Re-enter ULYSSES.

He doth rely on none;

Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow.
Agam. What's his excuse?
Ulyss.
But carries on the stream of his dispose
Without observance or respect of any,

In will peculiar and in self-admission.

Agam. Why will he not, upon our fair request, Untent his person, and share the air with us?

Ulyss. Things small as nothing, for request's sake only,

He makes important. Possess'd he is with greatness;
And speaks not to himself, but with a pride
That quarrels at self-breath: imagin'd worth

Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse,
That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts,
Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,

And batters down himself: what should I say?
He is so plaguy proud, that the death tokens of it
Cry-" No recovery."

66

Agam.

Let Ajax go to him.-
Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent:
'Tis said, he holds you well; and will be led,
At your request, a little from himself.

Ulyss. O Agamemnon! let it not be so.
We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes
When they go from Achilles: shall the proud lord,
That bastes his arrogance with his own seam,
And never suffers matter of the world
Enter his thoughts,-save such as doth revolve
And ruminate himself,—shall he be worshipp'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?

8 And batters down himself:] The folio reads, probably corruptly, "And batters 'gainst itself." "Death tokens," in the next line, are the decisive indications of a person being infected with the plague.

9

with his own seam,] i. e. lard or grease: from the Sax. seme.

No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquir'd;

Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,

As amply titled as Achilles is', by going to Achilles :
That were to enlard his fat-already pride;

And add more coals to Cancer, when he burns
With entertaining great Hyperion.

This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid;

And say in thunder-" Achilles, go to him."

Nest. O! this is well; he rubs the vein of him.

[Aside.

Dio. And how his silence drinks up this applause!

[Aside.

Ajax. If I go to him, with my armed fist

I'll pash him o'er the face.

Agam. O, no! you shall not go.

Ajax. An 'a be proud with me, I'll pheeze his

pride2.

Let me go to him.

Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our

1 As amply TITLED as Achilles is,] The quartos have liked for "titled" of the folio.

2

I'll PHEEZE his pride:] I'll humble his pride. See "Taming of the Shrew," Vol. iii. p. 107. To pash, in the preceding speech of Ajax, is to strike, and sometimes to break. The word is still used in Norfolk.

3 I'll let his humours blood.] In the quartos this passage stands, "I'll tell his humorous blood." As Malone observes, in 1600 was published a collection of satires, &c. called, "The Letting of Humour's Blood in the head-vein." It gave offence under this title, and in the next edition it was called "Humours Ordinary." It was afterwards frequently reprinted under its first title. Malone does not seem to have known these particulars, nor that the name of the author was Samuel Rowlands.

Agam. He will be the physician, that should be the

patient.

Ajax. An all men were o' my mind,—

[Aside.

Ulyss.

Wit would be out of fashion.

[Aside.

Ajax. 'A should not bear it so,

'A should eat swords first: shall pride carry it? Nest. An 'twould, you'd carry half.

[Aside.

'A would have ten shares1.

[Aside.

Ulyss.

Ajax. I will knead him; I will make him supple. Nest. He's not yet thorough warm: force him with

praises.

Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.

[Aside.

Ulyss. My lord, you feed too much on this dislike.

[To AGAMEMNON.

Nest. Our noble general, do not do so.

Dio. You must prepare to fight without Achilles.. Ulyss. Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm. Here is a man-but 'tis before his face;

I will be silent.

Nest.

Wherefore should you so?

He is not emulous, as Achilles is.

Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant.

Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with

4 'A would have ten shares.] In the quartos these words are assigned to Ajax they clearly belong to Ulysses, and to him they are given in the folio. In the next speech, by Nestor," He's not yet thorough warm," erroneously has the prefix of Ajax in all the copies, folio and quarto. "Force him with praises' means, “stuff him with praises," but the quartos have prayers for "praises." The dialogue is confusedly given in this part of the scene in all the old copies.

"

Dio. Or strange, or self-affected?

Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet

composure;

Praise him that got thee, her that gave thee suck:
Fam'd be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature
Thrice-fam'd, beyond all erudition5;
But he that disciplin'd thine arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: here's Nestor,
Instructed by the antiquary times,

He must, he is, he cannot but be wise;
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax, and your brain so temper'd,
You should not have the eminence of him,

But be as Ajax.

Ajax.

Shall I call you father?

Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax.

Nest. Ay, my good son.

Dio.

Ulyss. There is no tarrying here: the hart Achilles Keeps thicket. Please it our great general

To call together all his state of war:

Fresh kings are come to Troy; to-morrow,

We must with all our main of power stand fast:
And here's a lord,—come knights from east to west,
And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best.
Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep:
Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep'.

5

beyond all erudition ;] The folio inserts "beyond" twice.

[Exeunt.

Ay, my good son.] In the folio this reply is put into the mouth of Ulysses, but it more properly belongs to Nestor, and to him we find it assigned in the quartos. Some have supposed that the words were transferred from Ulysses to Nestor merely by modern editors: it is not only the most ancient, but the most natural reading.

7 Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.] So the quartos:

ACT III. SCENE I.

Troy. A Room in PRIAM's Palace.

Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

Pan. Friend! you; pray you, a word. Do not you follow the young lord Paris?

Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.
Pan. You depend upon him, I mean?
Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

Pan. You depend upon a noble gentleman: I must needs praise him.

Serv. The lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not?

Serv. Faith, sir, superficially.

Pan. Friend, know me better. I am the lord Pandarus.

Serv. I hope, I shall know your honour better.
Pan. I do desire it.

Serv. You are in the state of grace. [Music within. Pan. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles. What music is this?

Serv. I do but partly know, sir: it is music in parts. Pan. Know you the musicians?

Serv. Wholly, sir.

Pan. Who play they to?

Serv. To the hearers, sir.

Pan. At whose pleasure, friend?

Serv. At mine, sir; and theirs that love music.

Pan. Command, I mean, friend.

Serv. Who shall I command, sir?

Pan. Friend, we understand not one another: I am too courtly, and thou art too cunning. At whose request do these men play?

the folio spoils the line by reading may before sail, and misprints bulks for "hulks." It injures a previous line by omitting "great" before "general."