The Iliad Book 22 The Death of Hector
[Spoiler (click to open)]All the Trojans, except Hector "shackled fast by his deadly fate," retreat inside the walls of the city. Priam and Hecuba weep and beg their son to retreat, but he's resolved to face Achilles. Hector fears the disgrace of defeat. He considers surrender, but realizes that, after killing Patroclus and donning Achilles' armor, there's no possibility of parley.
Hector loses his nerve and bolts. Achilles chases him around the city three times. The narrator recalls more peaceful times when the women of Troy washed their laundry in the nearby springs. The hunter and hunted are like horses in a race or a hound running down a fawn.
Athena assumes the form of Hector's brother Deiphobus and tricks him into standing his ground. Hector asks that they agree to return the loser's body to his comrades. Achilles refuses:
There are no binding oaths between men and lions-
wolves and lambs can enjoy no meeting of the minds-
they are all bent on hating each other to the death.
So with you and me. No love between us. No truce
till one or the other falls and gluts with blood
Achilles, who knows the weakest point of his own armor, fatally wounds Hector. Even then, he's not satisfied and taunts Hector. Hector begs him to return his body to his parents for a ransom. Achilles retorts:
"Beg no more, you fawning dog-begging me by my parents!
Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now
to hack your flesh away and eat you raw-
such agonies you have caused me!
Hector curses Achilles before he dies. All the Greeks taunt and stab the corpse.
Achilles returns to the ships, dragging Hector behind his chariot. He's ready to perform Patroclus' burial rites.
"Down by the ships a body lies unwept, unburied-
Patroclus . . . I will never forget him,
not as long as I'm still among the living
and my springing knees will lift and drive me on.
Though the dead forget their dead in the House of Death,
I will remember, even there, my dear companion."
Hector's parents and his wife grieve. His wife faints, mourns for her son's loss, and swears that she will burn their stored clothing because they'll never shroud Hector's body.
Hector loses his nerve and bolts. Achilles chases him around the city three times. The narrator recalls more peaceful times when the women of Troy washed their laundry in the nearby springs. The hunter and hunted are like horses in a race or a hound running down a fawn.
Athena assumes the form of Hector's brother Deiphobus and tricks him into standing his ground. Hector asks that they agree to return the loser's body to his comrades. Achilles refuses:
There are no binding oaths between men and lions-
wolves and lambs can enjoy no meeting of the minds-
they are all bent on hating each other to the death.
So with you and me. No love between us. No truce
till one or the other falls and gluts with blood
Achilles, who knows the weakest point of his own armor, fatally wounds Hector. Even then, he's not satisfied and taunts Hector. Hector begs him to return his body to his parents for a ransom. Achilles retorts:
"Beg no more, you fawning dog-begging me by my parents!
Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now
to hack your flesh away and eat you raw-
such agonies you have caused me!
Hector curses Achilles before he dies. All the Greeks taunt and stab the corpse.
Achilles returns to the ships, dragging Hector behind his chariot. He's ready to perform Patroclus' burial rites.
"Down by the ships a body lies unwept, unburied-
Patroclus . . . I will never forget him,
not as long as I'm still among the living
and my springing knees will lift and drive me on.
Though the dead forget their dead in the House of Death,
I will remember, even there, my dear companion."
Hector's parents and his wife grieve. His wife faints, mourns for her son's loss, and swears that she will burn their stored clothing because they'll never shroud Hector's body.