Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads.“ Nest. And yet he loves himself: Is it not strange? Re-enter ULYSSES. Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow. [Aside. He doth rely on none; Ulyss. In will peculiar and in self-admission. Agam. Why will he not, upon our fair request, Untent his person, and share the air with us? Ulyss. Things small as nothing, for request's sake only, He makes important: Possess'd he is with greatness; 6 Agam. Let Ajax go to him. power, unto itself most commendable, "Hath not a tomb so evident as a chair "To extol what it hath done." Malone. the engendering of toads.] Whoever wishes to comprehend the whole force of this allusion, may consult the late Dr. Gold. smith's History of the World, and animated Nature, Vol. VII, p. 92-93. Steevens. 7 Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,] So, in Julius Cæsar "The genius and the mortal instruments "Are then in council; and the state of man, "The nature of an insurrection." Malone. 8 He is so plaguy proud, &c.] I cannot help regarding the vul gar epithet-plaguy, which extends the verse beyond its proper length, as the wretched interpolation of some foolish player." Steevens. * Yet Mr. Steevens, in the note which follows, gives a different explanation to this vulgarism. In fact, to deprive the line of the word plaguy would be to destroy the allusion. Am. Ed. Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent: Ulyss. O Agamemnon, let it not be so! Enter his thoughts,-save such as do revolve By going to Achilles: That were to enlard his fat-already pride; 2 This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid; 9 the death-tokens of it-] Alluding to the decisive spots appearing on those infected by the plague. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Valentinian: "Now, like the fearful tokens of the plague, "Are mere fore-runners of their ends." Steevens. Dr. Hodges, in his Treatise on the Plague, says: "Spots of a dark complexion, usually called tokens, and looked on as the pledges or forewarnings of death, are minute and distinct blasts, which have their original from within, and rise up with a little pyramidal protuberance, the pestilential poison chiefly collected at their bases, tainting the neighbouring parts, and reaching to the surface." Reed. 1— - with his own seam;] Swine-seam, in the North, is hog's lard. Ritson. See Sherwood's English and French Dictionary, folio, 1650. Malone. 2 That were to enlard, &c.] This is only the well-known proverb -Grease a fat sow &c. in a more stately dress. Steevens. 3 to Cancer, when he burns With entertaining great Hyperion.] Cancer is the Crab, a sign in the zodiac. The same thought is more clearly expressed by Thomson, whose words, on this occasion, are a sufficient illustration of our author's: "And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze." Steevens. And say in thunder-Achilles, go to him. Nest. O, this is well; he rubs the vein of him. [Aside. Dio. And how his silence drinks up this applause! [Aside. Ajax. If I go to him, with my arm'd fist I'll pash him Over the face.4 Agam. O, no, you shall not go. Ajax. An he be proud with me, I'll pheeze his pride:5 Let me go to him. Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel. Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow, Nest. Himself! How he describes [Aside. Ajax. Can he not be sociable? Ulyss. The raven Chides blackness. [Aside. 4 I'll pash him Over the face. i. e. strike him with violence. So, in The Virgin Martyr, by Massinger, 1623: when the batt'ring ram "Were fetching his career backward, to pash the pot Again, in Churchyard's Challenge, 1596, p. 91: "which goeth often to the water comes home with a knock, or at length is pashed all to pieces." Reed. 5 ·pheeze his pride:] To pheeze is to comb or curry. Johnson. Mr. Steevens has explained the word Feaze, as Dr. Johnson does, to mean the untwisting or unravelling a knotted skain of silk or thread. I recollect no authority for this use of it. To feize is to drive away; and the expression-I'll feize his pride, may signify, I'll humble or lower his pride. See Vol. VI, p. 11, n. 1. Whalley. To comb or curry, undoubtedly, is the meaning of the word here. Kersey, in his Dictionary, 1708, says that it is a sea-term, and that it signifies, to separate a cable by untwisting the ends; and Dr. Johnson gives a similar account of its original meaning. [See the reference at the end of the foregoing note.] But whatever may have been the origin of the expression, it undoubtedly signified, in our author's time, to beat, knock, strike, or whip. Cole, in his Latin Dictionary, 1679, renders it, flagellare, virgis cædere, as he does to feage, of which the modern school-boy term, to fag, is a corruption. Malone. 6 Not for the worth-] Not for the value of all for which we are fighting. Johnson. Ajax. I will let his humours blood.7 8 Agam. He'll be physician, that should be the patient. [Aside. Were o' my mind, · Ajax. An all men Wit would be out of fashion. [Aside. [Aside. Ajax. He should not bear it so, He should eat swords first: Shall pride carry it? Ulyss. praises: 9 Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry. [Aside. Ulyss. My lord, you feed too much on this dislike. Nest. O noble general, do not do so. [To AGAM. Dio. You must prepare to fight without Achilles. Ulyss. Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm. Here is a man-But 'tis before his face; I will be silent. Nest. Wherefore should you so? 7 I will let his humours blood.] In the year 1600 a collection of Epigrams and Satires was published with this quaint title: The Letting of Humours Blood in the Head-vaine. Malone. 8 He'll be physician,] Old copies-the physician. Steevens. 9 I'll knead him, &c.] Old copy: Ajax. I'll knead him, I'll make him supple, he's not yet thorough warm. Nest. force him with praises: &c. The latter part of Ajax's speech is certainly got out of place, and ought to be assigned to Nestor, as I have ventured to transpose it. Ajax is feeding on his vanity, and boasting what he will do to Achilles; he 'Il pash him o'er the face, he'll make him eat swords, he 'll knead him, he 'll supple him, &c. Nestor and Ulysses slily labour to keep him up in this vein; and to this end Nestor craftily hints that Ajax is not warm yet, but must be crammed with more flattery. Theobald. 66 Nestor was of the same opinion with Dr. Johnson, who, speaking of a metaphysical Scotch writer, said, that he thought there was as much charity in helping a man down hill as up hill, if his tendency be downwards " See Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides, third edit. p. 245. Malone. play: -force him-] i. e. stuff him. Farcir, Fr. So again, in this malice forced with wit." Steevens. He is not emulous, as Achilles is. Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter2 thus with us! I would, he were a Trojan! What a vice If he were proud? Ay, or surly borne? Dio. Or covetous of praise? Ulyss. Dio. 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:3 Thrice-fam'd, beyond all erudition:4 To sinewy Ajax. I'll not praise thy wisdom, 1 He is not emulous,] Emulous is here used, in an ill sense, for envious. See p. 77, n. 9. Malone. Emulous, in this instance, and perhaps in some others, may well enough be supposed to signify—jealous of higher authority. 2 Steevens. that shall palter-] That shall juggle with us, or fly from his engagements. So, in Julius Cæsar: 66 what other band "Than secret Romans, who have spoke the word, 3 she that gave thee suck:] This is from St. Luke, xi, 27: "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." Steevens. 4 ·beyond all erudition:] Thus the folio. The quartos, er roneously: beyond all thy erudition. Steevens. 5 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. like a bourn,] A bourn is a boundary, and sometimes a VOL. XII. I |