These lines function as an arming scene, as 10.254–272 did for Diomedes and Odysseus. Lord (1960/2000:89–91) uses arming scenes from Iliad 3.328–338, 11.15–55, 16.130–154, and 19.369–391 as examples of a traditional theme in Greek oral epic, and demonstrates that this theme can be expanded or compressed as the singer sees fit. Lord notes that, in Iliad 3, the arming of Paris is given in some detail, while the parallel arming of Menelaos is compressed into a single line. (That compression is what we find in the manuscripts that survive, but we should note that there is an expanded description in a third-century BCE papyrus—Allen’s papyrus 40, Hibeh 19—of the arming of Menelaos, comprising four lines, all in traditional language, but the individual pieces of armor are put on in a different order from what we find in the other surviving arming scenes.) When we compare the earlier arming scene with this one, we also see that the arming scene of Diomedes and Odysseus is described at greater length than that of Dolon here. In addition to that more expanded arming scene, the details of Dolon’s equipment are also reminiscent of the night dressing scenes earlier in the episode (see 10.21–24, 10.29–31, and 10.177–178), since Dolon puts on his animal skin now to leave for his mission, while Agamemnon, Menelaos, and Diomedes had put on theirs when rising from bed. It does not seem that Diomedes wears his lion skin while on the mission, although he is twice compared to a lion (10.297 and 10.485). The cap Dolon wears is similar to that worn by Diomedes in that it is made of animal skin (κυνέην), but instead of being made from a bull’s hide, it is made from a marten (κτιδέην). The details of his equipment will be revisited when Odysseus and Diomedes strip Dolon’s corpse (see 10.458–459).