Note 554 — Chapter XXIV

552 In the translation I have been assisted by Sir W. M. Ramsay, Professor Bury, and Mr. E. M. Antoniadi. The meaning of τελευταῖοι κρότοι is not clear. Various interpretations have been suggested; to read βροτοί, mortals, instead of κρότοι, and to construe τελευταῖοι adverbially, 'finally, O mortals!'; to understand a reference to the judgment day, 'O applauses given at the final judgment'; to take the phrase as equivalent to, 'O celebrities at (or to) the very end of time'; to understand it as signifying the eulogies actually given to the deceased by the poet. Professor Tendès, of Athens, whom I thank for his courtesy in this connection, suggests that the meaning is similar to that of the phrase τὰ τελευταιά in the modern Greek form of eulogy, ἔκαμε πολλά, ἀλλὰ τὰ τελευταιά του.... 'He did many things, but his last performances!' (surpassed all his previous deeds). Here the meaning would therefore be, 'O grandest achievements that men praise!'