THE TAKING OF ILIOS 



footed setting, then spread abroad the voice of the 

 lieralds, telling the people to flee and launch in the 

 hollow sea their fair-peaked ships and loose the 

 cables. Then raising the rush of pinewood fire and 

 liuming the fences of their well-stablished tents 

 tliey saUed away in their ships from the Rhoeteian 

 ^hore to a haven over the sea in fair-crowned Tenedos, 

 ploughing the grey waters of Helle, daughter of 

 Athamas. Only Sinon " remained behind, the son of 

 Aesimus, his limbs voluntarily scarred with stripes, 

 a deceitful hero, concealing a hidden snare and 

 sorrow for the Trojans. And even as when hunter 

 men cast a net about the stakes and set a meshed 

 ambush for the wild beasts that roam the hills, and 

 one chosen apart from the others secretly creeps 

 beneath the thick branches, a hidden scout of the 

 hunt to watch the nets * : even so, his marred limbs 

 marked about vriih stripes, he devised grievous 

 destruction for Troy ; and the streaming blood flowed 

 over his shoulders from wounds purposely made. 

 All night long the flame raged about the tents, 

 belching forth smoke that curled in wandering eddy, 

 and loud-roaring Hephaestus urged it on. Yea, and 

 Hera herself, that gives light to men,'' the mother 



* The XivdiTTrii was the person who watched the nets to 

 see what entered them. Pollux v. 17, Hesych. s.v. Xivorrrji ; 

 rf. Aristoph. Peace 1178 iyui 5' icTT-rjKa 'SLvoTrrw/xevos and 

 schol. there. 



<= Hera as " bringer of light " is attested by the fact that 

 Phosphoros (the Alorning Star or Venus) was sometimes 

 regarded as the star of Hera : Aristot. JDe mundo 2 6 tov 

 <Pu](T<p6pov dv 'A(ppodiTT]s, oi Si 'Hpas vpoffayofxvovffiv. Pliny, 

 y.H. 11. 37 speaking of the " sidus appellatum Veneris" 

 says " In magno nominum ambitu est. Alii enim lunonis, 

 alii Isidis, alii Matris Deum appellavere. " 



597 



