Bold as an oracle: and sets Thersites ardice; Nest. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse Makes many Thetis' sons. [Trumpet sounds. Agam. What trumpet? look, Menelaus. Enter Æneas. What would you 'fore our tent? Is this Even this. Æne. May one, that is a herald, and a prince, Do a fair message to his kingly ears? Agam. With surety stronger than Achilles' arm 'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice Call Agamemnon head and general. Æne. Fair leave, and large security. How may A stranger to those most imperial looks Know them from eyes of other mortals? Agam. How? Troy Æne. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm’d, galls, Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and, Jove's accord, Nothing so full of heart. But peace, Æneas, Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips! The worthiness of praise distains his worth, If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth: But what the ripening enemy commends, That breath fame blows; that praise, sole pure, transcends. Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas? Æne. Ay, Greek, that is my name. from Troy. Æne. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him: Agam. Speak frankly as the wind; Trumpet, blow loud, Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents; And every Greek of mettle, let him know, What Troy means fairly, shall be spoke aloud. [Trumpet sounds. We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy A prince callid Hector, (Priam is his father,) Who in this dull and long-continued truce Is rusty grown; he bade me take a trumpet, And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords ! If there be one, among the fair'st of Greece, That holds his honour higher than his ease; That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril; That knows his valour, and knows not his fear; That loves his mistress more than in confession, (With truant vows to her own lips he loves,) And dare avow her beauty and her worth, In other arms than hers,-to him this challenge. Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks, Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas; Nest. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now; But, if there be not in our Grecian host One noble man, that hath one spark of fire To answer for his love, Tell him from me, I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver, And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn; And, meeting him, will tell him, That my lady Was fairer than his grandame, and as chaste As may be in the world: His youth in flood, I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood. Æne. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth! Ulyss. Amen. hand; (Exeunt all but Ulysses and Nestor, Ulyss. Nestor, Nest. What says Ulysses? Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to some shape. Nest. What is't: Ulyss. This 'tis: Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The seeded pride That hath to this maturity blown up In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd, Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil, To overbulk us all. Nest. Well, and how? Ulyss. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends, stance, |