14. [The lines of which these three are a translation, are supposed by
   some to have been designed for the [Greek:  Epinikion], or song of
   victory sung by the whole army.]—­TR.

15. [It was a custom in Thessaly to drag the slayer around the tomb of
   the slain; 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 winds, they are made to come at her
   bidding.