(1) So it is said of the Russian General Skobelef, that he had a
strange custom of going into battle in his cleanest uniform,
perfumed, and wearing a diamond-hilted sword, "in order that," as
he said, "he might die in his best attire."
(2) For this ancient omen see "Odyssey," xvii. 541: "Even as she
spake, and Telemachus sneezed loudly, and around the roof rung
wondrously. And Penelope laughed."... "Dost thou not mark how
my son has sneezed a blessing on all my words?"
(3) See Herod. vi. 114; the allusion is to the invasion of Greeze by
Datis and Artaphernes, and to their defeat at Marathon, B.C. 490.
"Heredotus estimates the number of those who fell on the Persian
side at 6400 men: the number of Athenian dead is accurately known,
since all were collected for the last solemn obsequies—they were
192."—Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. v. p. 475.
(4) Then = at Salamis, B.C. 480, and at Plataea and Mycale, B.C. 479,
on the same day.
"And proofs