Veiling, according to the 

research of Douglas Cairns, became a

prominent display rule in ancient Greek culture, precisely to
conceal tears and the expression of grief. The scene is newly
realised to make it conform to accepted practices in classical
Athens, for the open shedding of tears would have contravened
social norms. The vulnerability evinced by grief is shielded by the
veil, both to protect the pained from a loss of status and to protect
witnesses from the painful sight. The veil is the symbol of grief, a
sign of pain that serves to conceal it. The artist shows a greater
fidelity to the pain scripts of the 5th century BCE than to the epic
poem of three centuries earlier, to spare the viewer – the user, the
holder – from the spectacle of unconstrained grief. Achilles’ grief
had become difficult to handle socially, difficult to read
experientially. The veil, then, was the expressive way of saying,
without words and without facial expression: ‘I am in [a particular
kind of] pain.’