Remained. The Trojan fell amid the dust,
And thus Achilles boasted o'er his fall:
"Hector, when from the slain Patroclus thou
Didst strip his armor, little didst thou think 410
Of danger. Thou hadst then no fear of me.
| · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · | · |
Foul dogs and birds of prey shall tear thy flesh;
The Greeks shall honor him with funeral rites."
And then the crested Hector faintly said:
"I pray thee by thy life, and by thy knees,
And by thy parents, suffer not the dogs 420
To tear me at the galleys of the Greeks.
Accept abundant store of brass and gold,
Which gladly will my father and the queen
My mother give in ransom. Send to them
My body, that the warriors and the dames 425
Of Troy may light for me the funeral pile."[1]
The swift Achilles answered with a frown:
"Nay, by my knees entreat me not, thou cur,
Nor by my parents. I could even wish
My fury prompted me to cut thy flesh 430
In fragments, and devour it, such the wrong
That I have had from thee. There will be none
To drive away the dogs about thy head,
Not though thy Trojan friends should bring to me
Tenfold and twentyfold the offered gifts, 435
And promise others,—not though Priam, sprung
From Dardanus, should send thy weight in gold.
Thy mother shall not lay thee on thy bier,
To sorrow over thee whom she brought forth;
But dogs and birds of prey shall mangle thee." 440
- ↑ Burial was regarded by the Greeks as a sacred duty. The soul had no rest in the realms of the dead so long as the body remained unburied. Cf. the same belief expressed in the Antigone, p. 139.
