ὡς εἰπὼν, ἀλόχοιο φίλης ἐν χερσὶν ἔθηκε
παῖδ' εὸν, ἡ δ`' ἄρα μιν κηώδεϊ δέξατο κόλπῳ
δακρυόεν γελάσασα. πόσις δ' ἐλέησε νοήσας:
χειρί τέ μιν κατέρεξεν. ἔπος τ' ἔφατ', ἔκ τ' ὀνόμαζε:
δαιμονίη: μή μοί τι λίην ἀκαχίζεο θυμῷ:
οὐ γάρ τίς μ' ὑπὲρ αῖσαν ἀνὴρ Ἄϊδι προϊάψει:
μοῖραν δ' οὔ τινα φημὶ πεφυγμένον ἔμμεναι ἀνδρῶν
οὐ κακὸν οὐδε μὲν ἐσθλὸν, ἐπὴν τὰ πρῶτα γένηται:
ἀλλ`' εἰς οἶκον ἰ̈οῦσα. τὰ, σαυτῆς ἔργα κόμιζε
ἱ̈στόν τ' ἠλακάτην τε, καὶ ἀμφιπόλοισι κέλευε
έργον ἐποίχεσθαι. πόλεμος δ' ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει
πᾶσιν. ἐμοὶ δὲ μάλιστα. τοὶ Ἰ̈λίῳ ἐνγεγάασιν ἐγγεγάασιν:
So saying, he laid his child in his dear wife's arms, and she took him to her fragrant bosom, smiling through her tears; and her husband was touched with pity at sight of her, And he stroked her with his hand, and spake to her, saying: "Dear wife, in no wise, I pray thee, grieve overmuch at heart; no man beyond my fate shall send me forth to Hades; only his doom, methinks, no man hath ever escaped, be he coward or valiant, when once he hath been born. Nay, go thou to the house and busy thyself with thine own tasks, the loom and the distaff, and bid thy handmaids ply their work: but war shall be for men, for all, but most of all for me, of them that dwell in Ilios."
