Bryant, Iliad, Book VI.
Arriving at the royal palace Hector was met by his mother, who offered him wine to refresh himself with. But the hero would not taste the liquor. "Do not ask me to drink wine, dear mother," he said, "for it would enfeeble me, and deprive me of my strength and valor."
"Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind,
Unnerves the limbs, and dulls the noble mind."
Pope, Iliad, Book VI.
Then Hector told his mother why he had come from the field of battle. She gladly consented to do as her son requested, and so Queen Hecuba and the matrons of Troy went to the temple of Minerva, and prayed and offered sacrifices. But the goddess refused to hear their prayers, for she still hated the Trojans because of the never-forgotten judgment on Mount Ida.
Meantime the hero went to the palace of Paris, whom he found in his chamber, handling and preparing his armor, while Helen sat near him with her maids, directing their various tasks. Angry at seeing his brother thus engaged, instead of being in the front of the fight, Hector reproached him in sharp and bitter words.
"The people," said he, "are perishing, the conflict rages round the walls, and all on your account. Arise, then, and act, lest our city soon be in flames." Paris answered mildly, saying that he deserved his brother's censure, and promising that he would immediately repair to the field of battle.
Hector next proceeded to his own home to visit his dear wife, An-dromʹa-che, and his infant son; "for I know not," said he, "whether I shall ever return to them again." Arriving at the palace, he learned from Andromache's maids that their mistress had just gone towards the city walls.
"To the lofty tower of Troy she went
When it was told her that the Trojan troops
Lost heart, and that the valor of the Greeks
Prevailed. She now is hurrying toward the walls.
Like one distracted, with her son and nurse."
Bryant, Iliad, Book VI.