sed
these evils, would, at any rate, that I had been wife to a better
man--to one who could smart under dishonour and men's evil speeches.
This fellow was never yet to be depended upon, nor never will be, and
he will surely reap what he has sown. Still, brother, come in and rest
upon this seat, for it is you who bear the brunt of that toil that has
been caused by my hateful self and by the sin of Alexandrus--both of
whom Jove has doomed to be a theme of song among those that shall be
born hereafter."

And Hector answered, "Bid me not be seated, Helen, for all the goodwill
you bear me. I cannot stay. I am in haste to help the Trojans, who miss
me greatly when I am not among them; but urge your husband, and of his
own self also let him make haste to overtake me before I am out of the
city. I must go home to see my household, my wife and my little son,
for I know not whether I shall ever again return to them, or whether
the gods will cause me to fill by the hands of the Achaeans."

Then Hector left her, and forthwith was at his own house. He did not
find Andromache, for she was on the wall with her child and one of her
maids, weeping bitterly. Seeing, then, that she was not within, he
stood on the threshold of the women's rooms and said, "Women, tell me,
and tell me true, where did Andromache go when she left the house? Was
it to my sisters, or to my brothers' wives? or is she at the temple of
Minerva where the other women are propitiating the awful goddess?"

His good housekeeper answered, "Hector, since you bid me tell you
truly, she did not go to your sisters nor to your brothers' wives, nor
yet to the temple of Minerva, where the other women are propitiating
the awful goddess, but she is on the high wall of Ilius, for she had
heard the Trojans were being hard pressed, and that the Achaeans were
in great force: she went to the wall in frenzied haste, and the nurse
went with her carrying the child."

Hector hurried from the house when she had done speaking, and went down
the streets by the same way that he had come. When he had gone through
the city and had reached the Scaean gates through which he would go out
on to the plain, his wife came running towards him, Andromache,
daughter of great Eetion who ruled in Thebe under the wooded slopes of
Mt. Placus, and was king of the Cilicians. His daughter had married
Hector, and now came to meet him with a nurse who carried his little
child in her bosom--a mere babe. Hector