The Iliad by Homer
Translated by Samuel Butler http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
Book XXII lines 115-148

Towards the end of the war, the Trojan army, or whoever is left of it, retreats back into the city and Hector is left outside alone to fight Achilles. Everyone knows that Hector doesn't stand a chance. Priam, the king of Troy and father of Hector, begs him to come inside and give up. Being a noble soldier, he refuses to be defeated that easily. In this passage, he is standing outside the city walls and is contemplating the options of what to do with himself. Should he give up? He could give back everything the Trojans took from the Greeks and the whole reason the war was started in the first place. Should he bargain with Achilles, or fight him? Hector has so much to live for; his wife, his child, and his entire city. Achilles is only a great warrior that just lost his best friend, Patroclus, and now wants revenge on Hector. However, honor is a key theme here. This selection is interesting because it is almost to the end of the war, and the two main characters of each side are faced to fight each other. It all comes down to this moment, and ultimately who wins the Trojan War.

"Alas," said he to himself in the heaviness of his heart, "if I go within the gates, Polydamas will be the first to heap reproach upon me, for it was he that urged me to lead the Trojans back to the city on that awful night when Achilles again came forth against us. I would not listen, but it would have been indeed better if I had done so. Now that my folly has destroyed the host, I dare not look Trojan men and Trojan women in the face, lest a worse man should say, 'Hector has ruined us by his self-confidence.' Surely it would be better for me to return after having fought Achilles and slain him, or to die gloriously here before the city. What, again, if were to lay down my shield and helmet, lean my spear against the wall and go straight up to noble Achilles? What if I were to promise to give up Helen, who was the fountainhead of all this war, and all the treasure that Alexandrus brought with him in his ships to Troy, aye, and to let the Achaeans divide the half of everything that the city contains among themselves? I might make the Trojans, by the mouths of their princes, take a solemn oath that they would hide nothing, but would divide into two shares all that is within the city- but why argue with myself in this way? Were I to go up to him he would show me no kind of mercy; he would kill me then and there as easily as though I were a woman, when I had off my armour. There is no parleying with him from some rock or oak tree as young men and maidens prattle with one another. Better fight him at once, and learn to which of us Jove will vouchsafe victory."