An Iliad by Alessandro Baricco Read Free Book Online Page A

even those who are still hidden in the bellies of their mothers. None must escape—let them all perish together with Troy, without a grave and without a name.”
    Adrastus was still kneeling on the ground, terrified. Menelaus pushed him away. And Agamemnon himself thrust the spear in his side and killed him. Then he placed his foot on his chest and ripped the spear point out of the flesh.
    The Achaeans pressed and we fled, overcome by fear. We were at the walls of Troy when Helenus, one of Priam’s sons, came toward me and Hector and said, “We must stop our men before they flee into the city and take refuge in the arms of their women, to the scorn of our enemies. Aeneas, we’ll stay and fight and urge the men on, and you, Hector, meanwhile, go into the city and tell the people to pray to the gods to keep at least Diomedes away, who is fighting like a madman, and whom none of us can stop. We were never so afraid even of Achilles. Trust me, Hector. Go to our mother and tell her that if she has pity on Troy and on our wives and our children, she is to take the finest and largest robe in the palace and lay it on the knees of shining-eyed Athena, in the temple high in the citadel. We’ll stay here, urging on the men and fighting.”
    Hector listened to him. He jumped down from his chariot and ran to the Scaean gates. I saw him disappear among the men: he ran, with his shield thrown behind his back, and the edges of the shield, of black ox hide, hitting his neck and heels. I turned. The Achaeans were before us. We all turned. As if a god had descended to fight at our side, we attacked.

The Nurse
    O f
course I remember that day. I remember everything about that day. And that alone is what I want to remember.
Hector arrived. He came through the Scaean gates and stood under the great oak. All the wives and children of the Trojans ran to him: they wanted news of their sons and brothers and husbands. But he said only: Pray to the gods, because disaster is hanging over us. Then he hurried to the palace of Priam. An immense palace, with shining porticoes. What splendor … on one side, fifty rooms of polished stone, built one beside the other: there slept the male children of Priam, with their wives. And on the other, twelve rooms of polished stone, built one beside the other: there slept the daughters of Priam with their husbands. Hector entered and Hecuba, his gentle mother, went to him. She took him by the hand and said, “My son, why are you here? Why have you left the battle? The hated Achaeans are crushing you there, against the walls. Have you come to lift up your arms to Zeus, from the height of thecitadel? Let me give you some wine so that you may drink and offer it to the gods. Wine can revive a weary man, and you are exhausted, you who are fighting to defend all of us.”
    But Hector said no. He said that he didn’t want wine, he didn’t want to lose his strength and forget about the battle. He said to her that he couldn’t offer wine to the gods, either, because his hands were stained with dust and blood. “Go to the temple of Athena,” he said to her. “Take your finest robe, the largest one you have in the palace, the one you love most, and go and lay it on the knees of Athena, the predator goddess. Ask her to have pity on the Trojan wives and their little children, and pray to her to get rid of Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, because he is a savage fighter, and is sowing fear everywhere.”
    Then the mother called her handmaidens and sent them throughout the city to gather the old women of noble birth. Then she went into the scented chamber where she kept the robes embroidered by the women of Sidon, robes that godlike Paris had brought home from his journey when he returned with Helen, crossing the wide sea. And among all the robes Hecuba chose the finest and largest, embroidered all over, which shone like a star. And I want to tell you this: it was at the bottom, the one that was lying under all the others. She