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I do befeech you, as in way of tafte,

To give me now a little benefit,

Out of those many regiftred in promise,
Which, you fay, live to come in my behalf.

Aga. What wouldft thou of us, Trojan? make demand. Cal. You have a Trojan prifoner, call'd Antenor, Yesterday took: Troy holds him very dear.

Oft have you (often have you thanks therefore ;)
Defir'd my Crefid in right-great exchange,
Whom Troy hath ftill deny'd: but this Antenor,
I know, is fuch a wreft in their affairs,
That their negotiations all muft flack,
Wanting his Manage; and they will almost
Give us a Prince o'th' blood, a fon of Priam,
In change of him. Let him be fent, great Princes,
And he shall buy my daughter: and her prefence
Shall quite ftrike off all fervice I have done,
In most accepted pain.

Aga. Let Diomedes bear him,

And bring us Crefid hither: Calchas fhall have
What he requests of us. Good Diomede,
Furnish you fairly for this enterchange;
Withall, bring word, if Hector will to morrow
Be answer'd in his challenge. Ajax is ready.
Dio. This fhali I undertake, and 'tis a burthen
Which I am proud to bear.

Enter Achilles and Patroclus, before their Tent.
Ulyf. Achilles ftands i'th' entrance of his Tent,
Pleafe it our General to pafs ftrangely by him,
As if he were forgot; and, Princes all,
Lay negligent and loofe regard upon him:
I will come laft; 'tis like, he'll question me,
Why fuch unplaufive eyes are bent on him ;
If fo, I have decifion medicinable
To ufe between your strangeness and his pride,
Which his own will fhall have defire to drink.
It may do good: Pride hath no other glafs
To fhew itself, but pride; for fupple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees.

Aga. We'll execute your purpose, and put on
A form of strangenefs as we pafs along;

So do each lord; and either greet him not,
Or elfe difdainfully, which fhall fhake him more
Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.

Achil. What, comes the General to speak with me? You know my mind. I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy. Aga. What fays Achilles? would he aught with us? Neft. Would you, my lord, aught with the General? Achil. No.

Neft. Nothing, my lord.

Aga. The better.

Achil. Good day, good day.

Men. How do you? how do you?

Achil. What, does the cuckold scorn me ?

Ajax. How now, Patroclus?

Achil. Good morrow, Ajax.

Ajax. Ha?

Achil. Good morrow.

Ajax. Ay, and good next day too.

[Exe.

Achil. What mean these fellows? know they not Achilles?

Patr. They pafs by ftrangely: they were us'd to bend, To fend their fmiles before them to Achilles,

To come as humbly as they us'd to creep

To holy altars.

Achil. What, am I poor of late?

'Tis certain, Greatnefs, once fall'n out with fortune,
Muft fall out with men too: what the declin'd is,
He shall as foon read in the eyes of others,

As feel in his own Fall: for men, like butterflies,
Shew not their mealy wings but to the fummer;
And not a man, for being fimply man,
Hath honour, but is honour'd by those honours
That are without him; as place, riches, favour,
Prizes of accident as oft as merit :

Which, when they fall, (as being slipp'ry standers)
The love that lean'd on them, as flipp'ry too,
Doth one pluck down another, and together
Die in the Fall. But 'tis not so with me:

Forture

Fortune and I are friends; I do enjoy

At ample point all that I did poffefs,

Save these men's looks; who do, methinks, find out
Something in me not worth that rich beholding,

As they have often giv'n. Here is Ulyffes.

I'll interrupt his reading,

Ulf. Now, Thetis' fon!

-Now, Ulyffes

Achil. What are you reading?

Uly. A ftrange fellow here

Writes me, that man, how dearly ever parted,
How much in Having, or without, or in,
Cannot make boaft to have that which he hath,.
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;
As when his virtues fhining upon others
Heat them, and they retort that heat again
To the firft giver.

Achil. This is not ftrange, Ulyffes.
The beauty that is borne here in the face
The bearer knows not, but commends itselfTM
To others' eyes: nor doth the eye itself
(That moft pure fpirit of fenfe) behold itself
Not going from itfelf; but eyes oppos'd
Salute each other with each others' form.
For fpeculation turns not to itself,

'Till it hath travell'd, and is marry'd there
Where it may fee its felf; this is not strange.
Uly. I do not ftrain at the pofition,
It is familiar; but the author's drift;
Who, in his circumftance, exprefly proves
That no man is the lord of any thing,

(Tho' in, and of, him there is much confifting)
'Till he communicate his parts to others

;

Nor doth he of himself know them for aught,

"Till he behold them formed in th' applause

Where they're extended; which, like an arch, reverb'rates

The voice again; or, like a gate of fteel

Fronting the Sun, receives and renders back

His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this,
And apprehended here immediately

The unknown Ajax

Heav'ns!

!

Heav'ns! what a man is there? a very horse,

That has he knows not what. Nature! what things there are,

Moft abject in regard, and dear in ufe

What things again moft dear in the esteem,
And poor in worth? now fhall we fee to morrow
An Act, that very Chance doth throw upon him:
Ajax renown'd! Oh heav'ns, what some men do
While some men leave to do!

How fome men creep in skittish Fortune's hall,
While others play the ideots in her eyes;
How one man eats into another's pride,
While pride is feafting in his wantonnefs!
To fee thefe Grecian lords! why ev'n already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the fhoulder,
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breaft,
And great Troy fhrinking.

Achil. This I do believe;

For they paffed by me, as mifers do by beggars,
Neither gave to me good word, nor good look:
What! are my deeds forgot?

Ulf. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for Oblivion:

(A great-fiz'd monfter of ingratitudes)

Thofe fcraps are good deeds past, which are devour'd
As faft as they are made, forgot as foon

As done: Perfeverance keeps Honour bright:
To have done, is to hang quite out of fashion,
Like rufty mail in monumental mockery.
For honour travels in a ftreight so narrow,
Where one but goes abreaft? keep then the path,
For Emulation hath a thousand fons,

That one by one purfue; if you give way,
Or turn afide from the direct forth-right,
Like to an entred tide, they all rush by,
And leave you hindermoft; and there you lye,
Like to a gallant horfe fall'n in first rank,
For pavement to the abject near, o'er-run

And trampled on: Then what they do in present,
Tho' lefs than yours in past, must o'er-top yours.

For

For time is like a fashionable hoft,

That flightly shakes his parting gueft by th' hand;
But with his arms out-ftretch'd, as he would fly,
Grafps in the comer; Welcome ever smiles,

And Farewel goes out fighing. O, let not virtue feek.
Remuneration for the thing it was;

For beauty, wit, high birth, defert in fervice,
Love, friendship, charity, are fubjects all

To envious and calumniating time.

One touch of nature makes the whole world kin;
That all, with one confent, praise new-born Gawds,
Tho' they are made and moulded of things paft;
And give to duft, that is a little gilt, (16)
More laud than they will give to gold o'er-dufted:
The prefent eye praises the prefent object.
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;
Since things in motion fooner catch the eye,
Than what not ftirs. The Cry went once for thee,
And still it might, and yet it may again,
If thou would't not entomb thy felf alive,

And cafe thy reputation in thy tent;

Whofe glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,
Made emulous miffions 'mongst the Gods themselves
And drave great Mars to faction.

Achil. Of my privacy

I have ftrong reasons.

Ulyf. 'Gainft your privacy

The reafons are more potent and heroical.

'Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love

With one of Priam's daughters.

Achil. Ha! known!

(16) And go to duft, that is a little gilt,

More Laud than Gilt o'er-dufted.] In this mangfed Condition do we find this truly fine Obfervation tranfmitted, in the old Folio's. Mr. Pope faw it was corrupt, and therefore, as 1 prefume, threw it out of the Text; because he would not indulge his private Senfe in attempting to make Sense of it. I owe the Foundation of the Amendment, which I have given to the Text, to the Sagacity of the ingenious Dr. Thirlby

Ulyf

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