Hector! far dearest of my brothers here! Me godlike Paris to the shores of Troy Seduced, and made me partner of his bed, But, O that I had perish'd first at home! For this, since stolen from my native land I wander'd hither, is the twentieth year, Yet never heard I once hard speech from thee, Or taunt morose: but if it ever chanced That male or female of thy father's house Blamed me, and even if herself the queen (For in the king, whate'er befell, I found Always a father)—thou hast interposed Thy gentle temper and thy gentle speech To soothe them; therefore, with a breaking heart Thee and my wretched self at once I mourn, For other friend within the ample bounds Of Ilium have I none, nor hope to hear Kind word again, with horror view'd by all. So spake she weeping, and the countless throng With groans replied.[E] The Pelasgians, Greeks, Phœnicians, the Egyptians more especially, the ancient tribes of Italy, the Etruscans, the Romans, all lamented their dead with song and loud wailing; this is not less true of the Celts (_e.g._ the Irish) and the ancient Germans. Usages of this kind exist among the uncivilised tribes of America and Africa at the present day; and are to be found in other Italian countries besides Corsica and Sardinia, particularly in the Neapolitan territory. Peter Cyrnæus finds the Corsican cultus of the dead very similar to that prevalent among the ancient Romans. Those who are acquainted with ancient Roman customs, will agree with the Corsican historian. They had the wailing women, called, as they are at the present day in Sardinia, _præficæ_, and they had the dirges (_næniæ_).[F] In connexion with the funeral obsequies of Germanicus, Tacitus speaks of the ceremonies, the songs in praise of the deceased, the weeping and wailing and exciting to violent grief, as ancient Roman usages. In the laws of the twelve tables, the _ballata_ was called _lessus_, and punished as barbarous. The laws of Solon forbade it in these terms—"The women shall not scratch their cheeks, neither shall the _lessus_ be held at burials; the women shall not tear the face."