BOOK 22

BOOK 22

Everywhere you looked in Troy, exhausted

Soldiers, glazed with sweat like winded deer,
Leaned on the walls, cooling down
And slaking their thirst.
Outside, the Greeks
Formed up close to the wall, locking their shields.
In the dead air between the Greeks
And Troy's Western Gate, Destiny
Had Hector pinned, waiting for death.

Then Apollo called back to Achilles: 10

"Son of Peleus, you're fast on your feet,

But you'll never catch me, man chasing god.
Or are you too raging mad to notice
I'm a god? Don't you care about fighting
The Trojans any more? You've chased them back
Into their town, but now you've veered off here.
You'll never kill me. You don't hold my doom."

And the shining sprinter, Achilles:

"That was a dirty trick, Apollo,

Turning me away from the wall like that! 20

I could have ground half of Troy face down

ILIAD
In the dirt! Now you've robbed me
Of my glory and saved them easily
Because you have no retribution to fear.
I swear, I'd make you pay if I could!"

His mind opened to the clear space before him,

And he was off toward the town, moving

Like a thoroughbred stretching it out

Over the plain for the final sprint home—

Achilles, lifting his knees as he lengthened his stride. 30

Priam saw him first, with his old man's eyes,

A single point of light on Troy's dusty plain.

Sirius rises late in the dark, liquid sky

On summer nights, star of stars,
Orion's Dog they call it, brightest
Of all, but an evil portent, bringing heat
And fevers to suffering humanity.

Achilles' bronze gleamed like this as he ran.

And the old man groaned, and beat his head

With his hands, and stretched out his arms 40

To his beloved son, Hector, who had

Taken his stand before the Western Gate,
Determined to meet Achilles in combat.
 BOOK 22
Priam's voice cracked as he pleaded:

"Hector, my boy, you can't face Achilles

Alone like that, without any support—
You'll go down in a minute. He's too much
For you, son, he won't stop at anything!
O, if only the gods loved him as I do:
Vultures and dogs would be gnawing his corpse. 50

Then some grief might pass from my heart.

So many fine sons he's taken from me,
Killed or sold them as slaves in the islands.
Two of them now, Lycaon and Polydorus,
I can't see with the Trojans safe in town,
Laothoë's boys. If the Greeks have them
We'll ransom them with the gold and silver
Old Altes gave us. But if they're dead
And gone down to Hades, there will be grief
For myself and the mother who bore them. 60

The rest of the people won't mourn so much

Unless you go down at Achilles' hands.
So come inside the wall, my boy.
Live to save the men and women of Troy.
Don't just hand Achilles the glory
And throw your life away. Show some pity for me
Before I go out of my mind with grief
And Zeus finally destroys me in my old age,
After I have seen all the horrors of war—
My sons butchered, my daughters dragged off, 70

Raped, bedchambers plundered, infants

Dashed to the ground in this terrible war,
ILIAD
My sons' wives abused by murderous Greeks.
And one day some Greek soldier will stick me
With cold bronze and draw the life from my limbs,
And the dogs that I fed at my table,
My watchdogs, will drag me outside and eat
My flesh raw, crouched in my doorway, lapping
My blood.
When a young man is killed in war, 80

Even though his body is slashed with bronze,

He lies there beautiful in death, noble.
But when the dogs maraud an old man's head,
Griming his white hair and beard and private parts,
There's no human fate more pitiable."

And the old man pulled the white hair from his head,
But did not persuade Hector.

His mother then,

Wailing, sobbing, laid open her bosom
And holding out a breast spoke through her tears: 90

"Hector, my child, if ever I've soothed you

With this breast, remember it now, son, and
Have pity on me. Don't pit yourself
Against that madman. Come inside the wall.
If Achilles kills you I will never
Get to mourn you laid out on a bier, O
My sweet blossom, nor will Andromache,
Your beautiful wife, but far from us both
Dogs will eat your body by the Greek ships."
 BOOK 22

So the two of them pleaded with their son, 100

But did not persuade him or touch his heart.

Hector held his ground as Achilles' bulk
Loomed larger. He waited as a snake waits,

Tense and coiled

As a man approaches
Its lair in the mountains,
Venom in its fangs
And poison in its heart,
Glittering eyes
Glaring from the rocks: 110

So Hector waited, leaning his polished shield

Against one of the towers in Troy's bulging wall,
But his heart was troubled with brooding thoughts:

"Now what? If I take cover inside,

Polydamas will be the first to reproach me.
He begged me to lead the Trojans back
To the city on that black night when Achilles rose.
But I wouldn't listen, and now I've destroyed
Half the army through my recklessness.
I can't face the Trojan men and women now, 120

Can't bear to hear some lesser man say,

'Hector trusted his strength and lost the army.'
That's what they'll say. I'll be much better off
Facing Achilles, either killing him
Or dying honorably before the city.
ILIAD
But what if I lay down all my weapons,
Bossed shield, heavy helmet, prop my spear
Against the wall, and go meet Achilles,
Promise him we'll surrender Helen
And everything Paris brought back with her 130

In his ships' holds to Troy—that was the beginning

Of this war—give all of it back
To the sons of Atreus and divide
Everything else in the town with the Greeks,
And swear a great oath not to hold
Anything back, but share it all equally,
All the treasure in Troy's citadel.
But why am I talking to myself like this?
I can't go out there unarmed. Achilles
Will cut me down in cold blood if I take off 140

My armor and go out to meet him

Naked like a woman. This is no time
For talking, the way a boy and a girl
Whisper to each other from oak tree or rock,
A boy and a girl with all their sweet talk.
Better to lock up in mortal combat
As soon as possible and see to whom
God on Olympus grants the victory."

Thus Hector.
And Achilles closed in 150

Like the helmeted God of War himself,

The ash-wood spear above his right shoulder
Rocking in the light that played from his bronze
In gleams of fire and the rising sun.
 BOOK 22
And when Hector saw it he lost his nerve,
Panicked, and ran, leaving the gates behind,
With Achilles on his tail, confident in his speed.

You have seen a falcon

In a long, smooth dive
Attack a fluttering dove 160

Far below in the hills.

The falcon screams,
Swoops, and plunges
In its lust for prey.

So Achilles swooped and Hector trembled

In the shadow of Troy's wall.
Running hard,
They passed Lookout Rock and the windy fig tree,
Following the loop of the wagon road.
They came to the wellsprings of eddying 170

Scamander, two beautiful pools, one

Boiling hot with steam rising up,
The other flowing cold even in summer,
Cold as freezing sleet, cold as tundra snow.
There were broad basins there, lined with stone,
Where the Trojan women used to wash their silky clothes
In the days of peace, before the Greeks came.

They ran by these springs, pursuer and pursued—

A great man out front, a far greater behind—
And they ran all out. This was not a race 180

For such a prize as athletes compete for,

ILIAD
An oxhide or animal for sacrifice, but a race
For the lifeblood of Hector, breaker of horses.

But champion horses wheeling round the course,

Hooves flying, pouring it on in a race for a prize—
A woman or tripod—at a hero's funeral games

Will give you some idea of how these heroes looked

As they circled Priam's town three times running
While all the gods looked on.

Zeus, the gods' father and ours, spoke: 190

"I do not like what I see, a man close

To my heart chased down around Troy's wall.
Hector has burned many an ox's thigh
To me, both on Ida's peaks and in the city's
High holy places, and now Achilles
Is running him down around Priam's town.
Think you now, gods, and take counsel whether
We should save him from death or deliver him
Into Achilles' hands, good man though he be."

The grey-eyed goddess Athena answered: 200

"O Father,
You may be the Lord of Lightning and the Dark Cloud,
But what a thing to say, to save a mortal man,
With his fate already fixed, from rattling death!
Do it. But don't expect us all to approve."
 BOOK 22

Zeus loomed like a thunderhead, but answered gently:

"There, there, daughter, my heart wasn't in it.

I did not mean to displease you, my child. Go now,
Do what you have in mind without delay."

Athena had been longing for action 210

And at his word shot down from Olympus

As Achilles bore down on Hector.

A hunting hound starts a fawn in the hills,

Follows it through brakes and hollows,
And if it hides in a thicket, circles,
Picks up the trail, and renews the chase.

No more could Hector elude Achilles.

Every time Hector surged for the Western Gate
Under the massive towers, hoping for
Trojan archers to give him some cover, 220

Achilles cut him off and turned him back

Toward the plain, keeping the inside track.

Running in a dream, you can't catch up,

You can't catch up and you can't get away.

No more could Achilles catch Hector

Or Hector escape.
And how could Hector
ILIAD
Have ever escaped death's black birds
If Apollo had not stood by his side
This one last time and put life in his knees? 230

Achilles shook his head at his soldiers:

He would not allow anyone to shoot
At Hector and win glory with a hit,
Leaving him only to finish him off.

But when they reached the springs the fourth time,

Father Zeus stretched out his golden scales
And placed on them two agonizing deaths,
One for Achilles and one for Hector.
When he held the beam, Hector's doom sank down
Toward Hades. And Phoebus Apollo left him. 240

By now the grey-eyed goddess Athena

Was at Achilles' side, and her words flew fast:

"There's nothing but glory on the beachhead

For us now, my splendid Achilles,
Once we take Hector out of action, and
There's no way he can escape us now,
Not even if my brother Apollo has a fit
And rolls on the ground before the Almighty.
You stay here and catch your breath while I go
To persuade the man to put up a fight." 250

Welcome words for Achilles. He rested,

Leaning on his heavy ash and bronze spear,
 BOOK 22
While the goddess made her way to Hector,
The spitting image of Deïphobus.
And her voice sounded like his as she said:

"Achilles is pushing you hard, brother,

In this long footrace around Priam's town.
Why don't we stand here and give him a fight?"

Hector's helmet flashed as he turned and said:

"Deïphobus, you've always been my favorite 260

Brother, and again you've shown me why,

Having the courage to come out for me,
Leaving the safety of the wall, while all
Priam's other sons are cowering inside."

And Athena, her eyes as grey as winter moons:

"Mother and father begged me by my knees

To stay inside, and so did all my friends.
That's how frightened they are, Hector. But I
Could not bear the pain in my heart, brother.
Now let's get tough and fight and not spare 270

Any spears. Either Achilles kills us both

And drags our blood-soaked gear to the ships,
Or he goes down with your spear in his guts."

That's how Athena led him on, with guile.

And when the two heroes faced each other,
Great Hector, helmet shining, spoke first:
ILIAD

"I'm not running any more, Achilles.

Three times around the city was enough.
I've got my nerve back. It's me or you now.
But first we should swear a solemn oath. 280

With all the gods as witnesses, I swear:

If Zeus gives me the victory over you,
I will not dishonor your corpse, only
Strip the armor and give the body back
To the Greeks. Promise you'll do the same."

And Achilles, fixing his eyes on him:

"Don't try to cut any deals with me, Hector.

Do lions make peace treaties with men?
Do wolves and lambs agree to get along?
No, they hate each other to the core, 290

And that's how it is between you and me,

No talk of agreements until one of us
Falls and gluts Ares with his blood.
By God, you'd better remember everything
You ever knew about fighting with spears.
But you're as good as dead. Pallas Athena
And my spear will make you pay in a lump
For the agony you've caused by killing my friends."

With that he pumped his spear arm and let fly.

Hector saw the long flare the javelin made, and ducked. 300

The bronze point sheared the air over his head

And rammed into the earth. But Athena
 BOOK 22
Pulled it out and gave it back to Achilles
Without Hector noticing. And Hector,
Prince of Troy, taunted Achilles:

"Ha! You missed! Godlike Achilles! It looks like

You didn't have my number after all.
You said you did, but you were just trying
To scare me with big words and empty talk.
Did you think I'd run and you'd plant a spear 310

In my back? It'll take a direct hit in my chest,

Coming right at you, that and a god's help too.
Now see if you can dodge this piece of bronze.
Swallow it whole! The war will be much easier
On the Trojans with you dead and gone."

And Hector let his heavy javelin fly,

A good throw, too, hitting Achilles' shield
Dead center, but it only rebounded away.
Angry that his throw was wasted, Hector
Fumbled about for a moment, reaching 320

For another spear. He shouted to Deïphobus,

But Deïphobus was nowhere in sight.
It was then that Hector knew in his heart
What had happened, and said to himself:

"I hear the gods calling me to my death.

I thought I had a good man here with me,
Deïphobus, but he's still on the wall.
Athena tricked me. Death is closing in
And there's no escape. Zeus and Apollo
ILIAD
Must have chosen this long ago, even though 330

They used to be on my side. My fate is here,

But I will not perish without some great deed
That future generations will remember."

And he drew the sharp broadsword that hung

By his side and gathered himself for a charge.

A high-flying eagle dives

Through ebony clouds down
To the sun-scutched plain to claw
A lamb or a quivering hare.

Thus Hector's charge, and the light 340

That played from his blade's honed edge.

Opposite him, Achilles exploded forward, fury

Incarnate behind the curve of his shield,
A glory of metalwork, and the plumes
Nodded and rippled on his helmet's crest,
Thick golden horsehair set by Hephaestus,
And his spearpoint glinted like the Evening Star

In the gloom of night,

Star of perfect splendor,

A gleam in the air as Achilles poised 350

His spear with murderous aim at Hector,

Eyes boring into the beautiful skin,
Searching for the weak spot. Hector's body
 BOOK 22
Was encased in the glowing bronze armor
He had stripped from the fallen Patroclus,
But where the collarbones join at the neck
The gullet offered swift and certain death.
It was there Achilles drove his spear through
As Hector charged. The heavy bronze apex
Pierced the soft neck but did not slit the windpipe, 360

So that Hector could speak still.

He fell back in the dust.

And Achilles exulted:

"So you thought you could get away with it

Didn't you, Hector? Killing Patroclus
And ripping off his armor, my armor,
Thinking I was too far away to matter.
You fool. His avenger was far greater—
And far closer—than you could imagine,
Biding his time back in our beachhead camp. 370

And now I have laid you out on the ground.

Dogs and birds are going to draw out your guts
While the Greeks give Patroclus burial."

And Hector, barely able to shake the words out:

"I beg you, Achilles, by your own soul

And by your parents, do not
Allow the dogs to mutilate my body
By the Greek ships. Accept the gold and bronze
ILIAD
Ransom my father and mother will give you
And send my body back home to be burned 380

In honor by the Trojans and their wives."

And Achilles, fixing him with a stare:

"Don't whine to me about my parents,

You dog! I wish my stomach would let me
Cut off your flesh in strips and eat it raw
For what you've done to me. There is no one
And no way to keep the dogs off your head,
Not even if they bring ten or twenty
Ransoms, pile them up here and promise more,
Not even if Dardanian Priam weighs your body 390

Out in gold, not even then will your mother

Ever get to mourn you laid out on a bier.
No, dogs and birds will eat every last scrap."

Helmet shining, Hector spoke his last words:

"So this is Achilles. There was no way

To persuade you. Your heart is a lump
Of iron. But the gods will not forget this,
And I will have my vengeance on that day
When Paris and Apollo destroy you
In the long shadow of Troy's Western Gate." 400

Death's veil covered him as he said these things,

And his soul, bound for Hades, fluttered out
Resentfully, forsaking manhood's bloom.
 BOOK 22
He was dead when Achilles spoke to him:

"Die and be done with it. As for my fate,

I'll accept it whenever Zeus sends it."

And he drew the bronze spear out of the corpse,

Laid it aside, then stripped off the blood-stained armor.
The other Greeks crowded around
And could not help but admire Hector's 410

Beautiful body, but still they stood there

Stabbing their spears into him, smirking.

"Hector's a lot softer to the touch now

Than he was when he was burning our ships,"

One of them would say, pulling out his spear.

After Achilles had stripped the body

He rose like a god and addressed the Greeks:

"Friends, Argive commanders and counsellors,

The gods have granted us this man's defeat,
Who did us more harm than all the rest 420

Put together. What do you say we try

Laying a close siege on the city now
So we can see what the Trojans intend—
Whether they will give up the citadel
With Hector dead, or resolve to fight on?
But what am I thinking of? Patroclus' body
Still lies by the ships, unmourned, unburied,
ILIAD
Patroclus, whom I will never forget
As long as I am among the living,
Until I rise no more; and even if 430

In Hades the dead do not remember,

Even there I will remember my dear friend.
Now let us chant the victory paean, sons
Of the Achaeans, and march back to our ships
With this hero in tow. The power and the glory
Are ours. We have killed great Hector,
Whom all the Trojans honored as a god."

But it was shame and defilement Achilles

Had in mind for Hector. He pierced the tendons
Above the heels and cinched them with leather thongs 440

To his chariot, letting Hector's head drag.

He mounted, hoisted up the prize armor,
And whipped his team to a willing gallop
Across the plain. A cloud of dust rose
Where Hector was hauled, and the long black hair
Fanned out from his head, so beautiful once,
As it trailed in the dust. In this way Zeus
Delivered Hector into his enemies' hands
To be defiled in his own native land.

Watching this from the wall, Hector's mother 450

Tore off her shining veil and screamed,

And his old father groaned pitifully,
And all through town the people were convulsed
With lamentation, as if Troy itself,
The whole towering city, were in flames.
 BOOK 22
They were barely able to restrain
The old man, frantic to run through the gates,
Imploring them all, rolling in the dung,
And finally making this desperate appeal:

"Please let me go, alone, to the Greek ships. 460

I don't care if you're worried. I want to see

If that monster will respect my age, pity me
For the sake of his own father, Peleus,
Who is about my age, old Peleus
Who bore him and bred him to be a curse
For the Trojans, but he's caused me more pain
Than anyone, so many of my sons,
Beautiful boys, he's killed. I miss them all,
But I miss Hector more than all of them.
My grief for him will lay me in the earth. 470

Hector! You should have died in my arms, son!

Then we could have satisfied our sorrow,
Mourning and weeping, your mother and I."

The townsmen moaned as Priam was speaking.

Then Hecuba raised the women's lament:

"Hector, my son, I am desolate!

How can I live with suffering like this,
With you dead? You were the only comfort
I had, day and night, wherever you were
In the town, and you were the only hope 480

For Troy's men and women. They honored you

As a god when you were alive, Hector.
ILIAD
Now death and doom have overtaken you."

And all this time Andromache had heard

Nothing about Hector—news had not reached her
That her husband was caught outside the walls.
She was working the loom in an alcove
Of the great hall, embroidering flowers
Into a purple cloak, and had just called
To her serving women, ordering them 490

To put a large cauldron on the fire, so

A steaming bath would be ready for Hector
When he came home from battle. Poor woman,
She had little idea how far from warm baths
Hector was, undone by the Grey-Eyed One
And delivered into the hands of the Greeks.

Then she heard the lamentation from the tower.

She trembled, and the shuttle fell

To the floor. Again she called her women:

"Two of you come with me. I must see 500

What has happened. That was Hecuba's voice.

My heart is in my throat, my knees are like ice.
Something terrible has happened to one
Of Priam's sons. O God, I'm afraid
Achilles has cut off my brave Hector
Alone on the plain outside the city
And has put an end to my husband's
 BOOK 22
Cruel courage. Hector never held back
Safe in the ranks; he always charged ahead,
Second to no one in fighting spirit." 510

With these words on her lips' Andromache

Ran outdoors like a madwoman, heart racing,
Her two waiting-women following behind.
She reached the tower, pushed through the crowd,
And looking out from the wall saw her husband
As the horses dragged him disdainfully
Away from the city to the hollow Greek ships.

Black night swept over her eyes.

She reeled backward, gasping, and her veil
And glittering headbands flew off, 520

And the diadem golden Aphrodite

Gave her on that day when tall-helmed Hector
Led her from her father's house in marriage.
And now her womenfolk were around her,
Hector's sisters and his brother's wives,
Holding her as she raved madly for death,
Until she caught her breath and her distraught
Spirit returned to her breast. She moaned then
And, surrounded by Trojan women, spoke:

"Hector, you and I have come to the grief 530

We were both born for, you in Priam's Troy

And I in Thebes in the house of Eëtion
Who raised me there beneath wooded Plakos
Under an evil star. Better never to have been born.
ILIAD
And now you are going to Hades' dark world,
Underground, leaving me in sorrow,
A widow in the halls, with an infant,
The son you and I bore but cannot bless.
You can't help him now you are dead, Hector,
And he can never help you. Even if 540

He lives through this unbearable war,

There's nothing left for him in life but pain
And deprivation, all his property
Lost to others. An orphan has no friends.
He hangs his head, his cheeks are wet with tears.
He has to beg from his dead father's friends,
Tugging on one man's cloak, another's tunic,
And if they pity him he gets to sip
From someone's cup, just enough to moisten
His lips but not enough to quench his thirst. 550

Or a child with both parents still alive

Will push him away from a feast, taunting him,
'Go away, your father doesn't eat with us.'
And the boy will go to his widowed mother
In tears, Astyanax, who used to sit
In his father's lap and eat nothing but
Mutton and marrow. When he got sleepy
And tired of playing he would take a nap
In a soft bed nestled in his nurse's arms
His dreaming head filled with blossoming joy. 560

But now he'll suffer, now he's lost his father.

The Trojans called him Astyanax
Because you alone were Troy's defender,
You alone protected their walls and gates.
 BOOK 22
Now you lie by the curved prows of the ships,
Far from your parents. The dogs will glut
On your naked body, and shiny maggots
Will eat what's left.
Your clothes are stored away,
Beautiful, fine clothes made by women's hands— 570

I'll burn them all now in a blazing fire.

They're no use to you, you'll never lie
On the pyre in them. Burning them will be
Your glory before Trojan men and women."

And the women's moans came in over her lament.