As a father weeps when he burns his son's bones, dead on his wedding day, and his death has plunged his parents in despair... so Achilles wept as he burned his dear friend's bones, dragging himself around the pyre, choked with sobs.

As a father weeps when he burns his son’s bones,
dead on his wedding day,
and his death has plunged his parents in despair…
so Achilles wept as he burned his dear friend’s bones,
dragging himself around the pyre, choked with sobs.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 23, lines 254-258. Achilles’s love for Patroclus is evident in this passage. As he burns his dear friend’s body, Achilles is described in an epic simile as weeping like a father for a son.

Homer Quotes