Achilles pursued the god Apollo for a long time. Finally, the arrow god stopped and revealed to Achilles who he was pursuing. Anger took possession of Achilles. How gladly would he take revenge on Apollo if he could! The son of Peleus abandoned the pursuit and again rushed to the walls of Troy. Achilles rushed across the field towards the walls of Troy, like a sparkling star, the star that burns brightly in the autumn sky. Sirius - people call her, she promises misfortune to mortals. Elder Priam saw Achilles approaching the walls of Troy and in fear began to pray to Hector:
- Oh, my beloved son! Come into the city quickly! Do not fight the son of Peleus, he is more powerful than you! Enter Troy! After all, in you lies all the hope for the salvation of all Trojans and Trojan women. Think how many of my sons Achilles killed. At least have pity on me, an unfortunate old man. Zeus sent me terrible troubles at the end of my life. I must see the death of my sons, see how my daughters will be taken into captivity, how innocent babies will be killed. I myself will be killed on the threshold of my house, and those dogs that I myself have fed will lick my blood. Have pity on me, Hector!
His mother, the elderly Hecabe, also begged Hector to take refuge in Troy. She reminded her son how she fed him as a child, how she caressed him. Will Hector really be killed before her eyes and neither she nor Andromache will mourn him, and his corpse will be torn to pieces by dogs near the ships of the Myrmidons?
But Hector firmly decided to wait for Achilles; leaning his shield on the ledge of the tower, he waited for his doctor. Hector could not avoid a fight with Achilles. The son of Priam was afraid that the Trojans would accuse him of destroying Troy, relying on his own strength. After all, Polydamas advised him to take refuge with the army in Troy before Achilles entered the battle. Now only one thing remains for Hector - to engage in battle with Achilles and either win or die. Hector also had the following thought: to meet Achilles halfway without weapons and promise him to return the beautiful Helen and all the treasures stolen from Menelaus, and with them to give half of all the riches of the great Troy. Hector immediately rejected this idea. He knew that Achilles would not enter into an agreement with him, that he would kill him unarmed, like a powerless woman.
Achilles was getting closer and closer. Fear took possession of Hector, and he set off to flee from the formidable son of Peleus around Troy. Behind him, like a hawk chasing a weak dove, stormy Achilles rushed. The heroes ran around Troy three times.
The heroes rushed in a stormy run. Several times Hector wanted to take cover against the wall to give the Trojans the opportunity to repel the son of Peleus with arrows, but Achilles did not let him near the wall. The great Achilles would have overtaken the son of Priam long ago if the god Apollo had not breathed strength into Hector. When the heroes ran past the keys of Scamander for the fourth time, the thunder god threw two lots of death onto the golden scales, one for Achilles, the other for Hector. Hector's lot fell to the kingdom of gloomy Hades. The god Apollo left Hector, and the goddess Pallas Athena approached Achilles. She ordered the hero to stop and promised him victory over Hector. The goddess herself, taking the form of Hector’s brother, Deiphobus, appeared to Hector. She convinced him to fight the son of Peleus, promising to help. Hector stopped. The heroes came together. Hector was the first to exclaim:
“I will no longer, son of Peleus, seek salvation in flight!” Let us fight and see whether you will kill me or whether I will win. But let us call the gods as witnesses before the battle! I promise not to dishonor your body if the Thunderer gives me victory. Fulfill this agreement too.
But Achilles answered him menacingly:
- No! Do not offer me treaties, hated enemy! Just as an agreement is impossible between a lion and people or between wolves and sheep, so it is impossible between us. No! Gather your strength, remember all your skill in military affairs. There is no salvation for you! You will pay me for the blood you shed of my friend Patroclus and my other friends you killed.
With a mighty hand, Achilles threw his spear at Hector. Hector fell to the ground and thereby avoided the fatal blow. Pallas Athena quickly grabbed the spear of Achilles and handed it back to the hero. Hector hit the middle of Achilles' shield with his spear. But, like a light cane, the spear bounced off the shield forged by the god Hephaestus. Hector had no other spear. He lowered his eyes and loudly began to call Deiphobus for help. But he was no longer there. Hector realized that Pallas Athena had deceived him, and he realized that he was destined to die. Drawing his sword, Hector rushed at Achilles. He rushed at Hector and Achilles; With a mighty hand he struck him in the neck with a spear. Hector fell to the ground, mortally wounded. He could only say a few more words to the triumphant Achilles:
“I conjure you, Achilles, with your life and your family, do not give my body to be torn to pieces by the Myrmidon dogs, return my body to my father and mother, they will give an incalculable ransom for it.”
- No! In vain you, despicable dog, beg me! - Achilles answered. “I would have torn your body apart myself if I had submitted to the anger burning within me.” No one will drive the dogs away from your body, even if they offered me the most magnificent, rich gifts for this, even if they gave me as much gold as you weigh. Priam and Hecuba will never mourn your corpse!
Dying, Hector said his last words to Achilles:
- Oh, I knew that you would not be moved by my plea! There is an iron heart in your chest. But fear the wrath of the gods! It will happen to you too! Paris will strike you down with an arrow with the help of the god Apollo at the Scaean Gate.
Hector died with these words. His soul flew off, lamenting his bitter fate, into the kingdom of gloomy Hades.
Achilles summoned all the Greeks to celebrate his victory. They marveled at the mighty height and beauty of Hector stretched out on the ground. Each of those who approached pierced Hector’s corpse with a spear. Now it was easy to hit him; It was not so at the time when Hector set fire to the Greek ships.
The triumphant Achilles planned a terrible deed. Having pierced the tendons in Hector’s legs, he threaded a strong belt through the tendons and tied the corpse by the legs to the chariot. He jumped on it, raising high the armor taken from Hector, and drove the horses across the field. Hector's body was dragging along the ground behind the chariot. Dust rose on the field. Hector’s beautiful head has turned black from the dust and is beating on the ground.
Hecuba saw from the walls of Troy how Achilles dishonored the corpse of her son. In grief she tears out her gray hair and beats herself in the chest, tearing off the coverlet. Priam weeps bitterly. He asks to be allowed into the field, he wants to beg the conqueror Achilles to take pity on him, an old man, to remember his father Peleus, an old man like himself. I heard the sorrowful cries of the Trojans and Andromache. In fear, she dropped the shuttle from her hands. Andromache ran to the walls and from them she saw her husband’s body dragging through the dust behind Achilles’ chariot. Hector's unfortunate wife fell senseless into the arms of the Trojan women. The precious veil, a gift from Aphrodite, fell from her, and her hair fell apart. When she came to her senses, she sobbed loudly. Now she has no one left in the world. Her beautiful son Astyanax was also orphaned. He will grow up an unhappy orphan; no one will protect him from insult. Inexpressible grief tore Andromache's heart. All the Trojan women wept loudly around her. The great defender of Troy died.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru