Homer
5
I first read Pope's translation of the Iliad over fifty years ago and I have read others since. The climax is of course, the righteous Hector, going to his fate, sure death at the hands of Achilles. Some of the more heart-rending lines of all poetry lie in the part where King Priam and his queen, Hector's parents, beg Hector not to fight Achilles and meet sure death.
Meanwhile, old Priam
was the first to catch sight of Achilles, as he dashed
across the plain, blazing like that star which comes
at harvest time its light shines out more brightly
than any of the countless lights in night's dark sky.
People call this star by the name Orion's Dog.
It's the brightest of the stars, but an unwelcome sign,
for it brings wretched mortals many fevers.
The bronze on Achilles' chest glittered like that star,
as he ran forward. With a cry, old Priam
struck his head with his hand, then, reaching up,
with many groans, he called out, pleading with his son,
who was still standing there before the gates,
firmly resolved to fight Achilles. The old man,
hands outstretched, appealed to Hector's sense of pity:
"Hector, my dear son, don't stand out there alone,
facing that man with no one else to help you,
or you will quickly meet your death, slaughtered
by Peleus' son, who's much more powerful.
Don't be obstinate. If only the gods
would love Achilles just as much as I do,
then dogs and vultures would soon gnaw at him
as he lay there. And then my heart might shed
its dreadful sorrow, for he's taken from me
many valiant sons. Some he's butchered.
Others he's sold in islands far away.
Right now, I can't see two of my young sons,
Polydorus and Lycaon, among those
who've gathered with the Trojans in the city,
both delivered to me from Laothoe,
queen among women. If they're still alive
in the Achaean camp, we'll ransom them,
with bronze and gold we have stored at home.
For famous ancient Altes gave many gifts
when he gave me his daughter. But if they're dead
and already in that dwelling place of Hades,
that's a sorrow to my heart, their mother's, too,
their parents. But that's a briefer sorrow
for other people, unless you die as well,
killed by Achilles. Come here, my child,
inside the walls, so you can help to save
Trojan men and women. Don't give that man,
that son of Peleus, great glory. He'll take
your own dear life. Have pity on me, too.
Though full of misery, I still can feel.
Father Zeus will kill me with a cruel fate
on the threshold of old age, once I've seen
so many dreadful thingsmy sons slaughtered,
my daughters hauled away, their houses ransacked,
their little children tossed down on the ground
in this murderous war, my daughters-in-law
led off captive in hard Achaean hands.
In the end, I'll be ripped by ravenous dogs,
in front of my own doors when some man strikes me
with his sharp bronze or throws his spear in me,
robbing my limbs of lifethe same dogs I raised,
at home beside my table to guard the doors.
They'll drink my blood, then lie there at the gates,
their hearts gone mad. When a young man dies in war,
lying there murdered by sharp bronze, that's all right.
Though dead, he shows us his nobility.
But when the dogs disfigure shamefully
an old man, chewing his gray head, his beard,
his sexual organs, that's the saddest thing
we wretched mortals see."
As the old man spoke,
his hands tugged his gray hair and pulled it from his head.
But he could not sway Hector's heart. Beside Priam,
Hector's mother wept. Then she undid her robe,
and with her hands pushed out her breasts, shedding tears.
She called out to him with these winged words:
"Hector, my child, respect and pity me.
If I ever gave these breasts to soothe you,
remember that, dear child. Protect yourself
against your enemy inside these walls.
Don't stand out there to face him. Stubborn man,
if he kills you, I'll never lay you out
on your death bed or mourn for you, my child,
my dearest offspringnor will your fair wife.
Far away from us, beside Achaean ships,
their swift dogs will eat you."
So these two, both crying, spoke to their dear son,
pleading incessantly with him. But Hector's heart
would not budge. He stood awaiting huge Achilles,
who was getting closer. Just as a mountain snake
waits for some man right by its lair, after eating
poison herbs so that a savage anger grips him,
as he coils beside his den with a fearful glare
that's how Hector's dauntless heart would not
