HOMER, TRANSLATED BY SAMUEL BUTLER
In this passage from Homer’s epic poem the Iliad, the warrior Hector bestows a blessing on his child before he leaves for battle. Hector prays that his son will grow up to surpass him in glory and honor on the battlefield. His words about blood are not something most parents would say to their sons today, but they are emblematic of a father’s selfless wish to raise up a son who is better than he.
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He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and nestled in his nurse’s bosom, scared at the sight of his father’s armour, and at the horse-hair plume that nodded fiercely from his helmet. His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took the helmet from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the ground. Then he took his darling child, kissed him, and dandled him in his arms, praying over him the while to Jove and to all the gods. “Jove,” he cried, “grant that this my child may be even as myself, chief among the Trojans; let him be not less excellent in strength, and let him rule Ilius with his might. Then may one say of him as he comes from battle, ‘The son is far better than the father.’ May he bring back the blood-stained spoils of him whom he has laid low, and let his mother’s heart be glad.”