Footnote: 1. The conceit, which our ancestors had adopted, of their descent from Brutus, a fugitive Trojan, induced their poets to load the Grecian chiefs with every accusation of cowardice and treachery, and to extol the character of the Trojans in the same proportion. Hector is always represented as having been treacherously slain.
HECTOR, } _Sons of_ PRIAM. TROILUS, } PRIAM, _King of Troy._ ÆNEAS, _a Trojan Warrior._ PANDARUS, _Uncle to_ CRESSIDA. CALCHAS, _a Trojan Priest, and Father to_ CRESSIDA, _a fugitive to the Grecian camp._ AGAMEMNON, } ULYSSES, } ACHILLES, } AJAX, } _Grecian Warriors, engaged in the_ NESTOR, } _siege of Troy._ DIOMEDES, } PATROCLUS, } MENELAUS, } THERSITES, _a slanderous Buffoon._
CRESSIDA, _Daughter to_ CALCHAS. ANDROMACHE, _Wife to_ HECTOR.
_Enter_ AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, DIOMEDES, _and_ NESTOR.
_Agam._ Princes, it seems not strange to us, nor new, That, after nine years siege, Troy makes defence, Since every action of recorded fame Has with long difficulties been involved, Not answering that idea of the thought, Which gave it birth; why then, you Grecian chiefs, With sickly eyes do you behold our labours, And think them our dishonour, which indeed Are the protractive trials of the gods, To prove heroic constancy in men?
_Nest._ With due observance of thy sovereign seat, Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply Thy well-weighed words. In struggling with misfortunes Lies the true proof of virtue: On smooth seas, How many bauble-boats dare set their sails, And make an equal way with firmer vessels! But let the tempest once enrage that sea, And then behold the strong-ribbed argosie, Bounding between the ocean and the air, Like Perseus mounted on his Pegasus. Then where are those weak rivals of the main? Or, to avoid the tempest, fled to port, Or made a prey to Neptune. Even thus Do empty show, and true-prized worth, divide In storms of fortune.
_Ulys._ Mighty Agamemnon! Heart of our body, soul of our designs, In whom the tempers, and the minds of all Should be inclosed,--hear what Ulysses speaks.
_Ulys._ Troy had been down ere this, and Hector's sword Wanted a master, but for our disorders: The observance due to rule has been neglected, Observe how many Grecian tents stand void Upon this plain, so many hollow factions: For, when the general is not like the hive, To whom the foragers should all repair, What honey can our empty combs expect? Or when supremacy of kings is shaken, What can succeed? How could communities, Or peaceful traffic from divided shores, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand on their solid base? Then every thing resolves to brutal force, And headlong force is led by hoodwinked will. For wild ambition, like a ravenous wolf, Spurred on by will, and seconded by power, Must make an universal prey of all, And last devour itself.