flap for a sore eye, thon tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies; diminutives of nature!

Patr. Out, gall!

Ther. Finch egg!

Achil. My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle. Here is a letter from Queen Hecuba;

A token from her daughter, my fair love;
Both taxing me, and gaging me to keep

An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:
Fall, Greeks: fail, fame; honour, or go or stay;
My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.-
Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent;
This night in banquetting must all be spent.-
Away, Patroclus.

[Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. Ther. With too much blood, and too little brain, these two may run mad; but if with too much brain and too little blood, they do, I'll be a curer of mad

men.

Here's Agamemnon,-an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as ear-wax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull,-the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds: a thrifty shoeing horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's leg, -to what form, but that he is, should wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit, turn him to? To an ass, were nothing: he is both ass and ox: to un ox were nothing; he is both ox and ass. To be a dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe, I would not care: but to be Menelaus,-I would conspire against destiny. Ask me not what I would be, if I were not Thersites; for I care not to be the louse of a lazar, so I were not Menelaus.-Hey-day! Spirits

and fires!

And welcome, both to those that go or tarry.
Agam. Good night.

[Exeunt AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS. Achil. Old Nestor tarries: and you too, Diomed, Keep Hector company an hour or two.

Dio. I cannot, lord; I have important business, The tide whereof is now.-Good night, great Hector. Hect. Give me your hand. Ulyss.

Follow his torch, he goes To Calchas' tent; I'll keep you company.

Tro. Sweet sir, you honour me.
Hect.

[Aside to TROILUS.

And so good night. [Exit DIOMED; ULYSS. and TRO. following. Achil. Come, come, enter my tent.

[Exeunt ACHIL. HECTOR, AJAX, and NEST. Ther. That same Diomed's a false-hearted rogue, a most unjust knave; I will no more trust him when he leers, than I will a serpent when he hisses: he will spend his mouth, and promise, like Brabler the hound; but when he performs, astronomers foretell it; it is prodigious, there will come some change: the sun borrows of the moon, when Diomed keeps his word. I will rather leave to see Hector, than not to dog him: they say, he keeps a Trojan drab, and uses the traitor Calchas' tent: I'll after.-Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets! [Exit.

SCENE II.-The same, Before Calchas' Tent. Enter DIOMEDES.

Dio. What, are you up here, ho? speak.

Tro. Ulyss. Cres.

Dio. No, no, good night! I'll be your fool no more.
Tro. Thy better must.
Cres.

Hark! one word in your ear. Tro. O plague and madness!

Ulyss. You are mov'd, prince; let us depart, I

pray you,

Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself
To wrathful terms: this place is dangerous:
The time right deadly; I beseech you, go.
Tro. Behold, I pray you!
Ulyss.

Now, good my lord, go off;
You flow to great destruction; come, my lord.
Tro. I pr'ythee, stay.
Ulyss.

You have not patience; come.
Tro. I pray you, stay; by hell, and all hell's tor-
ments,
I will not speak a word.

Dio.
And so, good night.
Cres. Nay, but you part in anger.
Tro.

O wither'd truth!

Doth that grieve thee? Why, how now, lord?

By Jove,

Guardian!-why, Greek!

Dio. Pho, pho! adieu; you palter.

Cres. In faith, I do not; come hither once again. Ulyss. You shake, my lord, at something: will you

go? You will break out.

Tro.

She strokes his cheek!

Tro. I will be patient; outwardly I will. Cres. You look upon that sleeve: behold it well.He lov'd me-O false wench!-Give it me again. Dio. Whose was't? Cres.

No matter, now I have't again. I will not meet with you to-morrow night: I pr'ythee, Diomed, visit me no more. Ther. Now she sharpens;-Well said, whetstone. Dio. I shall have it. Cres. Dio.

What, this ?

Ay, that.
Cres. O all you gods!-O pretty pretty pledge!
Thy master now lies thinking in his bed
Of thee, and me: and sighs, and takes my glove,
And gives memorial dainty kisses to it,

As I kiss thee.-Nay, do not snatch it from me;
He, that takes that, must take my heart withal.
Dio. I had your heart before, this follows it.
Tro. I did swear patience.

Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; 'faith, you shall not;

I'll give you something else.

Dio. I will have this; whose was it?
Cres.

'Tis no matter.

Dio. Come, tell me whose it was. Cres. 'Twas one's that lov'd me better than you will.

But, now you have it, take it.

Dio.
Whose was it ?
Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women, yonder,
And by herself, I will not tell you whose.

Dio. To-morrow will I wear it on my helm:
And grieve his spirit, that dares not challenge it.
Tro. Wert thou the devil, and wor'st it on thy horn,
It should be challeng'd.

Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past;-and yet it is

not:

I will not keep my word.

Dio.
Why then, farewell;
Thou never shalt mock Diomed again.

Cres. You shall not go :-one cannot speak a word,
Bat it straight starts you.
Dio,
I do not like this fooling.
Ther. Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not you,
pleases me best.

Dio. What, shall I come ? The hour?
Cres.
Ay, come:-O Jove!

Do come; I shall be plagu'd.
Dio.
Farewell till then.
Cres. Good night, I pr'ythee come.-
[Exit DIOMEDES.
Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee;
But with my heart the other eye doth see.
Ah! poor our sex! this fault in us I find,
The error of our eye directs our mind:
What error leads, must err; O then conclude,
Minds, sway'd by eyes, are full of turpitude.
[Exit CRESSIDA.
Ther. A proof of strength she could not publish

more,

Tro. Let it not be believ'd for womanhood! Think, we had mothers; do not give advantage To stubborn critics-apt, without a theme, For depravation,-to square the general sex By Cressid's rule! rather think this not Cressid. Ulyss. What hath she done, prince, that can soil our mothers ?

Tro. Nothing at all, unless that this were she. Ther. Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes? Tro. This she? No, this is Diomed's Cressida: If beauty have a soul, this is not she:

If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimony,
If sanctimony be the gods' delight,
If there be rule in unity itself,
This was not she. O madness of discourse,
That cause sets up with and against itself!
Bi-fold authority where reason can revolt
Without perdition, and loss assume all reason
Without revolt; this is, and is not, Cressid!
Within my soul there doth commence a fight
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate
Divides more wider than the sky and earth;
And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Admits no orifice for a point, as subtle
As is Arachne's broken woof, to enter.
Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates:
Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of Heaven;
Instance, O instance! strong as heaven itself;
The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolv'd, and loos'd;
And with another knot, five-finger-tied,

The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,
The fragments, scraps, the bits, and greasy relics,
Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attached
With that which here his passion doth express ?

Tro. Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged well
In characters as red as Mars, his heart
Inflam'd with Venus: never did young man fancy
With so eternal and so fixed a soul,

Hark, Greek; as much as I do Cressid love,
So much by weight hate I her Diomed:
That sleeve is mine, that he'll bear on his helm;
Were it a casque compos'd by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout,
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constring'd in mass by the almighty sun,
Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear
In his descent, than shall my prompted sword
Falling on Diomed.

Ther. He'll tickle it for his concupy.

Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false!
Let all untruths stand by thy stained name
And they'll seem glorious.

Ulyss.
O, contain yourself:
Your passion draws ears hither.
Enter ENEAS.

Ene. I have been seeking you, this hour, my lord. Hector, by this, is arming him in Troy;

Ajax, your guard, stays to conduct you home. Tro. Have with you, prince :-My courteous lord, adieu :

Farewell, revolted fair!-and, Diomed,

Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head!
Ulyss. I'll bring you to the gates.

Tro. Accept distracted thanks.

[Exeunt TROILUS, ENEAS, and ULYSSES. Ther. 'Would, I could meet that rogue Diomed! I would croak like a raven: I would bode, I would bode. Patroclus will give me any thing for the intelligence of this whore: the parrot will not do more for an almond, than he for a commodious drab. Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery! nothing else bolds fashion: a burning devil take them. [Exit. SCENE III.-Troy. Before Priam's Palace. Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE, And. When was my lord so much ungently tem per'd

To stop his ears against admonishment?
Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.

Hect. You train me to offend you: get you in:
By all the everlasting gods, I'll go.

And. My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.

Hect, No more, I say.

Cas.

Enter CASSANdra.

Where is my brother Hector? And. Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in intent. Consort with me in loud and dear petition, Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaugh.

ter. Cas. O, it is true. Hect. Ho! bid my trumpet sound! Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother.

Hect. Begone, I say: the gods have heard me

Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.

And, O! be persuaded: do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is unlawful;
For we would give much, to use violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity.

Cas. It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow:
But vows to every purpose must not hold:
Unarm, sweet Hector.

Hect.
Hold you still, I say;
Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Life every man holds dear; but the dear man
Holds honour far more precious dear than life.-
Enter TROILUS.

How now, young man? mean'st thou to fight to-day?
And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade,
[Exit CASSANDRA.

Hect. No, 'faith, young Troilus; doff thy harness, youth;

I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry:

Let grow thy sinews till their kuote be strong,
And tempt not yet the brushes of the war,
Unarm thee, go; and doubt thou not, brave boy,
I'll stand to-day, for thee, and me, and Troy.

Tro. Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you
Which better fits a lion, than a man.

Hect. What vice is that, good Troilus ? Chide me for it,

Tro. When many times the captive Grecians fall, Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword, You bid them rise and live,

Hect, O, 'tis fair play. Tro.

Fool's play, by Heaven, Hector. Hect. How now? How now ? Tro. For the love of all the gods, Let's leave the hermit pity with our mother; And, when we have our armours buckled on, The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords; Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth, Hect, Fie, savage, fie!

Tro.

Hector, then 'tis wars. Hect. Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day. Tro. Who should withhold me?

Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars,
Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;
Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,
Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;
Nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
Oppos'd to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM.
Cas, Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast:
He is thy crutch: now, if thou lose thy stay,
Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee,
Fall all together.

Pri.

Come, Hector, come, go back:

Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had visions;
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt,

To tell thee-that this day is ominous:
Therefore, come back.

Hect.

Eneas is a-field:

And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks, Even in the faith of valour, to appear

This morning to them.

Pri.

But thou shalt not go. Hect. I must not break my faith; You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir, Let me not shame respect; but give me leave To take that course by your consent and voice, Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam. Cas. O Priam, yield not to him. And. Do not, dear father. Hect, Andromache, I am offended with you: Upon the love you bear me, get you in.

[Exit ANDROMACHE. Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl Makes all these bodements. Cas. O farewell, dear Hector. Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale! Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many veuts! Hark, how Troy roars! how Hecuba cries out! How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth! Behold, destruction, frenzy, and amazement, Like witless antics, one another meet, And all cry-Hector! Hector's dead! O Hector! Tro. Away!-Away!

Cas. Farewell.--Yet, soft.-Hector, I take my

leave;

Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.

[Exit.

Hect. You are amaz'd, my liege, at her exclaim: Go in, and cheer the town ;-we'll forth, and fight;

Pan. Here's a letter from yon poor girl.
Tro. Let me read.

Pan. A whoreson ptisic, a whoreson rascally ptisic so troubles me, and the foolish fortune of this girl; and what one thing, what another, that I shall leave you one o'these days: and I have a rheum in mine eyes too; and such an ache in my bones, that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot tell what to think on't. -What says she there?

Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart; [Tearing the letter. The effect doth operate another way.Go, wind to wind, there turn and change together,My love with words and errors still she feeds, But edifies another with her deeds.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE IV.-Between Troy and the Grecian
Camp.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter THERSITES. Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy, doting, foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his helm: I would fain see them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, that loves the whore there, might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, on a sleeveless errand. O' the other side, the policy of those crafty swearing_rascals,-that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese, Nestor; and that same dog-fox, Ulysses,-is not proved worth a blackberry:-They set me up, in policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of as bad a kind, Achilles; and now is the cur Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm today; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here come sleeve and t'other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following, Tro. Fly not: for, shouldst thou take the river

Styx,

Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polixenes is slain;
Amphimacus and Thoas deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en, or slain; and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruis'd; the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.

Enter NESTOR.

Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-pac'd Ajax arm for shame.-
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon, he's there afoot,
And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls.
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And then the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes;
Dexterity so obeying appetite,

That what he wills he does: and does so much,
That proof is call'd impossibility.

Enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. O courage, courage, princes; great Achilles Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance; Patroclus' wounds have rous'd his drowsy blood, Together with his mangled Myrmidons,

That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,

Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend,
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd, and at it,
Roaring for Troilus; who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution;
Engaging and redeeming of himself,

With such a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

office

Ere that correction :-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus! Enter TROILUS.

Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face, thou traitor,

And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse!
Dio. Ha! art thou there ?

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.
Dio. He is my prize. I will not look upon.
Tro. Come, both you cogging Greeks; have at you
both.
[Exeunt, fighting.
Hect. Yea, Troilus? O well fought, my youngest
brother!

Enter HECTOR.

Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;
Mark what I say.-Attend me where I wheel:
Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath:
And, when I have the bloody Hector found,
Impale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your arms.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye-
It is decreed-Hector the great must die. [Exeunt.
SCENE VII.-The same.

Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then
THERSITES.

Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it: now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now, my double-henned sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game-ware horns, ho!

[Exeunt PARIS and MENELaus. Enter MARGARELON.

Mar. Turn, slave, and fight.
Ther. What art thou?

Mar. A bastard son of Priam's.

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am s bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, One bastard in valour, in everything illegitimate. bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard! Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment: farewell, bastard.

Mar. The devil take thee, coward!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Field.
Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath: Rest, sword: thou hast thy fill of blood and death! [Puts off his helmet, and hangs his shield behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons. Achil. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set, How ugly night comes breathing at his heels: Even with the vail and derk'ning of the sun, To close the day up, Hector's life is done. Hect. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek. Achil, Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I [HECTOR fulls. So, Ilion, fall thou next: now, Troy, sink down; Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain, Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.

seek,

[A retreat sounded. Hark! a retreat upon our Grecian part. Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord. Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,

And, stickler like, the armies separate.
My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed,
Pleas'd with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.-
[Sheathes his sword.
[Exeunt.

Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail.

SCENE X.-The same,

If in his death the gods have us befriended,
Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended.
[Exeunt, marching.
SCENE XI.-Another Part of the Field.

Enter ENEAS and Trojans.
Ene. Stand ho! yet are we masters of the field:
Never go home; here starve we out the night.
Enter TROILUS.

Tro. Hector is slain. All.

Hector ?-The gods forbid.
Tro. He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail,
In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful field.-
Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed!
Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile at Troy !
I say at once let your brief plagues be mercy,
And linger not our sure destructions on!

Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host.
Tro. You understand me not, that tell me so:
I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death;
But dare all imminence, that gods and men
Address their dangers in. Hector is gone!
Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba?
Let him, that will a screech-owl aye be call'd,
Go in to Troy, and say there-Hector's dead:
There is a word will Priam turn to stone;
Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,
Cold statues of the youth; and, in a word,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march, away,
Hector is dead; there is no more to say.
Stay yet:-you vile abominable tents,

Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains,
Let Titan rise as early as he dare,

I'll through and through you!-And thou, great-siz'd coward!

[Exit TROILUS.

Pan. A goodly med'cine for my aching bones!O world! world! world! thus is the poor agent despised! O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a'work, and how ill requited! Why should our endeavour be so lov'd, and the performance so loath'd? -what verse for it ?-what instance for it ?-Let me see:

Full merrily the humble bee doth sing,
Till he hath lost his honey and his sting:
And, being once subdued in armed tail,
Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.

Good traders in the flesh, set this in your painted clothes.

As many as be here of Pandar's hall,

Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall:
Or, if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
Though not for me yet for your aching bones.
Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be made:
It should be now, but that my fear is this,-
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:
Till then I'll sweat, and seek about for eases;
And at that time bequeath you my diseases. [Exit.