He is so plaguy proud, that the death-tokens of 't Cry No recovery.'

Agam.

Let Ajax go to him.—

Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent :
'T is said he holds you well; and will be led,
At your request, a little from himself.

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,
And never suffers matter of the world

Enter his thoughts, save such as doth revolve
And ruminate himself,-shall he be worshipped
Of that we hold an idol more than he?
No, this thrice-worthy and right valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquired;
Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,
As amply titled as Achilles is,

By going to Achilles :

That were to inlard his fat-already pride;

And add more coals to Cancer when he burns

With entertaining great Hyperion.

This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid,

And say in thunder-Achilles, go to him.'

Nest. [Aside.] O, this is well; he rubs the vein

of him.

Dio. [Aside.] And how his silence drinks up this applause!

Ajax. If I go to him, with my armed fist

I'll pash him o'er the face.

Agam. O, no, you shall not go.

Ajax. An 'a be proud with me, I'll pheese his pride:

Let me go to him.

Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel.

Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow !

Nest. [Aside.] How he describes himself!

Ajax. Can he not be sociable ?

Ulyss. [Aside.] The raven chides blackness.

Ajax. I'll let his humours blood.

Agam. [Aside.] He will be the physician, that

should be the patient.

Ajax. An' all men were o' my mind,

Ulyss. [Aside.] Wit would be out of fashion. Ajax. 'A should not bear it so, 'a should eat swords first: shall pride carry it?

Nest. [Aside.] An' 't would, you 'd carry half. Ulyss. [Aside.] 'A would have ten shares.

Ajax. I will knead him; I will make him supple.

Nest. [Aside.] He's not yet thorough warm:

force him with praises. Pour in, pour in; his

ambition is dry.

Ulyss. [To AGAMEMNON.] My lord, you feed too much on this dislike.

Nest. Our noble general, do not do so.

Dio. You must prepare to fight without Achilles. Ulyss. Why, 't is this naming of him does him harm.

Here is a man-But 't is before his face;

I will be silent.

Nest.

Wherefore should you so

He is not emulous, as Achilles is.

Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with us!

Would he were a Trojan !

Nest. What a vice were it in Ajax now,

Ulyss. If he were proud,

Dio.

Or covetous of praise,—

Or strange, or self-affected!

Ulyss. Ay, or surly borne,

Dio.

Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of

sweet composure;

Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee

suck:

Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature

Thrice-famed, beyond all erudition:

But he that disciplined thine arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain

And give him half and, for thy vigour, let
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: here's Nestor,—
Instructed by the antiquary times,

He must, he is, he cannot but be wise :—
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days

As green as Ajax', and your brain so tempered,

You should not have the eminence of him,

Ulyss. There is no tarrying here: the hart
Achilles

Keeps thicket. Please it our great general
To call together all his state of war;

Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow, then,
We must with all our main of power stand fast:
And here's a lord,—come knights from east to

west,

And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best.

Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep: Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw

deep.

[Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-Troy. A Room in PRIAM's Palace.

Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

Pan. Friend, you,-pray you, a word: do not you follow the young Lord Paris?

Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.

Pan. You depend upon him, I mean.

Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

Pan. You depend upon a noble gentleman; I

must needs praise him.

Serv. The lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not?

Serv. Faith, sir, superficially.

Pan. Friend, know me better. I am the Lord Pandarus.

Serv. I hope, I shall know your honour better. Pan. I do desire it.

Serv. You are in the state of grace.