Page 461 - the-iliad

Iris would not sit down. ‘I cannot stay,’ she said, ‘I must go
back to the streams of Oceanus and the land of the Ethio-
pians who are offering hecatombs to the immortals, and I
would have my share; but Achilles prays that Boreas and
shrill Zephyrus will come to him, and he vows them goodly
offerings; he would have you blow upon the pyre of Patro-
clus for whom all the Achaeans are lamenting.’
With this she left them, and the two winds rose with
a cry that rent the air and swept the clouds before them.
They blew on and on until they came to the sea, and the
waves rose high beneath them, but when they reached Troy
they fell upon the pyre till the mighty flames roared un-
der the blast that they blew. All night long did they blow
hard and beat upon the fire, and all night long did Achil-
les grasp his double cup, drawing wine from a mixing-bowl
of gold, and calling upon the spirit of dead Patroclus as he
poured it upon the ground until the earth was drenched. As
a father mourns when he is burning the bones of his bride-
groom son whose death has wrung the hearts of his parents,
even so did Achilles mourn while burning the body of his
comrade, pacing round the bier with piteous groaning and
lamentation.
At length as the Morning Star was beginning to herald
the light which saffron-mantled Dawn was soon to suffuse
over the sea, the flames fell and the fire began to die. The
winds then went home beyond the Thracian sea, which
roared and boiled as they swept over it. The son of Peleus
now turned away from the pyre and lay down, overcome
with toil, till he fell into a sweet slumber. Presently they

0 The Iliad