[29] Tὸ ὁμοτράπεζου—to have eaten at the same table, was considered an inviolable obligation to friendship; and ἅλα καὶ τράπεζαν πάραβαίνειν, to transgress the salt and the table; or in other words to break the laws of hospitality and to injure those by whom they had been entertained, was considered one of the greatest crimes.—Robinson's Antiq. of Greece.
"Thy friend put in thy bosome;...
. . . . . .
If cause require, thou art his sacrifice."
George Herbert.
[31] τοὺς πρωτομὐστ ας.
[32] πρὸς τὴν ἀνατομήν.
[33] This passage may be illustrated by one which occurs in B. v. "It is said that the souls of those who have found a watery grave do not descend to Hades, but wander about the surface of the waves." Death by shipwreck, where the body was swallowed up by the deep, was especially dreaded by the ancients, since without burial of the body, the soul could not be admitted into the Elysian Fields.—See Ovid, Trist. i. 2, 61. Virg. Æn. vi. 325, 330.
[34] Compare the description of the Phœnix with those in Tacitus, Annal. vi. 28, and in Herod. ii. 73, where see a note in Blakesley's edit. The object of which is to show that by the Phœnix is meant a secular period.
[35] Pliny says, "Auri fulgore circà colla, cetera purpureus, cæruleam roseis caudam pennis distinguentibus."—Η. N. x. 2.
"Æquatur toto capiti radiata corona
Phœbei referens, verticis alta decus."
Auctor Carm. incert.