ENE. Therefore Achilles: But, whate'er, know this ; In the extremity of great and little, Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector;3 The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well, you. Mr. Warner had as little fuccefs in his refearches for the word religion in its Latin acceptation. I meet with it however in Hoby's tranflation of Caftilio, 1561: "Some be fo fcrupulous, as it were, with a religion of this their Tufcane tung." Ben Jonfon more than once ufes both the fubftantive and the adjective in this fenfe. As to the word Cavalero, with the Spanish termination, it is to be found in Heywood, Withers, Davies, Taylor, and many other writers. FARMER. 3 Valour and pride excel themselves in Hedor;] Shakspeare's thought is not exactly deduced. Nicety of expreffion is not his character. The meaning is plain: "Valour (fays Æneas is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is lefs than pride in other men. So that Hector is diftinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour." JOHNSON. 4 This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood:] Ajax and Hector were coufin-germans. MALONE. half Trojan, and half Greek.] Hence Patroclus in a former fcene called Ajax a mongrel. See p. 274, n. 8. MALONE. Re-enter DIOMED. AGAM. Here is fir Diomed:-Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas Confent upon the order of their fight, So be it; either to the uttermoft, Or else a breath: the combatants being kin, Half ftints their ftrife before their strokes begin. [AJAX and HECTOR enter the lifts. ULrss. They are oppos'd already. AGAM. What Trojan is that fame that looks fo heavy? 8 ULrss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchlefs; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deedlefs in his tongue;' Not foon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, foon calm'd: His heart and hand both open, and both free; 6 ——— a breath :] i. e. a breathing, a flight exercife of arms. See p. 300, n. 5. STEEVENS. 7 9 66 fints] i. e. ftops. So, in Timon of Athens: make peace, fint war STEEVENS. deedlefs in his tongue;] i. e. no boaster of his own deeds. STEEVENS. an impair thought-] A thought unfuitable to the dignity of his character. This word I fhould have changed to impure, were I not overpowered by the unanimity of the editors, and concurrence of the old copies. JOHNSON. 66 So, in Chapman's preface to his tranflation of the Shield of Homer, 1598: nor is it more impaire to an honest and abfolute man" &c. STEEVENS. I For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, fubfcribes [Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight. AGAM. They are in action. NEST. NOW, Ajax, hold thine own! TRO. Awake thee! Hector, thou fleep'ft; AGAM. His blows are well difpos'd:-there, Ajax! HECT. Why then, will I no more: Thou art, great lord, my father's fifter's fon, A coufin-german to great Priam's feed; A gory emulation 'twixt us twain: Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so, That thou could'ft fay-This hand is Grecian all, To tender objects;] That is, yields, gives way. JOHNSON. So, in King Lear: "-fubfcrib'd his power;" i. e. fubmitted." 3 STEEVENS. thus tranflate him to me.] Thus explain his character. So, in Hamlet: JOHNSON. "There's matter in these fighs, these profound heaves; "You must tranflate." STEEVENS. And this is Trojan; the finews of this leg Bounds-in my father's; by Jove multipotent, Wherein my fword had not impreffure made AJAX. I came to kill thee, coufin, and bear hence addition earned in thy death. A great HECT. Not Neoptolemus fo mirable (On whose bright creft Fame with her loud'ft Oyes Cries, This is he,) could promife to himself' A thought of added honour torn from Hector. 4 A great addition—] i. e. denomination. See p. 229, n. 5. 5 Not Neoptolemus fo mirable (On whofe bright creft Fame with her loud ft O yes, STEEVENS. Cries, This is he,) could promife to himfelf &c.] Dr. Warburton obferves, that the fenfe and fpirit of Hector's speech requires that the most celebrated of his adverfaries should be picked out to be defied, and this was Achilles himself, not his fon Neoptolemus, who was yet but an apprentice in warfare." In the rage of correction therefore he reads: Not Neoptolemus's fire irafcible, Such a licentious conjecture deferves no attention." MALONE. My opinion is, that by Neoptolemus the author meant Achilles himfelf; and remembering that the fon was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, ENE. There is expectance here from both the fides, What further you will do. HECT. confidered Neoptolemus as the nomen gentilitium, and thought the father was likewife Achilles Neoptolemus. JOHNSON. Shakspeare might have ufed Neoptolemus for Achilles. Wilfride Holme, the author of a poem called The Fall and evil Succeffe of Rebellion, &c. 1537, had made the fame mistake before him, as the following ftanza will show: "Alfo the triumphant Troyans victorious, "By Anthenor and Æneas falfe confederacie, Sending Polidamus to Neoptolemus, "Who was vanquished and fubdued by their confpiracie. In Lydgate, however, Achilles, Neoptolemus, and Pyrrhus, are diftinct characters. Neoptolemus is enumerated among the Grecian princes who first embarked to revenge the rape of Helen: "The valiant Grecian called Neoptolemus, "That had his haire as blacke as any jet," &c. p. 102. and Pyrrhus, very properly, is not heard of till after the death of his father: "Sith that Achilles in fuch traiterous wife STEEVENS. I agree with Dr. Johnfon and Mr. Steevens in thinking that Shakspeare fuppofed Neoptolemus was the nomen gentilitium: an error into which he might have been led by some book of the time. That by Neoptolemus he meant Achilles, and not Pyrrhus, may be inferred from a former paffage in p. 350, by which it appears that he knew Pyrrhus had not yet engaged in the fiege of Troy: "But it must grieve young Pyrrhus, now at home," &c. 6 We'll answer it;] That is, anfwer the expectance. MALONE. JOHNSON, |