And daughters of the game. [Trumpet within. Enter Hector, Eneas, Troilus, &c. with attendants. Ene. Hail, all the state of Greece! What fhall be done to him That victory commands? Or do you purpose, Purfue each other; or fhall they be divided Aga. Which way would Hector have it? * 'Tis done like Heator; but fecurely done,] In the fenfe of the Latin, fecurus-fecurus admodum de bello, animi fecuri bomo. A negligent fecurity arifing from a contempt of the object opposed. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton truly obferves, that the word fecurely is here ofed in the Latin fenfe: and Mr. Warner, in his ingenious letter to Mr. Garrick, thinks this fenfe peculiar to Shakspeare," for, says he, I have not been able to trace it elsewhere." This gentleman has treated me with so much civility, that I am bound in honour to remove his difficulty. It is to be found in the laft act of the Spanish Tragedy: "O damned devil! how fecure he is.' " In my lord Bacon's Essay on Tumults, "neither let any prince or ftate be fecure concerning difeontents." And befides thefe, in Drayton, Fletcher, and the vulgar translation of the Bible. Mr. Warner had as little fuccefs in his researches for the word religion in its Latin acceptation. I meet with it however in Hoby's tranflation of Caftilio, 1561: "Some be fo fcrupulous, as it were, with a religion of this their Tufcane tung." Ben Jonfon more than once ufes both the fubftantive and the adjective in this fenfe. As to the word Cavalero, with the Spanish termination, it is to be found in Heywood, Withers, Davies, Taylor, and many other writers. FARMER. Aga, A little proudly, and great deal mifprizing Ene. If not Achilles, fir, Achil. If not Achilles, nothing. Ene. Therefore Achilles: But, whate'er, know this; In the extremity of great and little, Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector; The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well, Re-enter Diomed. Aga. Here is fir Diomed:-Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas Confent upon the order of their fight, So be it; either to the uttermoft, Or elfe a breath: the combatants being kin, Aga. 'Tis done like Hector, but fecurely done,] It feems abfurd to me, that Agamemnon fhould make a remark to the difparagement of Hector for, pride, and that Æneas fhould immediately fay, If not Achilles, fir, what is your name? To Achilles I have ventured to place it; and confulting Mr. Dryden's alteration of this play, I was not a little pleased to find, that I had but feconded the opinion of that great man in this point. THEOBALD. As the old copies agree, I have made no change. JOHNSON. Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector] Shakspeare's thought is not exactly deduced. Nicety of expreffion is not his character. The meaning is plain: "Valour (fays Æneas) is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is lefs than pride in other men. So that Hector is diftinguifhed by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour." JOHNSON. Half Half ftints their ftrife before their ftrokes begin. Agam. What Trojan is that fame that looks so heavy? Uly. The youngest fon of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchlefs; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deedlefs in his tongue; Not foon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, foon calm'd: His heart and hand both open, and both free; For what he has, he gives, what thinks, he fhews; Yet gives he not 'till judgment guide his bounty, Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath: Manly as Hector, but more dangerous; For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, fubfcribes To tender objects; but he, in heat of action, Is more vindicative than jealous love: They call him Troilus; and on him erect A fecond hope, as fairly built as Hector. Thus fays Æneas; one that knows the youth Even to his inches, and, with private foul, Did in great Ilion' thus translate him to me. [Alarum. Hector and Ajax fight. Agam. They are in action. Neft. Now, Ajax, hold thine own! Troi. Hector, thou fleep'ft, awake thee! Agam. His blows are well difpos'd:-there, Ajax! [Trumpets cease: • —an impair thought-] A thought unfuitable to the dignity of his character. This word I should have changed to impure, were I not over-powered by the unanimity of the editors, and concurrence of the old copies. JoHNSON. So in Chapman's preface to his tranflation of the Shield of Homer, 1598: nor is it more impaire to an honest and abfolute man, &c." STEEVENS. -Heator-fubfcribes To tender objects ;-] That is, yields, gives way. JoHNSON. So, in K. Lear, fubfcrib'd his power, i. e. fubmitted. -thus tranflate him to me.] Thus explain his character. STEEVENS. JOHNSON. Dio. Dio. You must no more. Ene. Princes, enough, so please you. Hect. Why then, will I no more : Thou art, great lord, my father's fifter's fon, A gory emulation 'twixt us twain : Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so, Ajax. I thank thee, Hector: Thou art too gentle, and too free a man : I came to kill thee, coufin, and bear hence 3 Hect. Not Neoptolemus fo mirable 3 Not Neoptolemus so mirable (On (On whofe bright creft, Fame, with her loud'ft O yes, Cries, This is he ;) could promife to himself, &c.] That is to fay, "You, an old veteran warrior, threaten to kill me, when not the young fon of Achilles (who is yet to ferve his apprentifage in war, under the Grecian generals, and on that account called Nsolóλ) dare himself entertain fuch a thought." But Shakspeare meant another fort of man, as is evident from, On whofe bright creft, &c. I which (On whose bright creft Fame with her loud'ft O yes Cries, This is he) could promife to himself A thought which characterises one who goes foremost and alone; and can therefore fuit only one, which one was Achilles, as Shakspeare himself has drawn him: The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns And, again: Whofe glorious deeds but in thefe fields of late And drove great Mars to faction. And indeed the fenfe and fpirit of Hector's speech requires that the most celebrated of his adverfaries fhould be picked out to be defied; and this was Achilles, with whom Hector had his final affair. We must conclude then that Shakspeare wrote: Not Neoptolemus's fire irafcible, On whofe bright creft Irafcible is an old fchool term, and is an epithet fuiting his character, and the circumstances he was then in: "Impiger, iracundus, inexorabilis, acer." But our editor, Mr. Theobald, by his obfcure diligence, had found out that Wynken de Worde, in the old chronicle of The three Deftructions of Troy, introduces one Neoptolemus into the ten years quarrel, a perfon diftinct from the fon of Achilles; and therefore will have it, that Shakspeare here means no other than the Neoptolemus of this worthy chronicler. He was told, to no purpose, that this fancy was abfurd. For first, Wynken's Neoptolemus is a common-rate warrior, and fo defcribed as not to fit the character here given. Secondly, it is not to be imagined that the poet fhould on this occafion make Hector refer to a character not in the play, and never fo much as mentioned on any other occafion. Thirdly, Wynken's Neoptolemus is a warrior on the Trojan fide, and flain by Achilles. But Hector must needs mean by one" who could promife a thought of added honour torn from him," a warrior amongst his enemies on the Grecian fide. WARBURTON. After all this contention, it is difficult to imagine that the critic believes mirable to have been changed to irafcible. I should fooner read, Not Neoptolemus th' admirable; as I know not whether mirable can be found in any other place. The correction which the learned commentator gave to Hanmer : Not Neoptolemus' fire fo mirable, as it was modelter than this, was preferable to it. But nothing is more remote from juftness of fentiment, than for Hector to characterise K 2 |