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There is a mystery (with whom relation

Durst never meddle) in the soul 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,
As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord;
And better would it fit Achilles much,
To throw down Hector, than Polyxena :

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When fame shall in our islands sound her trump;
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,-
Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;

But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.
Farewel, my lord: I as your lover speak;

The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.

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[Exit. Patr. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov'd you:

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

Achil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector?

Patr. Ay; and, perhaps, receive much honour by

him.

Achil. I see, my reputation is at stake;

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My

My fame is shrewdly gor'd.

Patr. O, then beware;

Those wounds heal ill, that men do give themselves : Omission to do what is necessary

Seals a commission to a blank of danger;

And danger, like an ague, subtly taints

Even then when we sit idly in the sun.

Achil. Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus: I'll send the fool to Ajax, and desire him.

To invite the Trojan lords after the combat,

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To see us here unarm'd: I have a woman's longing,

An appetite that I am sick withal,

To see great Hector in his weeds of peace;
To talk with him, and to behold his visage,

!

Even to my full of view. A labour sav'd!

Enter THER SITES.

Ther. A wonder!

Achil. What?

Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for himself.

Achil. How so?

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Ther. He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector; and is so prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling, that he raves in saying nothing.

Achil. How can that be?

Ther. Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, a stride, and a stand: ruminates, like an hostess, that hath no arithmetic but her brain to set down her reckoning bites his lip with a politic regard, as who

should

should say there were wit in this head, an 'twould out; and so there is; but it lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not shew without knocking. The man's undone for ever; for if Hector break not his neck i'the combat, he'll break it himself in vainglory. He knows not me: I said, Good-morrow, Ajax; and he replies, Thanks, Agamemnon. What think you of this man, that takes me for the general ? He's grown a very land-fish, languageless, a monster. A plague of opinion! a man may wear it on both sides, like a leather jerkin.

Achil. Thou must be my embassador to him, Thersites.

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

Achil. To him, Patroclus: Tell him,-I humbly desire the valiant Ajax, to invite the most valorous Hector to come unarm'd to my tent; and to procure safe conduct for his person, of the magnanimous, and most illustrious, six-or-seven-times-honour'd captaingeneral of the Grecian army, Agamemnon, &c. Do 663

this.

Patr. Jove bless great Ajax!

Ther. Hum!

Patr. I come from the worthy Achilles.
Ther. Ha!

Patr. Who most humbly desires you to invite

Hector to his tent.

Ther.

Ther. Hum!

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Patr. And to procure safe conduct from Aga.

memnon.

Ther. Agamemnon ?

Patr. Ay, my lord.

Ther. Ha!

Patr. What say you to't?

Ther. God be wi'you, with all my heart.

Patr. Your answer, sir.

Ther. If to-morrow be a fair day, by eleven o'clock

it will go one way or other; howsoever, he shall pay for me ere he has me.

Patr. Your answer, sir.

Ther. Fare you well, with all my heart.

Achil. Why, but he is not in this tune, is he?

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Ther. No, but he's out o'tune thus. What musick will be in him when Hector has knock'd out his brains, I know not: But, I am sure, none; unless the fidler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on. Achil. Come, thou shalt bear a letter to him straight. Ther. Let me bear another to his horse; for that's the more capable creature.

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Achil. My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirr'd; And I myself see 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 sheep, than such a valiant ignorance.

[Exit.

ACT

ACT IV. SCENE I.

A Street in Troy. Enter at one Door ÆNEAS, and Servant, with a Torch; at another, PARIS, DEIPHOBUS, ANTENOR, and DIOMED, &c. with Torches.

Paris.

SEE, ho! who is that there?

Dei. It is the lord Æneas.

Ene. Is the prince there in person ?—

Had I so good occasion to lie long,

As you, prince Paris, nought but heavenly business

Should rob my bed-mate of my company.

Dio. That's my mind too.

Æneas.

-Good morrow, lord

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.

Ene. Health to you, valiant sir,

During all question of the gentle truce:
But when I meet you arm'd, as black defiance,
As heart can think, or courage execute.

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

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Ene.

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