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[7] The trick is Homer's, but the Messenians plainly imitated it opportunely, for Homer represents Patroclus in the Iliad1 clad in the arms of Achilles, and says that the barbarians were filled with the belief that it was Achilles attacking them, and that their front ranks were thrown into confusion. Other stratagems are the invention of Homer, the coming of the two Greek spies by night among the Trojans, instead of one2 and later a man coming to Troy, who pretends to be a deserter but actually is to find out their secrets.

1 Hom. Il. 16.281

2 Hom. Il. 10.220

Pausanias. Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.

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