§23.142τήν ῥα Σπερχειῷ ποταμῷ τρέφε τηλεθόωσαν· §23.143ὀχθήσας δʼ ἄρα εἶπεν ἰδὼν ἐπὶ οἴνοπα πόντον· §23.144Σπερχείʼ ἄλλως σοί γε πατὴρ ἠρήσατο Πηλεὺς §23.145κεῖσέ με νοστήσαντα φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν §23.146σοί τε κόμην κερέειν ῥέξειν θʼ ἱερὴν ἑκατόμβην, §23.147πεντήκοντα δʼ ἔνορχα παρʼ αὐτόθι μῆλʼ ἱερεύσειν §23.148ἐς πηγάς, ὅθι τοι τέμενος βωμός τε θυήεις.
which he had been growing richly for the river Spercheius; and deeply moved, he spoke, looking out over the wine-dark sea: "Spercheius, in vain did my father Peleus make a vow to you, that when I returned thither to my dear native land I should shear my hair for you, and offer a holy hecatomb, and sacrifice fifty uncastrated sheep there at the springs, where you have your sacred precinct and fragrant altar.
§23.149ὣς ἠρᾶθʼ ὃ γέρων, σὺ δέ οἱ νόον οὐκ ἐτέλεσσας.
So the old man vowed, but you did not fulfill his purpose.
§23.150νῦν δʼ ἐπεὶ οὐ νέομαί γε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν §23.151Πατρόκλῳ ἥρωϊ κόμην ὀπάσαιμι φέρεσθαι. §23.152ὣς εἰπὼν ἐν χερσὶ κόμην ἑτάροιο φίλοιο §23.153θῆκεν, τοῖσι δὲ πᾶσιν ὑφʼ ἵμερον ὦρσε γόοιο.
And now, since I am not returning to my dear native land, I would give my hair to the hero Patroclus to carry with him." So saying, he placed the hair in the hands of his dear companion, and in them all he aroused the desire for lamentation.
§23.154καί νύ κʼ ὀδυρομένοισιν ἔδυ φάος ἠελίοιο §23.155εἰ μὴ Ἀχιλλεὺς αἶψʼ Ἀγαμέμνονι εἶπε παραστάς· §23.156Ἀτρεΐδη, σοὶ γάρ τε μάλιστά γε λαὸς Ἀχαιῶν §23.157πείσονται μύθοισι, γόοιο μὲν ἔστι καὶ ἆσαι, §23.158νῦν δʼ ἀπὸ πυρκαϊῆς σκέδασον καὶ δεῖπνον ἄνωχθι §23.159ὅπλεσθαι· τάδε δʼ ἀμφὶ πονησόμεθʼ οἷσι μάλιστα §23.160κήδεός ἐστι νέκυς· παρὰ δʼ οἵ τʼ ἀγοὶ ἄμμι μενόντων. §23.161αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ τό γʼ ἄκουσεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων, §23.162αὐτίκα λαὸν μὲν σκέδασεν κατὰ νῆας ἐΐσας, §23.163κηδεμόνες δὲ παρʼ αὖθι μένον καὶ νήεον ὕλην, §23.164ποίησαν δὲ πυρὴν ἑκατόμπεδον ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα, §23.165ἐν δὲ πυρῇ ὑπάτῃ νεκρὸν θέσαν ἀχνύμενοι κῆρ.
And now the light of the sun would have set upon them weeping, had not Achilles quickly stood by Agamemnon and said: "Son of Atreus, for to your words above all the host of the Achaeans will give heed, of lamentation indeed there is a time to have our fill, but now dismiss the people from the pyre, and bid them prepare their meal; but for these things we will busy ourselves, to whom above all the dead is a care; and let the leaders remain with us." But when the king of men, Agamemnon, heard this, he straightway dismissed the people to the well-balanced ships, but the mourners remained there and heaped up the wood, and made a pyre of a hundred feet this way and that, and on the topmost pyre they laid the dead, grieving in their hearts.
§23.166πολλὰ δὲ ἴφια μῆλα καὶ εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς §23.167πρόσθε πυρῆς ἔδερόν τε καὶ ἄμφεπον· ἐκ δʼ ἄρα πάντων §23.168δημὸν ἑλὼν ἐκάλυψε νέκυν μεγάθυμος Ἀχιλλεὺς §23.169ἐς πόδας ἐκ κεφαλῆς, περὶ δὲ δρατὰ σώματα νήει.
And many fat sheep and sleek, shambling oxen they flayed and dressed before the pyre; and from them all great-hearted Achilles took the fat and wrapped the corpse from head to foot, and heaped the flayed bodies around it.
§23.170ἐν δʼ ἐτίθει μέλιτος καὶ ἀλείφατος ἀμφιφορῆας §23.171πρὸς λέχεα κλίνων· πίσυρας δʼ ἐριαύχενας ἵππους §23.172ἐσσυμένως ἐνέβαλλε πυρῇ μεγάλα στεναχίζων.
And therein he set jars of honey and oil, leaning them against the bier; and four strong-necked horses he cast swiftly upon the pyre, groaning aloud.
§23.173ἐννέα τῷ γε ἄνακτι τραπεζῆες κύνες ἦσαν, §23.174καὶ μὲν τῶν ἐνέβαλλε πυρῇ δύο δειροτομήσας, §23.175δώδεκα δὲ Τρώων μεγαθύμων υἱέας ἐσθλοὺς §23.176χαλκῷ δηϊόων· κακὰ δὲ φρεσὶ μήδετο ἔργα· §23.177ἐν δὲ πυρὸς μένος ἧκε σιδήρεον ὄφρα νέμοιτο.
Nine dogs had the prince that fed at his table, and of them he cut the throats of two and cast them upon the pyre, and twelve noble sons of the great-hearted Trojans he slew with the bronze; and evil deeds he devised in his heart; and he let loose the iron strength of fire that it might feed.
§23.178ᾤμωξέν τʼ ἄρʼ ἔπειτα, φίλον δʼ ὀνόμηνεν ἑταῖρον· §23.179χαῖρέ μοι ὦ Πάτροκλε καὶ εἰν Ἀΐδαο δόμοισι· §23.180πάντα γὰρ ἤδη τοι τελέω τὰ πάροιθεν ὑπέστην, §23.181δώδεκα μὲν Τρώων μεγαθύμων υἱέας ἐσθλοὺς §23.182τοὺς ἅμα σοὶ πάντας πῦρ ἐσθίει· Ἕκτορα δʼ οὔ τι §23.183δώσω Πριαμίδην πυρὶ δαπτέμεν, ἀλλὰ κύνεσσιν. §23.184ὣς φάτʼ ἀπειλήσας· τὸν δʼ οὐ κύνες ἀμφεπένοντο, §23.185ἀλλὰ κύνας μὲν ἄλαλκε Διὸς θυγάτηρ Ἀφροδίτη §23.186ἤματα καὶ νύκτας, ῥοδόεντι δὲ χρῖεν ἐλαίῳ §23.187ἀμβροσίῳ, ἵνα μή μιν ἀποδρύφοι ἑλκυστάζων.
Then he wailed aloud, and called on his dear companion: "Hail, my Patroclus, even in the house of Hades; for all things now I fulfill for you which I promised before, twelve noble sons of the great-hearted Trojans all these together with you the fire devours; but Hector, son of Priam, I will not give to the fire to feed upon, but to the dogs." So he spoke threatening; but the dogs did not beset him, but Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, kept off the dogs by day and by night, and anointed him with rose-sweet oil, divine, so that Achilles might not tear his skin as he dragged him.
§23.188τῷ δʼ ἐπὶ κυάνεον νέφος ἤγαγε Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων §23.189οὐρανόθεν πεδίον δέ, κάλυψε δὲ χῶρον ἅπαντα §23.190ὅσσον ἐπεῖχε νέκυς, μὴ πρὶν μένος ἠελίοιο §23.191σκήλειʼ ἀμφὶ περὶ χρόα ἴνεσιν ἠδὲ μέλεσσιν.
And over him Phoebus Apollo brought a dark cloud from heaven to the plain, and covered all the place whereon the corpse lay, lest the power of the sun before its time should dry the skin around his sinews and limbs.
§23.192οὐδὲ πυρὴ Πατρόκλου ἐκαίετο τεθνηῶτος· §23.193ἔνθʼ αὖτʼ ἀλλʼ ἐνόησε ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεύς· §23.194στὰς ἀπάνευθε πυρῆς δοιοῖς ἠρᾶτʼ ἀνέμοισι §23.195Βορέῃ καὶ Ζεφύρῳ, καὶ ὑπίσχετο ἱερὰ καλά· §23.196πολλὰ δὲ καὶ σπένδων χρυσέῳ δέπαϊ λιτάνευεν §23.197ἐλθέμεν, ὄφρα τάχιστα πυρὶ φλεγεθοίατο νεκροί, §23.198ὕλη τε σεύαιτο καήμεναι.
Yet the pyre of dead Patroclus would not burn; then again another thing did Achilles, swift of foot, devise: standing apart from the pyre, he prayed to the two winds, Boreas and Zephyrus, and promised fair offerings; and pouring many a libation from a golden cup, he besought them to come, that the corpses might quickly burn with fire, and the wood make haste to be consumed.
ὦκα δὲ Ἶρις §23.199ἀράων ἀΐουσα μετάγγελος ἦλθʼ ἀνέμοισιν.
And swift Iris, hearing his prayers, came as a messenger to the winds.
§23.200οἳ μὲν ἄρα Ζεφύροιο δυσαέος ἀθρόοι ἔνδον §23.201εἰλαπίνην δαίνυντο· θέουσα δὲ Ἶρις ἐπέστη §23.202βηλῷ ἔπι λιθέῳ· τοὶ δʼ ὡς ἴδον ὀφθαλμοῖσι §23.203πάντες ἀνήϊξαν, κάλεόν τέ μιν εἰς ἓ ἕκαστος· §23.204ἣ δʼ αὖθʼ ἕζεσθαι μὲν ἀνήνατο, εἶπε δὲ μῦθον· §23.205οὐχ ἕδος· εἶμι γὰρ αὖτις ἐπʼ Ὠκεανοῖο ῥέεθρα §23.206Αἰθιόπων ἐς γαῖαν, ὅθι ῥέζουσʼ ἑκατόμβας §23.207ἀθανάτοις, ἵνα δὴ καὶ ἐγὼ μεταδαίσομαι ἱρῶν.
They were gathered together inside the house of the hard-blowing Zephyrus, feasting at a banquet; and Iris running stood upon the stone threshold; and when they saw her with their eyes, they all sprang up, and each one called her to himself; but she refused to sit, and spoke her word: "No seat for me; for I must go back to the streams of Oceanus, to the land of the Ethiopians, where they offer hecatombs to the immortals, so that I too may share in the offerings.
§23.208ἀλλʼ Ἀχιλεὺς Βορέην ἠδὲ Ζέφυρον κελαδεινὸν
But Achilles prays Boreas and clanging Zephyrus..."