Book Excerpt: ill; and all night fleet Achilles, holding a two-handled cup, drewwine from a golden bowl, and poured it forth and drenched the earth, calling upon the spirit of hapless Patroclos. As a father waileth whenhe burneth the bones of his son, new-married, whose death is woe to hishapless parents, so wailed Achilles as he burnt the bones of hiscomrade, going heavily round the burning pile, with many moans."But at the hour when the Morning Star goeth forth to herald light uponthe earth, the star that saffron-mantled Dawn cometh after, andspreadeth over the salt sea, then grew the burning faint, and the flamedied down. And the Winds went back again to betake them home over theThracian main, and it roared with a violent swell. Then the son ofPeleus turned away from the burning and lay down wearied, and sweetsleep leapt on him." [Footnote: Iliad xxiii. p. 193.--Translated byLang, Leaf and Myers.]The exquisite beauty of this passage, even in translation, will escapeno lover of poetry. And it is a beaRead Mor