Note 40 — Chapter VIII

In ancient Greece the shield served as a bier, to convey home the corpse of its slain owner. To return without it was universally considered disgraceful. “I have frequently seen these inscriptions on Greek standards, particularly the last: the direction was literally followed, for the body of the standard-bearer, who died defending it, was wrapped in it as a shroud, and so borne to the grave, and buried in it.”—Walsh’s Journey over-land from Constantinople, p. 218.