Iliad
Book 3
Hector reproaches Paris in front of Helen
“At one glance
Hector raked his brother with insults, stinging taunts:
“Paris, appalling Paris! Our prince of beauty-
mad for women, you lure them all to ruin!
Would to god you’d never been born, died unwed.
That’s all I’d ask. Better that way by far
than to have you strutting here, an outrage-
a mockery in the eyes of all our enemies. Why,
the long-haired Achaeans must be roaring with laughter!
They thought you the bravest champion we could field,
and just because of the handsome luster on your limbs,
but you have no pith, no fighting strength inside you.
What?-is this the man who mustered the oarsmen once,
who braved the seas in his racing deep-sea ships,
trafficked with outlanders, carried off a woman
far from her distant shores, a great beauty
wed to a land of rugged spearmen?
You…
curse to your father, your city and all your people,
a joy to our enemies, rank disgrace to yourselfl
So, you can’t stand up to the battling Menelaus?
You’d soon feel his force, that man you robbed
of his sumptuous, warm wife. No use to you then,
the fine lyre and these, these gifts of Aphrodite,
your long flowing locks and your striking looks,
not when you roll and couple with the dust.
What cowards, the men of Troy-or years ago
they’d have decked you out in a suit of rocky armor,
stoned you to death for all the wrongs you’ve done!”
And Paris, magnificent as a god, replied,
“Ah Hector, you criticize me fairly, yes,
nothing unfair, beyond what I deserve.
The heart inside you is always tempered hard,
like an ax that goes through wood when a shipwright
cuts out ship timbers with every ounce of skill
and the blade’s weight drives the man’s stroke.
So the heart inside your chest is never daunted.
Still, don’t fling in my face the lovely gifts
of golden Aphrodite. Not to be tossed aside,
the gifts of the gods, those glories …
whatever the, gods give of their own free will.”
Hector Reproches Paris
1818
Giuseppe Cammarano
Italian 1776-1850.
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