Infiture, course, proportion, feafon, form,
Office and cuftom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence inthroa'd and spher'd
Amidt the reft, whofe med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill afpects of planets evil,

And pofts like the commandment of a King,

Sans check, to good and bad. But when the planets
In evil mixture to diforder wander,

What plagues, and what portents, what mutiny?
What raging of the fea? thaking of earth?
Commotion in the winds frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calin of states

Quite from their fixure? Oh, when Degree is fhaken, (Which is the ladder to all high defigns),

Then enterprise is fick. How could communities,
Degrees in fchools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable thores,
The primogeniture, and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns, fcepters, laurels,
(But by degree), ftand in authentic place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And hark what difcord follows; each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy.
The bounded waters
Would lift their bofoms higher than the shores,
And make a fop of all this folid globe:

Strength would be lord of Imbecillity,

And the rude fon would ftrike his father dead: • Force would be right; or rather right and wrong (Between whofe endless jir Justice prefides) Would lose their names, and fo would Jaltice too. Then every thing includes itself in power, Power into will, will into appetite; And appetite (an univerfal wolf,

So doubly feconded with will and power) • Mult make perforce an univerfal prey, And last eat up itself. Great Agamemnon! This chaos, when Degree is fuffocate, Follows the choking:

And this neglection of Degree is it,

That by a pace goes backward, in a purpose

VOL VII.

Aa

It hath to climb. The General's difdain'd
By him one ftep below; he by the next;
That next, by him beneath: fo every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is fick

Of his fuperior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation.

And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own finews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness lives, not in her strength.
Neft. Moft wifely hath Ulyffes here difcover'd
The fever, whereof all our power is fick.

Aga. The nature of the fickness found, Ulyffes,
What is the remedy?

Uly. "The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns "The finew and the forehand of our hoft,

"Having his ear full of his airy fame,

"Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent

"Lies mocking our defigns.

With him, Patroclus,

"Upon a lazy bed, the live-long day

"Breaks fcurril jests;

"And with ridiculous and aukward action

66

(Which, flanderer, he imitation calls)

"He pageants us. Sometimes, great Agamemnon, "Thy ftopless deputation he puts on;

"And, like a ftrutting player, (whofe conceit "Lies in his ham-firing, and doth think it rich "To hear the wooden dialogue and found

Twixt his ftretch'd footing and the fcaffoldage), "Such to be pitied and o'er-wrefted feeming "He acts thy greatnefs in: and when he speaks, " 'Tis like a chime a-mending: with terms un quar'd: "Which, from the tongue of roaring Tiphon dropt, "Would seem hyperboles. At this fufty stuff The large Achilles, on his prefs'd-bed lolling, "From his deep cheft laughs out a loud applaufe; Cries Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon juft.

just

"Now play me Neftor-hum, and ftroke thy beard, "As he, being drefs'd to fome oration.

"That's done-as near as the extremest ends "Of parallels; as like as Vulcan and his wife; "Yet good Achilles ftill cries, Excellent!

i.. unlimited.

"'Tis Neftor right! now play him me, Patroclus,
"Arming to anfwer in a night-alarm:

"And then, forfooth, the faint defects of age
"Must be the scene of mirth, to cough and spit,
"And with a pally fumbling on his gorget,
"Shake in and out the rivet-And at this fport
Sir Valour dies; cries O! enough, Patrocius-
Or give me ribs of steel, I fhall fplit all
In pleasure of my fpleen. And, in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, fhapes,
Severals and generals of grace; exacts*,
Atchievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or fpeech for truce,
Success or lofs, what is, or is not, ferves
As ftuff for these two to make paradoxes.
Neft. And in the imitation of these twain,
(Whom, as Ulyffes fays, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice), many are infect.
Ajax is grown felf will'd, and bears his head
In fuch a rein, in full as proud a pace,

As broad Achilles; and keeps his tent like him;
Makes factious feafts, rails on our state of war,
Bold as an oracle; and fets Therfites

(A flave whofe gall coins flanders like a mint),
To match us in comparisons with dirt;
To weaken and difcredit our exposure,
How hard foever rounded in with danger.

Uly. They tax our policy, and call it cowardice;
Count wifdom as no member of the war;
Forestall our prescience, and efteem no act
But that of hand. The still and mental parts,
That do contrive how many hands fhall ftrike,
• When fitness call them on, and know by measure
• Of their obfervant toil the enemies' weight;
Why, this hath not a finger's dignity;

They call this bed-work mappry, clofet war;
So that the ram, that batters down the wall,
For the great fwing and rudeness of his poize,
* They place before his hand that made the engine;
'Or thofe that with the fineness of their fouls

* i. e. exactments, public taxes, and contributions for carrying one the war.

By reafon guide his execution.

Neft. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horfe

Makes many Thetis' fons.

[Tucket founds.

Aga. What trumpet? look, Menelaus.

Men. From Troy.

SCENE

VI. Enter Eneas.

Aga. What would you 'fore our tent?

Ene. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you
Aga. Even this.

Ane. May one that is a herald and a prince
Do a fair meffage to his kingly ears?

Aga. With furety ftronger than Achilles' arm,
'Fore all the Greekifh heads, which with one voice
Call Agamemnon head and general.

Ene. Fair leave, and large fecurity. How may
A flranger to thofe moft imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals?
Aga. How?

Ene. I afk that I might waken reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modeft as morning, when the coldly eyes.
The youthful Phoebus.

Which is that god in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?

Aga. This Trojan fcorns us, or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

Ene. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, As bending angels; that's their fame in peace. But when they would feem foldiers, they have galls, Good arms, frong joints, true fwords; and (Jove's ac Nothing fo full of heart. But peace, Aneas; Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips; The worthiness of praife diftains his worth,

[cord)

If he that's prais'd, himfelf bring the praise forth:
What the repining enemy commends,

That breath fame blows, that praise fole pure tranfcends.
Aga. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Eneas?
Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name.

Aga. What's your affair, I pray you?

Ane, Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.
ga. He hears novght privately that comes from Troy,

Ene. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him;

I bring a trumpet to awake his ear,
To fet his fenfe on the attentive beat,
And then to speak.

Aga: Speak frankly as the wind,

It is not Agamemnon's fleeping hour;
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,.
He tells thee so himself.

Ene. Trumpet, blow loud.

Send thy brafs voice thro' all these lazy tents;
And every Greek of mettle, let him know
What i roy means fairly, thall be spoke aloud,

[The Trumpets found.

We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
A prince call'd Hector, (Priam is his father),
Who in this dull and long-continu'd truce
Is rufty grown; he bade me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose speak. Kings, Princes, Lords,
If there be one amongst the fair'it of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease,
That feeks his praise more than he fears his peril,
That knows his valour, and knows not his fear,
That loves his miftrefs more than in couletion *,
(With truant vows to her own lips he loves),
And dare avow her beauty and her worth

In other arms than her's: to him this challenge..
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, (or do his best to do it).
He hath a lady, wifer, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compafs in his arms;
And will to-morrow with his trumpet call
Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,
To roufe a Grecian that is true in love.
If any come, Hector fhall honour him:

If none, he'll fay in Troy when he retires,

The Grecian dames are un burnt, and net worth.
The splinter of a lance even so much.

Aga. 1 his fhall be told our lovers, Loid Æneas,,
If none of them have foul in iuch a kind,

We've left them all at home: but we are foldiers ;,

And may that foldier a mere recreant prove,,

confeffion, for profeffion.