In Book Six of Homer's Iliad, when Hector, clad in shining armor and holding a spear, was about to head for the battlefield and bid farewell to his son, the child feared his formidable father and hid in his nurse's arms. Hector and his wife smiled. Hector took off the bronze helmet topped with horsehair and set it on the ground. The child recognized his father at once, let go of the nurse, and threw himself into his father's arms. Hector kissed his beloved son, lifted him up in his arms, then prayed to Zeus and the other gods: "Zeus, gods, let my child, like me, win great renown among all the Trojans, be mighty in strength, and become the powerful ruler of Ilium. When he returns from battle one day, let someone say, 'He is far greater than his father.'"
As he spoke, he handed the child to his wife. She took him, held him to her fragrant breast, and smiled miserably through her tears.
Seeing this, Hector felt pity. He stroked her, called her by name, and said, "Poor Andromache, why are you so sorrowful and grief-stricken? Unless it is decreed by fate, no one can send me down to the underworld of Hades. As for fate, I do not think anyone can escape it, whether brave man or coward—it holds us fast from the moment of our birth! Go back and tend to your own work, your loom and distaff, and urge the maidservants in the house to be diligent. As for war, that is men's business, for every man born in Ilium, and foremost of all, mine—mine, Hector's."
With that, Hector picked up his horsehair-crested helmet and walked out, while his beloved wife returned home.
And so Little William's new clothes were decided upon. If Bonaparte