(no subject)

I always cry at Patroclus' death, and no other time in the Iliad, with all its massacres, not even for Hektor, nor even for Priam, kissing the hands that killed his sons. But always, inevitably, for Patroclus, even though I was, this time, reading to find out whether my idea of the wonderful number of men he kills in Book 16 is in fact correct. I bought my first Iliad ten years ago, more or less, and in all my innumerable perusals, I've never wept for anyone else, nor failed to weep for Patroclus. Can't explain it.

In other, related news, Robert Fagles is love.