AJAX, the son of Telamon, king of Salamis, was, next to Achilles, the most valiant of the Grecian generals at the siege of Troy. He performed many great actions, and proved himself no mean match for Hector in single combat. When the arms of Achilles were adjudged by Agamemnon to Ulysses, Ajax was so transported with rage and jealousy that he lost his senses. In his madness he fell upon the sheep in the Grecian camp, among which he committed great slaughter. On coming to his senses he was so overcome with shame that he killed himself with the sword which had been given to him by Hector. The Greeks paid great honour to him after his death, and erected a magnificent monument to his memory upon the promontory of Rhetium. —Iliad, Dictys, Cret., Ovid. Met., B. xiii.