He acts thy greatness in and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a-mending; with terms unsquar'd,
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd,
Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff
The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,
From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause ;
Cries, Excellent! 'tis Agamemnon just.

Now play me Nestor; hem, and stroke thy beard,
As he being drest to some oration.'

That's done ;-as near as the extremest ends
Of parallels, like as Vulcan and his wife :---
Yet good Achilles still cries, Excellent !

'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus,
Arming to answer in a night alarm.'

And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough and spit,
And with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet and at this sport
Sir Valour dies; cries, O! enough, Patroclus;
Or give me ribs of steel; I shall split all
In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,..
Severals and generals of grace exact,
Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,
-Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,
Success or loss, what is or is not, serves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.

NESTOR. And in the imitation of these twain-
Whom, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice many are infect.
Ajax is grown self-will'd, and bears his head
In such a rein, in full as proud a place

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As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him;

Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war,

ULYSSES. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice;

Count wisdom as no member of the war;
Forestall prescience, and esteem no act
But that of hand: the still and mental parts,
That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
When fitness calls them on, and know by measure
Of their observant toil the enemies' weight,
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity :
They call this bed-work, mappery, closet-war;
So that the ram that batters down the wall,

For the great swing and rudeness of his poise,

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They place before his hand that made the engine, 208
Or those that with the fineness of their souls
By reason guides his execution.

NESTOR. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse Makes many Thetis' sons.

[A tucket.

AGAMEMNON. What trumpet? look, Menelaus. V From Troy.

MENELAUS.

"

Enter ENEAS.

0 214

AGAMEMNON What would you 'fore our tent? ENEAS. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?

AGAMEMNON. Even this.

ENEAS. May one, that is a herald and a prince, Do a fair message to his kingly ears?

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AGAMEMNON. With surety stronger than Achilles'

arm

'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice Call Agamemnon head and general.

ENEAS. Fair leave and large, security. How may

A stranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals ?

AGAMEMNON.

ENEAS.

Ay;

I ask, that I might waken reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modest as morning when she coldly eyes,
The youthful Phœbus:

How!

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Which is that god in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?

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AGAMEMNON. This Trojan scorns us; or the men of Troy

Are ceremonious courtiers.

ENEAS.

Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,

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As bending angels; that's their fame in peace :
But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls,
Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and, Jove's
accord,

Nothing so full of heart. But peace, Æneas!
Peace, Trojan! lay thy finger on thy lips!

The worthiness of praise distains his worth,

If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth;
But what the repining enemy commends,

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That breath fame blows; that praise, sole pure, transcends.

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AGAMEMNON. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Eneas?

ENEAS. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

AGAMEMNON. What's your affair, I pray you?

ENEAS. Sir, pardon, 'tis for Agamemnon's ears. AGAMEMNON. He hears nought privately that comes from Troy.

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ENEAS. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him : I bring a trumpet to awake his ear, To set his sense on the attentive bent, And then to speak.

AGAMEMNON.

Speak frankly as the wind:
It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour;
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee so himself.

ENEAS.

Trumpet, blow aloud,

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Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents;
And every Greek of mettle, let him know,
What Troy means fairly shall be spoke aloud.

256 {

[Trumpet sounds.

We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy,
A prince called Hector,-Priam is his father,-
Who in this dull and long-continu'd truce
Is rusty grown: he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose speak: kings, princes, lords!

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If there be one among the fair'st of Greece
That holds his honour higher than his ease,
That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril,
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear,
That loves his mistress more than in confession,
With truant vows to her own lips he loves,
And dare avow her beauty and her worth
In other arms than hers, to him this challenge.
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, or do his best to do it,
He hath a lady wiser, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,
To rouse a Grecian that is true in love:
If any come, Hector shall honour him;
If none, he'll say in Troy when he retires,
The Grecian dames are sunburnt, and not worth
The splinter of a lance.

AGAMEMNON.

Æneas

Even so much. **

This shall be told our lovers,

If none of them have soul in such a kind,

We left them all at home: but we are soldiers;

+

Lord 284

And may that soldier a mere recreant prove, HEPATI
That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
If then one is, or hath, or means to be,
That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he.
NESTOR. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd he is old now:
But if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire
To answer for his love, tell him from me,
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver,

༞ ་ ་

,,༔

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293

&

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And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn ;
And, meeting him, will tell him that my lady'
Was fairer than his grandam, and as chaste
As may be in the world: his youth in flood,
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
ENEAS. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth!
ULYSSES. Amen.com Avat asion)

300

AGAMEMNON. Fair Lord Æneas, let me touch your

hand;

To our pavilion shall I lead you first..

Achilles shall have word of this intent;

So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent :
Yourself shall feast with us before you go,

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

[Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR.

What says Ulysses?

ULYSSES. I have a young conception in my brain Be you my time to bring it to some shape.

NESTOR.

What is 't? :

ULYSSES. This 'tis :

Blunt wedges rive hard knots: the seeded pride
That hath to this maturity blown up

In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd,

Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil,
To overbulk us all...

NESTOR.

ULYSSES.

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316

Well, and how?

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This challenge that the gallant Hector

sends,

However it is spread in general name,

Relates in purpose only to Achilles.

NESTOR. The purpose is perspicuous even as sub

stance

Whose grossness little characters sum up:

And, in the publication, make no strain,

But that Achilles, were his brain as barren. *
As banks of Libya,—though, Apollo knows,

'Tis dry enough,will with great speed of judgment,
Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
Pointing on him.

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ULYSSES... And wake him to the answer, think you? NESTOR. Yes, 'tis most meet: whom may you else

oppose,

That can from Hector bring those honours off, v

If not Achilles? Though 't be a sportful combat,
Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;

For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute

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