He called at once to his friend-in-arms Patroclus, shouting down from the decks. Hearing Achilles, forth he came from his shelter, striding up like the deathless god of war but from that moment on his doom was sealed.

He called at once to his friend-in-arms Patroclus,
shouting down from the decks. Hearing Achilles,
forth he came from his shelter,
striding up like the deathless god of war
but from that moment on his doom was sealed.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 11, lines 710-714. Achilles shouts out to his friend Patroclus, to ask him to go to the Achaean camp to find out about the casualties, thinking they must be desperate for his help. When Patroclus strides out of his hut he is compared in a simile to god of war Ares. From that moment his fate and doom are sealed, Homer says, forshadowing the death of Achilles’s friend.

Homer Quotes