Ἕκτορ μή μοι μίμνε φίλον τέκος ἀνέρα τοῦτον
οἶος ἄνευθ᾽ ἄλλων, ἵνα μὴ τάχα πότμον ἐπίσπῃς
Πηλεΐωνι δαμείς, ἐπεὶ ἦ πολὺ φέρτερός ἐστι40
σχέτλιος: αἴθε θεοῖσι φίλος τοσσόνδε γένοιτο
ὅσσον ἐμοί: τάχα κέν ἑ κύνες καὶ γῦπες ἔδοιεν
κείμενον: ἦ κέ μοι αἰνὸν ἀπὸ πραπίδων ἄχος ἔλθοι:
ὅς μ᾽ υἱῶν πολλῶν τε καὶ ἐσθλῶν εὖνιν ἔθηκε
κτείνων καὶ περνὰς νήσων ἔπι τηλεδαπάων.45
καὶ γὰρ νῦν δύο παῖδε Λυκάονα καὶ Πολύδωρον
οὐ δύναμαι ἰδέειν Τρώων εἰς ἄστυ ἀλέντων,
τούς μοι Λαοθόη τέκετο κρείουσα γυναικῶν.
ἀλλ᾽ εἰ μὲν ζώουσι μετὰ στρατῷ, ἦ τ᾽ ἂν ἔπειτα
χαλκοῦ τε χρυσοῦ τ᾽ ἀπολυσόμεθ᾽, ἔστι γὰρ ἔνδον:50
πολλὰ γὰρ ὤπασε παιδὶ γέρων ὀνομάκλυτος Ἄλτης.
εἰ δ᾽ ἤδη τεθνᾶσι καὶ εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισιν,
ἄλγος ἐμῷ θυμῷ καὶ μητέρι τοὶ τεκόμεσθα:
λαοῖσιν δ᾽ ἄλλοισι μινυνθαδιώτερον ἄλγος
ἔσσεται, ἢν μὴ καὶ σὺ θάνῃς Ἀχιλῆϊ δαμασθείς.55
ἀλλ᾽ εἰσέρχεο τεῖχος ἐμὸν τέκος, ὄφρα σαώσῃς
Τρῶας καὶ Τρῳάς, μὴ δὲ μέγα κῦδος ὀρέξῃς
Πηλεΐδῃ, αὐτὸς δὲ φίλης αἰῶνος ἀμερθῇς.
πρὸς δ᾽ ἐμὲ τὸν δύστηνον ἔτι φρονέοντ᾽ ἐλέησον
δύσμορον, ὅν ῥα πατὴρ Κρονίδης ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ60
αἴσῃ ἐν ἀργαλέῃ φθίσει κακὰ πόλλ᾽ ἐπιδόντα
υἷάς τ᾽ ὀλλυμένους ἑλκηθείσας τε θύγατρας,
καὶ θαλάμους κεραϊζομένους, καὶ νήπια τέκνα
βαλλόμενα προτὶ γαίῃ ἐν αἰνῇ δηϊοτῆτι,
ἑλκομένας τε νυοὺς ὀλοῇς ὑπὸ χερσὶν Ἀχαιῶν.65
αὐτὸν δ᾽ ἂν πύματόν με κύνες πρώτῃσι θύρῃσιν
ὠμησταὶ ἐρύουσιν, ἐπεί κέ τις ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ
τύψας ἠὲ βαλὼν ῥεθέων ἐκ θυμὸν ἕληται,
οὓς τρέφον ἐν μεγάροισι τραπεζῆας θυραωρούς,
οἵ κ᾽ ἐμὸν αἷμα πιόντες ἀλύσσοντες περὶ θυμῷ70
κείσοντ᾽ ἐν προθύροισι. νέῳ δέ τε πάντ᾽ ἐπέοικεν
ἄρηϊ κταμένῳ δεδαϊγμένῳ ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ
κεῖσθαι: πάντα δὲ καλὰ θανόντι περ ὅττι φανήῃ:
ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ πολιόν τε κάρη πολιόν τε γένειον
αἰδῶ τ᾽ αἰσχύνωσι κύνες κταμένοιο γέροντος,75
τοῦτο δὴ οἴκτιστον πέλεται δειλοῖσι βροτοῖσιν.
notes
Seeing his son below on the plain, Priam begs Hector to come inside the walls.
Here, as often in this episode, the painful exchange between Hector and Andromache in Book 6 echoes in our ears. Like Andromache, Priam hopes to keep Hector close by appealing to his sense of responsibility to those who depend on him.
read full essay
Achilles has left them both bereft of family, killing or selling into slavery those they love. Priam begs him not to wait οἶος ἄνευθ᾽ ἄλλων, “alone, apart from the others” (39). Do not, in other words, value heroic excellence, which separates you from other mortals and eventually kills you, over the people who love you. He might well have used Andromache’s words, φθίσει σε τὸ σὸν μένος, “your own strength will destroy you” (6.407).
Priam ends his appeal by envisioning, as Andromache does, the grim aftermath of Hector’s death, his sons killed, daughters dragged off into slavery, the royal palace destroyed, grandchildren flung to the ground. Last, and most shocking, is his vision of his own death, killed by some enemy soldier, then torn apart by his own dogs, pets he used to feed dinner scraps now driven wild by the taste of his blood. Like a cinematic tracking shot, his dark vision pulls us past the threshold of the dining room, with its slavering dogs, the ever-tightening focus finally settling on the withered genitals of his own naked body.
The pathetic picture of Priam’s mutilated corpse draws power from various sources. The specter of dogs and birds feasting the dead bodies of warriors appears in the poem’s opening lines (1.4–5) and hovers constantly over the battle scenes. If a man’s corpse is left unburied, his psyche, “soul,” is doomed to wander forever, denied its final rest in Hades, consigned to anonymous oblivion (23.70–74). The treatment of a warrior’s dead body becomes a major theme in the poem beginning with the death of Sarpedon, continuing through the battle over the corpse of Patroclus, and building to a crescendo in Achilles’ abuse of Hector’s body. To this dismal motif Priam’s vision of his own body’s fate adds special, intimate horrors. His description of his own dogs eating his flesh, with its vision of the dog’s affection for their master swept away by a feeding frenzy, is more disturbing than an enemy savaging his victim. These are not wild dogs, but pampered pets, eating the hand that fed them.
38: μή … μίμνε: “don’t wait for” + acc. neg. imperative; the verb is transitive. μοι: so-called ethical dative, which gives expression to the speaker’s involvement. Its force is captured by “please” (de Jong). φίλον τέκος: vocative. ἀνέρα: acc. sg. > ἀνήρ, Att. ἄνδρα.
39: ἵνα μὴ ἐπίσπῃς: “so that you may not meet,” negative purpose clause, 2nd sg. aor. subj. > ἐφ-έπω (Goodell 642.a).
40: Πηλεΐωνι: dat. of agent. δαμείς: nom. sg. aor. passive ptc. > δαμνάω (= δάμνημι = δαμάζω). πολὺ: “by far,” “far.”
41: σχέτλιος: “hard,” “relentless one,” said of Hector. Most commentators refer it to Achilles, both here and in line 86, where it is similarly used. But σχέτλιος is especially a word of friendly complaint: Achilles uses it of Patroclus (18.13), Diomedes of Nestor (10.164), etc. (Monro). αἴθε … γένοιτο: “would that…,” opt. of wish introduced by αἴθε (= εἴθε), aor. opt. > γίγνομαι. θεοῖσι φίλος τοσσόνδε … ὅσσον ἐμοί: “may he become so very dear to the gods as he is to me,” i.e. so little, correlative adjectives, adverbial accusatives of extent modifying φίλος (de Jong).
42: ἐμοί: supply φίλος. ἑ: “him,” = αὐτόν, 3rd sg. acc. personal pronoun (Monro 99). κέν … ἔδοιεν: “would eat,” potential opt. elaborating on the wish in the previous line.
43: κείμενον: “lying (dead),” pres. dep. mid. ptc. μοι: either dat. of reference (“grief would be gone for me from the heart”) or dat. possession (“grief would be gone from my heart”) (de Jong). The dative of the personal pronoun is often used in place of a possessive (Monro 143.1). κέ … ἔλθοι: “would go,” i.e. “depart,” not “arrive,” potential opt. > ἔρχομαι.
44: ὅς: “he,” “this man,” Achilles, demonstrative pronoun (see 22.1). ἔθηκε: “made (x) (y)” aor. > τίθημι + double acc. (Goodell 534).
45: νήσων ἔπι: “upon islands,” = ἐπὶ νήσων.
46: παῖδε: dual acc.
47: ἰδέειν: aor. inf. > εἶδον (which supplies the aorist of ὁράω), artificially lengthened to fit the meter (Goodell 391). Τρώων: “among the Trojans,” partitive genitive (Monro). ἀλέντων: “being hemmed in,” gen. absolute, aor. pass. ptc. > εἴλω.
48: τούς: “whom,” relative. μοι: dat. of interest (Goodell 523). τέκετο: unaugmented aor. mid. > τίκτω.
49: μετὰ στρατῷ: i.e., in the hands of the Greeks. ἦ τ᾽: “certainly, undoubtedly, indeed.” But ἄν introduces an element of doubt. τε underlines the close connection between protasis and apodosis but is left untranslated (de Jong).
50: ἂν … ἀπολυσόμεθα: “we will perhaps ransom,” either fut. mid. indicative (Monro 326) or aor. prospective subjunctive with short thematic vowel (Att. ἀπολυσώμεθα) (Monro 275.a). χαλκοῦ … χρυσοῦ: gen. of price (Goodell 513). ἔστι: “it is…,” i.e. the gold and bronze.
51: πολλὰ: “many (gifts),” a large dowry. ὤπασε: “gave with” (Monro). παιδὶ: “his daughter” Laothoe, fem. dat. indirect object.
52: εἰ δ᾽: “but if,” compare εἰ μὲν in line 49. τεθνᾶσι: “have died,” “are dead,” 3rd pl. pf. > θνήσκω. εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισιν: supply εἰσί. εἰν: = ἐν. Ἀΐδαο: gen. sg.
53: ἐμῷ θυμῷ καὶ μητέρι: datives of interest (Goodell 523). τοὶ: “who,” relative. τεκόμεσθα: “bore” > τίκτω. The aor. mid. is used in pl. of both parents.
54: λαοῖσιν: dat. of interest (Goodell 523).
55: ἔσσεται: = ἔσται, fut. dep. mid. > εἰμί. ἢν … θάνῃς: future-more-vivid condition (ἢν/ἐάν + aor. subj., fut. indic.). θάνῃς: 2nd sg. aor. subj. > θνήσκω. δαμασθείς: nom. sg. aor. pass. ptc. > δαμνάω (= δάμνημι = δαμάζω), here with dat. of agent (see line 40).
56: εἰσέρχεο: = εἰσέρχε(σ)ο, 2nd sg. imperative. ὄφρα σαώσῃς: “so that…,” ὄφρα + aor. subj. > σαόω (= σῴζω) without κεν/ἄν in pure purpose clause (Monro 287.1.b).
57: Τρῶας καὶ Τρῳάς: 3rd decl. masc. and 1st decl. fem. adj. μὴ ... ὀρέξῃς: “you should not offer,” “do not grant,” prohibitive subjunctive (μή + 2nd sg. aor. subj. > ὀρέγω).
58: φίλης αἰῶνος: “of your dear life,” “from your dear life,” gen. of separation with ἀμερθῇς. ἀμερθῇς: “you should not be bereft of,” supply μὴ, another prohibitive subj., aor. pass subj. > ἀμέρδω.
59: πρὸς δ’: “and in addition,” “and besides,” adverbial. ἐμἐ τὸν δύστηνον: “me, this wretched man.” φρονέοντα: “while I still have my senses,” an emphatic variant for “while I am still alive” (de Jong); “alive and therefore knowing what evils are impending” (Monro). ἐλέησον: aor. act. imper. > ἐλεέω.
60: ὅν: “whom,” relative. ἐπὶ γήραος οὐδῷ: not “at the threshold of old age” (i.e. entering old age), but “at the threshold (between life and death), which is formed by old age,” a defining genitive (de Jong; see Monro 147).
60–61: πατὴρ Κρονίδης … αἴσῃ ἐν ἀργαλέῃ φθίσει: “(whom) father Zeus will destroy with a cruel fate.” ἐν expresses the circumstances under which something happens (de Jong).
61: κακὰ: “evils,” object of ἐπιδόντα. The accusatives of line 62 and following are in apposition to κακὰ. ἐπιδόντα: acc. sg. aor. ptc. > ἐπ- + εἶδον (see 22.25).
62: ἑλκηθείσας: “dragged away,” aor. pass. ptc. > ἑλκέω (= ἕλκω).
64: βαλλόμενα: pres. pass. ptc. > βάλλω. προτὶ: “against,” “near” + dat., = πρός (Monro 206).
65: ὀλοῇς: modifies χερσὶν, fem. dat. pl. > χείρ. ὑπὸ: “under (the power of)” + dat. (Monro 204.3).
66: αὐτὸν … με: “me myself,” intensive pronoun. πρώτῃσι θύρῃσιν: “just outside the door,” cp. 8.411 (Monro).
66–67: ἂν … ἐρύουσιν: “(perhaps) will drag,” fut. indicative + ἂν, which has a conditional force (see lines 49–50) (Monro 326).
67: ἐπεὶ κέ τις … ἕληται: “when someone takes,” subjunctive + κε/ἄν in a general temporal clause (kindred with a future-more-vivid condition) (Monro 296), aor. mid. subj. > αἱρέω.
68: τύψας, βαλὼν: nom. sg. aor. act. ptc. > τύπτω and βάλλω. Priam imagines death by sword thrust or spear cast. ῥεθέων ἐκ: = ἐκ ῥεθέων, “from my limbs.”
69: οὓς: “which,” dogs. τραπεζῆας: “eating from the table,” domesticated (Monro).
70: οἵ: “these,” demonstrative (22.1). πιόντες: aor. ptc. > πίνω. περὶ θυμῷ: “very much in their heart,” περί is adverbial; “to the fullness of their hearts,” cp. 21.65 (Monro).
71: νέῳ: “for a young man,” dat. interest (Goodell 523). τε: epic τε in generalizing statement (Monro 332.b). πάντ᾽ ἐπέοικεν: “everything looks well,” neuter plural subject of singular verb.
72: ἄρηϊ: “in war,” dat. means or, if personified, dat. of agent “by Ares.” κταμένῳ: “killed,” aor. mid. ptc. with pass. sense > κτείνω, predicative after κεῖσθαι (“to lie killed”). δεδαϊγμένῳ: pf. pass. ptc. > δαίζω, also predicative after κεῖσθαι. ὀξέϊ χαλκῷ: dat. of means.
73: κεῖσθαι: “to lie (dead),” epexegetical infinitive explaining πάντα in line 71 (Monro 242). πάντα … ὅττι φανήῃ: “Everything of him is beautiful even though he is dead, whatever part of his body is visible” (de Jong); “whatever may present itself, befall him in the sight of men” (Monro). πάντα: subject, supply ἐστί. θανόντι περ: “though dead,” dat. aor. ptc. > θνήσκω. περ suggests the ptc. is concessive. ὅττι: singular in number with plural antecedent πάντα, in a distributive construction (“everything … whatever individual part”).
74: κάρη: neut. sg., modified by πολιόν.
75: αἰδῶ: “nakedness,” i.e., the shameful parts, acc. sg. αἰσχύνωσι: “defile” by eating. κταμένοιο γέροντος: “an old man being killed,” aor. mid. ptc., which in Homer still may have a passive meaning (de Jong).
76: τοῦτο δὴ: “this very thing,” i.e. the death of an old man. πέλεται: “turns out to be,” “is.” οἴκτιστον: “the most pitiable thing,” closing off the speech with a repetition of its key idea.
vocabulary
μίμνω: to stay, stand fast, remain
φίλος –η –ον: friend; loved, beloved, dear
τέκος -εος τό: a child
ἄνευθε: without; far away (+gen)
τάχα: quickly, presently; perhaps
πότμος: fate, death
ἐφέπω, aor. subj. ἐπίσπῃ: to meet; πότμον ἐπισπεῖν, meet one's fate, fulfill one's destiny
Πηλεΐων: son of Peleus40
δαμάζω: to overpower, tame, conquer, subdue
φέρτατος: bravest, best
σχέτλιος: persistent, stubborn, headstrong, implacable, harsh, cruel
εἴθε: would that!
τοσόσδε –ήδε –όνδε: so strong, so able
οἱ (enclitic, dat. 3rd pers. pron.): (to) him, (to) her
κύων κυνός ὁ or ἡ: a dog
γύψ γυπός ὁ: a vulture
ἔδω: to eat
αἰνός –ή –όν: dread, dire, grim
πραπίδες: diaphragm; mind, heart
ἄχος –εος τό: grief, sadness
ἐσθλός –ή –όν: good, decent, honorable, noble, generous; capable, able; (of things) good, useful; (of words) wise, sensible
εὖνις: deprived, bereft
κτείνω, aor. subj. κτείνῃς, aor. (ἔ)κτανε(ν) and ἔκτα, aor. mid. as pass. κτάμενος: to slay, kill45
πέρνημι, pres. partic. περνάς, pass. περνάμενα: to export for sale, to sell
τηλεδαπός: remote, distant
Λυκάων: Lycaon, son of Priam and Laothoe
Πολύδωρος: Polydorus, youngest son of Priam by Laothoe, who was slain by Achilles.
Τρῶες: Trojans
ἄστυ ἄστεος τό: a city, town
εἴλω, aor. pass. ἄλεν, subj. εἰλέωσι: to hold back, detain
Λαοθόη: Laothoe, daughter of Altes and mother of Lycaon and Polydorus by Priam.
κρείων -οντος ὁ: a ruler, lord, master; κρείουσα, queen
ζῶ: to live
χρυσός –οῦ ὁ: gold50
ἀπολύω, aor. ἀπέλυσε: to release, set free
ἔνδον: in, within, in the house, at home
ὀπάζω, aor. ὤπασαν: to grant, follow, press hard upon
γέρων –οντος ὁ: an old man
ὀνομάκλυτος: of famous name
Ἄλτης: king of the Leleges, father of Laothoe
ᾍδης, gen. Ἀίδεω and Ἄϊδος, dat. Ἄϊδι, Ἀϊδωνῆι: Hades, god of the unseen lower world. His realm is the home of the dead, and in the Iliad it is beneath the earth, while in the Odyssey Odysseus sails to it, across Oceanus, and finds in it a faint, ghostly imitation of life on earth.
δόμος -ου, ὁ: a house, home
ἄλγος –εος τό: pain
λαός –οῦ ὁ: the people
μινυνθάδιος: short-lived; Comparative μινυνθαδιώτερον, of shorter duration
Ἀχιλλεύς -έως or -ῆος ὁ: Achilles, son of Peleus and Thetis, leader of the Myrmidons and Hellenes in Thessaly, the mightiest warrior before Troy, and the principal hero of the Iliad.55
εἰσέρχομαι εἰσελεύσομαι εἰσῆλθον εἰσελήλυθα: to go in
ὄφρα: in order that; as long as, until
Τρώϊος: Trojan
κῦδος -εος τό: glory, renown
ὀρέγω: to reach, stretch, stretch out
Πηλεΐδης: son of Peleus
αἰών –ῶνος ὁ ἡ: life, lifetime
ἀμέρδω, aor. inf. ἀμέρσαι, aor. pass. subj. ἀμερθῇς: to deprive, rob
δύστηνος: wretched, unhappy, unfortunate
ἐλεέω, aor. ἐλέησε: to pity, take pity
δύσμορος: unfortunate, unhappy60
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.
Κρονίδης and Κρονίων –ωνος ὁ: son of Cronus, Zeus
γῆρας –αως τό: old age
οὐδός: a threshold
αἶσα: share, lot, allotted portion, term of life; κατὰ αἶσαν, as is due
ἀργᾰλέος -α, -ον: painful, troublous, grievous
φθίνω, fut. φθίσει, plpf. ἐφθίατο: to waste away, perish, die; (fut.) destroy, kill
ἐφοράω, 2nd aor. partic. ἐπιδόντα, fut. mid. ἐπιόψομαι: to behold; select
ὄλλυμι, fut. ὀλεῖται, ὀλέσεις, aor. ὤλεσα, ὀλέσ(σ)ῃς, ὄλοντο, οὐλόμενος, perf. ὀλώλῃ: to ruin, destroy, kill, lose; mid. and perf. to be destroyed, perish, die
ἑλκέω: to drag off, tear asunder
θάλαμος: women's apartment, chamber (esp. of married people), storeroom
κεραΐζω, pres. partic. κεραΐζων, pass. κεραϊζομένους, fut. inf. κεραϊξέμεν: ravage, plunder, despoil, destroy
νήπιος -α -ον: infant, childish
γαῖα –ας ἡ: a land, country
δηιοτής –ῆτος ἡ: war, battle, conflict
ἕλκω: to draw, drag65
νυός ἡ: a daughter-in-law
ὀλοός: destroying, destructive, fatal, deadly, murderous
Ἀχαιός: Achaian
πύματος: uttermost, last; adv. πύματον, in the end, at last
θύρη: door
ὠμηστής: eating raw flesh, ravenous
ἐρύω: to drag, pull, tear; draw up, raise, balance
χαλκός –οῦ ὁ: bronze
τύπτω, aor. partic. τύψας, 2nd aor. partic. τυπείς: to beat, strike, smite
ῥέθος –εος τό: a limb
μέγαρον –ου τό: large room, main hall (in the center) of the house; pl. dwelling, house, palace.
τραπεζεύς: of the table, fed at the table
θυραωρός: door-watching, guardians of the door
ἀλύσσω: to be frenzied70
πρόθυρον: the front-door, the door leading from the αὐλή
ἐπέοικε: it is seemly, is suitable, is becoming
Ἄρης: Ares, son of Zeus and Hera, God of war and is on the side of the Trojans.
δαΐζω, aor. inf. δαΐξαι, impf. pass. ἐδαΐζετο, perf. partic. δεδαϊγμένος: to divide, tear, rend, pierce
πολιός: gray, hoary
κάρη κρατός τό: head
γένειον: the chin
αἰδώς αἰδοῦς ἡ: a sense of shame, shame, modesty, self-respect, nakedness75
αἰσχύνω: to disgrace, bring shame upon
οἰκτρός: pitiable
πέλω and πέλομαι, aor. as pres. ἔπλεο, ἔπλετο: to be
δειλός –ή –όν: cowardly, fearful; wretched
βροτός –οῦ ὁ: a mortal man