3

AJAX. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with us!

I would, he were a Trojan !

Ay, or surly borne ?

Dro. Or strange, or self-affected?

ULYSS. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet composure;

Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck *:

Fam'd be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature

Thrice-fam'd, beyond all erudition 5 :

But he that disciplin'd thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield"

3 - that shall PALTER] That shall juggle with us, or fly from his engagements. So, in Julius Cæsar:

4

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what other band

"Than secret Romans, who have spoke the word,
"And will not palter?

MALONE.

she that gave thee suck:] This is from St. Luke, xi. 27 : "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps that thou hast sucked." STEEVENS.

5

beyond all erudition :] Thus the folio. The quartos, erroneously:

66

-beyond all thy erudition." STEEVENS.

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I think the quarto, if we correct the punctuation, affords the best reading: - above all, thy erudition." To praise Ajax for his learning corresponds with the rest of this speech, which is intended to feed the vanity of this "beef-witted lord; " while at the same time he is turned into ridicule. BOSWELL.

Bull-bearing Milo his ADDITION yield-] i. e. yield his titles, his celebrity for strength. Addition, in legal language, is the title given to each party, showing his degree, occupation, &c. as esquire, gentleman, yeoman, merchant, &c.

Our author here, as usual, pays no regard to chronology. Milo of Croton lived long after the Trojan war.

MALONE.

To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: Here's Nestor,-
Instructed by the antiquary times,

He must, he is, he cannot but be wise ;-
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper'd,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.

AJAX.

Shall I call you father?

NEST. Ay, my good son".
DIO.

Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax. ULYSS. There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles

Keeps thicket. Please it our great general
To call together all his state of war;

Fresh kings are come to Troy 9: To-morrow,
We must with all our main of power stand fast:
And here's a lord,-come knights from east to west,
And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best.

7 like a BOURN,] A bourn is a boundary, and sometimes a rivulet, dividing one place from another. So in King Lear, Act III. Sc. VI.:

"Come o'er the bourn, Bessy, to me." See note on this passage. STEEvens.

8 Ajax. Shall I call you father?

Nest. Ay, my good son.] In the folio and in the modern editions Ajax desires to give the title of father to Ulysses; in the quarto, more naturally, to Nestor. JOHNSON.

Shakspeare had a custom prevalent about his own time in his thoughts. Ben Jonson had many who called themselves his sons.

Mr. Vaillant adds, that Cotton dedicated his Treatise on Fishing to his father Walton; and that Ashmole, in his Diary, observes"April 3. Mr. William Backhouse, of Swallowfield, in com. Berks, caused me to call him father thenceforward." STEEVENS. 9 Fresh kings are come to Troy, &c.] We might complete his imperfect verse by reading:

"Fresh kings are come to succour Troy," &c.

So, Spenser:

"To succour the weak state of sad afflicted Troy."

STEEVENS.

AGAM. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep: Light boats sail* swift, though greater hulks draw deep1.

[Exeunt.

ACT III. SCENE I.

Troy. A Room in PRIAM's Palace.

Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

PAN. Friend! you! pray you, a word: Do not you follow the young lord Paris?

SERV. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.
PAN. You do depend upon him, I mean?

SERV. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

PAN. You do depend upon a noble gentleman;

I must needs praise him.

SERV. The lord be praised!

PAN. You know me, do you not?

SERV. 'Faith, sir, superficially.

PAN. Friend, know me better; I am the lord Pandarus.

SERV. I hope, I shall know your honour better 2. PAN. I do desire it.

SERV. You are in the state of grace.

[Musick within.

† First folio, bulks.

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I-draw deep.] So, in the prologue to this play: the deep-drawing barks." STEEVENS. 2 I hope, I shall KNOW YOUR HONOUR BETTER.] The servant means to quibble. He hopes that Pandarus will become a better man than he is at present. In his next speech he chooses to understand Pandarus as if he had said he wished to grow better, and hence the servant affirms that he is in the state of grace. The second of these speeches has been pointed, in the late editions, as if he had asked, of what rank Pandarus was. MALONE.

6

PAN. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles:-What musick is this?

SERV. I do but partly know, sir: it is musick in parts.

PAN. Know you the musicians?

SERV. Wholly, sir.

PAN. Who play they to?

SERV. To the hearers, sir.

PAN. At whose pleasure, friend?

SERV. At mine, sir, and theirs that love musick. PAN. Command, I mean, friend.

SERV. Who shall I command, sir?

PAN. Friend, we understand not one another; I am too courtly, and thou art too cunning: Atwhose request do these men play?

SERV. That's to't, indeed, sir: Marry, sir, at the request of Paris my lord, who is there in person; with him, the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love's invisible soul3,

PAN. Who, my cousin Cressida ?

SERV. No, sir, Helen; Could you not find out that by her attributes ?

PAN. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the prince Troilus: I will make a complimental assault upon him, for my business seeths.

SERV. Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase *, indeed!

Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended.

PAN. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair

3 love's INVISIBLE Soul,] May mean, the soul of love invisible every where else. JOHNSON.

4 SODDEN business! there's a STEWED phrase,] The quibbling speaker seems to mean that sodden is a phrase fit only for the stews. Thus, says the Bawd in Pericles: "The stuff we have, a strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden.

STEEVENS.

company! fair desires, in all fair measure, fairly guide them! especially to you, fair queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

HELEN. Dear lord, you are full of fair words. PAN. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen.Fair prince, here is good broken musick.

PAR. You have broke it, cousin and, by my life, you shall make it whole again; you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance :-Nell, he is full of harmony.

PAN. Truly, lady, no.

HELEN. O, sir,

PAN. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude. PAR. Well said, my lord! well, you say so in fits 5. PAN. I have business to my lord, dear queen :My lord, will you vouchsafe me a word?

HELEN. Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you sing, certainly.

PAN. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me. But (marry) thus, my lord,-My dear lord, and most esteemed friend, your brother Troilus

HELEN. My lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,PAN. Go to, sweet queen, go to:-commends himself most affectionately to you.

HELEN. You shall not bob us out of our melody; If you do, our melancholy upon your head!

PAN. Sweet queen, sweet queen; that's a sweet queen, i'faith.

5

-in FITS,] i. e. now and then, by fits; or perhaps a quibble is intended. A fit was a part or division of a song, sometimes a strain in musick, and sometimes a measure in dancing. The reader will find it sufficiently illustrated in the two former senses by Dr. Percy, in the first volume of his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry in the third of these significations it occurs in All for Money, a tragedy, by T. Lupton, 1578:

"Satan. Upon these chearful words I needs must dance a fitte." STEEVENS.