his friends, when he had finished war.

All the Achaeans would have made a burial mound for him,

240 and he would have won great fame [ kleos] even for his child in the future.

But now the Arpuiai whirlwinds have snatched him up without fame [ kleos].

He is gone, unseen, unheard of. And for me pain and laments

he left behind.

Later ( Odyssey 14.365–372), Eumaios says something very similar in response to the disguised Odysseus’ story about the fate of Odysseus. He, too, contrasts the unknown circumstances of Odysseus’ presumed death at sea with a death in battle, after which a man’s comrades can bury him. A known death in battle brings kleos, which, having as its root meaning ‘something heard’ (see Nagy 1979:16, §2n3), is contrasted in Telemakhos’ words not only with an “unglorious” death ( Odyssey 1.241) but also with Odysseus himself, who is “unseen” and “unheard of” ( Odyssey 1.242). In Iliad 10, in the same line as ἀσκηθής (10.212), Nestor promises kleos to the man who undertakes this mission, but the return is necessary for that kleos to come about. For if a man were to go out on a nighttime spying mission, or an ambush, and not come back, he, too, would be unseen, unheard of, and could not be buried or honored properly.

211-212. mvp-comment-65-2 So the need to complete the mission, the need for a return, is one way that a spying mission resembles a journey in epic diction. Coming back unscathed, ἀσκηθής, is used elsewhere in Homeric epic of a return home or of some other completion of a journey. It is used prominently in Odyssey 5 of the need to have both Telemakhos ( Odyssey 5.26) and Odysseus ( Odyssey 5.144, 5.168) return to their fatherland ( πατρίδα γαῖαν). At the very beginning of the story of his wanderings, Odysseus says that he would have returned home unscathed if the sea currents had not prevented him from making his way to Ithaka ( Odyssey 9.79–81). Thus arriving unscathed seems especially associated with sailing journeys, as Odysseus also uses it in one of his Cretan lies, in this case for an easy sailing from Crete to Egypt ( Odyssey 14.255; cf. Solon fr. 19 [West], who says that Kypris sent him home unscathed [ askēthēs] in a fast ship for a good homecoming [ nostos] to his own land). In one additional case in the Odyssey, Odysseus tells Achilles that Neoptolemos was very successful in battle and ambush (see pp. 47–48), and later adds that he was never hurt in the fighting—he was ἀσκηθής, never touched by a weapon. Although the context has referred to both battle and ambush, the word actually describes Neoptolemos as he boards his ship for the journey home, again displaying the connection between sailing journeys and nostos. The “Odyssean” language that many scholars have noted in Book 10, and have even cited as proof of its non-Iliadic nature, may be a thematic result, not only of the greater prominence of ambush in the Odyssey, but also of this thematic overlap between spying missions or ambushes and journeys, especially journeys home and those over the sea.

211-212. mvp-comment-65-3 In the Iliad, ἀσκηθής is used in one other context, and that is, in fact, daytime battle. As Achilles prays to Zeus that Patroklos will be successful in saving the Achaeans and their ships from the Trojan onslaught, he asks as well that Patroklos then return unscathed to him at the swift ships: ἀσκηθής μοι ἔπειτα θοὰς ἐπὶ νῆας ἵκοιτο ( Iliad 16.247). Patroklos is not going on an ambush here, and there is no concern that what happens to him will be unknown. Instead, the fact that he is going as Achilles’ substitute must also be a special kind of departure for battle, and the desire for the substitute to come back unscathed evokes this same word (see Nagy 1979:292–295 for Patroklos as a ritual substitute for Achilles in this battle). Zeus’ reaction is to grant the first part of Achilles’ prayer, but not the safe return: σόον δ’ ἀνένευσε μάχης ἐξαπονέεσθαι ( Iliad 16.252). Petegorsky (1982:220–221) argues that these two uses of ἀσκηθής in the Iliad highlight the isolation of Patroklos going into battle without Achilles, in contrast to the pairing of Diomedes and Odysseus.

212-213. mvp-comment-66-1 10.212–213 κλέος ‘glory in song’ and δόσις ‘gift’ are not incompatible rewards in Homeric epic. Throughout the Iliad material prizes are a physical manifestation of a warrior’s place in the song tradition and are a major sources of contention among heroes. In Iliad 1, when Agamemnon threatens to take Achilles’ prize ( γέρας), the woman Briseis, Achilles says that he does not intend to continue fighting ἄτιμος (‘without honor’, Iliad 1.171). As Casey Dué has noted, the dispute over prize women in Iliad 1 is actually about τιμή ( Iliad 1.161, 1.174, 1.412, 1.503–510). This word is generally translated as ‘honor’, but it conveys specifically the honor heroes receive after death in cult and song as immortalized heroes (Dué 2002:45; see also Nagy 1979:118). In Iliad 9, Achilles, struggling with his mortality, rejects the gifts of Agamemnon and at the same time rejects the glorious death he will have in battle ( Iliad 9.410–416). So too do the competitions for the prizes at the funeral games for Patroklos in Iliad 23 have far greater significance than their material value. In Iliad 23.700–737, Ajax and Odysseus compete in wrestling, foreshadowing their competition for the arms of Achilles after his death and for the title of “best of the Achaeans.” In Iliad 23, neither can decisively defeat the other, and eventually Achilles calls the contest a draw, pronouncing that the victory (along with two equal prizes) belongs to both. (The individual contests have been analyzed by various scholars. See e.g. Douglas Frame’s analysis of the chariot race in Frame 2009:131–172 and further bibliography ad loc.) In Iliad 24, Achilles accepts a ransom for Hektor’s body, even though he knows that he too will soon be dead. He asks Patroklos not to be angry with him for accepting it, and says that they will share it equally ( Iliad 24.589–595).

212-213. mvp-comment-66-2 When we understand that prizes are inextricably linked with kleos in this tradition, we can better understand episodes in which heroes act in ways that we might call “selfish,” episodes which are often incompatible with modern notions of heroism (see e.g. Stanford 1965 ad Odyssey 9.229). The Little Iliad, according to Proklos, narrated the theft of the Palladion, a story that survives in several variant versions in which Diomedes or Odysseus or both try to get sole possession of it, betraying the other (see Gantz 1993:643–644). Likewise, Rick Newton (2008 and 2009) has discussed the way that Odysseus seeks gifts at the expense of his comrades throughout his adventures. Newton suggests that, in the Odyssey, guest-gifts function like a geras does in the Iliad: guest-gifts, whatever their intrinsic material value, are tokens of honor and prestige for their recipient (cf. Odyssey 5.29–42 and 11.355–361). Odysseus’ heroic pursuit of guest-gifts generates delays in his homecoming and is instrumental in causing the death of his comrades along the way. See also Newton 2005, especially p. 141: “[In] Odyssean hospitality … the acquisition of property … enhances the honor and status of the hero … But that heroic hospitality, like successful warfare in the Iliad, comes at a price, and a high one … Odysseus will reach Ithaca late and alone.” An analogy can be made between the Iliadic deaths of countless Achaeans due to Achilles’ wrath over his stripped geras and the loss of Odysseus’ entire fleet and crew during his Odyssey nostos.

212-213. mvp-comment-66-3 Note also that Nestor says there is kleos for undertaking a spying mission, making it parallel to fighting in battle. Nestor promises the sheep and a share at a banquet (see Nagy 1979:118–141 for connections between hero cult and portions at feasts), but the horses of Rhesos also become the reward and a visible sign of the success Diomedes and Odysseus achieve.

219. mvp-comment-67-1 10.219 βοὴν ἀγαθὸς See below on 10.283 for more on this epithet.

220. mvp-comment-68-1 10.220 ἒμ’ ὀτρύνει κραδίη καὶ θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ In a simile in Iliad 12, when Sarpedon is about to make his attack on the Achaean wall, we see a lion on ambush ( Iliad 12.299–308). The lion is hungry, but it is nevertheless his audacious heart that bids him to attack the flocks and go to their densely packed enclosure ( κέλεται δέ ἑ θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ / μήλων πειρήσοντα καὶ ἐς πυκινὸν δόμον ἐλθεῖν, Iliad 12.300–301). He is desperate enough that he will make his attack even though the flocks are guarded by dogs and men. The formula θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ thus is used to indicate the motivation to undertake a particularly risky endeavor, and it seems to be used frequently, though not exclusively, for nighttime or ambush situations. Here, the nocturnal nature of the lion’s attack is not explicit, but is implied by the animals being in their pen and by the use of the adjective pukinos for that pen (see above on 10.5–9 for more on the associations between pukinos and ambush). Other examples of ambush contexts in which we see the formula θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ include the suitors’ plan to ambush Telemakhos ( Odyssey 4.658), Odysseus preparing the wine-skin before he meets Polyphemos ( Odyssey 9.213), and the ambushes Odysseus describes in one of his Cretan lies ( Odyssey 14.217–219). See below on 10.244 for more on the qualities of κραδίη καὶ θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ and their association with nighttime spying missions and ambush. See also below on 10.297 for more on similes involving lions at night.

222. mvp-comment-69-1 10.222 On the significance of the verb ἕπομαι, which is also used of gods who “accompany” heroes, see on 10.285.

224-226. mvp-comment-70-1 10.224–226 Anthony Edwards (1985:22) identifies two leaders as a common feature of the Homeric ambush, and so Diomedes’ request for a partner may already indicate that the spying mission that Nestor proposed will become an ambush. Robert Rabel (1991, see esp. 288–291) sees an emphasis in Iliad 10 on cooperation among heroes in order to achieve success that contrasts strongly with Achilles’ choice to “go it alone” in Iliad 9. In Diomedes’ description of the ideal night raid team, νόος and νοέω are cited three times in three lines, together with μῆτις (cf. Iliad 23.590). It is no surprise, therefore, that he chooses Odysseus. For Odysseus’ association with mētis and noos, see on 10.137 and 10.247, respectively.

227-231. mvp-comment-71-1 10.227–231 We can compare this list with the list of those willing to duel with Hektor (after Nestor’s rebuke) in Iliad 7.162–168. These lists comprise a kind of subtheme that occurs in these types of “selection” situations but also in situations in which the Achaeans “regroup” to fight back (e.g. Iliad 8.261–266, after Diomedes leads the charge). This subtheme seems related both to the idea of volunteering for dangerous assignments, and, in the larger scheme, to the contention among the heroes for who is the “best”—for more on which, see below on 10.236.

228. mvp-comment-72-1 10.228 Αἴαντε As discussed above on 10.53, at one time this dual referred to the fighting team of Ajax and Teucer, which would be a most appropriate meaning here. The dual, then, could mean not that Ajax son of Telamon and Ajax son of Oileus each individually volunteered (no other two warriors are listed as volunteering this way), but rather that Ajax and Teucer volunteered as a team. This interpretation is strengthened by the fact that two-horse chariot teams are described in the dual (as at 10.530–531), as are Diomedes and Odysseus when they are working as a unit, as we will see. (See below on 10.243.) Likewise, when Diomedes makes his case for taking a partner on the expedition (10.222–226), he uses the dual to describe the advantages of such a pair. The Aktorione-Molione, the possibly conjoined twins who fought Nestor in his youth ( Iliad 11.709–752 and 23.638–642), are, of course, yet another pair of warriors who are described in the dual. The dual thus seems to be a traditional way of referring to a closely linked fighting team.

228. mvp-comment-72-2 If the dual in this line is referring to Ajax and Teucer, then there is no mention of Ajax the son Oileus volunteering. We can speculate that in some performances of Iliad 10, especially those composed at a time when the dual was understood to refer to Ajax and Teucer, this dual meant that fighting team, although in our version Ajax son of Oileus is specifically named as someone to gather for the meeting at 10.110. It is worth noting that in Iliad 7.164, when the two Ajaxes are included among the heroes who volunteer to fight Hektor one-on-one, the form attested there is the plural, not the dual.

231. mvp-comment-73-1 10.231 ὁ τλήμων Ὀδυσεὺς On this epithet, Milman Parry offers the following:

MHV 82 For more on the significance of this epithet, see below on 10.248, where we connect Odysseus’ epithets from τλάω with the endurance and daring required for ambush. Here, we see both semantic fields of the word at work: ὁ τλήμων Ὀδυσεὺς is followed in the very next line by the phrase: αἰεὶ γὰρ οἱ ἐνὶ φρεσὶ θυμὸς ἐτόλμα (“For the spirit [ thumos] in his heart [ phrēn] was always daring”; on the thumos as the motivator in risky undertakings, see also on 10.220 above). If we connect Odysseus’ epithet to the theme of ambush, we need not state with Parry that it could never have been invented for the Iliad, or assert that it is more appropriate for the Odyssey (Hainsworth 1993 ad loc.). Rather, it is appropriate in an ambush context, wherever that theme is invoked. On the significance of the definite article here, see Haft 1990:46–48 (with further bibliography ad loc.), who notes that although ὁ + epithet phrases are relatively rare in Homer, ὁ τλήμων Ὀδυσεὺς is one of four such phrases applied to Odysseus in the Iliad and Odyssey, and should be understood as demonstrative (i.e. “that [well-known] enduring Odysseus”). See also on 10.363.

234. mvp-comment-74-1 10.234 Τυδείδη Διόμηδες ἐμῷ κεχαρισμένε θυμῷ For commentary on this full line formula of address, see on 10.144 above.

236. mvp-comment-75-1 10.236 τὸν ἄριστον Agamemnon tells Diomedes to choose the “best” man. The question of who is the “best of the Achaeans” is a theme that runs throughout the Iliad, as Gregory Nagy has shown. In the catalogue of ships ( Iliad 2.761), the narrator asks the Muses who was the best ( aristos) of the Achaeans, and answers that it was Ajax, so long as Achilles had mēnis (2.768–769). But as Nagy points out, the claim to being best of the Achaeans is a disputed and divided one in the Iliad, precisely because the acknowledged best, Achilles, has withdrawn. The Odyssey tradition is not divided, however. There, Odysseus is the unquestioned best (Nagy 1979:26–35 and passim). So too in the Doloneia tradition is Odysseus the “best,” and here he is so in part because of his association with nostos ‘return, homecoming’, as Diomedes states explicitly (see below on 10.243).

236. mvp-comment-75-2 An interesting correlation to this competition to be the “best” in epic is that ambushes feature the “best” men. (See also Edwards 1985:18–24.) There are several examples of the best men going on ambush in Homeric epic. Achilles states that Agamemnon does not go on ambush with the best ( σύν ἀριστήεσσιν, Iliad 1.227). Idomeneus’ description of ambush involves a gathering of the best ( ἄριστοι, Iliad 13.276). Those in the Wooden Horse are the best ( Odyssey 4.272, 8.512–513, 11.523–524), and the best men are selected for ambushes of Bellerophon ( Iliad 6.188), Proteus ( Odyssey 4.409), and Agamemnon ( Odyssey 4.530–531). Even in a Cretan lie, Odysseus says that he used to choose the best men for ambush ( Odyssey 14.217–218). We can also see that the best are involved in ambush warfare because both Odysseus and Achilles participate in nighttime ambushes (see “The Poetics of Ambush”).

237-240. mvp-comment-76-1 10.237–240 The narrator makes clear that Agamemnon is referring to his brother Menelaos when he advises Diomedes not to choose his partner based on social status. See above on 10.30–31 and 10.121 for how Menelaos is portrayed as not the best choice. It is, however, an unexpected argument coming from Agamemnon, who depends on social status for his authority, as we see in his dispute with Achilles in Iliad 1 (see also Wilson 2002 for her argument that Agamemnon relies on this kind of status). It is also Agamemnon who insists on his status as kinglier ( βασιλεύτερός, 10.239) in Book 9 (160), arguing that Achilles should yield to him for that reason. (Although Odysseus leaves that argument out when he delivers Agamemnon’s offer to Achilles, Achilles seems to know it anyway, as he says in his response that Agamemnon should give his daughter in marriage to someone who is kinglier than he [ Iliad 9.392].) This word thus provides a telling thematic contrast to the embassy, and perhaps is an indication that the two nighttime missions are performance alternatives of each other. We should also note that, in ambush, being the “best” is defined strictly in terms of the skills needed to be successful, and not in terms of social standing. The question of how to define the “best” that underlies the conflict between Agamemnon and Achilles is made explicitly moot for this spying mission.

240. mvp-comment-77-1 10.240 This verse was omitted altogether in the text of Zenodotus (that is to say, it was not present in his text). It was present in the texts of Aristarchus, but he athetized it. The A scholia on these lines say that it was athetized because it is redundant ( περισσὸς), tacked on ( παρέλκων), and not in keeping with Homer’s dianoia, all of which are common reasons given in the scholia for athetesis. As noted above (see on 10.51–52), Alexandrian editors frequently drew on their own sense of what is appropriate and poetic to determine the authenticity of verses, and athetized those they felt were not in keeping with those standards. It was the practice of Aristarchus, however, to leave verses that were well attested in the texts available to him in his text, and to indicate by way of the athetesis mark his objection to them. Zenodotus’ text seems to have been considerably shorter than that of Aristarchus. We may compare 10.253, which received treatment similar to 10.240. It was omitted in the text of Zenodotus, and present but athetized in the texts of Aristarchus and Aristophanes of Byzantium. Martin West (2001a) has speculated that Zenodotus’ shorter text derives from an Ionian rhapsodic performance tradition, as opposed to the Athenian tradition on which the other Alexandrian editors seem to have relied.

241. mvp-comment-78-1 10.241 βοὴν ἀγαθὸς See below on 10.283 for more on this epithet.

243. mvp-comment-79-1 10.243 πῶς ἂν ἔπειτ᾽ Ὀδυσῆος ἐγὼ θείοιο λαθοίμην Diomedes chooses Odysseus to go with him on the expedition, and that choice is marked in the formulaic language by a shift to the dual from 10.254 onwards, where the two heroes are understood to be a closely linked pair. (See also above on the dual Αἴαντε at 10.53 and 10.228.) The ensuing events of this book have long troubled scholars, who find the actions of Odysseus and Diomedes during this night raid to be un-Homeric and even un-heroic. (See “The Poetics of Ambush.”) But if we look at the Greek epic tradition as a whole, taking into account what we know of the now lost poems of the Epic Cycle, we find that Diomedes and Odysseus traditionally excel at the kind of ambush warfare depicted in Iliad 10. Diomedes is a stellar fighter in the polemos, but he is equally good at the lokhos. The sack of Troy is the ultimate night ambush, and both Odysseus and Diomedes are involved in several nighttime escapades leading up to and during its fall, including the following.

243. mvp-comment-79-2 In testimonium 34 [Bernabé] of the Cypria, a lesser-known version of Polyxena’s story has her being wounded by Odysseus and Diomedes during the sack.

Scholia to Euripides, Hecuba 41

Euripides and Ibycus say that Polyxena’s throat was cut by Neoptolemos. But the composer of the Cypria says that she died after being wounded by Odysseus and Diomedes in the capture of the city.

In the Little Iliad, Odysseus seems to have been connected to the ambush and capture of Helenos, the prophetic son of Priam, and it is Diomedes, according to Proklos, who brings back Philoktetes from Lemnos. (Cf. Sophocles’ Philoktetes, where Odysseus is the one who goes to get him.) Philoktetes’ presence is required, according to Helenos, for the successful capture of Troy:

μετὰ ταῦτα Ὀδυσσεὺς λοχήσας Ἕλενον λαμβάνει, καὶ χρήσαντος περὶ τῆς ἁλώσεως τούτου Διομήδης ἐκ Λήμνου Φιλοκτήτην ἀνάγει.

Little Iliad, from the summary of Proklos

After this Odysseus captures Helenos in an ambush, and as a result of Helenos’ prophecy about the city’s conquest Diomedes brings Philoktetes back from Lemnos.

Also narrated in the Little Iliad, according to Proklos, was the theft of the Palladion, which survives in several variant versions in which Diomedes or Odysseus or both try to get sole possession of it, betraying the other. The Palladion is yet another item that had been foretold to be required for the successful capture of Troy. In these ambush style episodes we find Odysseus and Diomedes frequently working as a team, though sometimes they split up the work or act on their own. As the episode with the Palladion suggests, the advantages of working as a team do not cancel out the desire on the part of each hero to obtain great glory for himself.

243. mvp-comment-79-3 Still another attested collaborative ambush by Odysseus and Diomedes is the killing of Palamedes. In Cypria testimonium 30 [Bernabé], Diomedes and Odysseus drown Palamedes, ambushing him while he is fishing:

Pausanias 10.31.2

Palamedes was drowned when he went out to catch fish. Diomedes was the killer and also Odysseus, as I know from reading it in the epic poem the Cypria.

In all of these episodes Diomedes is linked, as in the Doloneia, with Odysseus. Indeed, Odysseus has long been understood to be the hero of mētis. (See on 10.137 and 10.148 above.) But it should not be forgotten that, like Diomedes, Odysseus has his fair share of traditional fighting. The Odyssey ends with Odysseus about to engage the families of the suitors in battle, and with Laertes rejoicing that he will have a contest for aretē with his son and grandson ( Odyssey 24.515). When Demodokos sings about the fall of Troy in Odyssey 8, Odysseus is the hero raging “like Ares” through the streets of Troy ( Odyssey 8.515). In Iliad 11.310–319, Odysseus and Diomedes together stave off a rout of the Greek forces before both are wounded. Recent scholarship has focused on the oppositions set up between mētis and biē in Homeric poetry (see e.g. Nagy 1979:45–48), but as Donna Wilson (2005) has recently pointed out, the two concepts are also complementary in many respects.

243. mvp-comment-79-4 10.243 This verse is also used at Odyssey 1.65 (and compare how the phrasing of Odyssey 1.66 is similar to that of 10.244). There, it is Zeus speaking in response to Athena, saying that he could not overlook Odysseus. Since Iliad 10, like the Odyssey, features Odysseus in a prominent role, the formula seems to be useful and good for introducing Odysseus in a starring role.

244. mvp-comment-80-1 10.244 πρόφρων κραδίη καὶ θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ At both 10.220 above and 10.319 below, the formula ἔμ’ ὀτρύνει κραδίη καὶ θυμὸς ἀγήνωρ (“my heart and audacious spirit rouse me”) is used when Diomedes and Dolon, respectively, respond to the call for a spying mission. Here, Diomedes says that he is choosing Odysseus as his partner in the mission because his heart and audacious spirit are ready and eager for all kinds of labors; these personal qualities of courage and boldness are what impel men to go on nighttime or spying missions or on ambushes. We can compare the opposite in Achilles’ denunciation of Agamemnon in Iliad 1.225–228, when he says that Agamemnon has the heart ( κραδίη) of a deer and never arms himself for war or goes on an ambush with the best of the Achaeans, enduring it in his spirit ( θυμός). It is clear that there is a deep-rooted association between these qualities and the daring feats of these types of missions. See also on 10.231 and 10.248.

245. mvp-comment-81-1 10.245 φιλεῖ δέ ἑ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη On the relationship between Odysseus and Athena, see on 10.275.

246. mvp-comment-82-1 10.246 ἐκ πυρὸς αἰθομένοιο Petegorsky points out that this particular image calls to mind “the background of Achilles’ challenge to the Achaeans to avert the danger that threatens the ships by employing μῆτις. His words acquire a strong ‘horizontal resonance’ by pointing back to Achilles’ challenge and forward to the Patrocleia [cf. Iliad 16.81]. And yet, his description of Odysseus also has a strong ‘vertical resonance’; for it evokes an image of Odysseus that corresponds remarkably well to that which we find in the Odyssey” (1982:193). The types of resonance that Petegorsky reveals remind us of how oral poetry can have complex ways of creating meaning that are different from those in written texts.

247. mvp-comment-83-1 10.247 ἄμφω νοστήσαιμεν, ἐπεὶ περίοιδε νοῆσαι Odysseus’ primary heroic identity is concerned with nostos ‘homecoming’, which is the subject of the epic devoted to him. (See Nagy 1979:35 and 38–39.) Douglas Frame has shown that the words nostos and noos ‘mind’ share the verbal root * nes-, whose meaning has to do with “returning to life and light” (a meaning best understood, according to Frame, in the context of solar symbolism), and that the two concepts are combined on a conceptual and verbal level throughout the Odyssey. (Cf. e.g. the opening lines of the Odyssey, 1.3–5: πολλῶν δ’ ἀνθρώπων ἴδεν ἄστεα καὶ νόον ἔγνω … ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων [“Many are the cities of men and their ways of thinking he came to know, as he strove to win the life and homecoming of his companions.”]) See especially Frame 2005a and 2005b; on the root * nes, see also Frame 2009 and Bonifazi 2009. We can see that the deep connection between nostos and noos is built into the traditional character of Odysseus and comes into focus whenever he is featured, be it in the Iliad or the Odyssey.

247. mvp-comment-83-2 We have already seen some indications (on 10.211–212) that spying missions share some traditional language and thematic associations with journeys. Diomedes’ choice of Odysseus as the master of the kind of journey called a nostos (due to his quality of noos) is another example of this commonality. See also below on 10.509.

248. mvp-comment-84-1 10.248 πολύτλας δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς In this book Odysseus is also referred to as ὁ τλήμων Ὀδυσεὺς (“that enduring Odysseus,” 10.231 and 10.498; cf. Iliad 5.670 and Odyssey 18.319). Although Odysseus is polutlas ‘much enduring’ five times in the Iliad, the epithet is by far more common in the Odyssey, where it is naturally associated with the many travails he endures in that epic (cf. Odyssey 1.4: πολλὰ δ’ ὅ γ’ ἐν πόντῳ πάθεν ἄλγεα [“many are the pains he suffered”]). It is significant therefore that this formula appears directly following the verse in which Odysseus’ Odyssean association with nostos is conjured. But as we saw in our discussion of the etymologically related epithet τλήμων on 10.231, this formula may well have another aspect to it. When Achilles excoriates Agamemnon in Iliad 1 for his lack of participation in the hardships of war, he says:

“You drunkard, with a dog’s eyes and a deer’s heart,

whenever it comes to arming yourself for war with the rest of the warriors

or going on an ambush with the champions of the Achaeans,

you don’t have the heart to endure it. That looks like death to you.”

The verb Achilles uses is τέτληκα. In Idomeneus’ description of ambush warfare in Iliad 13 (discussed above, pp. 45–47), the verb τλάω is not used, but the need for endurance is likewise emphasized. Warriors on an ambush must endure fear, the discomfort of sitting/crouching as they wait for a long period of time to attack, and the cold of the night (as evidenced by the clothing chosen for ambush, clothing which Odysseus forgets to take both in Iliad 10 and in the story narrated in Odyssey 14). When Menelaos tells Telemakhos the story of the wooden horse in Odyssey 4, he praises Odysseus’ endurance ( ἔτλη) on that occasion ( Odyssey 4.271–272): οἷον καὶ τόδ’ ἔρεξε καὶ ἔτλη καρτερὸς ἀνὴρ / ἵππῳ ἔνι ξεστῷ (“What a thing he accomplished and endured, the mighty man, inside the wooden horse”). Odysseus’ steadfast character and ability to endure the lokhos are contrasted in Menelaos’ anecdote with that of the weaker-willed heroes, Diomedes, Menelaos himself, and Antiklos, all of whom Odysseus has to restrain from succumbing to Helen’s trick. In Odyssey 9, Odysseus describes how in the cave of the Cyclops he hid beneath the ram and held on, awaiting dawn “with an enduring heart” ( τετληότι θυμῷ, 9.435; for this same formula in other ambush contexts, see also Odyssey 4.447 and 4.459, Menelaos’ ambush of Proteus, and Odyssey 24.163, the description by the shades of the suitors of how Odysseus ambushed them). This kind of waiting—during the dark of night, in a hiding position—is what a warrior undergoes in an ambush. When Athena tells Odysseus in Odyssey 13 that he will need to conceal his identity in order to take control of his home, family, and kingdom again, she tells him he will have to endure ( σὺ δὲ τετλάμεναι καὶ ἀνάγκῃ, 13.307). He will have to take them by ambush, not outright force. (Cf. Odyssey 13.309–310: ἀλλὰ σιωπῇ / πάσχειν ἄλγεα πολλά, βίας ὑποδέγμενος ἀνδρῶν [“{You must} suffer many pains in silence, submitting to the biē of men.”]) Odysseus’ ability to withstand this particular kind of hardship is an important part of his epithet polutlas, and the endurance that Menelaos remembers as being so remarkable during the ambush of Troy is fundamentally connected to Odysseus’ ability to withstand the many algea he suffers on his journey home. (On the connection between the tla- compounds that describe Odysseus and the endurance required for ambush, see also Edwards 1985:17, and on the second half of the Odyssey as an ambush, see again Edwards 1985:35–37.)

249-250. mvp-comment-85-1 10.249–250 Τυδείδη μήτ᾽ ἄρ με μάλ᾽ αἴνεε μήτε τί νείκει· / εἰδόσι γάρ τοι ταῦτα μετ᾽ Ἀργείοις ἀγορεύεις Gregory Nagy sees this response by Odysseus as a meta-commentary on the epic tradition and the question of who is the best of the Achaeans (see 10.236). Nagy writes: “It is as if he were saying: ‘The Achaeans are aware of the tradition, so please do not exaggerate.’ With the words of Odysseus himself, the epic tradition of the Iliad has pointedly taken Odysseus out of contention” (1979:34). But just as Ajax can be called best for battle so long as Achilles remains withdrawn ( Iliad 2.768; Nagy 1979:27, 31), Odysseus here can contend for “best” at nighttime missions, since Achilles is not available now, either.

251-253. mvp-comment-86-1 10.251–253 μάλα γὰρ νὺξ ἄνεται, ἐγγύθι δ᾽ ἠώς, / ἄστρα δὲ δὴ προβέβηκε, παρῴχηκεν δὲ πλέω νὺξ / τῶν δύο μοιράων, τριτάτη δέ τι μοῖρα λέλειπται The amount of time that the events of Iliad 9 and Iliad 10 take up has been used, by Leaf and others, to argue that Iliad 10 does not belong to the Iliad. Of course, the events related in Iliad 11.1–18.242 all take place on one day, so narrative time seems quite flexible, expanding as the dramatic intensity increases. Thus this crucial night could dramatically include the “three-part” structure implied in these lines: the first part would include the embassy to Achilles, the second part when the Achaeans, other than Agamemnon, slept, and now this episode, comprising the remaining third part. In any case, these lines call attention to the urgency of the time, as well as suggesting the possibility of multiple episodes during the same night.

253. mvp-comment-87-1 10.253 According the scholia in the Venetus A, Zenodotus “did not write” this line. For more on the Alexandrian editorial procedures, see on 10.240 above.

254. mvp-comment-88-1 10.254 ὣς εἰπόνθ᾽ This is the first dual verb used for Diomedes and Odysseus. As soon as Odysseus agrees to be Diomedes’ partner, they are spoken of as a team, working together in every way. For more on the use of the dual verb forms, see on 10.53, 10.228, and 10.243.

254-272. mvp-comment-89-1 10.254–272 The passage that begins here functions much like an arming scene. In a well-known article, James Armstrong (1958) shows how formulaic arming scenes are employed at climactic moments in the Iliad with great effect. He analyzes in detail the four major arming scenes of the Iliad (those of Paris in Iliad 3, Agamemnon in Iliad 11, Patroklos in Iliad 16, and Achilles in Iliad 19), arguing that formulaic language in these passages is manipulated for various poetic purposes, and that each scene resonates with what came before, so that there is a cumulative effect over the course of the poem.

254-272. mvp-comment-89-2 In the night raid/ lohkos tradition, the dressing and arming of heroes would no doubt have had a poetic purpose similar to the expanded arming scenes of conventional battle. These scenes contribute both to suspense, by increasing the audience’s anticipation of the coming ambush or raid, and to characterization, as the details of each dressing or arming passage reveal important aspects of the hero’s character as a fighter. But even more importantly, the passages serve to signal that the poet is moving into a different poetic register. The poet transitions by way of such scenes from one megatheme to another, and the alternative style of clothing is emblematic of not only this alternative mode of fighting but also an alternative poetics.

254-272. mvp-comment-89-3 The armor described here is in many ways atypical. Most distinctive is what the heroes wear on their heads. Diomedes and Odysseus wear leather skull caps ( κυνέην … ταυρείην … ἥ τε καταῖτυξ κέκληται—the word καταῖτυξ is used only here in extant Greek literature), and the history of Odysseus’ cap is elaborately described: Odysseus’ own maternal grandfather Autolykos stole it and gave it away as a gift to Amphidamas, who likewise gave it as a gift to Molos, who then gave it to the Cretan Meriones, who now gives it to Odysseus along with the other weapons Odysseus will carry, a bow and quiver and sword. Meriones must give Odysseus all of this gear because when Odysseus leaves his tent, unlike the other heroes who dress in skins and cloaks and take their weapons, he takes only his shield. (See above on 10.149.)

254-272. mvp-comment-89-4 But both heroes, it should be noted, are given weapons and armor by the two leaders of the guards, Meriones and Thrasymedes, who came out into the night fully armed. Diomedes, we are told here, borrows a sword and shield from Thrasymedes, just as Odysseus uses Meriones’ bow, quiver, sword, and helmet. Such borrowing may reflect the impromptu nature of the mission—a quality that will be seen again when it changes from a spying mission to an ambush/night raid. Or it may give the mission a communal aspect, which can also be seen in the rest of the leaders remaining in this same spot, beyond the ditch, until Diomedes and Odysseus return. They are all invested in the success of these two.

254-272. mvp-comment-89-5 But while the clothing they wear and weapons they carry are unusual for extant Homeric epic, they are completely appropriate for a night raid, where, unlike the polemos, it is important not to be conspicuous. (See also Shewan 1911:55.) The history of the cap as a gift indicates that such an object has prestige as well as utility, and possession of it may indicate “the best,” who would wear such equipment for these dangerous and important missions. That it was originally stolen by the thief extraordinaire Autolykos seems related to the stealth that it affords the wearer, and also makes it even more fitting both for Odysseus personally, who is very much like his grandfather, as we know from Odyssey 19.395–412, and for the night mission that requires stealth. Petegorsky (1982:200) also argues that the helmet connects all of these elements of Odysseus’ identity: “This helmet functions as a kind of identity marker for Odysseus, and it is in effect the equivalent of the scar in Odyssey Nineteen, which was the result of a wound inflicted on the hero by the tusk of a boar.”