Great Agamemnon rules the numerous band, A hundred vessels in long order stand, And crowded nations wait his dread command. High on the deck the king of men appears, And his refulgent arms in triumph wears; Proud of his host, unrivall'd in his reign, In silent pomp he moves along the main. His brother follows, and to vengeance warms, The hardy Spartans, exercised in arms: . . . . . . These, o'er the bending ocean, Helen's cause, In sixty ships with Menelaus draws. POPE, _Iliad_ Book II. Among the other great warriors of Hellas who joined the expedition was Nesʹtor, the venerable king of Pyʹlos, distinguished for his eloquence, wisdom, and prudence. In ninety sail, from Pylos' sandy coast, Nestor the sage conducts his chosen host. POPE, _Iliad_, Book II. The ancients believed that Nestor outlived three generations of men, which some suppose to have been three hundred years. From this it was a custom of the ancient Greeks and Romans, when wishing a long and happy life to their friends, to wish them to live as long as Nestor. Experienced Nestor, in persuasion skill'd; Words, sweet as honey, from his lips distill'd; Two generations now had pass'd away, Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway; Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd, And now the example of the third remain'd. POPE, _Iliad_, Book I. The two Ajaxes were also renowned warriors of the Grecian army,--Ajax Telamon and Ajax O-iʹleus, so called from the names of their fathers. Telamon was the king of Salamis, to whom, as has been told, Hercules gave Laomedon's daughter, Hesione. His son Ajax, a man of huge stature and giant strength, was, next to Achilles, the bravest of all the Greeks who went to the Trojan War. With these appear the Salaminian bands, Whom the gigantic Telamon commands; In twelve black ships to Troy they steer their course, And with the great Athenians join their force. POPE, _Iliad_, Book II. Ajax Oileus, king of Loʹcris, was less in stature than his namesake, but few excelled him in the use of the spear or in swiftness of foot. He commanded forty ships in the great expedition. Fierce Ajax led the Locrian squadrons on, Ajax the less, Oileus' valiant son; Skill'd to direct the flying dart aright; Swift in pursuit, and active in the fight. POPE, _Iliad_, Book II Two other valiant warriors, who led eighty ships each to the great muster, were Diomede, king of Argos, and I-domʹe-neus, king of Crete,--the "spear-renowned Idomeneus." Crete's hundred cities pour forth all her sons. These march'd, Idomeneus, beneath thy care. POPE, _Iliad_, Book II.