Achilles was lifting his spirits with it now,
singing the famous deeds of fighting heroes.
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 9, lines 227-228. Ambassadors Great Ajax, Odysseus and Phoenix go talk to Achilles at his camp to try to persuade him to join the fighting. Achilles is playing his lyre and singing about the deeds of fighting heroes. Even though he has stayed away from the battlefield, heroic values are never far from his heart.