ACT II.
Scene I. The Grecian camp.[1262]
Enter Ajax and Thersites.
Ajax. Thersites!
Ther. Agamemnon—how if he had boils—full, all[1263]
over, generally?[1264]
Ajax. Thersites!
Ther. And those boils did run?—Say so,—did not the 5
general run then? were not that a botchy core?[1265]
Ajax. Dog!
Ther. Then would come some matter from him; I see[1266]
none now.
Ajax. Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear? 10
Feel, then. [Strikes him.[1267]
Ther. The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel
beef-witted lord!
Ajax. Speak then, thou vinewed'st leaven, speak: I[1268]
will beat thee into handsomeness. 15
Ther. I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness: but,
I think, thy horse will sooner con an oration than thou[1269]
learn a prayer without book. Thou canst strike, canst[1270]
thou? a red murrain o' thy jade's tricks![1271]
Ajax. Toadstool, learn me the proclamation.[1272] 20
Ther. Dost thou think I have no sense, thou strikest
me thus?
Ajax. The proclamation!
Ther. Thou art proclaimed a fool, I think.[1273]
Ajax. Do not, porpentine, do not; my fingers itch.[1274] 25
Ther. I would thou didst itch from head to foot, and I
had the scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest
scab in Greece. When thou art forth in the incursions,[1275]
thou strikest as slow as another.[1275]
Ajax. I say, the proclamation! 30
Ther. Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles,
and thou art as full of envy at his greatness as Cerberus
is at Proserpina's beauty, ay, that thou barkest at him.[1276]
Ajax. Mistress Thersites![1277]
Ther. Thou shouldst strike him.[1278] 35
Ther. He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a[1278][1280]
sailor breaks a biscuit.
Ajax. [Beating him] You whoreson cur![1281][1282]
Ther. Do, do.[1283] 40
Ajax. Thou stool for a witch!
Ther. Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast[1284]
no more brain than I have in my elbows; an assinego[1285]
may tutor thee: thou scurvy-valiant ass! thou art here but[1286]
to thrash Trojans; and thou art bought and sold among[1287] 45
those of any wit, like a barbarian slave. If thou use to
beat me, I will begin at thy heel and tell what thou art by
inches, thou thing of no bowels, thou![1288]
Ajax. You dog!
Ther. You scurvy lord! 50
Ajax. [Beating him] You cur![1281]
Ther. Mars his idiot! do, rudeness; do, camel, do, do.
Enter Achilles and Patroclus.[1289]
Achil. Why, how now, Ajax! wherefore do ye thus?[1290]
How now, Thersites! what's the matter, man?
Ther. You see him there, do you? 55
Achil. Ay; what's the matter?
Ther. Nay, look upon him.
Achil. So I do: what's the matter?
Ther. Nay, but regard him well.
Achil. 'Well!' why, so I do.[1291] 60
Ther. But yet you look not well upon him; for, whosoever[1292]
you take him to be, he is Ajax.
Achil. I know that, fool.
Ther. Ay, but that fool knows not himself.
Ajax. Therefore I beat thee. 65
Ther. Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he utters! his
evasions have ears thus long. I have bobbed his brain more[1293]
than he has beat my bones: I will buy nine sparrows for a[1294]
penny, and his pia mater is not worth the ninth part of a
sparrow. This lord, Achilles, Ajax, who wears his wit in 70
his belly and his guts in his head, I'll tell you what I say[1295]
of him.
Achil. What?
Ther. I say, this Ajax— [Ajax offers to strike him.[1296]
Achil. Nay, good Ajax. 75
Ther. Has not so much wit—
Achil. Nay, I must hold you.
Ther. As will stop the eye of Helen's needle, for whom
he comes to fight.
Achil. Peace, fool! 80
Ther. I would have peace and quietness, but the fool
will not: he there: that he: look you there!
Ajax. O thou damned cur! I shall—
Achil. Will you set your wit to a fool's?
Ther. No, I warrant you; for a fool's will shame it.[1297] 85
Patr. Good words, Thersites.[1298]
Achil. What's the quarrel?
Ajax. I bade the vile owl go learn me the tenour of the[1299]
proclamation, and he rails upon me.
Ther. I serve thee not. 90
Ajax. Well, go to, go to.
Ther. I serve here voluntary.
Achil. Your last service was sufferance, 'twas not voluntary;
no man is beaten voluntary: Ajax was here the
voluntary, and you as under an impress. 95
Ther. E'en so; a great deal of your wit too lies in[1300]
your sinews, or else there be liars. Hector shall have a
great catch, if he knock out either of your brains: a' were[1301]
as good crack a fusty nut with no kernel.
Achil. What, with me too, Thersites? 100
Ther. There's Ulysses and old Nestor, whose wit was
mouldy ere your grandsires had nails on their toes, yoke[1302]
you like draught-oxen, and make you plough up the wars.[1303]
Achil. What? what?
Ther. Yes, good sooth: to, Achilles! to, Ajax! to![1304] 105
Ajax. I shall cut out your tongue.
Ther. 'Tis no matter; I shall speak as much as thou[1305]
afterwards.
Patr. No more words, Thersites; peace![1306]
Ther. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brooch bids[1307] 110
me, shall I?
Achil. There's for you, Patroclus.
Ther. I will see you hanged, like clotpoles, ere I come[1308]
any more to your tents: I will keep where there is wit stirring,
and leave the faction of fools. [Exit. 115
Patr. A good riddance.
Achil. Marry, this, sir, is proclaim'd through all our
host:
That Hector, by the fifth hour of the sun,[1309]
Will with a trumpet 'twixt our tents and Troy
To-morrow morning call some knight to arms 120
That hath a stomach, and such a one that dare
Maintain—I know not what: 'tis trash. Farewell.[1310]
Ajax. Farewell. Who shall answer him?[1311]
Achil. I know not; 'tis put to lottery; otherwise
He knew his man. 125
Ajax. O, meaning you. I will go learn more of it.[1312]
[Exeunt.
Scene II. Troy. A room in Priam's palace.[1313]
Enter Priam, Hector, Troilus, Paris, and Helenus.
Pri. After so many hours, lives, speeches spent,[1314]
Thus once again says Nestor from the Greeks:
'Deliver Helen, and all damage else,[1315]
As honour, loss of time, travail, expense,[1316]
Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is consumed 5
In hot digestion of this cormorant war,[1317]
Shall be struck off.' Hector, what say you to't?[1318]
Hect. Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I
As far as toucheth my particular,[1319][1320]
Yet, dread Priam,[1319] 10
There is no lady of more softer bowels,[1321]
More spongy to suck in the sense of fear,
More ready to cry out 'Who knows what follows?'
Than Hector is: the wound of peace is surety,[1322][1323]
Surety secure: but modest doubt is call'd[1323] 15
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst. Let Helen go.[1324]
Since the first sword was drawn about this question,
Every tithe soul, 'mongst many thousand dismes,
Hath been as dear as Helen; I mean, of ours: 20
If we have lost so many tenths of ours,
To guard a thing not ours, nor worth to us,[1325]
Had it our name, the value of one ten,[1326]
What merit's in that reason which denies[1327]
The yielding of her up?
Tro. Fie, fie, my brother! 25
Weigh you the worth and honour of a king,[1328]
So great as our dread father, in a scale[1329]
Of common ounces? will you with counters sum
The past proportion of his infinite?[1330]
And buckle in a waist most fathomless[1331] 30
With spans and inches so diminutive
As fears and reasons? fie, for godly shame![1332]
Hel. No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons,[1333]
You are so empty of them. Should not our father[1334]
Bear the great sway of his affairs with reasons,[1335] 35
Because your speech hath none that tells him so?[1336]
Tro. You are for dreams and slumbers, brother priest;
You fur your gloves with reason. Here are your reasons:[1337]
You know an enemy intends you harm;
You know a sword employ'd is perilous, 40
And reason flies the object of all harm:
Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds
A Grecian and his sword, if he do set
The very wings of reason to his heels,
And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,[1338] 45
Or like a star disorb'd? Nay, if we talk of reason,[1338]
Let's shut our gates, and sleep: manhood and honour[1339]
Should have hare hearts, would they but fat their thoughts[1340]
With this cramm'd reason: reason and respect
Make livers pale and lustihood deject.[1341] 50
Hect. Brother, she is not worth what she doth cost[1342]
The holding.[1342]
Tro. What's aught, but as 'tis valued?[1343]
Hect. But value dwells not in particular will;
It holds his estimate and dignity[1344]
As well wherein 'tis precious of itself 55
As in the prizer: 'tis mad idolatry[1345]
To make the service greater than the god;[1346]
And the will dotes, that is attributive[1347]
To what infectiously itself affects,
Without some image of the affected merit.[1348] 60
Tro. I take to-day a wife, and my election
Is led on in the conduct of my will;
My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears.[1349]
Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores[1350]
Of will and judgement: how may I avoid,[1351] 65
Although my will distaste what it elected,[1351]
The wife I chose? there can be no evasion[1351][1352]
To blench from this, and to stand firm by honour.
We turn not back the silks upon the merchant
When we have soil'd them, nor the remainder viands[1353] 70
We do not throw in unrespective sieve,[1354]
Because we now are full. It was thought meet[1355]
Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks:
Your breath of full consent bellied his sails;[1356]
The seas and winds, old wranglers, took a truce, 75
And did him service: he touch'd the ports desired;
And for an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive
He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and freshness
Wrinkles Apollo's and makes stale the morning.[1357]
Why keep we her? the Grecians keep our aunt: 80
Is she worth keeping? why, she is a pearl,
Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships,
And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants.
If you'll avouch 'twas wisdom Paris went,
As you must needs, for you all cried 'Go, go,' 85
If you'll confess he brought home noble prize,[1358]
As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands
And cried 'Inestimable!' why do you now
The issue of your proper wisdoms rate,[1359]
And do a deed that Fortune never did,[1360] 90
Beggar the estimation which you prized
Richer than sea and land? O, theft most base,
That we have stol'n what we do fear to keep![1361]
But thieves unworthy of a thing so stol'n,[1362]
That in their country did them that disgrace[1363] 95
We fear to warrant in our native place!
Cas. [Within] Cry, Trojans, cry![1364][1365]
Pri. What noise? what shriek is this?
Tro. 'Tis our mad sister, I do know her voice.
Cas. [Within] Cry, Trojans![1365]
Hect. It is Cassandra. 100
Enter Cassandra, raving, with her hair about her ears.[1366]
Cas. Cry, Trojans, cry! lend me ten thousand eyes,[1367]
And I will fill them with prophetic tears.
Hect. Peace, sister, peace!
Cas. Virgins and boys, mid age and wrinkled old,[1368]
Soft infancy, that nothing canst but cry,[1369] 105
Add to my clamours! let us pay betimes[1370]
A moiety of that mass of moan to come.
Cry, Trojans, cry! practise your eyes with tears!
Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilion stand;
Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all. 110
Cry, Trojans, cry! a Helen and a woe:
Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go. [Exit.
Hect. Now, youthful Troilus, do not these high strains[1371]
Of divination in our sister work
Some touches of remorse? or is your blood 115
So madly hot that no discourse of reason,
Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause,
Can qualify the same?
Tro. Why, brother Hector,
We may not think the justness of each act[1372]
Such and no other than event doth form it; 120
Nor once deject the courage of our minds,
Because Cassandra's mad: her brain-sick raptures
Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel
Which hath our several honours all engaged
To make it gracious. For my private part, 125
I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons:[1373]
And Jove forbid there should be done amongst us
Such things as might offend the weakest spleen
To fight for and maintain!
Par. Else might the world convince of levity[1374] 130
As well my undertakings as your counsels:[1375]
But I attest the gods, your full consent[1376]
Gave wings to my propension and cut off
All fears attending on so dire a project.
For what, alas, can these my single arms? 135
What propugnation is in one man's valour,
To stand the push and enmity of those
This quarrel would excite? Yet, I protest,
Were I alone to pass the difficulties[1377]
And had as ample power as I have will, 140
Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done,
Nor faint in the pursuit.
Pri. Paris, you speak
Like one besotted on your sweet delights:
You have the honey still, but these the gall;
So to be valiant is no praise at all. 145
Par. Sir, I propose not merely to myself
The pleasures such a beauty brings with it;
But I would have the soil of her fair rape
Wiped off, in honourable keeping her.
What treason were it to the ransack'd queen, 150
Disgrace to your great worths, and shame to me,
Now to deliver her possession up
On terms of base compulsion! Can it be
That so degenerate a strain as this
Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?[1378] 155
There's not the meanest spirit on our party,[1379]
Without a heart to dare or sword to draw
When Helen is defended, nor none so noble,[1380]
Whose life were ill bestow'd or death unfamed
Where Helen is the subject: then, I say, 160
Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well,
The world's large spaces cannot parallel.
Hect. Paris and Troilus, you have both said well;
And on the cause and question now in hand[1381]
Have glozed, but superficially; not much[1382] 165
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought[1383]
Unfit to hear moral philosophy.
The reasons you allege do more conduce
To the hot passion of distemper'd blood
Than to make up a free determination 170
'Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure and revenge
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice[1384]
Of any true decision. Nature craves
All dues be render'd to their owners: now,
What nearer debt in all humanity 175
Than wife is to the husband? If this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same,
There is a law in each well-order'd nation[1385] 180
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.[1386]
If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,
As it is known she is, these moral laws
Of nature and of nations speak aloud[1387] 185
To have her back return'd: thus to persist
In doing wrong extenuates not wrong,
But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion
Is this in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My spritely brethren, I propend to you 190
In resolution to keep Helen still;
For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance
Upon our joint and several dignities.
Tro. Why, there you touch'd the life of our design:[1388]
Were it not glory that we more affected 195
Than the performance of our heaving spleens,
I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood
Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,
She is a theme of honour and renown;
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds, 200
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame in time to come canonize us:
For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose
So rich advantage of a promised glory
As smiles upon the forehead of this action 205
For the wide world's revenue.
Hect. I am yours,
You valiant offspring of great Priamus.
I have a roisting challenge sent amongst
The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks
Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits:[1389] 210
I was advertised their great general slept,
Whilst emulation in the army crept:[1390]
This, I presume, will wake him. [Exeunt.
Scene III. The Grecian camp. Before the tent of Achilles.[1391]
Enter Thersites, solus.
Ther. How now, Thersites! what, lost in the labyrinth[1392]
of thy fury! Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus? he
beats me, and I rail at him: O, worthy satisfaction! would
it were otherwise; that I could beat him, whilst he railed
at me. 'Sfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raise devils, but I'll 5
see some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then there's
Achilles, a rare enginer. If Troy be not taken till these[1393]
two undermine it, the walls will stand till they fall of themselves.
O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget
that thou art Jove, the king of gods, and, Mercury, lose all 10
the serpentine craft of thy caduceus, if ye take not that[1394]
little little less than little wit from them that they have!
which short-armed ignorance itself knows is so abundant[1395]
scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a
spider, without drawing their massy irons and cutting the[1396] 15
web. After this, the vengeance on the whole camp! or,
rather, the Neapolitan bone-ache! for that, methinks, is the[1397]
curse dependant on those that war for a placket. I have[1398]
said my prayers; and devil Envy say amen. What, ho!
my Lord Achilles! 20
Enter Patroclus.[1399]
Patr. Who's there? Thersites! Good Thersites, come[1400]
in and rail.
Ther. If I could ha' remembered a gilt counterfeit,[1401]
thou wouldst not have slipped out of my contemplation:[1402]
but it is no matter; thyself upon thyself! The common 25
curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great
revenue! heaven bless thee from a tutor, and discipline
come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction till
thy death! then if she that lays thee out says thou art a[1403]
fair corse, I'll be sworn and sworn upon't she never shrouded 30
any but lazars. Amen. Where's Achilles?[1404]
Patr. What, art thou devout? wast thou in prayer?[1405]
Ther. Ay; the heavens hear me!
Patr. Amen.[1406]
Enter Achilles.
Achil. Who's there? 35
Achil. Where, where? Art thou come? why, my[1407]
cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served thyself in[1408]
to my table so many meals? Come, what's Agamemnon?[1408]
Ther. Thy commander, Achilles: then tell me, Patroclus, 40
what's Achilles?
Patr. Thy lord, Thersites: then tell me, I pray thee,[1409]
what's thyself?
Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus: then tell me, Patroclus,
what art thou? 45
Patr. Thou mayst tell that knowest.[1410]
Achil. O, tell, tell.
Ther. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon
commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus'
knower, and Patroclus is a fool. 50
Patr. You rascal![1411]
Ther. Peace, fool! I have not done.[1411]
Achil. He is a privileged man. Proceed, Thersites.[1411]
Ther. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Thersites[1411]
is a fool, and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.[1411] 55
Achil. Derive this; come.
Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command
Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon;[1412]
Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool, and Patroclus[1413]
is a fool positive. 60
Patr. Why am I a fool?
Ther. Make that demand of the prover. It suffices[1414]
me thou art. Look you, who comes here?[1415]
Achil. Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody. Come in[1416]
with me, Thersites. [Exit.[1417] 65
Ther. Here is such patchery, such juggling and such
knavery! all the argument is a cuckold and a whore; a[1418]
good quarrel to draw emulous factions and bleed to death[1419]
upon. Now, the dry serpigo on the subject! and war and[1420][1421]
lechery confound all! [Exit.[1420] 70
Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Diomedes, and Ajax.[1422]
Agam. Where is Achilles?
Patr. Within his tent; but ill-disposed, my lord.
Agam. Let it be known to him that we are here.
He shent our messengers; and we lay by[1423]
Our appertainments, visiting of him:[1424] 75
Let him be told so, lest perchance he think[1425]
We dare not move the question of our place,
Or know not what we are.
Patr. I shall say so to him. [Exit.[1426]
Ulyss. We saw him at the opening of his tent:
He is not sick. 80
Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart: you may call[1427]
it melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my head,[1428]
'tis pride: but why, why? let him show us the cause. A[1429][1430]
word, my lord. [Takes Agamemnon aside.[1430][1431]
Nest. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him? 85
Ulyss. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.
Nest. Who, Thersites?
Ulyss. He.
Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his
argument. 90
Ulyss. No, you see, he is his argument that has his
argument, Achilles.
Nest. All the better; their fraction is more our wish[1432]
than their faction: but it was a strong composure a fool[1433]
could disunite. 95
Ulyss. The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may[1434]
easily untie.
Re-enter Patroclus.[1435]
Here comes Patroclus.[1436]
Nest. No Achilles with him.[1437]
Ulyss. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy:[1438] 100
his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.[1438][1439]
Patr. Achilles bids me say, he is much sorry,
If any thing more than your sport and pleasure
Did move your greatness and this noble state
To call upon him; he hopes it is no other[1440] 105
But for your health and your digestion sake,
An after-dinner's breath.
Agam. Hear you, Patroclus:[1441]
We are too well acquainted with these answers:
But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn,[1442]
Cannot outfly our apprehensions. 110
Much attribute he hath, and much the reason
Why we ascribe it to him: yet all his virtues,[1443]
Not virtuously on his own part beheld,[1444]
Do in our eyes begin to lose their gloss,
Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish,[1445] 115
Are like to rot untasted. Go and tell him,
We come to speak with him; and you shall not sin,[1446]
If you do say we think him over-proud
And under-honest; in self-assumption greater[1447]
Than in the note of judgement; and worthier than himself[1447][1448] 120
Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on,[1449][1450]
Disguise the holy strength of their command,[1450]
And underwrite in an observing kind[1451]
His humorous predominance; yea, watch
His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if[1452] 125
The passage and whole carriage of this action[1453]
Rode on his tide. Go tell him this, and add,
That if he overhold his price so much,
We'll none of him, but let him, like an engine
Not portable, lie under this report:[1454] 130
'Bring action hither, this cannot go to war:[1454][1455]
A stirring dwarf we do allowance give[1454]
Before a sleeping giant:' tell him so.[1454]
Patr. I shall; and bring his answer presently. [Exit.[1456]
Agam. In second voice we'll not be satisfied; 135
We come to speak with him. Ulysses, enter you.
[Exit Ulysses.[1457]
Ajax. What is he more than another?
Agam. No more than what he thinks he is.
Ajax. Is he so much? Do you not think he thinks
himself a better man than I am? 140
Agam. No question.
Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought and say he is?
Agam. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant,
as wise, no less noble, much more gentle and altogether[1458]
more tractable. 145
Ajax. Why should a man be proud? How doth pride
grow? I know not what pride is.[1459]
Agam. Your mind is the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues[1460]
the fairer. He that is proud eats up himself: pride is[1461]
his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and 150
whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in[1462]
the praise.
Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering[1463]
of toads.
Nest. [Aside] Yet he loves himself: is't not strange?155
Re-enter Ulysses.[1464]
Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow.
Agam. What's his excuse?
Ulyss. He doth rely on none,
But carries on the stream of his dispose
Without observance or respect of any,
In will peculiar and in self-admission.[1465] 160
Agam. Why will he not, upon our fair request,
Untent his person, and share the air with us?
Ulyss. Things small as nothing, for request's sake only[1466]
He makes important: possess'd he is with greatness,[1467]
And speaks not to himself but with a pride 165
That quarrels at self-breath: imagined worth[1468]
Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse
That 'twixt his mental and his active parts
Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages
And batters down himself: what should I say?[1469][1470] 170
He is so plaguy proud that the death-tokens of it[1469][1471]
Cry 'No recovery.'
Agam. Let Ajax go to him.
Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent:
'Tis said he holds you well, and will be led[1472]
At your request a little from himself. 175
Ulyss. O Agamemnon, let it not be so!
We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes
When they go from Achilles. Shall the proud lord
That bastes his arrogance with his own seam[1473]
And never suffers matter of the world 180
Enter his thoughts, save such as do revolve[1474]
And ruminate himself, shall he be worshipp'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?[1475]
No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquired;[1476] 185
Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,
As amply titled as Achilles is,[1477][1478]
By going to Achilles:[1477]
That were to enlard his fat-already pride,[1479]
And add more coals to Cancer when he burns 190
With entertaining great Hyperion.
This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid,[1480]
And say in thunder 'Achilles go to him.'
Nest. [Aside] O, this is well; he rubs the vein of him.[1481]
Dio. [Aside] And how his silence drinks up this applause![1481][1482]195
Ajax. If I go to him, with my armed fist[1483]
I'll pash him o'er the face.[1483][1484]
Agam. O, no, you shall not go.
Ajax. An a' be proud with me, I'll pheeze his pride:[1485][1486]
Let me go to him.[1485] 200
Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel.
Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow![1487]
Nest. [Aside] How he describes himself![1487][1488]
Ajax. Can he not be sociable?[1487]
Ulyss. [Aside] The raven chides blackness.[1487][1488] 205
Ajax. I'll let his humours blood.[1487][1489]
Agam. [Aside] He will be the physician that should[1487][1488][1490]
be the patient.[1487]
Ajax. An all men were o' my mind,—[1487][1491]
Ulyss. [Aside] Wit would be out of fashion.[1487][1488] 210
Ajax. A' should not bear it so, a' should eat swords[1487][1492]
first: shall pride carry it?[1487]
Nest. [Aside] An 'twould, you'ld carry half.[1487][1488][1493]
Ulyss. [Aside] A' would have ten shares.[1487][1488][1494][1495]
Ajax. I will knead him, I'll make him supple.[1487][1494][1496] 215
Nest. [Aside] He's not yet through warm: force him[1487][1488][1494][1497]
with praises: pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.[1487][1498]
Ulyss. [To Agamemnon] My lord, you feed too much[1499]
on this dislike.
Nest. Our noble general, do not do so.
Dio. You must prepare to fight without Achilles. 220
Ulyss. Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm.[1500]
Here is a man—but 'tis before his face;[1501]
I will be silent.[1501]
Nest. Wherefore should you so?
He is not emulous, as Achilles is.
Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant.[1502] 225
Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with us![1503]
Would he were a Trojan![1504]
Nest. What a vice were it in Ajax now—[1505]
Ulyss. If he were proud,—[1506]
Dio. Or covetous of praise,— 230
Ulyss. Ay, or surly borne,—
Dio. Or strange, or self-affected!
Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet[1507]
composure;
Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck:[1508]
Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature[1509] 235
Thrice-famed beyond, beyond all erudition:[1510]
But he that disciplined thine arms to fight,[1511]
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigour,[1512]
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield 240
To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,[1513]
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines[1514]
Thy spacious and dilated parts: here's Nestor,[1515]
Instructed by the antiquary times,[1516]
He must, he is, he cannot but be wise; 245
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper'd,[1517]
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.[1518]
Ajax. Shall I call you father?
Nest. Ay, my good son.[1519]
Dio. Be ruled by him, Lord Ajax. 250
Ulyss. There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles
Keeps thicket. Please it our great general[1520]
To call together all his state of war:[1521]
Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow[1522]
We must with all our main of power stand fast: 255
And here's a lord, come knights from east to west,
And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best.[1523]
Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep:[1524]
Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.[1525]
[Exeunt.