Iliad

Bitterly did she weep the while, and the women joined in her lament. Hecuba in her turn took up the strains of woe. "Hektor," she cried, "dearest to me of all my children. So long as you were alive the gods loved you well, and even in death they have not been utterly unmindful of you; for when Achilles took any other of my sons, he would sell him beyond the seas, to Samos Imbros or rugged Lemnos ; and when he had taken away with his sword your life-breath [ psukhê ] as well, many a time did he drag you round the sepulcher [ sêma ] of his comrade - though this could not give him life - yet here you lie all fresh as dew, and comely as one whom Apollo has slain with his painless shafts."

IliadBook 24, Line 746Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 24

HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-24-746