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,
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 splinter of a lance." Even fo much.

AGAM. This fhall be told our lovers, lord Æneas;
If none of them have foul in such 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 else, I am he.

NEST. 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' One noble man, that hath one spark 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;

5 In other arms than hers,] Arms is here used equivocally for the arms of the body, and the armour of a foldier.

MALONE.

The Splinter of a lance.] This is the language of romance. Such a challenge would better have fuited Palmerin or Amadis, than Hector or Æneas. STEEVENS.

7 in our Grecian hoft-] So the quarto. The folio has→ Grecian mould.

MALONE.

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

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 prove this truth with my three drops of blood."
ENE. Now heavens forbid fuch fcarcity of
youth!

ULYSS. Amen.

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

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.

[Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR.

ULYSS. Neftor,

NEST. What fays Ulyffes?

ULYSS. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to fome shape."

NEST. What is't?

ULrss. This 'tis :

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

-perufe his armour,

"The dint's ftill in the vantbrace." STEEVENS.

I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.] So, in Coriolanus, one of the Volcian Guard fays to old Menenius, "Back, I fay, go, left I let forth your half pint of blood." Thus the quarto. The folio reads-I'll pawn this truth.

MALONE.

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. STEEVENS.

I believe Shak fpeare was here thinking of the period of gestation, which is fometimes denominated a female's time, or reckoning.

reckoning. C.

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

4

In rank Achilles, muft or now be cropp'd,
Or, fhedding, breed a nursery of like evil,
To overbulk us all.

NEST.

Well, and how? 5

ULYSS. This challenge that the gallant Hector fends,

However it is spread in general name,

Relates in purpose only to Achilles.

NEST. The purpose is perfpicuous even as fubstance,

Whofe groffness little characters fum up:

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

So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

4

"How will thy fhame be feeded in thine age,
"When thus thy vices bud before thy fpring?"

MALONE.

-nurfery] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery,

JOHNSON.

5 Well, and how?] We might complete this defective line by reading:

Well, and how then?

Sir T. Hanmer reads-how now? STEEVENS.

6 The purpose is perfpicuous even as fubftance,

Whofe graffefs little characters jum up:] That is, the purpose is as plain as body or fubftance; 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 vifible. This is the thought, though a little obfcured in the concifenefs of the expreffion. WARBURTON. Subftance is eftate, the value of which is afcertained by the ufe

And, in the publication, make no strain,"
But that Achilles, were his brain as barren
As banks of Libya,-though, Apollo knows,
'Tis dry enough,-will with great fpeed of judge-

ment,

Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
Pointing on him.

ULrss. And wake him to the answer, think you?
NEST.

8

Yes,

It is most meet; Whom may you elfe oppose,
That can from Hector bring those honours off,
If not Achilles? Though't be a fportful combat,
Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;
For here the Trojans tafte 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 scantling'
Of good or bad unto the general;

of fmall characters, i. c. numerals. So in the prologue to King Henry V:

a crooked figure may

"Atteft, in little place, a million."

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

Neftor goes on to duel comes to be will discover the

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. So afterwards, in this play, Ulyffes fays:

"I do not frain at the pofition."

i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no difficulty of it.

8

THEOBALD.

thofe honours] Folio-his honour. MALONE.

9 — Scantling —] That is, a measure, proportion. The carpenter cuts his wood to a certain scantling. JOHNSON.

So, in John Florio's Tranflation of Montaignes Elays, folio 1603: "When the lion's fkin will not fuffice, we must add a fcantling of the fox's." MALONE.

And in fuch indexes, although small pricks*
To their fubféquent volumes, there is feen
The baby figure of the giant mass

Of things to come at large. It is fuppos'd,
He, that meets Hector, iffues from our choice:
And choice, being mutual act of all our fouls,
Makes merit her election; and doth boil,
As 'twere from forth us all, a man distill'd
Out of our virtues; Who mifcarrying,
What heart receives from hence a conquering part,
To steel a strong opinion to themselves?
Which entertain'd,' limbs are his inftruments,*
In no lefs working, than are swords and bows
Directive by the limbs.

ULYSS. Give pardon to my speech;

Therefore 'tis meet, Achilles meet not Hector.
Let us, like merchants, fhow our fouleft wares,
And think, perchance, they'll fell; if not,

The luftre of the better fhall exceed,

By showing the worse first,"

2

Do not consent,

-Small pricks-] Small points compared with the volumes.
JOHNSON.

Indexes were in Shakspeare's time often prefixed to books, MALONE. 3 Which entertain'd, &c.] Thefe two lines [and the concluding hemiftich,] are not in the quarto. JOHNSON.

limbs are his inftruments,] The folio reads:

limbs are in his inftruments.

I have omitted the impertinent prepofition. STEEVENS,

5

- if not,] I fuppofe, for the fake of metre, we should read : if they do not, STEEVENS.

The luftre of the better shall exceed,

By showing the worse firft.] The folio reads:

The luftre of the better, yet to fhow,

Shall fhow the better.

I once thought that the alteration was made by the author; but a more diligent comparison of the quartos and the firft folio has convinced me that fome arbitrary alterations were made in the latter copy by its editor. The quarto copy of this play is in general more correct than the folio. MALONE.