The indignant answer of Achilles to the prayer of Hector:
Dog! neither knees nor parents name to me.
I would my fierceness of revenge were such,
That I could carve and eat thee, to whose arms
Such griefs I owe; so true it is and sure,
That none shall save thy carcass from the dogs.
No. Would they bring ten ransoms by the scale,
Or twice ten ransoms, and still promise more;
Would Priam buy thee with thy weight in gold,
Not even then should she who bare thee weep
Upon thy bier; for dogs and rav'ning fowls
Shall rend thy flesh, till ev'ry bone be bare.
Hector's last dying words:
I knew thee; knew that I should sue in vain,
For in thy breast of steel no pity dwells.
But oh, be cautious now, lest Heav'n perchance
Requite thee on that day, when, pierc'd thyself
By Paris and Apollo, thou shalt fall,
Brave as thou art, within the Scæan gate.
He ceas'd, and death involv'd him dark around.
His spirit, from his limbs dismiss'd, the house
Of Hades sought, deploring as she went
Youth's prime and vigour lost, disastrous doom!
But him, though dead, Achilles thus bespake:
Die thou. My death shall find me at what hour
Jove gives commandment, and the gods above.
Ibid. line 396.
The interview between Achilles and Priam, who comes to ransom the body of Hector:
... One I had,
One, more than all my sons the strength of Troy,
Whom standing for his country thou hast slain—
Hector—His body to redeem I come,
In Achaia's fleet, and bring, myself,
Ransom inestimable to thy tent.
O, fear the gods! and for remembrance' sake
Of thy own sire, Achilles! pity me,
More hapless still; who bear what, save myself,
None ever bore, thus lifting to my lips
Hands dyed so deep with slaughter of my sons.
So saying, he waken'd in his soul regret
Of his own sire; softly he plac'd his hand
On Priam's hand, and push'd him gently away.
Remembrance melted both. Stretch'd prone before
Achilles' feet, the king his son bewail'd,
Wide-slaughtering Hector; and Achilles wept
By turns his father, and by turns his friend,
Patroclus; sounds of sorrow fill'd the tent.
Book xxiv. line 622.
Without entering upon any minute analysis of the above passages, we consider them as exhibiting a happy specimen of poetic talent; and that Cowper has been successful in exemplifying the rules and principles which, in his preface, he declares to be indispensable in a version of Homer.
It may be interesting to literary curiosity to be presented with a summary of facts respecting Cowper's two versions of Homer.