I
When Achilles reached the camp, he commanded his men to remain under
arms, and led the whole company, with horses and with chariots, in
solemn procession, three times round the couch on which the dead
Patroclus lay. When the strange rite was ended, the couch, which had
been brought out for this purpose, was carried back with its burden to
the tent, and they unyoked their horses, and prepared to take their
supper. Hector's body was flung into a corner, where it lay exposed to
the burning sun, and the cold dews of night. Achilles feasted his men
bountifully, and then went, attended by a special guard of honour, to
partake of a banquet in the royal tent. Being invited to refresh
himself with a bath, he stubbornly refused, and swore a great oath that
he would never wash the stains of battle from his person until
Patroclus had been buried with all the pomp of woe. At the banquet he
seemed ill at ease, and as soon as it was ended he prayed his kingly
host to have him excused, and went back to the quarters of the
Myrmidons.
Night came down, and silence fell on the sleeping camp. Achilles had
not sought his bed, but had laid himself down on the sand, in a clear
space, where the billows broke at his feet. There sleep soon overtook
him, stilling the dull ache of sorrow; for his limbs were very weary,
after that tremendous fight, and still more tremendous race. And as he
slept the ghost of Patroclus came and stood by his side, like to the
living man in stature and in face and in voice, and in the very
garments he had on; and thus spake the spectre, in hollow and mournful
tones: "Ah! fickle heart, oblivious of the dead, canst thou sleep,
Achilles? Has death broken the bond which united us in life? Bury me
with all speed, and let me wander no more, a homeless ghost, at the
gates of Hades, disowned and rejected by the other spirits who have
crossed the dark river. Give me thy hand, sweet friend, I entreat
thee! For never again shall I return to earth, when ye have given my
body to the flames--never more shall we sit retired from our comrades,
as once in life, and take sweet counsel together. My fate hath seized
me, and cast me down into the pit which was prepared for me when I was
born; and for thee too the bolt is prepared, which shall lay thee low
beneath the walls of Troy. And one more charge have I to lay upon
thee: let not our bones lie apart, Achilles, but let us be joined in
death, even as we were united in life. One home, one love, we shared,
and thy father was to me as mine own, from the day when I slew my
playmate in a childish brawl, and was brought by Menœtius to the
house of Peleus. Therefore, when thy fate hath reached thee, let our
ashes be mingled in one urn."
"Wherefore, beloved," answered Achilles in his sleep, "hast thou come
hither to remind me of my duty, and seemest to doubt my love? Come
nearer, that I may embrace thee! Yet a little while let my heart beat
against thine, and ease its heavy burden of sorrow."
With these words he stretched out his eager arms to clasp Patroclus to
his breast; but the ghost eluded his grasp, and with one piercing wail
melted away like smoke into the darkness. "Alas!" cried Achilles,
springing up in amaze, and summoning his comrades, "I perceive that,
even in the house of Hades, there is a spirit and a phantom of the
dead--but understanding none at all--for all night long the ghost of
the hapless Patroclus stood by my side moaning and lamenting, and
straitly charging me concerning all that I must do. And the phantom
was in aspect as the living man himself."