Seba.Health

The Iliad 6.311–325

The Iliad 6.311–325
that were in that day the best builders in deep-soiled Troy; these had made him a chamber and hall and court hard by the palaces of Priam and Hector in the citadel. There entered in Hector, dear to Zeus, and in his hand he held a spear of eleven cubits, and before him blazed the spear-point of bronze, around which ran a ring of gold. He found Paris in his chamber busied with his beauteous arms, his shield and his corselet, and handling his curved bow; and Argive Helen sat amid her serving-women and appointed to them their glorious handiwork. And at sight of him Hector rebuked him with words of shame: Strange man, thou dost not well to nurse this anger in thy heart. Thy people are perishing about the town and the steep wall in battle, and it is because of thee that the battle-cry and the war are ablaze about this city; thou wouldest thyself vent wrath on any other,whomso thou shouldest haply see shrinking from hateful war. Nay, then, rouse thee, lest soon the city blaze with consuming fire.
ὣς ἔφατʼ εὐχομένη, ἀνένευε δὲ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη. ὣς αἳ μέν ῥʼ εὔχοντο Διὸς κούρῃ μεγάλοιο, Ἕκτωρ δὲ πρὸς δώματʼ Ἀλεξάνδροιο βεβήκει καλά, τά ῥʼ αὐτὸς ἔτευξε σὺν ἀνδράσιν οἳ τότʼ ἄριστοι ἦσαν ἐνὶ Τροίῃ ἐριβώλακι τέκτονες ἄνδρες, οἵ οἱ ἐποίησαν θάλαμον καὶ δῶμα καὶ αὐλὴν ἐγγύθι τε Πριάμοιο καὶ Ἕκτορος ἐν πόλει ἄκρῃ. ἔνθʼ Ἕκτωρ εἰσῆλθε Διῒ φίλος, ἐν δʼ ἄρα χειρὶ ἔγχος ἔχʼ ἑνδεκάπηχυ· πάροιθε δὲ λάμπετο δουρὸς αἰχμὴ χαλκείη, περὶ δὲ χρύσεος θέε πόρκης. τὸν δʼ εὗρʼ ἐν θαλάμῳ περικαλλέα τεύχεʼ ἕποντα ἀσπίδα καὶ θώρηκα, καὶ ἀγκύλα τόξʼ ἁφόωντα· Ἀργείη δʼ Ἑλένη μετʼ ἄρα δμῳῇσι γυναιξὶν ἧστο καὶ ἀμφιπόλοισι περικλυτὰ ἔργα κέλευε. τὸν δʼ Ἕκτωρ νείκεσσεν ἰδὼν αἰσχροῖς ἐπέεσσι·
Lattimore commentary
A significant contrast is intended between weary, bloodstained Hektor, whose anxious wife awaits, and his brother Paris ensconced in domestic comfort with his paramour. Lattimore has Hektor and Paris argue whether “coldness” (326, 335) is the motive for Paris’ withdrawal. The Greek at both places is kholos (anger, resentment), which has been seen as a narrative slip caused by the pressure of the more central theme, Achilleus’ anger. A compromise interpretation could be that Paris nurses a sort of passive aggression because his fellow Trojans are by now themselves angry enough to let him be killed (3.454).
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