Ulyss. Now, great Thetis' son! Achil. What are you reading? Ulyss. A strange fellow here Writes me, that man-how dearly ever parted,1 How much in having, or without, or inCannot make boast to have that which he hath, Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection; As when his virtues shining upon others Heat them, and they retort that heat again To the first giver. Achil. This is not strange, Ulysses. The beauty that is borne here in the face, Till it hath travelled, and is married there 3 It is familiar; but at the author's drift; (Though in and of him there be much consisting,) Till he communicate his parts to others. Nor doth he of himself know them for aught 4 Where they are extended; which, like an arch, reverberates The voice again; or like a gate of steel 1 However excellently endowed, with however dear or precious parts enriched. 2 Speculation has here the same meaning as in Macbeth: "Thou hast no speculation in those eyes Which thou dost glare with." 3 Detail of argument. 4 The old copies read "who, like an arch, reverberate ;" which may mean, they who applaud reverberate. The elliptic mode of expression is in the Poet's manner. Rowe made the alteration. VOL. V. 39 His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this; The unknown Ajax.1 Heavens, what a man is there! a very horse; That has he knows not what. Nature, what things there are, Most abject in regard, and dear in use! What things again most dear in the esteem, And poor in worth! Now shall we see to-morrow, While some men leave to do! How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall, 2 Achil. I do believe it; for they passed by me, As misers do by beggars; neither gave to me Good word, nor look. What, are my deeds forgot? Ulyss. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,3 A great-sized monster of ingratitudes. Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devoured As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done. Perséverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright. To have done, is to hang In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; Where one but goes abreast. Keep then the path; That one by one pursue. If you give way, 1 i. e. Ajax, who has abilities which were never brought into view or use. 2 The folio reads shrinking. 3 This image is literally from Spenser. Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank,' present, they do in Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours; That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand; And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek For beauty, wit, High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service, To envious and calumniating time. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,- More laud than gilt o'erdusted.3 The present eye praises the present object. Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late, 2 1 The quarto wholly omits the simile of the horse, and reads thus:"And leave you hindmost, then what they do at present." 2 New-fashioned toys. 3 Gilt, in this second line, is a substantive. See Coriolanus, Act i. Sc. 3. Dust a little gilt means ordinary performances, which have the gloss of novelty. Gilt o'erdusted means splendid actions of preceding ages, the remembrance of which is weakened by time. Made emulous missions' 'mongst the gods themselves, And drave great Mars to faction. Achil. I have strong reasons. Of this my privacy But 'gainst your privacy Ulyss. Achil. Ulyss. Is that a wonder? Ha! known? The providence that's in a watchful state, 1 i. e. the descent of deities to combat on either side. Shakspeare probably followed Chapman's Homer: in the fifth book of the Iliad, Diomed wounds Mars, who, on his return to heaven, is rated by Jupiter for having interfered in the battle. This disobedience is the faction alluded to. 2 Polyxena, in the act of marrying whom, he was afterwards killed by Paris. 3 There is in the providence of a state, as in the providence of the universe, a kind of ubiquity. 4 There is a secret administration of affairs, which no history was ever able to discover. A woman impudent and mannish grown, And your great love to me, restrains you thus: Achil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector? Patr. Ay; and, perhaps, receive much honor by him. Achil. I see my reputation is at stake; My fame is shrewdly gored. Patr. O, then beware; Those wounds heal ill, that men do give themselves. Omission to do what is necessary, Seals a commission to a blank of danger; And danger, like an ague, subtly taints Achil. Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus; I'll send the fool to Ajax, and desire him To invite the Trojan lords, after the combat, To see us here unarmed. I have a woman's longing, To see great Hector in his weeds of peace; Enter THERSITES. Ther. A wonder! Achil. What? Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for himself. Achil. How so? Ther. He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector; and is so prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling, that he raves in saying nothing. 1 The folio has "ayrie air.” |