τὴν δ' αῦτε προσέειπε μέγας κορυθαιόλος Ἕκτωρ:
ῆ καὶ ἐμοὶ τάδε πάντα μέλει γύναι: ἀλλα μάλ' αἰνῶς
αἰδέομαι Τρῶας καὶ Τρωϊάδας ἑλκεσιπέπλους:
αἴ κε κακὸς ὡς. νόσφιν ἀλυσκάζω πολέμοιο:
οὐδ' έμὲ θυμὸς ἄνωγεν: ἐπεὶ μάθον ἔμμεναι ἐσθλὸς
αἰεὶ. καὶ πρώτοισι μετὰ Τρώεσσι μάχεσθαι.
ἀρνύμενος πατρός τε μέγα κλέος ἠδ' ἐμὸν αὐτοῦ.
εὖ γὰρ ἐγὼ τόδε οῖδα κατα φρένα καὶ κατα θυμὸν.
έσσεται ῆμαρ. ὅτ' ἄ̆ν ποτ' ὀλώλῃ ΄Ϊλιος ϊρὴ
καὶ Πρίαμος. καὶ λαὸς ἐϋμμελίῳ Πριάμοιο.
ἀλλ' οὔ μοι Τρώων τόσσον μέλει ἄλγος ὀπίσσῳ.
οὔτ' αὐτῆς Ἑκάβης, οὔτε Πριάμοιο ἄνακτος.
οὔτε κασιγνήτων: οἵ κεν πολέες τὲ καὶ ἐσθλοὶ
ἐν κονίῃσι πέσοιεν ὑπ' ἀνδράσι δυσμενέεσσιν.
ὅσσον σεῖ', ὅτε κέν τις Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων
δακρυόεσσαν ἄγηται: ἐλεύθερον ἦμαρ ἀπούρᾱς:
καί κεν ἐν ἄργεῑ ἐοὖσα. πρὸς ἄλλῃς ἱ̈στὸν ὑφαίνοις.
καί κεν ὕδωρ φορέειςφορέεις Μεσσηΐδος. ἢ Ὑπερείης
πολλ`' ἀεκαζομένη: κρατερὴ δ' ἐπικείσετ' ἀνάγκη.
καί ποτέ τις εἴπῃσιν ἰ̈δὼν κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσαν.
Ἕκτορος ἧδε γυνὴ. ὃς ἀριστεύεσκε μάχεσθαι
Τρώων ἱ̈πποδάμων ὅτε ῎Ϊλιον ἀμφεμάχοντο:
ὥς ποτέ τις ἐρέει: σοὶ δ' αὖ νέον ἔσσεται ἄλγος
χήτει τοιοῦδ' ἀνδρὸς ἀμύνειν δούλιον ῆμαρ.
ἀλλά με τεθνειῶτα τεθνῃῶτα χυτὴ κατὰ γαῖα καλύπτοι:
πρίν γέ τι, σῆς τε βοῆς, σοῦ θ' ἑλκηθμοῖο πυθέσθαι:
Then spake to her great Hector of the flashing helm: "Woman, I too take thought of all this, but wondrously have I shame of the Trojans, and the Trojans' wives, with trailing robes, if like a coward I skulk apart from the battle. Nor doth mine own heart suffer it, seeing I have learnt to be valiant always and to fight amid the foremost Trojans, striving to win my father's great glory and mine own. For of a surety know I this in heart and soul: the day shall come when sacred Ilios shall be laid low, and Priam, and the people of Priam with goodly spear of ash. Yet not so much doth the grief of the Trojans that shall be in the aftertime move me, neither Hecabe's own, nor king Priam's, nor my brethren's, many and brave, who then shall fall in the dust beneath the hands of their foemen, as doth thy grief, when some brazen-coated Achaean shall lead thee away weeping and rob thee of thy day of freedom. Then haply in Argos shalt thou ply the loom at another s bidding, or bear water from Messeis or Hypereia, sorely against thy will, and strong necessity shall be laid upon thee. And some man shall say as he beholdeth thee weeping: ' Lo, the wife of Hector, that was pre-eminent in war above all the horse-taming Trojans, in the day when men fought about Ilios.' So shall one say; and to thee shall come fresh grief in thy lack of a man like me to ward off the day of bondage. But let me be dead, and let the heaped-up earth cover me, ere I hear thy cries as they hale thee into captivity."
