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. {'Agon} 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--{neon en agoni}--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.

16. [{lasion ker}.]

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

18. [{Hupaspidia probibontos}. A similar expression occurs in Book
xiii., 158. There we read {hupaspidia propodizon}. 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 {amphibroten
aspida}, must necessarily leave the upper parts exposed.

It is not improbable, though the translation is not accommodated to
that conjecture, that AEneas, in his following speech to Meriones,
calls him, {orchesten}, with a view to the agility with which he
performed this particular step in battle.]--TR.

19. [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.

20. [{Ira talanta}--_Voluntatem Jovis cui cedendum_--So it is
interpreted is the Scholium MSS. Lipsiensis.--Vide
Schaufelbergerus.]--TR.

21. 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:
1. 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.

2. [The expediency and utility of prayer, Homer misses no opportunity
of enforcing. Cold and c