οἱ δ' ὅτε χῶρον ῞ϊκοντο, ὅθί σφισι πέφραδ' Ἀχιλλεὺς.
κάτθεσαν: αῖψα δέ οἱ μενοεικέα νήεον ὕλην:
ἔνθ' αῦτ' ἄλλ' ἐνόησε ποδάρκης δῖος Ἀχιλλεὺς:
στὰς, ἀπάνευθε πυρῆς. ξανθὴν ἀπεκείρατο χαίτην
τήν ῥα Σπερχειῷ ποταμῷ τρέφε τηλεθόωσαν:
ὀχθήσας δ' ἄρα εἶπεν, ᾿ϊδὼν ἐπὶ οἴνωπα πόντον:
Σπερχεὶ’ ἄλλως σοί γε πατὴρ ἠρήσατο Πηλεὺς
κεῖσέ με, νοστήσαντα φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
σοί τε κόμην κερέειν. ῥέξειν θ' ῾ϊερὴν ἑκατόμβην:
πεντήκοντα δ' ἔνορχα παρ' αὐτόθι μῆλ' ῾ϊερεύσειν
ἐς πηγὰς, ὅθι τοι τέμενος βωμός τε θυήεις:
ὡς ἠρᾶθ' ὁ γέρων: σὺ δέ οἱ νόον οὐκ ἐτέλεσσας:
νῦν δ'. ἐπεὶ οὐ, νέομαί γε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν.
Πατρόκλῳ ἥρωϊ κόμην. ὀπάσαιμι φέρεσθαι:
But when they were come to the place that Achilles had appointed unto them, they set down the dead, and swiftly heaped up for him abundant store of wood. Then again swift-footed goodly Achilles took other counsel; he took his stand apart from the fire and shore off a golden lock, the rich growth whereof he had nursed for the river Spercheüs, and his heart mightily moved, he spake, with a look over the wine-dark sea: "Spercheüs, to no purpose did my father Peleus vow to thee that when I had come home thither to my dear native land, I would shear my hair to thee and offer a holy hecatomb, and on the selfsame spot would sacrifice fifty rams, males without blemish, into thy waters, where is thy demesne and thy fragrant altar. So vowed that old man, but thou didst not fulfill for him his desire. Now, therefore, seeing I go not home to my dear native land, I would fain give unto the warrior Patroclus this lock to fare with him."
