As her husband watched her his heart yearned towards her and he caressed her fondly, saying, “My own wife, do not take these things too bitterly to heart.
Her husband noticed,and filled with pity now, Hector stroked her gently,trying to reassure her, repeating her name: “Andromache,dear one, why so desperate?
No man alive has ever escaped it,neither brave man nor coward, I tell you —it’s born with us the day that we are born.
And his loving wife went home, turning, glancingback again and again and weeping live warm tears.
Emily Wilson (2023)In my own translation of the “Iliad,” I echo the metrical regularity of the original by using unrhyming iambic pentameter.
Persons:
Samuel Butler, Butler —, —, ”, Butler, Homer’s, Hector, “, Hector ”, Robert Fagles, Fagles’s, Andromache, — it’s, ” Hector aflash, Emily Wilson
Locations:
Ilion, Troy