HKB
to a war or who are in danger to send some message to their families. Our poet was familiar with this custom. For Andromache, bewailing Hector, says (I. xxiv. 743):--
For not to me was giv'n to clasp the hand extended from thy dying bed, Nor words of wisdom catch, which night and day, With tears, I might have treasur'd in my heart.
Penelope recalls the commands of Odysseus when he set forth (O. xviii. 265):--
Wherefore I know not if the gods will suffer me to return, or whether I shall be cut off there in Troy; so do thou have a care for all these things. Be mindful of my father and my mother in the halls, even as thou art or yet more than now, while I am far away. But when thou see'st thy son a bearded man, marry whom thou wilt and leave thine own house.
He knew also the custom of having stewards (O. ii. 226):--
He it was to whom Odysseus, as he departed in the fleet, had given the charge over all his house that it should obey the old man, and that he should keep all things safe.
Grief at the death in one's household he thinks should not be unmeasured; for this is unworthy, nor does he allow it altogether to be repressed; for apathy is impossible for mankind, whence he says the following (I. xxiv. 48):--
He mourns and weeps, but time his grief allays, For fate to man a patient mind hath given.
Other places he says (I. xix. 228):--
Behooves us bury out of sight our dead Steeling our hearts and weeping but a day.
He also knew the customs used now at funerals, in other passages and in the following (I. xvi. 456):--
There shall his brethren and his friends perform His fun'ral rites, and mound and column raise The fitting tribute to the mighty dead
And as Andromache says (before) the naked and prostrate body of Hector (I. xxii. 509):--
But now on thee, beside the beaked ships Far from thy parents, when the rav'ning dogs Have had their fill, the wriggling worms shall feed In thee all naked; while within thy house Lies store of raiment, rich and rare, the work Of women's hands: these I will burn with fire Not for thy need--thou ne'er shalt wear them more But for thine honor in the sight of Troy.
So, too, Penelope prepares the shroud (O. ii. 99):--
Even this shroud for the hero Laertes.
But these are examples of moderation. But exceeding these are the living creatures and men Achilles burns on the pyre of Patroclus. He tells us of them, but does not do so in words of praise. Therefore he exclaims (I. xxi. 19):--
On savage deeds intent.
And he first of all mentions monuments to the slain (I. vii. 336):--
And on the plains erect Around the pyre one common pyre for all.
And he gave the first example of funeral games. These are common to times of peace and war.
Experience in warlike affairs, which some authorities call Tactics, his poetry being varied by infantry, siege, and naval engagements, and also by individual contests, covers many types of strategy. Some of these are worth mentioning. In drawing up armies it is necessary always to put the cavalry in front, and after it the infantry. This he indicates in the following verses (I. ii. 297):--
In the front rank, with chariot and with horse, He plac'd the car-borne warriors; in the rear, Num'rous and brave, a cloud of infantry!
And as to placing leaders among the soldiers as they are arranged in files (I. ix. 86):--
Seven were the leaders; and with each went forth, A hundred gallant youths, with lances armed.
Some of the leaders fight in the front rank; some in the rear exhort the rest to fight (I. iv. 252):--