Chapter 42 42

Achilles was getting closer and closer, as mighty and majestic as a god of war, with brilliant bronze weapons.Seeing this, Hector trembled involuntarily, turned and walked towards the city gate.Achilles rushed over immediately.Hector ran for his life along the walls, along the road, and across the swift Scamander.Achilles followed and pursued.They ran three times around the wall. The gods on the holy mountain of Olympus watched this thrilling scene nervously. "Ah, gods," said Zeus, "consider the situation well. The moment of decision has come. Shall Hector escape death again, or shall he die?"

Pallas Athena replied: "Father, where are you thinking? Do you want to escape death for whom the goddess of fate has judged to die? But do what you want, and don't expect the gods will I agree with your proposal!" Zeus nodded to his daughter, indicating that she could do as she wished.She immediately descended from the sacred mountain of Olympus to the battlefield of Troy. At this time, Hector was still running, and Achilles was chasing after him, not letting him have a chance to breathe, and signaling his soldiers not to throw darts and spears at Hector. They had chased round the walls, and now they were near the river Scamander, when Zeus rose from the sacred mountain of Olympus, took out the golden scales, and placed on both sides weights of life and death, one representing the son of Peleus. , another representing Hector, began weighing.One side of Hector is tilted towards Hades, the king of the underworld.Apollo on the side left immediately.

The goddess Athena walked up to Achilles and said to him quietly: "You stand and rest; let me encourage Hector to challenge you boldly!" Achilles obeyed the goddess's words, Immediately stopped the pursuit, leaned against the spear planted in the ground, and watched Athena walk towards Hector. Athena came to Hector in the form of Deiphobus and said to him: "Brother, let us fight against Achilles!" Hector was very happy to see his brother, and he said: "Deiphobus, you are truly my closest brother. Now, when the other brothers hide behind the safety of the city walls, you boldly go out of the city to encourage me to fight, which makes me respect you even more. So Athena led the hero toward Achilles. She held up her spear, strode ahead, and walked in front.

Hector cried to Achilles: "Son of Peleus, I will not hide from you anymore! Now I will fight you to the death. But let us swear before the gods: If Zeus looks after me, let If I win, then I will only strip off your armor and return your corpse to your side. You should treat me the same!" "I will make no treaty with you!" said Achilles grimly. "Just as a lion cannot be a friend to a man, so there is no friendship between us. One of us must die. Now do what you can Well, no matter what, you cannot escape my grasp. You owe my warriors blood debts, and now you must pay!" Achilles said, throwing his spear.Hector stooped hastily, and the spear flew past his head.Athena retrieved the spear and gave it to the son of Peleus.But all this Hector could not see.Now, too, he threw his spear in anger, and hit Achilles' shield just in time, but was thrown to the ground.Startled, Hector turned to his brother Deiphobus to ask him for his spear, but he was nowhere to be seen.Only then did Hector realize that Athena had lied to him.He knew that the end was coming, but he was not willing to let the opponent win easily, so he drew his sword and swung it forward.

Achilles was impatient to fight, and he could not wait to throw his spear again, so he rushed forward under the cover of his shield.The feathers of his helm fluttered in the wind, and his spear gleamed coldly.He opened his eyes wide, looking for an opportunity, trying to hide where Hector's body was exposed.But he was protected from head to toe in the armor he had taken from Patroclus, save for a gap at the collarbone where the shoulders joined the neck, leaving his throat a little exposed.Achilles saw it clearly, and stabbed fiercely with his spear. The point of the spear pierced Hector's throat, but did not pierce the windpipe. Although he fell to the ground and was seriously injured, he could barely speak.Achilles said happily that he would feed his dead body to the dogs.Hector begged him and said: "Achilles, I beg you by your life, don't let the vicious dogs devour my body! No matter how much gold and silver you want, as long as I send my body back to Troy, Let the Trojans bury me according to the rite!"

Achilles shook his head and replied: "You don't need to beg, you are the murderer of my friend! Even if Priam is willing to offer gold equal to your weight as a ransom, you will still have to feed the dogs." !" "I know," Hector groaned before dying, "I know you are a man with a heart of stone and will not sympathize with me. But when the gods only avenge me, when you are killed by Apollo in the center of Troy When you are shot at the city gate and fall to the ground, you will remember my words!" After saying this last prophecy, his soul came out of his body and flew quietly into the underworld, looking for Hades.

But Achilles shouted from the side: "You just go to die! No matter how Zeus and the gods arrange my fate, I will accept it!" He pulled out the spear from the corpse, put it aside, Then he peeled off the bloody armor that belonged to him. The Greeks came flooding in to see the noble figure and majestic body of the dead.Achilles stood among the crowd and said: "Friends, heroes! Thanks to the blessings of the gods, let me subdue this vicious person here. He is far more harmful to us than anyone else. Let's fight for the city of Troy with all our might. Let's see , did they dedicate their city to us, or did they still dare to resist without Hector. But why should I say more, wasting time? Isn't my friend Patroclus still lying in the ship without burial? Soldiers Gentlemen, let us sing the triumphant song, and bring back this enemy I killed to pay homage to my friend!"

As he said this, approaching the body, the cruel victor poked a hole between the ankle and the heel with his knife, passed the belt through it, and fastened it to the chariot; The corpse galloped towards the warship. Hector's mother, Hecuba, saw his son on the top of the city, tore off her veil angrily, and wept loudly.King Priam also wept bitterly.There was a cry of mourning throughout the city, and even the city walls trembled.The old king was eager to rush out of the city gates and chase the murderer of his son, but it was difficult for everyone to dissuade him. Hector's wife Andromache was unaware of her husband's death.She sat quietly in the palace, concentrating on embroidering flowers on the material.Suddenly she heard cries from the city, and her heart was filled with an ominous premonition.She exclaimed, "God, I'm afraid that my husband has been killed by Achilles. Somebody, come and see with me, what happened?"

She passed through the palace, and ran up the tower, and saw Peleus' son's chariot dragging her husband's body galloping across the fields.Andromache fainted immediately and fell backwards.Her relatives rushed to support her.When she awoke, she was still weeping with grief, and her maids were also weeping.