13. Dolon seems to have been eminent for wealth, and Hector summons
him to the assembly as one of the chiefs of Troy. He was known to
the Greeks, perhaps, from his having passed between the two armies
as a herald. Ancient writers observe, that it was the office of
Dolon that led him to offer himself in this service. The sacredness
attached to it gave him hopes that they would not violate his
person, should he chance to be taken; and his riches he knew were
sufficient to purchase his liberty. Besides these advantages, he
probably trusted to his swiftness to escape pursuit.

14. Eustathius remarks upon the different manner in which the Grecians
and Trojans conduct the same enterprise. In the council of the
Greeks, a wise old man proposes the adventure with an air of
deference; in that of the Trojans, a brave young man with an air of
authority. The one promises a small gift, but honorable and
certain; the other a great one, but uncertain and less honorable,
because it is given as a reward. Diomede and Ulysses are inspired
with a love of glory; Dolon with the thirst of gain. They proceed
with caution and bravery; he with rashness and vanity. They go in
conjunction; he alone. They cross the fields out of the road, he
follows the common track. In all this there is an admirable
contrast, and a moral that strikes every reader at first sight.

15. [Commentators are extremely in the dark, and even Aristarchus
seems to have attempted an explanation in vain. The translator does
not pretend to have ascertained the distance intended, but only to
have given a distance suited to the occasion.]--TR.

16. Ulysses makes no promise of life, but artfully bids Dolon, who is
overpowered by fear, not to think of death. He was so cautious as
not to believe a friend just before without an oath, but he trusts
an enemy without even a promise.

17. [{'Ossai gar Troon pyros escharai}--As many as are owners of
hearths--that is to say, all who are householders here, or natives
of the city.]--TR.

18. It seems barbarous in Diomede thus to have killed Dolon, but
Eustathius observes that it was necessary to their success, as his
cries might have put the Trojans on their guard.

19. An allegorical manner of saying that they were awakened by the
morning light.

20. [Homer did not here forget himself, though some have altered {tris
io tetrakaidekaton}.--Rh