Wanting his manage; and they will almost
Give us a prince of blood, a fon of Priam,
In change of him: let him be sent, great princes,
And he shall buy my daughter; and her prefence
Shall quite strike off all service I have done,
In most accepted pain '.

Aga. Let Diomedes bear him,

And bring us Creffid hither; Calchas fhall have
What he requests of us.-Good Diomed,
Furnish you fairly for this enterchange:
Withal, bring word-if Hector will to-morrow
Be answer'd in his challenge: Ajax is ready.
Diom. This fhall I undertake; and 'tis a burden
Which I am proud to bear.

5

He shall as foon read in the eyes of others,
As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies,
Shew not their mealy wings, but to the fummer;
And not a man, for being fimply man,

Hath any honour; but's honour'd for those honours
That are without him, as place, riches, favour,
Prizes of accident as oft as merit:

[out

Which when they fall, as being dippery standers,
The love that lean'd on them as flippery too,
10 Doth one pluck down another, and together
Die in the fall. But 'tis not fo with me:
Fortune and I are friends; I do enjoy
At ample point all that I did poffefs,
Save thefe men's looks; who do, methinks, find
Something in me not worth that rich beholding
As they have often given. Here is Ulyffes;
I'll interrupt his reading.How now, Ulyffes?
Uly. Now, great Thetis' fon?
Achil. What are you reading?
Uly: A ftrange fellow here

[Exit Diomed, and Calchas. 15
Enter Achilles and Patroclus, before their tent.
Ulyff. Achilles ftands i' the entrance of his tent:-
Please it our general to pass strangely by him,
As if he were forgot;-and, princes all,
Lay negligent and loose regard upon him ;---
I will come laft: 'Tis like he'll question me,
Why fuch unplaufive eyes are bent, why turn'd
on him:

If fo, I have derifion med'cinable,

To use between your strangeness and his pride,
Which his own will shall have defire to drink;
It may do good: pride hath no other glass
To fhew itself, but pride; for supple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees.

Aga. We'll execute your purpose, and put on
A form of strangeness as we pass along ;—
So do each lord; and either greet him not,
Or else difdainfully, which shall shake him more
Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.
Acbil. What, comes the general to speak with

me?
You know my mind, I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy.
Aga. What fays Achilles? would he aught with

us ?

[ral?

20

Writes me, That man-how dearly ever parted 2,
How much in having, or without, or in,
Cannot make boaft to have that which he hath,
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;
25 As when his virtues fhining upon others
Heat them, and they retort that heat again
To the firft giver.

Acbil. This is not strange, Ulyffes.
The beauty that is borne here in the face,
30 The bearer knows not, but commends itself
To others' eyes: nor doth the eye itself

35

Neft. Would you, my lord, aught with the gene-40
Acbil. No.

Neft. Nothing, my lord?

Aga. The better.

Achil. Good day, good day.

Men. How do you? how do you?

Acbil. What, does the cuckold scorn me?
Ajax. How now, Patroclus?

Achil. Good morrow, Ajax.

Ajax. Ha?

(That most pure spirit of fenfe) behold itself,
Not going from itself; but eye to eye oppos'd
Salutes each other with each other's form.
For fpeculation turns not to itself,

Till it hath travell'd, and is marry'd there

Where it may fee itfelf: this is not strange at all.
Uly. I do not strain at the position,

It is familiar; but at the author's drift:
Who, in his circumftance 3, expressly proves-
That no man is the lord of any thing,
(Though in and of him there is much confifting)
'Till he communicate his parts to others:
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught
45 'Till he behold them form'd in the applaufe
Where they are extended; which, like an arch,
reverberates

The voice again; or like a gate of steel
Fronting the fun, receives and renders back

50 His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this;
And apprehended here immediately

not Achilles?

Achil. What, am I poor of late?

'Tis certain, Greatnefs, once fallen out with fortune,

The unknown Ajax.

Heavens, what a man is there! a very horfe;

That has he knows not what. Nature, what things there are,

Moft abject in regard, and dear in use!

What things again most dear in the esteem,
And poor in worth! Now fhall we fee to-morrow
An act that very chance doth throw upon him,

Must fall out with men too: What the declin'd is,|60| Ajax renown'd. O heavens, what fome men do,

1 i. e. Her prefence fall ftrike off, or recompence the fervice I have done, even in these labours which were most accepted. 2 i.e. however excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched or adorned. 3 i. e. in the detail or circumduction of his argument. 4 Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or ufc.

While

While fome men leave to do!

How fome men creep 1 in skittish fortune's hall,
While others play the ideots in her eyes!
How one man eats into another's pride,
While pride is feafting in his wantonness!
To fee thefe Grecian lords!-why, even already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder;
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast,
And great Troy shrinking.

Achil. I do believe it: for they pafs'd by me,
As mifers do by beggars; neither gave to me
Good word, nor look: What, are my deeds forgot?
Uly. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

Achil. Ha! known?

Ulyff. Is that a wonder?

The providence that's in a watchful state, 10 Knows almost every grain of Pluto's gold; Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps; Keeps place with thought; and almost, like the gods,

Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles. [vour'd 15 There is a mystery (with whom relation Durft never meddle 4) in the foul of state; Which hath an operation more divine, Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to : All the commerce that you have had with Troy, 20 As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord;

A great-fiz'd monster of ingratitudes :
Thofe fcraps are good deeds paft; which are de-
As faft as they are made, forgot as foon
As done: Perfeverance, dear my lord,
Keeps honour bright: To have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail

In monumental mockery. Take the inftant way;
For honour travels in a ftreight fo narrow,
Where one but goes abreaft: keep then the path:
For emulation hath a thousand fons,
That one by one purfue; If you give way,
Or hedge afide from the direct forthright,
Like to an entred tide, they all rush by,
And leave you hindmost;-

Or like a gallant horse fallen in first rank,
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,
O'errun and trampled on: Then what they do in
prefent,

Though less than yours in paft,muft o'er-top yours:
For time is like a fashionable hoft,

That flightly shakes his parting guest by the hand;
And with his arms out-stretch'd, as he would fly,
Grafps in the comer: Welcome ever smiles,
And farewel goes out fighing. O, let not virtue feek
Remuneration for the thing it was; for beauty, wit,
High birth, vigour of bone, defert in fervice,
Love, friendship, charity, are fubjects all
To envious and calumniating time.

And better would it fit Achilles much, To throw down Hector, than Polyxena: But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home, When Fame fhall in our islands found her trump; 25 And all the Greekish girls fhall tripping fing,→→ Great Hector's fifter did Achilles win; "But our great Ajax bravely beat down him." Farewell, my lord: I as your lover fpeak; The fool flides o'er the ice that you fhould break. [Exit.

30

Patr. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov'd you:
A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man
In time of action. I ftand condemn'd for this:
35 They think, my little stomach to the war,
And your great love to me, restrains you thus:
Sweet, roufe yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloofe his amorous fold,
And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,
40 Be hook to air.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,-
That all, with one consent, praise new-born gawds,
Though they are made and moulded of things paft ;|45|
And fhew to duft, that is a little gilt,
More laud than gilt o'er-dufted.

The prefent eye praises the present obje&t:
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax ;
Since things in motion fooner catch the eye,
Than what not ftirs. The cry went once on thee,
And ftill it might, and yet it may again,
If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive,
And cafe thy reputation in thy tent;
Whofe glorious deeds, but in thefe fields of late,
Made emulous miffions 2 'mongst the gods them-
And drave great Mars to faction.

[felves,

Acbil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector?

[by him.

Thofe wounds heal ill, that men do give them-
Omiffion to do what is necessary

Seals a commiffion to a blank of danger 5;
And danger, like an ague, fubtly taints
50 Even then when we fit idly in the fun.

Achil. Go call Therfites hither, fweet Patroclus:
I'll fend the fool to Ajax, and defire him
To invite the Trojan lords after the combat,
To fee us here unarm'd: I have a woman's longing,
55 An appetite that I am fick withal,

To fee great Hector in his weeds of peace;
To talk with him, and to behold his vifage,
Even to my full of view. A labour fav'd!

in the

To creep is to keep out of fight, from whatever motive. The meaning is, Some men keep out of notice in the hall of fortune, while others, though they but play the ideot, are always in her eye, way of diftinétion. 2 The meaning of miffion, Dr. Johnfon fays, feems to be dispatches of the gods from heaven about mortal business, fuch as often happened at the fiege of Troy. 3 Polyxena, in the act of marrying whom, he was afterwards killed by Paris. 4 i. e. There is a fecret administration of affairs, which no biftory was ever able to difcover. 5 i. e. By neglecting our duty we commission or enable that danger of dishonour, which could not reach us before, to lay hold upon us.

Enter

T

Ther. Why, he stalks up and down like a pea-10 cock, a stride, and a stand: ruminates, like an hoftefs, that hath no arithmetic but her brain to fet down her reckoning: bites his lip with a politic regard 1, as who should say-there were wit in this head, an 'twould out; and fo there is; 15 but it lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking. The man's undone for ever; for if Hector break not his neck i' the combat, he'll break it himself in vain-glory. He knows not me: I faid, Good-morrow, Ajax; 20 and he replies, Thanks, Agamemnon. What think you of this man, that takes me for the general? He's grown a very land-fish, languagelefs, a monfter. A plague of opinion! a man may wear it on both fides, like a leather jerkin.

Acbil. Thou must be my embassador to him, Therfites.

25

Ther, Who, I? why, he'll answer no body he profeffes not answering; fpeaking is for beggars; he wears his tongue in his arms. I will 30 put on his presence; let Patroclus make demands to me, you shall see the pageant of Ajax.

Acbil. To him, Patroclus: Tell him,-I humbly defire the valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous Hector to come unarmed to my tent; and to 35 procure fafe conduct for his perfon,of the magnanimous, and moft illuftrious, fix-or-feven-times-ho

[memnon.

Patr. And to procure fafe conduct from Aga-
Ther. Agamemnon?
Patr. Ay, my lord.
Ther. Ha!

Patr. What fay you to't?

Ther. God be wi' you, with all my heart.
Patr. Your anfwer, fir.

Ther. If to-morrow be a fair day, by eleven o'clock, it will go one way or other; howfoever, he fhall pay for me ere he has me.

Patr. Your answer, fir.

Ther. Fare you well, with all my heart. Achil. Why, but he is not in this tune, is he? Ther. No, but he's out o' tune thus. What mufick will be in him when Hector has knock'd out his brains, I know not: But, I am fure, none; unlefs the fidler Apollo get his finews to make catlings on. [ftraight. Acbil. Come, thou shalt bear a letter to him Ther. Let me bear another to his horfe; for that's the more capable creature.

[ftirr'd; Achil. My mind is troubled, like a fountain And I myself fee not the bottom of it.

[Exeunt Achilles, and Patroclus. Ther. 'Would the fountain of your mind were clear again, that I might water an ass at it! I had rather be a tick in a fheep, than fuch a valiant ignorance.

[Exit.

SCEN

ACT

1501

As you, prince Paris, nought but heavenly bufinefs 55
Should rob my bed-mate of my company.
Good morrow,

Dia. That's my mind too.

lord Æneas.

Par. A valiant Greek, Æneas; take his hand :
Witness the process of your speech, wherein
You told-how Diomed, a whole week by days,
Did haunt you in the field.

IV.

ne. Health to you, valiant fir,
During all queftion 3 of the gentle truce:
But when I meet you arm'd, as black defiance,
As heart can think, or courage execute.

Dio. The one and other Diomed embraces..
Our bloods are now in calm; and, fo long, health:
But when contention and occafion meet,
By Jove, I'll play the hunter for thy life,
With all my force, purfuit, and policy.

Ene. And thou shalt hunt a lion, that will fly
With his face backward. In humane gentleness,
Welcome to Troy! now, by Anchifes' life,
Welcome, indeed! By Venus' hand I fwear,
No man alive can love, in fuch a fort,
60 The thing he means to kill, more excellently.

Dio. We fympathize:Jove, let Æneas live,
If to my fword his fate be not the glory,

I With a fly look. 2 A catling fignifies a small lute-ftring made of catgut. intercourfe, interchange of conversation.

3 Queftion here means

A thou

A thousand complete courfes of the fun!
But, in mine emulous honour, let him die,
With every joint a wound; and that to-morrow!
Ene. We know each other well.

Dio. We do; and long to know each other worfe. 5
Par. This is the most despightful gentle greet-

The nobleft hateful love, that e'er I heard of.-
What business, lord, fo early?

Ene. I was fent for to the king; but why, 110
[Greek

Both merits pois'd, each weighs nor lefs nor more; 45 Nor fuffer others.
But he as he, the heavier for a whore.

Par. You are too bitter to your country-woman.
Dio. She's bitter to her country: Hear me,
Paris,

[Exeunt. 60

1 i. e. a piece of wine out of which the fpirit is all flown. 2 To do is here used in an obscene fenfe. 3 Meaning to fay, "Poor fool! haft not slept to-night?" The Italian word capecckia fignifies the thick head of a club; and thence metaphorically, a head of not much brain, a fot, dullard, heavy gull.

Pan. Who's there? what's the matter? will you beat down the door? How now? what's the matter?

Enter Eneas.

Ene. Good morrow, lord, good morrow.
Pan. Who's there? my lord Æneas? By my
troth, I knew you not: What news with you fo
early?

Ene. Is not prince Troilus here?
Pan. Here! what should he do here?

Ene. Come, he is here, my lord, do not deny him ;
It doth import him much, to speak with me.

Pan. Is he here, fay you? 'tis more than I know, I'll be fworn:-For my own part, I came in late:-What should he do here?

Ene. Who!-nay, then :-
Come,come, you'll do him wrong ere you are 'ware:
You'll be so true to him, to be falfe to him:
Do not you know of him, but yet fetch him hither;
Go.

As Pandarus is going out, enter Troilus.
Trei. How now? what's the matter?
Ene. My lord, I scarce have leisure to falute you,
My matter is fo rafh: There is at hand
Paris your brother, and Deiphobus,
The Grecian Diomed, and our Antenor
Deliver'd to us; and for him forthwith,
Ere the first facrifice, within this hour,
We must give up to Diomedes' hand
The lady Creffida.

Trai. Is it concluded fo?

Ene. By Priam, and the general state of Troy:
They are at hand, and ready to effect it.
Troi. How my atchievements mock me!-

I will go meet them: and, my lord Æneas,
We met by chance; you did not find me here.
Ene. Good, good, my lord; the fecrets of
neighbour Pandar

Have not more gift in taciturnity.

5

Cre. O you immortal gods!-I will not go.
Pan. Thou must.

Cre. I will not, uncle: I have forgot my father;
I know no touch of confanguinity;

No kin, no love, no blood, no foul so near me,
As the fweet Troilus.-O you gods divine!
10 Make Creffid's name the very crown of falfhood,
If ever the leave Troilus! Time, force, and death,
Do to this body what extremes you can;
But the ftrong base and building of my love
Is as the very center of the earth,

15 Drawing all things to it.—I'll go in, and weep,-
Pan. Do, do.
[cheeks;

Cre. Tear my bright hair, and scratch my praised Crack my clear voice with fobs, and break my heart

20 With founding Troilus. I will not go from Troy. [Excunt.

25

30

35

[Exeunt Troilus, and Æneas. 40 Pan. Is't poffible? no fooner got, but loft? The devil take Antenor! the young prince will go mad. A plague upon Antenor! I would, they had broke 's neck!

Enter Creffida.

Cre. How now? What's the matter? Who was here?

Pan. Ah, ah!

Cre. Why figh you so profoundly? where's my lord? gone?

Tell sweet uncle, what's the matter?

me,

Pan. 'Would I were as deep under the earth, as I am above!

Cre. O the gods !-what's the matter?

SCENE

III.

Before Pandarus' house.

Enter Paris, Troilus, Æneas, Diomedes, &c.

Par. It is great morning 2; and the hour prefix'd

Of her delivery to this valiant Greek

Comes faft upon :-Good my brother Troilus,
Tell you the lady what she is to do,

And hafte her to the purpose.

Troi. Walk in to her house;
I'll bring her to the Grecian presently:
And to his hand when I deliver her,
Think it an altar; and thy brother Troilus
A prieft, there offering to it his own heart.

[Exit Treilus.

[Excunt.

Par. I know what 'tis to love;
And 'would, as I fhall pity, I could help!-
Pleafe you, walk in, my lords.

IV.

SCENE
An Apartment in Pandarus' bouse.
Enter Pandarus, and Creffida.
Pan. Be moderate, be moderate.
Cre. Why tell you me of moderation?
The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,
45 And violenteth in a sense as strong

As that which caufeth it: How can I moderate it?
If I could temporize with my affection,
Or brew it to a weak and colder palate,
The like allayment could I give my grief:
50 My love admits no qualifying drofs;
No more my grief, in fuch a precious lofs.
Enter Troilus.

Pan. Pr’ythee get thee in; Would thou had'ft 55 ne'er been born! I knew, thou wouldst be his death:-O poor gentleman!—A plague upon

Antenor !

Cre. Good uncle, I beseech you on my knees, I beseech you, what's the matter?

Pan. Thou must be gone, wench, thou must be gone; thou art chang'd for Antenor: thou must|

i. e. fo bafty, so abrupt.

Pan. Here, here, here he comes. -Ah fweet ducks!

Cre, O Troilus! Troilus!

Pan. What a pair of spectacles is here! Let me embrace too: 0 beart, as the goodly faying is, o beart, o heavy beart, Why fight thou without breaking ?

60 where he answers again,

Because thou canst not ease thy smart
By friendship, nor by speaking.

2 Grand jour, a Gallicism.

There