Then valiant Hector, of quick-glancing helm, Thus made reply: “Of all that thou hast said, My own true wife, I feel, I know the truth, But--could I bear the taunts of Trojan chiefs And stately Trojan dames, if, coward-like, I skulked from battle in my country’s need? Nor does my spirit keep me from the fight, For I have learned, brave-hearted, ’mid the first, To draw my sword in Ilion’s defence, To struggle for the honour of my sire And for my own. Although too well I know The day shall come when sacred Troy must fall, And Priam and his war-like hosts, who well Can wield in fight the ashen-handled spear! But not the woes of my brave countrymen, Nor yet my mother’s nor my kingly sire’s, Nor all my brethren’s who shall bite the dust ’Neath bitter foes, touch me so much as thine, When some one of the brass-mailed Greeks shall end Thy days of freedom, leading thee away In tears; and, haply, in far Argos, thou May’st tend another’s loom or water draw From Hyperea’s or Messeis’ fount,-- A slavish duty forced on thee by fate. And some one, looking on thy tears, may say: ‘_She_ was the wife of Hector, who excelled In fight among the chiefs that fought for Troy.’ And thy poor heart will ache with vain regret For him whose strong right arm would keep thee free. Then may his heaped-up grave keep Hector’s eyes From looking on thy sorrow and disgrace!” So spake the noble Hector, and his arms Extended to receive his son; but _he_ Shrank, crying, to his well-robed nurse’s breast, Fearing the war-like presence of his sire, His brazen armour and the horse-hair crest Above his helmet nodding fearfully. And Hector took the helmet off his head And laid it down, all gleaming, on the ground; And then he kissed and dandled him, and prayed To Zeus and all the gods on his behalf: “O Zeus and all ye gods, I pray you, grant That this, my son, may, as his sire, excel, And may he truly be the City’s King! And may men say of him, as he returns From war: ‘He’s braver than his father was.’ May he from war-like men take gory spoils, And may his mother glory in his might!”