Ἰλιάδος Χ

Thus they, having fled throughout the city like fawns,

were cooling their sweat; they drank and quenched their thirst,

as they leaned against the fair battlements; meanwhile the Achaeans

advanced nearer the wall, their shields inclined upon their shoulders.

But deadly fate bound Hector to remain there

before Ilion and the Scaean Gates.

Then Phoebus Apollo addressed Achilles:

"Why, son of Peleus, do you pursue me with your swift feet,

mortal though you are, an immortal god? Have you not yet

recognized that I am a god? Yet you rage without respite.

Do you care nothing for the suffering of the Trojans, whom you routed,

and who have now crowded into the city, while you have turned aside here?

You will not kill me, since I am not destined to die by you."

Greatly troubled, swift-footed Achilles answered him:

"You have harmed me, far-worker, most ruinous of all the gods,

turning me here away from the wall; otherwise many more

would have bitten the earth before they reached Troy.

Now you have robbed me of great glory and saved them

with ease, because you feared no vengeance afterward.

I would indeed punish you, if the power were mine."

So speaking, he strode toward the city, his heart set on great deeds,

rushing like a prize-winning horse with its chariot,

which runs easily, stretching at full speed across the plain;

so Achilles swiftly drove his feet and knees onward.

Aged Priam was the first to see him with his eyes,

blazing as he swept across the plain like the star

that rises in late summer, whose radiant beams

shine conspicuous among the many stars in the dead of night,

the star that men call Orion's Dog.

Brightest of all it is, yet it has become an evil sign

and brings consuming fever upon wretched mortals.

So the bronze flashed about his chest as he ran.

The old man groaned and struck his head with his hands;

raising them high, he groaned aloud and cried out,

imploring his dear son; but Hector before the gates

stood fast, fiercely resolved to fight Achilles.

The old man addressed him pitifully, stretching out his hands:

"Hector, my dear child, do not await this man

alone and apart from the others, lest you swiftly meet your doom,

slain by Achilles, since he is far stronger,

the ruthless man. If only he were as hateful to the gods

as he is to me; then dogs and vultures would soon devour him

where he lay, and bitter anguish would depart from my heart.

He has left me bereft of many brave sons,

killing them or selling them upon distant islands.

Even now I cannot find my two sons, Lycaon and Polydorus,

among the Trojans who have crowded into the city,

whom Laothoe, queen among women, bore to me.

But if they are alive among the army, then indeed afterward

we shall ransom them with bronze and gold, for there is wealth within.

For renowned old Altes gave much to his daughter.

But if they are already dead and within the house of Hades,

there will be grief for my heart and for their mother—for us two who begot them;

but for the rest of the people the grief will be briefer,

unless you too die, overcome by Achilles.

But come inside the wall, my child, so that you may save

the Trojan men and women, and not grant great glory

to Achilles, while you yourself are robbed of dear life.

And pity me, still conscious, wretched as I am,

ill-fated, whom father Zeus, at the threshold of old age,

will destroy beneath a cruel fate, after I have seen many horrors:

sons being slain and daughters dragged away,

bedchambers ravaged, and infant children

hurled to the ground amid dreadful warfare,

and daughters-in-law dragged off beneath the ruinous hands of Achaeans.

Last of all, at the foremost doors, flesh-eating dogs

will drag me, after someone with sharp bronze

has struck or speared me and taken the life from my limbs—

dogs I raised in my halls to guard my doors and eat at my table.

After drinking my blood, maddened at heart, they

will lie in the forecourt. For a young man everything is seemly

when he lies slain in war and gashed by sharp bronze;

though he is dead, whatever may be exposed is fair.

But when dogs defile the grey head and grey beard

and the nakedness of an old man who has been slain,

that is the most pitiable fate for wretched mortals."

So spoke the old man, and with his hands he pulled at his grey hair,

tearing it from his head; yet he did not persuade Hector's heart.

His mother in turn lamented from the other side, shedding tears;

she opened her robe and raised one breast with her other hand.

Shedding tears, she addressed him with winged words:

"Hector, my child, respect this and pity me

myself, if ever I held out to you the breast that made sorrow forgotten.

Remember this, dear child, and ward off the hostile man

while remaining within the wall; do not stand foremost against him,

reckless one. For if he kills you, never again shall I

mourn you upon a bier, dear shoot whom I myself bore,

nor shall your richly dowered wife; far away from us both,

beside the ships of the Achaeans, swift dogs will devour you."

Thus those two, weeping, addressed their dear son

with many entreaties; yet they did not persuade Hector's heart,

but he remained where he was as monstrous Achilles drew nearer.

As a mountain snake beside its lair awaits a man,

after swallowing deadly herbs, and terrible anger has entered it,

and it glares fearfully as it coils around its lair;

so Hector, possessing unquenchable fury, did not give ground,

but braced his shining shield against a projecting tower.

then in anguish he spoke to his own great-hearted spirit:

"Ah, wretched me! If I enter within the gates and walls,

Polydamas will be the first to heap disgrace upon me,

for he urged me to lead the Trojans back toward the city

during this ruinous night, when glorious Achilles rose to battle.

But I did not obey him; it would have been far better if I had.

But now, since through my recklessness I have destroyed the people,

I am ashamed before the Trojans and the trailing-robed Trojan women