Ther. Ay, but that fool knows not himself.

Ajax. Therefore I beat thee.

Ther. Lo, lo, lo, lo, what 'modicums of wit he utters! his evafions have ears thus long. I have bobb'd his brain, more than he has beat my bones; I will buy nine fparrows for a penny, and his pia mater is not worth the ninth part of a sparrow. This lord, Achilles, Ajax,who wears his wit in his belly, and his guts in his head, -I'll tell you what I fay of him.

Achil. What?

Ther. I fay, this Ajax

Achil. Nay, good Ajax.

[Ajax offers to strike him, Achilles interpofes.

Ther. Has not fo much wit

Achil. Nay, I muft hold you.

Ther. As will ftop the eye of Helen's needle, for whom he comes to fight.

Achil. Peace, fool!

Ther. I would have peace and quietness, but the fool will not he there; that he; look you there.

Ajax. O thou damn'd cur! I fhall

Achil. Will you fet your wit to a fool's?

Ther. No, I warrant you; for a fool's will fhame it.

Patr. Good words, Therfites.

Achil. What's the quarrel?

Ajax. I bade the vile owl, go learn me the tenour of

the proclamation, and he rails upon me.

Ther. I ferve thee not.

Ajax. Well, go to, go to.

Ther. I ferve here voluntary.

Achil. Your laft fervice was fufferance, 'twas not voluntary! no man is beaten voluntary: Ajax was here the voluntary, and you as under an imprefs.

Therefore]-For that saying.

modicum]-fmall portions.

evafions]-efcapes, excurfions of genius, flights of fancy.

Ther.

Ther. Even fo?-a great deal of your wit too lies in your finews, or else there be liars. Hector fhall have a great catch, if he knock out either of your brains; 'a were as good crack a fufty nut with no kernel.

Achil. What, with me too, Therfites?

Ther. There's Ulyffes and old Neftor,-whofe wit was mouldy ere your grandfires had nails on their toes,-yoke. you like draft oxen, and make you plough up the war. Achil. What, what?

Ther. Yes, good footh; To, Achilles! to, Ajax! to! Ajax. I fhall cut out your tongue.

Ther. 'Tis no matter; I fhall speak as much as thou, afterwards.

Patr. No more words, Therfites; peace.

t

Ther. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids me, thall I?

Acbil. There's for you, Patroclus.

Ther. I will see you hang'd, like clotpoles, ere I come any more to your tents; I will keep where there is wit ftirring, and leave the faction of fools.

Patr. A good riddance.

[Exit.

Achil. Marry this, fir, is proclaim'd through all our

hoft:

That Hector, by the fifth hour of the fun,

Will, with a trumpet, 'twixt our tents and Troy,
To-morrow morning call fome knight to arms,
That hath a ftomach; and fuch a one, that dare
Maintain-I know not what; 'tis trash: Farewell.
Ajax. Farewell. Who fhall answer him?

Achil. I know not, it is put to lottery; otherwife, He knew his man.

Ajax. O, meaning you :-I'll go learn more of it.

brach]-spaniel.

D 3

[Exeunt

SCENE

Enter Priam, Hector, Troilus, Paris, and Helenus. Pri. After fo many hours, lives, fpeeches spent, Thus once again fays Neftor from the Greeks; Deliver Helen, and all damage elfe

As bonour, lofs of time, travel, expence,

Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is confum'd
In bot digeftion of this cormorant war,-

u

Shall be ftruck off:-Hector, what say you to't?

Hect. Though no man leffer fears the Greeks than I, As far as toucheth my particular, yet,

Dread Priam,

W

There is no lady of more fofter bowels,
More fpungy to fuck in the fenfe of fear,

More ready to cry out-Who knows what follows?
Than Hector is: The wound of peace is furety,
*

Surety fecure; but modeft doubt is call'd

The beacon of the wife, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worft. Let Helen go:
Since the firft fword was drawn about this question,
Every tithe foul, 'mongst many thousand difmes,
Hath been as dear as Helen; I mean, of ours:

If we have loft fo many tenths of ours,

To guard a thing not ours; not worth to us,

"be firuck off:]-out of the account, fhall pass unnoticed.

W more better.

TEMPEST, Vol. I. p. 7.

* The wound of peace]-Upon the commencement of fecurity peace Y difmes,]-tenths.

receives a wound.

Had

*Had it our name, the value of one ten;

What merit's in that reason, which denies
The yielding of her up?

Troi. Fie, fie, my brother!

Weigh you the worth and honour of a king,
So great as our dread father, in a scale
Of common ounces? will you with counters fum
The paft-proportion of his infinite?

And buckle-in a waist most fathomless,
With spans and inches fo diminutive

As fears and reafons? fie, for godly shame!

Hel. No marvel, though you bite fo fharp at reafons, You are fo empty of them. Should not our father Bear the great fway of his affairs with reafons, Because your speech hath none, that tells him fo?

Troi. You are for dreams and flumbers, brother priest,
"You fur your gloves with reafon. Here are your reafons:
You know, an enemy intends you harm;
You know, a fword employ'd is perilous,
And reason flies the object of all harm:
Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds.
A Grecian and his fword, if he do fet
The very wings of reafon to his heels;
And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,

Or like a star dif-orb'd?-Nay, if we talk of reafon,
Let's fhut our gates, and fleep: Manhood and honour
Should have hare hearts, would they but fat their thoughts
With this cramm'd reafon: reason and respect
Make livers pale, and luftyhood deject.

z Had it our name,]-Were fhe a Trojan.

The past-proportion of his infinite?]-That tranfcendent dignity to which no measure bears any proportion.

You fur your gloves with reafon.]—You love to keep yourself warm, luflybood-vigour, courage.

and out of danger.

с

Heft. Brother, fhe is not worth what the doth coft

The holding.

Troi. What is aught, but as 'tis valu'd?

Heft. But value dwells not in particular will;
It holds his estimate and dignity

As well wherein 'tis precious of itself,
As in the prizer: 'tis mad idolatry,

To make the service greater than the god;
And the will dotes, that is inclinable
To what infectiously itself affects,

* Without fome image of the affected merit.
Troi. 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,
Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous fhores
Of will and judgment; How may I avoid,
Although my will distaste what it elected,
The wife I chofe? there can be no evafion

To blench from this, and to ftand firm by honour:
We turn not back the filks upon the merchant,
When we have foil'd them; nor the remainder viands
We do not throw & in unrefpective fieve,

Because we now are full. It was thought meet,
Paris fhould do fome vengeance on the Greeks:
Your breath of full confent belly'd his fails;
The feas and winds (old wranglers) took a truce,
And did him fervice: he touch'd the ports defir'd;
And, for an old aunt, whom the Greeks held captive,
inclinable-attributive-attributes, does not find the qualities.

which it affects.

e Without fome image]-Unlefs the merit fo affected have fome foundation, be inherent in the object; without fome fhew of merit, whercon to ground affection.

To blench from this,]-To falfify our engagement.

In unrespective fieve,]-into the common voider; unrespective place. h for an old aunt,]-in exchange for Hefione, Priam's fifter, carried off by Hercules, and given to Telamon, by whom the bore Ajax.

He