Of Nature be corrupted through affection,
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benummed wills, resist the same;
There is a law in each well-order'd Nacion,
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.
If Helen then be wife to Sparta's King,
(As, it is known, she is) these moral laws
Of Nature, and of Nation, speak aloud
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 chis in way of truth ; yet ne'ertheless,
My sprightly brethren, I propend to you
In resolution to keep Helen still ;
For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance
Upon our joint and several Dignities.
Troi

. Why, there you touch'd the life of our design:
Were it not Glory that we more affected
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 theam of Honour and Renown,
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And Fame, in time to come, canonize us.
For, I presume, brave Heftor would not lose
So rich advantage of a promis'd Glory,
As smiles upon the forehead of this Action,
For the wide World's revenue.

He£t. I am yours,
You valiant Off-spring of great Priamus ;
I have a roifting Challenge fent amongst
The dull and factious Nobles of the Greeks,
Will strike amazement to their drowsie spirits.
I was advertiz'd, their great General Nept,
Whilft Emulation in the Army crept.
This, I presume, will wake him.

[Exeunt.

SCENE,

SCENE, before Achilles's Tent, in the Grecian

Camp.

Enter Ther sites folus.

H H°

O W now, Thersites? what, lost in the labyrinth of

it thus ? he beats me, and I rail at him: O worthy fatisfaction! would it were otherwise; that I could beat him, whilst he rail'd at me: 'sfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raise devils, but I'll see some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles, a rare engineer. If Troy be not taken 'till these two undermine it, the walls will stand 'till they fall of themselves. Othou great thunderdarter of Olympus, forget that thou art Jove the King of Gods; and, Mercury, lofe all the serpentine craft of thy Caduceus, if thou take not that little, little, less than little wit from them that they have ; which short-arm'd ignorance it self knows is so abundant scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing the massy irons and cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on the whole camp! or rather the boneach, for that, methinks, is the Curse dependant on those that war for a Placket. I have said my prayers, and devil Envy say Amen. What ho! my lord Achilles !

Enter Patroclus. Patr. Who's there? Therfites? Good Therfites, come in and rail.

Ther. If I could have remember'd a gilt counter, thou could'st not have Nipd out of my contemplation ; but it is no matter, thy self upon thy self! The common 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 the, that lays thee out, says thou art a fair coarse, I'll be sworn and sworn upon't, she never Throwded any but Lazars; Amen. but Lazars; Amen. Where's Achilles ?

pray thee,

Patr. What, art thou devout? walt thou in prayer ?
Tber. Ay, the heav'ns hear me!

Enter Achilles.
Achil. Who's there?
Patr. Therfites, my lord.

Achil. Where, where? art thou come? why, my cheese, my digestion — why hast thou not served thy self up to my table, so many meais? come, what's Agamemnon?

Tber. Thy commander, Achilles ; then tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles ?

Patr. Thy lord, Thersites: then tell me, I what's thy self?

Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus : then tell me, Patrodlus, what art thou?

Patr. Thou may'st tell, that know'st.
Acbil. O tell, tell,

Ther. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands Achilles, Achilles is my lord, I am Patroclus's knower, and Patroclus is a fool. Patr. You rascal Ther. Peace, fool, I have not done. Achil. He is a privileg'd man. Proceed, Tber sites.

Ther. Agamemnon is a fool, Achilles is a fool, Ther sites is a fool, and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.

Acbil. Derive this ; come.

Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles, Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon, Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool, and Patroclus is a fool positive.

Patr. Why am I a fool ?

Ther. Make that Demand to thy Creator ;—it fuffices me, thou art. Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Diomedes, Ajax,

and Calchas, Look you, who comes here?

Acbil. Patroclus, I'll speak with no body : come in with me, Therfites.

[Exit. Ther. Tiber. Here is such patchery, such jugling, and such knavery: all the argument is a cuckold and a whore, a good quarrel to draw emulous factions, and bleed to death upon : now the dry Serpigo on the subject, and war and lechery confound all!

[Exit. Aga. Where is Achilles ? Patr. Within his Tent, but ill dispos’d, my lord.

Aga. Let it be known to him that we are here.
He shent our messengers, and we lay by (22)
Our appertainments, visiting of him :
Let him be told fo, left, perchance, he think
We dare not move the question of our place ;
Or know not what we are,
Patr. I shall fo say to him.

[Exit. Ulyf. We saw him at the opening of his Tent, He is not fick.

Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of a proud heart: you may call it melancholy, if you will favour the man ; but, by my head, 'tis pride ; but why, why?-let him shew us the cause. A word, my lord. [To Agamemnon.

Nejt. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him?
Ulyf. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.
Nejt. Who, Thersites?
Ul. He,

Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his argument.

(22) He fent our Messengers ;] Who sent, in the Name of Accuracy? What! did Achilles send the Messengers, who were sent by Agamemnon ? I make no doubt, but the Poet wrote;

He fhent our Messengers ; i.e. rebuked, ill-treated, rated out of his presence. As, in Anthony, Augustus complains of the like Treatment from that Prince ;

Did pocket up my Letters, and with Taunts

Did gibe my Misives out of Audience. The word bent, disgraced, shamed, (from a guilòs, as some Etymologifts tell us ;) is frequent both in Chaucer and Spenser; and occurrs more than once again in our Author.

Clown. Alas, Sir, be patient. What say you, Sir ? I am sent for speaking to you,

Twelfth-night.
How in my Words foever she be fhent,
To give them Seals never my Soul confent.

Hamlet.

2

Ulys. Ulys. No, you fee, he is his argument, that has his argument, Abilles.

Neft. All the better ; their fraction is more our with than their faction ; but it was a strong counsel, that a fool could difunite.

Ulys. The amity, that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untye.

Enter Patroclus. Here comes Patroclus.

Neft. No Achilles with him?

Ulys. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesie ; His legs are for necessity, not fexure.

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 on him ; he hopes, it is no other,
But for your health and your digestion-fake;
An after-dinner's breath.

Aga. Hear you, Patroclus ;
We are too well acquainted with these answers :
But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn,
Cannot outfie our apprehensions.
Much Attribute he hath, and much the reason
Why we ascribe it to him ; yet all his virtues
(Not virtuously on his own part beheld)
Do in our eyes begin to lose their glofs ;
And, like fair fruit in an unwholesom dith,
Are like to rot untasted. Go and tell him,
We come to speak with him ; and you shall not sin, ,
If
you

do say, we think him over-proud,
In self-assumption greater than in note
Of judgment: say, men worthier than himself
Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on,
Disguise the holy Itrength of their coinmand,
And under-goe in an observing kind
His humourous predominance; yea, watch
His course and times, his ebbs and flows; as if
The passage and whole carriage of this action
Rode on his tide. Go tell him this, and add,
Vol. VII.

D

That