Page:Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902).djvu/35

But not the sorrows of the Trojan race,
Nor those of Hecuba herself, nor those
Of royal Priam, nor the woes that wait
My brothers many and brave—who all at last,
Slain by the pitiless foe, shall lie in dust— 580
Grieve me so much as thine, when some mailed Greek
Shall lead thee weeping hence, and take from thee
Thy day of freedom. Thou in Argos then
Shalt, at another's bidding, ply thy loom,
And from the fountain of Messeïs draw 585
Water, or from the Hypereian spring,
Constrained unwillingly by some cruel lot.
And then shall some one say that sees thee weep,
'This was the wife of Hector, most renowned
Of the horse-taming Trojans, when they fought 590
Around their city.' So shall some one say,
And thou shalt grieve the more, lamenting him
Who haply might have kept afar the day
Of thy captivity. O let the earth
Be heaped above my head in death before 595
I hear thy cries as thou art borne away!"
⁠So speaking, mighty Hector stretched his arms
To take the boy; the boy shrank crying back
To his fair nurse's bosom, scared to see
His father helmeted in glittering brass, 600
And eyeing with affright the horse-hair plume
That grimly nodded from the lofty crest.
At this both parents in their fondness laughed;
And hastily the mighty Hector took
The helmet from his brow and laid it down 605
Gleaming upon the ground, and, having kissed
His darling son and tossed him up in play.
Prayed thus to Jove and all the gods of heaven:
⁠"O Jupiter and all ye deities,