HECTOR

The eldest son of Priamus and Hecable, husband of Andromache and father of Astyanax. In Homer he is the most prominent figure among the Trojans, as Achilles is among the Greeks, and is evidently a favourite character with the poet. He has all the highest qualities of a hero, unshaken spirit, personal courage, and wise judgment; but he is also a most affectionate son, and the tenderest of fathers and husbands. This trait is most touchingly exhibited in the celebrated scene in the sixth Iliad, where he takes leave of Amdromache. Moreover, he is a favourite of the gods, especially of Apollo. He clearly foresees his own death, and the destruction of his native city; but he does not allow the thought to unnerve his courage and force for a moment. The Trojans love and revere him as the shepherd of his people; his enemies fear and respect him, and even Achilles cannot meet him without some apprehension. He is always to be found where the battle rages most furiously, and he does not hesitate to meet the chiefest heroes of the Greeks in single combat. Ajax the son of Telamon is his especial foe. In the absence of Achilles he reduces the Greeks to the direst straits, storms their defences, and sets their ships on fire. Patroclus, who opposes him, he slays with the aid of Apollo. But his destiny at length overtakes him. In spite of the entreaties of his parents and his wife, he goes out to meet Achilles in his wrath. He is suddenly seized with the agony of terror; his terrible foe chases him three times round the walls of the city; Zeus mourns for him; but when his life and that of his enemy are weighed in the balance, Hector's scale sinks, Apollo leaves him, and he falls by the spear of Achilles before the eyes of his people. Achilles flings his corpse into the dust in front of Patroclus' bier, to be devoured by dogs and birds. But Aphrodite anoints the body with ambrosia, and thus saves it from corruption. Achilles drags it three times behind his chariot round the grave of Patroclus, but Apollo preserves it from mutilation. At length, at the command of Zeus, Achilles delivers up the body to Hector's aged father, to be laid out in the court of the palace, and afterwards burnt on a funeral pyre. In later times Hector was worshipped as a hero by the inhabitants of Ilium, who offered sacrifice's at his grave.