[477] ἐξάργματα: the first pieces cut from the victim's flesh (ἅπ. λεγ.). There is a gloss in G μασχαλίσματα. The custom referred to is the μασχαλισμός or ἀκρωτηριασμός, which consisted in cutting off the extremities of the murdered man and fastening them round his neck and under the armpits (μασχάλαι). Jebb, App. Soph. El. 445, shows that there were two underlying notions: (1) the desire to render the dead incapable of wreaking vengeance; (2) the desire to make an atonement by offering the severed portions to the gods below, as a victim was devoted to death by cutting off a lock of hair. This latter is the dominant idea in our passage. Cf. also Verrall on Aesch. Cho. 438, and Conington on Aen. 6. 495.
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Argonautica. Apollonius Rhodius. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912.
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