Patroclus

Gentlest of the Achaeans — the epithet is Homer’s — Patroclus tends the wounded, weeps for the dying army, and begs to wear Achilles’ armor to save the ships. He drives the Trojans to the wall, forgets the warning to turn back, and falls to Apollo, Euphorbus, and Hector in succession. His ghost’s request — that their bones lie in one urn — and the funeral games he receives close the poem’s long meditation on what the wrath has cost.