Iliad by Homer - Join iZDOT

Homer’s Iliad
an abundant funeral banquet. Many a goodly ox, with many a
sheep and bleating goat did they butcher and cut up; many a
tusked boar moreover, fat and well-fed, did they singe and set to
roast in the flames of Vulcan; and rivulets of blood flowed all
round the place where the body was lying.
Then the princes of the Achaeans took the son of Peleus to
Agamemnon, but hardly could they persuade him to come with
them, so wroth was he for the death of his comrade. As soon as they
reached Agamemnon’s tent they told the serving-men to set a large
tripod over the fire in case they might persuade the son of Peleus
‘to wash the clotted gore from this body, but he denied them
sternly, and swore it with a solemn oath, saying, “Nay, by King
Jove, first and mightiest of all gods, it is not meet that water should
touch my body, till I have laid Patroclus on the flames, have built
him a barrow, and shaved my head- for so long as I live no such
second sorrow shall ever draw nigh me. Now, therefore, let us do
all that this sad festival demands, but at break of day, King
Agamemnon, bid your men bring wood, and provide all else that
the dead may duly take into the realm of darkness; the fire shall
thus burn him out of our sight the sooner, and the people shall turn
again to their own labours.”
Thus did he speak, and they did even as he had said. They made
haste to prepare the meal, they ate, and every man had his full
share so that all were satisfied. As soon as they had had had
enough to eat and drink, the others went to their rest each in his
own tent, but the son of Peleus lay grieving among his Myrmidons
by the shore of the sounding sea, in an open place where the waves
came surging in one after another. Here a very deep slumber took
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