Do you with cheeks abashed behold our works,

And think them shames, which are indeed naught else

But the protractive trials of great Jove

To find persistive constancy in men?

The fineness of which mettle is not found

In fortune’s love—for then the bold and coward,

The wise and fool, the artist and unread,

The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin.

But in the wind and tempest of her frown

Distinction with a loud and powerful fan,

Puffing at all, winnows the light away,

And what hath mass or matter by itself

Lies rich in virtue and unminglèd.

NESTOR

With due observance of thy godly seat,

Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply

Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance

Lies the true proof of men. The sea being smooth,

How many shallow bauble-boats dare sail

Upon her patient breast, making their way

With those of nobler bulk!

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage

The gentle Thetis, and anon behold

The strong-ribbed barque through liquid mountains

cut,

Bounding between the two moist elements

Like Perseus’ horse. Where’s then the saucy boat

Whose weak untimbered sides but even now

Co-rivalled greatness? Either to harbour fled,

Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so

Doth valour’s show and valour’s worth divide

In storms of fortune. For in her ray and brightness

The herd hath more annoyance by the breese

Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind

Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks

And flies flee under shade, why then the thing of

courage,

As roused with rage, with rage doth sympathize,

And with an accent tuned in selfsame key

Retorts to chiding fortune.

ULYSSES Agamemnon,

Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,

Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit

In whom the tempers and the minds of all

Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.

Besides th’applause and approbation

The which, (to Agamemnon) most mighty for thy place

and sway,

And thou, (to Nestor) most reverend for thy stretched-out

life,

I give to both your speeches—which were such

As, Agamemnon, every hand of Greece

Should hold up high in brass, and such again

As, venerable Nestor, hatched in silver,

Should with a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree

On which the heavens ride, knit all Greeks’ ears

To his experienced tongue—yet let it please both,

Thou (to Agamemnon) great, and (to Nestor) wise, to

hear Ulysses speak.

AGAMEMNON

Speak, Prince of Ithaca, and be’t of less expect

That matter needless, of importless burden,

Divide thy lips, than we are confident

When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws

We shall hear music, wit, and oracle.

ULYSSES

Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down

And the great Hector’s sword had lacked a master

But for these instances:

The specialty of rule hath been neglected.

And look how many Grecian tents do stand

Hollow upon this plain: so many hollow factions.

When that the general is not like the hive

To whom the foragers shall all repair,

What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,

Th’unworthiest shows as fairly in the masque

⌈ ⌉.

The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre

Observe degree, priority, and place,

Infixture, course, proportion, season, form,

Office and custom, in all line of order.

And therefore is the glorious planet Sol

In noble eminence enthroned and sphered

Amidst the other, whose med‘cinable eye

Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil

And posts like the commandment of a king,

Sans check, to good and bad. But when the planets

In evil mixture to disorder wander,

What plagues and what portents, what mutiny?

What raging of the sea, shaking of earth?

Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors

Divert and crack, rend and deracinate

The unity and married calm of states

Quite from their fixture. O when degree is shaked,

Which is the ladder to all high designs,

The enterprise is sick. How could communities,

Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,

Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,

The primogenity and due of birth,

Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,

But by degree stand in authentic place?

Take but degree away, untune that string,

And hark what discord follows. Each thing meets no

In mere oppugnancy. The bounded waters