Telemachus recalls the Trojans opposing the Achaeans at Troy.
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“‘Nestor,’ said he, ‘son of Neleus, honour to the Achaean name, you ask whence we come, and I will tell you. We come from Ithaca under Neritum, {28} and the matter about which I would speak is of private not public import. I seek news of my unhappy father Ulysses, who is said to have sacked the town of Troy in company with yourself. We know what fate befell each one of the other heroes who fought at Troy, but as regards Ulysses heaven has hidden from us the knowledge even that he is dead at all, for no one can certify us in what place he perished, nor say whether he fell in battle on the mainland, or was lost at sea amid the waves of Amphitrite. Therefore I am suppliant at your knees, if haply you may be pleased to tell me of his melancholy end, whether you saw it with your own eyes, or heard it from some other traveller, for he was a man born to trouble. Do not soften things out of any pity for me, but tell me in all plainness exactly what you saw. If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, either by word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed among the Trojans, bear it in mind now as in my favour and tell me truly all.’”
The Trojans sat in council around the horse in their place of assembly.
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“The bard inspired of heaven took up the story at the point where some of the Argives set fire to their tents and sailed away while others, hidden within the horse, {73} were waiting with Ulysses in the Trojan place of assembly. For the Trojans themselves had drawn the horse into their for tress, and it stood there while they sat in council round it, and were in three minds as to what they should do. Some were for breaking it up then and there; others would have it dragged to the top of the rock on which the fortress stood, and then thrown down the precipice; while yet others were for letting it remain as an offering and propitiation for the gods. And this was how they settled it in the end, for the city was doomed when it took in that horse, within which were all the bravest of the Argives waiting to bring death and destruction on the Trojans. Anon he sang how the sons of the Achaeans issued from the horse, and sacked the town, breaking out from their ambuscade. He sang how they overran the city hither and thither and ravaged it, and how Ulysses went raging like Mars along with Menelaus to the house of Deiphobus. It was there that the fight raged most furiously, nevertheless by Minerva’s help he was victorious.”
“If my brave father Ulysses ever did you loyal service, either by word or deed, when you Achaeans were harassed among the Trojans, bear it in mind now”
·Remembered
The Trojans press Ulysses fiercely around Achilles’s dead body.
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“Would that I had been killed on the day when the Trojans were pressing me so sorely about the dead body of Achilles, for then I should have had due burial”
·Reported
Demodocus sings that Jove’s evil falls upon the Trojans after the chieftains’ quarrel.
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“Here was the beginning of the evil that by the will of Jove fell both upon Danaans and Trojans”
·Reported
The Trojans draw the horse into their fortress and debate whether to break it, cast it from the rock, or retain it as an offering.
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“For the Trojans themselves had drawn the horse into their for tress, and it stood there while they sat in council round it, and were in three minds as to what they should do. Some were for breaking it up then and there; others would have it dragged to the top of the rock on which the fortress stood, and then thrown down the precipice; while yet others were for letting it remain as an offering and propitiation for the gods. And this was how they settled it in the end,”
·Remembered
The Trojans were the enemy Ulysses went to Ilius to fight.
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“to fight the Trojans in the cause of king Agamemnon”
·Remembered
Many Trojans were doomed to suffer for Helen’s sake.
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“so many, both Argives and Trojans, were in heaven’s wisdom doomed to suffer”
·Remembered
The Trojans are remembered as skilled with bow, spear, and chariots, with chariot fighting especially decisive.
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“the Trojans fight well both with bow and spear. They are excellent also at fighting from chariots, and nothing decides the issue of a fight sooner than this”
·Remembered
Minerva recalls Ulysses fighting for nine years among the Trojans over Helen.
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“when you fought for nine long years among the Trojans about the noble lady Helen. You killed many a man in those days”
·Remembered
Agamemnon recalls the bravest Trojans falling while fighting around Achilles’s body.
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“while the bravest of the Trojans and the Achaeans fell round you fighting for your body”