University of Virginia Library

Didimus, Ulysses his Page, Lysippus, Ajax his Page.
Di.
Why how now Insolence?

Lysippus justles Didimus.
Ly.
You know me Sir?

Di.
For one that wants good manners; yes, I know
Your name, and best relation, you attend
A Page on Ajax Telamon.

Ly.
And you
In such an office wait upon Ulysses,
But with this difference, that I am your better,
In reference to my Lord, as he exceeds
Your Master both in Fortitude and Honour:
Therefore I take this boldness to instruct
Your diminutive Worship in convenient duties,
And that hereafter when you see me pass,
You may descend, and vail, and know fit distance.

Dy.
To you descend, and vail? to you? poor Rat!
Is he not poison'd, that he swells so strangely:
I would bestow this admonition, that
You talk within your limits, I may finde
A pity for your folly, while you make
Comparisons with me, but let your tongue
Preserve a modestie, and not dare to name
My Lord, without a reverence, and not
In the same week your Master is in mention,
Least I chastise you.

Ly.
Ha, ha, prodigie!
The Monkey grins, the Pigmie would be Rampant:
Sirrah, 'tis I pronounce, if you have
A minde to lose one of your lugs, or quit
Some teeth that stick impertinent in your gums,
Or run the hazard of an eye, or have
Your hanches kickt into a gentle cullice,
Or tell your Master, in whose cause you have
Deserv'd a cudgelling, and merited
A crutch to carry home your broken bodie;
Talk on, and when it is too late, you may
Repent your impudence.

Di.
Mightie man of Gingerbread!
Is not your name Lysippus? what mad Dog
Has bit thee; thou art wilde, hast lost thy senses?

Ly.
You'l finde, I have not.

Di.
Is all this in earnest?
And hast thou so much ignorance, to think
That lump of flesh, thy Master (a thing meant
By nature for a flail, and bang the sheafs)
Is fit to be in competition
With the wise Prince of Ithaca? whose name
Shines like a Constellation throughout Greece,
And is lookt at with admiration
By friends and enemies? for shame retract
Thy gross opinion, it is possible
Thou maist retrive thy lost wits,

Ly.
Verie well
Then, you do think my little spawn of Policie,
That your slie Master, the oyl-tongu'd Ulysses,
Will win the prize to day, Achilles Armour;
And that the Kinglie Judges, and grave Counsel
Will give it against Ajax.

Di.
In true wisdom,
As to the best deserver.

They fight.
Ly.
Dandiprat.

Enter Calchas.
Cal.
Remove your selves, and pettie differences,
This place is meant the scene for a contention
Between the valiant Ajax Telamon,
And the far fam'd Ulysses, who shall best
Merit to wear the great Achilles Arms:
Methinks I see Heavens mightie windows open,
And those great souls, whom noble actions here
Translated to take place among the Stars:
Look down, and listen with much expectation
Of this daies glorie. The rough winds (least they
Should interrupt the plea of these Competitors)
Stand close committed in their horrid caves,
And Phœbus drest in all his brightest beams,
Curbs in his Steeds to stay, to wait upon
The great Decision.
Silence, no noise prophane this place, and may
The soul of wisdom be at this great Council.

Enter Officers one after another, bearing the Pieces of Achilles Armour, after them in state, Agamemnon, Nestor, Menelaus, Diomedes, Thersander, &c.
Aga.
I need not, Grecian Princes, spend much time
Or Language, in discousing the occasion
Why this great Council hath been call'd; Achilles,
Whose very name will be enough to fill
The breath of fame, is here agen concern'd,
Nor can his honour'd ashes be without
Contention in his sacred Urn, until
The difference between these great Competitors
Be reconciled.

Cap.
They both, great Agamemnon, are prepar'd,
And cheerful, as when Honour call'd them forth
To fight, impatient of delay, or danger.

Ag.
Attend them hither.

Dio.
Let the Officers
Take care the Souldiers press not past their limit.
Enter before Ajax, his Page, bearing his Target.
Ajax appears, with lightning in his eyes,
His big heart seems to boil with rage.

Me.
He was ever passionate:
Here comes Ulysses.
Enter Ulysses, with his Page, as before, he makes obeysance, and sets down in a Chair.
A man of other temper, and as far
From being transported with unhandsome anger,
He seems to smile.

Ag.
They have both deserv'd
For their great service in this expedition,
We should with calm, and most impartial souls
Hear and determine; therefore, if you please,
Because the hours are precious, I shall
Desire them lose no time.

Dio.
We all submit, and shall obey your prudence.

Ag.
You honour much:
Your Agamemnon—Princes then to you,
I hope you have brought hither, with your persons,
Nothing but what your honours may consent too;
Speak your selves freely then, these are your Judges,
Who are not onely great in birth and titles,
And therefore bring no thoughts to stain their honour,
But bound by obligation of one Countrey,
Will love, and do your name and valours justice.
There lies your great reward, Achilles Arms,
Forg'd by the subtile art of him, that fram'd
Joves Thunderbolts, pride of Cyclopian labours,
He that is meant by his kinde stars, to have
The happy wearing of them next, may write
Himself a Champion for the Gods, and Heaven,
Against a race of Gyants that would scale it:
I have said, and we with silence now as deep
As that doth wait on midnight, and as fixt
As marble Images, expect your pleasure.

Ajax rises and looks about him.
Ajax.
Great Jove, immure my heart, or girt it with
Some ribs of steel, lest it break through this flesh,
And with a flame contracted from just fury,
Set fire on all the world: How am I faln?
How shrunk to nothing? my fame ravish'd from me?
That this sly talking Prince is made my Rival
In great Achilles Armour: Is it day?
And can a Cloud darker than night, so muffle
Your eyes, they cannot reach the Promontory,
Beneath which now the Grecian fleet rides safe,
Which I so late rescued from Trojan flames,
When Hector frightful, like a Globe of fire,
By his example taught the enraged youth
To brandish lightning; but I cannot talk,
Nor knows he how to fight, unless 'ith dark
With shadows. I confess, his eloquence
And tongue are mighty, but Pelides sword
And armour were not made things to be talk'd on,
But worn and us'd, and when you shall determine
My juster claim, it will be fame enough
For him, to boast, he strove with Ajax Telamon.
And lost the prize, due onely to my merit.

Ly.
Now Didimus, how goes Ulysses pulse?
Run to his Tent, and fetch him some strong waters.

Did.
This storm shakes not a leafe, it had been more
Honour for Ajax Telamon to have hir'd
A Trumpeter, than make this noise himself.

Ag.
Silence.
The Duke proceeds.

Aja.
I am asham'd
And blush, that I can plead so vast a merit:
Why am I not less honourable? a cheaper
Portion of worth, weigh'd in the ballance, with
This Rival, would so croud, and fill my scale,
His vertues, like a thin and trembling vapour,
Would lose themselves i'th ayr, or stick a Comet
Upon Heavens face, from whence the matter spent,
It would fall down, the sport, and scorn of Children,
Allow me then less valiant, pinch all
The Laurels from my brow, that else would grow there,
The honour of my birth and blood must lift me
Above the Competition with Ulysses;
My Father was Duke Telamon, a name
Fatal to Troy, companion to Alcides,
Whom in the expedition to Colchos,
Argo was proud to bear: his father Æacus,
Who for his exemplary justice here,
Was by Eternal Patent from the Gods,
Made Judge of souls; him Jupiter begot
On fair Egina, from whose womb, I write
My self a third from Jove: But let not this
Entitle me to great Achilles arms,
Without my interest in his blood: Our fathers
Grew from one royal stem, I am his Kinsman,
And I demand in this, but just inheritance.
In what relation of blood can then
Ulysses, of a strange and forfeit race,
Equal in fraud to his Progenitor,
Condemn'd to labour at the restless stone,
Lay claim to Achilles Arms?

Cal.
What, asleep Thersander?

Ther.
No, no, I observe every word, Ulysses has
Said very well, he was ever a good Orator.

Cal.
You are mistaken, Sir, 'tis Ajax pleads,
Ulysses has not spoke one word.

Th.
Wast Ajax?
I cry you mercy, it was very handsome,
And to the purpose in my opinion,
Who ever said it.

Ag.
I intreat your silence.

The.
With all my heart.

Aja.
It is vvonder Princes,
That this Dulichyan King dare bring his face
Before a Sun-beam, and expose that brand
Of infamie, the name of Coward, writ
In Leprous Characters upon his brow,
To the worlds eye.

Ul.
How Telamon?

Aja.
Ulysses,
Tis I, that said it, and these Kings may all
Remember, when most wretchedly, to save
Those tender limbs of yours, and that warp'd face,
When Greece rise up, one man to punish Troy,
Thou cowardly didst counterfeit a madness,
Till Palamedes pull'd that vizor off.
Was Ajax Telamon at that sordid posture?
Nay, was not I the first in field, and eager
To engage my person in these Wars of Troy?
(Witness thou sacred Genius of our Countrey)
As a curl'd youth could fly to meet a Mistris,
And print his fervour on her amorous lip:
But for his valour since, let Nestor speak;
That good old man made not his age excuse,
Nor his white hairs, that like a Grove of snow,
Shew'd what a Winter dwelt upon his head,
But flung himself on War, when in the heat
Of Battel, over-charg'd with multitudes,
And his horse wounded, he espi'd Ulysses,
To whom in this distress, he call'd for succour,
When he (unworthy of his name and honours)
Left the old man to struggle with his dangers,
To whom the Gods sent ayd. But here's the justice,
He that dishonourably forsook his friend,
Met with an enemy, that made him call
As loud for his relief; I heard that clamour,
And with my sword cut out my passage to thee,
When thou wert quaking at the enemies feet,
And ready to exhale thy panting soul,
I interposed, bestrid thy coward body,
And took thy many deaths upon my Target:
I Ajax brought thee off (my least of honours)
And saved thy wretched life.

Dio.
This Ajax did,
But being done, the honour's over paid,
When he that did the act is Commentator.

Aja.
If thou couldst call again that time Ulysses,
The wounds upon thee, and thy fears of death,
When thou didst skulk behinde my shield, and tremble
At every lightning of a sword, thy soul
Would have a less ambition to contest
For great Pelides Arms.

Me.
Ajax will carry it.

Aga.
It will
Become our prudence to expect, what may
Be said in answer to this accusation;
I have heard an Orator, with that subtile method
Of art and language, state his Clients cause,
And with such captivating arguments
prevail'd on every ear, it was concluded,
All law must be in favour of that interest,
But when the adverse part was heard, that which
Appear'd so sacred in the first relation,
Vanish'd, and 'twas the wonder of all men,
By what strange magick they were so deceiv'd:
I speak not this in prejudice of him
That pleads, whom we all know a man made up
Of every masculine vertue, but to stay
(Where two of so much honor are concern'd)
Precipitate, and partial votes of merit:
Ajax Has more to say.

Aja.
I know not how, with safety of mine own,
I should direct your judgements to consider,
That after all this story of my self,
I do not seek these arms, nor court the glory
To wear em, for 'tis justice to pronounce
They seek me, Ajax, and should prompt you to
Believe, I onely worthily can wear 'em.
What hath Ulysses done, he should be nam'd
With Telamon; we have his Chronicle,
He surpriz'd Rhesus in his Tent, a great
And goodly act, nay, had the heart to kill him;
He snatch'd a spy up, Dolon, and dispatch him
To the other world, a most heroick service!
And had the confidence to filch from Troy,
The dead Palladium, memorable actions:
Fought he with Hector? did he stand immov'd
As I, when I receiv'd upon my cask,
A mighty Javelin that he darted at me?
When you, pale with the wonder of my strength,
Forsook your prayers, and gave me from the Gods
Into my own protection, and at last
I was not overcome, but in the face
Of both the Armies, sent this mighty Champion
Staggering home to Troy.

Nes.
'Twas a fierce battel,
And Ajax lost no honour.

Aja.
Had I done
But this alone, it might be argument
To prefer Ajax Telamon before
Ulysses to that armour; which I'm thinking
How he'l become, or how he dare sustain 'em,
Their very weight will crack his chine, that Burgonet
Will bring his neck in danger of a cramp,
In pitty of his fears, discharge his hope
Of so much steel, he has the art of running,
'Twill much retard his motion: Are you yet
Considering as doubtful to distinguish us?
Some God convey those arms upon the wings
Of a swift wind into the enemies camp,
Guard 'em with all the strength and soul of Troy,
Let every sword mount death upon the point,
And leave us to our single fate, who soonest
Should fetch 'em off: Then you should tell your selves,
How much this Carpet Prince came short of Ajax,
I had rather fight than talk: Now here him tattle.

Soul.
An Ajax, an Ajax.

Vlys.
If my prayers, with your own, renovvned Kings,
Could have prevail'd with Heaven, there had been no
Contention for these arms, he might have liv'd
To have enjoy'd them still, and we Achilles.
But since by the unkindness of our fate,
We are decreed to want him (pardon me
If at that word, unmanly tears break forth)
Who can vvith greater merit claim the armour,
Than he whose piety to Greece and you,
Engag'd alone his valour to these Wars,
And made him yours. Nor let it be a sin
Ere I proceed, to pray this justice from you,
That since my adversary hath been pleas'd
To make a vertue my reproach, and stain
The name of Eloquence, vvhich in me, is not vvorth
Your envy, or his rage (since he declares
His incapacity for more than fighting)
You will not judge his dulness an advantage,
Or that which he calls eloquence in me,
A blemish to my cause, vvho have employ'd
All that the Gods made mine, to serve my Countrey.

Dio.
Thersander,
Are you not asham'd to sleep?

Ther.
Ha? no, I sleep?
I have not scap'd a syllable by my honour,
I thought not Ajax half so good an Orator.

Dio.
Ajax? it was Vlysses that spoke last.

Ther.
Ulysses? I, I meant Ulysses; did I say Ajax?
Between you and I be it spoken Diomedes, Ajax is a blockhead.

Dio.
Yet he spoke to purpose.

Ther.
I grant you that; nay, nay, let him alone.

Aga.
Silence.

Ulys.
The lustre of our birth by Ajax boasted,
Which we derive not from our act, or vertue,
We vainly call our own, nature contributes
A common gloss to all our blood, the honours
And swelling titles, pinn'd upon our name,
Chance often stamps upon a Fool or Coward:
But if provok'd by Ajax, I must yield
Him magnified by blood; that title which
He takes from Jove, makes me his Grandchild too,
Laertes was my father, his Arcesius,
Whom Jupiter begot, no difference here,
But that our Family contain'd no Uncle
Banish'd for murther, as in Telamons.
Besides, my mother but remembred, makes
My derivation on both sides Divine,
Which lifts me above Ajax, if I were
No King of Ithaca: but he hath pleaded
A neerer priviledge by being Kinsman,
And calls these arms his just inheritance,
Your vvisdom could not chuse but smile to hear him,
Pirrhus his son is yet alive, and Peleus,
Achilles father, Teucer his next Cosin;
And Ajax to be heir, is worth your wonder;
But you know how to vvave impertinence
Of blood or kindred in this cause, nor shall
I need to pray your justice, that vve both
May onely charge the ballance vvith our merits.

Dio.
This is not ranting, he is Master of
A vvorthy temper.

Ag.
Give him your permissions.

Ulys.
Ajax hath read, not vvithout mighty lungs,
His own bold Historie, when I shall tell
But my first act for Troy, if it be less
Than all that Ajax yet hath done, or boasted,
And with his own consent too, I quit all:
I have rais'd your expectations up to wonder,
And there I'll fix it, when I name Achilles,
Whose actions for your service, scorning all
Equality, are owing to Vlysses;
And I may call them mine, that made him yours,
By his sword fell the great Priamides
Hector, whose single arm carried the strength
And fate of Ilium: The death alone
Of Hector, is an act, if well consider'd,
Doth easily exceed, what hath been done
In all your Grecian Commentaries: I arm'd
Achilles first to do these mighty things,
And for those may deserve Achilles armour.

Dio.
VVe must acknowledge all the benefits
Of great Achilles valour are a debt
VVe owe to Ulysses, who discovered him
Under a Female habit, 'twas Ulysses
That made him man again, and our great Champion.

Me.
All this is granted, yet I think Ulysses
Lost little blood in any of these services;
VVhat do you think Thersander?

Ther.
I think as the General thinks, he's vvise enough.

Ulys.
But give me leave to offer to your memory
Another service, and reduce your thoughts
To Aulis, when our Army ship'd, and big
VVith our desires for Troy, for want of wind
VVere lock'd in the Eubean Bay at Anchor.
VVhen the Oracle consulted, gave no hope
Of the least breath of Heaven, or gentle gale
To be expected, till Diana's anger
VVere first appeas'd by Iphigenias blood;
I melt with the remembrance, and I could
Accuse my faith, but that the publique interest
And all your honours, arm'd me to perswade
Nature, against the stream of her own happiness,
There stands the tear—drown'd father Agamemnon,
Ask his vex'd soul (and let me beg his pardon)
How I did work upon his murmuring heart,
Divided 'twixt a Father and his Countrey,
To give his childe up to the bleeding altar?
VVhose drops (too precious to enrich the earth,
The Goddess hid within a cloud) drank up,
And snatcht her soul; whose brighter substance made
One of the fairest Stars that deck yon Canopie.
Had Ajax been employed to have wrought Atrides
VVhen he vvas angry vvith the Gods, to have given
His onely pledge, his loved Iphigenia
Up to the Fatal knife, our Grecian fleet,
Had by this time been rotten in the Bay,
And vve by a dishonourable return,
Been vvounded in our fames to after ages.

Ag.
This truth is urg'd too home.

Ul.
The Deity appeas'd with Virgin Sacrifice,
The winds put on fresh wings, and we arriv'd
Swift as our vvishes to affrighted Troy;
VVhere after their first battel, they no more
Drevv forth their Army, vvhich engag'd us to
Nine horrid VVinters expectation:
It vvould be tedious to relate, hovv active
My counsels vvere, during this nine years siege,
VVhen Ajax (onely good at knocks and vvrestling)
VVas of no use, the bold designs I carried,
My care of our defences and approaches,
Encouraging the Souldier, vvearied
And vvorn avvay vvith empty expectations,
Hovv I did apt provisions, arms, and hearts
To fight vvithal, I shall not here inforce,
VVhen you vvhose just commands I still obey'd,
Are conscious of my pious undertakings.

Aja.
He'l talk eternally.

Ul.
These actions have deserv'd no brand of Covvard,
Hovv it may stain his forehead that accus'd me,
Judge you, by the short follovving story, Princes:
There vvas a time, vvhen Agamemnon vvas
Deluded by a dream, and bid to leave
The siege, vvhich coming to the Souldiers ear,
(VVhose fears vvere helpt by superstition)
Hovv did they run to'th ships from every quarter:
VVhere vvas the torrent of great Ajax valour
So talk'd of, that did bear all things before it?
VVhy, it vvas here, that torrent carried him too:
I savv and blush'd at Ajax preparation
To be aboard, (I will not call it running)
Hovv did I, careless of all danger, throvv
My self among the Mutineers, and court
The Fugitives to face about agen,
And build themselves a name, and wealth in Troy,
Given over by the Gods to be their captive?
What acted Telamon, but unworthy fears,
And rather coward them by his retreat,
Than teach them honour by his own example.

Aja.
Can Jove hear this? ha!

Ag.
Look to Ajax.

Nes.
Contain yourself.

Aja.
Let me fight him here,
Or you are all confederates in my infamy.

Nes.
For my sake.

Aja.
I am patient—

Ul.
Nor am I without wounds, and crimson characters,
Which as her ornament, my bosom carries,
Greater than Telamon can boast, although
He fought with Hector, which was but his Fortune,
And might have been the lot of Agamemnon,
Of Menelaus, Diomed, my self,
And others, who had equally engag'd,
And onely chance preferr'd him to the combate:
But let me not be thought to take from Ajax
His just reward of fortitude, I grant
He did repress the fury of the Trojans,
When they came arm'd in fires against our Navy,
But 'twas nor single valour, that repulst
The numerous enemy. Patroclus had
The armour of Achilles on that day,
VVhich struck a terrour in the Phrygian courages,
And many Princes swords contributed,
Mine was not idle, and I merit some
Proportion of fame for that days victory;
But if it come with murmuring, defer it,
And make it up in your accounts of honour
Due, for the great Palladium, which I fetch'd
(Assisted by the valiant Diomedes)
Out of the heart of Troy, spight of the Groves
Of Spears, that grew a bright defence about it,
And Swords, whose every motion darted lightning
To guard the fatal Image; in this act
I gave you Troy, till this was ravish'd from 'em,
It was not in your fate to make a conquest,
Ajax and all the Army might have fought
Against the Moon, with as much hope of Victory.

Dio.
This must be granted him a signal Service,
I can attest the danger of this action.

Ul.
I blush, I am compell'd to mention these,
But where my honour is traduc'd, 'tis just
To make my fairest vindication:
The wealth of Greece should not have brib'd me to
This Contestation; but Achilles armour
VVould strike ambitious thoughts into a Hermite,
Nor will my limbes much tremble to sustaine 'em
I had the honour at his death, to carry
His body with all that weight of arms upon it,
And plac'd him in his Tent, although I want
Some bulk of Ajax, I can walk, and fight,
And tell him where he fails, and mark him out
A truer path to Glory, than his strength
Is able to persue, with no more brains
To guide him, than his empty pannier carries:
Wisemen joyn policy with force, the Lyon
Thus with the Fox, makes up the Souldiers emblem.
And now I look on Ajax Telamon,
I may compare him to some specious building,
His body holds vast rooms of entertainment,
And lower parts maintain the Offices,
Onely the Garret, his exalted head,
Useless for wise receipt, is fill'd with lumber.
A Mastiff dares attempt to combate Lyons,
And I'll finde men among your Mercenaries
Shall fly on Hydra's, if you name that valour:
But he, that we call valiant indeed,
Knows how, and when to fight, as well as bleed.

A great shout within.
Sol.
Ulysses, Ulysses.

Ag.
Please you withdraw your persons for some minutes,

Aja.
Is't come to this.

Ul.
I obey.

Aja.
I scorn to court
Such staggering opinions, and repent
That I once thought you fit to be my Judges.

Ex.
Ther.
For my part, with pardon of the Generall,
My voyce shall be to please them both.

Ag.
Impossible.

Ther.
Divide the armour, and compose the difference;
Or give Ulysses, 'cause he has the better
Head-piece, Achilles Helmet; and to Ajax,
Those parts that guard the body.

Dio.
I am for
Ulysses.

Ne.
He shall have my vote.

Me.
And mine.

Ag.
Your judgements meet with Agamemnons,
Intreat the Prince of Ithaca return.

Enter Ulysses.
Aga.
Sir I congratulate your fate, you have
With the concurrence of our votes, deserv'd
To be the second owner of these arms;
Which as the first reward of all your service,
I in their names present: Nor are these Trophies
More than an earnest, and a glimpse, of those
Eternal Monuments shall Crown your VVisdom;
VVhere's Ajax Telomon?

Off.
Transported hence with fury.

Ulyss.
You have honour'd your Ulysses, and I now
Must call these things my blessing, and your bounty.

Aga.
Bear them in Triumph to his Tent, and say,
VVisdom, not down-right Valour wins the day;
Better is wise Ulysses in the field,
Than the great Master of the seven-fold Shield.

Exeunt.
Didimus, Lysippus.
Did.
I think Lysippus, we may now be friends,
For though you had a minde to quarrel when
The victory was doubtful, I am not
The more exalted for my Masters triumph,
His wit is none of mine; I honour Ajax
In his own arms; for I have seen him do
Brave things.

Ly.
Thy hand, I love thee Didimus,
And I will love Ulysses for thy sake too.

Did.
But how does thy Lord Ajax take the business?

Ly.
He's mad, and rails at heaven and earth, I dare not
Come neer him—Whose this, Polybrontes?
Enter Polybrontes.
Let us forget all differences. and make
Some sport with him—Polybrontes,
I am proud to see your military face.

Did.
My Magazine of Valour, I do honour you,
From that exalted tuft upon your Skonce,
To the cold iron Star upon your heel, how is't?

Ly.
How is't my Low, and Mighty Polybrontes?

Pol.
Tir'd out with killing of the Creature,
Wilde Beasts, and Men, will come into my way;
Some, I look dead, others I take the pains
To cut or quarter, as they move my fury,
The hate of Juno is entail'd upon
Our generation I think.

Did.
How, Juno? I pray what kin are you to Hercules?

Pol.
I am his son, son to the Theban Hercules
That did the mighty Labours; we number twelve.
I have been told too, I am very like him;
There were fifty of us in one night begotten.

Did.
You are not, Sir, so big bon'd as Hercules altogether.

Pol.
Hang bones, and flesh, and blood,
It is the soul that's tall, a Gyants spirit.

Ly.
Not in that body,
A soul can hardly stand upright in't.

Pol.
'Tis the more dangerous, being confin'd, and must
Break out like lightning.

Did.
What's that upon your hat?

Pol.
My case of Tooth-picks.

Ly.
How, 'tis a Lyons paw.

Pol.
A Legacy my father left me, part
Of that Nemean Lyon, that he kill'd,
VVhose skin he us'd to wear, which since these Wars
I turn'd into a Knapsack, and it carries
A charm against all venemous Beasts, come near it,

Did.
Vermine he means:
VVhat kinde of belt is this?

Pol.
This was a Serpent, which at Aulis was
Observ'd to climbe up to the Sparrows nest,
VVhere having swallowed nine, Calchas presag'd,
VVe should be nine years at the siege of Troy,
And in the tenth be Conquerors, this I kill'd
VVith a Flint stone, as it came hissing toward me,
It had ten row of iron teeth.

Did.
VVhere are they?

Pol.
All beaten out with that stone I threw at her.

Did.
Nothing scapes you then:
But good Sir favour us, to let us know
How many men have fallen by your sword
During our siege, I knovv you keep a Catalogue.

Pol.
Not of all,
I onely register within my Diary,
The men of honour that I kill, the rest
I leave to the common bills of Mortality.

Ly.
The men of honour, I pray, Sir.

Pol.
They rise to—
700 in my roll.

Did.
VVith your own hand?

Pol.
Ten Princes, beside two of Priams sons.
Paris and Hector.

Ly.
Paris is alive.

Pol.
Not that Paris I kill'd upon my honour.

Did.
And all the Army knowes, Achilles with
His Mirmidons slew Hector.

Pol.
From me tell Achilles
'Tis false.

Ly.
He's dead too.

Pol.
'Tis well he is so, he that steals my fame,
Must not be long i'th number of the living.

Did.
You are
The little wonder of the world, you had
Done your self right, to have put in with Ulysses
And Ajax, for the armour.

Ly.
Had he stood,
There had been no Competitor, Ulysses
Had this day mist his triumph.

Pol.
Had Ulysses
The armour then?

Enter Ajax.
Ly.
Given by all Judges.

Pol.
I believe
The man is so modest, at mention
Of me, would have recanted his ambition;
Do not I know Ulysses? yes, and Ajax.

Aja.
Ha!

Pol.
And all the swelling flies that blow the Army
I'll tell that Ajax, when I see him next,
That I dare fight?

Aja.
VVith whom Sir, dare you fight?

Pol.
With any man that shall affront you, Sir,
Renowned Ajax, my soul falls to crums
That day, I do not honour your remembrance.
Ulysses is a Juggler, I do wonder
At's impudence, to stand in competition
VVith him, that is the man of men, brave Telamon:
Shall I carry him a challenge; prethee let me,
I long to thunder him.

Aja.
Stay Wesel!

Pol.
Or to Agamemnon, or the best of them.
VVould I were in my knapsack nibbling cheese now.

Aja.
I say the word, be dead.

Ajax strikes him.
Pol.
My brains, my brains!
Ah my own sweet brains; who wants any brains?

Aja,
Art thou not dead?

Pol.
Oh yes Sir, I am dead,
Give my Ghost leave to walk a little.

Aja.
Come back, your name?

Pol.
Ah, when I was alive, the Souldiers call'd me—

Aja.
Agamemnon.

Pol.
I shall be brain'd in earnest!

Aja.
VVhen thou hast past the Stygian Lake, commend me
To Eacus, one of the Infernal Judges.

Pol.
I will Sir, I am acquainted with his Clark.

Aja.
And when I have made my revenge perfect,
I'll visit him my self.

Pol.
I'll bring you an answer too.

Aja.
Do so.

Pol.
I were best to make haste, Sir, Charon stays for me,
And I shall lose my tide.

Aja.
Then vanish.

Pol.
Presto.

Exit.
Aja.
There's one dispatch'd, he's company for Ghosts,
I know whose fate is next, and then I leap
To immortality: what cloud is that
Descends so big with prodigy, my steel
Shall give the Monster birth, ha' 'tis Ulysses,
Come to affront me in Achilles armour:
Enter Calchas.
A thousand serpents creep within my skull:
I'll finde the Cowards soul through all this darkness,
Have at thee Polititian, dost thou bleed?
Now I have met we'e, thanks to my good sword,
I kiss thy cold lips, for this brave revenge,
Thou art my own, without competitor,
And must be my last refuge and companion.

Cal.
Alas poor Telamon!

Aja.
VVho calls Telamon?

Cal.
One you have known and lov'd; can you forget
Calchas so soon?

Aja.
Our Grecian Prophet, you are very welcome,
VVhat news from the upper VVorld? do they agree
In heaven? we are all to pieces.

Cal.
I am trusted
VVith a direction to you, the sacred powers
You serve—

Aja,
Speak on, but let me tell you as a friend,
They have not us'd me kindely, but no matter,
I'll be my own revenger.

Cal.
Sir, take heed
How you provoke their anger, or contemn
Their Precepts, for the partial acts of men,
They know, and pitty that a man so valiant,
Should for a trifle lose his manly temper:
You are not, Sir, forgotten by the Gods
And I am sent, their Prophet to acquaint you,
That what you lost alive by humane Judges,
Their divine Justice shall restore with honour
To your calm dust; for know, those very arms
In which Ulysses triumphs now, shall be
Snatcht from him by a tempest, and shall land
A floating treasure upon Ajax Tomb,
And by their stay convince the future age,
VVho best deserv'd e'm; be not then unman'd,
And thus deface the beauties of your reason.

Aja.
I thank 'em, they are pleas'd, when I am dead
To make a restitution to my fame,
And send me home the armour, this is something,
I'll make my self in a capacity
My death to be an object of their justice,
I'll dye immediately, I can do't my self.

Cal.
Your Piety avert so black a deed!
This is a way to make the world suspect
The worth of all your former actions,
And that they were not births Legitimate,
Born from true honour, but the spurious issue
Of an unguided heat, or chance: How shall
VVe think, that man is truly valiant,
And fit to be engag'd in things of fright
And danger, that wants courage to sustain
An injury? it shews a fear of others,
To be reveng'd upon our selves, and he
Is not so much a Coward that flies death,
As he that suffers, and doth fear to live:
Besides, this will enlarge your enemies triumph,
And in the world opinions, be granted
A tame concession to his worth; nay men,
And with much face of reason, may affirm,
Ulysses did not onely win the arms,
But conquered Ajax.

Aja.
Therefore I will dye
VVith my own hand, and save that infamy;
I am resolved, all fate shall not prevent it:
Leave me:

Cal.
I must not.

Aja.
I am not confin'd
To place, thy office yet is thy protection,
Do not presume to follow, lest my rage
Make me forget your person, and by sad
Mistake, I turn the Priest into a Sacrifice:
Go tell the world I am dead, and make it known,
That Ajax fell by no hand but his own.

Cal.
This will turn all our Triumph into mourning,

Exeunt.
Calchas before the body of Ajax, supported by six Princes, Agamemnon, Diomedes, Menelaus, Thersander, Nestor, Ulysses, following the Hearse, as going to the Temple.
Ca.

Ag.
Set forward to the Temple, this was once
A day of Triumph, but the death of Ajax
VVill make it dark within our Calendar;
Joys are obortive, or not born to last,
And our bright days are quickly overcast.

Exeunt.