Summary

In Chapter 6, Briseis describes her gatherings with other Trojan prizes in the Greek camp, including Ritsa, Uza, Hecamede, Chryseis, and Tecmessa. These women typically discuss the sexual preferences displayed by their owners, avoiding reference to their lives before enslavement. They emphasize that Briseis must maintain favor with Achilles lest he donate her to his men for sport. Briseis finds Tecmessa and her suggestions that Briseis earn Achilles’ love irritating. When Tecmessa one day arrives to a meeting with veiled bruises, she explains that Ajax suffers from night terrors and warns Briseis that Achilles will eventually succumb to them too. As Briseis returns to the compound following a walk with Tecmessa, she observes Achilles checking his horses and swimming under Patroclus’ paranoid supervision after completing another day of battle.

In Chapter 7, Patroclus and Achilles begin inviting Iphis and Briseis into the bedchamber after dinner. The...