Thus were they driven within the city walls + 

Like frighted fawns, and there dispersing cooled + 

Their sweaty limbs, and quenched their eager thirst, + 

And rested on the battlements. The Greeks, + 

Bearing their shields upon their shoulders, came + 

Close to the ramparts. Hector’s adverse fate + 

Detained him still without the walls of Troy, + 

And near the Scaean gates. Meantime the god + 

Apollo to the son of Peleus said:⁠— + 

“O son of Peleus! Why pursue me thus + 

With thy swift feet⁠—a mortal man in chase + 

Of an immortal? That I am a god + 

Thou seest not yet, but turnest all thy rage + 

On me, and, having put the host of Troy + 

To rout, dost think of them no more. They find + 

A refuge in their town, while far astray + 

Thou wanderest hither. Thou hast not the power + 

To slay me; I am not of mortal birth.” + 

The swift Achilles angrily replied: + 

“O archer-god, thou most unjust of all + 

The immortals! Thou hast wronged me, luring me + 

Aside; since many a warrior I had forced + 

To bite the dust before they reached the gates + 

Of Ilium but for thee, who from my grasp + 

Hast snatched the glory and hast rescued them. + 

Thou didst not fear my vengeance; yet if power + 

Were given me, I would punish thee for this.” + 

He spake, and with heroic purpose turned + 

Toward Ilium. As a steed that wins the race + 

Flies at his utmost speed across the plain, + 

And whirls along the chariot, with such speed + 

The son of Peleus moved his rapid feet. + 

The aged monarch Priam was the first + 

To see him as he scoured the plain, and shone + 

Like to the star which in the autumn time + 

Rises and glows among the lights of heaven + 

With eminent lustre at the dead of night⁠— + 

Orion’s Hound they call it⁠—bright indeed, + 

And yet of baleful omen, for it brings + 

Distressing heat to miserable men. + 

So shone the brass upon the warrior’s breast + 

As on he flew. The aged Priam groaned, + 

And smote his head with lifted hands, and called + 

Aloud, imploring his beloved son, + 

Who eagerly before the city gate + 

Waited his foe Achilles. Priam thus, + 

With outstretched hands, besought him piteously:⁠— + 

“O wait not, Hector, my beloved son, + 

To combat with Pelides, thus alone + 

And far from succor, lest thou meet thy death, + 

Slain by his hand, for he is mightier far + 

Than thou art. Would that he, the cruel one, + 

Were but as much the favorite of the gods + 

As he is mine! Then should the birds of prey + 

And dogs devour his carcass, and the grief + 

That weighs upon my spirit would depart. + 

I have been robbed by him of many sons⁠— + 

Brave youths, whom he has slain or sold as slaves + 

In distant isles; and now I see no more + 

Among our host on whom the gates are closed + 

My Polydorus and Lycaon, whom + 

The peerless dame Laothoe bore to me. + 

If yet they are within the Grecian camp, + 

I will redeem their lives with brass and gold; + 

For I have store, which Altes, the renowned + 

And aged, gave his daughter. If they live + 

No longer, but have passed to the abode + 

Of Hades, bitter will our sorrow be⁠— + 

Mine and their mother’s⁠—but the popular grief + 

Will sooner be consoled if thou fall not, + 

Slain by Achilles. Come within the walls, + 

My son, that thou mayst still be the defence + 

Of Ilium’s sons and daughters, nor increase + 

The glory of Pelides with the loss + 

Of thine own life. Have pity upon me, + 

Who only live to suffer⁠—whom the son + 

Of Saturn, on the threshold of my age, + 

Hath destined to endure a thousand griefs, + 

And then to be destroyed⁠—to see my sons + 

Slain by the sword, my daughters dragged away + 

Into captivity, their chambers made + 

A spoil, our infants dashed against the ground + 

By cruel hands, the consorts of my sons + 

Borne off by the ferocious Greeks; and last, + 

Perchance the very dogs which I have fed + 

Here in my palaces and at my board, + 

The guardians of my doors, when, by the spear + 

Or sword, some enemy shall take my life, + 

And at my threshold leave me stretched a corpse, + 

Will rend me, and, with savage greediness, + 

Will lap my blood, and in the porch lie down. + 

When one in prime of youth lies slain in war, + 

Gashed with the spear, his wounds become him well, + 

And honor him in all men’s eyes; but when + 

An aged man is slain, and his white head + 

And his white beard and limbs are foully torn + 

By ravening dogs, there is no sadder sight.” + 

So the old monarch spake, and with his hands + 

Tore his gray hair, but moved not Hector thus. + 

Then came, with lamentations and in tears, + 

The warrior’s mother forward. One hand laid + 

Her bosom bare; she pressed the other hand + 

Beneath it, sobbed, and spake these wingèd words:⁠— + 

“Revere this bosom, Hector, and on me + 

Have pity. If when thou wert but a babe + 

I ever on this bosom stilled thy cries, + 

Think of it now, beloved child; avoid + 

That dreadful chief; withdraw within the walls, + 

Nor madly think to encounter him alone, + 

Son of my love and of my womb! If he + 

Should slay thee, I shall not lament thy death + 

Above thy bier⁠—I, nor thy noble wife⁠— + 

But far from us the greedy dogs will throng + 

To mangle thee beside the Grecian fleet.” + 

Thus, weeping bitterly, the aged pair + 

Entreated their dear son, yet moved him not. + 

He stood and waited for his mighty foe + 

Achilles, as a serpent at his den, + 

Fed on the poisons of the wild, awaits + 

The traveller, and, fierce with hate of man, + 

And glaring fearfully, lies coiled within. + 

So waited Hector with a resolute heart, + 

And kept his ground, and, leaning his bright shield + 

Against a tower that jutted from the walls, + 

Conferred with his great soul impatiently:⁠— + 

“Ah me! If I should pass within the walls, + 

Then will Polydamas be first to cast + 

Reproach upon me; for he counselled me + 

To lead the Trojans back into the town + 

That fatal night which saw Achilles rise + 

To join the war again. I yielded not + 

To his advice; far better if I had. + 

Now, since my fatal stubbornness has brought + 

This ruin on my people, I most dread + 

The censure of the men and long-robed dames + 

Of Ilium. Men less brave than I will say, + 

‘Foolhardy Hector in his pride has thrown + 

His people’s lives away.’ So will they speak, + 

And better were it for me to return, + 

Achilles slain, or, slain myself by him, + 

To perish for my country gloriously. + 

But should I lay aside this bossy shield + 

And this stout helm, and lean against the wall + 

This spear, and go to meet the gallant son + 

Of Peleus, with a promise to restore + 

Helen and all the treasure brought with her + 

To Troy by Paris, in his roomy ships⁠— + 

All that the war was waged for⁠—that the sons + 

Of Atreus may convey it hence, besides + 

Wealth drawn from all the hoards within the town, + 

And to be shared among the Greeks; for I + 

Would bind the Trojans by a solemn oath + 

To keep back nothing, but divide the whole⁠— + 

Whate’er of riches this fair town contains⁠— + 

Into two parts⁠—But why should I waste thought + 

On plans like these? I must not act the part + 

Of suppliant to a man who may not show + 

Regard or mercy, but may hew me down + 

Defenceless, with my armor laid aside + 

As if I were a woman. Not with him + 

May I hold parley from a tree or rock, + 

As youths and maidens with each other hold + 

Light converse. Better ’twere to rush at once + 

To combat, and the sooner learn to whom + 

Olympian Jove decrees the victory.” + 

Such were his thoughts. Achilles now drew near. + 

Like crested Mars, the warrior-god, he came. + 

On his right shoulder quivered fearfully + 

The Pelian ash, and from his burnished mail + 

There streamed a light as of a blazing fire, + 

Or of the rising sun. When Hector saw, + 

He trembled, nor could venture to remain, + 

But left the gates and fled away in fear. + 

Pelides, trusting to his rapid feet, + 

Pursued him. As, among the mountain wilds, + 

A falcon, fleetest of the birds of air, + 

Darts toward a timid dove that wheels away + 

To shun him by a sidelong flight, while he + 

Springs after her again and yet again, + 

And screaming follows, certain of his prey⁠— + 

Thus onward flew Achilles, while as fast + 

Fled Hector in dismay, with hurrying feet, + 

Beside the wall. They passed the Mount of View, + 

And the wind-beaten fig-tree, and they ran + 

Along the public way by which the wall + 

Was skirted, till they came where from the ground + 

The two fair springs of eddying Xanthus rise⁠— + 

One pouring a warm stream from which ascends + 

And spreads a vapor like a smoke from fire; + 

The other, even in summer, sending forth + 

A current cold as hail, or snow, or ice. + 

And there were broad stone basins, fairly wrought, + 

At which, in time of peace, before the Greeks + 

Had landed on the plain, the Trojan dames + 

And their fair daughters washed their sumptuous robes. + 

Past these they swept; one fled, and one pursued⁠— + 

A brave man fled, a braver followed close, + 

And swiftly both. Not for a common prize, + 

A victim from the herd, a bullock’s hide, + 

Such as reward the fleet of foot, they ran⁠— + 

The race was for the knightly Hector’s life. + 

As firm-paced coursers, that are wont to win, + 

Fly toward the goal, when some magnificent prize, + 

A tripod or a damsel, is proposed + 

In honor of some hero’s obsequies, + 

So these flew thrice on rapid feet around + 

The city of Priam. All the gods of heaven + 

Looked on, and thus the Almighty Father spake:⁠— + 

“Alas! I see a hero dear to me + 

Pursued around the wall. My heart is grieved + 

For Hector, who has brought so many thighs + 

Of bullocks to my altar on the side + 

Of Ida ploughed with glens, or on the heights + 

Of Ilium. The renowned Achilles now + 

Is chasing him with rapid feet around + 

The city of Priam. Now bethink yourselves, + 

And answer. Shall we rescue him from death? + 

Or shall we doom him, valiant as he is, + 

To perish by the hand of Peleus’ son?” + 

Minerva, blue-eyed goddess, answered thus: + 

“O Father, who dost hurl the thunderbolt, + 

And hide the sky in clouds, what hast thou said? + 

Wouldst thou reprieve from death a mortal man, + 

Whose doom is fixed? Then do it; but know this, + 

That all the other gods will not approve.” + 

Then spake again the Cloud-compeller Jove: + 

“Tritonia, my dear child, be calm. I spake + 

Of no design. I would be kind to thee. + 

Do as thou wilt, and be there no delay.” + 

He spake; and Pallas from the Olympian peaks, + 

Encouraged by his words in what her thought + 

Had planned already, downward shot to earth. + 

Still, with quick steps, the fleet Achilles pressed + 

On Hector’s flight. As when a hound has roused + 

A fawn from its retreat among the hills, + 

And chases it through glen and forest ground. + 

And to close thickets, where it skulks in fear + 

Until he overtake it, Hector thus + 

Sought vainly to elude the fleet pursuit + 

Of Peleus’ son. As often as he thought, + 

By springing toward the gates of Troy, to gain + 

Aid from the weapons of his friends who stood + 

On the tall towers, so often was the Greek + 

Before him, forcing him to turn away + 

From Ilium toward the plain. Achilles thus + 

Kept nearest to the city. As in dreams + 

The fleet pursuer cannot overtake, + 

Nor the pursued escape, so was it now; + 

One followed but in vain, the other fled + 

As fruitlessly. But how could Hector thus + 

Have put aside the imminent doom of death, + 

Had not Apollo met him once again, + 

For the last time, and given him strength and speed? + 

The great Achilles nodded to his host + 

A sign that no man should presume to strike + 

At Hector with his weapon, lest perchance + 

Another, wounding him, should bear away + 

The glory, and Pelides only wear + 

The second honors. When the twain had come + 

For the fourth time beside Scamander’s springs, + 

The All-Father raised the golden balance high, + 

And, placing in the scales two lots which bring + 

Death’s long dark sleep⁠—one lot for Peleus’ son, + 

And one for knightly Hector⁠—by the midst + 

He poised the balance. Hector’s fate sank down + 

To Hades, and Apollo left the field. + 

The blue-eyed goddess Pallas then approached + 

The son of Peleus with these wingèd words:⁠— + 

“Renowned Achilles, dear to Jupiter! + 

Now may we, as I hope, at last return + 

To the Achaian army and the fleet + 

With glory, Hector slain, the terrible + 

In war. Escape he cannot, even though + 

The archer-god Apollo fling himself + 

With passionate entreaty at the feet + 

Of Jove the Aegis-bearer. Stay thou here + 

And breathe a moment, while I go to him + 

And lure him hither to encounter thee.” + 

She spake, and he obeyed, and gladly stood + 

Propped on the ashen stem of his keen spear; + 

While, passing on, Minerva overtook + 

The noble Hector. In the outward form, + 

And with the strong voice of Deïphobus, + 

She stood by him and spake these wingèd words: + 

“Hard pressed I find thee, brother, by the swift + 

Achilles, who, with feet that never rest, + 

Pursues thee round the walls of Priam’s town. + 

But let us make a stand and beat him back.” + 

And then the crested Hector spake in turn: + 

“Deïphobus, thou ever hast been dear + 

To me beyond my other brethren, sons + 

Of Hecuba and Priam. Now still more + 

I honor thee, since thou hast seen my plight, + 

And for my sake hast ventured forth without + 

The gates, while all the rest remain within.” + 

And then the blue-eyed Pallas spake again: + 

“Brother! ’tis true, my father, and the queen, + 

My mother, and my comrades, clasped my knees + 

In turn, and earnestly entreated me + 

That I would not go forth, such fear had fallen + 

On all of them; but I was grieved for thee. + 

Now let us combat valiantly, nor spare + 

The weapons that we bear, and we shall learn + 

Whether Achilles, having slain us both, + 

Will carry to the fleet our bloody spoil, + 

Or die himself, the victim of thy spear.” + 

The treacherous goddess spake, and led the way; + 

And when the advancing chiefs stood face to face, + 

The crested hero, Hector, thus began:⁠— + 

“No longer I avoid thee as of late, + 

O son of Peleus! Thrice around the walls + 

Of Priam’s mighty city have I fled, + 

Nor dared to wait thy coming. Now my heart + 

Bids me encounter thee; my time is come + 

To slay or to be slain. Now let us call + 

The gods to witness, who attest and guard + 

The covenants of men. Should Jove bestow + 

On me the victory, and I take thy life, + 

Thou shalt meet no dishonor at my hands; + 

But, stripping off the armor, I will send + 

The Greeks thy body. Do the like by me.” + 

The swift Achilles answered with a frown: + 

“Accursed Hector, never talk to me + 

Of covenants. Men and lions plight no faith, + 

Nor wolves agree with lambs, but each must plan + 

Evil against the other. So between + 

Thyself and me no compact can exist, + 

Or understood intent. First, one of us + 

Must fall and yield his life-blood to the god + 

Of battles. Summon all thy valor now. + 

A skilful spearman thou hast need to be, + 

And a bold warrior. There is no escape, + 

For now doth Pallas doom thee to be slain + 

By my good spear. Thou shalt repay to me + 

The evil thou hast done my countrymen⁠— + 

My friends whom thou hast slaughtered in thy rage.” + 

He spake, and, brandishing his massive spear, + 

Hurled it at Hector, who beheld its aim + 

From where he stood. He stooped, and over him + 

The brazen weapon passed, and plunged to earth. + 

Unseen by royal Hector, Pallas went + 

And plucked it from the ground, and brought it back + 

And gave it to the hands of Peleus’ son, + 

While Hector said to his illustrious foe:⁠— + 

“Godlike Achilles, thou hast missed thy mark; + 

Nor hast thou learned my doom from Jupiter, + 

As thou pretendest. Thou art glib of tongue. + 

And cunningly thou orderest thy speech, + 

In hope that I who hear thee may forget + 

My might and valor. Think not I shall flee, + 

That thou mayst pierce my back; for thou shalt send + 

Thy spear, if God permit thee, through my breast + 

As I rush on thee. Now avoid in turn + 

My brazen weapon. Would that it might pass + 

Clean through thee, all its length! The tasks of war + 

For us of Troy were lighter for thy death, + 

Thou pest and deadly foe of all our race!” + 

He spake, and brandishing his massive spear, + 

Hurled it, nor missed, but in the centre smote + 

The buckler of Pelides. Far away + 

It bounded from the brass, and he was vexed + 

To see that the swift weapon from his hand + 

Had flown in vain. He stood perplexed and sad; + 

No second spear had he. He called aloud + 

On the white-bucklered chief, Deïphobus, + 

To bring another; but that chief was far, + 

And Hector saw that it was so, and said:⁠— + 

“Ah me! The gods have summoned me to die. + 

I thought my warrior-friend, Deïphobus, + 

Was by my side; but he is still in Troy, + 

And Pallas has deceived me. Now my death + 

Cannot be far⁠—is near; there is no hope + 

Of my escape, for so it pleases Jove + 

And Jove’s great archer-son, who have till now + 

Delivered me. My hour at last is come; + 

Yet not ingloriously or passively + 

I die, but first will do some valiant deed, + 

Of which mankind shall hear in after time.” + 

He spake, and drew the keen-edged sword that hung, + 

Massive and finely tempered, at his side, + 

And sprang⁠—as when an eagle high in heaven, + 

Through the thick cloud, darts downward to the plain + 

To clutch some tender lamb or timid hare, + 

So Hector, brandishing that keen-edged sword, + 

Sprang forward, while Achilles opposite + 

Leaped toward him, all on fire with savage hate, + 

And holding his bright buckler, nobly wrought, + 

Before him. On his shining helmet waved + 

The fourfold crest; there tossed the golden tufts + 

With which the hand of Vulcan lavishly + 

Had decked it. As in the still hours of night + 

Hesper goes forth among the host of stars, + 

The fairest light of heaven, so brightly shone, + 

Brandished in the right hand of Peleus’ son, + 

The spear’s keen blade, as, confident to slay + 

The noble Hector, o’er his glorious form + 

His quick eye ran, exploring where to plant + 

The surest wound. The glittering mail of brass + 

Won from the slain Patroclus guarded well + 

Each part, save only where the collar-bones + 

Divide the shoulder from the neck, and there + 

Appeared the throat, the spot where life is most + 

In peril. Through that part the noble son + 

Of Peleus drave his spear; it went quite through + 

The tender neck, and yet the brazen blade + 

Cleft not the windpipe, and the power to speak + 

Remained. The Trojan fell amid the dust, + 

And thus Achilles boasted o’er his fall:⁠— + 

“Hector, when from the slain Patroclus thou + 

Didst strip his armor, little didst thou think + 

Of danger. Thou hadst then no fear of me, + 

Who was not near thee to avenge his death. + 

Fool! There was left within the roomy ships + 

A mightier one than he, who should come forth, + 

The avenger of his blood, to take thy life. + 

Foul dogs and birds of prey shall tear thy flesh; + 

The Greeks shall honor him with funeral rites.” + 

And then the crested Hector faintly said: + 

“I pray thee by thy life, and by thy knees, + 

And by thy parents, suffer not the dogs + 

To tear me at the galleys of the Greeks. + 

Accept abundant store of brass and gold, + 

Which gladly will my father and the queen, + 

My mother, give in ransom. Send to them + 

My body, that the warriors and the dames + 

Of Troy may light for me the funeral pile.” + 

The swift Achilles answered with a frown: + 

“Nay, by my knees entreat me not, thou cur, + 

Nor by my parents. I could even wish + 

My fury prompted me to cut thy flesh + 

In fragments, and devour it, such the wrong + 

That I have had from thee. There will be none + 

To drive away the dogs about thy head, + 

Not though thy Trojan friends should bring to me + 

Tenfold and twenty-fold the offered gifts, + 

And promise others⁠—not though Priam, sprung + 

From Dardanus, should send thy weight in gold. + 

Thy mother shall not lay thee on thy bier, + 

To sorrow over thee whom she brought forth; + 

But dogs and birds of prey shall mangle thee.” + 

And then the crested Hector, dying, said: + 

“I know thee, and too clearly I foresaw + 

I should not move thee, for thou hast a heart + 

Of iron. Yet reflect that for my sake + 

The anger of the gods may fall on thee, + 

When Paris and Apollo strike thee down, + 

Strong as thou art, before the Scaean gates.” + 

Thus Hector spake, and straightway o’er him closed + 

The night of death; the soul forsook his limbs, + 

And flew to Hades, grieving for its fate⁠— + 

So soon divorced from youth and youthful might. + 

Then said the great Achilles to the dead:⁠— + 

“Die thou; and I, whenever it shall please + 

Jove and the other gods, will meet my fate.” + 

He spake, and, plucking forth his brazen lance, + 

He laid it by, and from the body stripped + 

The bloody mail. The thronging Greeks beheld + 

With wonder Hector’s tall and stately form, + 

And no one came who did not add a wound; + 

And, looking to each other, thus they said:⁠— + 

“How much more tamely Hector now endures + 

Our touch than when he set the fleet on fire!” + 

Such were the words of those who smote the dead; + 

But now, when swift Achilles from the corpse + 

Had stripped the armor, he stood forth among + 

The Achaian host, and spake these wingèd words:⁠— + 

“Leaders and princes of the Grecian host! + 

Since we, my friends, by favor of the gods, + 

Have overcome the chief who wrought more harm + 

To us than all the rest, let us assault + 

The town, and learn what they of Troy intend⁠— + 

Whether their troops will leave the citadel + 

Since he is slain, or hold it with strong hand, + 

Though Hector is no more. But why give thought + 

To plans like these while yet Patroclus lies + 

A corse unwept, unburied, at the fleet? + 

I never will forget him while I live + 

And while these limbs have motion. Though below + 

In Hades they forget the dead, yet I + 

Will there remember my beloved friend. + 

Now then, ye youths of Greece, move on and chant + 

A paean, while, returning to the fleet, + 

We bring great glory with us; we have slain + 

The noble Hector, whom, throughout their town, + 

The Trojans ever worshipped like a god.” + 

He spake, and, planning in his mind to treat + 

The noble Hector shamefully, he bored + 

The sinews of his feet between the heel + 

And ankle; drawing through them leathern thongs + 

He bound them to the car, but left the head + 

To trail in dust. And then he climbed the car, + 

Took in the shining mail, and lashed to speed + 

The coursers. Not unwillingly they flew. + 

Around the dead, as he was dragged along, + 

The dust arose; his dark locks swept the ground + 

That head, of late so noble in men’s eyes, + 

Lay deep amid the dust, for Jove that day + 

Suffered the foes of Hector to insult + 

His corse in his own land. His mother saw, + 

And tore her hair, and flung her lustrous veil + 

Away, and uttered piercing shrieks. No less + 

His father, who so loved him, piteously + 

Bewailed him; and in all the streets of Troy + 

The people wept aloud, with such lament + 

As if the towery Ilium were in flames + 

Even to its loftiest roofs. They scarce could keep + 

The aged king within, who, wild with grief, + 

Struggled to rush through the Dardanian gates, + 

And, rolling in the dust, entreated all + 

Who stood around him, calling them by name:⁠— + 

“Refrain, my friends, though kind be your intent. + 

Let me go forth alone, and at the fleet + 

Of Greece will I entreat this man of blood + 

And violence. He may perchance be moved + 

With reverence for my age, and pity me + 

In my gray hairs; for such a one as I + 

Is Peleus, his own father, by whose care + 

This Greek was reared to be a scourge to Troy, + 

And, more than all, a cause of grief to me, + 

So many sons of mine in life’s fresh prime + 

Have fallen by his hand. I mourn for them, + 

But not with such keen anguish as I mourn + 

For Hector. Sorrow for his death will bring + 

My soul to Hades. Would that he had died + 

Here in my arms! This solace had been ours⁠— + 

His most unhappy mother and myself + 

Had stooped to shed these tears upon his bier.” + 

He spake, and wept, and all the citizens + 

Wept with him. Hecuba among the dames + 

Took up the lamentation, and began:⁠— + 

“Why do I live, my son, when thou art dead, + 

And I so wretched?⁠—thou who wert my boast + 

Ever, by night and day, where’er I went, + 

And whom the Trojan men and matrons called + 

Their bulwark, honoring thee as if thou wert + 

A god. They glory in thy might no more, + 

Since Fate and Death have overtaken thee.” + 

Weeping she spake. Meantime Andromache + 

Had heard no tidings of her husband yet. + 

No messenger had even come to say + 

That he was still without the gates. She sat + 

In a recess of those magnificent halls, + 

And wove a twofold web of brilliant hues, + 

On which were scattered flowers of rare device; + 

And she had given her bright-haired maidens charge + 

To place an ample cauldron on the fire, + 

That Hector, coming from the battle-field, + 

Might find the warm bath ready. Thoughtless one! + 

She knew not that the blue-eyed archer-queen, + 

Far from the bath prepared for him, had slain + 

Her husband by the hand of Peleus’ son. + 

She heard the shrieks, the wail upon the tower, + 

Trembled in every limb, and quickly dropped + 

The shuttle, saying to her bright-haired maids:⁠— + 

“Come with me, two of you, that I may learn + 

What now has happened. ’Tis my mother’s voice + 

That I have heard. My heart leaps to my mouth; + 

My limbs fail under me. Some deadly harm + 

Hangs over Priam’s sons; far be the hour + 

When I shall hear of it. And yet I fear + 

Lest that Achilles, having got between + 

The daring Hector and the city gates, + 

May drive him to the plain alone, and quell + 

The desperate valor that was ever his; + 

For never would he keep the ranks, but ranged + 

Beyond them, and gave way to no man’s might.” + 

She spake, and from the royal mansion rushed + 

Distractedly, and with a beating heart. + 

Her maids went with her. When she reached the tower + 

And throng of men, and, standing on the wall, + 

Looked forth, she saw her husband dragged away + 

Before the city. Toward the Grecian fleet + 

The swift steeds drew him. Sudden darkness came + 

Over her eyes, and in a breathless swoon + 

She sank away and fell. The ornaments + 

Dropped from her brow⁠—the wreath, the woven band, + 

The net, the veil which golden Venus gave + 

That day when crested Hector wedded her, + 

Dowered with large gifts, and led her from her home, + 

Eëtion’s palace. Round her in a throng + 

Her sisters of the house of Priam pressed, + 

And gently raised her in that deathlike swoon. + 

But when she breathed again, and to its seat + 

The conscious mind returned, as in their arms + 

She lay, with sobs and broken speech she said:⁠— + 

“Hector⁠—O wretched me!⁠—we both were born + 

To sorrow; thou at Troy, in Priam’s house, + 

And I at Thebé in Eëtion’s halls, + 

By woody Placos. From a little child + 

He reared me there⁠—unhappy he, and I + 

Unhappy! O that I had ne’er been born! + 

Thou goest down to Hades and the depths + 

Of earth, and leavest me in thine abode, + 

Widowed, and never to be comforted. + 

Thy son, a speechless babe, to whom we two + 

Gave being⁠—hapless parents!⁠—cannot have + 

Thy loving guardianship now thou art dead, + 

Nor be a joy to thee. Though he survive + 

The cruel warfare which the sons of Greece + 

Are waging, hard and evil yet will be + 

His lot hereafter; others will remove + 

His landmarks and will make his fields their own. + 

The day in which a boy is fatherless + 

Makes him companionless; with downcast eyes + 

He wanders, and his cheeks are stained with tears. + 

Unfed he goes where sit his father’s friends, + 

And plucks one by the cloak, and by the robe + 

Another. One who pities him shall give + 

A scanty draught, which only wets his lips, + 

But not his palate; while another boy, + 

Whose parents both are living, thrusts him thence + 

With blows and vulgar clamor: ‘Get thee gone! + 

Thy father is not with us at the feast.’ + 

Then to his widowed mother shall return + 

Astyanax in tears, who not long since + 

Was fed, while sitting in his father’s lap, + 

On marrow and the delicate fat of lambs. + 

And ever when his childish sports had tired + 

The boy, and sleep came stealing over him, + 

He slumbered, softly cushioned, on a couch + 

And in his nurse’s arms, his heart at ease + 

And satiate with delights. But now thy son + 

Astyanax⁠—whom so the Trojans name + 

Because thy valor guarded gate and tower⁠— + 

Thy care withdrawn, shall suffer many things. + 

While far from those who gave thee birth, beside + 

The roomy ships of Greece, the restless worms + 

Shall make thy flesh their banquet when the dogs + 

Have gorged themselves. Thy garments yet remain + 

Within the palace, delicately wrought + 

And graceful, woven by the women’s hands; + 

And these, since thou shalt put them on no more, + 

Nor wear them in thy death, I burn with fire + 

Before the Trojan men and dames; and all + 

Shall see how gloriously thou wert arrayed.” + 

Weeping she spake, and with her wept her maid. + 