Thetis wept and answered, "Then, my son, is your end near at hand--for your own death awaits you full soon after that of Hector."

Then said Achilles in his great grief, "I would die here and now, in that I could not save my comrade. He has fallen far from home, and in his hour of need my hand was not there to help him. What is there for me? Return to my own land I shall not, and I have brought no saving neither to Patroclus nor to my other comrades of whom so many have been slain by mighty Hector; I stay here by my ships a bootless burden upon the earth, I, who in fight have no peer among the Achaeans, though in council there are better than I. Therefore, perish strife both from among gods and men, and anger, wherein even a righteous man will harden his heart--which rises up in the soul of a man like smoke, and the taste thereof is sweeter than drops of honey. Even so has Agamemnon angered me. And yet--so be it, for it is over; I will force my soul into subjection as I needs must; I will go; I will pursue Hector who has slain him whom I loved so dearly, and will then abide my doom when it may please Jove and the other gods to send it. Even Hercules, the best beloved of Jove--even he could not escape the hand of death, but fate and Juno's fierce anger laid him low, as I too shall lie when I am dead if a like doom awaits me. Till then I will win fame, and will bid Trojan and Dardanian women wring tears from their tender cheeks with both their hands in the grievousness of their great sorrow; thus shall they know that he who has held aloof so long will hold aloof no longer. Hold me not back, therefore, in the love you bear me, for you shall not move me." [...] 

Τὸν δ΄ αὖτε προσέειπε Θέτις κατὰ δάκρυ χέουσα· ὠκύμορος δή μοι τέκος ἔσσεαι͵ οἷ΄ ἀγορεύεις· αὐτίκα γάρ τοι ἔπειτα μεθ΄ Ἕκτορα πότμος ἑτοῖμος. 

Τὴν δὲ μέγ΄ ὀχθήσας προσέφη πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς· αὐτίκα τεθναίην͵ ἐπεὶ οὐκ ἄρ΄ ἔμελλον ἑταίρῳ κτεινομένῳ ἐπαμῦναι· ὃ μὲν μάλα τηλόθι πάτρης ἔφθιτ΄͵ ἐμεῖο δὲ δῆσεν ἀρῆς ἀλκτῆρα γενέσθαι. νῦν δ΄ ἐπεὶ οὐ νέομαί γε φίλην ἐς πατρίδα γαῖαν͵ οὐδέ τι Πατρόκλῳ γενόμην φάος οὐδ΄ ἑτάροισι τοῖς ἄλλοις͵ οἳ δὴ πολέες δάμεν Ἕκτορι δίῳ͵ ἀλλ΄ ἧμαι παρὰ νηυσὶν ἐτώσιον ἄχθος ἀρούρης͵ τοῖος ἐὼν οἷος οὔ τις Ἀχαιῶν χαλκοχιτώνων ἐν πολέμῳ· ἀγορῇ δέ τ΄ ἀμείνονές εἰσι καὶ ἄλλοι. ὡς ἔρις ἔκ τε θεῶν ἔκ τ΄ ἀνθρώπων ἀπόλοιτο καὶ χόλος͵ ὅς τ΄ ἐφέηκε πολύφρονά περ χαλεπῆναι͵ ὅς τε πολὺ γλυκίων μέλιτος καταλειβομένοιο ἀνδρῶν ἐν στήθεσσιν ἀέξεται ἠΰτε καπνός· ὡς ἐμὲ νῦν ἐχόλωσεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγαμέμνων. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν προτετύχθαι ἐάσομεν ἀχνύμενοί περ͵ θυμὸν ἐνὶ στήθεσσι φίλον δαμάσαντες ἀνάγκῃ· νῦν δ΄ εἶμ΄ ὄφρα φίλης κεφαλῆς ὀλετῆρα κιχείω Ἕκτορα· κῆρα δ΄ ἐγὼ τότε δέξομαι ὁππότε κεν δὴ Ζεὺς ἐθέλῃ τελέσαι ἠδ΄ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι. οὐδὲ γὰρ οὐδὲ βίη Ἡρακλῆος φύγε κῆρα͵ ὅς περ φίλτατος ἔσκε Διὶ Κρονίωνι ἄνακτι· ἀλλά ἑ μοῖρα δάμασσε καὶ ἀργαλέος χόλος ῞Ηρης. ὣς καὶ ἐγών͵ εἰ δή μοι ὁμοίη μοῖρα τέτυκται͵ κείσομ΄ ἐπεί κε θάνω· νῦν δὲ κλέος ἐσθλὸν ἀροίμην͵ καί τινα Τρωϊάδων καὶ Δαρδανίδων βαθυκόλπων ἀμφοτέρῃσιν χερσὶ παρειάων ἁπαλάων δάκρυ΄ ὀμορξαμένην ἁδινὸν στοναχῆσαι ἐφείην͵ γνοῖεν δ΄ ὡς δὴ δηρὸν ἐγὼ πολέμοιο πέπαυμαι· μὴ δέ μ΄ ἔρυκε μάχης φιλέουσά περ· οὐδέ με πείσεις. […] 

Cf. Achilles' Grief Language Lesson ||| SAPPHO : Dearest Earth's offspring and Heaven's ||| SOPHOCLES : Oedipus' ascension ||| PLATO : Studying Death, Ways to Hades ||| SYMEON THE NEW THEOLOGIAN : Don't put yourself in despair ||| CAVAFY : The Horses of Achilles, In the month Athyr, Perfidy ||| PAPATSONIS : Scheme, Hestia, Wisdom, In Rising Sound