From the last folio of Venetus A, a tenth century manuscript of the Iliad, where the scribe had written down three elegiac couplets by the emperor Hadrian. A translation:
Hector, martial blood, if somewhere under the earth you hear
stand and breathe again a moment on behalf of your homeland.
Ilium is inhabited, a famous city with men
weaker than you but still beloved of Ares
while the Myrmidons have perished. Stand beside Achilles and tell him
all of Thessaly is under the rule of the descendents of Aeneas.
(Source: errour)
