The Iliad Book 18 Lines 1-38
“And so they fought like blazing fire, and Antilochos,
A fast runner, came as a messenger to Achilles.  He found him
In front of his ships with pointed bows and sterns.
Achilles feared in his heart what had actually happened
Would come to pass.

Sorely troubled, Achilles spoke
To his own great spirit: “But why are the Achaeans with their
Long hair again gathering in confusion around the ships,
Driven in rout from the plain?  I only hope that the gods
Have not made terrible suffering for me, as once my mother
Predicted.  She said that while I was yet alive the best
Of the Myrmidons would leave the light of the sun at the hands
Of the Trojans.  I fear that the strong son of Menoitios is dead—
The fool! I told him to come back to the ships when he had pushed
Away consuming fire from the ships.  And not to take on Hector!”

While he pondered thus in his heart and spirit, the son
Of brave Nestor came up close.  Pouring down hot tears,
Antilochos spoke the sad message:  “O son of Peleus, lover
Of war, you are about to hear a sad tale, which ought never
To have happened.  Patroklos is struck down, and they war
Around his naked corpse.  And Hector of the flashing helmet
Has taken his armor.”
So he spoke, and a dark cloud
Of pain covered Achilles.  With both his hands he took up
The grimy dust and poured it over his head, wrecking
His pretty face, and black ashes fell on his scented shirt.
He lay outstretched in the dirt, great in his greatness,
And with his hands he tore at his hair and disfigured it.
The slave girls that Achilles and Patroklos had taken as booty
Cried aloud in anguish of heart, and they ran outside
To the battle-hardened Achilles, and all of them struck their breasts
With their hands, and the limbs of each were loosened beneath them.
Opposite them Antilochos wailed, pouring down tears.
Antilochos held Achilles’ hands as Achilles moaned
In his noble heart, and Antilochos feared that he would cut
His throat with a knife.

As Achilles groaned terribly,
His revered mother heard him, sitting in the depths
Of the sea beside her aged father.   She then let out
A shrill cry, and the goddesses gathered around her,
All the daughters of Nereus who were in the deep sea.


Works Cited:

The Rage of Achilles, University of Dallas,
n.d, n.p, Feb 2015
Delahoyde, Hughes.  Myrmidons.
Washington State University, n.d, n.p, Feb 2015

The Iliad by Homer, Some Important Ideas
2013, n.p, Feb 2015

N.S. Gill, Thetis
About Education, 2015, n.p, Feb 2015

Europa Soberana, Ex Libris Online Books, Sparta,
Sept 2013, n.p, Feb 2015

Illinois State University, Tone and Diction,
University Center for Learning Assistance, 2007, n.p, Feb 2015

Literary Devices, Imagery,
2010, n.p, Feb 2015