The Iliad: Book 22 Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFAGHFIIJGBKLBMN IOIPQRMSTUHVBMWBSHJQ IXYZA2B2IC2D2IBE2SF2 G2H2I2QBIVWTJ2BK2DL2 M2PBDWWN2O2BNWBP2LCI Q2R2QWFKKS2WWWWBFHIS JDNIDIT2U2IP2PTDDWV2 BW2DA2WKBX2P2Q2DTWY2 WP2PFZ2A3TKBV2QLWNB3 IFGC3D3IWBQKQTAE3F3W CDTNG3FWDHBBIH3I3J3B K3DL3QFG2V2IM3NWFN3O 3P3Q3F3VBNDFFKA3R3IF WNFS3QWC3QVIT3TDG2TN J3A2FA2DJ2BDDBFU3FVV 3FP2W3X3QQKBISHY3JDZ 3A4DCWDB4BBC4J3Q2C4B WV2E3H3WJNG3QJ3NKW3Q IDI2NFIICNDIH3DWX3FW WA3D4G2A2SWWC3QDV2FE 4BFDF4M2HWQKDBWZ3J3I G4BH4IY3D3K3PNI4J4WW QWDK4QIQVNWWWKBWQNV2 IE4NQHQNQQQL4BDR2BQI QKQQQNWA3NHDBBBWNNDQ Y3A3WDIBBQY3Y3Y3M4B3 QQWDWWWQH3QWWBQBG2WD NDA3WQKDY3Y3Y3Q| Thus the Trojans in the city scared like fawns wiped the sweat | A |
| from off them and drank to quench their thirst leaning against the | B |
| goodly battlements while the Achaeans with their shields laid upon | C |
| their shoulders drew close up to the walls But stern fate bade Hector | D |
| stay where he was before Ilius and the Scaean gates Then Phoebus | E |
| Apollo spoke to the son of Peleus saying Why son of Peleus do you | F |
| who are but man give chase to me who am immortal Have you not yet | A |
| found out that it is a god whom you pursue so furiously You did not | G |
| harass the Trojans whom you had routed and now they are within | H |
| their walls while you have been decoyed hither away from them Me you | F |
| cannot kill for death can take no hold upon me | I |
| Achilles was greatly angered and said You have baulked me | I |
| Far Darter most malicious of all gods and have drawn me away from | J |
| the wall where many another man would have bitten the dust ere he got | G |
| within Ilius you have robbed me of great glory and have saved the | B |
| Trojans at no risk to yourself for you have nothing to fear but I | K |
| would indeed have my revenge if it were in my power to do so | L |
| On this with fell intent he made towards the city and as the | B |
| winning horse in a chariot race strains every nerve when he is | M |
| flying over the plain even so fast and furiously did the limbs of | N |
| Achilles bear him onwards King Priam was first to note him as he | I |
| scoured the plain all radiant as the star which men call Orion's | O |
| Hound and whose beams blaze forth in time of harvest more brilliantly | I |
| than those of any other that shines by night brightest of them all | P |
| though he be he yet bodes ill for mortals for he brings fire and | Q |
| fever in his train even so did Achilles' armour gleam on his breast | R |
| as he sped onwards Priam raised a cry and beat his head with his | M |
| hands as he lifted them up and shouted out to his dear son | S |
| imploring him to return but Hector still stayed before the gates for | T |
| his heart was set upon doing battle with Achilles The old man reached | U |
| out his arms towards him and bade him for pity's sake come within | H |
| the walls Hector he cried my son stay not to face this man | V |
| alone and unsupported or you will meet death at the hands of the | B |
| son of Peleus for he is mightier than you Monster that he is | M |
| would indeed that the gods loved him no better than I do for so dogs | W |
| and vultures would soon devour him as he lay stretched on earth and a | B |
| load of grief would be lifted from my heart for many a brave son | S |
| has he reft from me either by killing them or selling them away in | H |
| the islands that are beyond the sea even now I miss two sons from | J |
| among the Trojans who have thronged within the city Lycaon and | Q |
| Polydorus whom Laothoe peeress among women bore me Should they be | I |
| still alive and in the hands of the Achaeans we will ransom them with | X |
| gold and bronze of which we have store for the old man Altes endowed | Y |
| his daughter richly but if they are already dead and in the house | Z |
| of Hades sorrow will it be to us two who were their parents albeit | A2 |
| the grief of others will be more short lived unless you too perish | B2 |
| at the hands of Achilles Come then my son within the city to be | I |
| the guardian of Trojan men and Trojan women or you will both lose | C2 |
| your own life and afford a mighty triumph to the son of Peleus Have | D2 |
| pity also on your unhappy father while life yet remains to him on me | I |
| whom the son of Saturn will destroy by a terrible doom on the | B |
| threshold of old age after I have seen my sons slain and my daughters | E2 |
| haled away as captives my bridal chambers pillaged little children | S |
| dashed to earth amid the rage of battle and my sons' wives dragged | F2 |
| away by the cruel hands of the Achaeans in the end fierce hounds will | G2 |
| tear me in pieces at my own gates after some one has beaten the life | H2 |
| out of my body with sword or spear hounds that I myself reared and fed | I2 |
| at my own table to guard my gates but who will yet lap my blood and | Q |
| then lie all distraught at my doors When a young man falls by the | B |
| sword in battle he may lie where he is and there is nothing unseemly | I |
| let what will be seen all is honourable in death but when an old man | V |
| is slain there is nothing in this world more pitiable than that dogs | W |
| should defile his grey hair and beard and all that men hide for | T |
| shame | J2 |
| The old man tore his grey hair as he spoke but he moved not the | B |
| heart of Hector His mother hard by wept and moaned aloud as she bared | K2 |
| her bosom and pointed to the breast which had suckled him Hector | D |
| she cried weeping bitterly the while Hector my son spurn not this | L2 |
| breast but have pity upon me too if I have ever given you comfort | M2 |
| from my own bosom think on it now dear son and come within the wall | P |
| to protect us from this man stand not without to meet him Should the | B |
| wretch kill you neither I nor your richly dowered wife shall ever | D |
| weep dear offshoot of myself over the bed on which you lie for dogs | W |
| will devour you at the ships of the Achaeans | W |
| Thus did the two with many tears implore their son but they moved | N2 |
| not the heart of Hector and he stood his ground awaiting huge | O2 |
| Achilles as he drew nearer towards him As serpent in its den upon the | B |
| mountains full fed with deadly poisons waits for the approach of | N |
| man he is filled with fury and his eyes glare terribly as he goes | W |
| writhing round his den even so Hector leaned his shield against a | B |
| tower that jutted out from the wall and stood where he was undaunted | P2 |
| Alas said he to himself in the heaviness of his heart if I go | L |
| within the gates Polydamas will be the first to heap reproach upon | C |
| me for it was he that urged me to lead the Trojans back to the city | I |
| on that awful night when Achilles again came forth against us I would | Q2 |
| not listen but it would have been indeed better if I had done so Now | R2 |
| that my folly has destroyed the host I dare not look Trojan men and | Q |
| Trojan women in the face lest a worse man should say 'Hector has | W |
| ruined us by his self confidence ' Surely it would be better for me to | F |
| return after having fought Achilles and slain him or to die | K |
| gloriously here before the city What again if were to lay down my | K |
| shield and helmet lean my spear against the wall and go straight up | S2 |
| to noble Achilles What if I were to promise to give up Helen who was | W |
| the fountainhead of all this war and all the treasure that Alexandrus | W |
| brought with him in his ships to Troy aye and to let the Achaeans | W |
| divide the half of everything that the city contains among themselves | W |
| I might make the Trojans by the mouths of their princes take a | B |
| solemn oath that they would hide nothing but would divide into two | F |
| shares all that is within the city but why argue with myself in | H |
| this way Were I to go up to him he would show me no kind of mercy he | I |
| would kill me then and there as easily as though I were a woman | S |
| when I had off my armour There is no parleying with him from some | J |
| rock or oak tree as young men and maidens prattle with one another | D |
| Better fight him at once and learn to which of us Jove will vouchsafe | N |
| victory | I |
| Thus did he stand and ponder but Achilles came up to him as it were | D |
| Mars himself plumed lord of battle From his right shoulder he | I |
| brandished his terrible spear of Pelian ash and the bronze gleamed | T2 |
| around him like flashing fire or the rays of the rising sun Fear fell | U2 |
| upon Hector as he beheld him and he dared not stay longer where he | I |
| was but fled in dismay from before the gates while Achilles darted | P2 |
| after him at his utmost speed As a mountain falcon swiftest of all | P |
| birds swoops down upon some cowering dove the dove flies before | T |
| him but the falcon with a shrill scream follows close after | D |
| resolved to have her even so did Achilles make straight for Hector | D |
| with all his might while Hector fled under the Trojan wall as fast as | W |
| his limbs could take him | V2 |
| On they flew along the waggon road that ran hard by under the | B |
| wall past the lookout station and past the weather beaten wild | W2 |
| fig tree till they came to two fair springs which feed the river | D |
| Scamander One of these two springs is warm and steam rises from it | A2 |
| as smoke from a burning fire but the other even in summer is as | W |
| cold as hail or snow or the ice that forms on water Here hard by | K |
| the springs are the goodly washing troughs of stone where in the | B |
| time of peace before the coming of the Achaeans the wives and fair | X2 |
| daughters of the Trojans used to wash their clothes Past these did | P2 |
| they fly the one in front and the other giving ha behind him good | Q2 |
| was the man that fled but better far was he that followed after | D |
| and swiftly indeed did they run for the prize was no mere beast for | T |
| sacrifice or bullock's hide as it might be for a common foot race | W |
| but they ran for the life of Hector As horses in a chariot race speed | Y2 |
| round the turning posts when they are running for some great prize | W |
| a tripod or woman at the games in honour of some dead hero so did | P2 |
| these two run full speed three times round the city of Priam All | P |
| the gods watched them and the sire of gods and men was the first to | F |
| speak | Z2 |
| Alas said he my eyes behold a man who is dear to me being | A3 |
| pursued round the walls of Troy my heart is full of pity for | T |
| Hector who has burned the thigh bones of many a heifer in my | K |
| honour at one while on the of many valleyed Ida and again on the | B |
| citadel of Troy and now I see noble Achilles in full pursuit of him | V2 |
| round the city of Priam What say you Consider among yourselves and | Q |
| decide whether we shall now save him or let him fall valiant though | L |
| he be before Achilles son of Peleus | W |
| Then Minerva said Father wielder of the lightning lord of | N |
| cloud and storm what mean you Would you pluck this mortal whose doom | B3 |
| has long been decreed out of the jaws of death Do as you will but we | I |
| others shall not be of a mind with you | F |
| And Jove answered My child Trito born take heart I did not | G |
| speak in full earnest and I will let you have your way Do without | C3 |
| let or hindrance as you are minded | D3 |
| Thus did he urge Minerva who was already eager and down she | I |
| darted from the topmost summits of Olympus | W |
| Achilles was still in full pursuit of Hector as a hound chasing a | B |
| fawn which he has started from its covert on the mountains and | Q |
| hunts through glade and thicket The fawn may try to elude him by | K |
| crouching under cover of a bush but he will scent her out and | Q |
| follow her up until he gets her even so there was no escape for | T |
| Hector from the fleet son of Peleus Whenever he made a set to get | A |
| near the Dardanian gates and under the walls that his people might | E3 |
| help him by showering down weapons from above Achilles would gain | F3 |
| on him and head him back towards the plain keeping himself always | W |
| on the city side As a man in a dream who fails to lay hands upon | C |
| another whom he is pursuing the one cannot escape nor the other | D |
| overtake even so neither could Achilles come up with Hector nor | T |
| Hector break away from Achilles nevertheless he might even yet have | N |
| escaped death had not the time come when Apollo who thus far had | G3 |
| sustained his strength and nerved his running was now no longer to | F |
| stay by him Achilles made signs to the Achaean host and shook his | W |
| head to show that no man was to aim a dart at Hector lest another | D |
| might win the glory of having hit him and he might himself come in | H |
| second Then at last as they were nearing the fountains for the | B |
| fourth time the father of all balanced his golden scales and placed a | B |
| doom in each of them one for Achilles and the other for Hector As he | I |
| held the scales by the middle the doom of Hector fell down deep | H3 |
| into the house of Hades and then Phoebus Apollo left him Thereon | I3 |
| Minerva went close up to the son of Peleus and said Noble | J3 |
| Achilles favoured of heaven we two shall surely take back to the | B |
| ships a triumph for the Achaeans by slaying Hector for all his lust | K3 |
| of battle Do what Apollo may as he lies grovelling before his father | D |
| aegis bearing Jove Hector cannot escape us longer Stay here and take | L3 |
| breath while I go up to him and persuade him to make a stand and | Q |
| fight you | F |
| Thus spoke Minerva Achilles obeyed her gladly and stood still | G2 |
| leaning on his bronze pointed ashen spear while Minerva left him | V2 |
| and went after Hector in the form and with the voice of Deiphobus She | I |
| came close up to him and said Dear brother I see you are hard | M3 |
| pressed by Achilles who is chasing you at full speed round the city of | N |
| Priam let us await his onset and stand on our defence | W |
| And Hector answered Deiphobus you have always been dearest to | F |
| me of all my brothers children of Hecuba and Priam but henceforth | N3 |
| I shall rate you yet more highly inasmuch as you have ventured | O3 |
| outside the wall for my sake when all the others remain inside | P3 |
| Then Minerva said Dear brother my father and mother went down | Q3 |
| on their knees and implored me as did all my comrades to remain | F3 |
| inside so great a fear has fallen upon them all but I was in an | V |
| agony of grief when I beheld you now therefore let us two make a | B |
| stand and fight and let there be no keeping our spears in reserve | N |
| that we may learn whether Achilles shall kill us and bear off our | D |
| spoils to the ships or whether he shall fall before you | F |
| Thus did Minerva inveigle him by her cunning and when the two | F |
| were now close to one another great Hector was first to speak I | K |
| will no longer fly you son of Peleus said he as I have been doing | A3 |
| hitherto Three times have I fled round the mighty city of Priam | R3 |
| without daring to withstand you but now let me either slay or be | I |
| slain for I am in the mind to face you Let us then give pledges to | F |
| one another by our gods who are the fittest witnesses and guardians | W |
| of all covenants let it be agreed between us that if Jove | N |
| vouchsafes me the longer stay and I take your life I am not to | F |
| treat your dead body in any unseemly fashion but when I have stripped | S3 |
| you of your armour I am to give up your body to the Achaeans And | Q |
| do you likewise | W |
| Achilles glared at him and answered Fool prate not to me about | C3 |
| covenants There can be no covenants between men and lions wolves and | Q |
| lambs can never be of one mind but hate each other out and out an | V |
| through Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me | I |
| nor may there be any covenants between us till one or other shall | T3 |
| fall and glut grim Mars with his life's blood Put forth all your | T |
| strength you have need now to prove yourself indeed a bold soldier | D |
| and man of war You have no more chance and Pallas Minerva will | G2 |
| forthwith vanquish you by my spear you shall now pay me in full for | T |
| the grief you have caused me on account of my comrades whom you have | N |
| killed in battle | J3 |
| He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it Hector saw it | A2 |
| coming and avoided it he watched it and crouched down so that it flew | F |
| over his head and stuck in the ground beyond Minerva then snatched it | A2 |
| up and gave it back to Achilles without Hector's seeing her Hector | D |
| thereon said to the son of Peleus You have missed your aim | J2 |
| Achilles peer of the gods and Jove has not yet revealed to you the | B |
| hour of my doom though you made sure that he had done so You were | D |
| a false tongued liar when you deemed that I should forget my valour | D |
| and quail before you You shall not drive spear into the back of a | B |
| runaway drive it should heaven so grant you power drive it into | F |
| me as I make straight towards you and now for your own part avoid | U3 |
| my spear if you can would that you might receive the whole of it into | F |
| your body if you were once dead the Trojans would find the war an | V |
| easier matter for it is you who have harmed them most | V3 |
| He poised his spear as he spoke and hurled it His aim was true | F |
| for he hit the middle of Achilles' shield but the spear rebounded | P2 |
| from it and did not pierce it Hector was angry when he saw that | W3 |
| the weapon had sped from his hand in vain and stood there in dismay | X3 |
| for he had no second spear With a loud cry he called Diphobus and | Q |
| asked him for one but there was no man then he saw the truth and | Q |
| said to himself Alas the gods have lured me on to my destruction I | K |
| deemed that the hero Deiphobus was by my side but he is within the | B |
| wall and Minerva has inveigled me death is now indeed exceedingly | I |
| near at hand and there is no way out of it for so Jove and his son | S |
| Apollo the far darter have willed it though heretofore they have been | H |
| ever ready to protect me My doom has come upon me let me not then | Y3 |
| die ingloriously and without a struggle but let me first do some | J |
| great thing that shall be told among men hereafter | D |
| As he spoke he drew the keen blade that hung so great and strong | Z3 |
| by his side and gathering himself together be sprang on Achilles like | A4 |
| a soaring eagle which swoops down from the clouds on to some lamb or | D |
| timid hare even so did Hector brandish his sword and spring upon | C |
| Achilles Achilles mad with rage darted towards him with his wondrous | W |
| shield before his breast and his gleaming helmet made with four | D |
| layers of metal nodding fiercely forward The thick tresses of gold | B4 |
| wi which Vulcan had crested the helmet floated round it and as the | B |
| evening star that shines brighter than all others through the | B |
| stillness of night even such was the gleam of the spear which | C4 |
| Achilles poised in his right hand fraught with the death of noble | J3 |
| Hector He eyed his fair flesh over and over to see where he could | Q2 |
| best wound it but all was protected by the goodly armour of which | C4 |
| Hector had spoiled Patroclus after he had slain him save only the | B |
| throat where the collar bones divide the neck from the shoulders | W |
| and this is a most deadly place here then did Achilles strike him | V2 |
| as he was coming on towards him and the point of his spear went right | E3 |
| through the fleshy part of the neck but it did not sever his windpipe | H3 |
| so that he could still speak Hector fell headlong and Achilles | W |
| vaunted over him saying Hector you deemed that you should come | J |
| off scatheless when you were spoiling Patroclus and recked not of | N |
| myself who was not with him Fool that you were for I his comrade | G3 |
| mightier far than he was still left behind him at the ships and | Q |
| now I have laid you low The Achaeans shall give him all due funeral | J3 |
| rites while dogs and vultures shall work their will upon yourself | N |
| Then Hector said as the life ebbed out of him I pray you by | K |
| your life and knees and by your parents let not dogs devour me at | W3 |
| the ships of the Achaeans but accept the rich treasure of gold and | Q |
| bronze which my father and mother will offer you and send my body | I |
| home that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire | D |
| when I am dead | I2 |
| Achilles glared at him and answered Dog talk not to me neither of | N |
| knees nor parents would that I could be as sure of being able to | F |
| cut your flesh into pieces and eat it raw for the ill have done me | I |
| as I am that nothing shall save you from the dogs it shall not be | I |
| though they bring ten or twenty fold ransom and weigh it out for me on | C |
| the spot with promise of yet more hereafter Though Priam son of | N |
| Dardanus should bid them offer me your weight in gold even so your | D |
| mother shall never lay you out and make lament over the son she | I |
| bore but dogs and vultures shall eat you utterly up | H3 |
| Hector with his dying breath then said I know you what you are | D |
| and was sure that I should not move you for your heart is hard as | W |
| iron look to it that I bring not heaven's anger upon you on the day | X3 |
| when Paris and Phoebus Apollo valiant though you be shall slay you | F |
| at the Scaean gates | W |
| When he had thus said the shrouds of death enfolded him whereon his | W |
| soul went out of him and flew down to the house of Hades lamenting | A3 |
| its sad fate that it should en' youth and strength no longer But | D4 |
| Achilles said speaking to the dead body Die for my part I will | G2 |
| accept my fate whensoever Jove and the other gods see fit to send it | A2 |
| As he spoke he drew his spear from the body and set it on one | S |
| side then he stripped the blood stained armour from Hector's | W |
| shoulders while the other Achaeans came running up to view his | W |
| wondrous strength and beauty and no one came near him without | C3 |
| giving him a fresh wound Then would one turn to his neighbour and | Q |
| say It is easier to handle Hector now than when he was flinging fire | D |
| on to our ships and as he spoke he would thrust his spear into him | V2 |
| anew | F |
| When Achilles had done spoiling Hector of his armour he stood among | E4 |
| the Argives and said My friends princes and counsellors of the | B |
| Argives now that heaven has vouchsafed us to overcome this man who | F |
| has done us more hurt than all the others together consider whether | D |
| we should not attack the city in force and discover in what mind | F4 |
| the Trojans may be We should thus learn whether they will desert | M2 |
| their city now that Hector has fallen or will still hold out even | H |
| though he is no longer living But why argue with myself in this | W |
| way while Patroclus is still lying at the ships unburied and | Q |
| unmourned he Whom I can never forget so long as I am alive and my | K |
| strength fails not Though men forget their dead when once they are | D |
| within the house of Hades yet not even there will I forget the | B |
| comrade whom I have lost Now therefore Achaean youths let us raise | W |
| the song of victory and go back to the ships taking this man along | Z3 |
| with us for we have achieved a mighty triumph and have slain noble | J3 |
| Hector to whom the Trojans prayed throughout their city as though he | I |
| were a god | G4 |
| On this he treated the body of Hector with contumely he pierced the | B |
| sinews at the back of both his feet from heel to ancle and passed | H4 |
| thongs of ox hide through the slits he had made thus he made the body | I |
| fast to his chariot letting the head trail upon the ground Then when | Y3 |
| he had put the goodly armour on the chariot and had himself mounted | D3 |
| he lashed his horses on and they flew forward nothing loth The dust | K3 |
| rose from Hector as he was being dragged along his dark hair flew all | P |
| abroad and his head once so comely was laid low on earth for Jove | N |
| had now delivered him into the hands of his foes to do him outrage | I4 |
| in his own land | J4 |
| Thus was the head of Hector being dishonoured in the dust His | W |
| mother tore her hair and flung her veil from her with a loud cry as | W |
| she looked upon her son His father made piteous moan and | Q |
| throughout the city the people fell to weeping and wailing It was | W |
| as though the whole of frowning Ilius was being smirched with fire | D |
| Hardly could the people hold Priam back in his hot haste to rush | K4 |
| without the gates of the city He grovelled in the mire and besought | Q |
| them calling each one of them by his name Let be my friends he | I |
| cried and for all your sorrow suffer me to go single handed to | Q |
| the ships of the Achaeans Let me beseech this cruel and terrible man | V |
| if maybe he will respect the feeling of his fellow men and have | N |
| compassion on my old age His own father is even such another as | W |
| myself Peleus who bred him and reared him to be the bane of us | W |
| Trojans and of myself more than of all others Many a son of mine has | W |
| he slain in the flower of his youth and yet grieve for these as I | K |
| may I do so for one Hector more than for them all and the | B |
| bitterness of my sorrow will bring me down to the house of Hades | W |
| Would that he had died in my arms for so both his ill starred | Q |
| mother who bore him and myself should have had the comfort of | N |
| weeping and mourning over him | V2 |
| Thus did he speak with many tears and all the people of the city | I |
| joined in his lament Hecuba then raised the cry of wailing among | E4 |
| the Trojans Alas my son she cried what have I left to live | N |
| for now that you are no more Night and day did I glory in you | Q |
| throughout the city for you were a tower of strength to all in | H |
| Troy and both men and women alike hailed you as a god So long as you | Q |
| lived you were their pride but now death and destruction have | N |
| fallen upon you | Q |
| Hector's wife had as yet heard nothing for no one had come to | Q |
| tell her that her husband had remained without the gates She was at | Q |
| her loom in an inner part of the house weaving a double purple web | L4 |
| and embroidering it with many flowers She told her maids to set a | B |
| large tripod on the fire so as to have a warm bath ready for Hector | D |
| when he came out of battle poor woman she knew not that he was now | R2 |
| beyond the reach of baths and that Minerva had laid him low by the | B |
| hands of Achilles She heard the cry coming as from the wall and | Q |
| trembled in every limb the shuttle fell from her hands and again she | I |
| spoke to her waiting women Two of you she said come with me that | Q |
| I may learn what it is that has befallen I heard the voice of my | K |
| husband's honoured mother my own heart beats as though it would | Q |
| come into my mouth and my limbs refuse to carry me some great | Q |
| misfortune for Priam's children must be at hand May I never live to | Q |
| hear it but I greatly fear that Achilles has cut off the retreat of | N |
| brave Hector and has chased him on to the plain where he was | W |
| singlehanded I fear he may have put an end to the reckless daring | A3 |
| which possessed my husband who would never remain with the body of | N |
| his men but would dash on far in front foremost of them all in | H |
| valour | D |
| Her heart beat fast and as she spoke she flew from the house like a | B |
| maniac with her waiting women following after When she reached the | B |
| battlements and the crowd of people she stood looking out upon the | B |
| wall and saw Hector being borne away in front of the city the horses | W |
| dragging him without heed or care over the ground towards the ships of | N |
| the Achaeans Her eyes were then shrouded as with the darkness of | N |
| night and she fell fainting backwards She tore the tiring from her | D |
| head and flung it from her the frontlet and net with its plaited | Q |
| band and the veil which golden Venus had given her on the day when | Y3 |
| Hector took her with him from the house of Eetion after having | A3 |
| given countless gifts of wooing for her sake Her husband's sisters | W |
| and the wives of his brothers crowded round her and supported her for | D |
| she was fain to die in her distraction when she again presently | I |
| breathed and came to herself she sobbed and made lament among the | B |
| Trojans saying 'Woe is me O Hector woe indeed that to share a | B |
| common lot we were born you at Troy in the house of Priam and I at | Q |
| Thebes under the wooded mountain of Placus in the house of Eetion | Y3 |
| who brought me up when I was a child ill starred sire of an | Y3 |
| ill starred daughter would that he had never begotten me You are now | Y3 |
| going into the house of Hades under the secret places of the earth | M4 |
| and you leave me a sorrowing widow in your house The child of whom | B3 |
| you and I are the unhappy parents is as yet a mere infant Now that | Q |
| you are gone O Hector you can do nothing for him nor he for you | Q |
| Even though he escape the horrors of this woful war with the Achaeans | W |
| yet shall his life henceforth be one of labour and sorrow for | D |
| others will seize his lands The day that robs a child of his | W |
| parents severs him from his own kind his head is bowed his cheeks | W |
| are wet with tears and he will go about destitute among the friends | W |
| of his father plucking one by the cloak and another by the shirt | Q |
| Some one or other of these may so far pity him as to hold the cup | H3 |
| for a moment towards him and let him moisten his lips but he must not | Q |
| drink enough to wet the roof of his mouth then one whose parents | W |
| are alive will drive him from the table with blows and angry words | W |
| 'Out with you ' he will say 'you have no father here ' and the | B |
| child will go crying back to his widowed mother he Astyanax who | Q |
| erewhile would sit upon his father's knees and have none but the | B |
| daintiest and choicest morsels set before him When he had played till | G2 |
| he was tired and went to sleep he would lie in a bed in the arms | W |
| of his nurse on a soft couch knowing neither want nor care | D |
| whereas now that he has lost his father his lot will be full of | N |
| hardship he whom the Trojans name Astyanax because you O Hector | D |
| were the only defence of their gates and battlements The wriggling | A3 |
| writhing worms will now eat you at the ships far from your parents | W |
| when the dogs have glutted themselves upon you You will lie naked | Q |
| although in your house you have fine and goodly raiment made by | K |
| hands of women This will I now burn it is of no use to you for | D |
| you can never again wear it and thus you will have respect shown | Y3 |
| you by the Trojans both men and women | Y3 |
| In such wise did she cry aloud amid her tears and the women | Y3 |
| joined in her lament | Q |
Homer
(1)
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The Iliad: Book 22 is a poem by Homer. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
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