Enter PATROCLUS. Patr. Who's there? Thersites ? Good Thersites, come in and rail. Ther. If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldest not have slipped out of my contemplation; but it is no matter: thyself upon thyself! The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue! heaven bless thee from a tutor, and discipline come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction till thy death! then, if she, that lays thee out, says thou art a fair corse, I'll be sworn and sworn upon't, she never shrouded any but lazars. Amen. Where's Achilles? Patr. What! art thou devout? wast thou in prayer? Ther. Ay; the heavens hear me ! Enter ACHILLES. Achil. Who's there? Patr. Thersites, my lord. Achil. Where, where?-Art thou come? Why, my cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served thyself in to my table so many meals? Come; what's Agamemnon ? Ther. Thy commander, Achilles. Then, tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles? Patr. Thy lord, Thersites. Then, tell me, I pray thee, what's thyself? Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus. Then tell me, Patroclus, what art thou? Patr. Thou must tell, that knowest. Achil. O tell, tell. Ther. I'll decline the whole question'. Agamemnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool. 6 Thou MUST tell,] So the quartos: the folio, "Thou mayst tell.” 7 DECLINE the whole question.] "Deduce the question," says Johnson, "from the first case to the last." Patr. You rascals! Ther. Peace, fool! I have not done. ; Achil. He is a privileged man.—Proceed, Thersites. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool Thersites is a fool; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool. Achil. Derive this: come. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool; and Patroclus is a fool positive. Patr. Why am I a fool? Ther. Make that demand of the prover".-It suffices me, thou art. Look you, who comes here? Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and AJAX. Achil. Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody. Come in with me, Thersites. [Exit. Ther. Here is such patchery', such juggling, and such knavery! all the argument is a cuckold, and a whore; a good quarrel, to draw emulous factions, and bleed to death upon. Now, the dry serpigo on the subject, and war and lechery confound all2! Agam. Where is Achilles? [Exit. Patr. Within his tent; but ill-dispos'd, my lord. 8 Patr. You rascal!] This and the three next speeches are only in the folio. Make that demand of the PROVER.] It is not easy to account for the variation between the quarto and folio copies here: the former have it as in our text: the latter read, " Make that demand to the Creator." In general the rule has been to strike out, rather than to insert, profane allusions in the folio, and some of the changes in this respect no doubt were made by the Master of the Revels, in consequence of the stat. 3 Jac. I. ch. 21. 1 Here is such PATCHERY,] Meaning folly. Fools were often of old called patches, on account of their dress. 2 Now, the dry serpigo on the subject, and war and lechery confound all !] These words are only in the folio. The serpigo was a kind of tetter, and we have before had it mentioned in "Measure for Measure," Vol. ii. p. 49. Just above, the folio, for "emulous factions" of the quartos, has "emulations, factions." We adhere to the quartos, as, indeed, modern editors have done, but without noticing the variation. We sent our messengers3; and we lay by Let him be told so, lest, perchance, he think Patr. I shall say so to him. [Exit. Ulyss. We saw him at the opening of his tent : He is not sick. Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart: you may call it melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my head, 'tis pride: but why? why? let him show us a cause.-A word, my lord3. [Taking AGAMEMNON aside. Nest. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him? Ulyss. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him. Nest. Who? Thersites ? Ulyss. He. Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his argument. Ulyss. No, you see, he is his argument, that has his argument, Achilles. Nest. All the better; their fraction is more our wish, than their faction: but it was a strong composure, a fool could disunite. Ulyss. The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie. Here comes Patroclus. Nest. No Achilles with him. 3 WE SENT our messengers ;] The quartos read, "He sate," and the folio, "He sent." The ordinary reading since the time of Theobald has been, "He shent," or rebuked our messengers; but, as Mr. Barron Field observes to me, Achilles had not rebuked any messengers, and the mistake is not in the word sent, as it stands in the folio, but in the word He, which was a mere transcriber's error for "We." * Let him be told so, lest, perchance, he think We dare not move the question of our place,] So the quartos: the folio, "Let him be told of, so perchance he think;" which might be improved by reading, "Let him be told, if so, perchance, he think;" but the text of the quartos requires no change. A word, my lord.] Not in the quartos. Farther on, the folio has strong counsel that for "strong composure" of the quartos, and flight for "flexure." Re-enter PATROCLUS. Ulyss. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy: his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure. Patr. Achilles bids me say, he is much sorry, If any thing more than your sport and pleasure Did move your greatness, and this noble state, To call upon him: he hopes, it is no other, But, for your health and your digestion sake, An after-dinner's breath. Agam. Hear you, Patroclus. We are too well acquainted with these answers; Much attribute he hath, and much the reason And under-honest; in self-assumption greater, Than in the note of judgment; and worthier than him self Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on, Disguise the holy strength of their command, 6 His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if The passage and whole carriage of this action Rode on his tide.] So the folio, excepting that for "lunes" it misprints lines. We have seen "lunes" used in the same way in "The Winter's Tale," Vol. iii. p. 460. In the quartos the passage is thus given: "His That, if he overhold his price so much, We'll none of him; but let him, like an engine Bring action hither, this cannot go to war. Patr. I shall; and bring his answer presently. [Exit. Agam. In second voice we'll not be satisfied, We come to speak with him.-Ulysses, enter you'. [Exit ULYSSES. Ajax. What is he more than another? Ajax. Is he so much? Do you not think, he thinks himself a better man than I am? Agam. No question. Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought, and say he is? Agam. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant, as wise, no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether more tractable. Ajax. Why should a man be proud? How doth pride grow? I know not what pride is. Agam. Your mind is the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues the fairer. He that is proud, eats up himself: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise. Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads. Nest. Yet he loves himself: is't not strange? "His course and time, his ebbs and flows, and if The passage and whole stream of his commencement There can be no doubt that the text of the folio is an improvement. [Aside. 7 Ulysses, enter you.] Thus the folio: the quarto, corruptly, "Ulysses, entertain." Lower down the folio reads, "I know not what it is" for "I know not what pride is" of the quartos. |