Book vi. line 524.

[645] For two other versions of this passage, see Letters, dated Dec. 17, 1793, and Jan 5, 1794.

The fatal conflict between Hector and Achilles:

So saying, his keen falchion from his side He drew, well temper'd, ponderous, and rush'd At once to combat. As the eagle darts Right downward through a sullen cloud to seize Weak lamb or tim'rous hare, so he to fight Impetuous sprang, and shook his glitt'ring blade. Achilles opposite, with fellest ire Full-fraught came on; his shield with various art Divine portray'd, o'erspread his ample chest; And on his radiant casque terrific wav'd, By Vulcan spun, his crest of bushy gold, Bright as, among the stars, the star of all Most splendid, Hesperus, at midnight moves; So in the right hand of Achilles beam'd His brandish'd spear, while, meditating woe To Hector, he explored his noble form, Seeking where he was vulnerable most. But ev'ry part, his dazzling armour, torn From brave Patroclus' body, well secur'd, Save where the circling key-bone from the neck Disjoins the shoulder; there his throat appear'd, Whence injur'd life with swiftest flight escapes. Achilles, plunging in that part his spear, Impell'd it through the yielding flesh beyond. The ashen beam his pow'r of utt'rance left Still unimpair'd, but in the dust he fell.

Hector's prayer to Achilles:

By thy own life, by theirs who gave thee birth, And by thy knees, oh let not Grecian dogs Rend and devour me, but in gold accept And brass a ransom at my father's hands, And at my mother's, an illustrious price; Send home my body, grant me burial rites Among the daughters and the sons of Troy.