Homer, Iliad VI 466-502

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. 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. [read full essay]

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.