There is a simply delightful scene in Book VI in which Hector's son is scared by his helmet:
He stretched his arms towards his child, but the boy cried and nestled in his nurse’s bosom, scared at the sight of his father’s armour, and at the horse-hair plume that nodded fiercely from his helmet. His father and mother laughed to see him, but Hector took the helmet from his head and laid it all gleaming upon the ground. Then he took his darling child, kissed him, and dandled him in his arms, praying over him the while to Jove and to all the gods.
It is a remarkably relatable scene. The humanness of characters from over 2500 years ago speaks to the qualities that never die--and why the classics from The Tale of Genji to Aesop's Fables deserve a read.
