But what the repining enemy commends, That breath fame follows; that praise, sole pure, transcends. Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself 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 set his sense on the attentive bent, And then to speak. Agam. Speak frankly as the wind; It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour: That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake, He tells thee so himself. Ene. Trumpet, blow loud, Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents;And every Greek of mettle, let him know, What Troy means fairly, shall be spoke aloud. [Trumpet sounds. We have, Great Agamemnon, here in Troy A prince call'd Hector, (Priam is his father,) Who in this dull and long-continued truce' Is rusty grown; he bade me take a trumpet, And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords! If there be one, among the fair'st of Greece, That holds his honour higher than his case; That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril; That knows his valour, and knows not his fear; That loves his mistress more than in confession,2 I long-continued truce-] Of this long truce there has been no notice taken; in this very Act it is said, that Ajax coped Hector yesterday in the battle. Here we have another proof of Shakspeare's falling into inconsistencies, by sometimes adhering to, and sometimes deserting, his original. more than in confession,] Confession for profession. (With truant vows to her own lips he loves,) Than ever Greek did compass in his arms; Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas; Nest. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now; But, if there be not in our Grecian host One noble man, that hath one spark of fire Agam, Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand; vantbrace-] An armour for the arm, avantbras. To our pavilion shall I lead you, sir. Achilles shall have word of this intent; So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent: And find the welcome of a noble foe. Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR. Ulyss. Nestor, Nest. What says Ulysses? Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to some shape.* Nest. What is't? Ulyss. This 'tis : Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The seeded pride In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd, Nest. Well, and how? Ulyss. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends, However it is spread in general name, Relates in purpose only to Achilles, Nest. The purpose is perspicuous even as sub stance, Whose grossness little characters sum up: Ulyss. And wake him to the answer, think you? 4 Be you my time, &c.] i. e. be you to my present purpose what time is in respect of all other schemes, viz. a ripener and bringer of them to maturity. 5 And, in the publication, make no strain,] i. e. make no diffi culty, no doubt. Nest. Yes, It is most meet; Whom may you else oppose, For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute In this wild action: for the success, And in such indexes, although small pricks' Of things to come at large. It is suppos'd, What heart receives from hence a conquering part, Ulyss. Give pardon to my speech ; Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. 6 Scantling-] That is, a measure, proportion. The car penter cuts his wood to a certain scantling. "— small pricks-] Small points compared with the volumes, or perhaps indexes, which were, in Shakspeare's time, often prefixed to books. For both our honour and our shame, in this, Nest. I see them not with my old eyes; what are they? Ulyss. What glory our Achilles shares from Hector, Were he not proud, we all should share with him: But he already is too insolent; And we were better parch in Africk sun, 8 The sort to fight with Hector: Among ourselves, That we have better men. But, hit or miss, Now I begin to relish thy advice; And I will give a taste of it forthwith To Agamemnon: go we to him straight. character. our main opinion] Is, our general estimation or The sort-] i. e. the lot. — under our opinion-] Here again opinion means character. * Must tarre the mastiffs on,] Tarre, an old English word, signifying to provoke or urge on. |