lowers of Odin. See Olaus Magnus, iii. 3, and Mallet, Northern
Antiquities, p. 213, sq., ed. Bohn.]

[Footnote 739: On this [Greek: prosphonesis], or last address to
the deceased, see my note on Eurip. Alcest. 625, t. i. p. 231,
ed. Bohn; and Suppl. 773, 804; Virg. AEn. iii. 68, v. 79; Propert.
i. 17; Auson. Parent. 159, 10.]

"Hail! O Patroclus, even in the dwellings of Hades: for I now fulfil all
things which I formerly promised thee; twelve brave sons of the
magnanimous Trojans, all these, along with thee, shall the fire consume;
but I will not suffer Hector, the son of Priam, to be devoured by fire,
but by the dogs."

Thus he spoke, threatening; but about him the dogs were not busied; for
Venus, the daughter of Jove, drove off the dogs both days and nights,
and anointed him with a rosy unguent, ambrosial, that he might not
lacerate him dragging him along. Over him also Phoebus Apollo drew a dark
cloud from heaven to the plain, and overshadowed the whole space, as
much as the dead body occupied, lest the influence of the sun should
previously dry the body all around, with the nerves and limbs.

Yet the pile of dead Patroclus burnt not. Then again noble Achilles
meditated other things. Standing apart from the pile, he prayed to two
winds, Boreas and Zephyrus, and promised fair sacrifices; and, pouring
out many libations with a golden goblet, he supplicated them to come,
that they might burn the body with fire as soon as possible, and the
wood might hasten to be burned. But swift Iris, hearing his prayers,
went as a messenger to the winds. They, indeed, together at home with
fierce-breathing Zephyrus, were celebrating a feast, when Iris,
hastening, stood upon the stone threshold. But when they beheld her with
their eyes, they rose up, and invited her to him, each of them. But she,
on the contrary, refused to sit down, and spoke [this] speech:

"No seat [for me]; for I return again to the flowings of the ocean, to
the land of the AEthiopians, where they sacrifice hecatombs to the
immortals, that now I, too, may have a share in their offerings. But
Achilles now supplicates Boreas, and sonorous Zephyrus, to come, that ye
may kindle the pile to be consumed, on which lies Patroclus, whom all
the Greeks bewail."

She, indeed, thus having spoken, departed; but they hastened to go with
a great tumult, driving on the clouds before them. Immediately they
reached the sea, blowing, and the billow was raised up