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[337] ἄκριτον, commonly explained one for all alike. But the order of the words is against this; the word can hardly be anything but an adv. going closely with “ἐκ πεδίου”. Here again the explanation bringing the corpses indiscriminately would be most natural; if the object of “ἐξαγαγόντες” is ‘the soil,’ the meaning must be ‘such material as first comes to hand,’ not selecting the suitable stones as for a regular wall. The idea seems to have been to combine utility with piety by making the burial mound serve as part of the circuit of the walls (“πύργοι”, see on 436 and 4.334). The mound is, however, never mentioned afterwards as part of the works of defence. Note the weak αὐτόν, with the forbidden lengthening by position in the fourth thesis.

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

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