[21,17] οὐ γὰρ ἦν αὐτοῖς πρότερον οἶμαι σχολὴ θηήσασθαι αὐτὸν ἀκριβῶς· καὶ τὰ ἄλλα σχεδὸν σαφέστερον ἐπέξεισιν ἢ περὶ ἄλλου τινὸς τῶν καλλίστων. τήν τε γὰρ κεφαλὴν χαρίεσσαν αὐτοῦ φησιν εἶναι καὶ τὴν κόμην πάνυ μέλαιναν καὶ τὸ σῶμα οὐ σκληρόν. περὶ δὲ τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως εἴδους οὐδὲν λέγει καθ´ ἕκαστον ἀλλ´ ἢ τῆς κόμης, ὅτι ξανθὸς ἦν, καὶ περὶ τῆς Εὐφόρβου κόμης καὶ Πατρόκλου ὡς μάλιστα ἐν ἀκμῇ τελευτησάντων, καὶ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων σμικρόν τι περὶ ἑκάστου καὶ ἀνδρῶν καὶ γυναικῶν τῶν καλλίστων. πλὴν ὅτι γε οὐδεὶς ἂν εἴποι τούσδε ὁμοίως ἂν εἶναι καλούς, οὐδὲ Ἀλέξανδρον ἢ Εὔφορβον ἢ Τρωίλον ἐοικέναι τι Μενελάῳ καὶ Πατρόκλῳ καὶ Νιρεῖ, οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς βαρβάροις Σέσωστριν τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ἢ Μέμνονα τὸν Αἰθίοπα ἢ Νινύαν ἢ Εὐρύπυλον ἢ Πέλοπα.

[21,17] For I imagine that before this they had been too busily occupied to gaze upon him critically. And the poet goes on to describe him more vividly, one may almost say, and in greater detail than he describes any other of the most handsome men. For he says that his head was graceful, his hair quite black, and his body not hard. But about Achilles' appearance he gives no detail except to say that his hair was auburn ; and he mentions the hair of Euphorbus and of Patroclus as of men who had died in the very prime of life ; and about each of the other men and most beautiful women he has very little to say ; however, nobody would assert that these men could have been handsome in the same way, or that Alexander, or Euphorbus, or Troïlus bore any resemblance to Menelaus and Patroclus and Nireus, any more than among the barbarians Sesostris the Egyptian did or Memnon the Ethiopian, or Ninyas, Eurypylus, or Pelops.