In this passage, Patroclus’s mother’s lyre takes on new significance: it’s not just a part of her dowry, but represents both her innocence and Achilles’s. The lyre makes a “pure” sound, and Patroclus—who is far from innocent, since he murdered someone—can’t play it. Meanwhile, Patroclus’s mother liked the lyre’s music innately—a signal of her “natural” innocence that the novel seems to suggest was a product of her mental “simplicity.” Because Achilles takes ownership of the lyre, Patroclus compares Achilles to his mother here, which suggests that Achilles shares some of her “simplicity,” though he doesn’t have the same limitations that she did. Part of Patroclus’s father’s vain efforts to seem masculine included a hatred of music. Achilles skill makes clear that masculinity can involve an appreciation of beauty too. That Patroclus can appreciate Achille’s music-making suggests he has the capacity to see the value in Achilles way of being a boy/man in the world.