84 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



In Homer, we find, //. 11:161 f.: "But they on the earth were lying, 

 far more dear to the vultures than to their wives." 



— Yet thy fierce boast is vain. 

 Thou didst not slay me, proud and boastful man ! 

 No ! Rustum slays me and this filial heart. 

 For were I match'd with ten such men as thee, 

 And I were that which till today I was, 

 They should be lying here, I standing there, 

 But that beloved name unnerved my arm — 



.... and thy spear transfix'd an unarm'd foe. 



Here is plainly a free adaptation of Patroklos' dying words, //. 16 : 844 ff. : 

 " Boast greatly, as now Hector, for to thee have Zeus, son of Kronos, and 

 Apollo given the victory, who lightly have subdued me; for themselves 

 stripped my harness from my shoulders. But if twenty such as thou had 

 encountered me, here had they all perished, subdued beneath my spear. 

 But me have ruinous Fate and the son of Leto slain, and of men Euphor- 

 bos, but thou art third in my slaying." 

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And with failing voice, Sohrab replied. 



Compare II. 16:843: "Then faintly didst thou answer him, Patroklos." 

 Compare //. 15:246; 22:337. 

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Yet him I pity not so much, but her, 



My mother who in Ader-baijan dwells 



With that old king, her father, who grows grey 



With age, and rules over the valiant Koords. 



Her most I pity, who no more will see 



Sohrab returning from the Tartar camp, 



With spoils and honour, when the war is done. 



Compare Hector's words, II. 6 : 450 ff . : " Yet doth the anguish of the 

 Trojans hereafter not so much trouble me, neither Hekabe's own, neither 

 King Priam's, neither my brethren's, .... as doth thine anguish in 

 the day when some mail-clad Achaean shall lead thee weeping and rob 

 thee of the light of freedom," and Hector's prayer, //. 6:479 ff.: "And 

 then may men say of him, 'Far greater is he than his father' as he return- 



