er. 337. This was the
Palladium, or statue of Minerva, which was destined to be the
guardian of the safety of Troy, so long as it was in the
possession of the Trojans.]

[Footnote 42: _By thy looks._--Ver. 350. We are to suppose, that
here Ajax is nodding at, or pointing towards Diomedes, as having
helped Ulysses on all the occasions which he names, he having been
his constant companion in his exploits.]

[Footnote 43: _Eurypilus._--Ver. 357. He was the son of Evaemon,
and came with forty ships to aid the Greeks. He was from Ormenius,
a city of Thessaly.]

[Footnote 44: _Andremon._--Ver. 357. Thoas, the son of Andremon,
was the leader of the AEtolians; he came with forty ships to the
Trojan war.]

[Footnote 45: _Idomeneus._--Ver. 358. He was the son of Deucalion,
king of Crete. After the siege of Troy, he settled at Salentinum,
a promontory of Calabria, in Italy.]

[Footnote 46: _Meriones._--Ver. 359. He was the nephew and
charioteer of Idomeneus.]

[Footnote 47: _To the name._--Ver. 398. See note to Book x., line
207.]

[Footnote 48: _Country of Hypsipyle._--Ver. 399. The island of
Lemnos is here called the country of Hypsipyle, who saved the life
of her father Thoas, when the other women of the island slew the
males.]

[Footnote 49: _A foreign air._--Ver. 406. Namely, Thrace, which
was far away from her native country.]

[Footnote 50: _Priestess of Apollo._--Ver. 410. Cassandra was the
priestess of Apollo. Being ravished by Ajax Oileus, she became the
captive of Agamemnon, and was slain by Clytemnestra.]

[Footnote 51: _Astyanax._--Ver. 415. He was the only child of
Hector and Andromache. Ulysses threw him from the top of a high
tower, that none of the royal blood might survive.]

EXPLANATION.

It may with justice be said, that in the speeches of Ajax Telamon,
and Ulysses, here given, the Poet has presented us with a
masterpiece of genius; both in the lively colours in which he has
described the two rivals, and the ingenious manner in which he has
throughout sustained the contrast between their respective
characters.

The ancient writers are not agreed upon the question, who was the
mother of Ajax Telamon; Dares says that it was Hesione; while
Apollodorus, Plutarch, Tzetzes and others, allege that it was
Periboea, the daughter of Alcathoues, the son of