[253]. Fridthjóf means the thief of peace, the one who steals or destroys peace.
[254]. Cf. also Landnama, iv. 5; Kormak’s Saga, 11.
[255]. Cf. Landnama, iii., c. 2, 7.
[256]. Cf. also Vatnsdæla, 12. Landnama, i., c. 10. Ondvegissula = high-seat pillar.
[257]. Disar = genii.
[258]. Olaf, son of Ingjald Illrádi ... fled to a forest district of Vermaland, where he cleared the land of its woods; therefore he was called Tretelgja (tree-cutter).
[259]. “The scene of most interest, and at the same time of most horrors, taken from the mythical or poetical history of Greece is one which represents the sacrifice of Trojan captives to the manes of Patroclus. Achilles himself is the priest or butcher, for he occupies the centre of the scene, clad in brazen cuirass and greaves, his long yellow locks uncovered by a helmet, and seizing by the hair the wretched Trojan captive who is seated naked at his feet imploring mercy, he thrusts his sword into his neck, just as the ‘swift-footed son of Peleus’ is represented to have treated Lycaon, the first victim he sacrificed to his friend Patroclus. Above the Trojan stands Charon, in red jacket and blue chiton, wearing a cap or helmet, and bearing his mallet on his shoulder ready to strike. The right half of the scene is occupied by the two Ajaces, each bringing forward a victim, naked and wounded, whose hands are bound behind their backs. Ajax Telamonius, the more prominent of the two, is fully armed; and Ajax Oïleus is similarly armed, but without a helmet. The funeral pyre on which the corpse of Patroclus was already laid before the sacrifices of captives, horses, and dogs were made to his manes is not shown. This episode forms the subject of the first wall paintings found in Etruria which were illustrative of Hellenic myths, but since their discovery that of the Grotta del Orco at Corneto has afforded us additional proof that the Etruscans did not always confine the pictorial adornments of their sepulchres to the illustration of the peculiar customs, funeral observances, or religious creed of their native land” (Dennis’s ‘Etruria’).
[260]. From this passage we see that it was the custom of Hakon Jarl to make sacrifices, but unfortunately the manner in which he made them is not told.
[262]. Tíundaland = land of the tenth.