Well do I know that the day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed with Priam and Priam's people, but I grieve for none of these--not even for Hecuba, nor King Priam, nor for my brothers many and brave who may fall in the dust before their foes--for none of these do I grieve as for yourself when the day shall come on which some one of the Achaeans shall rob you for ever of your freedom, and bear you weeping away.

It may be that you will have to ply the loom in Argos at the bidding of a mistress, or to fetch water from the springs Messeis or Hypereia, treated brutally by some cruel task-master; then will one say who sees you weeping, 'She was wife to Hector, the bravest warrior among the Trojans during the war before Ilius.' On this your tears will break forth anew for him who would have put away the day of captivity from you.

May I lie dead under the barrow that is heaped over my body ere I hear your cry as they carry you into bondage." He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and nestled in his nurse's bosom, scared at the sight of his father's armour, and at the horse-hair plume that nodded fiercely from his helmet.

His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took the helmet from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the ground.

Then he took his darling child, kissed him, and dandled him in his arms, praying over him the while to Jove and to all the gods.