Princes among their people, are not seen,--
Castor the fearless horseman, and the skilled
In boxing, Pollux,--twins; one mother bore
Both them and me. Came they not with the rest
From pleasant Lacedaemon to the war?
Or, having crossed the deep in their goodships,
Shun they to fight among the valiant ones
Of Greece, because of my reproach and shame?"
She spake; but they already lay in earth
In Lacedaemon, their dear native land.

_Bryants Translation, Book III._




THE PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE.


The single combat between Paris and Menelaus broke up in a general battle
unfavorable to the Trojans, and Hector returned to Troy to order the
Trojan matrons to sacrifice to Pallas. He then sought his dwelling to
greet his wife and child, but learned from one of the maids that
Andromache, on hearing that the Greeks were victorious, had hastened to
the city walls with the child and its nurse,

Hector left in haste
The mansion, and retraced his way between
The rows of stately dwellings, traversing
The mighty city. When at length he reached