6.  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.

7.  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.

8.  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.

9.  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.

10.  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.