Achilles and Patroclus are still teenagers, so the fact that a boy even younger than them is going to war again highlights the ways that Greek honor rewards heroism but undervalues life. The similarity of the spear to a lyre is interesting. Both are instruments: one for playing music, one for committing violence. Yet they both also only amplify what is inherent in Achilles: his innocence and ability to create beauty; his inhuman talent for dealing death. Achilles is always both of these things at once. That Chiron made the spear with love suggests an acceptance of everything Achilles is; an acceptance that Patroclus recognizes.