The boldest of the foe have tried the spot: The brothers Ajax, famed Idomeneus, The two chiefs born to Atreus, and the brave Tydides: whether counselled to the attempt By some wise seer, or prompted from within." Then answered Hector great in war:--"All this, Dear wife, I bear in mind; but I should stand Ashamed before the men and long-robed dames Of Troy, were I to keep aloof, and shun The battle, coward-like. Not thus my heart Prompts me; for greatly have I learned to dare And strike among the foremost sons of Troy, Upholding my great father's fame and mine. But well in my undoubting mind I know The day shall come in which our sacred Troy, And Priam, and the people over whom Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all. But not the sorrows of the Trojan race, Nor those of Hecuba herself, nor those Of royal Priam, nor the woes that wait My brothers many and brave, who yet, at last, Slain by the leaguering foe, shall lie in dust, Grieve me so much as thine, when some mailed Greek Shall lead thee weeping hence, and take from thee Thy day of freedom. Thou, in Argos, then, Shalt, at another's bidding, ply the loom, Or from the fountain of Messeis draw Water, or from the Hypereian spring, Constrained, unwilling, by thy cruel lot. And then shall some one say, who sees thee weep, 'This was the wife of Hector, most renowned Of the horse-taming Trojans, when they fought Around their city.' So shall some one say; And thou shalt grieve the more, lamenting him Who haply might have kept afar the day Of thy captivity. Oh, let the earth Be heaped above my head in death, before I hear thy cries, as thou art borne away!" So saying, mighty Hector stretched his arms To take the boy. The boy shrank crying back To his fair nurse's bosom, scared to see His father helmeted in glittering brass, And eying with affright the horse-hair plume That grimly nodded from the crest on high. The tender father and fond mother smiled; And hastily the mighty Hector took The helmet from his brow, and laid it down Gleaming upon the ground, and, having kissed His darling son, and tossed him up in play, Prayed thus to Jove and all the gods of heaven:-- "O Jupiter, and all ye deities! Vouchsafe that this my son may yet become Among the Trojans eminent like me, And, with a might and courage like my own, Rule nobly over Ilium. May they say, 'This man is greater than his father was,' When they behold him from the battle-field Bring back the bloody spoils of the slain foe, That so his mother may be glad at heart." So speaking, to the arms of his dear spouse He gave the boy. She on her fragrant breast Received him, weeping as she smiled. The chief Beheld, and, moved with tender pity, smoothed