Chapter Text
alius Latio iam partus Achilles, / now there is another Achilles born in Latium,
natus et ipse dea. / and he is son to a goddess.
There is an Achilles in Troy,
forever raging like a lion,
like a wolf,
mad with a grief that can’t be sated.
He fills a river with bodies
and drags Hektor behind his chariot,
round and round,
a blood-price for what he has lost.
There is a boy in Troy,
marching through the city
as it burns. He tears Priam
from the temple altar
and snarls like a beast
as the old man’s blood
coats the floor.
He inherits his father’s title.
There is a another Achilles
in Troy.
There is an Achilles in Latium
eyes flashing with fury as promises are ripped from him,
his future taken away, dashed against the rocks.
He snarls and hisses and raises an army
to claim the crown he deserves.
It is only at the end, facing the tip of a sword,
that he realizes:
he is not the only Achilles.
There is a new man in Latium, goddess born,
forced there, worn down by
years of travel,
years of pain.
He prowls across the battlefield,
craving blood and retribution,
forgetting the past
where he watched lions
send his home up in flames.
He stands before the Latin Achilles,
sword raised.
He doesn’t hear the pleas,
the cries and entreaties for mercy.
He is blinded with rage,
snarling and biting.
He plunges the sword down.
There is another Achilles in Latium.