Unfit to hear moral philosophy:

The reasons, you allege, do more conduce
To the hot passion of distemper'd blood,
Than to make up a free determination

"Twixt right and wrong; For pleasure, and revenge, Have ears more deaf than adders 9 to the voice

Of any true decision. Nature craves,

All dues be render'd to their owners; Now
What nearer debt in all humanity,
Than wife is to the husband? if this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection;
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills 2, resist the same;
There is a law 3 in each well-order'd nation,
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.

I

If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,-
As it is known she is,-these moral laws
Of nature, and of nations, speak aloud
To have her back return'd: Thus to persist
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong,
But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,

propensity to quote the authorities of the learned on every occasion) is not more absurd than the following circumstance in The Dialogues of Creatures Moralysed, bl. 1. no date, (a book which Shakspeare might have seen,) where we find God Almighty quoting Cato. See Dial. IV. I may add, on this subject, that during an altercation between Noah and his Wife, in one of the Chester Whitsun Playes, the Lady swears by-Christ and Saint John. STEEVENS.

9

more deaf than adders -] See Henry VI. P. II. Act III. Sc. II. STEEVENS.

-OF partial indulgence-] i. e. through partial indulgence. M. MASON.

2

- benumbed wills,] That is, inflexible, immoveable, no longer obedient to superior direction. JOHNSON.

3 There is a law-] What the law does in every nation between individuals, justice ought to do between nations. JOHNSON.

Is this, in way of truth:-] Though considering truth and

My spritely brethren, I propend to you
In resolution to keep Helen still;

For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance
Upon our joint and several dignities.

TRO. Why, there you touch'd the life of our design:

Were it not glory that we more affected
Than the performance of our heaving spleens 3,
I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood
Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,
She is a theme of honour and renown;
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds;
Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
And fame, in time to come, canonize us o:
For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose
So rich advantage of a promis'd glory,
As smiles upon the forehead of this action,
For the wide world's revenue.

HECT.
I am yours,
You valiant offspring of great Priamus.-

I have a roisting challenge sent amongst
The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks,
Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits:
I was advértis'd, their great general slept,

7

Whilst emulation in the army crept;
This, I presume, will wake him.

[Exeunt.

justice in this question, this is my opinion; yet as a question of honour, I think on it as you. JOHNSON.

5 -the performance of our heaving spleens,] The execution

of spirit and resentment. JOHNSON.

- CANONIZE US:] The hope of being registered as a saint, is rather out of its place at so early a period, as this is of the Trojan war. STEEVENS.

7 — emulation -] That is, envy, factious contention.

JOHNSON. Emulation is now never used in an ill sense; but Shakspeare meant to employ it so. He has used the same with more propriety in a former scene, by adding epithets that ascertain its meaning:

66

so every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is sick

SCENE III.

The Grecian Camp. Before ACHILLES' Tent.

Enter THERSITES.

THER. How now, Thersites ? what, lost in the labyrinth of thy fury? Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus? he beats me, and I rail at him: O worthy satisfaction! 'would, it were otherwise; that I could beat him, whilst he railed at me: 'Sfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raise devils, but I'll see some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles,-a rare engineer. If Troy be not taken till these two undermine it, the walls will stand till they fall of themselves. O thou great thunderdarter of Olympus, forget that thou art Jove the king of gods; and, Mercury, lose all the serpentine craft of thy Caduceus; if ye take not that little little less-than-little wit from them that they have! which short-armed ignorance itself knows is so abundant scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a spider, without drawing their massy irons', and cutting the web. After this, the venge

"Of his superior, grows to an envious fever

66

Of pale and bloodless emulation." MALONE.

8 -a rare engineer.] The old copies have-enginer, which was the old spelling of engineer. So, truncheoner, pioner, mutiner, sonneter, &c. MALONE.

9

the SERPENTINE craft of thy CADUCEUS ;] The wand of Mercury is wreathed with serpents. So Martial, lib. vii. epig. lxxiv.: Cyllenes cœlique decus! facunde minister,

Aurea cui torto virga dracone viret. STEEVENS.

- without drawing their massy irons,] That is, without drawing their swords to cut the web. They use no means but those of violence. JOHNSON.

Thus the quarto. The folio reads the massy irons. In the late editions iron has been substituted for irons, the word found in the old copies, and certainly the true reading. So, in King Richard III.:

ance on the whole camp! or, rather, the boneache2! for that, methinks, is the curse dependant on those that war for a placket. I have said my prayers; and devil, envy, say Amen. What, ho! my lord Achilles !

Enter PATROCLUS.

PATR. Who's there? Thersites? Good Thersites, come in and rail.

THER. If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldest not have slipped out of my contemplation': but it is no matter; Thyself upon thyself! The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue! heaven bless thee from a tutor, and discipline come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction till thy death!

5

"Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath,
"That they may crush down with a heavy fall

"The usurping helmets of our adversaries." MALONE. Bruising irons, in this quotation, as Mr. Henley has well observed in loco, signify-maces, weapons formerly used by our English cavalry. See Grose on ancient Armour, p. 53. STEEVENS. the bone-ache!] In the quarto-the Neapolitan bone

2

ache!

JOHNSON.

So, in Much Ado About Nothing:

66

66

Beauty is a witch,

Against whose charms faith melteth into blood."

So also, in Measure for Measure :

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Blood, thou still art blood:

"Let's write good angel on the devil's horn,

""Tis not the devil's crest."

4 If I could have remembered a GILT COUNTERFEIT, thou wouldest not have SLIPPED out of my contemplation :] Here is a plain allusion to the counterfeit piece of money called a slip, which occurs again in Romeo and Juliet, Act II. Sc. IV. and which has been happily illustrated by Mr. Reed, in a note on that passage. There is the same allusion in Every Man in his Humour, Act II. Sc. V. WHALLEY.

5 Let thy BLOOD be thy direction -] Thy blood means, thy passions; thy natural propensities. MALONE. So, in The Yorkshire Tragedy:

- for 'tis our blood to love

then if she, that lays thee out, says-thou art a fair corse, I'll be sworn and sworn upon't, she never shrouded any but lazars. Amen. Where's Achilles? PATR. What, art thou devout? wast thou in prayer?

THER. Ay; The heavens hear me !

Enter ACHIlles.

ACHIL. Who's there?

PATR. Thersites, my lord.

ACHIL. Where, where ?-Art thou come? Why, my cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served thyself in to my table so many meals? Come; what's Agamemnon?

THER. Thy commander, Achilles ;-Then tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles?

PATR. Thy lord, Thersites; Then tell me, I pray thee, what's thyself?

THER. Thy knower, Patroclus; Then tell me, Patroclus, what art thou?

PATR. Thou mayest tell, that knowest.

ACHIL. O tell, tell.

THER. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool'. PATR. You rascal!

THER. Peace, fool; I have not done.

ACHIL. He is a privileged man.-Proceed, Thersites.

THER. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool;

what we are forbidden." This word has the same sense in Timon of Athens and Cymbeline. STEEvens.

DECLINE the whole question.] Deduce the question from the first case to the last.

7

JOHNSON.

Patroclus is a fool.] The four next speeches are not in the quarto. JOHNSON.