Main points of Iliad 16 for me: (1) the opening conversation between Patroclus and Achilles; (2) how the battle over the corpses of Sarpedon and Kebriones prefigures 17’s battle over Patroclus’ body; (3) the weird formulaic repetition of P. attacking “three times” and its reference to Apollo.
I keep forgetting about (2), and (3) is really weird.
Patroclus calling Hector his “third slayer” is also fairly odd, more Shakespearan than Homeric in feeling and again includes that idea of ‘3’.
The more I think of it, the more something “numeric” to be seems going on with Patroclus: for not only is he rebuffed three times in his assault (first from the walls of Troy, then from the melee around Kebriones) but in the latter instance he kills 9 men — for a total of 27. That’s an odd fact for the narrator to disclose!
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 