"They wailed--the long torn ringlets of their hair [FN#11]
Freighted the pitying gale; deep rolled the stream
And swallowed the fair child; no succour there--
They women--whither look--who to redeem
"What the fierce waves were preying on?--when lo!
Approached a stranger boy. Aside he flung,
As darted thought, his quiver and his bow
And parted by his limbs the sparkling billows sung.
[FN#11] The women, I believe, among all nations of antiquity were
accustomed to express violent grief by tearing their hair. This must
have been a great and affecting sacrifice to the object bemoaned, as
they considered it a part of themselves and absolutely essential to
their beauty. Fine hair has been a subject of commendation among all
people, and particularly the ancients. Cyrus, when he went to visit
his uncle Astyages found him with his eyelashes coloured, and
decorated with false locks; the first Caesar obtained permission to
wear the laurel-wreath in order to conceal the bareness of his
temples. The quantity and beauty of the hair of Absalom is
commemorated in holy writ. The modern oriental ladies also set the
greatest value on their hair which they braid and perfume. Thus says
the poet Hafiz, whome Sir William Jones styles the Anacreon of Persia,
"Those locks, each curl of which is worth a hundred musk-bags of
China, would be sweet indeed, if their scent proceeded from sweetness
of temper."
and again,
"When the breeze shall waft the fragrance of thy locks over the tomb
of Hafiz, a thousand flowers shall spring from the earth that hides
his corse."
Achilles clipped his yellow locks and threw them as a sacrifice upon
the funeral pyre of Patroclus.