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To fee thefe Grecian lords! why ev'n already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder,
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breaft,
And great Troy fhrinking.

Achil. This I do believe;

For they paffed by me, as mifers do by beggars,
Neither gave to me good word, nor good look:
What! are my deeds forgot?

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Ulys. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, • Wherein he puts alms for Oblivion :

' (A great-fiz'd monster of ingratitudes)

• Thofe fcraps are good deeds past, which are devour'd • As faft as they are made, forgot as foon

• As done: Perfeverance keeps Honour bright: To have done, is to hang quite out of fashion, Like rufty mail in monumental mockery. "For honour travels in a ftreight so narrow, "Where one but goes abreaft? keep then the path; "For Emulation hath a thousand fons, "That one by one purfue; if you give way, "Or turn afide from the direct forth-right, "Like to an entred tide, they all rush by, "And leave you hindermoft; and there you lye, "Like to a gallant horfe fall'n in first rank, "For pavement to the abject Rear, o'er-run "And trampled on: Then what they do in present, "Tho' lefs than yours in paft, muft o'er-top yours. For time is like a fashionable hoft,

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That flightly shakes his parting gueft by th' hand; "But with his arms out-ftretch'd, as he would fly, Grafps in the comer; Welcome ever smiles,

"And Farewel goes out fighing. O, let not virtue feek

1 Like to a gallant horfe fall'n in first rank,

For pavement to the abject NEAR,-] We fhould read, abject REAR, ie. the mean abject horfes which, by reason of their unfitness for fervice, are put into the rear of the line; or at leaft become the rear in a vigorous charge.

"Remuneration

"Remuneration for the thing it was;

"For beauty, wit, high birth, defert in fervice,
"Love, friendship, charity, are fubjects all
"To envious and calumniating time.

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin; "That all, with one confent, praife new-born Gawds, "Tho' they are made and moulded of things paft; "And give to duft, that is a little gilt,

(a) More laud than they will give to gold o'erdufted:

"The present eye praises the present object.
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;
Since things in motion fooner catch the eye,
Than what not ftirs. The Cry went once for thee,
And ftill it might, and yet it may again,
If thou would'st not entomb thyself alive,
And cafe thy reputation in thy tent;

Whofe glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,
2 Made emulous miffions 'mongst the Gods themselves,
And drave great Mars to faction.

Achil. Of my privacy

I have strong reasons.

Ulyf. 'Gainft your privacy

The reasons are more potent and heroical.
Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love
With one of Priam's daughters.

Achil. Ha! known!

Uly. Is that a wonder?

The providence, that's in a watchful State,
Knows almost every grain of Pluto's Gold;
Finds bottom in th3 uncomprehenfive Deep;

2 Made emulous miffions] Millions, for divifions, i. e. goings out, on one fide and the other.

[(a) More laud than they will give to gold o'er-dufted. Dr.. Thirlby.-Vulg. More laud than gilt o'er-dufted.

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Keeps place with thought; and almoft, like the
Gods,

Does ev❜n our thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.
There is a mystery (with which relation
Durft never meddle) in the Soul of State;
Which hath an operation more divine,
Than breath, or pen, can give expreffure to.
All the commerce that you have had with Troy
As perfectly is ours, as yours, my lord.
And better would it fit Achilles much,
To throw down Hector, than Polyxena.

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,
When Fame shall in his inland found her trump;
And all the Greekish girls fhall tripping fing,
Great Hector's fifter did Achilles win;
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.
Farewel, my lord-I, as your lover, fpeak;
The fool flides o'er the ice, that you should break.

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[Exit:

Patr. To this effect, Achilles, have I mov'd you; A woman, impudent and mannish grown, Is not more loath'd than an effeminate man In time of act. I ftand condemn'd for this; They think, my little ftomach to the war, And your great love to me, reftrains you thus:

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Sweet, roufe your felf; and the weak wanton Cupid • Shall from your neck unloose his am'rous fold And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane, Be fhook to air.

Achil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector!—

2. Keeps place with thought;] i. e. there is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. The expreffion is exquifitely fine. Yet the Oxford Editor alters it to Keeps pace, and so destroys all its beauty.

Patr. Ay, and, perhaps, receive much honour by

him.

Achil. I fee, my reputation is at stake;

My fame is fhrewdly gor'd.

Patr. O then beware:

Those wounds heal ill, that men do give themfelves: Omiffion to do what is neceffary

Seals a Commiffion to a Blank of Danger;

And Danger, like an ague, fubtly taints
Even then, when we fit idly in the Sun.

Achil. Go call Therfites hither, fweet Patroclus:
I'll fend the fool to Ajax, and defire him
T'invite the Trojan lords, after the Combat,

To fee us here unarm'd: I have a woman's Longing, An appetite that I am fick withal,

To fee great Hector in the Weeds of

peace; To talk with him, and to behold his vifage, Ev'n to my full of view.-A labour fav'd!

SCENE

IX.

Enter Therfites,

Ther. A wonder!

Achil. What?

Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for himself.

Achil. How fo?

Ther. He muft fight fingly to morrow with Hector, and is fo prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling, that he raves in faying nothing.

Achil. How can that be?

Ther. Why, he ftalks up and down like a peacock, a ftride and a stand; ruminates like an hoftefs, that hath no arithmetick but her brain, to fet down her reckoning; bites his lip with a politick regard, as who fhould fay, there were wit in his head, if 'twou'd out; and fo there is, but it lies as coldly in him as

Ff3

fire

fire in a flint, which will not fhew without knocking. The man's undone for ever: for if Hector break not his neck i'th' combat, he'll break't himself in vainglory. He knows not me: I faid, good morrow, Ajax: And he replies, thanks, Agamemnon. think you of this man, that takes me for the General ? he's grown a very land-fifh, language-lefs, a monfter. "A plague of opinion! a man may wear it on both "fides, like a leather Jerkin.

What

Achil. Thou must be my ambaffador to him, Ther

fites.

Ther. Who, I? -why, he'll anfwer no body; he profeffes not anfwering; fpeaking is for beggars; he wears his tongue in's arms. I will put on his prefence; let Patroclus make his demands to me, you fhall fee the Pageant of Ajax.

Achil. To him, Patroclus-tell him, I humbly defire the valiant Ajax, to invite the moft valorous Hector to come unarm'd to my tent, and to procure fafe Conduct for his Perfon of the magnanimous and most illuftrious, fix or seven times honour'd, captain general, of the Grecian army, Agamemnon, &c. Do this.

Patr. Jove blefs great Ajax!

Ther. Hum

Patr. I come from the worthy Achilles.
Ther. Ha!

Patr. Who moft humbly defires you to invite Hector to his Tent.

non.

Ther. Hum.

Patr. And to procure fafe Conduct from Agamem

Ther. Agamemnon !—

A plague of Opinion! a man may wear it on both fides like a leather Jerkin.] This is faid in compliment to Achilles. Opinion went all for him before, as now for Ajax. But the obfervation is fine, and admirably expressed.

Patr.

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