A hundred feet each way they built the pyre, And on the summit, sorrowing, laid the dead. Then many a sheep and many a slow-pac’d ox They flay’d and dress’d around the fun’ral pyre; Of all the beasts Achilles took the fat, And covered o’er the dead from head to foot, And heap’d the slaughter’d carcases around; Then jars of honey plac’d, and fragrant oils, Resting upon the couch; next, groaning loud, Four pow’rful horses on the pyre he threw; Then, of nine[66] dogs that at their master’s board Had fed, he slaughter’d two upon his pyre; Last, with the sword, by evil counsel sway’d, Twelve noble youths he slew, the sons of Troy. The fire’s devouring might he then applied, And, groaning, on his lov’d companion call’d.[67] Footnote 66: The number _nine_ is curiously associated with the canine species. The herdsmen’s pack on the Shield of Achilles consists of _nine_; _nine_ were the dogs of Patroclus; and we learn from Mr. Richardson (_Dogs: their Origin and Varieties_, p. 37), that Fingal kept _nine_ great dogs, and _nine_ smaller game-starting dogs. Footnote 67: _Iliad_, xxiii. 164-78. These sanguinary rites have been thought to afford proof that canine companionship was necessary to the happiness of a Greek hero in the other world. For, amongst rude peoples, from the Scythians of Herodotus[68] to the Indians of Patagonia, such sacrifices have been a common mode of testifying respect to the dead. And it may readily be admitted that their originally inspiring idea was that of continued association after death with the objects most valued in life. But such an idea appears to have been very remotely, if at all, present to the mind of our poet. The Ghost of Patroclus, at any rate, though sufficiently communicative, expresses no desire for canine, equine, bovine, or ovine society, although specimens of all four species were immolated in its honour. The purpose of Achilles in instituting the ghastly solemnity was, as he himself expressed it, Footnote 68: Book iv. 71, 72. That with provision meet the dead may pass Down to the realms of night.[69] Footnote 69: Geddes, _Problem_, &c., p. 227.