$μων, and with the same verb MBh. 9. 10. 54 rudhiram
̇
vaman, 10. 9. 3
vamantam
̇
rudhiram
̇vaktra ̄d, cf. Rm. 4. 16. 20, 47. 19, al.
When the warrior falls for the last time, he is seen by Greek and Indian
bards as embracing the earth: aλε γα4αν qγοστ;ι, ‘he took the earth in
his clasp’ (Il. 11. 425, al.); he lays his arms on earth as if embracing a woman
(Rm. 3. 29. 7, cf. 4. 20. 6, 23. 3). And if we maintain the traditional inter-
pretation of the Homeric formula %δwξ aλον Eσπετον οoδα (Il. 19. 61,
al.) as ‘bit the dust’, we may compare MBh. 5. 21. 17 bhaks
̇
ayis
̇ya ̄ma
pa ̄m
̇
suka ̄n, ‘(we shall be killed and) eat the dust’; 11. 19. 9 pa ̄m
̇su ̄n grasati,
‘gulps the dust’.^120
At two climactic points of the Iliad the death of a great hero is marked with
a couplet about the departure of his soul to the other world: ‘the soul, flying
from his face(?), was gone to Hades’ house, lamenting its fate, forsaking
manliness and vigour’ (16. 856 = 22. 362). The last phrase at least must on
linguistic grounds be a very old formula. Watkins has compared the lines at
Beowulf ’s death: ‘his soul departed from his breast(?) to seek the judgment of
those steadfast in faith’, noting that this obviously Christian formulation
is likely to be an adaptation of an older pagan conception.^121 When Fergus
mac Róich was killed, ‘his soul passed out of him forthwith’.^122 Bhı ̄s
̇
ma’s life-
breaths, unable to find another exit, leave him through his head (MBh. 13.
- 6).
It is a conventional motif that when a leader is killed his followers turn
to flight. This happens not only in the Greek^123 and Indian^124 epics but
also in the Sha ̄h-na ̄ma (Levy (1967), 138), Old English (Judith 290–2), Old
Norse (Hervarar saga 13, 14), and Irish (Acallam na Senórach, Dooley–Roe
(1999), 182). Their opponents usually pursue them, but on occasion
they gather round to marvel at the sight of the dead hero. So with Hector
in the Iliad (22. 369–75) and probably with Penthesileia in the Aethiopis
(cf. Qu. Smyrn. 1. 661–70); and so too with Karn
̇
a in the Maha ̄bha ̄rata
(8. 68. 3 f.).
A hero’s horse or horses are as distressed by his death as anyone else.
Achilles’ horses weep for Patroclus (Il. 17. 426 f., 437 f.), and one of them
hangs his head in anticipation of Achilles’ own death, of which it has fore-
(^120) But %δα ́ ξ originally meant ‘clawing’ according to Friedrich Bechtel, Lexilogus zu Homer
(Halle/Saale 1914), 241–3.
(^121) Beowulf 2819 f.; Watkins (1995), 499 n. 3.
(^122) Aided Fergusa maic Róich 4, ed. Kuno Meyer, The Death-tales of the Ulster Heroes (Dublin
1906), 34, 7 luid a anum as focétóir.
(^123) Il. 5. 27–37, 11. 744, 16. 290, 21. 206; for examples in the Epic Cycle see CQ 53 (2003), 8 n.
33.
(^124) MBh. 3. 157. 70, 271. 18; 6. 54. 17 f.; Rm. 6. 44. 30 f., 46. 48, 66. 37, 97. 22.
490 12. Arms and the Man