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 ?

401 Patr. Thou may'st tell, that know'st. Achil. O, tell, tell.

Ther. I'll decline the whole question. Agamem. non commands Achilles ; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool.

Patr. You rascal !
Ther. Peace, fool; I have not done.
Achil. He is a privilegʻd man. Proceed, Thersites,

Ther. Agamemnon is a fool ; Achilles is a fool; Thersites is a fool ; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.

412 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 thou art. Look you, who comes here?

421

suffices me,

Enter AGAMEMNON, Ulysses, Nestor, Dio.

MEDES, and AJAX. Achil. Patroclus, I'll speak with no body :-Come in with me, Thersites,

[Exit. Ther.

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 all !

[Exit. Aga. Where is Achilles ?

429 Patr. Within his tent; but ill-dispos'd, my lord.

Age. Let it be known to him, that we are here.
He shent our messengers ; and we lay by
Our appertainments, visiting of him :
Let him be told so; lest, perchance, he think
We dare not move the question of our place,
Or know not what we are.
Patr. I shall so say to him.

[Exit.
Ulys. We saw him at the opening of his tent :
He is not sick.

439 Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of a proud heart : you may call it melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my head, 'tis pride : But why, why? let him shew us a cause.-A word, my lord.

[T. AGAMEMNON.
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.

451 Fij

Neste

Nest. All the better; their fraction is more our wish, than their faction: But it was a strong composure, à fool could disunite.

Ulyss. The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie. Here comes Patroclus.

Re-enter PATROCLUS, Nest. No Achilles with him. Ulyss. The elephant hath joints, but nonc for

courtesy ; His legs are for necessity, not for flexure.

Patr. Achilles bids me say he is much sorry, 460 If any thing more than your sport and pleasure Did move your greatness, and this noble state, To call on him; he hopes, it is no other, But, for your health and you digestion sake, An after-dinner's breath,

Aga. Hear you, Patroclus ; We are too well acquainted with these answers : But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn, Cannot out-fly our apprehensions. Much attribute he hath ; and much the reason 470 Why we ascribe it to him : yet all his virtues, Not virtuously on his own part beheld, Do, in our eyes, begin to lose their gloss; Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish, Are like to rotuntasted. Go and tell him, We come to speak to him : And you shall not sịn, If you do say-we think him over-proud, And under-honest; in self-assumption greater,

Than

Than in the note of judgment; and worthier than

himself, Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on;

480 Disguise the holy strength of their command, And under-write in an observing kind His humourous predominance ; yea, watch His pęttish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if The passage and whole carriage of this action Rode on his tide. Go, tell him this; and add, That, if he over-hold his price so much, We'll none of him ; but let him, like an engine Not portable, lie under this report Bring action hither, this cannot go to war : 490 A stirring dwarf we do allowance give Before a sleeping giant :- Tell him so. Patr. I shall ; and bring his answer presently.

[Exit. Aga. In second voice we'll not be satisfied, We come to speak with him.-Ulysses, enter yor.

[Exit ULYSSES, Ajax. What is he more than another? Aga. No more than what he thinks he is, Ajax, Is he so much? Do you not think, he thinks

himself A better man than I?. Aga. No question.

500 Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought, and say—

he is ? Aga. No, noble Ajax ; you are as strong, as valiant, Fiii

As

As wise, and 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 iş.
Aga. Your mind's the clearer, Ajax, and your

virtues The fairer. He that's proud, eats up himself : Pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his Own chronicle; and whate'er praises itself 510 But in the deed, devours the deed i’ the praise.

Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads.

Nest. [ Aside. ] And yet he loves himself; Is it not strange?

Re-enter ULYSSES,
Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow,
Aga. What's his excuse ?

Ulyss. He doth rely on none;
But carries on the stream of his dispose,
Without observance or respect of any,

520 In will peculiar and in self-admission.

Aga. 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: Possest 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,