eating him much; nor did they persuade the mind of Hector; but he awaited huge Achilles, coming near. And as a fierce serpent at its den, fed on evil poisons, awaits[1] a man, but direful rage enters it, and it glares horribly, coiling itself around its den; so Hector, possessing inextinguishable courage, retired not, leaning his splendid shield against a projecting tower; but, indignant, he thus addressed his own great-hearted soul:[2]
"Ah me, if indeed I enter the gates and the wall, Polydamas will first cast reproach upon me,[3] he who advised me to lead the Trojans toward the city in this disastrous night, when noble Achilles arose to battle. But I did not obey; certainly it would have been much better. And now, since by my injurious obstinacy I have destroyed the people, I fear the Trojan men, and the long-robed Trojan women, lest some one inferior to me should say, 'Hector, relying on his own strength, has destroyed the people.' Thus will they say; but it would have been far better for me, slaying Achilles in the encounter,[4] to return, or gloriously to be slain by him for the city. But if now I shall lay down my bossed shield and stout helmet, and, resting my spear against the wall, I myself going, shall come before renowned Achilles, and promise that we will give to the Atrides to lead away Helen, and all the numerous possessions along with her, whatever Paris brought to Troy in his hollow barks, and who was the origin of the contention, and at the same time that we will divide others, as many as this city contains, among the Greeks—but again I should exact an oath from the elders of the Trojans,[5] that they would conceal nothing, but divide all things into two portions, whatever treasure this delightful city contains within it. Yet why does my soul discuss such things? [I
- ↑ Hesych. χειά· ἡ κατάδυσις τῶν ὄφεων καὶ δρακόντων.
- ↑ Milton, Paradise Lost, vi. 111:
"Abdiel that sight endured not, where he stood
Among the mightiest, bent on highest deeds,
And thus his own undaunted heart explores." - ↑ Cf. Aristot. Eth. iii. 8, and Casaub. on Pers. Sat. i. 4. "Ne mihi Polydamas, et Troiades Labeonem Prætulerint."
- ↑ Ἄντην.
- ↑ This is perhaps the easiest way of expressing γερούσιον ὅρκον. It means an oath to be solemnly kept, an oath to which the elders might with propriety pledge themselves
