Achilles Journal Entry

“Meanwhile Achilles chased Hector relentlessly….. Every time Hector made a break for the Dardanian Gate hoping to gain the shelter of the solid walls, where the defenders might protect him with their missiles, Achilles would head him off towards the plain, himself keeping the inner track by the walls. …… When they reached The Springs for the fourth time …….Athene came to Achilles and spoke winged words: ‘Glorious Achilles, beloved of Zeus, now you and I will kill Hector, and bring the Greeks great glory. Warlike he may be, but he’ll not escape us.”
So Athene appeared to noble Hector in the form of his brother Deiphobus: ‘Dear brother, swift Achilles pressed you hard there, chasing you round the city; but let us make a stand together, and defend
Athene deceived Hector with her words and her disguise, and led him on till he and Achilles met. Hector of the gleaming helm spoke first: ‘I will not run from you, as before, son of
Peleus. My heart failed me as I waited for your attack, and three times round Priam’s city we
Lions and men make no compacts, nor are wolves and lambs in sympathy: they are opposed, to the end. You and I are beyond friendship: nor will there be peace between us till one or the other dies. There is no escape from me, and soon Athene will bring you down with my spear. Now pay the price for all my grief.’ So saying, he raised his long-shadowed spear and hurled it. But glorious Hector kept an eye on it and, crouching, dodged so the shaft flew above him, and the point buried itself in the ground behind. Yet Pallas Athene snatched it up and returned it to Achilles, too swiftly for Prince Hector to see. And Hector spoke to Peleus’ peerless son: ….You’ll get no chance to pierce my back as I flee, so, if the gods allow you, drive it through my chest as I attack, dodge my bronze spear if you can. I pray it lodges deep in your flesh! If you were dead, war would be easy for us