And, last, eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
Follows the choking.

And this neglection of degree it is,

That by a pace3 goes backward, with a purpose
It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd
By him one step below; he, by the next;
That next, by him beneath: so every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is sick
Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation: 5

And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
Nest. Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd
The fever whereof all our power is sick.

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,
Upon a lazy bed the livelong day

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,
Thy topless deputations he puts on;

And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
"Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage, 9-
Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming1

He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks,
'Tis like a chime a mending;2 with terms unsquar'd,3
Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd,
Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff,
The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,
From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause;
Cries Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon just.-
Now play me Nestor;-hem, and stroke thy beard,
As he, being 'drest to some oration.

That's done;-as near as the extremest ends
Of parallels; as like as Vulcan and his wife:

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,
"And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"

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,
Arming to answer in a night alarm.

And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and spit,
And with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget,

5

Shake in and out the rivet :-and at this sport,
Sir Valour dies; cries, O!-enough, Patroclus:-
Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all

In pleasure of my spleen. And in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exact,
all grace extract
Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,
Success, or loss, what is, or is not, serves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.7
Nest. And in the imitation of these twain
(Whom, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice,) many are infect.
Ajax is grown self-will'd; and bears his head
In such a rein, in full as proud a place

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;
Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war,
Bold as an oracle: and sets Thersites

(A slave, whose gall coins slanders like a mint,9)
To match us in comparisons with dirt;

To weaken and discredit our exposure,
How rank soever rounded in with danger.1

Ulyss. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice;
Count wisdom as no member of the war;
Forestall prescíence, and esteem no act

But that of hand: the still and mental parts,-
That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
When fitness calls them on; and know, by measure
Of their observant toil, the enemies' weight,2-
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity:

They call this-bed-work, mappery, closet-war:
So that the ram, that batters down the wall,
For the great swing and rudeness of his poise,
They place before his hand that made the engine;
Or those, that with the fineness of their souls
By reason guide his execution.

Nest. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse
Makes many Thetis' sons.

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.
Ene.

What would you 'fore our tent?

Great Agamemnon's tent, I pray?
Agam.

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
A stranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals?
Agam.

Ene. Ay;

I ask, that I might waken reverence,
And bid the cheek' be ready with a blush
Modest as morning when she coldly eyes
The youthful Phoebus:

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.