Agam. We'll execute your purpose, and put on
A form of strangeness as we pass along ;-
So do each lord; and either greet him not,
Or elfe difdainfully, which shall shake him more
Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.

Achil. What, comes the general to speak with me? You know my mind, I'll fight no more 'gainft Troy. Agam. What fays Achilles? would he aught with us? Neft. Would you, my lord, aught with the general? Achil. No.

Neft. Nothing, my lord.

Agam. The better.

Achil. Good day, good day.

[Exeunt AGAM. and NEST.

[Exit MEN.

Men. How do you? how do you?

Achil. What, does the cuckold scorn me?

Ajax. How now, Patroclus?

Achil. Good morrow, Ajax.

Ajax. Ha?

Achil. Good morrow.

Ajax. Ay, and good next day too.

[Exit AJAX.

Achil. What mean thefe fellows? know they not

Achilles?

Patr. They pafs by ftrangely: they were us'd to bend, To fend their fmiles before them to Achilles;

To come as humbly, as they us❜d to creep

To holy altars.

Achil, What, am I poor of late?

'Tis certain, Greatnefs, once fallen out with fortune,
Muft fall out with men too: What the declin'd is,
He fhall as foon read in the eyes of others,

As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies,
Shew not their mealy wings, but to the fummer;
And not a man, for being fimply man,

Hath any honour; but honour for those honours
That are without him, as place, riches, and favour,
Prizes of accident as oft as merit:

9 but bonour-] Thus the quarto. The folio reads-but bomour'd. MALONE.

Which when they fall, as being flippery ftanders,
The love that lean'd on them as flippery too,
Do one pluck down another, and together
Die in the fall. But 'tis not fo with me:
Fortune and I are friends; I do enjoy
At ample point all that I did poffefs,

Save these men's looks; who do, methinks, find out
Something not worth in me fuch rich beholding
As they have often given. Here is Ulyffes;
I'll interrupt his reading.-How now, Ulyffes?
Uly. Now, great Thetis' fon?
Achil. What are you reading?
Uly. A ftrange fellow here

Writes me, That man-how dearly ever parted',
How much in having, or without, or in,-
Cannot make boast to have that which he hath,
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;
As when his virtues fhining upon others
Heat them, and they retort that heat again
To the first giver.

Achil. This is not ftrange, Ulyffes.

The beauty that is borne here in the face,
The bearer knows not, but commends itself
To others' eyes: nor doth the eye itself2
(That moft pure spirit of fenfe) behold itself3,
Not going from itself; but eye to eye oppos'd

I-bow dearly ever parted,] However excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched or adorned. JOHNSON. So, in a fubfequent paffage :

66

no man is the lord of any thing,

"(Though in and of him there is much confifting,)

"Till he communicate his parts to others."

Ben Jonfon has ufed the word parted in the fame manner) in the Dramatis Perfona of Every Man out of bis Humour: "MACILENTE, a man well-parted, a fufficient fcholar," &c.

MALONE.

2 -nor dotb the eye irfelf, &c.] So, in Julius Cæfar:

"No, Caffius; for the eye fees not itself,

"But by reflection, by fome other things." STEEVENS.

3 To others' eyes :—

That most pure fpirit, &c.] Thefe two lines are totally omitted in all the editions but the first quarto. POPE.

Q4

Salutes

Salutes each other with each other's form.
For fpeculation turns not to itself,

Till it hath travell'd, and is marry'd there
Where it may fee itself: this is not strange at all.
Uly. I do not ftrain at the position,

It is familiar; but at the author's drift:
Who, in his circumftance, expressly proves-
That no man is the lord of any thing,

(Though in and of him there be much confifting,)
Till he communicate his parts to others:
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught
'Till he behold them form'd in the applause

Where they are extended; which, like an arch, rever-
berates

The voice again; or like a gate of steel
Fronting the fun, receives and renders back

His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this;
And apprehended here immediately

The unknown Ajax.

Heavens, what a man is there! a very horse;

That has he knows not what. Nature, what things

there are,

Moft abject in regard, and dear in use!

What things again moft dear in the esteem,

And poor in worth! Now fhall we fee to-morrow,
An act that very chance doth throw upon him,
Ajax renown'di. O heavens, what fome men do,

4 For fpeculation turns not, &c.] Speculation has here the fame meaning as in Macbeth;

"Thou hast no speculation in thofe eyes

"Which thou doft glare with." MALONE.

5 -in bis circumftance,] In the detail or circumduction of his ar gument. JOHNSON.

which, like-] Old Copies-who, like-. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

6 The unknown Ajax.] Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or ufe. JoHNSON.

7- Now fhall we fee to-morrow,

An at that very chance doth throw upon him,

Ajax renown'd] I once thought that we ought to read renown. But by confidering the middle line as parenthetical, the paffage is fufficiently clear. MALONE.

While

While fome men leave to do!

How fome men creep in skittish fortune's hall,
Whiles others play the ideots in her eyes!
How one man eats into another's pride,
While pride is fafting in his wantonnefs?!
To fee thefe Grecian lords !-why, even already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder;
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast,
And great Troy fhrieking.

Achil. I do believe it: for they pafs'd by me,
As mifers do by beggars; neither gave to me
Good word, nor look: What, are my deeds forgot?
Uly. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back',
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-fiz'd monster of ingratitudes :

Thofe fcraps are good deeds paft; which are devour'd As faft as they are made, forgot as foon

As done: Perféverance, dear my lord,

Keeps honour bright: To have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail

In monumental mockery. Take the inftant way;
For honour travels in a strait so narrow,

8 How fome men creep in skittish fortune's ball,] To creep is to keep out of fight from whatever motive. Some men keep out of notice in the ball of fortune, while others, though they but play the ideot, are al. ways in ber eye, in the way of diftinction. JOHNSON.

I cannot think that creep, ufed without any explanatory word, can mean to keep out of fight. While fome men, fays Ulyties, remain tamely inactive in fortune's hall, without any effort to excite her attention, others, &c. Such, I think, is the meaning. MALONE.

9 While pride is fafting in his wantonnefs!] I have preferred fafting, the reading of the quarto, to feafting, which we find in the folio, not only because the quarto copies are in general preferable to the folio, but becaufe the original reading furnishes that kind of antithefis of which our poet was fo fond. One man eats, while another fafts. Achilles is he who fafts; who capriciously abftains from those active exertions which would furnish new food for his pride. Dr. Johnson thinks either word may bear a good fenfe. MALONE.

And great Troy flirieking.] Thus the quarto. The follo has, lefs poetically, brinking. MALONE.

1 Time bath, my lord, a wallet at bis lack,] This fpeech is printed in all the modern editions with fuch deviations from the old copy, as exceed the lawful power of an editor. JOHNSON.

Where

Where one but goes abreaft: keep then the path;
For emulation hath a thousand fons,

That one by one purfue; If you give way,
Or hedge afide from the direct forthright,
Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by,
And leave you hindmost ;-

Or, like a gallant horfe fallen in firft rank,
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear 2,

O'er run and trampled on 3: Then what they do in prefent,

Though lefs than yours in paft, muft o'er-top yours:
For time is like a fashionable host,

That flightly shakes his parting gueft by the hand;
And with his arms out-ftretch'd, as he would fly,
Grafps-in the comer: Welcome ever fmiles*,

And farewel goes out fighing. O, let not virtue seek
Remuneration for the thing it was; for beauty, wit,
High birth, vigour of bone, defert in fervice,
Love, friendship, charity, are fubjects all
To envious and calumniating time.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,-
That all, with one concent, praise new-born gawds,
Though they are made and moulded of things paft;

2 to the abject rear,] So Hanmer. All the editors before him read-to the abject, near. JOHNSON.

3 O'er run, &c.] The quarto wholly omits the fimile of the horse,

and reads thus:

And leave you bindmeft, then what they do at prefent,-. The folio feems to have fome omiffion, for the fimile begins,

Or, like a gallant borfe. JOHNSON.

The construction is, Or, like a gallant horfe, &c. you lie there for pavement; the perfonal pronoun of a preceding line being undertood here. There are many other paffages in these plays in which a fimilar ellipfis is found. So, in this play, p. 231: "but commends itfelf-," inftead of " but it commends itself." MALONE.

4 Welcome ever fmiles,] The compofitor inadvertently repeated the word the, which has juft occurred, and printed-tbe welcome, &c. The emendation was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 5-for beauty, wit, &c.] The modern editors read:

For beauty, wit, bigb birth, defert in fervice, &c.

I do not deny but the changes produce a more eafy lapfe of numbers, but they do not exhibit the work of Shakspeare. JOHNSON.

And