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.

16. [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 {atyzomenen apolesthai}.]--TR.

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

18. 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:
1. According to the oriental custom. David mourns in the same manner,
refusing to wash or take any repast, and lies upon the earth.

2. [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.

3: [The funeral pile was a square of a hundred feet on each
side.]--TR.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. [Westering wheel.--MILTON.]

7. [Himself and the Myrmidons.]

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

9. Homer here introduces the gods of the winds in person, and as Iris,
or the rainbow, is a sign of win