As we know from 10.56, 10.126–127, 10.180, and 10.198–199, the council first gathers at the watch station and then crosses the ditch to hold their deliberations. Dolon’s supposition of where to find them, then, is wrong, but not entirely misguided. Earlier that morning, the Trojan herald Idaios found the Achaeans assembled near the stern of Agamemnon’s ship (Iliad 7.382–383). Earlier on this night Agamemnon held a council of the leaders in his shelter (Iliad 9.89–90), and it was there that the embassy returned to deliver their news (Iliad 9.669). Another council had been held at night at Nestor’s ship (Iliad 2.53–54). That such councils are usually held at the ships gives even greater meaning to the choice of a meeting place across the ditch (see on 10.194 and 10.199).
Another question that scholars have raised about his supposition, however, is whether Dolon is ignorant of the ditch and wall, since he does not mention them. In discussing another so-called problem connected to the wall—namely, whether or not it is present in Iliad 10, and if it is, how Agamemnon can see over it to the Trojan camp at the beginning of the Book—Shewan (1911:181) argues against such prosaic demands of the poetry. Fenik (1964:60) argues that presuming some version of the Doloneia in which there is no wall goes too far, and he notes that, in the Rhesos (213), Dolon is aware of the ditch and the wall but intends to be able to spy anyway. So when Dolon says that he will go through the Achaean encampment all the way to Agamemnon’s ship, we can easily understand that he is including making his way across the ditch and wall. But, of course, he will never make it that far. Exactly how he will get over them becomes a moot point, especially given that this is a traditional story in which his fortunes are not only known but are even foretold as he leaves (see below on 10.336–337).