ACT II. SCENE 1. The Grecian camp  Enter Ajax and THERSITES    AJAX. Thersites!   THERSITES. Agamemnon-how if he had boils full, an over, generally?   AJAX. Thersites!   THERSITES. And those boils did run-say so. Did not the general run     then? Were not that a botchy core?   AJAX. Dog!   THERSITES. Then there would come some matter from him;     I see none now.   AJAX. Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear? Feel, then.                                                         [Strikes him]   THERSITES. The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel beef-witted     lord!   AJAX. Speak, then, thou whinid'st leaven, speak. I will beat thee     into handsomeness.   THERSITES. I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness; but I     think thy horse will sooner con an oration than thou learn a     prayer without book. Thou canst strike, canst thou? A red murrain     o' thy jade's tricks!   AJAX. Toadstool, learn me the proclamation.   THERSITES. Dost thou think I have no sense, thou strikest me thus?   AJAX. The proclamation!   THERSITES. Thou art proclaim'd, a fool, I think.   AJAX. Do not, porpentine, do not; my fingers itch.   THERSITES. I would thou didst itch from head to foot and I had the     scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest scab in     Greece. When thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as     slow as another.   AJAX. I say, the proclamation.   THERSITES. Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles; and     thou art as full of envy at his greatness as Cerberus is at     Proserpina's beauty-ay, that thou bark'st at him.   AJAX. Mistress Thersites!   THERSITES. Thou shouldst strike him.   AJAX. Cobloaf!   THERSITES. He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a     sailor breaks a biscuit.   AJAX. You whoreson cur!                               [Strikes him]   THERSITES. Do, do.   AJAX. Thou stool for a witch!   THERSITES. Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! Thou hast no more     brain than I have in mine elbows; an assinico may tutor thee. You     scurvy valiant ass! Thou art here but to thrash Troyans, and thou     art bought and sold among those of any wit like a barbarian     slave. If thou use to beat me, I will begin at thy heel and tell     what thou art by inches, thou thing of no bowels, thou!   AJAX. You dog!   THERSITES. You scurvy lord!   AJAX. You cur!                                        [Strikes him]   THERSITES. Mars his idiot! Do, rudeness; do, camel; do, do.                   Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS    ACHILLES. Why, how now, Ajax! Wherefore do you thus?     How now, Thersites! What's the matter, man?   THERSITES. You see him there, do you?   ACHILLES. Ay; what's the matter?   THERSITES. Nay, look upon him.   ACHILLES. So I do. What's the matter?   THERSITES. Nay, but regard him well.   ACHILLES. Well! why, so I do.   THERSITES. But yet you look not well upon him; for who some ever     you take him to be, he is Ajax.   ACHILLES. I know that, fool.   THERSITES. Ay, but that fool knows not himself.   AJAX. Therefore I beat thee.   THERSITES. Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he utters! His     evasions have ears thus long. I have bobb'd his brain more than     he has beat my bones. I will buy nine sparrows for a penny, and     his pia mater is not worth the ninth part of a sparrow. This     lord, Achilles, Ajax-who wears his wit in his belly and his guts     in his head-I'll tell you what I say of him.   ACHILLES. What?   THERSITES. I say this Ajax-             [AJAX offers to strike him]   ACHILLES. Nay, good Ajax.   THERSITES. Has not so much wit-   ACHILLES. Nay, I must hold you.   THERSITES. As will stop the eye of Helen's needle, for whom he     comes to fight.   ACHILLES. Peace, fool.   THERSITES. I would have peace and quietness, but the fool will not-     he there; that he; look you there.   AJAX. O thou damned cur! I shall-   ACHILLES. Will you set your wit to a fool's?   THERSITES. No, I warrant you, the fool's will shame it.   PATROCLUS. Good words, Thersites.   ACHILLES. What's the quarrel?   AJAX. I bade the vile owl go learn me the tenour of the     proclamation, and he rails upon me.   THERSITES. I serve thee not.   AJAX. Well, go to, go to.   THERSITES. I serve here voluntary.   ACHILLES. Your last service was suff'rance; 'twas not voluntary. No     man is beaten voluntary. Ajax was here the voluntary, and you as     under an impress.   THERSITES. E'en so; a great deal of your wit too lies in your     sinews, or else there be liars. Hector shall have a great catch     an he knock out either of your brains: 'a were as good crack a     fusty nut with no kernel.   ACHILLES. What, with me too, Thersites?   THERSITES. There's Ulysses and old Nestor-whose wit was mouldy ere     your grandsires had nails on their toes-yoke you like draught     oxen, and make you plough up the wars.   ACHILLES. What, what?   THERSITES. Yes, good sooth. To Achilles, to Ajax, to-   AJAX. I shall cut out your tongue.   THERSITES. 'Tis no matter; I shall speak as much as thou     afterwards.   PATROCLUS. No more words, Thersites; peace!   THERSITES. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids me, shall     I?   ACHILLES. There's for you, Patroclus.   THERSITES. I will see you hang'd like clotpoles ere I come any more     to your tents. I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave     the faction of fools.                                        Exit   PATROCLUS. A good riddance.   ACHILLES. Marry, this, sir, is proclaim'd through all our host,     That Hector, by the fifth hour of the sun,     Will with a trumpet 'twixt our tents and Troy,     To-morrow morning, call some knight to arms     That hath a stomach; and such a one that dare     Maintain I know not what; 'tis trash. Farewell.   AJAX. Farewell. Who shall answer him?   ACHILLES. I know not; 'tis put to lott'ry. Otherwise. He knew his     man.   AJAX. O, meaning you! I will go learn more of it.            Exeunt     ACT II. SCENE 2. Troy. PRIAM'S palace  Enter PRIAM, HECTOR, TROILUS, PARIS, and HELENUS    PRIAM. After so many hours, lives, speeches, spent,     Thus once again says Nestor from the Greeks:     'Deliver Helen, and all damage else-     As honour, loss of time, travail, expense,     Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is consum'd     In hot digestion of this cormorant war-     Shall be struck off.' Hector, what say you to't?   HECTOR. Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I,     As far as toucheth my particular,     Yet, dread Priam,     There is no lady of more softer bowels,     More spongy to suck in the sense of fear,     More ready to cry out 'Who knows what follows?'     Than Hector is. The wound of peace is surety,     Surety secure; but modest doubt is call'd     The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches     To th' bottom of the worst. Let Helen go.     Since the first sword was drawn about this question,     Every tithe soul 'mongst many thousand dismes     Hath been as dear as Helen-I mean, of ours.     If we have lost so many tenths of ours     To guard a thing not ours, nor worth to us,     Had it our name, the value of one ten,     What merit's in that reason which denies     The yielding of her up?   TROILUS. Fie, fie, my brother!     Weigh you the worth and honour of a king,     So great as our dread father's, in a scale     Of common ounces? Will you with counters sum     The past-proportion of his infinite,     And buckle in a waist most fathomless     With spans and inches so diminutive     As fears and reasons? Fie, for godly shame!   HELENUS. No marvel though you bite so sharp at reasons,     You are so empty of them. Should not our father     Bear the great sway of his affairs with reasons,     Because your speech hath none that tells him so?   TROILUS. You are for dreams and slumbers, brother priest;     You fur your gloves with reason. Here are your reasons:     You know an enemy intends you harm;     You know a sword employ'd is perilous,     And reason flies the object of all harm.     Who marvels, then, when Helenus beholds     A Grecian and his sword, if he do set     The very wings of reason to his heels     And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,     Or like a star disorb'd? Nay, if we talk of reason,     Let's shut our gates and sleep. Manhood and honour     Should have hare hearts, would they but fat their thoughts     With this cramm'd reason. Reason and respect     Make livers pale and lustihood deject.   HECTOR. Brother, she is not worth what she doth, cost     The keeping.   TROILUS. What's aught but as 'tis valued?   HECTOR. But value dwells not in particular will:     It holds his estimate and dignity     As well wherein 'tis precious of itself     As in the prizer. 'Tis mad idolatry     To make the service greater than the god-I     And the will dotes that is attributive     To what infectiously itself affects,     Without some image of th' affected merit.   TROILUS. I take to-day a wife, and my election     Is led on in the conduct of my will;     My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears,     Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores     Of will and judgment: how may I avoid,     Although my will distaste what it elected,     The wife I chose? There can be no evasion     To blench from this and to stand firm by honour.     We turn not back the silks upon the merchant     When we have soil'd them; nor the remainder viands     We do not throw in unrespective sieve,     Because we now are full. It was thought meet     Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks;     Your breath with full consent benied his sails;     The seas and winds, old wranglers, took a truce,     And did him service. He touch'd the ports desir'd;     And for an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive     He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and freshness     Wrinkles Apollo's, and makes stale the morning.     Why keep we her? The Grecians keep our aunt.     Is she worth keeping? Why, she is a pearl     Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships,     And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants.     If you'll avouch 'twas wisdom Paris went-     As you must needs, for you all cried 'Go, go'-     If you'll confess he brought home worthy prize-     As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands,     And cried 'Inestimable!' -why do you now     The issue of your proper wisdoms rate,     And do a deed that never fortune did-     Beggar the estimation which you priz'd     Richer than sea and land? O theft most base,     That we have stol'n what we do fear to keep!     But thieves unworthy of a thing so stol'n     That in their country did them that disgrace     We fear to warrant in our native place!   CASSANDRA. [Within] Cry, Troyans, cry.   PRIAM. What noise, what shriek is this?   TROILUS. 'Tis our mad sister; I do know her voice.   CASSANDRA. [Within] Cry, Troyans.   HECTOR. It is Cassandra.                    Enter CASSANDRA, raving    CASSANDRA. Cry, Troyans, cry. Lend me ten thousand eyes,     And I will fill them with prophetic tears.   HECTOR. Peace, sister, peace.   CASSANDRA. Virgins and boys, mid-age and wrinkled eld,     Soft infancy, that nothing canst but cry,     Add to my clamours. Let us pay betimes     A moiety of that mass of moan to come.     Cry, Troyans, cry. Practise your eyes with tears.     Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilion stand;     Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all.     Cry, Troyans, cry, A Helen and a woe!     Cry, cry. Troy burns, or else let Helen go.                  Exit   HECTOR. Now, youthful Troilus, do not these high strains     Of divination in our sister work     Some touches of remorse, or is your blood     So madly hot that no discourse of reason,     Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause,     Can qualify the same?   TROILUS. Why, brother Hector,     We may not think the justness of each act     Such and no other than event doth form it;     Nor once deject the courage of our minds     Because Cassandra's mad. Her brain-sick raptures     Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel     Which hath our several honours all engag'd     To make it gracious. For my private part,     I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons;     And Jove forbid there should be done amongst us     Such things as might offend the weakest spleen     To fight for and maintain.   PARIS. Else might the world convince of levity     As well my undertakings as your counsels;     But I attest the gods, your full consent     Gave wings to my propension, and cut of     All fears attending on so dire a project.     For what, alas, can these my single arms?     What propugnation is in one man's valour     To stand the push and enmity of those     This quarrel would excite? Yet, I protest,     Were I alone to pass the difficulties,     And had as ample power as I have will,     Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done     Nor faint in the pursuit.   PRIAM. Paris, you speak     Like one besotted on your sweet delights.     You have the honey still, but these the gall;     So to be valiant is no praise at all.   PARIS. Sir, I propose not merely to myself     The pleasures such a beauty brings with it;     But I would have the soil of her fair rape     Wip'd off in honourable keeping her.     What treason were it to the ransack'd queen,     Disgrace to your great worths, and shame to me,     Now to deliver her possession up     On terms of base compulsion! Can it be     That so degenerate a strain as this     Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?     There's not the meanest spirit on our party     Without a heart to dare or sword to draw     When Helen is defended; nor none so noble     Whose life were ill bestow'd or death unfam'd     Where Helen is the subject. Then, I say,     Well may we fight for her whom we know well     The world's large spaces cannot parallel.   HECTOR. Paris and Troilus, you have both said well;     And on the cause and question now in hand     Have gloz'd, but superficially; not much     Unlike young men, whom Aristode thought     Unfit to hear moral philosophy.     The reasons you allege do more conduce     To the hot passion of distemp'red blood     Than to make up a free determination     'Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure and revenge     Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice     Of any true decision. Nature craves     All dues be rend'red 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, resist the same;     There is a law in each well-order'd nation     To curb those raging appetites that are     Most disobedient and refractory.     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'er the less,     My spritely brethren, I propend to you     In resolution to keep Helen still;     For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependence     Upon our joint and several dignities.   TROILUS. 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,     I would not wish a drop of Troyan 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;     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.   HECTOR. 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 advertis'd their great general slept,     Whilst emulation in the army crept.     This, I presume, will wake him.                            Exeunt     ACT II. SCENE 3. The Grecian camp. Before the tent of ACHILLES  Enter THERSITES, solus    THERSITES. 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 rail'd 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 thunder-darter 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-arm'd 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     vengeance on the whole camp! or, rather, the Neapolitan     bone-ache! for that, methinks, is the curse depending on those     that war for a placket. I have said my prayers; and devil Envy     say 'Amen.' What ho! my Lord Achilles!                        Enter PATROCLUS    PATROCLUS. Who's there? Thersites! Good Thersites, come in and     rail.   THERSITES. If I could 'a rememb'red a gilt counterfeit, thou     wouldst not have slipp'd 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. 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?   PATROCLUS. What, art thou devout? Wast thou in prayer?   THERSITES. Ay, the heavens hear me!   PATROCLUS. Amen.                        Enter ACHILLES    ACHILLES. Who's there?   PATROCLUS. Thersites, my lord.   ACHILLES. Where, where? O, 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?   THERSITES. Thy commander, Achilles. Then tell me, Patroclus, what's     Achilles?   PATROCLUS. Thy lord, Thersites. Then tell me, I pray thee, what's     Thersites?   THERSITES. Thy knower, Patroclus. Then tell me, Patroclus, what art     thou?   PATROCLUS. Thou must tell that knowest.   ACHILLES. O, tell, tell,   THERSITES. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands     Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and     Patroclus is a fool.   PATROCLUS. You rascal!   THERSITES. Peace, fool! I have not done.   ACHILLES. He is a privileg'd man. Proceed, Thersites.   THERSITES. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Thersites is a     fool; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.   ACHILLES. Derive this; come.   THERSITES. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles;     Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Thersites is a     fool to serve such a fool; and this Patroclus is a fool positive.   PATROCLUS. Why am I a fool?   THERSITES. Make that demand of the Creator. It suffices me thou     art. Look you, who comes here?   ACHILLES. Come, Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody. Come in with me,     Thersites.                                                   Exit   THERSITES. Here is such patchery, such juggling, and such knavery.     All the argument is a whore and a cuckold-a good quarrel to draw     emulous factions and bleed to death upon. Now the dry serpigo on     the subject, and war and lechery confound all!               Exit           Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, DIOMEDES,                    AJAX, and CALCHAS    AGAMEMNON. Where is Achilles?   PATROCLUS. Within his tent; but ill-dispos'd, my lord.   AGAMEMNON. Let it be known to him that we are here.     He shent our messengers; and we lay by     Our appertainings, visiting of him.     Let him be told so; lest, perchance, he think     We dare not move the question of our place     Or know not what we are.   PATROCLUS. I shall say so to him.                              Exit   ULYSSES. We saw him at the opening of his tent.     He is not sick.   AJAX. Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart. You may call it     melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my head, 'tis     pride. But why, why? Let him show us a cause. A word, my lord.                                               [Takes AGAMEMNON aside]   NESTOR. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him?   ULYSSES. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.   NESTOR.Who, Thersites?   ULYSSES. He.   NESTOR. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his argument   ULYSSES. No; you see he is his argument that has his argument-     Achilles.   NESTOR. All the better; their fraction is more our wish than their     faction. But it was a strong composure a fool could disunite!   ULYSSES. The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie.                      Re-enter PATROCLUS      Here comes Patroclus.   NESTOR. No Achilles with him.   ULYSSES. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy; his legs     are legs for necessity, not for flexure.   PATROCLUS. Achilles bids me say he is much sorry     If any thing more than your sport and pleasure     Did move your greatness and this noble state     To call upon him; he hopes it is no other     But for your health and your digestion sake,     An after-dinner's breath.   AGAMEMNON. Hear you, Patroclus.     We are too well acquainted with these answers;     But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn,     Cannot outfly our apprehensions.     Much attribute he hath, and much the reason     Why we ascribe it to him. Yet all his virtues,     Not virtuously on his own part beheld,     Do in our eyes begin to lose their gloss;     Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish,     Are like to rot untasted. Go and tell him     We come to speak with him; and you shall not sin     If you do say we think him over-proud     And under-honest, in self-assumption greater     Than in the note of judgment; and worthier than himself     Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on,     Disguise the holy strength of their command,     And underwrite in an observing kind     His humorous predominance; yea, watch     His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if     The passage and whole carriage of this action     Rode on his tide. Go tell him this, and ad     That if he overhold his price so much     We'll none of him, but let him, like an engine     Not portable, lie under this report:     Bring action hither; this cannot go to war.     A stirring dwarf we do allowance give     Before a sleeping giant. Tell him so.   PATROCLUS. I shall, and bring his answer presently.            Exit   AGAMEMNON. In second voice we'll not be satisfied;     We come to speak with him. Ulysses, enter you.                                                          Exit ULYSSES   AJAX. What is he more than another?   AGAMEMNON. No more than what he thinks he is.   AJAX. Is he so much? Do you not think he thinks himself a better     man than I am?   AGAMEMNON. No question.   AJAX. Will you subscribe his thought and say he is?   AGAMEMNON. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant, as wise,     no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether more tractable.   AJAX. Why should a man be proud? How doth pride grow? I know not     what pride is.   AGAMEMNON. Your mind is the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues the     fairer. He that is proud eats up himself. Pride is his own glass,     his own trumpet, his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself     but in the deed devours the deed in the praise.                        Re-enter ULYSSES    AJAX. I do hate a proud man as I do hate the engend'ring of toads.   NESTOR. [Aside] And yet he loves himself: is't not strange?   ULYSSES. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow.   AGAMEMNON. What's his excuse?   ULYSSES. He doth rely on none;     But carries on the stream of his dispose,     Without observance or respect of any,     In will peculiar and in self-admission.   AGAMEMNON. Why will he not, upon our fair request,     Untent his person and share the air with us?   ULYSSES. Things small as nothing, for request's sake only,     He makes important; possess'd he is with greatness,     And speaks not to himself but with a pride     That quarrels at self-breath. Imagin'd worth     Holds in his blood such swol'n and hot discourse     That 'twixt his mental and his active parts     Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages,     And batters down himself. What should I say?     He is so plaguy proud that the death tokens of it     Cry 'No recovery.'   AGAMEMNON. Let Ajax go to him.     Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent.     'Tis said he holds you well; and will be led     At your request a little from himself.   ULYSSES. O Agamemnon, let it not be so!     We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes     When they go from Achilles. Shall the proud lord     That bastes his arrogance with his own seam     And never suffers matter of the world     Enter his thoughts, save such as doth revolve     And ruminate himself-shall he be worshipp'd     Of that we hold an idol more than he?     No, this thrice-worthy and right valiant lord     Shall not so stale his palm, nobly acquir'd,     Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,     As amply titled as Achilles is,     By going to Achilles.     That were to enlard his fat-already pride,     And add more coals to Cancer when he burns     With entertaining great Hyperion.     This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid,     And say in thunder 'Achilles go to him.'   NESTOR. [Aside] O, this is well! He rubs the vein of him.   DIOMEDES. [Aside] And how his silence drinks up this applause!   AJAX. If I go to him, with my armed fist I'll pash him o'er the     face.   AGAMEMNON. O, no, you shall not go.   AJAX. An 'a be proud with me I'll pheeze his pride.     Let me go to him.   ULYSSES. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel.   AJAX. A paltry, insolent fellow!   NESTOR. [Aside] How he describes himself!   AJAX. Can he not be sociable?   ULYSSES. [Aside] The raven chides blackness.   AJAX. I'll let his humours blood.   AGAMEMNON. [Aside] He will be the physician that should be the     patient.   AJAX. An all men were a my mind-   ULYSSES. [Aside] Wit would be out of fashion.   AJAX. 'A should not bear it so, 'a should eat's words first.     Shall pride carry it?   NESTOR. [Aside] An 'twould, you'd carry half.   ULYSSES. [Aside] 'A would have ten shares.   AJAX. I will knead him, I'll make him supple.   NESTOR. [Aside] He's not yet through warm. Force him with praises;     pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.   ULYSSES. [To AGAMEMNON] My lord, you feed too much on this dislike.   NESTOR. Our noble general, do not do so.   DIOMEDES. You must prepare to fight without Achilles.   ULYSSES. Why 'tis this naming of him does him harm.     Here is a man-but 'tis before his face;     I will be silent.   NESTOR. Wherefore should you so?     He is not emulous, as Achilles is.   ULYSSES. Know the whole world, he is as valiant.   AJAX. A whoreson dog, that shall palter with us thus!     Would he were a Troyan!   NESTOR. What a vice were it in Ajax now-   ULYSSES. If he were proud.   DIOMEDES. Or covetous of praise.   ULYSSES. Ay, or surly borne.   DIOMEDES. Or strange, or self-affected.   ULYSSES. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet composure     Praise him that gat thee, she that gave thee suck;     Fam'd be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature     Thrice-fam'd beyond, beyond all erudition;     But he that disciplin'd thine arms to fight-     Let Mars divide eternity in twain     And give him half; and, for thy vigour,     Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield     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?   NESTOR. Ay, my good son.   DIOMEDES. Be rul'd by him, Lord Ajax.   ULYSSES. 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. 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.   AGAMEMNON. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep.     Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.     Exeunt