Note 177 — ACT III.
Reading edition
"Credat Judæus Appella, Non ego,"
says Mr. D. "For, passing over the absurdity of being equal to odds, can we possibly suppose a little insignificant fellow—I say again a little insignificant fellow—able to vie with a strength which all the Samsons and Herculeses of antiquity would be unable to encounter?" I shall refer this incredulous critic to Mr. Dryden's defence of his Almanzor; and, lest that should not satisfy him, I shall quote a few lines from the speech of a much braver fellow than Almanzor, Mr. Johnson's Achilles:
"Though human race rise in embattled hosts, To force her from my arms—Oh! son of Atreus! By that immortal pow'r, whose deathless spirit Informs this earth, I will oppose them all."—"Victim."