The Iliad Andromache Quotes

Hector with Andromache and child

Reckless one,
my Hector – your own fiery courage will destroy you!
Have you no pity for him, our helpless son? Or me,
and the destiny that weighs me down, your widow,
now so soon? Yes, soon they will kill you off,
all the Achaean forces massed for assault, and then,
bereft of you, better for me to sink beneath the earth.
What other warmth, what comfort’s left for me,
once you have met your doom? Nothing but torment!
I have lost my father. Mother’s gone as well.
…You, Hector – you are my father now, my noble mother,
a brother too, and you are my husband, young and warm
and strong!
Pity me, please! Take your stand on the rampart here,
before you orphan your son and make your wife a widow.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 482-491, 509-512. A very emotional Andromache pleads with her husband Hector to remain within the city walls. With the Greek forces massed for assault, she warns him that his fiery courage will lead to his destruction. She turns out to be correct, foreshadowing that Hector will die later in the war.
Hector tells Andromache he is no shrinking coward

All this weighs on my mind too, dear woman.
But I would die of shame to face the men of Troy
and the Trojan women trailing their long robes
if I would shrink from battle now, a coward.
Nor does the spirit urge me on that way.
I’ve learned it all too well. To stand up bravely,
always to fight in the front ranks of Trojan soldiers.
winning my father great glory, glory for myself.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 522-529. Hector’s reply to his wife Andromache when she begs him to remain home, be a husband to her, and not leave their child an orphan. Hector is touched by her plea, but won’t allow himself to be moved. What is more important to him, he makes clear to her, is winning great glory, not being a shrinking coward in battle and always to fight in the front ranks.

Zeus, all you immortals! Grant this boy, my son,
may be like me, first in glory among the Trojans,
strong and brave like me, and rule all Troy in power
and one day let them say, "He is a better man than his father!" –
when he comes home from battle bearing the bloody gear
of the mortal enemy he has killed in war –
a joy to his mother’s heart.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 568-574. Hector’s parting words before going to battle in this prayer to Zeus for his infant son and wife. He asks the god to take care of his son’s reputation, so that he it will exceed that of his father. He asks also that his son be a joy to his mother. As well as being a great warrior, Hector is a committed family man, who deeply loves his wife Andromache and son.

So Hector prayed
and placed his son in the arms of his loving wife.
Andromache pressed the child to her scented breast,
smiling through her tears. Her husband noticed,
and filled with pity now, Hector stroked her gently,
trying to reassure her, repeating her name: "Andromache.
dear one, why so desperate? Why so much grief for me?"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 574-580. Hector is depicted here as a loving family man, trying to reassure his tearful wife Andromache as he departs for battle and prays for his family.
No man will hurl me down to death against my fate, Hector tells Andromache

Why so much grief for me?
No man will hurl me down to Death, against my fate.
And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it,
neither brave man nor coward, I tell you –
it’s born with us the day that we are born.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 580-584. In his farewell to his wife, Hector speaks here about the ancient Greek idea of fate, believing that his life and death are controlled by it. He tells his wife Andromache not to be so upset or worried about him during the conflicts of war, saying that no man can kill him if he is not fated to die.

Quickly –
two of you follow me – I must see what’s happened.
That cry – that was Hector’s honored mother I heard!
My heart’s pounding, leaping up in my throat,
the knees beneath me paralyzed – Oh I know it…
something terrible’s coming down on Priam’s children.
Pray god the news will never reach my ears!
Yes but I dread it so – what if great Achilles
has cut my Hector off from the city, daring Hector,
and driven him out across the plain, and all alone? –
He may have put an end to that fatal headstrong pride
that always seized my Hector – never hanging back
with the main force of men, always charging ahead,
giving ground to no man in his fury!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 527-540. Hearing the cries of Hector’s mother Hecuba, Andromache fears the worst for her husband Hector on the battlefield. She is afraid for his life because of Achilles and also his own stubborn pride, always wanting to charge forward and give ground to no man. She turns out to be correct, Hector has been cut down by Achilles.

Hector, what help are you to him, now you are dead? –
what help is he to you? Think, even if he escapes
the wrenching horrors of war against the Argives,
pain and labor will plague him all his days to come.
Strangers will mark his lands off, stealing his estates.
The day that orphans a youngster cuts him off from friends.
And he hangs his head low, humiliated in every way…
his cheeks stained with tears, and pressed by hunger
the boy goes up to his father’s old companions,
tugging at one man’s cloak. another’s tunic.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 22, lines 571-580. When Andromache learns that her husband Hector is dead, she is grief stricken, but her thoughts turn straight away to the fate of her son. Without his renowned father being there to support him, Astyanax will have to rely on others for his survival, she laments. Even if her son escapes the horrors of this awful war with the Achaeans, he will be plagued by a life of pain and labor, she says. Since Astyanax will actually die shortly after the fall of Troy, this makes Andromache’s comments sadly ironic. Andromache’s deep love for her family shine through here.

O my husband…
cut off from life so young! You leave me a widow,
lost in the royal halls – and the boy only a baby,
the son we bore together, you and I so doomed.
I cannot think he will ever come to manhood.
Long before that the city will be sacked,
plundered top to bottom! Because you are dead,
her great guardian, you who always defended Troy,
who kept her loyal wives and helpless children safe,
all who will soon be carried off in the hollow ships
and I with them –
And you, my child, will follow me
to labor, somewhere, at harsh, degrading work,
slaving under some heartless master’s eye – that,
or some Achaean marauder will seize you by the arm
and hurl you headlong down from the ramparts – horrible death –
enraged at you because Hector once cut down his brother,
his father or his son, yes, hundreds of armed Achaeans
gnawed the dust of the world, crushed by Hector’s hands!
Your father, remember, was no man of mercy…
not in the horror of battle.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 852-869. These are the words of the grieving Andromache to her fallen husband Hector near the end of Homer’s epic poem. She laments that their baby boy, without the protection of his father, will end up in slavery or hurled from the ramparts by some Achaean marauder. This is foreshadowing of the terrible death of her son Astyanax, which will happen soon after the fall of Troy. According to Greek mythology he is thrown to his death. The fall of Troy is also foreshadowed, with Andromache prophesying that the city will soon be sacked and plundered.

the whole city of Troy mourns you now, my Hector –
you’ve brought your parents accursed tears and grief
but to me most of all you’ve left the horror, the heartbreak!
For you never died in bed and stretched your arms to me
or said some last word from the heart I can remember,
always, weeping for you through all my nights and days!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 24, lines 872-877. Although Andromache is angry that her husband Hector died in battle, this passage shows us the great love that she had for him. She laments that he did not did in bed stretching out his arms to her and saying memorable last words.
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