groundwork undoubtedly subsisted in the period to which the traditions are referred. The argument of the Iliad mainly turns on the affection of Achilles for Patroclus, whose love for the greater hero is only tempered by reverence for his higher birth and his unequalled prowess. But the mutual regard which united Idomeneus and Meriones, Diomedes and Sthenelus, though, as the persons themselves are less important, it is kept more in the back-ground, is manifestly viewed by the poet in the same light. The idea of a Greek hero seems not to have been thought complete, without such a brother in arms by his side."--Thirlwall, Greece, vol. i. p. 176, seq. 244 "As hungry wolves with raging appe****e, Scour through the fields, ne'er fear the stormy night-- Their whelps at home expect the promised food, And long to temper their dry chaps in blood-- So rush'd we forth at once."