7.  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.

8.  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.

9.  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.

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

11.  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.

12.  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.

13.  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.

14.  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.

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