SCENE III.

The Grecian Camp. Before Agamemnon's Tent.

Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, Nestor, Ulysses, MENELAUS, and others.

Agam. Princes,

What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? The ample proposition, that hope makes

In all designs begun on earth below,

Fails in the promis'd largeness; checks and disasters
Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd;
As knots, by the conflúx of meeting sap,
Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain
Tortive and errant 3 from his course of growth.
Nor, princes, is it matter new to us,

That we come short of our suppose so far,
That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand;
Sith 4
every action that hath gone before,

Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
And that unbodied figure of the thought

That gav't surmised shape. Why then, you princes,
Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works;
And think them shames, which are, indeed, nought
else

But the protractive trials of great Jove,

To find persistive constancy in men?
The fineness of which metal is not found

In fortune's love: for them, the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the artist and unread,

The hard and soft, seem all affin'd 5 and kin:
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan.

3 Twisted and rambling.

5 Joined by affinity.

4 Since.

Puffing at all, winnows the light away:
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled.

Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat, Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply

Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance
Lies the true proof of men: The sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
Upon her patient breast, making their way
With those of nobler bulk.

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis, and, anon, behold

The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
Bounding between the two moist elements,
Like Perseus' horse: Where's then the saucy boat,
Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now
Co-rival'd greatness? either to harbour fled,
Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so
Doth valour's show, and valour's worth, divide,
In storms of fortune: For, in her ray and brightness,
The herd hath more annoyance by the brize, 6
Than by the tiger: but when the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,

And flies fled under shade, Why, then, the thing of courage,

As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize,
And with an accent tun'd in self-same key,
Returns to chiding fortune.

Ulyss.

Agamemnon,

Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,
Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit,

In whom the tempers and the minds of all
Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.
Besides the applause and approbation,

The which,-most mighty for thy place and sway,

[To AGAMEMNON.

The gad-fly that stings cattle.

And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life,—
[TO NESTOR.
I give to both your speeches, which were such,
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and such again,
As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,

Should with a bond of air (strong as the axle-tree
On which heaven rides,) knit all the Greekish ears
To his experienc'd tongue,-yet let it please both,-
Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak.
Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less
expect?

That matter needless, of importless burden,
Divide thy lips: than we are confident,
When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws,
We shall hear musick, wit, and oracle.

Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down, And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master, But for these instances.

The speciality of rule 8 hath been neglected:
And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
When that the general is not like the hive,
To whom the foragers shall all repair,

What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded, "
The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center,
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol,
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other; whose med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts,

like the commandment of a king,