_Deid._ Achilles, son of Thetis! As I love thee, I say, go forth to Troy. _Ach._ Praised be the Gods, Who have made my long desire my love’s command! _Ch._ Alas! We have no further plea. Alas! Her ever-venturous spirit forecasts no ill. _Lyc._ Go, win thy fame, my son; I would not stay thee. Thou art a soldier born. But circumstance Demands delay, which thou wilt grant. _Ach._ And thus To-night may be the feast. To-morrow morn 1710 Do thou, Ulysses, sail to Aulis, there Prepare them for my coming. If, Diomede, Thou wilt to Achaia to collect my men, The time thou usest I can fitly spend, And for some days banish the thought of war. _Dio._ I will go for thee, prince. _Lyc._ ’Tis settled so. Stand we no longer here: night falls apace. Come to the palace, we will end this day, As it deserves, never to be forgot. NOTES THE FIRST PART OF NERO This play was not intended for the stage, as the rest of my plays are. It was written as an exercise in dramatic qualities other than scenic; and had its publication been contemplated, I should have been more careful not to deserve censure in one or two places: these however I have not thought it worth while to erase or correct. Owing to its inordinate length I have found it necessary, so that the volumes of this series might be of uniform size, to couple with it the shortest of the other plays. Hence ACHILLES IN SCYROS is here out of order. Instead of standing second it should come fifth, that is after _The Christian Captives_. The following note is taken from the first edition. _Note to_ Achilles in Scyros.—After I had begun this play I came by chance on _Calderon’s_ play on the same subject, _El Monstruo de los Jardines_. The monster is _Achilles_; the gardens the same. Excepting an expression or two I found nothing that it suited me to use, and I should not have recorded the circumstance, if it were not that _Calderon’s_ play seemed to me to contain strong evidence that he had read _The Tempest_. This observation cannot be new, but I have never met with it; so I offer it to my readers, thinking it will interest them as it did me. _El Monstruo de los Jardines_ opens with a storm at sea, and shipwreck of royal persons, similar as it is inferior to _Shakespeare’s_ (but compare also the Devil’s shipwreck in the second act of _El magicio prodigioso_, which may be read in _Shelley’s_ translation). _Stephano_ has his counterpart, _Un cofrade de Baco, que ha salido, Por no hacerle traicion, del mar á nado Pues el no beber agua le ha escapado,_