“O son of Peleus! greater than mankind! 
(Thus Agamemnon’s kingly shade rejoin’d)
Thrice happy thou, to press the martial plain
’Midst heaps of heroes in thy quarrel slain: 
In clouds of smoke raised by the noble fray,
Great and terrific e’en in death you lay,
And deluges of blood flow’d round you every way. 
Nor ceased the strife till Jove himself opposed,
And all in Tempests the dire evening closed. 
Then to the fleet we bore thy honour’d load,
And decent on the funeral bed bestow’d;
Then unguents sweet and tepid streams we shed;
Tears flow’d from every eye, and o’er the dead
Each clipp’d the curling honours of his head. 
Struck at the news, thy azure mother came,
The sea-green sisters waited on the dame: 
A voice of loud lament through all the main
Was heard; and terror seized the Grecian train: 
Back to their ships the frighted host had fled;
But Nestor spoke, they listen’d and obey’d
(From old experience Nestor’s counsel springs,
And long vicissitudes of human things): 
’Forbear your flight:  fair Thetis from the main
To mourn Achilles leads her azure train.’ 
Around thee stand the daughters of the deep,
Robe thee in heavenly vests, and round thee weep: 
Round thee, the Muses, with alternate strain,
In ever-consecrating verse, complain. 
Each warlike Greek the moving music hears,
And iron-hearted heroes melt in tears. 
Till seventeen nights and seventeen days return’d
All that was mortal or immortal mourn’d,
To flames we gave thee, the succeeding day,
And fatted sheep and sable oxen slay;
With oils and honey blazed the augmented fires,
And, like a god adorn’d, thy earthly part expires. 
Unnumber’d warriors round the burning pile
Urge the fleet coursers or the racer’s toil;
Thick clouds of dust o’er all the circle rise,
And the mix’d clamour thunders in the skies. 
Soon as absorb’d in all-embracing flame
Sunk what was mortal of thy mighty name,
We then collect thy snowy bones, and place
With wines and unguents in a golden vase
(The vase to Thetis Bacchus gave of old,
And Vulcan’s art enrich’d the sculptured gold). 
There, we thy relics, great Achilles! blend
With dear Patroclus, thy departed friend: 
In the same urn a separate space contains
Thy next beloved, Antilochus’ remains. 
Now all the sons of warlike Greece surround
Thy destined tomb and cast a mighty mound;
High on the shore the growing hill we raise,
That wide the extended Hellespont surveys;
Where all, from age to age, who pass the coast,
May point Achilles’ tomb, and hail the mighty ghost. 
Thetis herself to all our peers proclaims
Heroic prizes and exequial games;
The gods assented; and around thee lay
Rich spoils and gifts that blazed against the day. 
Oft have I seen with solemn funeral games
Heroes and kings committed to the flames;