M/M: Achilles Mourns Patroclus; Dictys Cretensis 3.14

Achilles Mourns Patroclus

Name:  Dictys Cretensis Date:   1st – 4th century CE Region:   Crete [?] [modern Greece] Citation: The Trojan War 3.14

Achilles extinguished Patroclus’ ashes with wine and collected his remains in an urn. He had decided to bring Patroclus’ ashes back home with him, or, if his fortune changed, to be buried in the same tomb with the one he loved most of all.

  Isque [Achilles] vino multo sopita iam favilla reliquias [Patrocli] in urnam collegerat, decretum quippe animo gerebat, secum in patrium solum uti adveheret vel, si fortuna in se casum mutaret, una aqtue eadem sepultura cum carissimo sibi omnium contegi.

Dictys Cretensis [1st – 4th century CE] Little is known about the author or circumstances of this work. On the Trojan War is written in the perspective of Dictys, a Cretan veteran of the Trojan War. The version we have today is a Latin translation based on a Greek original from the 1st to 4th century CE. This work heavily influenced Medieval literature and later Latin accounts of the Trojan War.