Note 721 — BOOK THE TWENTY-THIRD.

Footnote 721: (return) This was a frequent rite at funerals. Cf. Apollon. Rh. i. 1059; Virg. Æn. xi. 188, sqq.; Heliodor. Ethiop. iii. p. 136: Ἐπειδὴ τὸ μνῆμα τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου περιεστοιχήσατο ἡ πομπὴ, καὶ τρίτον οἱ ἔφηβοι τὴν ἵππον περιήλασαν, λολύξαν μὲν αἱ γυναῖκες, λάλαξαν δὲ οἱ ἄνδρες. Among the Romans this rite was called decursio. Cf. Liv. xxv. 17: Tacit. Ann. ii. 7; Sueton. Claud. § i. According to Plutarch, Alexander the Great performed the same honours at the tomb of Achilles, that Achilles had bestowed upon the manes of his friend Patroclus. See also Bernart on Stat. Theb. vi. 217.