The Song of Achilles

When Patroclus is nine, his father instructs him to present himself as a suitor for the hand of Helen, a princess of Sparta who is said to be a daughter of Zeus. Her mother, Leda, gave birth to two sets of twins, Clytemnestra and Castor by her husband Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Helen and Polydeuces by Zeus.

When Patroclus and his father arrive at Tyndareus’s palace, suitors have already begun to assemble. Patroclus plays with toys he brought from home and ones given to him by a sympathetic soldier. Eventually, his father prepares to present him to Helen with a gift of a gold mixing bowl decorated with the story of Danae, a princess who Zeus seduced. Their union produced Perseus, “Gorgon-slayer, second only to Heracles among our heroes” (7). Menoitius instructs Patroclus not to disgrace them.

Suitors overflow in the room where Tyndareus accepts gifts for Helen. Beside him sit three veiled women, Clytemnestra, Helen, and Penelope. Tyndareus invites each man to present his gift and his case. First is Philoctetes, a “comrade of Heracles” (7) who presents the hero’s bow, given to Philoctetes after Heracles’s death. Next, Idomeneus, king of Crete, presents “a double-headed ax” (8). Menelaus follows, presenting a “beautifully dyed cloth” (8). His brother, Agamemnon, is married to Tyndareus’s other daughter, Clytemnestra.

Among the suitors, Patroclus is the only one under twenty. Menoitius speaks for him. When Tyndareus notes that Patroclus is “not yet a man” (9), Menoitius replies that he is man enough for them both. He promises to make Helen queen since his own wife is unfit to rule. A man who has not yet presented himself, Odysseus, son of Laertes, remarks that he thought Patroclus, not Menoitius, was the suitor, angering Menoitius. Tyndareus asks Patroclus to present himself. He declares himself a suitor and identifies himself as the son of a king.

The line of suitors continues until only Odysseus, who is not a suitor, remains. He wonders aloud how Tyndareus will avoid the losing suitors declaring war on him, then offers a solution: allow Helen to choose her husband after each suitor swears an oath to uphold her choice. The idea of allowing a woman to choose her own husband scandalizes the suitors, but captivated by the hope of being Helen’s choice, they consent. A priest sacrifices a goat, and each suitor swears the oath. Helen chooses Menelaus. Odysseus reveals that he has been promised Penelope, the third woman.

After Patroclus returns home, the events become “distant and pale, like something a bard had spun” (14) rather than a lived experience. The oath too seems “foolish and improbable” (14) in his memory.

At the age of 10, Patroclus becomes an orphan when he is exiled for accidentally killing a nobleman’s son. Patroclus had been playing with his dice alone in a field. The nobleman’s son demanded the dice, sneering that Patroclus’s father called him a coward. When the boy begins to advance on Patroclus, he shoves the boy, who falls, hits his head on a rock, and dies. The boy’s family demands Patroclus’s exile. To avoid a feud, Menoitius agrees, sending Patroclus to Phthia with his weight in gold as payment. Patroclus notes that this was cheaper than killing him and having to plan a lavish funeral.

The king of Phthia is the “clever, brave, handsome” (17) and pious Peleus, who was favorited by the gods with a sea-nymph, Thetis, for a wife. Because Thetis had been unwilling to marry a mortal, the Olympian gods instructed Peleus to surprise her while she was lying on the rocks and rape her, since “deflowering was as binding as marriage vows” (18). The gods ordered Thetis to stay with Peleus for one year. During that time, she bore a son, Achilles. At the end of the year, she returned to the sea and only visited Phthia to see her son.

When Patroclus arrives in Phthia, Peleus is away. His son, Achilles, receives Patroclus with disinterest. Remembering him as the ideal son who had sparked jealousy in Menoitius, Patroclus instantly dislikes Achilles. His dismissal reminds Patroclus of how far he has fallen from a king’s son to an exile. He lives in a dormitory with other foster children of Peleus. After dinner, a boy asks Patroclus if he would like to play dice, and he backs away in horror. That night, he dreams of the dead boy, fearing his vengeance. In the morning, Patroclus joins the other boys in spear and sword training. He realizes that Peleus accepts young boys who have been exiled because “well-trained and indebted, we would one day make him a fine army” (23). Finding Patroclus strange, the other boys avoid him. Every night, he dreams of the dead boy.