The Funeral Games

Chapter summary

While Troy grieves, the Achaeans arrive at the ships by the Hellespont and disperse, each to his own. Achilles does not let the Myrmidons disperse: he orders them not to unyoke the horses and to mourn Patroclus from their chariots, around the body, because this is the privilege of the dead, and only then to dine. Three times the chariots circle the corpse, and Thetis awakens in them the desire to lament. Achilles, with his murderous hands on his friend's chest, leads the lament and promises Patroclus what he had promised: to drag Hector there and give him raw to the dogs, and to slaughter twelve noble sons of the Trojans beside the pyre, enraged by his death. He lays Hector face down beside Patroclus's bed, in the dust, and the others remove the armor and sit down to the funeral feast that Achilles provides, with oxen, sheep, goats, and swine.

The kings of the Achaeans lead Achilles, still enraged over his friend, to the tent of Agamemnon, and they order water heated so that he can wash off the blood. He refuses with an oath by Zeus: it is not lawful for water to touch his head before he places Patroclus on the pyre, raises the mound, and cuts his hair, for such grief will not reach his heart again while he is among the living. He asks Agamemnon to have wood brought at dawn, so that the fire takes the dead man as quickly as possible before everyone's eyes and the people return to their work. The chiefs obey, dine, and each goes to sleep in his own tent.

Achilles lies down on the beach, among the Myrmidons, groaning, and sleep takes him, exhausted from pursuing Hector to Troy. The soul of Patroclus comes, equal to him in size, in eyes, in voice, and in clothes, and stands over his head. It rebukes him for sleeping and for having forgotten him, for there was no lack of care while he lived, only now that he is dead, and asks that he bury him quickly, so that he may pass the gates of Hades: the souls of the dead keep him at a distance and do not let him cross the river, and he wanders around the house of Hades. He asks for his hand, weeping, because once the fire has consumed him he will not return from Hades; he says Achilles' own fate is to die beside the wall of the rich Trojans; and he asks that their bones not be kept apart, but in the same urn, the golden amphora that Achilles' mother gave him, for they grew up together in the house of Peleus, where Menoetius took him as a boy, because he had accidentally killed the son of Amphidamas in a game of dice. Achilles answers that he will fulfill everything and asks him to come close, so that they may embrace for a moment and satisfy themselves with weeping. He stretches out his hands and grasps nothing: the soul goes down into the earth like smoke, shrieking. Achilles rises in astonishment, claps his hands, and concludes that there is, even in the house of Hades, soul and image, but no mind at all, because the soul of Patroclus stood beside him all night, weeping and giving orders, and was wonderfully like him. All weep until dawn, beside the body.

Agamemnon sends mules and men to fetch wood under the direction of Meriones, and they climb the slopes of Mount Ida, cut oaks, and carry them to the beach, to the place Achilles had marked for a great mound for Patroclus and for himself. The Myrmidons put on their armor and mount their chariots, and the procession advances with the body in the middle, covered by the hair that the companions cut and cast over it; Achilles comes behind, supporting his head. They lay the body down and pile up the wood. Then Achilles cuts the golden hair that he had let grow for the river Spercheius: Peleus had promised that, when his son returned to his homeland, he would cut his hair and offer a hecatomb and fifty rams beside the springs, where there is a grove and an altar, but the river did not fulfill the old man's design. Since he himself will not return, he gives the hair to Patroclus and places it in the dead man's hand. All weep until sunset, and Achilles asks Agamemnon to have the people dine and to keep only those most attached to the dead man. They make a pyre a hundred feet on each side, place the body on top, flay many sheep and oxen, and Achilles covers the corpse, from head to foot, with the fat of the animals. He sets jars of honey and oil against the bier and throws onto the pyre four tall-necked horses, groaning, and two of the nine dogs of Patroclus's table, and then twelve noble sons of the Trojans, whom he kills with bronze, scheming evil deeds; and he sends the force of the fire upon them, so that it devours them. He again tells the dead man what he promised: twelve noble sons of the Trojans burn with him, but Hector he will not give to the fire, only to the dogs. The dogs, however, do not circle Hector: Aphrodite keeps them away day and night and anoints him with rose oil, so that the dragging will not flay him, and Apollo brings down from heaven a dark cloud that covers the place where the body lies, so that the sun does not dry out the skin and limbs.

The pyre does not catch, and Achilles, standing apart, prays to the winds Boreas and Zephyrus, promising fine sacrifices and pouring a libation from a golden cup, so that they come and the wood burns quickly. Iris carries the request to the winds, who feast together in the house of Zephyrus; she refuses to sit, because she is returning to Oceanus and to the land of the Ethiopians, where the immortals receive hecatombs and she wants to share in the sacrifices, and she delivers the message. The winds rise with a great roar, pushing the clouds, reach the sea and Troy, and fall upon the pyre, which roars. They spend the night blowing on the flame, and Achilles, drawing wine from a golden mixing bowl with a two-handled cup, pours it on the ground, calling the soul of Patroclus, and crawls beside the pyre, weeping like a father who burns the bones of his son, newly married, who died and left his parents in grief. When the morning star rises and dawn spreads, the pyre subsides, the flame ceases, and the winds return home over the Thracian sea, which groans as it swells. Achilles, exhausted, withdraws and sleeps, and wakes to the din of the chiefs gathering around Agamemnon. He asks that the pyre be put out with bright wine, then that the bones of Patroclus be collected, easy to recognize because they lay in the middle, while horses and men burned at the edges, and that they be kept in a golden urn with double layers of fat until he himself is hidden in Hades. He asks for a tomb that is not very large, only suitable, and that the Achaeans who survive him build it afterward broad and tall. They obey: they put out the fire, gather the bones, cover the urn with linen, mark out the tomb, lay foundations around the pyre, heap up earth, and return. Achilles holds back the people, seats the great assembly, and brings from the ships the prizes for the games: cauldrons, tripods, horses, mules, oxen, women of fine belts, and gray iron.

First, the chariot race, with five contestants: Eumelus, Diomedes with the Trojan horses he took from Aeneas, Menelaus, Antilochus, son of Nestor, and Meriones. Achilles stays out, because his horses, gifts of Poseidon to Peleus, are immortal and mourn their charioteer Patroclus, their heads bowed to the ground. Nestor, seeing that his son's horses are the slowest, teaches him cunning: the woodcutter and the helmsman are worth more for skill than for strength, and whoever knows how to handle worse horses watches the turning post and the reins and does not let them take his place at the turn. He indicates the goal, a dry trunk between two white stones, and how to graze it without touching it. Eumelus takes the lead, with Diomedes at his back; Apollo, angry with Diomedes, knocks the whip from his hands, and Diomedes weeps with rage; Athena sees the trick, returns the whip to him, puts strength into the horses and, enraged at Eumelus, breaks the yoke of his pair, and Eumelus falls from the chariot and is wounded. Diomedes passes ahead. Antilochus urges his horses on, warning that his father will have them killed if they lose to Menelaus's mare, and he plunges into a gorge where only one chariot can pass; Menelaus warns him of the danger, Antilochus accelerates as if he did not hear, and Menelaus, to avoid the collision, slackens and insults him. Idomeneus and Ajax, son of Oileus, quarrel over who sees the first horses, and Achilles separates them. Diomedes arrives first, and his companion Sthenelus takes the prize; Antilochus is second, Menelaus third, Meriones fourth, and Eumelus, who came pulling his chariot, last.

Achilles, sorry for Eumelus, proposes giving him the second prize, and the Achaeans approve. Antilochus protests: that would take from him what he won; let Achilles give Eumelus something from what he has in his tent. Achilles smiles, pleased with his friend, and gives Eumelus the breastplate he took from Asteropaeus. Menelaus, resentful, rises and accuses Antilochus of tarnishing his honor and ruining the horses; he asks the chiefs to judge, so that no one can say he won by a lie, and demands that Antilochus swear by Poseidon that he did not obstruct him on purpose. Antilochus answers that he is much younger, that youth is quick of mind and frail of judgment, and hands over the mare, offering even more, so as not to lose Menelaus's esteem or be guilty before the gods. Menelaus, appeased, in turn gives the mare back to Antilochus, so that it may be known that his heart was never proud or hard. Meriones takes the two gold talents, and the cup is left without an owner: Achilles gives it to Nestor, in memory of Patroclus's tomb, because the old man will no longer fight with his fists or wrestle, nor throw the spear or run, and Nestor accepts gladly, remembering the days when he won at the games of Amarynceus.

In boxing, the prize is a six-year-old mule, and a cup for the loser. Epeius volunteers, boasts that no one will defeat him and that he will break the bones of anyone who faces him, and all fall silent. Euryalus rises, and Diomedes helps him with his belt and straps; they trade blows, and Epeius knocks him down with a punch to the face, and the companions drag Euryalus, spitting blood, off the field. In wrestling, the prize for the winner is a large tripod and for the loser a woman. Ajax Telamonian and Odysseus rise and grapple like two roof beams; their backs creak under their hands, the marks of blood rise on their flanks, and neither throws the other. Ajax tells Odysseus to lift him or be lifted, and the rest is left to Zeus; Odysseus lifts him, but strikes the back of his knee from behind and makes him fall backward, landing on his chest. Odysseus tries to raise Ajax, only moves him a little off the ground, bends his knee, and both fall side by side, covered with dust. On the third attempt, Achilles interrupts them and declares both winners, with equal prizes, so that other Achaeans may compete.

In the foot race, the prize is a silver mixing bowl worked in Sidon, the most beautiful in all the land; for second, a fat ox; and for last, half a talent of gold. Ajax, son of Oileus, Odysseus, and Antilochus, who outran all the young men on foot, line up. Ajax goes in front, and Odysseus right behind him, as close as the spindle to a weaver's breast, treading in his footprints before the dust covers them and breathing on his neck. In the last stretch, Odysseus silently prays to Athena; she eases his limbs and, at the moment of taking the prize, makes Ajax slip on the dung of the oxen that Achilles slaughtered for Patroclus, filling his mouth and nose. Odysseus takes the bowl, Ajax the ox, and Ajax, spitting dung, tells the Achaeans that the goddess wounded his feet, she who like a mother stands by Odysseus and helps him; everyone laughs at him. Antilochus, the last of them, takes his prize smiling and says that the immortals honor the elders: Ajax is only a little older than he, but Odysseus is of an earlier generation, they say he is a vigorous old man, and only Achilles outruns him on foot. Achilles praises him and adds half a talent of gold.

In the armed combat, Achilles sets out the armor of Sarpedon, which Patroclus took, and promises the Thracian silver sword to whoever first wounds the other's flesh. Ajax Telamonian and Diomedes face each other; after three rushes, Ajax pierces the shield without reaching the flesh, and Diomedes aims over the great shield at Ajax's neck, and the Achaeans, fearing for Ajax, order them to stop and divide the prizes; Achilles gives the sword to Diomedes. For the discus, he sets out the mass of iron that Eetion used to throw, whom he had killed: Polypoetes throws it beyond all the others, as far as a herdsman throws his staff, and takes it. For the bow, he ties a dove to the mast of a ship, with ten axes and ten half-axes as the prize; Teucer, the first, cuts the cord and misses the bird, because he had not promised a hecatomb to Apollo, who denies him the aim; Meriones takes the bow from him, promises the hecatomb and hits the dove high in the air, and takes the ten axes; Teucer takes the half-axes. For the spear, Agamemnon and Meriones rise; Achilles tells the king that everyone knows how much he surpasses the others, and sends him to take the cauldron to the ships, and asks that the spear be given to Meriones, if he agrees. Agamemnon accepts, hands the bronze spear to Meriones and the cauldron to the herald Talthybius.