both your speeches; which are such,
As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
Should hold up high in brass; and such again,
As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,
Should with a bond of air (strong as the axle-tree
On which heaven rides) knit all the Greekish ears
To his experienc'd tongue]
Ulysses begins his oration with praising those who had spoken before
him, and marks the characteristick excellencies of their different
eloquence, strength, and sweetness, which he expresses by the different
metals on which he recommends them to be engraven for the instruction of
posterity. The speech of Agamemnon is such that it ought to be engraven
in brass, and the tablet held up by him on the one side, and Greece on
the other, to shew the union of their opinion. And Nestor ought to be
exhibited in silver, uniting all his audience in one mind by his soft
and gentle elocution. Brass is the common emblem of strength, and silver
of gentleness. We call a soft voice a _silver_ voice, and a persuasive
tongue a _silver_ tongue.--I once read for _hand_, the _band_ of Greece,
but I think the text right.--To _hatch_ is a term of art for a
particular method of _engraving_. _Hatcher_, to cut, Fr.
I.iii.78 (28,1) The specialty of rule] The particular rights of supreme
authority.
I.iii.81 (29,2) When that the general is not like the hive] The meaning
is, _When the general is not_ to the army _like the hive_ to the bees,
the repository of the stock of every individual, that to which each
particular resorts with whatever be has collected for the good of the
whole, _what honey is expected_? what hope of advantage? The sense is
clear, the expression is confused.
I.iii.101 (30,5) Oh, when degree is shak'd] I would read,
--So when degree is shak'd. (see 1765, VII, 431, 5)
I.iii.103 (30,6) The enterprize] Perhaps we should read,
_Then_ enterprize is sick!--
I.iii.104 (30,7) brotherhoods in cities] Corporations, companies,
_confraternities_.
I.iii.128 (31,8) That by a pace goes backward] That goes backward _step
by step_.
I.iii.128 (31,9) with a purpose/It hath to climb] With a design in each
man to aggrandize himself, by slighting his immediate superior.
I.iii.134 (31,1) bloodless emulation] An emulation not vigorous and
active, but malignant and sluggish.
I.iii.152 (31,2) Thy topless deputation] _Topless_ is that has nothing
_topping_ or _overtopping_ it; supreme; sovereign.
I.iii.167 (32,3) as near as the extremest ends/Of parallels] The
parallels to which the allusion seems to be made are the parallels on a
map. As like as East to West.