Thus the Trojans in the city, scared
like fawns, wiped the sweat from off them and
drank to quench their thirst, leaning
against the goodly battlements, while the Achaeans
with their shields laid upon their
shoulders drew close up to the walls. But stern fate
bade Hector stay where he was before Ilius
and the Scaean gates. Then Phoebus
Apollo spoke to the son of Peleus saying,
"Why, son of Peleus, do you, who are but
man, give chase to me who am immortal?
Have you not yet found out that it is a god
whom you pursue so furiously? You did not
harass the Trojans whom you had routed,
and now they are within their walls, while
you have been decoyed hither away from
them. Me you cannot kill, for death can
take no hold upon me."
Achilles was greatly angered and said,
"You have baulked me, Far-Darter, most
malicious of all gods, and have drawn me
away from the wall, where many another man
would have bitten the dust ere he got
within Ilius; you have robbed me of great glory
and have saved the Trojans at no risk to
yourself, for you have nothing to fear, but I
would indeed have my revenge if it were in
my power to do so."
On this, with fell intent he made towards
the city, and as the winning horse in a chariot
race strains every nerve when he is flying
over the plain, even so fast and furiously did
the limbs of Achilles bear him onwards.
King Priam was first to note him as he scoured
the plain, all radiant as the star which
men call Orion's Hound, and whose beams blaze
forth in time of harvest more brilliantly
than those of any other that shines by night;
brightest of them all though he be, he yet
bodes ill for mortals, for he brings fire and
fever in his train- even so did Achilles'
armour gleam on his breast as he sped onwards.
Priam raised a cry and beat his head with
his hands as he lifted them up and shouted out
to his dear son, imploring him to return;
but Hector still stayed before the gates, for his
heart was set upon doing battle with
Achilles. The old man reached out his arms
towards him and bade him for pity's sake
come within the walls. "Hector," he cried, "my
son, stay not to face this man alone and
unsupported, or you will meet death at the
hands of the son of Peleus, for he is
mightier than you. Monster that he is; would indeed
that the gods loved him no better than I
do, for so, dogs and vultures would soon
devour him as he lay stretched on earth,
and a load of grief would be lifted from my
heart, for many a brave son has he reft
from me, either by killing them or selling them
away in the islands that are beyond the
sea: even now I miss two sons from among the
Trojans who have thronged within the city,
Lycaon and Polydorus, whom Laothoe
peeress among women bore me. Should they
be still alive and in the hands of the
Achaeans, we will ransom them with gold
and bronze, of which we have store, for the
old man Altes endowed his daughter richly;
but if they are already dead and in the
house of Hades, sorrow will it be to us
two who were their parents; albeit the grief of
others will be more short-lived unless you
too perish at the hands of Achilles. Come,
then, my son, within the city, to be the
guardian of Trojan men and Trojan women, or
you will both lose your own life and
afford a mighty triumph to the son of Peleus. Have
pity also on your unhappy father while
life yet remains to him- on me, whom the son of
Saturn will destroy by a terrible doom on
the threshold of old age, after I have seen my
sons slain and my daughters haled away as
captives, my bridal chambers pillaged, little
children dashed to earth amid the rage of
battle, and my sons' wives dragged away by
the cruel hands of the Achaeans; in the
end fierce hounds will tear me in pieces at my
own gates after some one has beaten the
life out of my body with sword or
spear-hounds that I myself reared and fed
at my own table to guard my gates, but who
will yet lap my blood and then lie all
distraught at my doors. When a young man falls by
the sword in battle, he may lie where he
is and there is nothing unseemly; let what will
be seen, all is honourable in death, but
when an old man is slain there is nothing in this
world more pitiable than that dogs should
defile his grey hair and beard and all that men
hide for shame."
The old man tore his grey hair as he
spoke, but he moved not the heart of Hector. His
mother hard by wept and moaned aloud as
she bared her bosom and pointed to the
breast which had suckled him. "Hector,"
she cried, weeping bitterly the while, "Hector,
my son, spurn not this breast, but have
pity upon me too: if I have ever given you
comfort from my own bosom, think on it
now, dear son, and come within the wall to
protect us from this man; stand not
without to meet him. Should the wretch kill you,
neither I nor your richly dowered wife
shall ever weep, dear offshoot of myself, over the
bed on which you lie, for dogs will devour
you at the ships of the Achaeans."
Thus did the two with many tears implore
their son, but they moved not the heart of
Hector, and he stood his ground awaiting
huge Achilles as he drew nearer towards him.
As serpent in its den upon the mountains,
full fed with deadly poisons, waits for the
approach of man- he is filled with fury
and his eyes glare terribly as he goes writhing
round his den- even so Hector leaned his
shield against a tower that jutted out from the
wall and stood where he was,
undaunted.
"Alas," said he to himself in the
heaviness of his heart, "if I go within the gates,
Polydamas will be the first to heap
reproach upon me, for it was he that urged me to
lead the Trojans back to the city on that
awful night when Achilles again came forth
against us. I would not listen, but it
would have been indeed better if I had done so.
Now that my folly has destroyed the host,
I dare not look Trojan men and Trojan
women in the face, lest a worse man should
say, 'Hector has ruined us by his
self-confidence.' Surely it would be
better for me to return after having fought Achilles
and slain him, or to die gloriously here
before the city. What, again, if were to lay down
my shield and helmet, lean my spear
against the wall and go straight up to noble
Achilles? What if I were to promise to
give up Helen, who was the fountainhead of all
this war, and all the treasure that
Alexandrus brought with him in his ships to Troy, aye,
and to let the Achaeans divide the half of
everything that the city contains among
themselves? I might make the Trojans, by
the mouths of their princes, take a solemn
oath that they would hide nothing, but
would divide into two shares all that is within the
city- but why argue with myself in this
way? Were I to go up to him he would show me
no kind of mercy; he would kill me then
and there as easily as though I were a woman,
when I had off my armour. There is no
parleying with him from some rock or oak tree
as young men and maidens prattle with one
another. Better fight him at once, and learn
to which of us Jove will vouchsafe
victory."
Thus did he stand and ponder, but Achilles
came up to him as it were Mars himself,
plumed lord of battle. From his right
shoulder he brandished his terrible spear of Pelian
ash, and the bronze gleamed around him
like flashing fire or the rays of the rising sun.
Fear fell upon Hector as he beheld him,
and he dared not stay longer where he was but
fled in dismay from before the gates,
while Achilles darted after him at his utmost speed.
As a mountain falcon, swiftest of all
birds, swoops down upon some cowering dove-
the dove flies before him but the falcon
with a shrill scream follows close after, resolved
to have her- even so did Achilles make
straight for Hector with all his might, while
Hector fled under the Trojan wall as fast
as his limbs could take him.
On they flew along the waggon-road that
ran hard by under the wall, past the lookout
station, and past the weather-beaten wild
fig-tree, till they came to two fair springs
which feed the river Scamander. One of
these two springs is warm, and steam rises
from it as smoke from a burning fire, but
the other even in summer is as cold as hail or
snow, or the ice that forms on water.
Here, hard by the springs, are the goodly
washing-troughs of stone, where in the
time of peace before the coming of the
Achaeans the wives and fair daughters of
the Trojans used to wash their clothes. Past
these did they fly, the one in front and
the other giving ha. behind him: good was the
man that fled, but better far was he that
followed after, and swiftly indeed did they run,
for the prize was no mere beast for
sacrifice or bullock's hide, as it might be for a
common foot-race, but they ran for the
life of Hector. As horses in a chariot race speed
round the turning-posts when they are
running for some great prize- a tripod or woman-
at the games in honour of some dead hero,
so did these two run full speed three times
round the city of Priam. All the gods
watched them, and the sire of gods and men was
the first to speak.
"Alas," said he, "my eyes behold a man who
is dear to me being pursued round the
walls of Troy; my heart is full of pity
for Hector, who has burned the thigh-bones of
many a heifer in my honour, at one while
on the of many-valleyed Ida, and again on the
citadel of Troy; and now I see noble
Achilles in full pursuit of him round the city of
Priam. What say you? Consider among
yourselves and decide whether we shall now
save him or let him fall, valiant though
he be, before Achilles, son of Peleus."
Then Minerva said, "Father, wielder of the
lightning, lord of cloud and storm, what
mean you? Would you pluck this mortal
whose doom has long been decreed out of the
jaws of death? Do as you will, but we
others shall not be of a mind with you."
And Jove answered, "My child, Trito-born,
take heart. I did not speak in full earnest,
and I will let you have your way. Do
without let or hindrance as you are minded."
Thus did he urge Minerva who was already
eager, and down she darted from the
topmost summits of Olympus.
Achilles was still in full pursuit of
Hector, as a hound chasing a fawn which he has
started from its covert on the mountains,
and hunts through glade and thicket. The fawn
may try to elude him by crouching under
cover of a bush, but he will scent her out and
follow her up until he gets her- even so
there was no escape for Hector from the fleet
son of Peleus. Whenever he made a set to
get near the Dardanian gates and under the
walls, that his people might help him by
showering down weapons from above, Achilles
would gain on him and head him back
towards the plain, keeping himself always on the
city side. As a man in a dream who fails
to lay hands upon another whom he is
pursuing- the one cannot escape nor the
other overtake- even so neither could Achilles
come up with Hector, nor Hector break away
from Achilles; nevertheless he might even
yet have escaped death had not the time
come when Apollo, who thus far had sustained
his strength and nerved his running, was
now no longer to stay by him. Achilles made
signs to the Achaean host, and shook his
head to show that no man was to aim a dart at
Hector, lest another might win the glory
of having hit him and he might himself come in
second. Then, at last, as they were
nearing the fountains for the fourth time, the father of
all balanced his golden scales and placed
a doom in each of them, one for Achilles and
the other for Hector. As he held the
scales by the middle, the doom of Hector fell down
deep into the house of Hades- and then
Phoebus Apollo left him. Thereon Minerva
went close up to the son of Peleus and
said, "Noble Achilles, favoured of heaven, we
two shall surely take back to the ships a
triumph for the Achaeans by slaying Hector,
for all his of battle. Do what Apollo may
as he lies grovelling before his father,
aegis-bearing Jove, Hector cannot escape
us longer. Stay here and take breath, while I
go up to him and persuade him to make a
stand and fight you."
Thus spoke Minerva. Achilles obeyed her
gladly, and stood still, leaning on his
bronze-pointed ashen spear, while Minerva
left him and went after Hector in the form
and with the voice of Deiphobus. She came
close up to him and said, "Dear brother, I
see you are hard pressed by Achilles who
is chasing you at full speed round the city of
Priam, let us await his onset and stand on
our defence."
And Hector answered, "Deiphobus, you have
always been dearest to me of all my
brothers, children of Hecuba and Priam,
but henceforth I shall rate you yet more highly,
inasmuch as you have ventured outside the
wall for my sake when all the others remain
inside."
Then Minerva said, "Dear brother, my
father and mother went down on their knees and
implored me, as did all my comrades, to
remain inside, so great a fear has fallen upon
them all; but I was in an agony of grief
when I beheld you; now, therefore, let us two
make a stand and fight, and let there be
no keeping our spears in reserve, that we may
learn whether Achilles shall kill us and
bear off our spoils to the ships, or whether he
shall fall before you."
Thus did Minerva inveigle him by her
cunning, and when the two were now close to one
another great Hector was first to speak.
"I will-no longer fly you, son of Peleus," said
he, "as I have been doing hitherto. Three
times have I fled round the mighty city of
Priam, without daring to withstand you,
but now, let me either slay or be slain, for I am
in the mind to face you. Let us, then,
give pledges to one another by our gods, who are
the fittest witnesses and guardians of all
covenants; let it be agreed between us that if
Jove vouchsafes me the longer stay and I
take your life, I am not to treat your dead
body in any unseemly fashion, but when I
have stripped you of your armour, I am to
give up your body to the Achaeans. And do
you likewise."
Achilles glared at him and answered,
"Fool, prate not to me about covenants. There can
be no covenants between men and lions,
wolves and lambs can never be of one mind,
but hate each other out and out an
through. Therefore there can be no understanding
between you and me, nor may there be any
covenants between us, till one or other shall
fall and glut grim Mars with his life's
blood. Put forth all your strength; you have need
now to prove yourself indeed a bold
soldier and man of war. You have no more
chance, and Pallas Minerva will forthwith
vanquish you by my spear: you shall now pay
me in full for the grief you have caused
me on account of my comrades whom you have
killed in battle."
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled
it. Hector saw it coming and avoided it; he
watched it and crouched down so that it
flew over his head and stuck in the ground
beyond; Minerva then snatched it up and
gave it back to Achilles without Hector's
seeing her; Hector thereon said to the son
of Peleus, "You have missed your aim,
Achilles, peer of the gods, and Jove has
not yet revealed to you the hour of my doom,
though you made sure that he had done so.
You were a false-tongued liar when you
deemed that I should forget my valour and
quail before you. You shall not drive spear
into the back of a runaway- drive it,
should heaven so grant you power, drive it into me
as I make straight towards you; and now
for your own part avoid my spear if you can-
would that you might receive the whole of
it into your body; if you were once dead the
Trojans would find the war an easier
matter, for it is you who have harmed them most."
He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled
it. His aim was true for he hit the middle of
Achilles' shield, but the spear rebounded
from it, and did not pierce it. Hector was
angry when he saw that the weapon had sped
from his hand in vain, and stood there in
dismay for he had no second spear. With a
loud cry he called Diphobus and asked him
for one, but there was no man; then he saw
the truth and said to himself, "Alas! the gods
have lured me on to my destruction. I
deemed that the hero Deiphobus was by my side,
but he is within the wall, and Minerva has
inveigled me; death is now indeed exceedingly
near at hand and there is no way out of
it- for so Jove and his son Apollo the far-darter
have willed it, though heretofore they
have been ever ready to protect me. My doom
has come upon me; let me not then die
ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me
first do some great thing that shall be
told among men hereafter."
As he spoke he drew the keen blade that
hung so great and strong by his side, and
gathering himself together be sprang on
Achilles like a soaring eagle which swoops
down from the clouds on to some lamb or
timid hare- even so did Hector brandish his
sword and spring upon Achilles. Achilles
mad with rage darted towards him, with his
wondrous shield before his breast, and his
gleaming helmet, made with four layers of
metal, nodding fiercely forward. The thick
tresses of gold wi which Vulcan had crested
the helmet floated round it, and as the
evening star that shines brighter than all others
through the stillness of night, even such
was the gleam of the spear which Achilles
poised in his right hand, fraught with the
death of noble Hector. He eyed his fair flesh
over and over to see where he could best
wound it, but all was protected by the goodly
armour of which Hector had spoiled
Patroclus after he had slain him, save only the
throat where the collar-bones divide the
neck from the shoulders, and this is a most
deadly place: here then did Achilles
strike him as he was coming on towards him, and
the point of his spear went right through
the fleshy part of the neck, but it did not sever
his windpipe so that he could still speak.
Hector fell headlong, and Achilles vaunted
over him saying, "Hector, you deemed that
you should come off scatheless when you
were spoiling Patroclus, and recked not of
myself who was not with him. Fool that you
were: for I, his comrade, mightier far
than he, was still left behind him at the ships, and
now I have laid you low. The Achaeans
shall give him all due funeral rites, while dogs
and vultures shall work their will upon
yourself."
Then Hector said, as the life ebbed out of
him, "I pray you by your life and knees, and
by your parents, let not dogs devour me at
the ships of the Achaeans, but accept the
rich treasure of gold and bronze which my
father and mother will offer you, and send
my body home, that the Trojans and their
wives may give me my dues of fire when I am
dead."
Achilles glared at him and answered, "Dog,
talk not to me neither of knees nor parents;
would that I could be as sure of being
able to cut your flesh into pieces and eat it raw,
for the ill have done me, as I am that
nothing shall save you from the dogs- it shall not
be, though they bring ten or twenty-fold
ransom and weigh it out for me on the spot,
with promise of yet more hereafter. Though
Priam son of Dardanus should bid them
offer me your weight in gold, even so your
mother shall never lay you out and make
lament over the son she bore, but dogs and
vultures shall eat you utterly up."
Hector with his dying breath then said, "I
know you what you are, and was sure that I
should not move you, for your heart is
hard as iron; look to it that I bring not heaven's
anger upon you on the day when Paris and
Phoebus Apollo, valiant though you be, shall
slay you at the Scaean gates."
When he had thus said the shrouds of death
enfolded him, whereon his soul went out of
him and flew down to the house of Hades,
lamenting its sad fate that it should en' youth
and strength no longer. But Achilles said,
speaking to the dead body, "Die; for my part I
will accept my fate whensoever Jove and
the other gods see fit to send it."
As he spoke he drew his spear from the
body and set it on one side; then he stripped
the blood-stained armour from Hector's
shoulders while the other Achaeans came
running up to view his wondrous strength
and beauty; and no one came near him
without giving him a fresh wound. Then
would one turn to his neighbour and say, "It is
easier to handle Hector now than when he
was flinging fire on to our ships" and as he
spoke he would thrust his spear into him
anew.
When Achilles had done spoiling Hector of
his armour, he stood among the Argives and
said, "My friends, princes and counsellors
of the Argives, now that heaven has
vouchsafed us to overcome this man, who
has done us more hurt than all the others
together, consider whether we should not
attack the city in force, and discover in what
mind the Trojans may be. We should thus
learn whether they will desert their city now
that Hector has fallen, or will still hold
out even though he is no longer living. But why
argue with myself in this way, while
Patroclus is still lying at the ships unburied, and
unmourned- he Whom I can never forget so
long as I am alive and my strength fails
not? Though men forget their dead when
once they are within the house of Hades, yet
not even there will I forget the comrade
whom I have lost. Now, therefore, Achaean
youths, let us raise the song of victory
and go back to the ships taking this man along
with us; for we have achieved a mighty
triumph and have slain noble Hector to whom
the Trojans prayed throughout their city
as though he were a god."
On this he treated the body of Hector with
contumely: he pierced the sinews at the back
of both his feet from heel to ancle and
passed thongs of ox-hide through the slits he had
made: thus he made the body fast to his
chariot, letting the head trail upon the ground.
Then when he had put the goodly armour on
the chariot and had himself mounted, he
lashed his horses on and they flew forward
nothing loth. The dust rose from Hector as
he was being dragged along, his dark hair
flew all abroad, and his head once so comely
was laid low on earth, for Jove had now
delivered him into the hands of his foes to do
him outrage in his own land.
Thus was the head of Hector being
dishonoured in the dust. His mother tore her hair,
and flung her veil from her with a loud
cry as she looked upon her son. His father made
piteous moan, and throughout the city the
people fell to weeping and wailing. It was as
though the whole of frowning Ilius was
being smirched with fire. Hardly could the
people hold Priam back in his hot haste to
rush without the gates of the city. He
grovelled in the mire and besought them,
calling each one of them by his name. "Let be,
my friends," he cried, "and for all your
sorrow, suffer me to go single-handed to the
ships of the Achaeans. Let me beseech this
cruel and terrible man, if maybe he will
respect the feeling of his fellow-men, and
have compassion on my old age. His own
father is even such another as myself-
Peleus, who bred him and reared him to- be the
bane of us Trojans, and of myself more
than of all others. Many a son of mine has he
slain in the flower of his youth, and yet,
grieve for these as I may, I do so for one-
Hector- more than for them all, and the
bitterness of my sorrow will bring me down to
the house of Hades. Would that he had died
in my arms, for so both his ill-starred
mother who bore him, and myself, should
have had the comfort of weeping and
mourning over him."
Thus did he speak with many tears, and all
the people of the city joined in his lament.
Hecuba then raised the cry of wailing
among the Trojans. "Alas, my son," she cried,
"what have I left to live for now that you
are no more? Night and day did I glory in. you
throughout the city, for you were a tower
of strength to all in Troy, and both men and
women alike hailed you as a god. So long
as you lived you were their pride, but now
death and destruction have fallen upon
you."
Hector's wife had as yet heard nothing,
for no one had come to tell her that her husband
had remained without the gates. She was at
her loom in an inner part of the house,
weaving a double purple web, and
embroidering it with many flowers. She told her
maids to set a large tripod on the fire,
so as to have a warm bath ready for Hector when
he came out of battle; poor woman, she
knew not that he was now beyond the reach of
baths, and that Minerva had laid him low
by the hands of Achilles. She heard the cry
coming as from the wall, and trembled in
every limb; the shuttle fell from her hands, and
again she spoke to her waiting-women. "Two
of you," she said, "come with me that I
may learn what it is that has befallen; I
heard the voice of my husband's honoured
mother; my own heart beats as though it
would come into my mouth and my limbs
refuse to carry me; some great misfortune
for Priam's children must be at hand. May I
never live to hear it, but I greatly fear
that Achilles has cut off the retreat of brave
Hector and has chased him on to the plain
where he was singlehanded; I fear he may
have put an end to the reckless daring
which possessed my husband, who would never
remain with the body of his men, but would
dash on far in front, foremost of them all in
valour."
Her heart beat fast, and as she spoke she
flew from the house like a maniac, with her
waiting-women following after. When she
reached the battlements and the crowd of
people, she stood looking out upon the
wall, and saw Hector being borne away in front
of the city- the horses dragging him
without heed or care over the ground towards the
ships of the Achaeans. Her eyes were then
shrouded as with the darkness of night and
she fell fainting backwards. She tore the
tiring from her head and flung it from her, the
frontlet and net with its plaited band,
and the veil which golden Venus had given her on
the day when Hector took her with him from
the house of Eetion, after having given
countless gifts of wooing for her sake.
Her husband's sisters and the wives of his
brothers crowded round her and supported
her, for she was fain to die in her
distraction; when she again presently
breathed and came to herself, she sobbed and
made lament among the Trojans saying, 'Woe
is me, O Hector; woe, indeed, that to
share a common lot we were born, you at
Troy in the house of Priam, and I at Thebes
under the wooded mountain of Placus in the
house of Eetion who brought me up when I
was a child- ill-starred sire of an
ill-starred daughter- would that he had never begotten
me. You are now going into the house of
Hades under the secret places of the earth,
and you leave me a sorrowing widow in your
house. The child, of whom you and I are
the unhappy parents, is as yet a mere
infant. Now that you are gone, O Hector, you can
do nothing for him nor he for you. Even
though he escape the horrors of this woful war
with the Achaeans, yet shall his life
henceforth be one of labour and sorrow, for others
will seize his lands. The day that robs a
child of his parents severs him from his own
kind; his head is bowed, his cheeks are
wet with tears, and he will go about destitute
among the friends of his father, plucking
one by the cloak and another by the shirt.
Some one or other of these may so far pity
him as to hold the cup for a moment
towards him and let him moisten his lips,
but he must not drink enough to wet the roof
of his mouth; then one whose parents are
alive will drive him from the table with blows
and angry words. 'Out with you,' he will
say, 'you have no father here,' and the child will
go crying back to his widowed mother- he,
Astyanax, who erewhile would sit upon his
father's knees, and have none but the
daintiest and choicest morsels set before him.
When he had played till he was tired and
went to sleep, he would lie in a bed, in the
arms of his nurse, on a soft couch,
knowing neither want nor care, whereas now that he
has lost his father his lot will be full
of hardship- he, whom the Trojans name Astyanax,
because you, O Hector, were the only
defence of their gates and battlements. The
wriggling writhing worms will now eat you
at the ships, far from your parents, when the
dogs have glutted themselves upon you. You
will lie naked, although in your house you
have fine and goodly raiment made by hands
of women. This will I now burn; it is of no
use to you, for you can never again wear
it, and thus you will have respect shown you
by the Trojans both men and women."
In such wise did she cry aloud amid her
tears, and the women joined in her lament.