Verse
Iliad
Book 23, Line 138 by Samuel Butler (English)
When they came to the place of which Achilles had told them they laid the body down and built up the wood. Achilles then bethought him of another matter. He went a space away from the pyre, and cut off the yellow lock which he had let grow for the river Spercheios. He looked all sorrowfully out upon the dark sea [ pontos ], and said, "Spercheios, in vain did my father Peleus vow to you that when I returned home to my loved native land I should cut off this lock and offer you a holy hecatomb; fifty she-goats was I to sacrifice to you there at your springs, where is your grove and your altar fragrant with burnt-offerings. Thus did my father vow, but you have not fulfilled the thinking [ noos ] of his prayer; now, therefore, that I shall see my home no more, I give this lock as a keepsake to the hero Patroklos."
IliadBook 23, Line 138Samuel ButlerEnglishVerse permalinkRead in Book 23
HomerProseID iliad-iliad-butler-en-prose-23-138