BOOK XXIII.

ARGUMENT.

FUNERAL GAMES IN HONOUR OF PATROCLUS.(280)

Achilles and the Myrmidons do honours to the body of Patroclus. After the

funeral feast he retires to the sea-shore, where, falling asleep, the

ghost of his friend appears to him, and demands the rites of burial; the

next morning the soldiers are sent with mules and waggons to fetch wood

for the pyre. The funeral procession, and the offering their hair to the

dead. Achilles sacrifices several animals, and lastly twelve Trojan

captives, at the pile; then sets fire to it. He pays libations to the

Winds, which (at the instance of Iris) rise, and raise the flames. When

the pile has burned all night, they gather the bones, place them in an urn

of gold, and raise the tomb. Achilles institutes the funeral games: the

chariot-race, the fight of the caestus, the wrestling, the foot-race, the

single combat, the discus, the shooting with arrows, the darting the

javelin: the various descriptions of which, and the various success of the

several antagonists, make the greatest part of the book.

In this book ends the thirtieth day. The night following, the ghost of

Patroclus appears to Achilles: the one-and-thirtieth day is employed in

felling the timber for the pile: the two-and-thirtieth in burning it; and

the three-and-thirtieth in the games. The scene is generally on the

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The Iliad of Homer