How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Line). We used Allen Mandelbaum's translation, but these citations refer not to the lines in Mandelbaum's edition, but to the original Latin.
Quote #10
Then – suddenly – she grips him; and she calls
upon the other Trojan women – all
her fellow captives – as she digs her nails
into his lying eyes; and she rips out
his eyeballs from their sockets (it is rage
that gives her strength). And then into the place
that once contained his eyes, she drives her hands,
soaked with his guilty blood: she plucks his flesh. (13.558-564)
Here, maternal love is the cause for violent action. Hecuba, the captured Trojan princess, takes extremely violent revenge on the Thracian King Polymestor because he killed her son, Polydorus, for his gold.