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[336] ἐξαγαγόντες: a difficult expression. Ar. explained it ‘marching out,’ a sense in which the word occurs in Xen. and later Greek; for the Homeric use he compared “ἐσάγουσα” (6.252), explained to mean ‘entering in,’ but this is not satisfactory. “ἐξάγειν” is used by Thuc. in the sense of ‘extending’ the circuit of a circumvallation (i. 93 “ὁ περίβολος ἐξήχθη”), but the word is more naturally used of ‘drawing’ a line of walls than of ‘raising’ a mound. Perhaps the best explanation is bringing it (sc. the earth for it) from the plain. (It would be most natural to understand ‘bringing the corpses out of the plain,’ but this has already been mentioned in 332, and would evidently not suit 436.)

The Iliad, edited, with apparatus criticus, prolegomena, notes, and appendices. Walter Leaf. London. Macmillan. 1900.

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