3 As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'the air, And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, *First folio, said unto. + Quarto, shrup'd thee in. 2 Labouring for destiny, &c.] in Coriolanus: 66 The vicegerent of Fate. So, His sword, death's stamp, “Where it did mark, it took; from face to foot 3 As hot as PERSEUS, SPUR-] As the equestrian fame of Perseus, on the present occasion, must be alluded to, this simile will serve to countenance my opinion, that in a former instance his horse was meant for a real one, and not, allegorically, for a ship. See p. 254, n. 4. STEEVens. 4 Despising many forfeits and subduements,] Thus the quarto. The folio reads: "And seen thee scorning forfeits and subduements." JOHNSON. 5. When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'the air, Not letting it decline on the declin'd;] Dr. Young appears to have imitated this passage in the second Act of his Busiris : my rais'd arm 66 "Has hung in air, forgetful to descend, "And for a moment spar'd the prostrate foe." STEEVENS.. So, in King Henry IV. Part II. : "And hangs resolv'd correction in the air, "That was uprear'd to execution." The declin'd is the fallen. So, in Timon of Athens: "Not one accompanying his declining foot." MALONE. 6thy grandsire,] Laomedon. STEEVENS. Never like thee: Let an old man embrace thee; HECT. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time :Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee. NEST. I would, my arms could match thee in contention, 8 As they contend with thee in courtesy. HECT. I would they could. NEST. Ha! By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow. Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the timeULYSS. I wonder now how yonder city stands, When we have here her base and pillar by us. HECT. I know your favour, lord Ulysses, well. Ah, sir, there's many a Greek and Trojan dead, Since first I saw yourself and Diomed In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy. ULYSS. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue : My prophecy is but half his journey yet; For yonder walls, that pertly front your town, 'Tis the old Nestor.] So, in Julius Cæsar : If the poet had the same idea in both passages, Æneas means, "Nestor is still the same talkative old man, we have long known him to be." He may, however, only mean to inform Hector that Nestor is the person who has addressed him. MALONE. I believe that Æneas, who acts as master of the ceremonies, is now merely announcing Nestor to Hector, as he had before announced Menelaus to him; for, as Mr. Ritson has observed, the last speech in p. 392, most evidently belongs to Æneas. STEEVENS. 8 As they contend-] This line is not in the quarto. JOHNSON. 9 Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,] So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece : "Threatening cloud kissing Ilion with annoy." Again, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609: HECT. I must not believe you : There they stand yet; and modestly I think, Will one day end it. ULYSS So to him we leave it. Most gentle, and most valiant Hector, welcome : After the general, I beseech you next To feast with me, and see me at my tent. ACHIL. I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses, thou1!— "Whose towers bore heads so high, they kiss'd the clouds." Ilion, according to Shakspeare's authority, was the name of Priam's palace," that was one of the richest and strongest that ever was in all the world. And it was of height five hundred paces, besides the height of the towers, whereof there was great plenty, and so high as that it seemed to them that saw them from farre, they raught up unto the heaven." The Destruction of Troy, book ii. p. 478. So also Lydgate, sign. F 8, verso: "And whan he gan to his worke approche, 66 He made it builde hye upon a roche, "It for to assure in his foundation, "And called it the noble Ylion." Shakspeare was thinking of this circumstance when he wrote, in the first Act, these lines. Troilus is the speaker: "Between our Ilium, and where she resides, [i. e. Troy] "Let it be call'd the wild and wand'ring flood." MALONE. ' I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses, THOU!] Should we not read-though? Notwithstanding you have invited Hector to your tent, I shall draw him first into mine. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Cupid's Revenge, Act III. Sc. I. : 66 - O dissembling woman, "Whom I must reverence though-." TYRWHITT. The repetition of thou! was anciently used by one who meant to insult another. So, in Twelfth Night: him some thrice, it shall not be amiss.” Again, in The Tempest: 66 if thou thou'st 66 "Thou ly'st, thou jesting monkey, thou!" Again, in the first scene of the fifth Act of this play: thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou!" STEEVENS, Steevens's observations on the use of the word thou are perfectly just, and therefore I agree with Tyrwhitt that we ought to 2 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee 2; HECT. ACHIL. I am Achilles. Is this Achilles ? HECT. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee. ACHIL. Behold thy fill. HECT. Nay, I have done already. ACHIL. Thou art too brief; I will the second time, As I would buy thee *, view thee limb by limb. HECT. O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er ; But there's more in me than thou understand'st.. Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye? ACHIL. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or there? * First folio, pry thee. read: "-lord Ulysses, though!" as it could not be the intention of Achilles to affront Ulysses, but merely to inform him, that he expected to entertain Hector before he did. M. MASON. Mr. Steevens's remark is incontrovertibly true; but Ulysses had not said any thing to excite such contempt. MALONE. Perhaps the scorn of Achilles arose from a supposition that Ulysses, by inviting Hector immediately after his visit to Agamemnon, designed to represent himself as the person next in rank and consequence to the general of the Grecian forces. STEEVENS. 2 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;] The hint for this scene of altercation between Achilles and Hector is taken from Lydgate. STEEVENS. 3 And QUOTED joint by joint.] To quote is to observe. So, in Hamlet: "I'm sorry that with better heed and judgment Again, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona : "Thu. And how quote you my folly? "Val. I quote it in your jerkin." STEEVENS. Hector's great spirit flew: Answer me, heavens! HECT. It would discredit the bless'd gods, proud man, To answer such a question: Stand again: ACHIL I tell thee, yea. HECT. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so, But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words, AJAX. Do not chafe thee, cousin ;— And you Achilles, let these threats alone, * First folio, the oracle. 4 But, by the forge that STITHIED Mars his helm,] A stithy is an anvil, and from hence the verb stithied is formed. M. MASON. The word is still used in Yorkshire. MALONE. A stith is an anvil, a stithy a smith's shop. See Hamlet, Act III. Sc. II. vol. vii. p. 344. STEEVENS. 5 If you have STOMACH; the general state, I fear, Can scarce entreat you to be ODD with him ] Ajax treats 'Achilles with contempt, and means to insinuate that he was afraid of fighting with Hector. "You may every day (says he) have enough of Hector, if you choose it; but I believe the whole state of Greece will scarcely prevail on you to engage with him." To have a stomach to any thing is, to have an inclination to it. M. MASON. To be odd with him, means to be at odds with him, to contend with him, to show how much one is more than an even match for the other. BOSWELL. |