And, last, eat up himself. Great Agamemnon, And this neglection of degree it is, That by a pace3 goes backward, with a purpose And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot, Agam. The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses, What is the remedy? Ulyss. The great Achilles,-whom opinion crowns The sinew and the forehand of our host, Having his ear full of his airy fame," Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent Lies mocking our designs: With him, Patroclus, Breaks scurril jests; And with ridiculous and aukward action (Which, slanderer, he imitation calls,) 2 this neglection] This uncommon word occurs again in Pericles, 1609: 3 That by a pace-] That goes backward step by step. Johnson. with a purpose It hath to climb.] With a design in each man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior. Johnson. Thus the quarto. Folio-in a purpose. Malone. 5 bloodless emulation:] An emulation not vigorous and active, but malignant and sluggish. Johnson. 6 our power] i. e. our army. So, in another of our author's plays: 7 "Who leads his power ?" Steevens. his airy fame,] Verbal elogium; what our author, in Macbeth, has called mouth honour. Malone. He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon, And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks, That's done;-as near as the extremest ends 8 Thy topless deputation -] Topless is that which has nothing topping or overtopping it; supreme; sovereign. Johnson. So, in Doctor Faustus, 1604: "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships, Again, in The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, 1598: "And topless honours be bestow'd on thee." Steevens. 9'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,] The galleries of the Theatre, in the time of our author, were sometimes termed the scaffolds. Malone. 1 o'er-wrested seeming] i, e. wrested beyond the truth; overcharged. Both the old copies, as well as all the modern editions, have-o'er-rested, which affords no meaning. Malone. Over-wrested is-wound up too high. A wrest was an instrument for tuning a harp, by drawing up the strings. See Mr. Douce's note on Act III, sc. iii. Steevens. 2 a chime a mending;] To this comparison the praise of originality must be allowed. He who, like myself, has been in the tower of a church while the chimes were repairing, will never wish a second time to be present at so dissonantly noisy an operation. Steevens. 3 - unsquar'd,] i. e. unadapted to their subject, as stones are unfitted to the purposes of architecture, while they are yet unsquared. Steevens. 4 - as near as the extremest en ls Of parallels;] The parallels to which the allusion seems to be made, are the parallels on a map. As like as east to west. Johnson. Yet good Achilles still cries, Excellent! 'Tis Nestor right! Now play him me, Patroclus, And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age 5 Shake in and out the rivet :-and at this sport, In pleasure of my spleen. And in this fashion, 5 -a palsy fumbling-] Old copies give this as two distinct words. But it should be written-palsy-fumbling, i. e. paralytick fumbling Tyrwhitt. Fumbling is often applied by our old English writers to the speech. So, in King John, 1591: 66 he fumblech in the mouth; "His speech doth fail.” Again, in North's translation of Plutarch: " he heard his wife Calphurnia being fast asleepe, weepe and sigh, and put forth many fumbling lamentable speaches." Shakspeare, I believe, wrote-in his gorget. Malone. On seems to be used for-at. So, p. 53: " Pointing on him." i. e. at him. Steevens. 6 All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, Severals and generals of grace exact, Achievements, plots, &c] All our good grace exact, means our excellence irreprehensible. Johnson. 7 to make paradoxes.] Paradoxes may have a meaning, but it is not clear and distinct. I wish the copies had given: to make parodies. Johnson. 8-- bears his head In such a rein,] That is, holds up his head as haughtily. We still say of a girl, she bridles. Johnson. As broad Achilles: keeps his tent like him; (A slave, whose gall coins slanders like a mint,9) To weaken and discredit our exposure, Ulyss. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice; But that of hand: the still and mental parts,- They call this-bed-work, mappery, closet-war: Nest. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse 9 Agam. Men. From Troy. [Trumpet sounds. What trumpet? look, Menelaus.3 Enter ENEAS. whose gall coins slanders like a mint,] i. e. as fast as a mint coins money. See Vol. VIII, p. 195, n. 6. Malone. 1 How rank soever rounded in with danger.] A rank weed is a high weed. The modern editions silently read: How hard soever —. Johnson. rounded in with danger.] So, in King Henry V: "How dread an army hath enrounded him." Steevens. 2—— and know, by measure Of their observant toil, the enemies' weight,] I think it were better to read: and know the measure, By their observant toil, of the enemies' weight. Johnson. by measure-] That is, "by means of their observant toil." M. Mason. 3 What trumpet? look, Menelaus.] Surely, the name of Menelaus only serves to destroy the metre, and should therefore be omitted. Steevens. Agam. What would you 'fore our tent? Great Agamemnon's tent, I pray? Even this. Ene. May one, that is a herald, and a prince, Do a fair message to his kingly ears?4 Is this Agam. With surety stronger than Achilles' arm5 'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice Call Agamemnon head and general. Ene. Fair leave, and large security. How may Ene. Ay; I ask, that I might waken reverence, How? 5 --- Achilles' arm-] So the copies. Perhaps the author wrote: Alcides' arm. Johnson. 6 A stranger to those most imperial looks —] And yet this was the seventh year of the war. Shakspeare, who so wonderfully preserves character, usually confounds the customs of all nations, and probably supposed that the ancients (like the heroes of chivalry) fought with beavers to their helmets. So, in the fourth Act of this play, Nestor says to Hector: "But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel, "I never saw till now." Shakspeare might have adopted this error from the wooden cuts to ancient books, or from the illuminators of manuscripts, who never seem to have entertained the least idea of habits, manners, or customs more ancient than their own. There are books in the British Museum of the age of King Henry VI; and in these the heroes of ancient Greece are represented in the very dresses worn at the time when the books received their decorations. Steevens In The Destruction of Troy Shakspeare found all the chieftains of each army termed knights, mounted on stately horses, defended with modern helmets, &c. &c. Malone. In what edition did these representations occur in Shakspeare? Steevens. bid the cheek-] So the quarto. The folio has; On the cheek - Johnson. |