Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?
Agam. 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, Jove's
accord,

Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Æneas,
Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!
The worthiness of praife 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.

Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourfelf Æneas? Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

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

Ene. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears. Agam. 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.

Good arms, frong joints, true fwords; and Jove's accord,
Nothing fo full of heart.]

As this paffage is printed, I cannot difcover any meaning in it. If there be no corruption, the femicolon which is placed after words, ought rather to be placed after the word accord; of which however the fenfe is not very clear. I fufpect that the tranfcriber's ear deceived him, and would read

-they have galls,

Good arms, ftrong joints, true fwords; and Jove's a ged
Nothing fo full of heart.

So, in Macbeth:

"Sleek o'er your rugged looks; be bright and jevtal "Among your guests to-night."

MALONE.

Agam.

Agam. Speak frankly as the wind;
It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour:
That thou halt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee fo himself.

Ene. Trumpet, blow loud,

Send thy brafs voice through all thefe lazy tents ;-
And every Greek of mettle, let him know,
What Troy means fairly, shall 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-continu'd truce
Is rufty grown; he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpofe fpeak. Kings, princes, lords!
If there be one, amongst the fair'ft of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his eafe;

I

That feeks his praife more than he fears his peril;
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear;
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,
3 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 compass in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Mid-way between your tents and walls of Troy,

-long-continued truce] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very act it is faid, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle. JOHNSON.

9-rufty-] Quarto, refty. JOHNSON.

2

1-more than in confeflion,] Confeffion, for profeffion.

WARBURTON.

-to her own lips he loves)] That is, confeffion made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves. JOHNSON. ] Arms is here ufed equivocally

3 In other arms than hersfor the arms of the body, and the armour of a foldier.

1

MALONE.

Το

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 fplinter of a lance. Even so much.

Agam. 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 5 One noble man that hath one fpark of fire, To answer for his love, Tell him from me,I'll hide my filver beard in a gold beaver,

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

Agam. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand;

and not worth

The Splinter of a lance.-]

This is the language of romance. Such a challenge would better have fuited Palmerin or Amadis, than Hector or Aneas. STEEVENS.

But if there be not in our Grecian beft] The first and fecond folio read-Grecian mould. MALONE.

And in my vantbrace-] An armour for the arm, avantbras.
POPE.

Milton ufes the word in his Sampfon Agonifies, and Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632:

perufe his armour,

The dint's still in the vantbrace."

STEEVENS.

To

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 fhall feaft with us before you go,

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

Manent Ulyffes, and Neftor.

Ulyff. Neftor,

Neft. What says Ulyffes?

[Exeunt.

Uly. I have a young conception in my brain, 7 Be you my time to bring it to fome shape. Neft. What is't?

Ulyff. This 'tis ;

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

In rank Achilles, muft or now be cropt,

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 fpread in general name, Relates in purpofe only to Achilles.

Neft. The purpose is perfpicuous even as fubftance,

Whofe

7 Be you my time, &c.] i. e. be you to my prefent purpose what time is in refpect of all other fchemes, viz. a ripener and bringer of them to maturity.

-the feeded pride, &c.] Shakspeare might have taken this idea from Lyte's Herbal, 1578 and 1579. The Oleander tree or Nerium" hath scarce one good propertie. It may be compared to a Pharifee, who maketh a glorious and beautiful how, but inwardly is of a corrupt and poifoned nature."-" It is high time &c. to fupplant it (i. e. pharafaifm) for it hath already floured, fo that I feare it will fhortly feede, and fill this wholefome foyle full of wicked Nerium." TOLLET.

9 its maturity] folio-this maturity. MALONE. -nursery-] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery.

1

2 The purpose is perfpicuous even as fubftance,

JOHNSON.

Whofe groffness little characters fum up :] That is, the purpose

is

Whose groffness little characters fum up: 3 And, in the publication, make no ftrain, But that Achilles, were his brain as barren As banks of Libya,-though, Apollo knows, 'Tis dry enough, will with great fpeed of judgment, Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose

Pointing on him.

Ulyff. And wake him to the answer, think you? Neft. Yes, 'tis most meet; Whom may you elfe oppofe,

That can from Hector bring 4 thofe honours off,
If not Achilles? Though't be a fportful combat,
Yet in this trial much opinion dwells;

For here the Trojans taste our dear'ft repute
With their fin'ft palate: And truft to me, Ulyffes,
Our imputation fhall be oddly pois'd

In this wild action: for the fuccefs,
Although particular, fhall give a fcantling
Of good or bad unto the general;

is as plain as body or substance; and though I have collected this purpose from many minute particulars, as a grofs body is made up of fmall infenfible parts, yet the refult is as clear and certain as a body thus made up is palpable and visible, This is the thought, though a little obfcured in the concifenefs of the expreflion. WARBURTON.

Subftance is eftate, the value of which is afcertained by the ufe of fmall characters, i, e. numerals. So in the prologue to K. Henry V :

-a crooked figure may

Atteft, in little place, a million.

The grofs fum is a term ufed in the Merchant of Venice. Graff nefs has the fame meaning in this inftance.

And, in the publication, make no ftrain,] fay, make no difficulty, no doubt, when this proclaim'd, but that Achilles, dull as he is, drift of it. This is the meaning of the line. this play, Ulyffes fays:

4

I do not train at the pofition.

STEEVENS.

Neftor goes on to duel comes to be will discover the So afterwards, in

i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no difficulty of it. THEOBALD. -thofe honours- -] Folio-his honour. MALONE. 5fcantling] That is, a meafure, proportion. The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling. JOHNSON.

And