Should lofe their names, and fo fhould juftice too.
Then every thing includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, an univerfal wolf,

So doubly feconded with will and power,
Must make perforce an univerfal prey,
And, laft, eat up himfelf. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is fuffocate,
Follows the choaking.

And this neglection of degree it is,

8

7 That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose
It hath to climb: The general's difdain'd
By him one step below; he, by the next;
That next, by him beneath: fo every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is fick,
Of his fuperior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodlefs emulation:

And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own finews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness ftands, not in her ftrength.
Neft. Moft wifely hath Ulyffes here discover'd
The fever whereof all our power is fick.

Agam. The nature of the fickness found, Ulyffes, What is the remedy?

Uly. The great Achilles,-whom opinion crowns The finew and the forehand of our hoft,Having his ear full of his airy fame,

Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent

Lies mocking our defigns: With him, Patroclus, Upon a lazy bed, the livelong day

That by a pace-] That goes backward fep by step. JOHNSON.

3

with a purpofe

It has to climb :

With a defign in each man to aggrandize himself, by flighting his immediate fuperior. JOHNSON.

Folio-in a purpofe. MALONE.

bloodless emulation :] An emulation not vigorous and ac

sive, but malignant and fluggish. JOHNSON.

Breaks fcurril jefts;

And with ridiculous and aukward action (Which, flanderer, he imitation calls)

He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon, Thy toplefs deputation he puts on

And, like a ftrutting player,-whofe conceit
Lies in his ham-ftring, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and found
"Twixt his stretch'd footing and the fcaffoldage,
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrefted feeming3
He acts thy greatnefs in: and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a mending; with terms unfquar'd,
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon drop'd
Would feem hyperboles. At this fulty ftuff,
The large Achilles, on his prefs'd bed lolling,
From his deep cheft laughs out a loud applaufe;
Cries-Excellent !—'tis Agamemnon just.

Now play me Neftor;-bem, and stroke thy beard,
As be, being 'dreft to fome oration.

That's done; as near as the extremeft ends
Of parallels, as like as Vulcan and his wife:

Thy toplefs députation] Topless is that which has nothing topping or overtopping it; fupreme; fovereign. JoHNSON. So, in Doctor Fauftus, 1604:

"Was this the face that launch'd a thoufand fhips,
"And burnt the topless towers of Ilium ?"

Again, in the Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1598:
"And topless honours be bestow'd on thee."

STEEVENS.

2 Twixt his fretch'd footing and the fcaffoldage.] The galleries of the theatre, in the time of our author, were fometimes termed the fcaffolds. See The Account of ancient Theatres

MALONE.

3 Such to-be-pitied and o'er-rested feeming-] We should read, I think,-o'er-wrefled. Wrefted beyond the truth overcharged. The word hitherto given has no meaning.

MALONE.

as near as the extremeft ends, &c.] The parallels to which the allufion feems to be made, are the parallels on a map. As like as caft to weft. JOHNSON.

Yet

Yet good Achilles ftill cries, Excellent!
'Tis Neftor right! Now play him me, Patroclus,
Arming to answer in a night alarm.

:

And then, forfooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and fpit,
And with a palfy-fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet and at this fport,
Sir Valour dies; cries, O!-enough, Patroclus ;-
Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all
In pleasure of my Spleen. And in this fashion,
*All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exact,
Atchievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or fpeech for truce,
Succefs, or lofs, what is, or is not, ferves
As ftuff for these two to 7 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, whofe gall coins flanders like a mint)

a pally fumbling-] This fhould be written-pally fumbling, i. e. paralytic fumbling. TYRWHITT. All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, Severals and generals of grace exact, Atchievements, plats, &c.]

All our good grace exact, means our excellence irreprehenfible.

JOHNSON.

7 —to make paradoxes.] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given :

That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We ftill say of a girl, fhe bridles. JOHNSON.

To match us in comparifons with dirt;
To weaken and difcredit our exposure,
? How rank foever rounded in with danger.
Ulyff. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice
Count wifdom as no member of the war;
Foreftall pre-fcience, and efteem no act

But that of hand: the ftill and mental parts,-
That do contrive how many hands fhall ftrike,
When fitnefs 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.

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

[Trumpet founds Agam. What trumpet? look, Menelaus. Men. From Troy.

Enter Æneas.

Agam. What would you 'fore our tent?

Ane. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?

Agam. Even this.

Ene. May one, that is a herald, and a prince,

How rank foever rounded in with danger.] A rank weed is high weed. The modern editions filently read:

How hard foever

JOHNSON.

and know, by measure

Of their obfervant toil, the enemies weight,—]

I think it were better to read:

and know the measure,

By their obfervant toil, of th' enemies' weight. JOHNSON.

Dq

Do a fair meffage to his kingly ears?

Aga. With furety ftronger than 3 Achilles' arı 'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice Call Agamemnon head and general.

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. How may 4 A stranger to those most imperial looks Know them from eyes of other mortals? Agam. How?

6

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?

3

wrote:

-kingly ears?] The quarto:

-kingly eyes. JOHNSON.

•Achilles' arm] So the copies. Perhaps the author

-Alcides' arm.

JOHNSON.

4 A franger to thofe most imperial looks] And yet this was the feventh year of the war. Shakspeare, who fo wonderfully preferves character, ufually confounds the cuftoms of all nations, and probably fuppofed that the ancients (like the heroes of chivalry fought with beavers to their helmets. So, in the fourth act of this play, Neftor fays to Hector :

But this thy countenance, ftill lock'd in steel,
I never faw till now.

Shakspeare might have adopted this error from the illuminators of manufcripts, who never feem to have entertained the leaft idea of habits, manners, or customs more ancient than their own. There are books in the British Museum of the age of king Henry VI; and in these the heroes of ancient Greece are reprefented in the very dreffes worn at the time when the books received their decoration. STEEVENS.

I afk that I might waken reverence,] The folio has :

1; I ask, &c.

which is, I believe, right. Agamemnon fays with furprize, "Do you ask how Agamemnon may be known ?” Eneas replies:

Ay, I afk (that I might waken reverence)
"Which is that god in office, &c." MALONE.
-bid the cheek-] So the quarto. The folio has:
JOHNSON.

-on the cheek