r in the hands of his dear companion; and
excited amongst them all a longing for weeping. And the light of the sun
had certainly set upon them, mourning, had not Achilles, standing
beside, straightway addressed Agamemnon:

"O son of Atreus (for to thy words the people of the Greeks most
especially hearken), it is possible to satiate oneself even with
weeping;[735] but now do thou dismiss them from the pile, and order them
to prepare supper. We, to whom the corpse is chiefly a care, will labour
concerning these things; but let the chiefs remain with us."

But when the king of men, Agamemnon, heard this, he immediately
dispersed the people among the equal ships; but the mourners remained
there, and heaped up the wood. They formed a pile[736] a hundred feet
this way and that, and laid the body upon the summit of the pile,
grieving at heart.

[Footnote 735: See Buttm. Lexil. p. 25. "Achilles speaks of the
expediency of terminating the lamentations of the army at large,
and leaving what remains to be performed in honour of the
deceased to his more particular friends."--Kennedy.]

[Footnote 736: In illustration of the following rites, cf. Virg.
AEn. iii. 62; v. 96; vi. 215; x. 517; xi. 80, 197, sqq.; and the
notes of Stephens on Saxo Grammat. p. 92.]

Many fat sheep, and stamping-footed, bent-horned oxen, they skinned and
dressed before the pile; from all of which magnanimous Achilles, taking
the fat, covered over the dead body [with it] from head to feet, and
heaped around the skinned carcases. Leaning towards the bier, he
likewise placed vessels of honey and oil,[737] and, sighing deeply,
hastily threw upon the pyre four high-necked steeds. There were nine
dogs, companions at the table of the [departed] king, and, slaying two
of them, he cast them upon the pile; also twelve gallant sons[738] of
the magnanimous Trojans, slaying them with the brass; and he designed
evil deeds in his mind. Next he applied to it the iron strength of fire,
that it might feed upon it: then he groaned aloud, and addressed his
beloved companion by name:[739]

[Footnote 737: Cf. Alcaeus apud Brunck, Ann. i. p. 490: [Greek:
Kai taphon ypsosanto, galakti de poimenes aigon Erranan xanto
mixamenoi meliti]. Compare the similar libations to the dead in
Eur. Orest. 114; Heliodor. Eth. vi.; Apul. Met. 3; Stat. Theb.
vi. 209; Virg. AEn. iii. 66.]

[Footnote 738: This cruel custom was in vogue amongst the
fol