Book iv. 510.

[Paris, frequently named Alexander in the original.—Tr.]

Not from cowardice, but from a sense of guilt towards Menelaus. At the head of an army he challenges the boldest of the enemy; and Hector, at the end of the Sixth Book, confesses that no man could reproach him as a coward. Homer has a fine moral;—A brave mind, however blinded with passion, is sensible of remorse whenever he meets the person whom he has injured; and Paris is never made to appear cowardly, but when overcome by the consciousness of his injustice.

[Λαινον εσσο χιτωνα]

In allusion to the Oriental custom of stoning to death for the crime of adultery.—Felton.

The sling was a very efficacious and important instrument in ancient warfare. Stones were also thrown with the hand. The Libyans carried no other arms than the spear and a bag of stones.

The Trojans were required to sacrifice two lambs; one male of a white color to the Sun, as the father of light, and one female and black to the Earth, the mother and nurse of men. That these were the powers to which they sacrificed appears from their being attested by name in the oath. III. 330.

Helen’s weaving the events of the Trojan war in a veil is an agreeable fiction; and one might suppose that it was inherited by Homer, and explained in his Iliad.—Dacier.

[Not the grasshopper, but an insect well known in hot countries, and which in Italy is called Cicála. The grasshopper rests on the ground, but the favorite abode of the Cicála is in the trees and hedges.—Tr.]

This episode is remarkable for its beauty. The effect of Helen’s appearance upon the aged counsellors is striking and poetical. It must be borne in mind, that Helen was of divine parentage and unfading beauty, and this will explain the enthusiasm which her sight called forth from the old men. The poet’s skill in taking this method of describing the Grecian chieftains is obvious, and the sketches themselves are living and characteristic to a high degree. The reminiscences of the aged Priam, as their names are announced, and the penitential sorrow of the erring Helen, which the sight of her countrymen, and the recollection of her home, her child, her companions, excite in her bosom, are among the most skilful touches of natural feeling.—Felton.

The character of a benevolent old man is well preserved in Priam’s behavior to Helen. Upon observing her confusion, he attributes the misfortunes of the war to the gods alone. This sentiment is also natural to old age. Those who have had the longest experience of life, are the most inclined to ascribe the disposal of all things to the will of Heaven.

This view of the Grecian leaders from the walls of Troy, is admired as an episode of great beauty, and considered a masterly manner of acquainting the reader with the figure and qualifications of each hero.

Helen sees no where in the plain her two brothers Castor and Pollux. Her inquiry is a natural one, and her self-reproach naturally suggests her own disgrace as the cause of their not appearing among the other commanders. The two lines in which the poet mentions their death are simple and touching.—Felton.

Homer here gives the whole ceremonial of the solemn oath, as it was then observed by the nations of whom he writes.

It must be borne in mind that sacrificing was the most solemn act of religion, and that kings were also chief-priests.

The armor of both Greeks and Trojans consisted of six portions, and was always put on in the order here given. The greaves were for the defence of the legs. They were made of some kind of metal, and probably lined with cloth or felt. The cuirass or corselet for the body, was made of horn cut in thin pieces and fastened upon linen cloth, one piece overlapping another. The sword hung on the left side by means of a belt which passed over the right shoulder. The large round shield, sometimes made of osiers twisted together and covered with several ox-hides, and bound round the edge with metal. In the Homeric times it was supported by a belt; subsequently a band was placed across the inner side, in which the left arm was inserted, and a strong leather strap fastened near the edge at certain distances, which was grasped by the hand. The helmet, made of metal and lined with felt. Lastly the spear, and in many cases two. The heavy-armed soldiery were distinguished from the light. The covering of the latter consisted of skins, and instead of the sword and lance, they fought with darts, bows and arrows, or slings, and were generally attached in a subordinate capacity to the heavy-armed soldiery.

Homer puts a prayer in the mouth of Menelaüs, but none in that of Paris. Menelaüs is injured and innocent, and may therefore ask for justice; but Paris, who is the criminal, remains silent.

[Because the hide of a beast that dies in health is tougher and fitter for use than of another that dies diseased.]

Footnotes for Book IV:

The goddess of youth is made an attendant at the banquets of the gods, to show that they enjoyed a perpetual youth, and endless felicity.

[A town of that name in Bœotia, where Pallas was particularly worshipped.—Tr.]

[Βοωπις, constant description of Juno, but not susceptible of literal translation.]

Homer does not make the gods use all persons indiscriminately as their agents, but each according to his powers. When Minerva would persuade the Greeks, she seeks Ulysses; when she would break the truce, for Pandarus; and when she would conquer, for Diomede. The goddess went not to the Trojans, because they hated Paris, and looks among the allies, where she finds Pandarus, who was of a nation noted for perfidiousness, and who, from his avarice, was capable of engaging in this treachery for the hope of a reward from Paris.

A city of Asia Minor.

This description, so full of circumstantial detail, is remarkably beautiful. 1. The history of the bow, giving in a few words the picture of a hunter, lying in ambush and slaying his victim. 2. Then the process of making the bow. 3. The anxious preparation for discharging the arrow with certainty, which was destined to break off the truce and precipitate the battle. 4. The hurried prayer and vow to Apollo, after which the string is drawn, the cord twangs, the arrow “leaps forth.” The whole is described with such graphic truth, that we see, and hear, and wait in breathless suspense to know the result.—Felton.

This is one of those humble comparisons with which Homer sometimes diversifies his subject, but a very exact one of its kind, and corresponding in all its parts. The care of the goddess, the unsuspecting security of Menelaus, the ease with which she diverts the danger, and the danger itself, are all included in these few words. To which may be added, that if the providence of heavenly powers to their creatures is expressed by the love of a mother to her child, if men in regard to them are but as sleeping infants, and the dangers that seem so great to us, as easily warded off as the simile implies, the conception appears sublime, however insignificant the image may at first seem in regard to a hero.

From this we learn that the Lydians and Carians were famous for their skill in dying purple, and that their women excelled in works of ivory; and also that there were certain ornaments that only kings and princes were privileged to wear.

This speech of Agamemnon over his wounded brother, is full of noble power and touching eloquence. The Trojans have violated a truce sanctioned by a solemn sacrifice to the gods. The reflection that such perjury cannot pass with impunity, but that Jove will, sooner or later, punish it, occurs first to the mind of the warrior. In the excitement of the moment, he predicts that the day will surely come when sacred Troy shall fall. From this impetuous feeling his mind suddenly returns to the condition of his brother, and imagines with much pathos, the consequences that will follow from his death, and ends with the wish, that the earth may open before him when that time shall come.—Felton.

The poet here changes the narration, and apostrophises the reader. Critics commend this figure, as the reader then becomes a spectator, and his mind is kept fixed on the action.

In the following review of the army, we see the skill of an accomplished general as well as the characters of the leaders whom Agamemnon addresses. He begins with an address to the army in general, and then turns to individuals. To the brave he urges their secure hopes of conquest, since the gods must punish perjury; to the timid, their inevitable destruction if the enemy should burn their ships. After this he flies from rank to rank, skilfully addressing each ally, and presents a lively picture of a great mind in the highest emotion.

The ancients usually in their feasts divided to the guests in equal portions, except they took particular occasion to show distinction. It was then considered the highest mark of honor to be allotted the best portion of meat and wine, and to be allowed an exemption from the laws of the feast in drinking wine unmingled and without measure. This custom was much more ancient than the time of the Trojan war, and we find it practised in the banquet given by Joseph to his brethren.

[Diverse interpretations are given of this passage. I have adopted that which to me appeared most plausible. It seems to be a caution against the mischiefs that might ensue, should the horses be put under the management of a driver with whom they were unacquainted.—The scholium by Villoisson much countenances this solution.—Tr.]

[Here Nestor only mentions the name of Ereuthalion, knowing the present to be an improper time for story-telling; in the seventh book he relates his fight and victory at length. This passage may serve to confute those who charge Nestor with indiscriminate loquacity.—Tr.]

The first Theban war, previously alluded to, took place twenty-seven years before the war of Troy. Sthenelus here speaks of the second, which happened ten years after the first. For an account of these wars see Grecian and Roman Mythology.

This is a most animated description. The onset, the clashing of spears, the shield pressed to shield, the tumult of the battle, the shouts and groans of the slayer and the dying—all are described in words, the very sound of which conveys the terrible meaning. Then come the exploits performed by individual heroes. The student must bear in mind, that the battles of the heroic age depended in a great measure upon the prowess of single chieftains. Hence the appropriateness of the following enumeration.—Felton.

So called from the river Simoïs, near which he was born. It was an eastern custom to name children from the most remarkable accident of their birth. The Scriptures furnish many examples. In the Old Testament princes were also compared to trees, and Simöisius is here resembled to a poplar.

Homer occasionally puts his readers in mind of Achilles, and finds occasion to celebrate his valor with the highest praise. Apollo here tells the Trojans they have nothing to fear, since Achilles fights not.

[Ακροκομοι. They wore only a lock of hair on the crown of the head.]

Footnotes for Book V:

In each battle there is one prominent person who may be called the hero of the day. This arrangement preserves unity, and helps to fix the attention of the reader. The gods sometimes favor one hero, and sometimes another. In this book we have the exploits of Diomede. Assisted by Minerva, he is eminent both for prudence and valor.

Sirius. This comparison, among many others, shows how constantly the poet’s attention was directed to the phenomena of nature.—Felton.

Ηιοεντι.

The chariots were probably very low. We frequently find in the Iliad that a person standing in a chariot is killed (and sometimes by a stroke on the head) by a foot soldier with a sword. This may farther appear from the ease with which they mount or alight, to facilitate which, the chariots were made open behind. That the wheels were small, may be supposed from their custom of taking them off and putting them on. Hebe puts on the wheels of Juno’s chariot, when he called for it in battle. It may be in allusion to the same custom, that it is said in Ex., ch. xiv.: “The Lord took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them heavily.” That it was very small and light, is evident from a passage in the tenth Il., where Diomede debates whether he shall draw the chariot of Rhesus out of the way, or carry it on his shoulders to a place of safety.

[Meges, son of Phyleus.]

This whole passage is considered by critics as very beautiful. It describes the hero carried by an enthusiastic valor into the midst of his enemies, and mingling in the ranks indiscriminately. The simile thoroughly illustrates this fury, proceeding as it did from an extraordinary infusion of courage from Heaven.

[Apollo.]

The deities are often invoked because of the agency ascribed to them and not from any particular religious usage. And just as often the heroes are protected by the gods who are worshipped by their own tribes and families—Muller.

This fiction of Homer, says Dacier, is founded upon an important truth of religion, not unknown to the Pagans: viz. that God only can open the eyes of men, and enable them to see what they cannot otherwise discover. The Old Testament furnishes examples. God opens the eyes of Hagar, that she may see the fountain. “The Lord opened the eyes of Baalam, and he saw the angel,” etc. This power of sight was given to Diomede only for the present occasion. In the 6th Book, on meeting Glaucus, he is ignorant whether he is a god, a hero, or a man.

[Or collar-bone.]

The belief of those times, in regard to the peace and happiness of the soul after death, made the protection of the body a matter of great importance. For a full account of these rites, see the articles Charon and Pluto, Gr. & Rom. Mythology.

The physician of the gods. Homer says nothing of his origin. He seems to be considered as distinct from Apollo, though perhaps originally identical with him.

From the fact that so few mystical myths are introduced in the Iliad, Müller infers that the mystical element of religion could not have predominated among the Grecian people for whom Homer sang. Otherwise, his poems in which that element is but little regarded, would not have afforded universal pleasure and satisfaction. He therefore takes but a passing notice of Demeter. Müller also remarks, that in this we cannot but admire the artistic skill of Homer, and the feeling for what is right and fitting that was innate with the Greeks.

[Vide Samson to Harapha in the Agonistes. There the word is used in the same sense.—Tr.]

[This is a construction of λευκ ελεφαντι given by some of the best commentators, and that seems the most probable.—Tr.]

This slow and orderly retreat of the Greeks, with their front constantly turned to the enemy, is a fine encomium on their courage and discipline. This manner of retreating was customary among the Lacedæmonians, as were many other martial customs described by Homer. The practice arose from the apprehension of being killed by a wound in the back, which was not only punished with infamy, but a person bearing the mark was denied the rites of burial.

[This, according to Porphyrius as quoted by Clarke, is the true meaning of αιολομιτρης.—Tr.]

The chariots of the gods were formed of various metals, and drawn through the air, or upon the surface of the sea, by horses of celestial breed. These chariots were used by the deities only on occasion of a long journey, or when they wished to appear with state and magnificence. Ordinarily they were transported from place to place by the aid of their golden sandals, with the exception of the “silver-footed Thetis,” to whom they seem to have been superfluous. When at home, the gods were barefoot, according to the custom of the age, as we see from various representations of antique art.

[These which I have called crescents, were a kind of hook of a semicircular form, to which the reins were occasionally fastened.—Tr.]

The Greeks borrowed the vest and shield of Minerva from the Lybians, only with this difference: the Lybian shield was fringed with thongs of leather, and the Grecian with serpents.—Herodotus.

This expression (the gates of Heaven) is in the eastern manner, and common in the Scriptures.

[Αρεα τονδε.]

Every thing that enters the dark empire of Hades disappears, and is seen no more; hence the figurative expression, to put on Pluto’s helmet; that is to become invisible.

Footnotes for Book VI:

The Simoïs and Xanthus were two rivers of the Troad, which form a junction before they reached the Hellespont. The Simoïs rose in Mt. Ida, and the Xanthus had its origin near Troy.—Felton.

Ajax commences his exploits immediately on the departure of the gods from the battle. It is observed of this hero, that he is never assisted by the deities.

Axylus was distinguished for his hospitality. This trait was characteristic of the Oriental nations, and is often alluded to by ancient writers. The rite of hospitality often united families belonging to different and hostile nations, and was even transmitted from father to son. This description is a fine tribute to the generosity of Axylus.—Felton

[Euryalus.]

Agamemnon’s taking the life of the Trojan whom Menelaus had pardoned, was according to the custom of the times. The historical books of the Old Testament abound in instances of the like cruelty to conquered enemies.

This important maxim of war is very naturally introduced, upon Menelaus being ready to spare an enemy for the sake of a ransom. According to Dacier, it was for such lessons as these that Alexander so much esteemed Homer and studied his poem.

The custom of making donations to the gods is found among the ancients, from the earliest times of which we have any record down to the introduction of Christianity; and even after that period it was observed by the Christians during the middle ages. Its origin seems to have been the same as that of sacrifices: viz. the belief that the gods were susceptible of influence in their conduct towards men. These gifts were sometimes very costly, but often nothing more than locks of hair cut from the head of the votary.

Diomede had knowingly wounded and insulted the deities; he therefore met Glaucus with a superstitious fear that he might be some deity in human shape. This feeling brought to his mind the story of Lycurgus.

It is said that Lycurgus caused most of the vines of his country to be rooted up, so that his subjects were obliged to mix their wine with water, as it became less plentiful. Hence the fable that Thetis received Bacchus into her bosom.

This style of language was according to the manners of the times. Thus Goliath to David, “Approach, and I will give thy flesh to the fowls of the air and the beasts of the field.” The Orientals still speak in the same manner.

Though this comparison may be justly admired for its beauty in the obvious application to the mortality and succession of human life, it seems designed by the poet, in this place, as a proper emblem of the transitory state of families which, by their misfortune or folly, have fallen and decayed, and again appear, in a happier season, to revive and flourish in the fame and virtues of their posterity. In this sense it is a direct answer to the question of Diomede, as well as a proper preface to what Glaticus relates of his own family, which, having become extinct in Corinth, recovers new life in Lycia.

The same as Corinth.

Some suppose that alphabetical writing was unknown in the Homeric age, and consequently that these signs must have been hieroglyphical marks. The question is a difficult one, and the most distinguished scholars are divided in opinion. We can hardly imagine that a poem of the length and general excellence of the Iliad, could be composed without the aid of writing; and yet, we are told, there are well-authenticated examples of such works being preserved and handed down by traditional memory. However this may be, we know that the Oriental nations were in possession of the art of alphabetical writing it a very early period, and before the Trojan war. It cannot, then, seem very improbable, that the authors of the Iliad should also have been acquainted with it.—Felton.

The Solymi were an ancient nation inhabiting the mountainous parts of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Pisidia. Pliny mentions them as having become extinct in his time.

It was the custom in ancient times, upon the performance of any signal service by kings or great men, for the public to grant them a tract of land as a reward. When Sarpedon, in the 12th Book, exhorts Glaucus to behave valiantly, he reminds him of these possessions granted by his countrymen.

The laws of hospitality were considered so sacred, that a friendship contracted under their observance was preferred to the ties of consanguinity and alliance, and regarded as obligatory even to the third and fourth generation. Diomede and Glaucus here became friends, on the ground of their grandfathers having been mutual guests. The presents made on these occasions were preserved by families, as it was considered obligatory to transmit them as memorials to their children.

[Ξεινοι πατρωιοι.]

The Scæan gate opened to the field of battle, and was the one through which the Trojans made their excursions. Close to this stood the beech tree sacred to Jupiter, and often mentioned in connection with it.

There is a mournfulness in the interview between the hero and his mother which is deeply interesting. Her urging him to take wine and his refusal were natural and simple incidents, which heighten the effect of the scene.—Felton.

The custom that prohibits persons polluted with blood from performing any offices of divine worship before purification, is so ancient and universal, that it may be considered a precept of natural religion, tending to inspire a horror of bloodshed. In Euripides, Iphigenia argues the impossibility of human sacrifices being acceptable to the gods, since they do not permit any one defiled with blood, or even polluted with the touch of a dead body, to come near their altars.

Paris surprised the King of Phœnecia by night, and carried off many of his treasures and captives, among whom probably were these Sidonian women. Tyre and Sidon were famous for works in gold, embroidery, etc., and for whatever pertained to magnificence and luxury.

This gesture is the only one described by Homer as being used by the ancients in their invocations of the gods.

[δια θεαων.]

The employment in which Hector finds Paris engaged, is extremely characteristic.—Felton.

This address of Helen is in fine keeping with her character.—Felton.

[The bulk of his heroes is a circumstance of which Homer frequently reminds us by the use of the word μεγας—and which ought, therefore, by no means to be suppressed.—Tr.]

Love of his country is a prominent characteristic of Hector, and is here beautifully displayed in his discharging the duties that the public welfare required, before seeking his wife and child. Then finding that she had gone to the tower, he retraces his steps to “the Scæan gate, whence he must seek the field.” Here his wife, on her return home, accidentally meets him.

[The name signifies, the _Chief of the city_.—Tr.]

It was the custom to plant about tombs only such trees as elms, alders, etc., that bear no fruit, as being most appropriate to the dead.

In this recapitulation, Homer acquaints us with some of the great achievements of Achilles, which preceded the opening of the poem—a happy manner of exalting his hero, and exciting our expectation as to what he is yet to accomplish. His greatest enemies never upbraid him, but confess his glory. When Apollo encourages the Trojans to fight, it is by telling them Achilles fights no more. When Juno animates the Greeks, she reminds them how their enemies fear Achilles; and when Andromache trembles for Hector, it is with the remembrance of his resistless force.

Drawing water was considered the most servile employment.

[The Scholiast in Villoisson calls it φυσικον τινα και μετριον γελωτα a natural and moderate laughter.—Tr.]

According to the ancient belief, the fatal period of life is appointed to all men at the time of their birth, which no precaution can avoid and no danger hasten.

This scene, for true and unaffected pathos, delicate touches of nature, and a profound knowledge of the human heart, has rarely been equalled, and never surpassed, among all the efforts of genius during the three thousand years that have gone by since it was conceived and composed.—Felton.

Footnotes for Book VII:

Holding the spear in this manner was, in ancient warfare, understood as a signal to discontinue the fight.

The challenge of Hector and the consternation of the Greeks, presents much the same scene as the challenge of Goliath, 1 Samuel, ch. 17: “And he stood and cried to the armies of Israel;—Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants.—When Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.”

It was an ancient custom for warriors to dedicate trophies of this kind to the temples of their tutelary deities.

[The club-bearer.]

[It is a word used by Dryden.]

Homer refers every thing, even the chance of the lots, to the disposition of the gods.

[Agamemnon.]

The lot was merely a piece of wood or shell, or any thing of the kind that was at hand. Probably it had some private mark, and not the name, as it was only recognized by the owner.

This reply is supposed to allude to some gesture made by Ajax in approaching Hector.

The heralds were considered as sacred persons, the delegates of Mercury, and inviolable by the laws of nations. Ancient history furnishes examples of the severity exercised upon those who were guilty of any outrage upon them. Their office was, to assist in the sacrifices and councils, to proclaim war or peace, to command silence at ceremonies or single combats, to part the combatants and declare the conqueror.

This word I have taken leave to coin. The Latins have both substantive and adjective. _Purpura—Purpureus._ We make purple serve both uses; but it seems a poverty to which we have no need to submit, at least in poetry.—Tr.

A particular mark of honor and respect, as this part of the victim belonged to the king. In the simplicity of the times, the reward offered a victorious warrior of the best portion of the sacrifice at supper, a more capacious bowl, or an upper seat at table, was a recompense for the greatest actions. It is worthy of observation, that beef, mutton, or kid, was the food of the heroes of Homer and the patriarchs and warriors of the Old Testament. Fishing and fowling were then the arts of more luxurious nations.

[The word is here used in the Latin sense of it. Virgil, describing the entertainment given by Evander to the Trojans, says that he regaled them

Perpetui _tergo bovis et lustralibus extis._ Æn. viii.

It means, the whole.—Tr.]

Footnotes for Book VIII:

An epithet of Aurora, supposed to designate an early hour.

Many have explained this as an allegorical expression for one of the great laws of nature—gravity or the attraction of the sun. There is not the slightest probability that any such meaning is intended.—Felton.

A part of Mt. Ida. This place was celebrated, in subsequent times, for the worship of Jupiter. Several years ago, Dr. E.D. Clarke deposited, in the vestibule of the public library in Cambridge, England, a marble bust of Juno, taken from the ruins of this temple of Jupiter, at the base of Mt. Ida.—Felton

[In the repetition of this expression, the translator follows the original.]

Sacred, because that part of the day was appropriate to sacrifice and religious worship.

This figure is first used in the Scriptures. Job prays to be weighed in an even balance, that God may know his integrity. Daniel says to Belshazzar, “thou art weighed in the balances, and found wanting,” etc.

Jupiter’s declaring against the Greeks by thunder and lightning, is drawn (says Dacier) from truth itself. 1 Sam. ch. vii.: “And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel; but the Lord thundered on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them.”

Nothing can be more spirited than the enthusiasm of Hector, who, in the transport of his joy, breaks out in the following apostrophe to his horses. He has, in imagination, already forced the Grecian entrenchments, set the fleet in flames, and destroyed the whole army.

From this speech, it may be gathered that women were accustomed to loosen the horses from the chariot, on their return from battle, and feed them; and from line 214, unless it is spurious, it seems that the provender was sometimes mixed with wine. It is most probable, however, that the line is not genuine.—Felton.

Homer describes a princess so tender in her love to her husband, that she meets him on his return from every battle, and, in the joy of seeing him again, feeds his horses with bread and wine, as an acknowledgment to them for bringing him back.—Dacier.

These were the arms that Diomede had received from Glaucus.

[None daring to keep the field, and all striving to enter the gates together, they obstructed their own passage, and were, of course, compelled into the narrow interval between the foss and rampart.

But there are different opinions about the space intended. See Villoisson.—Tr.]

[To Jove, the source of all oracular information.]

Jupiter, in answer to the prayer of Agamemnon, sends an omen to encourage the Greeks. The application of it is obvious: The eagle signified Hector, the fawn denoted the fear and flight of the Greeks, and being dropped at the altar of Jupiter, indicated that they would be saved by the protection of that god.

This simile is very beautiful, and exactly represents the manner of Gorgythion’s death. There is so much truth in the comparison, that we pity the fall of the youth and almost feel his wound.

[Ενικλαν.—The word is here metaphorical, and expresses, in its primary use, the breaking of a spear against a shield.—Tr.]

[The following lines, to the end of this paragraph, are a translation of some which Barnes has here inserted from the second Alcibiades of Plato.]

The simile is the most magnificent that can be conceived. The stars come forth brightly, the whole heaven is cloudless and serene, the moon is in the sky, the heights, and promontories, and forests stand forth distinctly in the light, _and the shepherd rejoices in his heart_. This last simple and natural circumstance is inexpressibly beautiful, and heightens the effect of the visible scene, by associating it, in the most direct and poetical manner, with the inward emotion that such a scene must produce.—Felton.

Footnotes for Book IX:

[In the original the word is—μελανυδρος—dark-watered; and it is rendered—_deep_—by the best interpreters, because deep waters have a blackish appearance. Δνοφερον υδωρ is properly water that runs with rapidity; water—μετα δονησεως φερομενον—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

This is the language of a brave man, boldly to affirm that courage is above crowns and sceptres. In former times they were not hereditary, but the recompense of valor.

[The observation seems made with a view to prevent such a reply from Agamemnon to Diomede as might give birth to new dissensions, while it reminds him indirectly of the mischiefs that had already attended his quarrel with Achilles.]—Tr.

This speech of Nestor is happily conceived. It belonged to him as the aged counsellor to begin the debate, by laying the subject before the assembly, especially as it was necessary to impale the blame of the present unfortunate condition of the army to Agamemnon. It would have been presumptuous in any other, and it was a matter of difficulty and delicacy even for Nestor.—Felton.

In the heroic age, the bridegroom, before marriage, was obliged to make two presents, one to his betrothed wife, and one to his father-in-law. This was also an ancient custom of the Hebrews. Abraham’s servant gave presents to Rebekah: Gen. xxiv. 22. Shechem promised a dowry and gift to Jacob for his daughter: Gen. xxiv. 12. And in after times, Saul said he desired no dowry for Michal: 1 Sam. xviii. 25.

One of the religious ceremonies previous to any important enterprise. Then followed the order for silence and reverent attention; then the libation, &c.—Felton

Achilles having retired from action in displeasure to Agamemnon, quieted himself by singing to his lyre the achievements of demi-gods and heroes. Nothing was better suited to the martial disposition of this hero, than these heroic songs. Celebrating the actions of the valiant prepared him for his own great exploits. Such was the music of the ancients, and to such purposes was it applied. When the lyre of Paris was offered to Alexander, he replied that he had little value for it, but much desired that of Achilles, on which he sung the actions of heroes in former times.—Plutarch.

The manners of the Iliad are the manners of the patriarchal and early ages of the East. The chief differences arise from a different religion and a more maritime situation. Very far removed from the savage state on the one hand, and equally distant from the artificial state of an extended commerce and a manufacturing population on the other, the spirit and habitudes of the two modes of society are almost identical. The hero and the Patriarch are substantially coëval; but the first wanders in twilight, the last stands in the eye of Heaven. When three men appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, he ran to meet them from the tent door, brought them in, directed Sarah to make bread, fetched from the herd himself a calf tender and good, dressed it, and set it before them. When Ajax, Ulysses, and Phœnix stand before Achilles, he rushes forth to greet them, brings them into the tent, directs Patroclus to mix the wine, cuts up the meat, dresses it, and sets it before the ambassadors. * * * *

Instances of this sort might be multiplied to any extent, but the student will find it a pleasing and useful task to discover them for himself; and these will amply suffice to demonstrate the existence of that correspondence of spirit and manners between the Homeric and the early ages of the Bible history, to which I have adverted. It is real and important; it affords a standard of the feelings with which we ought to read the Iliad, if we mean to read it as it deserves; and it explains and sets in the true point of view numberless passages, which the ignorance or frivolity of after-times has charged with obscurity, meanness or error. The Old Testament and the Iliad reflect light mutually on each other; and both in respect of poetry and morals (for the whole of Homer’s poetry is a praise of virtue, and every thing in him tends to this point, except that which is merely superfluous and for ornament) it may with great truth be said, that he who has the longest studied, and the most deeply imbibed, the spirit of the Hebrew Bible, will the best understand and the most lastingly appreciate the tale of Troy divine.—H.N. Coleridge.

[I have given this sense to the word Ζωροτερον—on the authority of the Venetian Scholium, though some contend that it should be translated—_quickly_. Achilles, who had reproached Agamemnon with intemperate drinking, was, himself, more addicted to music than to wine.]—Tr.

[It is not without authority that I have thus rendered κρειον μεγα. Homer’s banquets are never stewed or boiled; it cannot therefore signify a kettle. It was probably a kitchen-table, dresser, or tray, on which the meat was prepared for the spit. Accordingly we find that this very meat was spitted afterward.—See Schaufelbergerus.]—Tr.

There are no speeches in the Iliad better placed, better timed, or that give a greater idea of Homer’s genius than these of the ambassadors to Achilles. They are not only demanded by the occasion, but skilfully arranged, and in a manner that gives pleasure to the reader.

[Dacier observes, that he pluralizes the one wife of Menelaus, through the impetuosity of his spirit.]—Tr.

According to some ancient writers, Achilles was but twelve years of age when he went to the wars of Troy. And from what is here related of his education under Phœnix, it may be inferred, that the fable of his having been taught by Chiron is an invention of a later age and unknown to Homer.

The ancients gave the name of Jupiter not only to the God of heaven, but also to the God of hell, as is seen here; and to the God of the sea, as appears from Æschylus. They meant thereby to show that one sole deity governed the world. To teach this truth, statues were made of Jupiter which had three eyes. Priam had one in the court of his palace, which, in sharing the booty of the war of Troy, fell to the lot of Sthenelus, who carried it to Greece.—Dacier.

So called because Jove protects those who implore his aid.

[Wrinkled—because the countenance of a man driven to prayer by a consciousness of guilt is sorrowful and dejected. Lame—because it is a remedy to which men recur late, and with reluctance. And slant-eyed—either because, in that state of humiliation they fear to lift their eyes to heaven, or are employed in taking a retrospect of their past misconduct.

The whole allegory, considering _when_ and _where_ it was composed, forms a very striking passage.]—Tr.

[She had five brothers: Iphiclus, Polyphontes, Phanes, Eurypylus, Plexippus.]—Tr.

It was the custom for the murderer to go into banishment for one year. But if the relations of the murdered person were willing, the criminal, by paying a certain fine, might buy off the exile and remain at home. Ajax sums up this argument with great strength: We see, says he, a brother forgive the murder of his brother, a father that of his son; but Achilles will not forgive the injury offered him by taking away one captive woman.

The character of Achilles is well sustained in all his speeches. To Ulysses he returns a flat denial, and threatens to leave the Trojan shore in the morning. To Phœnix his answer is more gentle. After Ajax has spoken, he seems determined not to depart, but yet refuses to bear arms, except in defence of his own squadron.

Footnotes for Book X:

With slight alteration, Homer here repeats the verses that open the 2d Book, and ascribes to Agamemnon the same watchfulness over men that Jupiter had over the gods.

Menelaus starts a design, which is afterwards proposed by Nestor in council. The poet knew that the project would come with greater weight from the age of the one than from the youth of the other, and that the valiant would be ready to engage in the enterprise suggested by so venerable a counsellor.

Agamemnon is uniformly represented as an example of brotherly affection, and at all times defends Menelaus.

[Σαυρωτηρ—seems to have been a hollow iron with a point, fitted to the obtuse end of the spear, for the purpose of planting that end of it in the ground. It might probably be taken off at pleasure.]—Tr.

The dogs represent the watch, the flocks the Greeks, the fold their camp, and the wild beast that invades them, Hector. The place, position, and circumstances are represented with the utmost life and nature.

[_Sable_, because the expedition was made by night, and _each with a lamb_, as typical of the fruit of their labors.]—Tr.

It required some address in Diomede to make a choice without offending the Grecian princes, each one of whom might consider it an indignity to be refused such a place of honor. Diomede, therefore, chose Ulysses, not for his valor, but for his wisdom. On this point, the other leaders all yielded to him.

The heroes are well armed for their design. Ulysses has a bow and arrows, that he may be able to wound the enemy at a distance, and Diomede a two-edged sword. They both have leathern helmets, as the glittering of the metal might betray them to the enemy.

[Autolycus was grandfather of Ulysses by the mother’s side.]—Tr.

Making these military presents to brave adventurers was an ancient custom. “Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David; and his garments, even to his sword, and his bow, and his girdle.” 1 Sam. xviii. v.

These lines show how careful the poet always was to be true to nature. The little circumstance that they could not _see_ the heron, but only heard him, stamps the description with an air of verisimilitude which is at once recognized.—Felton.

This passage sufficiently justifies Diomede for his choice of Ulysses. Diomede, who was most renowned for valor, might have given a wrong interpretation to this omen, and have been discouraged from proceeding in the attempt. For though it really signified that, as the bird was not seen, but only heard, so they should not be discovered by the Trojans, but perform actions of which all Troy should hear with sorrow; yet, on the other hand, it might imply that, as they discovered the bird by the noise of its wings, so the noise they should make would betray them to the Trojans. Pallas does not send the bird sacred to herself, but the heron, because that is a bird of prey, and denoted that they should spoil the Trojans.

Dolon seems to have been eminent for wealth, and Hector summons him to the assembly as one of the chiefs of Troy. He was known to the Greeks, perhaps, from his having passed between the two armies as a herald. Ancient writers observe, that it was the office of Dolon that led him to offer himself in this service. The sacredness attached to it gave him hopes that they would not violate his person, should he chance to be taken; and his riches he knew were sufficient to purchase his liberty. Besides these advantages, he probably trusted to his swiftness to escape pursuit.

Eustathius remarks upon the different manner in which the Grecians and Trojans conduct the same enterprise. In the council of the Greeks, a wise old man proposes the adventure with an air of deference; in that of the Trojans, a brave young man with an air of authority. The one promises a small gift, but honorable and certain; the other a great one, but uncertain and less honorable, because it is given as a reward. Diomede and Ulysses are inspired with a love of glory; Dolon with the thirst of gain. They proceed with caution and bravery; he with rashness and vanity. They go in conjunction; he alone. They cross the fields out of the road, he follows the common track. In all this there is an admirable contrast, and a moral that strikes every reader at first sight.

[Commentators are extremely in the dark, and even Aristarchus seems to have attempted an explanation in vain. The translator does not pretend to have ascertained the distance intended, but only to have given a distance suited to the occasion.]—Tr.

Ulysses makes no promise of life, but artfully bids Dolon, who is overpowered by fear, not to think of death. He was so cautious as not to believe a friend just before without an oath, but he trusts an enemy without even a promise.

['Οσσαι γαρ Τρωων πυρος εσχαραι—As many as are owners of hearths—that is to say, all who are householders here, or natives of the city.]—Tr

It seems barbarous in Diomede thus to have killed Dolon, but Eustathius observes that it was necessary to their success, as his cries might have put the Trojans on their guard.

An allegorical manner of saying that they were awakened by the morning light.

[Homer did not here forget himself, though some have altered τρις ιο τετρακαιδεκατον.—Rhesus for distinction sake is not numbered with his people—See Villoisson _in loco_.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XI:

Cynyras was king of Cyprus, and this probably alludes to some historical fact. Cyprus was famous for its minerals.

[Τρεις εκατερθ'—three on a side, This is evidently the proper punctuation, though it differs from that of all the editions that I have seen. I find it no where but in the _Venetian Scholium_.]—Tr.

It is finely remarked by Trollope, that, of all the points of resemblance which may be discovered between the sentiments, associations and expressions of Homer, and those of the sacred writings, this similitude is perhaps the most striking; and there can be little doubt that it exhibits a traditional vestige of the patriarchal record of God’s covenant.—Felton.

[Quâtre-crested. So I have rendered τετραφαληρον which literally signifies having four cones. The cone was a tube into which the crest was inserted. The word quâtre-crested may need a precedent for its justification, and seems to have a sufficient one in the cinque-spotted cowslip of Shakspeare.]—Tr.

[This seems the proper import of εγδουπησαν. Jupiter is called εριγδουτος.]—Tr.

[The translator follows Clarke in this interpretation of a passage to us not very intelligible.]

The ancient manner of mowing and reaping was, for the laborers to divide in two parties, and to begin at each end of the field, which was equally divided, and proceed till they met in the middle of it.

Time was then measured by the progression of the sun, and the parts of the day were distinguished by the various employments.

[ολμος.]

[The Grecians at large are indiscriminately called Danaï, Argives, and Achaians, in the original. The Phthians in particular—Hellenes. They were the troops of Achilles.]—Tr.

[Ανεμοτρεφες—literally—wind-nourished.]—Tr.

In making Ulysses direct Diomede, Homer intends to show that valor should be under the guidance of wisdom. In the 8th Book, when Diomede could hardly be restrained by the thunder of Jupiter, his valor is checked by the wisdom of Nestor.

Diomede does not fear Hector, but Jupiter, who, he has previously said, will give the Trojans the day.

[In the original—κερα αγλαε.—All that I pretend to know of this expression is that it is ironical, and may relate either to the head-dress of Paris, or to his archership. To translate it is impossible; to paraphrase it, in a passage of so much emotion, would be absurd. I have endeavored to supply its place by an appellation in point of contempt equal.]—Tr.

No moral is so evident throughout the Iliad, as the dependence of man upon divine assistance and protection. Apollo saves Hector from the dart, and Minerva Ulysses.

Homer here pays a marked distinction. The army had seen several of their bravest heroes wounded, yet without expressing as much concern as at the danger of Machaon, their physician and surgeon.

[This interpretation of—μινυνθα δε χαζετο δουρος—is taken from the Scholium by Villoisson. It differs from those of Clarke, Eustathius, and another Scholiast quoted by Clarke, but seems to suit the context much better than either.]—Tr.

The address of Homer in bringing off Ajax is admirable. He makes Hector afraid to approach him, and brings down Jupiter to terrify him. Thus he retreats, not from a mortal, but from a God.

The whole passage is inimitably just and beautiful. We see Ajax slowly retreating between two armies, and even with a look repulse the one and protect the other. Every line resembles Ajax. The character of a stubborn and undaunted warrior is perfectly maintained. He compares him first to the lion for his undaunted spirit in fighting, and then to the ass for his stubborn slowness in retreating. In the latter comparison there are many points of resemblance that enliven the image. The havoc he makes in the field is represented by the tearing and trampling down the harvests; and we see the bulk, strength, and obstinancy of the hero, when the Trojans, in respect to him, are compared to the troops of boys that impotently endeavor to drive him away.

It must be borne in mind that among the people of the East, an ass was a beast upon which kings and princes might ride with dignity.

Though the resentment of Achilles would not permit him to be an actor in the field, yet his love of war inclines him to be a spectator. As the poet did not intend to draw the character of a perfect man in Achilles, he makes him delighted with the destruction of the Greeks, because it gratified his revenge. That resentment which is the subject of the poem, still presides over every other feeling, even the love of his country. He begins now to pity his countrymen, yet he seems gratified by their distress, because it will contribute to his glory.

This onion was very different from the root which now passes under that name. It had a sweet flavor, and was used to impart an agreeable flavor to wine. It is in high repute at the present day in Egypt.—Felton.

[I have interpreted the very ambiguous words ουω δ' υπο πυθμενες ησαν according to Athenæus as quoted by Clarke, and his interpretation of them is confirmed by the Scholium in the Venetian edition of the Iliad, lately published by Villoisson.]—Tr.

Homer here reminds the reader, that Nestor belonged to a former generation of men, who were stronger than the heroes of the war.

[It would have suited the dignity of Agamemnon’s rank to have mentioned _his_ wound first; but Nestor making this recital to the _friend of Achilles_, names him slightly, and without any addition.]—Tr.

[It is said that the Thebans having war with the people of Orchomenos, the Pylians assisted the latter, for which cause Hercules destroyed their city.—See Scholium per Villoisson.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XII:

[The word is of scripture use; see Gen. ch. xxx. where it describes the cattle of Jacob.]—Tr.

[Alluding to the message delivered to him from Jupiter by Iris.]—Tr.

The morality of the Iliad deserves particular attention. It is not _perfect_, upon Christian principles. How should it be under the circumstances of the composition of the poem? Yet, compared with that of all the rest of the classical poetry, it is of a transcendently noble and generous character. The answer of Hector to Polydamas, who would have dissuaded a further prosecution of the Trojan success, has been repeated by many of the most devoted patriots the world ever saw. _We_, who defy augury in these matters, can yet add nothing to the nobleness of the sentiment.—H.N. Coleridge.

[πλεονων δε τοι εργον αμεινον.—This is evidently proverbial, for which reason I have given it that air in the translation.]—Tr.

There is something touching in this simile. Our attention is fixed, not so much on the battle, as on the struggles of the laboring, true-hearted woman, who toils for a hard-earned pittance for her children. The description is not so much illustrated by the simile, as the simile by the description.—Felton.

The description of this exploit of Hector is wonderfully imposing. It seems to be the poet’s wish to magnify his deeds during the short period that he has yet to live, both to do justice to the hero of Troy, and to give the greater glory to Achilles his conquerer.—Felton.

Footnotes for Book XIII:

We are hurried through this book by the warlike ardor of the poet. Battle succeeds battle with animating rapidity. The speeches are in fine keeping with the scenes, and the similes are drawn from the most imposing natural phenomena. The descriptions possess a wonderful distinctness and vigor, presenting the images to the mind by a few bold and grand lines, thus shunning the confusion of intricate and minute detail.—Felton.

So called from their simple diet, consisting principally of mare’s milk. They were a people living on the north-east coast of the Euxine Sea. These epithets are sometimes supposed to be the _gentile_ denominations of the different tribes; but they are all susceptible of interpretation as epithets applied to the Hippemolgi.—Felton.

[For this admirable line the translator is indebted to Mr. Fuseli.]—Tr.

The following simile is considered by critics as one of the finest in Homer.

[A fitter occasion to remark on this singular mode of approach in battle, will present itself hereafter.]—Tr.

[The bodies of Imbrius and Amphimachus.]

[Amphimachus.]

This is a noble passage. The difference between the conduct of the brave man and that of the coward is drawn with great vigor and beauty.—Felton.

[Hypsenor.]

[This seems to be he meaning ofεν μεγαρω an expression similar to that of Demosthenes in a parallel case—ετι ενδον ουσαν.—See Schaufelburgerus.]—Tr

[He is said to have been jealous of him on account of his great popularity, and to have discountenanced him, fearing a conspiracy in his favor to the prejudice of his own family.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The Iäonianans were a distinct people from the Ionians, and according to the Scholium, separated from them by a pillar bearing on opposite sides the name of each.—See Barnes. See also Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The people of Achilles were properly called the Phthiotæ, whereas the Phthians belonged to Protesiläus and Philoctetes.—See Eustathius, as quoted by Clarke.]—Tr.

This simile is derived from one of the most familiar sights among a simple people. It is extremely natural, and its propriety will be peculiarly striking to those who have had occasion to see a yoke of oxen plowing in a hot day.—Felton.

[Achilles.]

[This, according to Eustathius, is the import of αμοιβοι.—See Iliad III., in which Priam relates an expedition of his into that country.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XIV:

The beauty of this simile will be lost to those who have never been at sea during a calm. The water is then not quite motionless, but swells gently in smooth waves, which fluctuate in a balancing motion, until a rising wind gives them a certain determination. Every circumstance of the comparison is just, as well as beautiful.

Anointing the body with perfumed oil was a remarkable part of ancient cosmetics. It was probably an eastern invention, agreeable to the luxury of the Asiatics.

A footstool was considered a mark of honor.

In accordance with the doctrine of Thales the Milesian, that all things are generated from water, and nourished by the same element.

[Hercules.]

Night was venerated, both for her antiquity and power.

[One of the heads of Ida.]

A bird about the size of a hawk, and entirely black.

By Juno is understood the air, and it is allegorically said that she was nourished by the vapors that rise from the ocean and the earth. Tethys being the same as Rhea.

[Europa.]

An evident allusion to the ether and the atmosphere.—E.P.P.

Footnotes for Book XV:

[The translator seizes the opportunity afforded to him by this remarkable passage, to assure his readers who are not readers of the original, that the discipline which Juno is here said to have suffered from the hands of Jove, is not his own invention. He found it in the original, and considering fidelity as his indispensable duty, has not attempted to soften or to refine away the matter. He begs that this observation may be adverted to as often as any passage shall occur in which ancient practices or customs, not consonant to our own, either in point of delicacy or humanity, may be either expressed or alluded to.

He makes this request the rather, because on these occasions Mr. Pope has observed a different conduct, suppressing all such images as he had reason to suppose might be offensive.]—Tr.

The earliest form of an oath seems to have been by the elements of nature, or rather the deities who preside over them.—Trollope.

In the following speech, Jupiter discloses the future events of the war.

The illustration in the following lines is one of the most beautiful in Homer. The rapid passage of Juno is compared to the speed of thought, by which a traveller revisits in imagination the scenes over which he has passed. No simile could more exalt the power of the Goddess.—Felton.

The picture is strikingly true to nature. The smile upon the lip, and frown upon the brow, express admirably the state of mind in which the Goddess must be supposed to have been at this moment.—Felton.

[_To tempest_—κυδοιμησων—Milton uses _tempest_ as a verb. Speaking of the fishes, he says

... part, huge of bulk Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait, _Tempest_ the ocean.

]—Tr.

The Furies are said to wait upon men in a double sense; either for evil; as upon Orestes after he had killed his mother, or else for their good, as upon elders when they are injured, to protect them and avenge their wrongs. The ancients considered birth-right as a right divine.

[Τρωες δε προυτυψαν αολλεες. The translation is literal, and affords one of many instances in which the Greek and English idiom correspond exactly.]—Tr.

[Arcesilaüs.]

[This abruptness of transition from the third person to the first, follows the original.]

[The translator hopes that his learned readers will pardon him, if sometimes, to avoid an irksome cacophony, he turns brass into steel. In fact, arrow had not a point of steel, but a brazen one.]—Tr.

This sentiment is noble and patriotic. It is in strict keeping with the character of Hector, who always appears as his country’s champion, and ready to die in her defence. Our sympathies go with him; we involuntarily wish him success, and deplore his misfortune, though we admire the invincible courage of his more fortunate antagonist. His actions and sentiments, springing from the simplest feelings of our nature, will always command applause, and, under all circumstances, and every form of political existence, will be imitated by the defenders of their country.

The speech of Ajax is animating and powerful. It is conceived in the true spirit of a warrior rousing his followers to make a last effort to repel the enemy.—Felton.

[Meges.]

Hector is here represented as an instrument in the hand of Jupiter, to bring about the design the God had long ago projected. As his fatal hour now approaches, Jove is willing to recompense his early death with this short-lived glory.

It may be asked what Pallas has to do with the Fates, or what power has she over them? Homer speaks thus, because Minerva has already resolved to deceive Hector and exalt Achilles. Pallas, as the wisdom and knowledge of Jove, may be considered as drawing all things to the termination decreed by his councils.

[This termination of the period, so little consonant to the beginning of it, follows the original, where it is esteemed by commentators a great beauty.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XVI:

[This translation of δνοφερον is warranted by the Scholiast, who paraphrases it thus:

μετα δονησεως φερομενον. _Iliad per Vill._]

The friendship of Achilles and Patroclus was celebrated by all antiquity. It is said in the life of Alexander the Great, that when that prince visited the monuments of the heroes of Troy, and placed a crown upon the tomb of Achilles, his friend Hephæstion placed another on that of Patroclus; an intimation of his being to Alexander, what Patroclus was to Achilles. It is also said, that Alexander remarked, “Achilles was happy indeed, in having had such a friend to love him when living, and such a poet to celebrate him when dead.”

[περιαγνυται. A word of incomparable force, and that defies translation.]

This charge is in keeping with the ambitious character of Achilles. He is unwilling that even his dearest friend should have the honor of conquering Hector.

The picture of the situation of Ajax, exhausted by his efforts, pressed by the arms of his assailants and the will of Jupiter, is drawn with much graphic power.—Felton.

Argus-slayer.

The mythi which we find in the Iliad respecting Mercury, represent him as the god who blessed the land with fertility, which was his attribute in the original worship. He is represented as loving the daughter of Phthiotian Phylas, the possessor of many herds, and by her had Eudorus (or riches) whom the aged Phylas fostered and brought up in his house—quite a significant local mythus, which is here related, like others in the usual tone of heroic mythology.—Muller.

This passage is an exact description and perfect ritual of the ceremonies on these occasions. Achilles, urgent as the case was, would not suffer Patroclus to enter the fight, till he had in the most solemn manner recommended him to the protection of Jupiter.

[Meges.]

[Brother of Antilochus.]

[αμαιμακετην—is a word which I can find nowhere satisfactorily derived. Perhaps it is expressive of great length, and I am the more inclined to that sense of it, because it is the epithet given to the mast on which Ulysses floated to Charybdis. We must in that case derive it from αμα and μηκος Doricè, μακος—longitudo.

In this uncertainty I thought myself free to translate it as I have, by the word—monster.]—Tr.

[Apollonius says that the οστεα λευκα here means the οπονδυλους, or vertebræ of the neck.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

['Αμιτροχιτονας is a word, according to Clarke, descriptive of their peculiar habit. Their corselet, and the mail worn under it, were of a piece, and put on together. To them therefore the cincture or belt of the Greeks was unnecessary.]—Tr.

According to the history or fable received in Homer’s time, Sarpedon was interred in Lycia. This gave the poet the liberty of making him die at Troy, provided that after his death he was carried into Lycia, to preserve the fable. In those times, as at this day, princes and persons of rank who died abroad, were carried to their own country to be laid in the tomb of their fathers. Jacob, when dying in Egypt, desired his children to carry him to the land of Canaan, where he wished to be buried.

[Sarpedon certainly was not slain _in the fleet_, neither can the Greek expression νεων εν αγωνι be with propriety interpreted—_in certamine de navibus_—as Clarke and Mme. Dacier are inclined to render it. _Juvenum in certamine_, seems equally an improbable sense of it. Eustathius, indeed, and Terrasson, supposing Sarpedon to assert that he dies in the middle of the fleet (which was false in fact) are kind enough to vindicate Homer by pleading in his favor, that Sarpedon, being in the article of death, was delirious, and knew not, in reality, where he died. But Homer, however he may have been charged with now and then a nap (a crime of which I am persuaded he is never guilty) certainly does not slumber here, nor needs to be so defended. 'Αγων in the 23d Iliad, means the _whole extensive area_ in which the games were exhibited, and may therefore here, without any strain of the expression, be understood to signify the _whole range of shore_ on which the ships were stationed. In which case Sarpedon represents the matter as it was, saying that he dies—νεων εν αγωνι—that is, in the neighborhood of the ships, and in full prospect of them.

The translator assumes not to himself the honor of this judicious remark. It belongs to Mr. Fuseli.]—Tr.

[λασιν κηρ.]

The clouds of thick dust that rise from beneath the feet of the combatants, which hinder them from knowing one another.

[Υπασπιδια προβιβωντος. A similar expression occurs in Book xiii., 158. There we read υπασπιδια προποδιζων. Which is explained by the Scholiast in Villoisson to signify—advancing with quick, short steps, and at the same time covering the feet with a shield. A practice which, unless they bore the αμφιβροτην ασπιδα, must necessarily leave the upper parts exposed.

It is not improbable, though the translation is not accommodated to that conjecture, that Æneas, in his following speech to Meriones, calls him, ορχηστην, with a view to the agility with which he performed this particular step in battle.]—Tr.

[Two lines occurring here in the original which contain only the same matter as the two preceding, and which are found neither in the MSS. use by Barnes nor in the Harleian, the translator has omitted them in his version as interpolated and superfluous.]—Tr.

[Ιρα ταλαντα—_Voluntatem Jovis cui cedendum_—So it is interpreted is the Scholium MSS. Lipsiensis.—Vide Schaufelbergerus.]—Tr.

It is an opinion of great antiquity, that when the soul is on the point of leaving the body, its views become stronger and clearer, and the mind is endowed with a spirit of true prediction.

Footnotes for Book XVII:

In the chase, the spoils of the prey, the hide and head of the animal, belonged to the one who gave the first wound. So in war—the one who first pierced an enemy slain in battle, was entitled to his armor.

[The expediency and utility of prayer, Homer misses no opportunity of enforcing. Cold and comfortless as the religious creed of the heathens was, they were piously attentive to its dictates, and to a degree that may serve as a reproof to many professed believers of revelation. The allegorical history of prayer, given us in the 9th Book of the Iliad from the lips of Phœnix, the speech of Antilochus in the 23d, in which he ascribes the ill success of Eumelus in the chariot race to his neglect of prayer, and that of Pisistratus in the 3d book of the Odyssey, where speaking of the newly-arrived Telemachus, he says;

For I deem Him wont to pray; since all of every land Need succor from the Gods;

are so many proofs of the truth of this remark; to which a curious reader might easily add a multitude.]—Tr.

[There is no word in our language expressive of loud sound at all comparable in effect to the Greek _Bo-o-osin_. I have therefore endeavored by the juxta-position of two words similar in sound, to palliate in some degree defect which it was not in my power to cure.]—Tr.

[Or collar-bone.]

[The proper meaning of επιοσαομενω—is not simply _looking on_, but _providing against_. And thus their ignorance of the death of Patroclus is accounted for. They were ordered by Nestor to a post in which they should have little to do themselves, except to superintend others, and were consequently too remote from Patroclus to see him fall, or even to hear that he had fallen.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

This is one of the similes of Homer which illustrates the manners and customs of his age. The mode of preparing hides for use is particularly described. They were first softened with oil, and then were stretched every direction by the hands of men, so that the moisture might be removed and the oil might penetrate them. Considered in the single point of comparison intended, it gives a lively picture of the struggle on all sides to get possession of the body.—Felton.

This is the proper imperfect of the verb _chide_, though modern usage has substituted _chid_, a word of mean and awkward sound, in the place of it.

This alludes to the custom of placing columns upon tombs, on which were frequently represented chariots with two or four horses. The horses standing still to mourn for their master, could not be more finely represented than by the dumb sorrow of images standing over a tomb. Perhaps the very posture in which these horses are described, their heads bowed down, and their manes falling in the dust, has an allusion to the attitude in which those statues on monuments were usually represented; there are bas-reliefs that favor this conjecture.

[The Latin plural of Ajax is sometimes necessary, because the English plural—Ajaxes—would be insupportable.]—Tr.

[Leïtus was another chief of the Bœotians.]—Tr.

[Διφρω εφεσταοτος—Yet we learn soon after that he fought on foot. But the Scholiast explains the expression thus—νεωστι τω διφωω επιβαντος. The fact was that Idomeneus had left the camp on foot, and was on foot when Hector prepared to throw at him. But Cœranus, charioteer of Meriones, observing his danger, drove instantly to his aid. Idomeneus had just time to mount, and the spear designed for him, struck Cœranus.—For a right understanding of this very intricate and difficult passage, I am altogether indebted to the Scholiast as quoted by Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The translator here follows the interpretation preferred by the Scholiast. The original expression is ambiguous, and may signify, either, that _we shall perish in the fleet ourselves_, or that Hector will soon be in the midst of it. Vide Villoisson _in loco_.]—Tr.

[A noble instance of the heroism of Ajax, who asks not deliverance from the Trojans, or that he may escape alive, but light only, without which be could not possibly distinguish himself. The tears of such a warrior, and shed for such a reason, are singularly affecting.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XVIII:

This speech of Antilochus may serve as a model for its brevity.

This form of manifesting grief is frequently alluded to in the classical writers, and sometimes in the Bible. The lamentation of Achilles is in the spirit of the heroic times, and the poet describes it with much simplicity. The captives join in the lamentation, perhaps in the recollection of his gentleness, which has before been alluded to.—Felton.

[Here it is that the drift of the whole poem is fulfilled. The evils consequent on the quarrel between him and Agamemnon, at last teach Achilles himself this wisdom—that wrath and strife are criminal and pernicious; and the confession is extorted from his own lips, that the lesson may be the more powerfully inculcated. To point the instruction to leaders of armies only, is to narrow its operation unnecessarily. The moral is of universal application, and the poet’s beneficent intentions are wronged by one so partial.]—Tr.

The promise of Thetis to present her son with a suit of armor, was the most artful method of hindering him from putting immediately in practice his resolution of fighting, which, with his characteristic violence, he would otherwise have done.

[The sun is said to set with reluctance, because his setting-time was not yet come. Jupiter had promised Hector that he should prevail till the sun should go down, and _sacred darkness cover all_. Juno therefore, impatient to arrest the victor’s progress, and having no other means of doing it, shortens the time allotted him.]—Tr.

[καταδημοβορησαι.]

This custom of washing the dead is continued among the Greeks to this day, and is performed by the dearest friend or relative. The body is then anointed with a perfume, and covered with linen, exactly in the manner here related.

Among the Greeks, visitors of rank are still honored in the same manner, by being set apart from the rest of the company, on a high seat, with a footstool.

['Ανεδραμε.]

The description of the shield of Achilles is one of the noblest passages in the Iliad. It is elaborated to the highest finish of poetry. The verse is beautifully harmonious, and the language as nicely chosen and as descriptive as can be conceived. But a still stronger interest belongs to this episode when considered as an exact representation of life at a very early period of the world, as it undoubtedly was designed by the poet.

It is certainly a most remarkable passage for the amount of information it conveys relative to the state of arts, and the general condition of life at that period. From many intimations in the ancient authors, it may be gathered, that shields were often adorned by deities of figures in bas-relief, similar to those here described. In particular, see Æschylus in the Seven against Thebes. A close examination of the whole passage will lead to many curious inductions and inferences relative to the ancient world, and throw much light upon points which are elsewhere left in great obscurity.—Felton.

Murder was not always punished with death or even banishment. But on the payment of a fine, the criminal was allowed to remain in the city.

Linus was the most ancient name in poetry, the first upon record as inventor of verse and measure among the Grecians. There was a solemn custom among the Greeks, of bewailing annually their first poet. Pausanias informs us, that before the yearly sacrifice to the Muses on Mount Helicon, the obsequies of Linus were performed, who had a statue and altar erected to him in that place. In this passage Homer is supposed to allude to that custom.

See article Theseus, Gr. and Rom. Mythology.

There were two kinds of dance—the Pyrrhic, and the common dance; both are here introduced. The Pyrrhic, or military, is performed by Youths wearing swords, the other by the virgins crowned with garlands. The Grecian dance is still performed in this manner in the oriental nations. The youths and maidens dance in a ring, beginning slowly; by degrees the music plays in quicker time, till at last they dance with the utmost swiftness; and towards the conclusion, they sing in a general chorus.

The point of comparison is this. When the potter first tries the wheel to see “if it will run,” he moves it much faster than when at work. Thus it illustrates the rapidity of the dance.—Felton.

Footnotes for Book XIX:

[Brave men are great weepers—was a proverbial saying in Greece. Accordingly there are few of Homer’s heroes who do not weep plenteously on occasion. True courage is doubtless compatible with the utmost sensibility. See Villoisson.]—Tr.

The fear with which the divine armor filled the Myrmidons, and the exaltation of Achilles, the terrible gleam of his eye, and his increased desire for revenge, are highly poetical.—Felton.

The ancients had a great horror of putrefaction previous to interment.

[Achilles in the first book also summons a council himself, and not as was customary, by a herald. It seems a stroke of character, and intended by the poet to express the impetuosity of his spirit, too ardent for the observance of common forms, and that could trust no one for the dispatch he wanted.]—Tr.

['Ασπασιως γονυ καμψειν.—Shall be glad to bend their knee, i.e. to sit and repose themselves.]—Tr.

[Τουτον μυθον.—He seems to intend the reproaches sounded in his ear from all quarters, and which he had repeatedly heard before.]—Tr.

[By some call’d Antibia, by others, Nicippe.]—Tr.

It was unlawful to eat the flesh of victims that were sacrificed in confirmation of oaths. Such were victims of malediction.

Nothing can be more natural than the representation of these unhappy young women; who, weary of captivity, take occasion from every mournful occurrence to weep afresh, though in reality little interested in the objects that call forth these expressions of sorrow.—Dacier.

Son of Deidameia, daughter of Lycomedes, in whose house Achilles was concealed at the time when he was led forth to the war.

[We are not warranted in accounting any practice unnatural or absurd, merely because it does not obtain among ourselves. I know not that any historian has recorded this custom of the Grecians, but that it was a custom among them occasionally to harangue their horses, we may assure ourselves on the authority of Homer, who would not have introduced such speeches, if they could have appeared as strange to his countrymen as they do to us.]—Tr.

Hence it seems, that too great an insight into futurity, or the revelation of more than was expedient, was prevented by the Furies.—Trollope.

Footnotes for Book XX:

[This rising ground was five stadia in circumference, and was between the river Simois and a village named Ilicon, in which Paris is said to have decided between the goddesses. It was called Callicolone, being the most conspicuous ground in the neighborhood of the city.—Villoisson.]—Tr.

[Iris is the messenger of the gods on ordinary occasions, Mercury on those of importance. But Themis is now employed, because the affair in question is a council, and to assemble and dissolve councils is her peculiar Province. The return of Achilles is made as magnificent as possible. A council in heaven precedes it, and a battle of the gods is the consequence.—Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The readiness of Neptune to obey the summons is particularly noticed, on account of the resentment he so lately expressed, when commanded by Jupiter to quit the battle.—Villoisson.]—Tr.

The description of the battle of the gods is strikingly grand. Jupiter thunders in the heavens, Neptune shakes the boundless earth and the high mountain-tops; Ida rocks on its base, and the city of the Trojans and the ships of the Greeks tremble; and Pluto leaps from his throne in terror, lest his loathsome dominions should be laid open to mortals and immortals.—Felton.

[The Leleges were a colony of Thessalians, and the first inhabitants of the shores of the Hellespont.]—Tr.

Hector was the son of Priam, who descended from Ilus, and Æneas the son of Anchises, whose descent was from Assaracus, the brother of Ilus.

This dialogue between Achilles and Æneas, when on the point of battle, as well as several others of a similar description, have been censured as improbable and impossible. The true explanation is to be found in the peculiar character of war in the heroic age. A similar passage has been the subject of remark.—Felton.

[Some commentators, supposing the golden plate the outermost as the most ornamental, have perplexed themselves much with this passage, for how, say they, could two folds be pierced and the spear be stopped by the gold, if the gold lay on the surface? But to avoid the difficulty, we need only suppose that the gold was inserted between the two plates of brass and the two of tin; Vulcan, in this particular, having attended less to ornament than to security.

See the Scholiast in Villoisson, who argues at large in favor of this opinion.]—Tr.

Tmolus was a mountain of Lydia, and Hyda a city of the same country. The Gygæan lake was also in Lydia.

[Neptune. So called, either because he was worshiped on Helicon, a mountain of Bœotia, or from Helice, an island of Achaia, where he had a temple.]—Tr. If the bull bellowed as he was led to the altar, it was considered a favorable omen. Hence the simile.—Felton.

[It is an amiable trait in the character of Hector, that his pity in this instance supercedes his caution, and that at the sight of his brother in circumstances so affecting, he becomes at once inattentive to himself and the command of Apollo.]—Tr.

Footnotes for Book XXI:

The scene is now entirely changed, and the battle diversified with a vast variety of imagery and description. It is worthy of notice, that though the whole war of the Iliad was upon the banks of these rivers, yet Homer has reserved the machinery of the river-gods to aggrandize his hero in this battle. There is no book in the poem which exhibits greater force of imagination, none in which the inexhaustible invention of the poet is more powerfully exerted.

The swarms of locusts that sometimes invade whole countries in the East, have often been described. It seems that the ancient mode of exterminating them was, to kindle a fire, and thus drive them into a lake or river. The simile illustrates in the most striking manner the panic caused by Achilles.—Felton.

According to the Scholiast, Arisba was a city of Thrace, and near to the Hellespont; but according to Eustathius, a city of Troas, inhabited by a colony from Mitylene.

It was an ancient custom to cast living horses into rivers, to honor, as it were, the rapidity of their streams.

This gives us an idea of the superior strength of Achilles. His spear pierced so deep in the ground, that another hero of great strength could not disengage it, but immediately after, Achilles draws it with the utmost ease.

['Ακροκελαινιοων.—The beauty and force of this word are wonderful; I have in vain endeavored to do it justice.]—Tr.

[The reason given in the Scholium is, that the surface being hardened by the wind, the moisture remains unexhaled from beneath, and has time to saturate the roots.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

[Αμβολαδην.]

Homer represents Aphrodite as the protector of Æneas, and in the battle of the Trojans, Ares appears in a disadvantageous light; the weakness of the goddess, and the brutal confidence of the god are described with evident irony. In like manner Diana and the river-god Scamander sometimes play a very undignified part. Apollo alone uniformly maintains his dignity.—Muller.

This is a very beautiful soliloquy of Agenor, such as would naturally arise in the soul of a brave man going upon a desperate enterprise. From the conclusion it is evident, that the story of Achilles being invulnerable except in the heel, is an invention of a later age.

Footnotes for Book XXII:

This simile is very striking. It not only describes the appearance of Achilles, but is peculiarly appropriate because the star was supposed to be of evil omen, and to bring with it disease and destruction. So Priam beholds Achilles, splendid with the divine armor, and the destined slayer of his son.—Felton.

The usual cruelties practised in the sacking of towns. Isaiah foretells to Babylon, that her children shall be dashed in pieces by the Medes. David says to the same city, “Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.”—Ps. c22vii. 9.

It was supposed that venomous serpents were accustomed to eat poisonous roots and plants before attacking their victims.—Felton.

This speech of Hector shows the fluctuation of his mind, with much discernment on the part of the poet. He breaks out, after having apparently meditated a return to the city. But the imagined reproaches of Polydamas, and the anticipated scorn of the Trojans forbid it. He soliloquizes upon the possibility of coming to terms with Achilles, and offering him large concessions; but the character of Achilles precludes all hope of reconciliation. It is a fearful crisis with him, and his mind wavers, as if presentient of his approaching doom.—Felton.

[The repetition follows the original, and the Scholiast is of opinion that Homer uses it here that he may express more emphatically the length to which such conferences are apt to proceed.—Δια την πολυλογιαν τη αναληψε εχρησατο.]—Tr.

[It grew near to the tomb of Ilus.]

The Scamander ran down the eastern side of Ida, and at the distance of three stadia from Troy, making a subterraneous dip, it passed under the walls and rose again in the form of the two fountains here described—from which fountains these rivulets are said to have proceeded.

It was the custom of that age to have cisterns by the side of rivers and fountains, to which the women, including the wives and daughters of kings and princes, resorted to wash their garments.

Sacrifices were offered to the gods upon the hills and mountains, or, in the language of scripture, upon the _high places_, for the people believed that the gods inhabited such eminences.

[The numbers in the original are so constructed as to express the painful struggle that characterizes such a dream.]—Tr.

[προπροκυλινδομενος.]

The whole circumference of ancient Troy is said to have measured sixty stadia. A stadium measured one hundred and twenty-five paces.

[The knees of the conqueror were a kind of sanctuary to which the vanquished fled for refuge.]—Tr.

[The lines of which these three are a translation, are supposed by some to have been designed for the Επινικιον, or song of victory sung by the whole army.]—Tr.

[It was a custom in Thessaly to drag the slayer around the tomb of the slain; which custom was first begun by Simon, whose brother being killed by Eurydamas, he thus treated the body of the murderer. Achilles therefore, being a Thessalian, when he thus dishonors Hector, does it merely in compliance with the common practice of his country.]—Tr.

[It is an observation of the Scholiast, that two more affecting spectacles cannot be imagined, than Priam struggling to escape into the field, and Andromache to cast herself from the wall; for so he understands ατυζομενην απολεσθαι.]—Tr.

A figurative expression. In the style of the orientals, marrow and fatness are taken for whatever is best, most tender, and most delicious.

Homer is in nothing more excellent than in the distinction of characters, which he maintains throughout the poem. What Andromache here says, cannot be said with propriety by any one but Andromache.

Footnotes for Book XXIII:

According to the oriental custom. David mourns in the same manner, refusing to wash or take any repast, and lies upon the earth.

[Bacchus having hospitably entertained Vulcan in the island of Naxos, one of the Cyclades, received from him a cup as a present; but being driven afterward by Lycurgus into the sea, and kindly protected by Thetis, he presented her with this work of Vulcan, which she gave to Achilles for a receptacle of his bones after death.]—Tr.

[The funeral pile was a square of a hundred feet on each side.]—Tr.

The ceremony of cutting off the hair in honor of the dead, was practised not only among the Greeks, but among other nations. Ezekiel describing a great lamentation, says, “They shall make themselves utterly bald for thee.” ch. xxvii. 31. If it was the general custom of any country to wear long hair, then the cutting it off was a token of sorrow; but if the custom was to wear it short, then letting it grow, in neglect, was a sign of mourning.

It was the custom of the ancients not only to offer their own hair to the river-gods of their country, but also the hair of their children. In Egypt hair was consecrated to the Nile.

[Westering wheel.—Milton.]

[Himself and the Myrmidons.]

[That the body might be the more speedily consumed. The same end was promoted by the flagons of oil and honey.]—Tr.

Homer here introduces the gods of the winds in person, and as Iris, or the rainbow, is a sign of winds, they are made to come at her bidding.

[Such it appears to have been in the sequel.]—Tr.

[Φιαλη—a vessel, as Athenæus describes it, made for the purpose of warming water. It was formed of brass, and expanded somewhat in the shape of a broad leaf.]—Tr.

The poet omits no opportunity of paying honor to Nestor. His age has disabled him from taking an active part in the games, yet, Antilochus wins, not by the speed of his horses, but by the wisdom of Nestor.

[This could not happen unless the felly of the wheel were nearly horizontal to the eye of the spectator, in which case the chariot must be infallibly overturned.—There is an obscurity in the passage which none of the commentators explain. The Scholiast, as quoted by Clarke, attempts an explanation, but, I think, not successfully.]—Tr.

[Eumelus.]

[Resentful of the attack made on him by Diomede in the fifth Book.]

[The twin monster or double man called the Molions. They were sons of Actor and Molione, and are said to have had two heads with four hands and four feet, and being so formed were invincible both in battle and in athletic exercises. Even Hercules could only slay them by stratagem, which he did when he desolated Elis. See Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The repetition follows the original.]—Tr.

[παρακαββαλε.]

[With which they bound on the cestus.]—Tr.

[τετριγει—It is a circumstance on which the Scholiast observes that it denotes in a wrestler the greatest possible bodily strength and firmness of position.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

[I have given what seems to me the most probable interpretation, and such a one as to any person who has ever witnessed a wrestling-match, will, I presume, appear intelligible.]—Tr.

[The Sidonians were celebrated not only as the most ingenious artists but as great adepts in science, especially in astronomy and arithmetical calculation.]—Tr.

[King of Lemnos.]

[That is to say, Ulysses; who, from the first intending it, had run close behind him.]—Tr.

The prodigious weight and size of the quoit is described with the simplicity of the orientals, and in the manner of the heroic ages. The poet does not specify the quantity of this enormous piece of iron, but the use it will be to the winner. We see from hence that the ancients in the prizes they proposed, had in view not only the honorable but the useful; a captive for work, a bull for tillage, a quoit for the provision of iron, which in those days was scarce.

[The use of this staff was to separate the cattle. It had a string attached to the lower part of it, which the herdsman wound about his hand, and by the help of it whirled the staff to a prodigious distance.—Villoisson.]—Tr.

[The transition from narrative to dramatic follows the original.]—Tr.

[Apollo; frequently by Homer called the King without any addition.]—Tr.

Teucer is eminent for his archery, yet he is excelled by Meriones, who had not neglected to invoke Apollo the god of archery.

Footnotes for Book XXIV:

This is the first allusion in the Iliad to the _Judgment of Paris_, which gave mortal offence to Minerva and Juno. On this account it has been supposed by some that these lines are spurious, on the ground that Homer could not have known the fable, or he would have mentioned it earlier in the poem.—Felton.

[His blessing, if he is properly influenced by it; his curse in its consequences if he is deaf to its dictates.]—Tr.

[This is the sense preferred by the Scholiast, for it is not true that Thetis was always present with Achilles, as is proved by the passage immediately ensuing.]—Tr.

[The angler’s custom was, in those days, to guard his line above the hook from the fishes’ bite, by passing it through a pipe of horn.]—Tr.

[Jupiter justifies him against Apollo’s charge, affirming him to be free from those mental defects which chiefly betray men into sin, folly, improvidence, and perverseness.]—Tr.

[But, at first, he did fly. It is therefore spoken, as the Scholiast observes, φιλοστοργως, and must be understood as the language of strong maternal affection.]—Tr.

[κοροιτυπιησιν αριστοι.]

[Through which the reins were passed.]—Tr.

[The yoke being flat at the bottom, and the pole round, there would of course be a small aperture between the band and the pole on both sides, through which, according to the Scholium in Villoisson, they thrust the ends of the tackle lest they should dangle.]—Tr.

[The text here is extremely intricate; as it stands now, the sons are, first, said to yoke the horses, then Priam and Idæus are said to do it, and in the palace too. I have therefore adopted an alteration suggested by Clarke, who with very little violence to the copy, proposes instead of ζευγνυσθην to read—ζωννυσθην.]—Tr.

[The words both signify—sable.]—Tr.

Priam begins not with a display of the treasures he has brought for the redemption of Hector’s body, but with a pathetic address to the feelings of Achilles. Homer well knew that neither gold nor silver would influence the heart of a young and generous warrior, but that persuasion would. The old king therefore, with a judicious abruptness, avails himself of his most powerful plea at once, and seizes the sympathy of the hero, before he has time to recollect who it is that addresses him.

[Mortified to see his generosity, after so much kindness shown to Priam, still distrusted, and that the impatience of the old king threatened to deprive him of all opportunity to do gracefully what he could not be expected to do willingly.]—Tr.

[To control anger argues a great mind—and to avoid occasions that may betray one into it, argues a still greater. An observation that should suggest itself to us with no little force, when Achilles, not remarkable either for patience or meekness, exhorts Priam to beware of provoking him; and when having cleansed the body of Hector and covered it, he places it himself in the litter, lest his father, seeing how indecently he had treated it, should be exasperated at the sight, and by some passionate reproach exasperate himself also. For that a person so singularly irascible and of a temper harsh as his, should not only be aware of his infirmity, but even guard against it with so much precaution, evidences a prudence truly wonderful.—Plutarch.]—Tr.

['Επικερτομεων. Clarke renders the word in this place, _falso metû, ludens,_ and Eustathius says that Achilles suggested such cause of fear to Priam, to excuse his lodging him in an exterior part of the tent. The general import of the Greek word is sarcastic, but here it signifies rather—to intimidate. See also Dacier.]—Tr.

The poet here shows the importance of Achilles in the army. Agamemnon is the general, yet all the chief commanders appeal to him for advice, and on his own authority he promises Priam a cessation of arms. Giving his hand to confirm the promise, agrees with the custom of the present day.

This lament of Andromache may be compared to her pathetic address to Hector in the scene at the Scæan gate. It forms indeed, a most beautiful and eloquent pendant to that.—Felton.

[This, according to the Scholiast, is a probable sense of προσφατος.—He derives it απο των νεωστι πεφασμενων εκ γης φυτων.—See Villoisson.]—Tr.

Helen is throughout the Iliad a genuine lady, graceful in motion and speech, noble in her associations, full of remorse for a fault for which higher powers seem responsible, yet grateful and affectionate towards those with whom that fault had connected her. I have always thought the following speech in which Helen laments Hector and hints at her own invidious and unprotected situation in Troy, as almost the sweetest passage in the poem.—H.N. Coleridge.

[Ως οι γ'αμφιεπον ταφον Εκτορος ιπποδαμοιο.]