Ajax. He should not bear it so,

He should eat swords first; Shall pride carry it? Nest. An 'twould, you'd carry half.

Ulyss.

[Aside.

He'd have ten shares.

[Aside,

Ajax. I'll knead him, I will make him supple :— Nest. He's not yet thorough warm; force him with praises:

Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.

[Aside. Ulyss. My lord, you feed too much on this dis[To AGAMEMNON. Nest. O noble general, do not do so.

like.

Dio. You must prepare to fight without Achilles. Ulyss. Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm. Here is a man-But 'tis before his face;

I will be silent.

Nest.

so?

Wherefore should you so

He is not emulous 29, as Achilles is.

Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter 30 thus

with us!

Ay, or surly borne?

Dio. Or covetous of praise?

Ulyss.

Dio. Or strange, or self-affected?

Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet

composure;

Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck: Fam'd be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature

28 Force him, that is stuff him: farcir, Fr. In another place of this play we have malice forced with wit.'

29 See the preceding scene, note 25, p. 364. 30 To palter is to shuffle, equivocate.

Thrice-fam'd, beyond all erudition 31:
But he that disciplin'd thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,

And give him half: and, for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition 32 yield

To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn 33, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: Here's Nestor,-
Instructed by the antiquary times,

He must, he is, he cannot but be wise;-
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper❜d,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

Ajax.

Shall I call you father 34?

Nest. Ay, my good son.

Dio.

Be rul'd by him, Lord Ajax. Ulyss. There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles

31 The quarto reads :

'Thrice fam'd beyond all thy erudition.'

32 i. e. yield his titles, his celebrity for strength. See Act i. Sc. 2, note 5.

33 A bourn is a boundary, and sometimes a rivulet, dividing one place from another. As in the line of the old ballad Edgar sings in Lear, Act iii. Sc. 6:

Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me:'

A bourn, or burn, A. S. buɲn, in the north, signifies a brook, or rivulet. Hence the names of many villages, &c. terminate in burn. So in Drayton's Polyolbion, Song I.:

'The bourns, the brooks, the becks, the rills, the rivulets.'

And in Spenser, Faerie Queene, b. ii. c. 6:

My little boate can safely passe this perilous bourne.'

And Browne, Brit. Past. 1, 4, p. 99, 2d ed.:

'To gild the mutt'ring bournes, and pretty rills.'

34 Shakspeare probably had a custom prevalent about his own time in his thoughts. Ben Jonson had many who called themselves his sons. Cotton dedicates his book on Angling to his father Walton; and Ashmole, in his Diary observes, April 3, Mr. William Backhouse of Swallowfield, in com. Berks, caused me to call him father thenceforward.'

Keeps thicket. Please it our great general
To call together all his state of war;

Fresh 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 shall cope the best.
Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep:
Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw
deep.
[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I. Troy. A Room in Priam's Palace. Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

Pan. Friend! you! pray you, a word: Do not you follow the young Lord Paris?

Serv. Ay, sir, 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 must needs praise him.

Serv. The lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do

you not?

Serv. 'Faith, sir, superficially.

Pan. Friend, know me better; I am the Lord Pandarus.

Serv. I hope, I shall know your honour better1. Pan. I do desire it.

1 The servant means to quibble. He hopes Pandarus will become a better man than he is at present. In his next speech he chooses to understand Pandarus as if he had said he wished to grow better; and hence the servant affirms that he is in the state of grace.

Serv. You are in the state of grace.

[Musick within. Pan. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles:-What musick is this?

Serv. I do but partly know, sir; it is musick in parts.

Pan. Know you the musicians?

Serv. Wholly, sir.

Pan. Who play they to?

Serv. To the hearers, sir.

Pan. At whose pleasure, friend?

Serv. At mine, sir, and theirs that love musick.
Pan. Command, I mean, friend.

Serv. Who shall I command, sir?

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, sir: Marry, sir, at the request of Paris, my lord, who is there in person; with him, the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love's invisible soul,

Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida ?

Serv. No, sir, Helen: Could you not find out that by her attributes?

Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the Lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the Prince Troilus: I will make a complimental assault upon him, for my business seeths. Serv. Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase, indeed!

Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended.

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

Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words. Pan. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. Fair prince, here is good broken musick.

Par. You have broke it, cousin: and, by my life, you shall make it whole again; you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance:-Nell, he is full of harmony.

Pan. Truly, lady, no.

Helen. O, sir,

Pan. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude. Par. Well said, my lord! well, you say so in fits 2.

Pan. I have business to my lord, dear queen :My lord, will you vouchsafe me a word?

Helen. Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you sing, certainly.

me.

Pan. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with

-But (marry) thus, my lord,-My dear lord, and most esteemed friend, your brother TroilusHelen. My Lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,— Pan. Go to, sweet queen, go to:-commends himself most affectionately to you.

Helen. You shall not bob us out of our melody; If you do, our melancholy upon your head!

Pan. Sweet queen, sweet queen; that's a sweet queen, i'faith.

Helen. And to make a sweet lady sad, is a sour offence.

Pan. Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall it not, in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such words; no, no.—3 And, my lord, he desires you,

2 A quibble is intended. A fit was a part or division of a song or tune. The equivoque lies between fits, starts, or sudden impulses, and fits in its musical acceptation.

36 And, my lord,' &c. I think with Johnson, that the speech of Pandarus should begin here; and that the former part should be added to that of Helen.