Now all, all night, by gentle sleep subdued,845
Both Gods and chariot-ruling warriors lay,
But not the benefactor of mankind,
Hermes; him sleep seized not, but deep he mused
How likeliest from amid the Grecian fleet
He might deliver by the guard unseen850
The King of Ilium; at his head he stood
In vision, and the senior thus bespake.
Ah heedless and secure! hast thou no dread
Of mischief, ancient King, that thus by foes
Thou sleep’st surrounded, lull’d by the consent855
And sufferance of Achilles? Thou hast given
Much for redemption of thy darling son,
But thrice that sum thy sons who still survive
Must give to Agamemnon and the Greeks
For thy redemption, should they know thee here.860
He ended; at the sound alarm’d upsprang
The King, and roused his herald. Hermes yoked
Himself both mules and steeds, and through the camp
Drove them incontinent, by all unseen.
Soon as the windings of the stream they reach’d,865
Deep-eddied Xanthus, progeny of Jove,
Mercury the Olympian summit sought,
And saffron-vested morn o’erspread the earth.
They, loud lamenting, to the city drove
Their steeds; the mules close follow’d with the dead.870
Nor warrior yet, nor cinctured matron knew
Of all in Ilium aught of their approach,
Cassandra sole except. She, beautiful
As golden Venus, mounted on the height
Of Pergamus, her father first discern’d,875
Borne on his chariot-seat erect, and knew:
The herald heard so oft in echoing Troy;
Him also on his bier outstretch’d she mark’d,
Whom the mules drew. Then, shrieking, through the streets
She ran of Troy, and loud proclaim’d the sight.880
Ye sons of Ilium and ye daughters, haste,
Haste all to look on Hector, if ye e’er
With joy beheld him, while he yet survived,
From fight returning; for all Ilium erst
In him, and all her citizens rejoiced.885
She spake. Then neither male nor female more
In Troy remain’d, such sorrow seized on all.
Issuing from the city-gate, they met
Priam conducting, sad, the body home,
And, foremost of them all, the mother flew890
And wife of Hector to the bier, on which
Their torn-off tresses with unsparing hands
They shower’d, while all the people wept around.
All day, and to the going down of day
They thus had mourn’d the dead before the gates,895
Had not their Sovereign from his chariot-seat
Thus spoken to the multitude around.
Fall back on either side, and let the mules
Pass on; the body in my palace once
Deposited, ye then may weep your fill.900
He said; they, opening, gave the litter way.
Arrived within the royal house, they stretch’d
The breathless Hector on a sumptuous bed,
And singers placed beside him, who should chant
The strain funereal; they with many a groan905
The dirge began, and still, at every close,
The female train with many a groan replied.
Then, in the midst, Andromache white-arm’d
Between her palms the dreadful Hector’s head
Pressing, her lamentation thus began.910
[17]My hero! thou hast fallen in prime of life,
Me leaving here desolate, and the fruit
Of our ill-fated loves, a helpless child,
Whom grown to manhood I despair to see.
For ere that day arrive, down from her height915
Precipitated shall this city fall,
Since thou hast perish’d once her sure defence,
Faithful protector of her spotless wives,
And all their little ones. Those wives shall soon
In Grecian barks capacious hence be borne,920
And I among the rest. But thee, my child!
Either thy fate shall with thy mother send
Captive into a land where thou shalt serve
In sordid drudgery some cruel lord,
Or haply some Achaian here, thy hand925
Seizing, shall hurl thee from a turret-top
To a sad death, avenging brother, son,
Or father by the hands of Hector slain;
For he made many a Grecian bite the ground.
Thy father, boy, bore never into fight930
A milky mind, and for that self-same cause
Is now bewail’d in every house of Troy.
Sorrow unutterable thou hast caused
Thy parents, Hector! but to me hast left
Largest bequest of misery, to whom,935
Dying, thou neither didst thy arms extend
Forth from thy bed, nor gavest me precious word
To be remember’d day and night with tears.
So spake she weeping, whom her maidens all
With sighs accompanied, and her complaint940
Mingled with sobs Hecuba next began.
Ah Hector! dearest to thy mother’s heart
Of all her sons, much must the Gods have loved
Thee living, whom, though dead, they thus preserve.
What son soever of our house beside945
Achilles took, over the barren deep
To Samos, Imbrus, or to Lemnos girt
With rocks inhospitable, him he sold;
But thee, by his dread spear of life deprived,
He dragg’d and dragg’d around Patroclus’ tomb,950
As if to raise again his friend to life
Whom thou hadst vanquish’d; yet he raised him not.
But as for thee, thou liest here with dew
Besprinkled, fresh as a young plant,[18] and more
Resemblest some fair youth by gentle shafts955
Of Phœbus pierced, than one in battle slain.