e he was frightened of the great
helmet on his father's head with its horse-hair crest. Then Hector
laughed and Andromache laughed with him, and Hector took off his great
helmet and laid it on the ground. Then he took up his little son and
dandled him in his arms, and prayed, "O Zeus, greatest of the gods,
grant that this son of mine may become valiant, and that, like me, he
may be protector of the City and thereafter a great King, so that men
may say of him as he returns from battle, 'Far greater is he than was
Hector his father.'" Saying this he left the child back in his nurse's
arms. And to Andromache, his wife, who that day was very fearful, he
said "Dear one, do not be over sorrowful. You urge me not to go every
day into the battle, but some days to stay behind the walls. But my own
spirit forbids me to stay away from battle, for always I have taught
myself to be valiant and to fight in the forefront."'

[Illustration]

'So he said and he put on his helmet again and went to order his men.
And his wife went towards the house, looking back at him often and
letting her tears fall down. Thou knowst from Menelaus' story what
triumphs Hector had thereafter--how he drove the Greeks back to their
ships and affrighted them with his thousand watch-fires upon the plain;
how he drove back the host that Agamemnon led when Diomedes and Odysseus
and Machaon the healer were wounded; how he broke through the wall that
the Greeks had builded and brought fire to their ships, and how he slew
Patroklos in the armour of Achilles.'

XIX

King Priam on his tower saw Achilles come raging across the plain and he
cried out to Hector, "Hector, beloved son, do not await this man's onset
but come within the City's walls. Come within that thou mayst live and
be a protection to the men and women of Troy. And come within that thou
mayst save thy father who must perish if thou art slain."'

'But Hector would not come within the walls of the City. He stood
holding his shield against a jutting tower in the wall. And all around
him were the Trojans, who came pouring in through the gate without
waiting to speak to each other to ask who were yet living and who were
slain. And as he stood there he was saying in his heart, "The fault is
mine that the Trojans have been defeated upon the plain. I kept them
from entering the City last night against the counsel of a wise man, for
in my pride I thought it would be easy to drive Achilles and the G