He set two-handled jars of honey and oil leaning against the bier, and drove four strong-necked horses onto the pyre, groaning aloud. Patroclus had kept nine dogs at his table; Achilles cut the throats of two and threw them on. He also killed twelve noble sons of the Trojans with the bronze — evil work he planned in his heart — and set the iron might of fire to feed on them so the fire might run.
He cried farewell to Patroclus even in Hades: all that he promised was fulfilled. Twelve brave sons of Trojans the fire would eat with him, but Hector he would not give to fire — only to dogs. Yet no dogs came near. Aphrodite kept them off and anointed him with rose-sweet oil so Achilles could not tear the skin. Apollo brought a dark cloud over the body so the sun would not wither the flesh.
The pyre of dead Patroclus would not kindle. Achilles prayed to the two winds, Boreas and Zephyros, promising fine offerings, and poured libations from a golden cup, pleading that the wood catch quickly and the dead burn. Iris heard and took the message to the winds at Zephyros's feast. They rose with a cry and drove the clouds before them.
The fire blazed all night while Achilles poured wine from a golden bowl, calling on the soul of unhappy Patroclus. As a father weeps burning his son's bones, so Achilles wept burning his companion's bones, dragging himself about the pyre and groaning heavily.
When the star of morning rose to bring light over the earth, and after it saffron-robed Dawn spread over the sea, the fire sank and the flames stopped. The winds went home again over the Thracian sea, and the waters roared as they went. Achilles turned from the pyre and lay down exhausted; sweet sleep leapt on him.
The others gathered about the son of Atreus, and their noise and trampling woke him. He sat up and told Agamemnon and the princes to quench the pyre with blazing wine wherever the fire's might had reached, and then gather Patroclus's bones carefully, distinguishing them — they lay in the middle, while the others burned apart at the edge, horse and man together. Let the bones be laid in a golden urn with a double fold of fat until Achilles himself went down to Hades; then build a mound modest now, and later make it wide and high if they wished.