Note 4 — BOOK XII. (continued 2)

Πορφύρεος is a common epithet of death in Homer. Liddell and Scott say—"The first notion of πορφύρεος was probably of the troubled sea, υ. πορφύρω,"—and refer the use of it in this passage to the colour of the blood, unless it be = μέλας θάνατος.