Rhe. Avow they not that hither came the choicest chiefs of Hellas?
Hec. Aye, and I scorn them not; enough have I to do in driving them away.
Rhe. Well, if we slay these, our task is fully done.
Hec. Leave not the present need, nor look to distant schemes.
Rhe. Thou art, it seems, content to suffer tamely and make no return.
Hec. I rule an empire wide enough, e'en though I here abide. But on the left wing or the right or in the centre of the allies thou mayst plant thy shield and marshal thy troops.
Rhe. Alone will I face the foe, Hector. But if thou art ashamed, after all thy previous toil, to have no share in firing their ships' prows, place me face to face at least with Achilles and his host.
Hec. 'Gainst him thou canst not range thy eager spear.
Rhe. Why, 'twas surely said he sailed to Ilium.
Hec. He sailed and is come hither; but he is wroth and takes no part with the other chieftains in the fray.
Rhe. Who next to him hath won a name in their host?
Hec. Aias and the son of Tydeus are, I take it, no whit his inferiors; there is Odysseus too, a noisy knave to talk, but bold enough withal, of all men he hath wrought most outrage on this country. For he came by night to Athena's shrine and stole her image and took it to the Argive ships; next he made his way inside our battlements, clad as a vagrant in a beggar's garb, and loudly did he curse the Argives, sent as a spy to Ilium; and then sneaked out again, when he had slain the sentinels and warders at the gate. He is ever to be found lurking in ambush about the altar of Thymbræan Apollo nigh the city. In him we have a troublous pest to wrestle with.
