So he spake, and drew the mighty sword that hung by his side: then, as an eagle rushes through the clouds to pounce on a hare or a lamb, rushed on the great Achilles. But he dealt never a blow; for Achilles charged to meet him, his shield before his breast, his helmet bent forward as he ran, with the long plumes streaming behind, and the gleam of his spear-point was as the gleam of the evening star, which is the fairest of all the stars in heaven. One moment he thought where he should drive it home, for the armor which Hector had won from Patroclus guarded him well; but one spot there was, where by the collar-bone the neck joins the shoulder (and nowhere is the stroke of sword or spear more deadly). There he drave in the spear, and the point stood out behind the neck, and Hector fell in the dust. Then Achilles cried aloud, “Hector, thou thoughtest in the day when thou didst spoil Patroclus of his arms that thou wouldst be safe from vengeance, taking, forsooth, no account of me. And lo! thou art fallen before me.” But Hector, growing faint, spake to him: “Take the ransom, gold and bronze, that my father and mother shall pay thee, and let the sons and daughters of Troy give me burial rites.” But Achilles scowled at him, and cried, “Dog, seek not to entreat me! No ransom, though it were ten times told, should buy thee back; no, not though Priam should offer thy weight in gold.” Then Hector, who was now at the point to die, spake to him: “I know thee well, what manner of man thou art, that the heart in thy breast is iron only. Only beware lest some vengeance from the gods come upon thee in the day when Paris and Apollo shall slay thee, for all thy valor, by the Scæan gates.” So speaking, he died. But Achilles said, “Die, hound; but my fate I meet when Jupiter and the other gods decree.” The Greeks came about the dead man, marvelling at his stature and beauty. And one would say to another, “Surely this Hector is less dreadful now than in the day when he would burn our ships with fire.” Then Achilles devised a ruthless thing in his heart. He bound the body with thongs of ox-hide to the chariot, letting the head drag behind, and thus he dragged Hector to the ships. Priam saw him from the walls, and scarce could his sons keep him back, but that he should go forth and beg the body of his dear son from him who had slain him. And Hecuba his mother also bewailed him, but his wife Andromaché knew not at yet of what had befallen him. For she sat in her dwelling, wearing a great purple mantle broidered with flowers. And she bade her maidens make ready a bath for Hector, when he should come back from the battle, nor knew that he should never need it more. But the voice of wailing from the town came to her, and she rose up hastily in great fear, and dropped the shuttle from her hand and called to her maidens—