mighty.

=326. tried.= Proved, experienced.

=328. Never was that field lost or that foe saved.= Note the power
gained in this line by the use of the alliteration.

=330. Be govern'd.= Be influenced, persuaded.

=343. by thy father's head!= Such oaths are common to the extravagant
speech of the oriental peoples.

=344. Art thou not Rustum?= See introductory note to poem.

=367. vaunt.= Boast implied in the challenge.

=380. Thou wilt not fright me so!= That is, by such talk.

=401. tower'd.= Remained stationary, poised.

=406. full struck.= Struck squarely.
[161]
=412. Hyphasis, Hydaspes.= Two of the rivers of the Punjab in northern
India, now known as the Beas and Jhylum. In 326 B.C. Alexander
defeated Porus on the banks of the latter stream.

=414. wrack.= Ruin, havoc. (Poetical.)

=418. glancing.= In the sense of darting aside.

=435. hollow.= Unnatural in tone.

=452. like that autumn-star.= Probably Sirius, the Dog Star, under
whose ascendency, according to ancient beliefs, epidemic diseases
prevailed.

=454. crest.= That is, helmet and plume.

=466. Remember all thy valour.= That is, summon up all your courage.

=469. girl's wiles.= Explain the line.

=470. kindled.= Roused, angered.

=481. unnatural.= because of the kinship of the combatants.

=481-486. for a cloud=, etc. A distinctly Homeric imitation. Cf. the
cloud that enveloped Paris--Book III., ll. 465-469, of the _Iliad_.

=489. And the sun sparkled=, etc. Why this reference to the clear Oxus
stream at this moment of intense tragedy?

=495. helm.= Helmet; defensive armor for the head.

=497. shore.= Past tense of _shear_, to cut.

=499. bow'd his head:= because of the force of the blow.

=508. curdled.= Thickened as with fear.

=516. Rustum!= Why did this word so affect Sohrab? Note the author's
skill in working up to this climax in the narrative.

=527-539. Then with a bitter smile=, etc. Compare these words of
the victor, Rustum, with the words of Sohrab, ll. 427-447, when the
advantage was with him.

=536. glad.= Make happy.

"That which _gladded_ all the warrior train."
--DRYDEN.
[162]
=538. Dearer to the red jackals=, etc. Cf. I. Sam. xvii. 44: "Come to
me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the
beasts of th