how this passage translates (especially the last sentence)?

[blwpyrtv]

Hello,<br /><br />I was wondering if anybody here might be able to render the precise meaning of this:<br /><br />Fortunatus fuisti, O adulescens, quod Homerum laudatorem tuae virtutis invenisti." Et vere! Nam, sine Iliade illa, idem tumulus et corpus eius et nomen obruere potuit.

[vinobrien]

I think this is your homework from Wheelock, Alexander standing before the tomb of Achilles...

[blwpyrtv]

I think you're right about it being from Wheelock, but it's actually my brother who is trying to figure it out. He's not in school, just a leisure time language buff who recently got into Latin. He says the dictionary and reference tools he has didn't quite clarify the final sentence, in particular the "obruere protuit" (I thought I should present the whole sentence and the one preceding for a bit of context). He asked me if I had any ideas based on my knowledge of some Romance languages and the one year of Latin I took in high school, but I could really only guess. I recommended he try the Internet, but he didn't get very far with that route--he's not very computer-experienced. So I figured I'd see what I could turn up.<br /><br />

[benissimus]

Fortunatus fuisti, O adulescens, quod Homerum laudatorem tuae virtutis invenisti." Et vere! Nam, sine Iliade illa, idem tumulus et corpus eius et nomen obruere potuit. "<br /><br />"You were fortunate, O youth, because you found Homer, the praiser of your virtue." And truly! For, without the Iliad, the same tomb could bury both his body and name.<br /><br />I believe this is referring to how Homer preserved the deeds of Achilles through literature.

[blwpyrtv]

Thanks a lot, Benissimus. I thought maybe it was some kind of conditional tense.