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416 and I unfortunate gave birth; nor wilt thou be an advantage to him, O Hector, for thou art dead; nor he to thee. For even if he shall escape the mournful war of the Greeks, still will labor and hardship ever be to him hereafter; for others will deprive him of his fields by changing the landmarks. But the bereaving day renders a boy destitute of his cotemporaries; he is ever dejected, and his cheeks are bedewed with tears. The boy in want shall go to the companions of his father, pulling one by the cloak, another by the tunic; and some of these pitying shall present him with a very small cup; and he shall moisten his lips, but not wet his palate. Him also some one, enjoying both [parents], shall push away from the banquet, striking him with his hands, and reviling him with reproaches: 'A murrain on thee! even thy father feasts not with us.' Then shall the boy Astyanax return weeping to his widowed mother—he who formerly, indeed, upon the knees of his own father, ate marrow alone, and the rich fat of sheep; but when sleep came upon him, and he ceased childishly crying, used to sleep on couches in the arms of a nurse, in a soft bed, full as to his heart with delicacies. But now, indeed, Astyanax, whom the Trojans call by surname (because thou alone didst defend their gates and lofty walls for them), shall suffer many things, missing his dear father. But now shall the crawling worms devour thee, naked, at the curved ships, far away from thy parents, after the dogs shall have satiated themselves; but thy robes, fine and graceful, woven by the hands of women, lie in thy palaces. Truly all these will I consume with burning fire, being of no use to thee, for thou wilt not lie on them; but let them be a glory [to thee] before the Trojans and the Trojan dames."

Thus she spoke, weeping, and the females also mourned.