But pardon, father Neftor; were your days, As green as Ajax, and your brain fo temper'd, You should not have the eminence of him, But be as Ajax. ax. Shall I call you father? Ulf. Ay, my good fon. Dio. Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax. [Achilles Ulf. There is no tarrying here; the hart Keeps thicket: pleafe it our great general To call together all his ftate of war; [friends, Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow, We must with all our main of pow'r stand fast, And here's a lord; come knights from east to weft, And cull their flow'r, Ajax fhall cope the best. Aga. Go we to council. Let Achilles fleep: Light beats fail fwift, tho' greater hulks draw deep. [Exeunt. An expecting Lover. No, Pandarus: I ftalk about her door, Like a range foul upon the Stygian banks Staying for waftage. O, be thou my Charon, And give me fwift trarfportance to thofe fields, Where I may wallow in the lily beds Propos'd for the deferver! O gentle Pandarus, From Cupid's fhoulders pluck his painted wings, And fly with me to Creffid'! 1 am giddy; expectation whirls me round. That it enchants my fenfe; what will it be, My heart beats thicker than a fev'rous pulfe ; Conftancy in Love protested. to come Troilus. True fwains in Love fhall in the world [rhymes, Approve their truths by Troilus; when their Full of proteft, of oath, and big compare, Want fimiles: truth tried with iterationAs true as fteel, as plantage to the moon, As fun to day, as turtle to her mate, As iren to adamant, as earth to the centreYet, after all corapariions of truth, As truth's authentic author to be cited, As true as Trelas, thali crown up the verse, And fanctify the numbers. If I Prophet may you be! be falfe, or twelve a hair from truth, WAL en time is o. and hath forgot itself, When water drops have won the ftones of Troy, And bind oblivion fwallow'd cities up, And my fates characterle's are grated Todawn thing; yet let memory, From falte to fale, among falle maids in love, [falfe Upbraid my falsehood! when they have faid-as Pride cures Pride. Greatness contemptible when it declines. 'Tis certain, greatncis, once fallen out with fortune, [is, The love that lean'd on them is flippery too, Honour continued As neceffary to preserve its Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, That one by one purfue; if you give way, Or, like a gallant horfe fall'n in first rank, Tho' lels than yours in past, must o'ertop yours, That all with one confent praife new-born gawds Injurious time now, with a robber's hafte, Troilus's Character of the Grecian Youths. And fwelling o'er with arts and exercise ; A Trumpeter. Now crack thy lungs, and fplit thy brazen Diomedes's Manner of Walking. Defcription of Creffida. There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip. To every ticklish reader! fet them down The Chara&er of Troilus. The youngest fon of Priam, a true knight. His heart and hand both open, and both fre I have, thou gallant Trojan, feen thee oft, As hot as Perfeus, fpur thy Phrygian fteed, Achilles furveying Hector. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his Shall I deftroy him? whether there, there, then, That I may give the local wound a name; And make diftinct the very breach, whereout Hector's great spirit flew. Answer me, heaves Honour more dear than Life. Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate; The venom'd vengeance ride upon our fwords' The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows; PATHETIC PATHETIC PIECES. I fee thee here, and scarce believe mine eyes. Seb. Honour befriend us both. Der. And wellImight, when you forgot reward, The part of Heaven in kings: for punishment Is hangman's work, and drudgery for devils. I muft and will reproach thee with my service, Tyrant (it irks me fo to call my prince) But just refentment and hard ufage coin'd Th' unwilling word; and grating as it is, Take it, for 'tis thy due. Seb, How, tyrant! Der. Tyrant! [back; See. Traitor that name thou canst not echo More foul than traitor be, 'tis renegade. [rant, And hurried me from hopes of heaven to hell. Seb. Thy old prefumptuous arrogance again, That bred my firft diflike, and then my loathing. Once more be warn'd, and know me for thy king. Dor. Too well I know thee, but for king no This is not Lisbon, nor the circle this, [more: Where, like a ftatue, thou haft stood befieg'd By fycophants and fools, the growth of courts; Where thy gull'd eyes in all the gaudy round Met nothing but a lie in every face; And the grofs flattery of a gaping crowd, Envious who firft fhould catch and first applaud The stuff or royal nonfenfe: when I spoke, My honeft homely words were carp'd and cenFor want of courtly style: related actions, [fur'd Though modeftly reported, pafs'd for boasts: Secure of merit, if I afk'd reward, Thy hungry minions thought their rights inAnd the bread fnatch'd from pimps and paraHenriquez anfwered, with a ready lie, fites. To fave his king's, the boon was begg'd before. [vaded Seb. What fay't thou of Henriquez? Now, by Heaven, Thou mov'ft me more by barely naming him, Than all thy foul unmanner'd fcurril taunts. Dor. And therefore 'twas to gall thee, that I nam'd him, That thing, that nothing but a cringe and fmile; As that I ferv'd thee fifteen hard campaigns, [firft, Seb. I fee to what thou tend'ft; but tell me If thofe great acts were done alone for me; If love produc'd not fome, and pride the reft? Dor. Why, love does all that's noble here below. But all th' advantage of that love was thine: For, coming fraughted back, in either hand With palm and olive, victory and peace, I was indeed prepar'd to afk my own (For Violante's vows were mine before); Thy malice had prevention, ere I fpoke; And afk'd me Violante for Henriquez. Seb. I meant thee a reward of greater worth. Dor. Where juftice wanted, could reward be hop'd? Could the robb'd paffenger expect a bounty From those rapacious hands who ftripp'd him fift. Seb. He had my promite, ere I knew thy love. Der. My fervices deferv'd thou fholdt revoke it. Seb. Seb. Thy infolence hath cancell'd all thy fer- Dor. Ev'n in the face of heaven, a place more Would I have ftruck the man, who, prompt by Would feize my right, and rob me of my love: To meet thy challenge fairly; 'twas thy fault. Dor. On pain of infamy [me: Seb. The indignity thou didst was meant to Dor. Thou haft dar'd To tell me what I durft not tell myself: He has; and hooting boys may dryfhod pafs, Be urg'd to fhield me from thy bold appeal. Dor. Thou know'it I have: Seb. No; to difprove that lie I must not draw: Dor. I'll cut that ifhmus: . Now draw; I fhould be loth to think thou da [Drawing Dor. His ghoft! then is my hated rival dead? Dor. A minute is not much in either's life, When there's but one betwixt us; throw it in And give it him of us who is to fall. Seb. He's dead: make haste, and thou mayt yet o'ertake him. Dor. When I was hafty, thou delay' me longer, Seb. If it would please thee, thou should never know, But thou, like jealousy, inquir'st a truth, Dor. I never can forgive him fuch a death! bear it. Now judge thyfelf who beft deferv'd my love. Dor. Had he been tempted fo, fo had he fall'n Seb. What had been, is unknown; what is, ap Dor. Had I been born with his indulgent stars, Thou know'it I meant not to preferve thy life, Ill fuited better with my life than his But to retrieve it, for my own revenge So to have died: mine had been of a piece, Sch Seb. The more effeminate and foft his life, The more his fame, to ftruggle to the field, And meet his glorious fate: confefs, proud fpirit, (For I will have it from thy very mouth) That better he deferv'd my love than thou. Dor. O, whither wouldst thou drive me? I muft grant, Yes, I must grant, but with a fwelling foul, Seb. Thou might'ft have given it a more gentle Dor. Can I fpeak? Alas, I cannot answer to Alonzo: lo, Dorax cannot answer to Alonzo: lonzo was too kind a name for me. [arms, hen, when I fought and conquer'd with your 1 that bleft age I was the man you nam'd: ill rage and pride debas'd me into Dorax; nd left, like Lucifer, my name above. Seb. Yet twice this day I ow'd my life to Dorax. Dor-Ifav'd you but to kill you: there's my grief. Seb. Nay if thou canst be griev'd, thou canst repent: hou could it not be a villain, tho' thou wouldft: hou own'st too much in owning thou haft err'd: nd too little, who provok'd thy crime. Dor. O, ftop this headlong torrent of your goodcomes too faft upon a feeble foul, [nefs; alf drown'd in tears before; fpare my confufion, or pity fpare, and fay not, firft you err'd. or yet I have not dar'd, through guilt and fhame, o throw myfelf beneath your royal feet. 'ow fpurn this rebel, this proud renegade; Tis just you should, nor will I more complain. Seb. Indeed thou shouldft not ask forgivenefs first, at thou prevent'ft me ftill in all that's noble. es, I will raise thee up with better news; hy Violante's heart was ever thine; ompell'd to wed, because the was my ward, er foul was abfent when the gave her hand: fer could my threats, or his purfuing courtship, ffect the confummation of his love: > ftill indulging tears, the pines for thee, widow and a maid. Dor. Have I been curfing Heaven, while Heaven blefs'd me! fhall run mad with exftafy of joy : What, in one moment to be reconcil'd To Heaven, and to my king, and to my love: lut pity is my friend, and ftops me short, er my unhappy rival. Poor Henriquez! Seb. Art thou fo generous too, to pity him? Nay, then I was unjust to love him better. Here let me ever hold thee in my arms; And all our quarrels be but fuch as thefe, Who fhail love beft, and clofeft fhall embrace : Be what Henriquez was-be my Alonzo. Dor. What, my Alonzo, faid you? my Alonzo Let my tears thank you, for I cannot speak; And if I could, [mine. Words were not made to vent fuch thoughts as Seb. Thou canst not speak, and I can ne'er bo filent. Some ftrange reverse of fate muft fure attend §. 28. Antony and Ventidius. DRYDEN. Ant. THEY tell me 'tis my birth-day; and I'll keep it With double pomp of fadness. 'Tis what the day deferves which gave me breath. Why was I rais'd the meteor of the world, Hung in the fkies, and blazing as I travell'd, Till all my fires were spent, and then caft downwards To be trod out by Cæfar? Vent. [Afide.] On my foul 'Tis mournful, wond'rous mournful! Ant. Count thy gains; Now, Antony, wouldft thou be born for this Glutton of fortune, thy devouring youth Haft ftarv'd thy wanting age. Vent. [Afide] How forrow shakes him! So now the tempeft tears him up by th' roots, And on the ground extends the noble ruin. Ant. [Having thrown himself down.] Lie there, thou fhadow of an emperor; The place thou preffeft on thy mother earth Is all thy empire now: now it contains thee; Some few days hence, and then it will be too large When thou'rt contracted in thy narrow urn, Shrunk to a few cold afhes: then Octavia, (For Cleopatra will not live to fee it) Octavia then will have thee all her own, And bear thee in her widow'd hand to Cafar. Cæfar will weep, the crocodile will weep, To fee his rival of the univerfe Lie ftill and peaceful there. I'll think no more on 't. Give me fome mufic; look that it be fad; 'Tis fomewhat to my humour. Stay, I fancy Vent. Methinks, I fancy Ant. The herd come jumping by me, And fearlets quench their thirst while I look on, Aud |