Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!
The worthiness of praise disdains his worth,
If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth:"
But what the repining enemy commends,

That breath fame blows; that praise, sole pure, trans

cends.

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,

to "yield up his hearted throne." And, yet more appositely, Valentine, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, says,

love's a mighty lord-."

The meaning of Eneas will then be obvious. The most confident of all passions is not so daring as we are in the field. So, in Romeo and Juliet:

"And what Love can do, that,dares Love attempt."

Mr. M. Mason would read—“ and Jove's own bird.”

Perhaps, however, the old reading may be the true one, the speaker meaning to say, that, when they have the accord of fove on their side, nothing is so courageous as the Trojans. Thus, in Corio

lanus:

"The god of soldiers

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

(With the consent of supreme Jove) inform
Thy thoughts with nobleness."

Jove's accord, in the present instance, like the Fove Probante of Horace, may be an ablative absolute, as in Pope's version of the 19th Iliad, 190:

"And, Jove attesting, the firm compact made." Steevens 9 The worthiness of praise distains his worth,

If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth:] So, in Coriolanus:

[ocr errors]

power unto itself most commendable, "Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair

"To extol what it hath done." Malone.

What's your affair, I pray you?] The words-I pray you, are an apparent interpolation, and consequently destroy the measure, "Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

"Agam.

What 's your affair?

These hemistichs, joined together, form a complete verse.

[blocks in formation]

Steevens.

And then to speak.

Agam.

Speak frankly as the wind;2

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 truce3
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 ease;
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,5
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves)
And dare avow her beauty and her worth,

2 Speak frankly as the wind;] So, Jaques, in As you Like it: I must have liberty

3

"Withal, as large a charter as the wind
"To blow on whom I please;

-"Steevens.

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. Johnson.

Here we have another proof of Shakspeare's falling into inconsistencies, by sometimes adhering to, and sometimes deserting, his original: a point, on which some stress has been laid in the Dissertation printed at the end of The Third Part of King Henry VI See Vol. X, p. 469-70.

Of this dull and long-continued truce (which was agreed upon at the desire of the Trojans, for six months,) Shakspeare found an account in the seventh chapter of the third Book of The Destruction of Troy. In the fifteenth chapter of the same book the beautiful daughter of Calchas is first introduced. Malone.

6

rusty —] Quarto,-resty. Johnson.

more than in confession,] Confession for profession.

Warburton.

to her own lips he loves,] That is, confession made with idle vows to the lips of her whom he loves. Johnson.

In other arms than hers,7-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, wiser, 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 rouse a Grecian that is true in love:
If any come, Hector shall honour him;
If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires,
The Grecian dames are sun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lance. Even so much.

Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas;
If none of them have soul in such a kind,
We left them all at home: But we are soldiers;
And may that soldier 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 Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
But, if there be not in our Grecian host9

One noble man, that hath one spark of fire
To answer for his love, Tell him from me,-
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver,
And in my vantbrace1 put this wither'd brawn;
And, meeting him, will tell him, That my lady
Was fairer than his grandame, and as chaste
As may be in the world: His youth in flood,

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

[blocks in formation]

The splinter of a lance] This is the language of romance. Such a challenge would better have suited Palmerin or Amadis, than Hector or Æneas. Steevens.

9 in our Grecian host-] So, the quarto. The folio hasGrecian mould. Malone.

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

Pope

Milton uses the word in his Sampson Agonistes, and Heywood in his Iron Age, 1632:

[ocr errors]

-peruse his armour,

"The dint 's still in the vantbrace." Steevens.

I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.2 Ene. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth! Ulyss. Amen.

Agam. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand; 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:
Yourself shall feast with us before you go,

And find the welcome of a noble foe.

Ulyss. Nestor,

[Exeunt all but ULYSS. and NEST.

Nest. What says Ulysses?

Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain,
Be you my time to bring it to some shape.3
Nest. What is 't?

Ulyss. This 'tis:

Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The seeded pride◄
That hath to this maturity blown up

In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd,

Or, shedding, breed a nurserys of like evil,
To overbulk us all.

2 I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.] So, in Coriolanus, one of the Volcian Guard says to old Menenius, "Back, I say, go, lest I let forth your half pint of blood."

Thus the quarto. The folio reads-I'll pawn this truth.

Malone.

3 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. Steevens.

I believe Shakspeare was here thinking of the period of gestation which is sometimes denominated a female's time, or reckoning. T. C.

The seeded pride &c.] Shakspeare might have taken this idea from Lyte's Herbal, 1578 and 1579. The Oleander tree or Nerium "hath scarce one good propertie." It may be compared to a Pharisee, "who maketh a glorious and beautiful show, but inwardly is of a corrupt and poisoned nature "-" It is high time &c. to supplant it (i.e pharisaism) for it hath already floured, so that I feare it will shortly seede, and fill this wholesome soyle full of wicked Nerium." Tollet.

So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

5

"How will thy shame be seeded in thine age,

"When thus thy vices bud before thy spring?" Malone.

nursery-] Alluding to a plantation called a nursery.

Johnson.

[blocks in formation]

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 substance, Whose grossness little characters sum up:7 And, in the publication, make no strain,8 But that Achilles, were his brain as barren As banks of Libya,-though, Apollo knows,

'Tis dry enough,-will with great speed of judgment, Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose

Pointing on him.

Ulyss. And wake him to the answer, think you?
Nest.

It is most meet; Whom may you else oppose,
That can from Hector bring those honours off,
If not Achilles? Though 't be a sportful combat,
Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;

Yes,

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

Well, and how then?

Sir T. Hanmer reads-how now? Steevens.

7 The purpose is perspicuous even as substance,

Whose grossness little characters sum up:] That is, the purpose is as plain as body or substance; and though I have collected this purpose from many minute particulars, as a gross body is made up of small insensible parts, yet the result is as clear and certain as a body thus made up is palpable and visible. This is the thought, though a little obscured in the conciseness of the expression. Warburton.

Substance is estate, the value of which is ascertained by the use of small characters, i. e. numerals. So, in the prologue to King Henry V:

"a crooked figure may

"Attest, in little place, a million."

The gross sum is a term used in The Merchant of Venice. Grossness has the same meaning in this instance. Steevens.

8 And, in the publication, make no strain,] Nestor goes on to say, make no difficulty, no doubt, when this duel comes to be proclaimed, but that Achilles, dull as he is, will discover the drift of it. This is the meaning of the line. So, afterwards, in this play, Ulysses says:

"I do dot strain at the position."

i. e. I do not hesitate at, I make no difficulty of it. Theobaldı those honours-] Folio-his honour. Malone.

9

« PredošláPokračovať »