And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart,
To bring it into danger.
If wrongs be evils, and enforce us kill,
What folly 'tis, to hazard life for ill?

Alcib. My lord, -
I Sen.

You cannot make gross sins look clear; To revenge is no valour, but to bear.

Alcib. My lords, then, under favour, pardon me,
If I speak like a captain..
Why do fond men expose themselves to battle,
And not endure all threatnings?5 sleep upon it,
And let the foes quietly cut their throats,
Without repugnancy? but if there be
Such valour in the bearing, what make we
Abroad ?6 why then, women are more valiant,
That stay at home, if bearing carry it;
And th' ass, more captain than the lion; the felon,

5

6

threatnings!) Old copy-threats. This slight, but judicious change, is Sir Thomas Hanmer's. In the nest line but one, he also added, for the sake of metre, but Steevens.

what make we
Abroad?] What do we, or what have we to do in the field.

Loaden with irons, wiser than the judge,
If wisdom be in suffering. () my lords,
As you are great, be pitifully good :
Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood?
To kill, I grant, is sin's extremest gust;8
But, in defence, by mercy, 'tis most just.
To be in anger, is impiety;
But who is man, that is not angry?

1

“ My lords, then, under favour, pardon me,

“If I speak like a captain
and by Shakspeare's 66th Sonnet, where the word captain is used
with at least as much harshness as in the text:

“ And captive good attending captain ill."
Again, in another of his Sonnets :

“ Like stones of worth they thinly placed are,

“Or captain jewels in the carkanet.”
Dr. Johnson with great probability proposes to read felon in-
stead of fellow. Malone.

The word captain has been very injudiciously restored. That it
cannot be the author's is evident from its spoiling what will other.
wise be a metrical line. Nor is his using it elsewhere any proof
that he meant to use it here. Ritson.

I have not scrupled to insert Dr. Johnson's emendation, felon, for fellow, in the text; but do not perceive how the line can become strictly metrical by the omission of the word-captain, unless, with Sir Thomas Hanmer, we transpose the conjunctionand, and read:

The ass more than the lion, and the felon, Steevens.

sin's extremest gust;; Gust, for aggravation. Warburton.
Gust is here in its common sense; the utmost degree of appetite
for sin. Fohnson.

I believe gust means rashness The allusion may be to a sudden
gust of wind. Steevens.
So we say, it was done in a sudden gust of passion. Malone.

by mercy, 'tis most just.] By mercy is meant equity. But
we must read:

-'tis made just Warburton.
Mercy is not put for equity If such explanation be allowed,
what can be difficult? The meaning is, I call mercy herself to
witness, that defensive violence is just. Fohnson.

The meaning, I think, is, Homicide in our own defence, by a
merciful and lenient interpretation of the laws, is considered as
justifiable. Malone.

Dr Johnson's explanation is the more spirited; but a passage
in King John should seem to countenance that of Mr. Malone:

• Some sins do bear their privilege on earth,
" And so doth yours

.." Steevers.
VOL. XV.

LI

9

Weigh but the crime with this.

2 Sen. You breathe in vain.
Alcib.

In vain ? his service done
At Lacedæmon, and Byzantium,
Were a sufficient briber for his life.

1 Sen. What's that?
Alcib.

Why, I say, ' my lords, h' as done
fair service,
And slain in fight many of your enemies:
How full of valour did he bear himself
In the last conflict, and made plenteous wounds?

2 Sen. He has made too much plenty with 'em, he Is a sworn rioter :3 h' as a sin that often

Drowns him, and takes his valour prisoner:
" If there were no foes, that were enough alonet?

To overcome him: in that beastly fury
He has been known to commit outrages,
And cherish factions: 'Tis inferr'd to us,
His days are foul, and his drink dangerous.

1 Sen. He dies.
Alcib.

Hard fate! he might have died in war.
My lords, if not for any parts in him,
(Though his right arm might purchase his own time,
And be in debt to none,) yet, more to move you,
Take my deserts to his, and join them both:
And, for I know, your

reverend ages

love Security, I ’ll pawns my victories, all

2

1 Why, I say,] The personal pronoun was inserted by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

with 'em,] The folio-with him. Johnson. The correction was made by the editor of the second folio.

Malone. 3 Is a sworn rioter:) A sworn rioter is a man who practises riot, as if he had by an oath made it his duty. Johnson.

The expression, a sworn rioter, seems to be similar to that of sworn brothers. See Vol. IX, p. 235, n. 8. Malone.

alone – ] This word was judiciously supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the measure. Thus, in All's Fell that Ends Well :

Good alone

Steevens. your reverend ages love Security, I'll pawn &c.] He charges them obliquely with being usurers. Johnson.

4

- Is good

Were there no foes, that were itself enough. ms. 1631

My honour to you, upon his good returns.
If by this crime he owes the law his life,
Why, let the war receive 't in valiant gore;
For law is strict, and war is nothing more.

i Sen. We are for law, he dies; urge it no more,
On height of our displeasure :. Friend, or brother,
He forfeits his own blood, that spills another.

Alcib. Must it be so ? it must not be. My lords,
I do beseech you, know me.

2 Sen. How?
Alcib. Call me to your remembrances..
3 Sen.

What?
Alcib. I cannot think, but your age has forgot me;
It could not else be, I should prove so base,
To sue, and be denied such common grace:
My wounds ache at you.
| Sen.

Do you dare our anger?
'Tis in few words, but spacious in effect;8
We banish thee for ever.
Alcib.

Banish me?
Banish your dotage; banish usury,
That makes the senate ugly.

1 Sen. If, after two days' shine, Athens contain thee, Attend our weightier judgment. And, not to swell our

spirit,

So afterwards:

banish usury,

6

7

" That makes the senate ugly.” Malone.

remembrances.] is here used as a word of five syllables. In the singular number it occurs as a quadrisyllable only. See Twelfth Night, Act I, sc. i:

“And lasting in her sad remembrance." Steevens.

- I should prove so base,] Base for dishonoured. Warburton. 8 Do you dare our anger?

He shall be executed presently. [Exeunt Senators.

Alcib. Now the gods keep you old enough; that you

may live

Only in bone, that none may look on you!
I am worse than mad: I have kept back their foe's,
While they have told their money, and let out
Their coin upon large interest; I myself,
Rich only in large hurts ;-All those, for this?
Is this the balsam, that the usuring senate
Pours into captains' wounds ?-ha! banishment ?1
It comes not ill; I hate not to be banish’d;
It is a cause worthy my spleen and fury,
That I may strike at Athens. I'll cheer up
My discontented troops, and lay for hearts.
'Tis lionour, with most lands to be at odds;2
Soldiers should brook as little wrongs, as gods. [Exit.

3

ha! banishment!) Thus the second folio. Its ever-blun. dering predecessor omits the interjection, ha! and consequently spoils the metre.-The same exclamation occurs in Romeo and Fuliet: “ Ha! banishment? be merciful, say-death

Steevens. and lay for hearts. 'Tis honour, with most lands to be at odds ;] But surely even in a soldier's sense of honour, there is very little in being at odds with all about him; which shows rather a quarrelsome disposi. tion than a valiant one. Besides, this was not Alcibiades's case. He was only fallen out with the Athenians. A phrase in the fore. going line will direct us to the right reading. I will lay, says he, for hearts ; which is a metaphor taken from card-play, and signines to game deep and boldly. It is plain then the figure was continued in the following line, which should be read thus:

'Tis honour with most hands to be at odds; i.e. to fight upon odds, or at disadvantage; as he must do against the united strength of Athens; and this, by soldiers, is accounted honourable. Shakspeare uses the same metaphor on the same occasion, in Curiolanus :

" He lurch'd all swords." Warburton. I think hands is very properly substituted for lands. In the fore. going line, for, lay for hearts, I would read, play for hearts.

Fohnson. I do not conceive that to lay for hearts is a metaphor taken from card-play, or that lay should be changed into play. We should now say, to lay out for hearts, i. e. the affections of the people; but lay is used singly, as it is here, by Jonson, in The Devil is an Ass, (Mr. Whalley's edition] Vol. IV, p. 33:

" Lay for some pretty principality." Tyrwhitt.