Succefs, or lofs, what is, or is not, ferves
As ftuff for these two to make paradoxes.
Neft. And in the imitation of these twain
(Whom, as Ulyffes fays, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice) many are infect.
Ajax is grown felf-will'd; and bears his head
In fuch a rein, in full as proud a place
As broad Achilles: keeps his tent like him;
Makes factious feafts; rails on our state of war,
Bold as an oracle: and fets Therfites

(A flave, whose gall coins flanders like a mint)
To match us in comparisons with dirt;
To weaken and difcredit our expofure,
How rank foever rounded in with danger.

Ulyff. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice
Count wisdom as no member of the war;

Foreftall pre-science, and esteem no act

But that of hand: the ftill and mental parts,-
That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
When fitness calls them on; and know, by measure
Of their obfervant 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 fwing and rudeness of his poize,
They place before his hand that made the engine;
Or thofe, that with the fineness of their fouls
By reafon guide his execution.

As fuff for these two to make paradoxes.]—As a fund for their abfurd mimickry, for them to burlefque: to make parodies.

z bears his head]-holds it as high.

a our expofure, &c.]-regardless of the immenfe danger to which fuch degrading reprefentations may expofe the common caufe.

bby measure, &c.]-by dint of unwearied obfervation.

e

fineness of their fouls-their ingenuity.

Neft.

[Trumpet founds.

Neft. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horfe
Makes many Thetis' fons.

Agam. What trumpet? look, Menelaus.
Men. From Troy.

Enter Eneas.

Aga. What would you 'fore our tent?

Ene. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?
Aga. Even this.

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

d

Aga. With furety stronger than Achilles' arm

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

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. How may
A stranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals?
Aga. How?

Ene. I afk, that I might waken reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modeft as morning when the coldly eyes
The youthful Phoebus:

Which is that god in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?
Aga. This Trojan fcorns us; or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

Ene. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,
As bending angels; that's their fame in peace:
But when they would feem foldiers, they have galls,
Good arms, ftrong joints, true fwords, and

accord;

Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas,

Jove's

With furety, &c.]—You may do it with the utmoft fecurity before • Jove's accord,]-Jove's Sanction, protection.

all thofe chiefs.

Peace,

Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!
The worthiness of praise diftains his worth;
If that the prais'd himself bring the praife forth:
But what the repining enemy commends,

That breath fame blows; that praife, fole pure, tranfcends.

Aga. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas?

Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

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

Ene. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.
Aga. He hears nought privately, that comes from Troy.
Ene. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him:

I bring a trumpet to awake his ear;

To fet his fenfe on the attentive bent,
And then to speak.

Aga. Speak frankly as the wind;

It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour:
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee fo himself.

Ene. Trumpet, blow loud,

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

[Trumpets found.

We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
A prince call'd Hector, Priam is his father,
Who in this dull and long-continued truce
Is rufty grown; he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose fpeak, Kings, princes, lords!
If there be one, among the fair'st of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease;
That feeks his praise more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear

That

That loves his mistress more than in confeffion,
(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, wifer, fairer, truer,

Than ever Greek did compafs in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Mid-way between your tents and walls of Troy,
To roufe a Grecian that is true in love:
If any come, Hector fhall honour him;
If none, he'll fay in Troy, when he retires,
The Grecian dames are fun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lance. Even fo much.

Aga. This fhall be told our lovers, lord Æneas;
If none of them have foul in fuch a kind,
We left them all at home: But we are foldiers;
And may that foldier a mere recreant prove,
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 elfe, I am he.

Neft. Tell him of Neftor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandfire fuck'd: he is old now;
But, if there be not in our Grecian hoft

One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love, Tell him from me,-
I'll hide my filver beard in a gold beaver,

g

And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn;
And, meeting him, will tell him, That my lady
Was fairer than his grandame, and as chaste

in confeffion,]-empty proteftations of his paffion, made in her own prefence, and fealed upon her lips.

vant brace]-a defence for the arm.

beaver,]-helmet.

As

As

may be in the world: His youth in flood, I'll k pawn this truth with my three drops of blood. Ene. Now heavens forbid fuch scarcity of youth! Ulyff. Amen.

1

Aga. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand; To our pavilion fhall I lead you, fir.

Achilles fhall have word of this intent;

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

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

Ulyff. Neftor,

Manent Ulyffes, and Neftor.

Neft. What fays Ulyffes?

Uly. I have a young conception in my brain,

Be you my time to bring it to some shape.

Neft. What is't?

Uly. This 'tis :

[Exeunt.

Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The " feeded pride
That hath to its maturity blown up

In rank Achilles, muft or now be cropt,

n

Or, fhedding, breed a nursery of like evil,

To over-bulk us all.

Neft. Well, and how?

Uly. This challenge that the gallant Hector fends, However it is spread in general name,

Relates in purpose only to Achilles.

Neft. The purpose is perfpicuous even as substance, Whose groffness little characters fum up:

1 His youth in flood,]-Though he be in the flush, or prime of youth. pawn]-maintain.

1 Be you my time]-Do you fupply time's place, and bring it to maturity. feeded full blown and ready to feed. .nursery]-a whole plantation, and over-run us with his growth. as fubftance,]-as a large body, or quantity, made up of many minute particles, or ascertained by small characters, i. e. numerals.

And,