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As truth authentic, ever to be cited,

As true as Troilus, fhall crown-up the verfe,
And fanctify the numbers.

Cre. Prophet may you be !

• If I be false, or fwerve a hair from truth,
When time is old and hath forgot itself,
When water-drops have worn the ftones of Troy,
And blind oblivion fwallow'd cities up,
And mighty ftates characterlefs are grated
To dully nothing; yet let memory,

• From false to falfe, among falfe maids in love, Upbraid my falsehood! when they've faid, as false As air, as water, as wind, as fandy earth;

As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf;
Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her fon;

Yea, let them fay, to tick the heart of falsehood,
As falfe as Creffid.-

Pan. Go to, a bargain made: feal it, feal it, I'll be the witness Here I hold your hand; here my coufin's; if ever you prove falfe to one another, fince I have taken fuch pains to bring you together, let all pitiful goers between be call'd to the world's end after my name; call them all Pandars; let all inconftant men be Troilus's, all falle women Creffida's, and all broj kers between Pandars. Say, Amen.

Troi. Amen!

Cre. Amen!

Pan. Amen! Whereupon I will fhew you a bedchamber; which bed, because it fhall not fpeak of your pretty encounters, prels it to death: away.

And Cupid grant all tongue-ty'd maidens here,

Bed, chamber, and Pandar to provide this geer!

SCENE

VI.

[Exeunt.

Changes to the Grecian camp.

Enter Agamemnon, Ulyffes, Diomedes, Neftor, Ajax, Menelaus, and Calchas,

Cal. Now, Princes, for the fervice I have done you, Th' advantage of the time prompts me aloud To call for recompence: appear it to you, That, through the fight I bear in things to come,

I have abandon'd Froy, left my poffeffion,
Incurr'd a traitor's name, expos'd myself,
From certain and poffefs'd conveniences,
To doubtful fortunes; fequeftres from all
That tio e, acquaintance, custom, and condition,
Made tame and molt familiar to my nature;
And here, to do you service, am become
As new into the world, strange, unacquainted:
I do beseech you, as in way of taste,

To give me now a little benefit,

Out of thofe many registred in promise,
Which, you fay, live to come in my behalf.

Aga. What wouldst thou of us, Trojan ? make de

mand.

Cal. You have a Trojan prifoner, call'd Antenor, Yesterday took: Troy holds him very dear. Oft have you (often have you thanks therefore) Defir'd my Creffid in right-great exchange, Whom Troy hath still deny'd: but this Antenor, I know, is fuch a wrest in their affairs, That their negotiations all must flack, Wanting his manage; and they will almoft Give us a prince o' th' blood, a fʊn of Priam, In change of him. Let him be fent, great Princes,. And he shall buy my daughter and her prefence Shall quite ftrike off all fervice I have done, In molt accepted pay.

Aga, Let Diomedes bear him,

And bring us Creffid hither: Calchas fhall have.
What he requests of us.

Good Diomede,

Furnifh you fairly for this interchange;

Withal bring word, if Hector will to-morrow
Be anfwer'd in his challenge Ajax is ready.

Dio. This fhall I undertake, and 'tis a burthen
Which I am proud to bear.

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Enter Achilles and Patroclus, before their tent.

Uly. Achilles ftands i' th' entrance of his tent,, Please it our General to pass strangely by him,, As if he were forgot; and, Princes all,

Lay negligent and loofe regard upon him.
I will come laft; 'tis like he'll question me.
Why fuch unplaufivè eyes are bent on him.
If io, I have decifion medicinable

To ufe between your strangenefs and his pride,
Which his own will shall have desire to drink.
It may do good. Pride hath no other glafs
To fhew itself, but pride; for supple knees
Feed arrogance, and are the proud man's fees.
Aga. We'll execute your purpose, and put on
A form of ftrangenefs as we pass along;
So do each Lord; and either greet him not,
Or else disdainfully, which fhall shake him more
Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.

Achil. What, comes the General to speak with me? You know my mind. I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy. Aga. What fays Achilles? would he aught with us? Neft. Would you, my Lord, aught with the General? Achil. No.

Neft. Nothing, my Lord.

Aga. The better.

Achil. Good day, good day.

Men. How do you? how do you?

Achil. What, does the cuckold fcorn me?

Ajax. How now, Patroclus?

Achil, Good morrow, Ajax.

Ajax. Ha?

Achil. Good morrow.

Ajax. Ay, and good next day too.

[Exeunt

Achil. What mean these fellows? know they not

Achilles?

Pat. They pafs by strangely: they were us'd to bend, To fend their fmiles before them to Achilles,

To come as humbly as they us'd to creep
To holy altars.

Achil. What, am I poor of late?

'Tis certain, Greatnefs once fall'n out with Fortune, • Muft fall out with men too: what the declin'd is, • He fhall as foon read in the eyes of others,

As feel in his own fall: for men, like butterflies, ◄ Shew not their mealy wings but to the fummer; • And not a man, for being fimply man,

• Hath honour, but is honour'd by thofe honours • That are without him; as place, riches, favour, • Prizes of accident as oft as merit :

Which, when they fall, (as being flipp'ry standers), The love that lean'd on them, as flipp'ry too, • Doth one pluck down another, and together Die in the fall. But 'tis not fo with me: Fortune and I are friends; I do enjoy

At ample point all that I did poffefs,

Save these mens looks; who do, methinks, find out
Something in me not worth that rich beholding,
As they have often giv'n. Here is Ulyffes.
I'll interrupt his reading.—Now, Ulyffes?
Uly Now, Thetis' fon!

Achil. What are you reading?
Uly. A ftrange fellow here

Writes me, that man, how dearly ever parted *,
How much in having, or without, or in,
Cannot make boast to have that which he háth,
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;
As when his virtues fhining upon others
Heat them, and they retort that heat again
To the first giver.

Achil. This is not ftrange, Ulyffes,

The beauty that is born here in the face
The bearer knows not, but commends itself

To others' eyes: nor doth the

eye itself

(That molt pure fpirit of fenfe) behold itfelf
Not going from itfelf; but eyes oppos'd

Salute each other with each other's form.
For fpeculation turns not to itself,

Till it hath travell'd, and is marry'd there
Where it may fee its felf; this is not strange.
Uly. I do not ftrain at the position,
It is familiar; but the author's drift;
Who, in his circumstance, expressly proves
That no man is the lord of any thing,
(Tho' in and of him there is much confifting),
Till he communicate bis parts to others ;
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught,

* i, è. how exquisitively soever his virtues be divided and balanced in him.

Till he behold them formed in th' applaufe

Where they're extended; which, like an arch, rever-
The voice again; or, like a gate of steel

Fronting the fun, receives and renders back

[b'rates

His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this,
And apprehended here immediately

The unknown Ajax——

Heavn's! what a man is there? a very horfe,

That has he knows not what, Nature! what things
Moft abject in regard, and dear in use?

[there are,

What things again most dear in the esteem,
And poor in worth? now fhall we fee to-morrow
An act, that very chance doth throw upon him :
Ajax renown'd! O heav'ns, what fome men do,
While fome men leave to do!

How some men fleep in skittish fortune's hall,
While others play the ideots in her eyes ;
How one man eats into another's pride,
While pride is feafting in his wantonnefs!
To fee these Grecian Lords! why ev'n already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder,
As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast,
And great Troy fhrinking.

Achil. This I do believe ;

For they pafs'd by me, as mifers do by beggars,
Neither gave to me good word, nor good look.
What! are my deeds forgot?

Uly. Time hath, my Lord, a wallet at his back, 'Wherein he puts alms for oblivion :

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(A great-fiz'd monster of ingratitude),

Thofe fcraps are good deeds paft, which are devour'd
As faft as they are made, forgot as foon

As done: perfeverance keeps honour bright:
< To have done, is to hang quite out of fashion,
• Like rusty mail in monumental mockery.
"For Honour travels in a streight fo narrow,
"Where one but goes abreast; keep then the path;
"For emulation hath a thousand fons,

"That one by one purfue; if you give way,
"Or turn aside from the direct forth-right,
"Like to an entred tide, they all rush by,
"And leave you hindermoft; and there you lie,
D d

VOL. VII.

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