Nor faint in the purfuit.

Pri. Paris, you speak

Like one befotted on your sweet delights:
You have the honey still, but these the gall;
So to be valiant, is no praife at all.

Par. Sir, I propose not merely to myself
The pleasures fuch a beauty brings with it;
But I would have the foil of her fair rape
Wip'd off, in honourable keeping her.
What treafon were it to the ranfack'd queen,
Difgrace to your great worths, and thame to me,
Now to deliver her poffeffion up,

On terms of bafe compulfion? Can it be,
That fo degenerate a strain as this,

Should once fet footing in your generous bofoms?
There's not the meaneft fpirit on our party,
Without a heart to dare, or sword to draw,

When Helen is defended; nor none so noble,

Whofe life were ill bestow'd, or death unfam'd,
Where Helen is the fubject: then, I fay,

Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well, He beats me, and I rail at him: O worthy fatriThe world's large spaces cannot parallel.

Helt. Paris, and Troilus, you have both faid well;
And on the caufe and queftion now in hand
Have gloz'd, but fuperficially; not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philofophy:
The reasons you alledge, do more conduce
To the hot paflion of diftemper'd blood,
Than to make up a free determination
'Twixt right and wrong; For pleasure, and revenge,
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decifion. Nature craves,
All dues be render'd to their owners; Now
What nearer debt in all humanity,
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection ;
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benummed wills, refift the fame;
There is a law in each well-order'd nation,
To curb thofe raging appetites that are
Moft difobedient and refractory.
If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,---
As it is known the is,thefe moral laws
Of nature, and of nations, speak aloud
To have her back return'd: Thus to perfift
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong,
But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My sprightly brethren, I propend to you
In refolution to keep Helen ftill;

For 'tis a caufe that hath no mean dependence
Upon our joint and feveral dignities.

faction! 'would, it were otherwife, that I could beat him, whilft he rail'd at me: 'Sfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raife devils, but I'll fee fome ifive of my fpiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles, -a rare engineer. If Troy be not taken 'till there two undermine it, the walls will ftand 'till they fall of themfelves. O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget that thou art Jove the king of gods; and, Mercury, lofe all the serpentine craft of thy Caduceus; if ye take not that little little lefs-than-little wit from them that they have! which short-arm'd ignorance itfelf knows is fo abundant fcarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing the mally iron 4, and cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on the whole camp! or, rather, the boneache! for that, methinks, is the curfe dependant on those that war for a placket. I have faid my prayers; and devil envy, fay Amen. What, ho! my lord Achilles !

Enter Patroclus. Patr. Who's there? Therfites? Good Therfites, come in and rail.

Ther. If I could have remember'd a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldst not have flipp'd out of my contemplation: but it is no matter, Thyfelf upon thyfelf! The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue! heaven bleis thee from a tutor, and difcipline come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction 'till thy death! then if fhe, that lays thee out, fays-thou art a fair corfe, I'll be fworn and fworn upon 't,

Troi. Why, there you touch'd the life of our defign: the never fhrowded any but lazars. Amen. Were it not glory that we more affected

Than the performance of our heaving fpleens 2,
I would not with a drop of Trojan blood
Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,
She is a theme of honour and renown;
A fpur to valiant and magnanimous deeds;
Whole prefent courage may beat down our foes,

Where's Achilles?

Patr. What, art thou devout? waft thou in

prayer?

Ther. Ay; The heavens hear me !

Enter Achilles.

Achil. Who's there?
Patr. Therfites, my lord.

1 i. e. inflexible, immoveable. 2 i. e. the execution of fpite and resentment. eavy, factious contention. + That is, without drawing their words to cut the web,

3 That is,

Achil. Where, where Art thou come ? Why, my cheese, my digeftion, why haft thou not ferv'd thyfelf in to my table fo many meals?, Come, what's Agamemuon?

Uly. No; you fee, he is his argument, that has his argument; Achilles.

Neft. All the better; their fraction is more our with, than their faction: But it was a strong com

Ther. Thy commander, Achilles ;-Then tell pofure, a fool could difunite. me, Patroclus, what's Achilles?

Ulyff. The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly

Patr. Thy lord, Therfites; Then tell me, I may easily untye. Here comes Patroclus. pray thee, what's thyfelf?

Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus; Then tell me,
Patroclus, what art thou?

Patr. Thou may'ft tell, that know'st.
Acbil. O, tell, tell.

Ther. I'll decline the whole question 1. Aga-
memnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord;
I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool.
Patr. You rafcal!

Ther. Peace, fool; I have not done.

Achil. He is a privileg'd man.-Proceed, Therfites. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Therfites is a fool; and, as aforefaid, Patroclus is a fool.

Re-enter Patroclus.

Neft. No Achilles with him.

Uly. The elephant hath joints, but none for' courtesy ;

His legs are for neceffity, not for flexure.

Patr. Achilles bids me fay-he is much forry,
If any thing more than your sport and pleasure
Did move your greatness, and this noble state 3,
To call on him; he hopes, it is no other,
But, for your health and your digestion fake,
An after-dinner's breath.

Aga. Hear you, Patroclus ;

We are too well acquainted with these answers:
But his evafion, wing'd thus fwift with scorn,
Cannot out-Ay our apprehenfions.

Achil. Derive this; come. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to com- Much attribute he hath; and much the reafon mand Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be command-Why we afcribe it to him: yet all his virtues,→→→ ed of Agamemnon; Therfites is a fool, to ferve Not virtuoufly on his own part beheld,fuch a fool; and Patroclus is a fool positive.

Patr. Why am I a fool?

Ther. Make that demand of the prover.

-It

Do, in our eyes, begin to lose their glofs;
Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish,
Are like to rot untafted. Go and tell him,

fuffices me, thou art. Look you, who comes here ?We come to speak to him: And you shall not fin, Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Neflor, Diomedes, and

Ajax.

Achil. Patroclus, I'll fpeak with no body :-Come in with me, Therfites. [Exit. Ther. Here is fuch patchery, fuch 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 ferpigo on the fubject! and war, and lechery, confound all! [Exit.

Aga. Where is Achilles?

Patr. Within his tent; but ill-difpos'd, my lord.
Aga. Let it be known to him, that we are here.
He thent 2 our meilengers; and we lay by
Our appertainments, vifiting of him :

Let him be told fo; left, perchance, he think
We dare not move the question of our place,
Or know not what we are.

[Exit.

Patr. I fhall 10 fay to him.
Uly. We faw him at the opening of his tent;
He is not fick.

Ajax. Yes, lion-fick, fick 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 fhew us a caufe.--A word, my lord.

[To Agamemnon.
Neft. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him?
Ulyff. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.
Neft. Who? Therfites?

Ulyff. He.

Nt. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have

loft his argument.

If you do fay—we think him over-proud,
And under-honeft; in felf-affumption greater,
Than in the note of judgement; and worthier than
himfelf,

Here tend the favage ftrangeness he puts on;
Difguife the holy ftrength of their command,
And under-write 4 in an observing kind
His humourous predominance; yea, watch
His pettifh lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if
The paffage and whole carriage of this action
Rode on his tide. Go, tell him this; and add,
That, if he over-hold his price fo 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:
A tirring dwarf we do allowance 5 give
Before a fleeping giant:-Tell him fo.
Patr. I fhall; and bring his anfwer presently.
[Exit.

Aga. In fecond voice we'll not be satisfied,
We come to speak with him.-Ulyffes, enter you.
[Exit Ulyffes.

Ajax. What is he more than another?
Aga. No more than what he thinks he is.
Ajax. Is he fo much? Do you not think, he
thinks himself

4i. e. I will deduce the queftion from the firft cafe to the laft.

3 i. e. the ftately train of attending nobles whom you bring with you. 4 Allowance is approbation.

speare, is to obey,

K kk 3

2 i. e. rebuked, rated. 4 To fubscribe, in Shak

And

And altogether more tractable.

Ajax. Why fhould a man be proud?
How doth pride grow? I know not what pride is.
Aga. Your mind's the clearer, Ajax, and your
virtues

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

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

Nef. [Afide.] And yet he loves himself; Is it not strange?

Re-enter Ulves.

Uly. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow.
Aga. What's his excufe?

Uhf. He doth rely on none;

But carries on the stream of his difpofe,
Without obfervance or refpect of any,
In will peculiar and in felf admiffion,

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

Uly. Things fmall as nothing, for requeft's fake
only,

He makes important: Poffeft he is with greatness;
And fpeaks not to himself, but with a pride
That quarrels at felf breath: imagin'd worth
Holds in his blood fuch fwoln and hot difcourfe,
That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts,
Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,
And batters down himfelf: What fhould I fay?
He is fo plaguy proud, that the death tokens of it'
Cry No recovery.

Aga. Let Ajax go to him.

Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent :
'Tis faid, he holds you well; and will be led,
At your requeft, a little from himself.

Ulyff. O Agamemnon, let it not be fo!
We'll confecrate the fteps that Ajax makes,
When they go from Achilles: Shall the proud lord,
That baftes his arrogance with his own feam 2 ;
And never fuffers matter of the world
Enter his thoughts,-fave fuch as do revolve
And ruminate himself,-shall he be worshipp'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?
No, this thrice-worthy and right-valiant lord
Muft not fo ftale his palm, nobly acquir'd;
Nor, by my will, affubjugate 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 fay in thunder-Achilles, go to him.

Neft. O, this is well: he rubs the vein of him.
[Afde.
Dio. And how his filence drinks up this applaufe!

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

Here is a man-But 'tis before his face;
I will be filent.

Neft. Wherefore should you fo?

He is not emulous, as Achilles is.

Ulyff. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. Ajax. A whorefon dog, that fhall palter thus with us!

'Would, he were a Trojan!

Neft. What a vice were it in Ajax now

Uly. If he were proud?

Dia. Or covetous of praise?

Ulyff. Ay, or furly borne ?

Dio. Or ftrange, or felf-affected?

Uly. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of

fweet compofure ;

Praife him that got thee, fhe that gave thee fuck;
Fam'd be thy tutor : and thy parts of nature
Thrice-fam'd, beyond beyond all erudition:
But he that difciplin'd thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigor,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To finewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wifdom,
Which, like a bourn 5, a pale, a fhore, confines
Thy fpacious and dilated parts: Here's Neftor,
Inftructed by the antiquary times,

He muft, he is, he cannot but be wife;——
But pardon, father Neftor, were your days
As green as Ajax, and your brain fo temper'd
[Afide. You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

Alluding to the decifive fpots appearing on thofe infected by the plague.

3 To pheeze is to comb or curry. 41. e. ftuff him with praifes (from farcir, Fr.), boundary, and fometimes a rivulet dividing one place from another,

* Seam is greaft, 5 A bourn is a

Ajax. Shall I call you father?
Neft. Ay, my good fon.

Dio. Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax.

Ulyff. There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles
Keeps thicket. Please it our great general
To call together all his ftate of war;

Fiella 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 fhall cope the best.
Aga. Go we to council. Let Achilles fleep.
Light boats fail fwift, though greater hulks draw
deep.
[Exeunt.

ACT

SCENE I.

TROY.

The Palace.

Enter Pandarus, and a Servant. [Musick within.
Pan. TRIEND! you! pray you, a word:
Do not you follow the young lord

Paris?

F

Serv. Ay, fir, when he goes before me.

Pan. You do depend upon him, I mean?

Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

Pan. You do depend upon a noble gentleman;

I muit needs praife him.

Serv. The lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not?

Serv. 'Faith, fir, fuperficially.

III.

complimental affault upon him, for my bufinefs feeths.

Sev. Sodden business! there's a stew'd phrafe, indeed!

Enter Paris, and Helen, attended.

Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair company! fair defires, in all fair measure, fairly guide them !-efpecially to you, fair queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words. Pan. Youfpeak your fair pleasure, fweet queen.Fair prince, here is good broken mufick.

Par. You have broke it, coufin: and, by my life, you fhall make it whole again; you fhall piece it out with a piece of your performance :

Pan. Friend, know me better; I am the lord Nell, he is full of harmony.
Pandarus.

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

Serv. You are in the state of grace ?

Pan. Grace! not fo, friend; honour and lordfhip are my titles :-What mufic is this?

Serv. I do but partly know, fir; it is mufick in parts.

Pan. Know you the musicians?

Serv. Wholly, fir.

Pan. Who play they to?

Serv. To the hearers, fir.

Pan. At whofe pleature, friend?

Serv. At mine, fir, and theirs that love mufick.
Pan. Command, I mean, friend?
Serv. Who fhall I command, fir?

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

Serv. That's to 't, indeed, fir: Marry, fir, at the request of Paris my lord, who is there in perfon; with him, the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love's invifible foul 1,

Pan. Who, my coufin Creffida?

Pan. Truly, lady, no.

Helen. O, fir,

Pan. Rude, in footh; `in good footh, very rude. Par. Well faid, my lord! well, you fay fo in fits 2. Pan. I have bufinefs to my lord, dear queen :My lord, will you vouchfafe me a word?

Helen. Nay, this fhall not hedge us out; we'll hear you fing, certainly.

Pan. Well, fwect.queen, you are pleafant with me.-But (marry) thus, my lord. My dear lord, and moft efteemed friend, your brother Troilus

Helen. My lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,— Pan. Go to, fweet queen, go to :-commends himfelf most affectionately to you.

Helen. You thall not bob us out of our melody;
If you do, our melancholy upon your head!
Pan. Sweet queen, fweet queen; that's a fweet
queen, i' faith.

Helen. And to make a fweet lady fad, is a four offence.

Pan. Nay, that shall not ferve your turn; that fhall it not, in truth, la. Nay, I care not for fuch words; no, no.-And, my lord, he defires you,

Serv. No, fir, Helen; Could you not find out that, if the king call for him at supper, you will 'that by her attributes ?

make his excufe.

Helen. My lord Pandarus,

Pan. What fays my fweet queen; my very

Pan. It fhould feem, fellow, that thou haft not feen the lady Creffida. I come to fpeak with Paris from the Prince Troilus: I will make a very sweet queen?

i, e. the foul of love invifible every where else.
Kkk 4

2 i. e. now and then, by fits.

Pan

Pan. What exploit's in hand? where fups he How chance my brother Troilus went not ? to-night?

Pan. I will, fweet queen. [Exit. Sound a retreat. Par. They are come from field: let us to Priam's hall, [you To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I muft woo Pan. You ípy! what do you spy?-Come, give To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles, me an inftrument.-Now, fweet queen.

Pan. My niece is horribly in love with a thing Or force of Greckah finews; you fhall do more you have, fweet queen. Than all the ifland kings, difarm great Hector. Helen. 'Twill make us proud to be his fervant, Paris :

Helen. She fhall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord Paris.

Pan. He! no, fhe'll none of him; they two Yea, what he shall receive of us in duty are twain.

Gives us more palm in beauty than we have;

Helen. Falling in, after falling out, may make Yea, over-fhines ourself.

Helen. Let thy fong be love: this love will un-coufin Creffida's? do us all. Oh, Cupid, Cupid, Cupid!

[love. thither.

Par. Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, Re-cater Pandavus. and all the gallantry of Troy: I would fain have Pan. She's making her ready, she'll come arm'd to-day, but my Nell would not have it fo: ftraight; you must be witty now. She does fo

This is the ufual exclamation at a childish game called Hie, Spy, hie. 2 i. e. fays Mr. Tollet, the reconciliation and wanton dalliance of two lovers after a quarrel, may produce a child, and fo make three of two.