im
onwards. King Priam was first to note him as he scoured the plain, all
radiant as the star which men call Orion's Hound, and whose beams blaze
forth in time of harvest more brilliantly than those of any other that
shines by night; brightest of them all though he be, he yet bodes ill
for mortals, for he brings fire and fever in his train--even so did
Achilles' armour gleam on his breast as he sped onwards. Priam raised a
cry and beat his head with his hands as he lifted them up and shouted
out to his dear son, imploring him to return; but Hector still stayed
before the gates, for his heart was set upon doing battle with
Achilles. The old man reached out his arms towards him and bade him for
pity's sake come within the walls. "Hector," he cried, "my son, stay
not to face this man alone and unsupported, or you will meet death at
the hands of the son of Peleus, for he is mightier than you. Monster
that he is; would indeed that the gods loved him no better than I do,
for so, dogs and vultures would soon devour him as he lay stretched on
earth, and a load of grief would be lifted from my heart, for many a
brave son has he reft from me, either by killing them or selling them
away in the islands that are beyond the sea: even now I miss two sons
from among the Trojans who have thronged within the city, Lycaon and
Polydorus, whom Laothoe peeress among women bore me. Should they be
still alive and in the hands of the Achaeans, we will ransom them with
gold and bronze, of which we have store, for the old man Altes endowed
his daughter richly; but if they are already dead and in the house of
Hades, sorrow will it be to us two who were their parents; albeit the
grief of others will be more short-lived unless you too perish at the
hands of Achilles. Come, then, my son, within the city, to be the
guardian of Trojan men and Trojan women, or you will both lose your own
life and afford a mighty triumph to the son of Peleus. Have pity also
on your unhappy father while life yet remains to him--on me, whom the
son of Saturn will destroy by a terrible doom on the threshold of old
age, after I have seen my sons slain and my daughters haled away as
captives, my bridal chambers pillaged, little children dashed to earth
amid the rage of battle, and my sons' wives dragged away by the cruel
hands of the Achaeans; in the end fierce hounds will tear me in pieces
at my own gates after some one has beaten the life out of my body with
sword or spear-h