ὣς εἰπὼν οὗ παιδὸς ὀρέξατο φαίδιμος Ἕκτωρ:
ἂψ δ᾽ ὃ πάϊς πρὸς κόλπον ἐϋζώνοιο τιθήνης
ἐκλίνθη ἰάχων πατρὸς φίλου ὄψιν ἀτυχθεὶς
ταρβήσας χαλκόν τε ἰδὲ λόφον ἱππιοχαίτην,
δεινὸν ἀπ᾽ ἀκροτάτης κόρυθος νεύοντα νοήσας.470
ἐκ δ᾽ ἐγέλασσε πατήρ τε φίλος καὶ πότνια μήτηρ:
αὐτίκ᾽ ἀπὸ κρατὸς κόρυθ᾽ εἵλετο φαίδιμος Ἕκτωρ,
καὶ τὴν μὲν κατέθηκεν ἐπὶ χθονὶ παμφανόωσαν:
αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ὃν φίλον υἱὸν ἐπεὶ κύσε πῆλέ τε χερσὶν
εἶπε δ᾽ ἐπευξάμενος Διί τ᾽ ἄλλοισίν τε θεοῖσι:475
Ζεῦ ἄλλοι τε θεοὶ δότε δὴ καὶ τόνδε γενέσθαι
παῖδ᾽ ἐμὸν ὡς καὶ ἐγώ περ ἀριπρεπέα Τρώεσσιν,
ὧδε βίην τ᾽ ἀγαθόν, καὶ Ἰλίου ἶφι ἀνάσσειν:
καί ποτέ τις εἴποι πατρός γ᾽ ὅδε πολλὸν ἀμείνων
ἐκ πολέμου ἀνιόντα: φέροι δ᾽ ἔναρα βροτόεντα480
κτείνας δήϊον ἄνδρα, χαρείη δὲ φρένα μήτηρ.
ὣς εἰπὼν ἀλόχοιο φίλης ἐν χερσὶν ἔθηκε
παῖδ᾽ ἑόν: ἣ δ᾽ ἄρα μιν κηώδεϊ δέξατο κόλπῳ
δακρυόεν γελάσασα: πόσις δ᾽ ἐλέησε νοήσας,
χειρί τέ μιν κατέρεξεν ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατ᾽ ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε:485
δαιμονίη μή μοί τι λίην ἀκαχίζεο θυμῷ:
οὐ γάρ τίς μ᾽ ὑπὲρ αἶσαν ἀνὴρ Ἄϊδι προϊάψει:
μοῖραν δ᾽ οὔ τινά φημι πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν,
οὐ κακὸν οὐδὲ μὲν ἐσθλόν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται.
ἀλλ᾽ εἰς οἶκον ἰοῦσα τὰ σ᾽ αὐτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε490
ἱστόν τ᾽ ἠλακάτην τε, καὶ ἀμφιπόλοισι κέλευε
ἔργον ἐποίχεσθαι: πόλεμος δ᾽ ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει
πᾶσι, μάλιστα δ᾽ ἐμοί, τοὶ Ἰλίῳ ἐγγεγάασιν.
ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας κόρυθ᾽ εἵλετο φαίδιμος Ἕκτωρ
ἵππουριν: ἄλοχος δὲ φίλη οἶκον δὲ βεβήκει495
ἐντροπαλιζομένη, θαλερὸν κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσα.
αἶψα δ᾽ ἔπειθ᾽ ἵκανε δόμους εὖ ναιετάοντας
Ἕκτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο, κιχήσατο δ᾽ ἔνδοθι πολλὰς
ἀμφιπόλους, τῇσιν δὲ γόον πάσῃσιν ἐνῶρσεν.
αἳ μὲν ἔτι ζωὸν γόον Ἕκτορα ᾧ ἐνὶ οἴκῳ:500
οὐ γάρ μιν ἔτ᾽ ἔφαντο ὑπότροπον ἐκ πολέμοιο
ἵξεσθαι προφυγόντα μένος καὶ χεῖρας Ἀχαιῶν.
notes
Hector takes his child in his arms and prays for him. He comforts Andromache and sends her home. As Andromache returns home the whole household laments Hector as if he were already dead.
Hector reaches out for his son, but his helmet, with its menacing plume, frightens the infant, who shrinks back into the bosom of his nurse, a brief comic respite for his parents and for us.
read full essay
Yet even this fleeting moment of relief is shadowed by the unrelenting sadness of Hector’s isolation from those he loves. The helmet becomes, in this scene, a symbol of the war and its terrors, which Hector has brought with him into the city. When he takes it off, we understand that he is attempting to shed the persona of warrior for these few precious moments, to make contact with his wife and child, as he has not been able to do with Hecabe, Paris, or Helen. The helmet will sit on the ground, shining with latent menace, while Hector and Andromache try one last time to connect with each other.
Hector kisses and dandles his son, a relatively rare instance of physical affection in the poem, then prays to Zeus:
Zeus and you other gods, allow this my son to become
distinguished, as I am among the Trojans, strong
and brave, and to rule forcefully over Ilion.
Then let someone say, seeing him returning from battle,
“This man is much better than his father”; let him kill
his enemy and bring back bloody armor, delighting his mother’s heart.
Iliad 6.474–81
As if to counterbalance the intimate contact with his son, Hector steps back into his heroic persona. In the midst of the pain that suffuses his last visit with his family, he envisions his son as he himself is in this moment, returning from battle, covered in gore. Even as Andromache stands next to him fighting back tears, he imagines that she too would be delighted to see her son following in his father’s footsteps, bringing home more blood, more pain.
Hector hands Astyanax back to Andromache, who is “smiling through her tears” (485). In another intimate gesture, he caresses her and offers reassurance: he will not die before his fated time; no one, cowardly or brave, has ever been able to escape that moment, which is assigned at birth. Not perhaps the most gentle way to put it, but as we have seen, Hector seems to be unable to step outside the tragic heroic perspective, even to comfort those he loves. His first word to her, δαιμονίη (486), gives him away. Andromache is “strange, uncanny,” to him, as he is to her (407). Try as they might, neither husband nor wife can break through the barrier between their intimate, shared space in Troy and the world of battle.
Resigned to his isolation, Hector now sends Andromache back to her proper sphere, to see to the household and her maidservants. The work of war, he says, belongs to the men of Troy, and especially to him. Andromache has tried to cross over into his world, offering strategic advice, but he now closes that door firmly, picking up his helmet.
We understand that by putting on his helmet again, Hector seals himself off from the life he had in Troy, turning back toward the death he and we know is coming for him. The symbolism is confirmed when Hector kills Patroclus in Book 17, and the latter’s helmet—actually Achilles’ helmet—rolls in the dust:
The helmet clattered under the horses’ hooves,
four-horned and hollow-eyed, its plumes crusted
with blood and dust. Before this time it was not permitted
to defile the helmet, crested in horse hair;
rather, it covered the graceful head and brow
of a godlike man, Achilles. But then Zeus gave it
to Hector to wear, and death was near him, too.
Iliad 16.794–800
Homer now invites us to watch Andromache as she makes her sorrowful way back home:
His dear wife set off toward home,
turning back again and again, weeping.
Iliad 6.495–96
The participle, ἐντροπαλιζομένη, “turning around frequently,” appears only three other places in Homeric epic, twice of warriors under attack (11.546, 17.109), once in a mock battle between two goddesses (21.492). Its use here is a brilliant adaptation, capturing Andromache’s anguish, while perhaps carrying a little of the flavor of combat, as if Hector’s wife is herself besieged by the forces of war. Andromache arrives home and her maidservants, once they see her, break into mourning for Hector, “though he was still alive” (500). They do not expect him to return alive from battle. To his family and all the citizens of Troy, Hector is already dying.
Further Reading
Edwards, M. 1987. Homer: Poet of the Iliad, 210–212. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Van Nortwick, T. 2001. “Like a Woman: Hector and the Boundaries of Masculinity.” Arethusa 34.2: 21–35.
———2008. Imagining Men: Ideals of Masculinity in Ancient Greek Culture, 75-93. Westport, CT: Praeger.
468: ἐκλίνθη: “shrank back,” 3rd sg. aor. > κλίνω, the aorist ending -θην is intransitive rather than passive (Graziosi-Haubold). ὄψιν: “at the sight of” + gen. ἀτυχθεὶς: nom. aor. pass. ptc. > ἀτύζομαι.
470: δεινὸν: “terribly,” adverbial acc. νεύοντα: ptc. modifies understood λόφον.
471: ἐκ δ᾽ἐγέλασσε: “laughed out,” tmesis, ingressive aor. (Goodell 464). The plural subject πατήρ καὶ … μήτηρ is felt as a single subject (Stoevesandt).
472: κρατός: gen. > κάρη, head. κόρυθ᾽: = κόρυθα, acc. sg. ἀπό … εἵλετο: aor. mid. > ἀφαιρέω (stem ἑλ-).
473: τὴν μὲν: “this,” i.e. the fem. κόρυθα.
474: ὃν: “his,” = ἑὸν, possessive pronoun > ἑός. κύσε: kissing is mentioned in but two other passges of the Iliad, and those both refer to the acts of suppliants (Seymour). πῆλε: “lifted and swayed,” aor. > πάλλω. The verb normally describes the swaying of a missile before it is thrown, the brandishing of shield, or the shaking of lots in a helmet. χερσὶν: dat. pl. of means > χείρ.
476: Ζεῦ … θεοὶ: vocative direct address. δότε: “grant that,” 2nd pl. aor. imperative > δίδωμι. δὴ: lends emphasis to the imperative, translated as “just grant” or “grant now.” γενέσθαι: aor. inf. > γίγνομαι, τόνδε (with παῖδα ἐμὸν in apposition) is acc. subject. and ἀριπρεπέα is acc. predicate. For this prayer, cf. that of Ajax for his boy, ὦ παῖ, γένοιο πατρὸς εὐτυχέστερος, | τὰ δ’ ἄλλ’ ὅμοιος· καὶ γένοι’ ἂν οὐ κακός Sophocles Ajax 550 f. (Seymour).
477: ὡς καὶ ἐγὼ περ: “just as I in fact,” καὶ is adverbial, περ emphasizes ὡς, “in the very way,” cf. ὥσπερ.
478: ὥδε: same sense as ὡς καὶ ἐγὼ above. βίην: acc. respect with ἀγαθόν. Ἰλίου: gen. with ἀνάσσω (which takes a dative of persons ruled, and genitive of place ruled, se LSJ s.v. ανάσσω). Observe the reference to the name Astyanax (Seymour).
479: εἴποι: opt. of wish. πατρός: gen. of comparison (Goodell 509.b). ὅδε: “this here one (is),” i.e. Astyanax. πολλὸν: “by far,” “far,” adverbial (acc. of extent) modifies comparative ἀμείνων.
480: ἀνιόντα: “(seeing him) as he comes back from,” pres. ptc. > ἄν-ειμι (Graziosi-Haubold). φέροι: opt. of wish, as εἴποι above. Astyanax is the subject.
481: κτείνας: nom. sg. aor. ptc. > κτείνω. χαρείη: “may rejoice,” 3rd sg. aor. pass. deponent opt. > χαίρω. φρένας: “in her heart,” acc. of respect. χαρείη κ.τ.λ. is closely connected in thought with the first half of the verse. The mother is to rejoice in the bloody spoils with which her son returns, as proof of his bravery. As Hector thinks of his son, he forgets his ill-bodings. (Seymour)
482: ὣς: “thus.” χερσὶν: dat. pl. > χείρ. ἀλόχοιο: this is a delicate touch of the poet, that Hector does not return the child to the nurse (from whom he took him, 466 ff.), but gives him into the arms of his wife, instructing him to her care. (Seymour)
483: ἣ δ᾽ἄρα: “and she,” “and this one.” δέξατο: unaugmented 3rd sg. aor. dep. mid. > δέχομαι. κόλπῳ: dat. place where, without preposition.
484: δακρυόεν γελάσασα: adverbial acc. sg. neut. adj. and aor. ptc. looking back to ἣ. This marks the last moment of–tarnished–happiness for Andromache, who here breaks down under the strain of conflicting emotions (Stoevesandt).
485: κατέρεξεν: aor. > καταρρέζω. ἔπος τ᾽ ἔφατο … ἔκ τ᾽ ὀνόμαζε: see 6.253. Hector is the subject.
486: μή … τι … ἀκαχίζεο: “don’t at all…,” negative command, 2nd sg. pres. dep. mid. imperative. θυμῷ: dat. place where without preposition.
487 ff.: “I shall not be killed unless this is fated; and if death is appointed for me now, I cannot escape it.” (Seymour)
487: τίς: “any,” τις before enclitic με, modifying ἀνήρ. ὑπὲρ αἶσαν: “beyond what is due” (see 6.333). προϊάψει: “will send me to,” fut. > προ-ϊάπτω + acc. and dat. of compound verb.
488: πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι: = πεφευγέναι, “has escaped from” and thus “is safe from,” periphrastic perfect infinitive denoting a state achieved. οὔ τινά … ἀνδρῶν: "no one," which is the subject of the infin. πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι. μοῖραν is object, positioned first for emphasis.
489: κακὸν, ἐσθλὸν: modify τινά ἀνδρῶν. οὐδὲ μὲν: “and neither,” emphatic negative. ἐπὴν: = ἐπεὶ + ἄν, general temporal clause (Goodell 629). τὰ πρῶτα: “first,” adverbial acc. γένηται: “is born,” “comes to be,” aor. subj. > γίγνομαι.
490: αὐτῆς: in agreement with the σοῦ implied in σά. (Seymour)
491: ἀμφιπόλοισι: dat. object of κέλευε.
493: πᾶσι: dat. pl. > πᾶς. τοὶ: “who,” relative. ἐγγεγάασιν: “are born in,” “are native to” + dat., 3rd pl. pf. > ἐγ-γίγνομαι.
494: φωνήσας: nom. sg. aor. ptc. > φωνέω.
495: βεβήκει: “turned her step,” “approached,” unaugmented 3rd sg. plpf. act. > βαίνω.
496: κατὰ … χέουσα: “pouring down,” tmesis, fem. ptc. modifies missing ἄλοχος.
497: ἔπειθ᾽: = ἔπειτα. εὖ ναιετάοντας: “well-peopled,” “well-built.”
498: κιχήσατο: aor. mid. (act. in sense) > κιχάνω.
499: τῇσιν … πάσῃσιν: “in whom all,” i.e., “in all of whom,” relative pronoun, dat. governed by ἐν in compound ἐν-όρνυμι (Monro 145.6). ἐνῶρσεν: aor. > ἐν-όρνυμι.
500: αἳ … γόον: “these (women) … wailed for,” 3rd pl. impf. or possibly aor. of the verb γοάω. ᾧ: “his own,” = ἑῷ, dat. sg. possessive pronoun > ἑός.
501: οὐ … ἔτι: “no longer,” modifies ἵξεσθαι. ἔφαντο: “thought,” 3rd pl. impf. mid. > φημί.
502: ἵξεσθαι: fut. inf. > ἱκνέομαι in indirect discourse, governed by subj. acc. μιν. προφυγόντα: 2nd aor. ptc. with μιν.
vocabulary
ὀρέγω: to reach, stretch, stretch out
φαίδιμος -ον: illustrious, glorious
Ἕκτωρ ‑ορος ὁ: Hector
ἄψ: backwards, back, back again
κόλπος -ου ὁ: bosom
εὔζωνος: well-girdled
τιθήνη: a nurse
κλίνω, aor. ἔκλιναν, pf. partic. κεκλιμένος, aor. pass. ἐκλίνθη: to lean, turn aside, put to flight; (pass.) bend aside (or back), rest
ἰάχω: to cry, shout, shriek
φίλος -η -ον: friend; loved, beloved, dear
ὄψις -ιος ἡ: sight, aspect
ἀτύζω: to be distraught from fear, amazed, bewildered
ταρβέω, aor. τάρβησεν: to be frightened, fear
χαλκός -οῦ ὁ: bronze
ἰδέ: and
λόφος -ου ὁ: neck of a man or a horse; crest of a helmet, made from a horse's mane; hillock, high place, hill
ἱππιοχαίτης -ου ὁ: shaggy with horsehair
ἄκρος -α -ον: uttermost, topmost, highest, at the top, end, edge, or surface of; πόλις ἄκρη, ἄκρη πόλις, 'upper city' (=ἀκρόπολις)470
κόρυς -υθος ἡ: a helmet
νεύω, aor. νεῦσε: to nod
νοέω, aor. ἐνόησε: to perceive, observe, look, devise, plan
γελάω, aor. ἐγέλασσε, aor. partic. γελάσασα: laugh
πότνια: mistress, honored
κάρη κρατός τό: head
κατατίθημι: to lay down, set down
χθών χθονός ἡ: the earth, ground
παμφανόων -ωσα: shining, bright
ἀτάρ: but, yet
ἑός ἑή ἑόν: his, her own
κυνέω, aor. κύσε: to kiss
πάλλω, aor. πῆλε: to brandish, shake, cast (of lots), toss
ἐπεύχομαι, aor partic. ἐπευξάμενος: to pray, boast over, exult475
Ζεύς Διός ὁ: Zeus, son of Cronus, the husband and brother of Hera and the wisest and mightiest of the gods.
ἀριπρεπής -ές: distinguished, preeminent
Τρῶες: Trojans
βίη: bodily strength, force, power, might; (pl.) violence
Ἴλιος -ου ἡ: Ilius or Ilium, the city of Ilus, Troy
ἶφι: strongly, stoutly, mightily
ἀνάσσω: to be lord or master, dominate, rule
ἄνειμι, pres. partic. ἀνιόντα: to come back, return480
ἔναρα ‑ων τά: spoils, armor taken from a slain foe
βροτόεις -εντος: gory, bloody
κτείνω, aor. subj. κτείνῃς, aor. (ἔ)κτανε(ν) and ἔκτα, aor. mid. as pass. κτάμενος: to slay, kill
δάιος: hostile, destructive; (pl.) enemies
φρήν φρενός ἡ: heart, mind
ἄλοχος -ου ἡ: wife
ἄρα, ῥά (enclit.), ἄρ, ῥ᾿: so, then, as you know, you know, it seems. Very often it marks an action as natural, or reminds of something recently said. It also marks transitions.
μιν: him, her, it
κηώδης -ες: fragrant
δακρυόεις: tearful, weeping
πόσις -ιος ὁ, dat. πόσεϊ, acc. pl. πόσιας: husband
ἐλεέω, aor. ἐλέησε: to pity, take pity
καταρρέζω or καρρέζω, aor. κατέρεξεν: to stroke, caress485
δαιμόνιος: supernatural, marvelous, extraordinary; excellent, admirable; striken by (adverse) fate, miserable, unfortunate
λίαν: very, exceedingly
ἀχεύω or ἀχέω: to grieve, be in sorrow, be troubled
αἶσα: share, lot, allotted portion, term of life. κατὰ αἶσαν: as is due.
ᾍδης or Ἀϊδωνεύς (root ϝιδ, god of the unseen world), gen. Ἀίδᾱο, Ἀίδεω, Ἄιδος, dat. Ἄιδι, Ἀίδῃ, Ἀιδωνῆι, acc. Ἀίδην: Hades
προϊάπτω, fut. προϊάψει, aor. προΐαψεν: to send forth, send off
μοῖρα -ας ἡ: portion, fate, lot
ἐσθλός -ή -όν: good, decent, honorable, noble, generous; capable, able; (of things) good, useful; (of words) wise, sensible
ἐπήν = ἐπεὶ ἄν: when, after
ἱστός ‑οῦ ὁ: anything set upright: ship's mast; beam of a loom; loom
491
ἠλακάτη: a spindle
ἀμφίπολος -ον: servant, handmaid
ἐποίχομαι, impf. ἐπῴχετο: to go towards, approach
μέλω, fut. μελήσει and μελήσεται, perf. μέμηλε: to be a care, be an object of concern. (1) The object of concern is put in the nom. and the person who feels the concern in the dat. (2) The verb is impersonal and takes the object of concern in the gen.
Ἴλιος -ου ἡ: Ilius or Ilium, the city of Ilus, Troy
ἐγγίγνομαι: to be native, live in
φωνέω, aor. φώνησεν: to speak
ἵππουρις ‑ιδος ἡ: with a horse-hair crest, crested495
ἐντροπαλίζομαι: to turn around often
θαλερός: vigorous, flourishing, blooming
δάκρυον ‑ου τό, also δάκρυ ‑υος τό: tear
χέω, aor. ἔχεεν or ἔχευε, χύντο, perf. κέχυνται, plpf. κέχυτο: to pour, heap (of a funeral mound), throw into a heap; σὺν ὅρκια ἔχευαν, broke (threw into a disorderly heap) the oaths; ἀμφὶ υἱὸν ἐχεύατο πήχεα, threw (her) arms about (her) son; δάκρυ χέων, weeping
αἶψα: quickly, at once
ἱκάνω: to come, arrive
δόμος -ου, ὁ: a house, home
ναιετάω: to dwell
ἀνδροφόνος: man-slaying
κιχάνω, fut. κιχήσεσθαι, aor. κιχήσατο, aor. subj. κιχείω [κιχῶ], aor. partic. κιχήμενον: to find, come to, overtake
ἔνδοθι: within, at home
γόος -ου, ὁ: groaning, lamentation
ἐνόρνυμι, aor. act. ἐνῶρσεν, aor. mid. ἐνῶρτο: to arouse among; (mid.) to arise among
ζωός or ζώς: alive, living
500
γοάω: to wail, groan, weep
ὑπότροπος: returning
ἱκνέομαι and ἵκω, fut. ἵξομαι, aor. ἵκετο and ἷξε(ν), aor. subj. ἵκωμαι and ἵκηαι: to come, arrive at, reach
προφεύγω, aor. partic. προφυγόντα: to escape
μένος -εος τό: might, force, strength, prowess, courage
Ἀχαιός: Achaian