WEBVTT 00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:08.350 Episode 9 – The Anger of Achilles 00:00:08.350 --> 00:00:27.290 [Opening music] 00:00:27.290 --> 00:00:32.530 When the dead body of Patroclus was brought from the battlefield, 00:00:32.530 --> 00:00:35.880 Achilles, murmuring to himself, 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:38.800 pushed back the hair from the brow. 00:00:38.800 --> 00:00:43.370 He took a sponge and washed off all the blood and grime, 00:00:43.370 --> 00:00:51.790 and then he laid the body on a fur and all night he sat beside it, weeping. 00:00:51.790 --> 00:00:57.260 Next morning his mother came with glorious armour. 00:00:57.260 --> 00:01:01.430 She laid it before him, piece by piece. 00:01:01.430 --> 00:01:05.950 It was so bright his servants could not look at it. 00:01:05.950 --> 00:01:08.030 Achilles stood. 00:01:08.030 --> 00:01:11.850 He strapped on the greaves of pliant tin. 00:01:11.850 --> 00:01:13.940 He put on the breastplate. 00:01:13.940 --> 00:01:18.820 He put on the golden helmet with golden tassels and a golden plume. 00:01:18.820 --> 00:01:22.090 Each piece was shaped to perfection, 00:01:22.090 --> 00:01:24.620 cool against his skin. 00:01:24.620 --> 00:01:27.400 He felt lighter with them on, 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:30.740 as though he wore invisible wings. 00:01:30.740 --> 00:01:34.860 He picked up that wonderful shield that lit up the sky like the moon. 00:01:34.860 --> 00:01:36.140 He took a sword. 00:01:36.140 --> 00:01:40.060 He stepped into the car of his chariot and there, in front of him, 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:42.600 the four immortal horses – 00:01:42.600 --> 00:01:47.530 Lightfoot, Beauty, Dapple and Dancer. 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:49.210 And he said, 00:01:49.210 --> 00:01:54.730 “This time bring your master home!” 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:58.040 “Yes,” said Beauty. 00:01:58.040 --> 00:02:00.590 “We’ll save your life today. 00:02:00.590 --> 00:02:07.090 But not for any want of speed or care did Hector strip Patroclus’ back. 00:02:07.090 --> 00:02:08.810 It was a god. 00:02:08.810 --> 00:02:14.490 It was a god who killed him and the mighty gods will kill you too.” 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:17.000 “What would you have me do?” 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:18.560 Achilles said. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.870 “Cower in my hut while Hector struts in my father’s armour? 00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:24.560 If I am meant to die here, 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:26.880 far from my father and far from my mother, 00:02:26.880 --> 00:02:28.180 then so be it. 00:02:28.180 --> 00:02:29.660 But, before I die, 00:02:29.660 --> 00:02:34.260 I’ll see the Trojans have their glut of bloody war!” 00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:35.660 And he was out of the camp then, 00:02:35.660 --> 00:02:37.750 among his enemies then, 00:02:37.750 --> 00:02:41.300 like inhuman fire raging in the mountains, 00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:42.830 like a mountain lion, 00:02:42.830 --> 00:02:44.270 like the god of battle, 00:02:44.270 --> 00:02:47.930 until the ground was sticky with black blood. 00:02:47.930 --> 00:02:50.490 Eyes blazing, teeth bared, 00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:53.050 heart pounding, scorning fear, 00:02:53.050 --> 00:02:54.330 the headlong runner, 00:02:54.330 --> 00:02:57.490 too bright to look at, ablaze with fury, 00:02:57.490 --> 00:03:01.860 cutting a path through flesh towards the city. 00:03:01.860 --> 00:03:07.380 And all the Trojan warriors had fled through the city gates. 00:03:07.380 --> 00:03:12.180 The great bronze Scaean gates had been closed behind them. 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:16.340 All the Trojan warriors had returned to the city, 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:18.280 except for one. 00:03:18.280 --> 00:03:21.230 Hector stood outside, 00:03:21.230 --> 00:03:23.500 dressed in Achilles’ armour, 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:27.290 the golden breastplate emblazoned with silver stars. 00:03:27.290 --> 00:03:29.480 He was looking this way and that way, 00:03:29.480 --> 00:03:31.490 watching and waiting. 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:34.600 And high overhead, his father, 00:03:34.600 --> 00:03:38.500 old Priam, the white-bearded father of Troy, 00:03:38.500 --> 00:03:41.750 leaned over the parapet of the city walls. 00:03:41.750 --> 00:03:42.940 He said, “Hector, 00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:45.810 my son, come inside! 00:03:45.810 --> 00:03:51.220 Or have the mighty gods condemned me to loiter on the outermost rim of old age, 00:03:51.220 --> 00:03:54.870 suffering intolerable grief?” 00:03:54.870 --> 00:03:57.100 And Hector’s mother, Hecuba, 00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:58.800 beckoned to him. 00:03:58.800 --> 00:04:00.420 And his wife, Andromache, 00:04:00.420 --> 00:04:02.870 with little Astyanax in her arms, 00:04:02.870 --> 00:04:04.410 beckoned to him. 00:04:04.410 --> 00:04:10.580 But Hector turned his back on them all and he stood resolutely outside, 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:14.050 compassing in all directions with his eyes. 00:04:14.050 --> 00:04:17.000 And then he saw what he was looking for. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:20.460 Among the bronze helmets, with their horsehair plumes, 00:04:20.460 --> 00:04:25.640 he saw the golden helmet with golden plume and golden tassels. 00:04:25.640 --> 00:04:27.160 Achilles! 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:30.530 And in that moment Achilles saw Hector. 00:04:30.530 --> 00:04:32.530 He leapt from his chariot. 00:04:32.530 --> 00:04:34.780 He ran across the battlefield, 00:04:34.780 --> 00:04:37.240 leaping over shattered chariots, 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.820 over disembowelled horses. 00:04:39.820 --> 00:04:41.360 And, as he drew closer, 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:45.780 Hector could see that his armour was dripping with blood and gore. 00:04:45.780 --> 00:04:47.820 And, as he drew closer still, 00:04:47.820 --> 00:04:57.880 Hector could see that his mouth was open and from his throat came a terrible screaming, screeching, keening cry of grief and fury. 00:04:57.880 --> 00:05:01.480 And Hector looked down at the earth between his feet. 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:07.170 He looked up at his father and his mother and his son and his wife. 00:05:07.170 --> 00:05:08.560 And, in that moment, 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:14.420 he knew that he wanted life more than any glorious death on the battlefield, 00:05:14.420 --> 00:05:16.720 and he turned and he ran. 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:19.650 He knew every hill and hollow of the land. 00:05:19.650 --> 00:05:21.380 He knew every contour. 00:05:21.380 --> 00:05:23.930 He turned and he ran like a deer. 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:25.530 But Achilles was after him, 00:05:25.530 --> 00:05:27.130 tracking him like a dog, 00:05:27.130 --> 00:05:29.690 following every twist and turn. 00:05:29.690 --> 00:05:33.430 Three times Hector ran round the city walls of Troy, 00:05:33.430 --> 00:05:36.730 with Achilles close behind him. 00:05:36.730 --> 00:05:40.340 And up on the rocky crag, on Mount Ida, 00:05:40.340 --> 00:05:49.280 Zeus lifted the golden scales and into one pan of the scales he put the luck of Hector. 00:05:49.280 --> 00:05:54.930 And into the other pan of the scales he put the luck of Achilles. 00:05:54.930 --> 00:06:02.890 And then he watched as the luck of Hector sank down and down and down towards Hades’ halls 00:06:02.890 --> 00:06:07.440 and the luck of Achilles soared up into the skies. 00:06:07.440 --> 00:06:14.340 And in that moment all the gods and the goddesses deserted Hector. 00:06:14.340 --> 00:06:18.760 And in that moment Athene, owl-eyed Athene, invisible, 00:06:18.760 --> 00:06:25.680 swooped down out of the sky and stood outside the city walls in the shape of Deiphobus, 00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:28.000 Hector’s brother, Deiphobus. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.180 And, as Hector was running round the city walls, 00:06:30.180 --> 00:06:32.210 Deiphobus said, “Hector! Hector!” 00:06:32.210 --> 00:06:33.980 And Hector turned and said, 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:35.380 “Deiphobus, my brother, 00:06:35.380 --> 00:06:39.430 you alone have ventured through the city gates and I love you for it.” 00:06:39.430 --> 00:06:40.890 And Deiphobus said, “Hector, 00:06:40.890 --> 00:06:42.850 why don’t we make a stand against Achilles, 00:06:42.850 --> 00:06:44.370 you and I together?” 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:48.340 And Hector nodded and he turned and he faced Achilles. 00:06:48.340 --> 00:06:52.490 And Achilles curled his lips back from his teeth and he screamed 00:06:52.490 --> 00:06:54.350 and, with all the strength of his arm, 00:06:54.350 --> 00:06:56.280 he hurled a spear at Hector. 00:06:56.280 --> 00:07:01.360 But Hector dodged to one side and the spear lodged quivering in the ground behind him. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:03.920 And Hector lifted his own spear. 00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:09.200 And in that moment he didn’t see his brother Deiphobus vanish. 00:07:09.200 --> 00:07:12.200 He didn’t see Athene, invisible, 00:07:12.200 --> 00:07:17.170 pulling his spear out of the ground and carrying it through the air. 00:07:17.170 --> 00:07:21.080 Hector threw his spear at Achilles and it struck Achilles’ shield. 00:07:21.080 --> 00:07:22.410 It glanced to one side. 00:07:22.570 --> 00:07:23.230 And Hector turned. 00:07:23.230 --> 00:07:24.700 He said, “Deiphobus, my brother, 00:07:24.700 --> 00:07:26.650 give me Achilles’ spear!” 00:07:26.650 --> 00:07:28.780 But Deiphobus was gone. 00:07:28.810 --> 00:07:36.160 And he saw in that moment that Achilles was holding his own spear once again, 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:41.350 and he knew that the mighty gods and goddesses had deserted him. 00:07:41.350 --> 00:07:43.160 He drew his sword. 00:07:43.160 --> 00:07:45.040 He raised it above his shoulder. 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.280 He ran towards Achilles. 00:07:47.280 --> 00:07:50.820 He could see his own reflection in Achilles’ breastplate. 00:07:50.820 --> 00:07:55.680 Behind himself he could see the reflection of the city walls of Troy. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:58.100 But already that spear, 00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:01.520 that spear that could cut through the wind itself, 00:08:01.520 --> 00:08:04.710 was singing through the air. 00:08:04.710 --> 00:08:07.730 It struck Hector in the throat. 00:08:07.730 --> 00:08:11.050 It jutted through the nape of his neck. 00:08:11.050 --> 00:08:13.340 He dropped to his knees. 00:08:13.340 --> 00:08:17.100 The red blood was frothing and bubbling in his mouth. 00:08:17.100 --> 00:08:19.880 He looked up and Achilles was standing over him. 00:08:19.880 --> 00:08:21.380 He said, “Please, I beg you, 00:08:21.380 --> 00:08:25.690 do not let the Greek dogs tear my flesh by your hollow ships. 00:08:25.690 --> 00:08:28.660 Return my body to my own people.” 00:08:28.660 --> 00:08:31.090 But Achilles spat in his face. 00:08:31.090 --> 00:08:32.720 “You killed Patroclus. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.530 I won’t drive the dogs from your flesh, 00:08:35.530 --> 00:08:37.820 not for any ransom!” 00:08:37.820 --> 00:08:44.450 And he put his foot onto Hector’s face and he tore out the dripping, barbed spear. 00:08:44.450 --> 00:08:52.170 And Hector stretched his hands out to the earth and darkness descended on his eyes. 00:08:52.170 --> 00:08:55.920 And Achilles dragged the body of Hector to his chariot. 00:08:55.920 --> 00:08:57.540 He tore off his armour. 00:08:57.540 --> 00:09:00.120 He threw it into the car of the chariot. 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.390 And then, from his belt, he took a knife. 00:09:02.390 --> 00:09:07.630 He lifted one of Hector’s feet and he pierced a hole through the heel, 00:09:07.630 --> 00:09:10.100 between the tendon and the bone, 00:09:10.100 --> 00:09:12.660 and the same with the other foot. 00:09:12.660 --> 00:09:19.520 And then he got a length of ox hide thong and he threaded it through the holes and he tied it. 00:09:19.520 --> 00:09:23.460 And he tied the other end of the thong to the back of his chariot. 00:09:23.460 --> 00:09:25.740 He leapt into the car of the chariot. 00:09:25.740 --> 00:09:31.880 He whipped the horses to a gallop and he drove them round and round the city walls of Troy – 00:09:31.880 --> 00:09:35.820 three times round, screaming and screaming. 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:37.750 And behind the chariot, 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:41.090 the body of Hector bouncing, 00:09:41.090 --> 00:09:46.530 the face of Hector, tearing a furrow into the nourishing earth. 00:09:46.530 --> 00:09:49.890 And then Achilles drove his chariot across the plain, 00:09:49.890 --> 00:09:51.990 through the gates of the palisade, 00:09:51.990 --> 00:09:54.090 and he was gone. 00:09:54.090 --> 00:09:56.220 And the people of Troy, 00:09:56.220 --> 00:09:58.080 standing on the walls, 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:00.130 on the turrets and the towers, 00:10:00.130 --> 00:10:02.250 they stood and they stared, 00:10:02.250 --> 00:10:05.510 appalled, mesmerised. 00:10:05.510 --> 00:10:20.090 And it was only when Achilles was out of sight that their tears came and they gave themselves over to dark despair. 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:23.950 When Achilles and his men returned to the Greek camp, 00:10:23.950 --> 00:10:25.500 they set to work. 00:10:25.500 --> 00:10:27.440 No time for rest! 00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:31.230 Bone weary from battle, still in armour, 00:10:31.230 --> 00:10:32.990 they cut down trees. 00:10:32.990 --> 00:10:34.700 They built a pyre, 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:38.610 a hundred feet in width and length. 00:10:38.610 --> 00:10:42.470 On top of the heap they put Patroclus. 00:10:42.470 --> 00:10:47.870 They killed dogs, horses, mules, goats. 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:50.410 They surrounded the corpse with the dead. 00:10:50.410 --> 00:10:54.750 They poured on oil and wine and honey, 00:10:54.750 --> 00:10:56.520 and then they set it aflame 00:10:56.520 --> 00:10:58.900 and, as the flames rose up, 00:10:58.900 --> 00:11:00.950 Achilles said, 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:02.520 “Brothers, 00:11:02.520 --> 00:11:05.620 Patroclus goes across the river. 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:07.370 Soon I will join him, 00:11:07.370 --> 00:11:09.470 the gods decree. 00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:12.830 Swear to me that, when I die, 00:11:12.830 --> 00:11:14.630 you’ll burn me too. 00:11:14.630 --> 00:11:22.170 You’ll mingle my ashes with those of Patroclus so we will be together for all time.” 00:11:22.170 --> 00:11:27.740 And his tears spattered onto his bloodstained armour. 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:32.780 Then he and his men rode their chariots around the flaming pyre. 00:11:32.780 --> 00:11:35.640 Then he and his men had a great feast. 00:11:35.640 --> 00:11:41.490 They ate and drank and sang in honour of their friend. 00:11:41.490 --> 00:11:44.570 And all through this celebration, 00:11:44.570 --> 00:11:48.250 this mourning of the passing of their friend, 00:11:48.250 --> 00:11:53.070 Achilles would turn and run into the shadows and kick the battered corpse of Hector, 00:11:53.070 --> 00:11:54.810 stamp upon his limbs, 00:11:54.810 --> 00:11:59.840 spit into his face as the dogs gnawed at his flesh. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.520 The corpses of two young men, 00:12:03.520 --> 00:12:06.490 Hector and Patroclus, 00:12:06.490 --> 00:12:10.230 both killed in battle: 00:12:10.230 --> 00:12:19.800 they were so alike in death that one could have been mistaken for the other. 00:12:19.800 --> 00:13:13.940 [Closing music]