Such matters between men are best kept private. The love one holds for his friend, his brother in arms, he speaks of freely and it is right to do so: such love is as honorable as the love between father and son. But to hold him as his lover too...none will speak of it in open air. So it is across the nations of Achaea.

[And still it seems to him a peculiarity to share with others the side of his and Patroclus' relationship that until lately had always been tucked away where just the two of them could see.]