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.