CHAPTER XXIV.

THE SLAYING OF HECTOR.

WHILE these things were doing, Achilles ceased not to pursue and slay the men of Troy, and Priam stood on a tower of the wall and saw the people. Sore troubled was he, and he hastened down to the gates and said to the keepers, "Keep the wicket-gates in your hands. open, that the people may enter in, for they fly before Achilles." So the keepers held the wicket-gates in their hands, and the people hastened in, wearied with toil and thirst, and covered with dust, and Achilles followed close upon them. And that hour would the Greeks have taken the city of Troy, but that Apollo saved it. For he put courage into the heart of Antenor's son Agenor, standing also by him, that he should not be slain. Therefore Agenor stood, thinking within himself: —

"Shall I now flee with these others? Nay, for not the less will Achilles take me and slay

before the gues? Wal he mc. is a mortal man and his fest may be purred by the spear. Therefore he stood Ades should come

And when be mme be cast is spear. striking the leg below the knee. but the greate sumed of the spear st string vas when Antilles would have slain Him & Apollo

up and set him win the city. And that the men of Troy might have time to enter, be took upon Him Agenie's shape. And the false Agenor fed and Achilles parsed. But meanwhile the men of Try focked into the city, nor did they stay to ask who was safe and who was dead in such haste and fear did they Alee. Only Hector remained outside the walls standing in front of the great Scæan gates. But all the while Achilles was fiercely pursuing the false Agenor, till at last Apollo turned and spake to him:

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Why dost thou pursue me, swift-footed Achilles? Hast thou not yet found out that I am a god, and that all thy fury is in vain? And now all the sons of Troy are safe in their city, and thou art here, far out of the way, seeking to slay me, who cannot die.'

In great wrath Achilles answered him: "Thou hast done me wrong in so drawing me away from the wall, great archer, most mischief-loving of all the gods that are. Had it not been for this, many a Trojan more had bitten the ground. Thou hast robbed me of great glory, and saved thy favourites. O that I had the power to take vengeance on thee! Thou hadst paid dearly for thy cheat!"

Then he turned and rushed towards the city, swift as a race-horse whirls a chariot across the plain. Old Priam spied him from the walls, with his glittering armour, briga as that brightest of the stars- met

Orion's dog-which shines at imagine a baleful light, bringing the fevers of autuma “%, men. And the old man grant wond when he saw him, and stretching our his rands oded to his son Hector, whers and inform the

1A

gates, eager to do battle with this dread warrior:

Of many brave sons Two I miss to-day

May be they are yet

"Wait not for this man, dear son, wait not for him, lest thou die beneath his hand, for indeed he is stronger than thou. Wretch that he is! I would that the gods bare such love to him as I bare! Right soon would the dogs and vultures eat him. has he bereaved me. Polydorus and Lycaon. alive in the host of the Greeks, and I shall buy them back with gold, of which I have yet great store in my house. And if they are dead, sore grief will it be to me and to the mother who bare them; but little will care the other sons of Troy, so that thou fall not beneath the hand of Achilles. Come within the walls, dear child; come to save the sons and daughters of Troy; come in pity for me, thy father, for whom, in my old age, an evil fate is in store, to see sons slain with the sword, and daughters carried into captivity, and babes dashed upon the ground. Ay, and last of all, the dogs which I have reared in my palace will devour me, lapping my blood and tearing my flesh as

I lie on the threshold of my home. That a young man should fall in battle and suffer such lot as happens to the slain, this is to be borne; but that such dishonour should be done to the white hair and white beard of the old, mortal eyes can see no fouler sight than this."

Thus old Priam spake, but could not turn the heart of his son. And from the wall on the other side of the gate his mother called to him, weeping sore, and if, perchance, she might thus move his pity, she bared her bosom in his sight, and said:

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Pity me, my son; think of the breast which I gave thee in the old days, and stilled thy cries. Come within the walls; wait not for this man, nor stand in battle against him. him. If he slay thee, nor I, nor thy wife, shall pay thee the last honours of the dead, but far away by the ships of the Greeks the dogs and vultures will devour thee."

So father and mother besought their son, but all in vain. He was still minded to abide the coming of Achilles. Just as in the mountains a great snake at its hole abides the com