ACHILLES PART FIVE - DEATH OF HECTOR
Continued from page four

It was Hector's time. The two men met and both armies stood back and watched mesmerized. Hector's plan was to run around the city walls, hoping to tire Achilles who had been long inactive. Wrong!

Three times fleet Achilles chased Hector around the walls and each time that Hector would try to run for the safety of a gate, Achilles would cut him off.

His fury knew no bounds, and Prince Hector sensed in his heart that he stood absolutely no chance of defeating the greatest Greek warrior that ever lived.

But Hector was no coward. If anything, he was the bravest fighter among all the Trojans. But he also wasn't foolish. As developed as his martial skills were, they were no match for Achilles. So he tried to outrun him.

'He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day', and all that.

Actually, Hector had demonstrated a certain cowardice when, twice previously, he had fled from the formidable Achaean warrior Ajax the Greater. Indeed, he did not recover his courage until goaded by his comrades Glaucus and Aeneas who began to insult him, questioning his resolve.

But then again, Hector had a lot to live for - he was a devoted family man, with an adoring wife and children. Achilles really had no strings attached, other than to his mother Thetis, whom he rarely saw, and to his loyal army of Myrmidons.

Especially now, with Patroclus gone, Achilles was more alone than ever. Compare that to the Trojan prince Hector, to whom family was much more important than personal glory.

At last Hector had enough. The entire city had gathered to the top of the awesome walls, fixated in morbid fascination at the death dance playing out below them. Hector was their favorite, he was destined to take over as king from his father Priam.

This was looking really bad for him.

'If anyone deserves to perish, it was Paris, the spoiled brat prince who so brazenly had kidnapped Helen and brought this calamity upon mighty Troy', the people thought. 'Not brave Hector!'

Enough! If he was going to die, he would do so with the dignity and grace befitting a Trojan prince. Hector stopped running and turned to face his nemesis.

Time stood still. Hector versus Achilles!

It was a moment that would forever be etched in glorious history, a scene that would be memorialized in countless artistic renditions and paintings. Poems would be written, plays performed; it was a glorious moment, immortalized by Homer.

Achilles versus Hector! Time stood still.

Two men of noble birth, one a demi-god, impervious to death save for his vulnerable heel, the other a mere mortal, yet larger than life itself.

Hector and Achilles locked gazes, and the Trojan knew that this would be his final day on this earth. All present held their breath.

He lunged desperately at Achilles, but the Greek deflected his sword effortlessly, almost appearing to toy with Hector. Then Achilles struck, with all the force and skill instilled in him years earlier by his teacher and mentor, the Centaur Cheiron. Hector had no chance.

There was a collective gasp of disbelief from atop the walls of Troy as Achilles drove his mighty sword through their beloved prince. With a terrible war cry that resounded high in the heavens, the Greek gained revenge for the death of his beloved Patroclus.

Then it was time for the indignity. War is a terrible thing.

Achilles ignored Hector's dying wish to have his body returned to his father Priam for ransom. Instead he fastened leather straps to the body of Hector and secured them on his chariot.

It was the very same chariot that Patroclus had commandeered for him through so many battles! The irony was not lost on Achilles.

Whipping up his immortal horses Balius, Xanthus and Pedasus, the Greek dragged the Trojan prince's corpse three times around the walls of Troy. He desecrated his fallen opponent's remains, much to the extreme dismay and anguish of the devastated Trojans, many of them Hector's immediate family, who watched in horror from atop the city walls.

'In your face!'

'In your face again!'

'And a third time, In your face!'

Bad sportsmanship? Indeed. But the wrath of Achilles, just like his love for Patroclus, knew no earthly bounds. And in war, all was fair.

Achilles concludes on page six!