Homer. Iliad, Book Vi, 440-502 Poem by Maria Frances Cecilia Cowper

Then to her answered and spake great Hector the waving-crested :
' I too grieve for all this, dear love, but indeed it were shameful
Here in the eyes of the men of Troy, and the long-robed women,
If I should skulk like a coward and fly far away from the battle ;
Nor does my spirit allow, which ever has made me courageous,
Ever has taught me in battle for Troy to fight with the foremost.
Jealously guarding my father's renown and my own great glory.
Full well I know in my heart, and the voice of my heart has foreboded.
Surely the day will come when all shall be brought to destruction.
Ilium's sacred walls and Priam and all his people.

Yet I care not so much for the sorrow to come to the Trojans,
Care not for Hecuba's woe so much, nor yet for King Priam's,
Grieve not even so much in my heart for my own dear brothers
Many and brave who shall fall in the dust at the hands of the foemen ;
Nay, but for thee I grieve, when some siout-armoured Achaean
Bearing thee weeping away shall deny thee the light of freedom :
Then with Argos thy home thou'lt wield for another the distaff,
Carrying water for her from Messeis and swift Hypereie
Sore distressed in heart, and harsh compulsion shall drive thee.
Haply will someone say when he sees thee bitterly weeping,
' This is Hector's wife who was ever the foremost in battle.
First of the horsemen of Troy when the battle raged around Ilium.'
Thus will they say, and thy grief will ever be freshly awakened,

Grief for the need of a man such as I to protect and defend thee.
May I He dead in the dark with the earth heaped high o'er my body
E'er I be told of thy grief and thy cries when they drag thee to bondage.'
So spake mighty Hector, his arms to his child out-stretching.
Back shrank the child to the breast of his nurse with the beautiful girdle,
Shrank with a cry, at the sight of his own dear father affrighted,
Fearing the brazen helm and the crest with the waving horse-hair,
Watching the plume on the crest so terribly shaking and nodding.
Loud laughed his dear father and lady mother together.
Straightway then from his head great Hector removed the helmet,
And on the ground he set it in haste, all glittering brightly.
Then he took his child in his arms and fondled him gently.
Kissed him, and prayed to Zeus and to all the gods of Olympus.

' Zeus and ye other gods, grant this my prayer, that the boy here
Be a true son of mine, like me the first of the Trojans,
Mighty in strength as I, and hold high lordship in Ilium :
So shall men say of my son, ' He is greater far than his father,'
As he returns from battle, and spoils shall he take from the vanquished,
Slaying his man in the fight, and shall gladden the heart of his mother.'
Thus having prayed, to the arms of his own dear wife he returned him.
Even his child, and she to her fragrant bosom received him,
Smiling through her tears, and her dear lord saw her and pitied ;
Then with his hand he caressed her, and spake brave words of comfort.
' Dearest, let not thy heart be for me too sorely afflicted,
Verily ere my time there is no man living can slay me,
But from his doom there is none can flee, be he coward or hero.
Nay, not one can escape when the fates have surely decreed it.

Therefore get thee home and attend to the loom and the distaff,
Mindful of thine own work, and order thy household wisely.
Set them about their tasks ; we men will attend to the fighting,
All of us, aye and myself above all, whose home is in Ilium.'
So great Hector spake, and the helm with the crest of horse-hair
Up from the ground he took, and his own dear wife went homeward,
Oft she turned her about, and tears from her eyes were streaming.
When she was come to the house, to the well-built house of her hero.
Hector the slayer of men, she found there servants a- many.
And to them all she brought loud wailing and lamentation.
So in Hector's house they all were mourning for Hector,
Living yet though he was, for they said he would come from the battle
Never again, nor escape from the hands of the wrathful Achaeans.