Homeric Questions and On the Cave of the Nymphs

A > "Apart and conspicuous, but the people were smaller.

But when they reached where it was fitting for them to lie in ambush,
In a river where there was a watering place for all beasts,
There they sat, covered in shining bronze.
And there, apart, two scouts of the people sat,
B > waiting when they might see sheep and crooked-horned oxen.
And they quickly came forward, and two shepherds followed,
Delighting in pipes; but they did not foresee the trap.
They, seeing them before, ran at them, and quickly then
Cut off the herds of oxen and the beautiful flocks
Of white sheep, and killed the shepherds.
But they, when they heard the great clamor near the oxen,
Γ > sitting before the shrines, immediately mounted their horses
And pursued, and quickly arrived.
And having stood, they fought a battle by the banks of the river,
And threw at one another with bronze-tipped spears."

Δ And what follows. For it confuses the many. Are the two armies enemies of the inhabitants, and friends to each other, or one an enemy, the other of those from the city? And against whom are they at odds? Against each other, or against those inside? And concerning whom is "they were not yet obeying"? Is it those inside, or the other army? And again, whose "were arming for an ambush"? Is it the other army, or those inside? And whose are the scouts, and whose is the booty? And how, if the booty is of those inside, is the ambush from them? E And who are those coming out? The two armies, or the others? And generally, what is the structure of the plot? Alexander of Cotiaeum says it thus: two armies besieging the city are enemies, either considering sacking it or taking half and leaving. But those inside were not accepting the challenge. But the enemies, he says, made some ambush