My child, leave your friend to lie there dead –
we must, though it breaks our hearts…
The will of the gods has crushed him once for all.
But here, Achilles, accept this glorious armor, look,
a gift from the god of fire – burnished bright, finer
than any mortal has ever borne across his back!
– Homer
The Iliad, Book 19, lines 9-14. At dawn Thetis finds her son Achilles sobbing on the ground and embracing the body of his beloved friend Patroclus and tries to rouse him. She presents him with the glorious shield and armor that Hephaestus has made for him.