Tortive and errant from his course of growth.
Nor, princes, is it matter new to us

That we come short of our suppose so far

That after seven years' siege yet Troy walls stand; 12
Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the aim
And that unbodied figure of the thought

16

That gave 't surmised shape. Why then, you princes, Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works,

And think them shame? which are indeed nought else But the protractive trials of great Jove,

20

To find persistive constancy in men;
The fineness of which metal is not found

In Fortune's love; for then, the bold and coward,
The wise and fool, the artist and unread,
The hard and soft, seem all affin'd and kin.
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a loud and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass or matter, by itself
Lies rich in virtue and unmingled.

Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat,

Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply

Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance

Lies the true proof of men. The sea being smooth,
How many shallow bauble boats dare sail

Upon her patient breast, making their way

24

28

36

13 Sith: since 20 protractive: long drawn out

30 Shows in the richness of unalloyed purity 32 apply: moralise on

35 bauble: toy

25 affin'd: related by affinity

33 reproof: scorning, rebuking

binrkeappeare does not usually ver to mythology

as

much as

here.

The Tragedy of

With those of nobler bulk!

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage

The gentle Thetis, and anon behold

The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains

cut,

Bounding between the two moist elements,

Like Perseus' horse. Where's then the saucy boat,
Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now

40

Co-rivall❜d greatness? Either to harbour fled,

44

Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so

Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide

In storms of fortune. For in her ray and brightness
The herd hath more annoyance by the breese
Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,

48

And flies fled under shade, why then the thing of

courage,

As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize,

And with an accent tun'd in self-same key,

Retorts to chiding fortune.

Ulyss.

Agamemnon,

Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,
Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit,

In whom the tempers and the minds of all
Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.

Besides the applause and approbation

52

56

The which, [To Agamemnon] most mighty for thy place and sway,

60

[To Nestor] And thou most reverend for thy stretch'dout life,

38 Boreas: the north wind

41 moist elements; cf. n.

39 Thetis: the sea; cf. n. 42 Perseus' horse: Pegasus; cf. n.

45 toast: a rich morsel to be swallowed (usually in a cup of wine)

46 show: external appearance
51 fled: are fled

54 Retorts; cf. n.

57 tempers: temperaments

48 breese: gadfly 55 nerve: sinew 60 sway: sovereignty

I give to both your speeches, which were such
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and such again
As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,

Should with a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree
On which the heavens ride, knit all Greeks' ears
To his experienc'd tongue: yet let it please both,
Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak.

64

68

Agam. Speak, Prince of Ithaca; and be 't of less expect

That matter needless, of importless burthen,

Divide thy lips, than we are confident,

foundation

When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws,
We shall hear music, wit, and oracle.
/Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,

72

And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master, 76
But for these instances.

80

antiDemoratic

The specialty of rule hath been neglected;
And look, how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
When that the general is not like the hive
To whom the foragers shall all repair,
What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,
Th' unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre
Observe degree, priority, and place,

Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order;
Fundris

62-68 Cf. n.

all in order

70 of less expect: less to be expected

71 importless: insignificant burthen: meaning
73 rank: rebellious or gross opes: opens
75-137 Cf. n.

77 instances: reasons

84

88

67 knit: join

mastic; cf. n.

75 his: its basis: foundation

78 specialty of rule: particular rights of supreme authority

83 Degree: rank

85 centre: earth

88 Office: function

vizarded: masked

84 mask: masquerade 87 Insisture: regularity

in . . . order: all in order

ill order of planets

sur old

And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other, whose med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts, like the commandment of a king,
Sans check, to good and bad. [But when the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,

DISCORD
What plagues, and what portents, what mutiny,
What raging of the sea, shaking of earth,
Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate'

The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixure! O! when degree is shak'd,
Which is the ladder to all high designs,)

100

The enterprise is sick. How could communities,
Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,
The primogenitive and due of birth,

104

SARCASTIC

anti

idealistic

Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,
But by degree, stand in authentic place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,

108

And, hark! what discord follows! Each thing meets
uta
openthes The bounded waters

In

Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores,
And make a sop of all this solid globe;

Strength should be lord of imbecility,

112

And the rude son should strike his father dead;
Force should be right; or rather, right and wrong, 116

89 Sol: the sun

92 aspects; cf. n.

94 Sans: without

99 deracinate: uproot

91 other: others

med'cinable: healing 93 posts: speeds 96 mutiny: discord

101 fixure: fixed position, stability

102 By which men achieve all high purposes

105 dividable: separated

106 primogenitive: right of succession belonging to the eldest son

108 authentic: one's own, peculiar

111 mere; absolute

113 sop; cf. n.

oppugnancy: conflict

114 imbecility: weakness

Between whose endless jar justice resides,

Should lose their
Then everything includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, an universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with will and
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is suffocate;
Follows the choking.

and so should justice too.

(And this neglection of degree is it

power,

That by a pace goes backward, in 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:

This results when you

120

take away

order in the
universe
124 бе
Proing Baktrise
Babliss

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

128

132

136

Agam. The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses, 140 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

117 jar: discord

125 suffocate: suffocated

127 neglection: neglect

132 Exampled: furnished with a precedent 138 discover'd: exposed to view

145 forehand: mainstay; cf. n.

144

119, 120 Cf. n.

127-129 And climb; cf. n.
128 by a pace: step by step
sick: envious

139 power: army

145 Grows . . . worth; cf. n.