Tre. Good brother, come you hither; crowns, With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare. Welcome, Sir Diomed! here is the lady, At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand; Dio. Fair lady Cressid, [pects: So please you, save the thanks this prince exThe lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek, Pleads your fair usage; and to Diomed [ly. You shall be mistress and command him wholTro. Grecian, thou dost not use me courte ously, To shame the zeal of my petition to thee, Dio. O, be not mov'd, prince Troilus: Tro. Come, to the port.-I'll tell thee, Diomed, [head.This brave shall oft make thee to hide thy Lady, give me your hand; and, as we walk, To our own selves bend we our needful talk. [Exeunt TROILUS, CRESSIDA, and DIOMED. [Trumpet heard. Par. Hark! Hector's trumpet. Ene. How have we spent this morning! The prince must think me tardy and remiss, That swore to ride before him to the field. Par. 'Tis Troilus' fault: Come, come, to field with him. Dei. Let us make ready straight. Ene. Yea, with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity, Let us address to tend on Hector's heels: The glory of our Troy doth this day lie, On his fair worth and single chivalry. [Exeunt. Thou dreadful Ajax; that the appalled air Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe Thou blow'st for Hector. Ulyss. No trumpet answers. [Trumpet sounds. Agam. Is not yon Diomed, with Calchas' daughter? Ulyss. 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait; Enter DIOMED, with CRESSIDA. Agam. Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, Nest Our general doth salute you with a kiss. "Twere better, she were kiss'd in general. Ulyss. Yet is the kindness but particular; Nest. And very courtly counsel: I'll begin.So much for Nestor. Achil. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady: Achilles bids you welcome. now: Men. I had good argument for kissing once. Patr. But that's no argument for kissing For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment; And parted thus you and your argument. Ulyss. O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns! That you are odd, and he is even with you. Ulyes. It were no match, your nail against his horn. May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you? Cres. You may. Ulyss. I do desire it. Cres. Why, beg then. Ulyss. Why then, for Venus' sake, give me a kiss, When Helen is a maid again, and his. Ulyss. Never's my day, and then a kiss of you. Dio. Lady, a word;-I'll bring you to your father. [DIOMED leads out CRESSIDA, Nest. A woman of quick sense. There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Enter HECTOR, armed; ENEAS, TROILUS, and other Trojans, with Attendants. Ene. Hail, all the state of Greece! what Agam. Which way would Hector have it? A little proudly, and great deal misprising Ene. If not Achilles, Sir, What is your name? Achil. If not Achilles, nothing. In the extremity of great and little, Achil. A maiden battle then?―O, 1 perceive you. Re-enter DIOMED. Agam. Here is Sir Diomed :-Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas Or else a breath ;† the combatants being kin, Half stints their strife before their strokes begin. [AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists. Ulyss. They are oppos'd already. Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy? Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue; Not soon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, soon calm'd: His heart and hand both open, and both free; For what he has, he gives, what thinks, he shows; Yet gives he not till judgement guide his bounty, * Motion. No boaster. Yields, gives way. To tender objects; but he, in heat of action, Agam. They are in action. Nest. Now, Ajax, hold thine own! Awake thee! Agam. His blows are well dispos'd:-there. Ajax! Dio. You must no more. [Trumpets cease. Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son, Wherein my sword had not impressure made Ajax. I thank thee, Hector: Thou art too gentle, and too free a man : Hect. Not Neoptolemus¶ so mirable Hect. We'll answer it; The issue is embracement:-Ajax, farewell. Dio. "Tis Agamemnon's wish: and great Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. here. And that old common arbitrator, time, Will one day end it. And formless ruin of oblivion; come. Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Aga memnon. Agam. My well fam'd lord of Troy, no less to you. [To TROILUS. Men. Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting; You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither. Hect. Whom must we answer? Men. The noble Menelaus. Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks! Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath; Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove: [you. She's well, but bade me not commend her to Men. Name her not now, Sir; she's a deadly theme. Hect. O pardon; I offend. Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee Labouring for destiny, make cruel way [oft, Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen thee, 1 As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, Not letting it decline on the declin'd;5 But, by great Mars, the captain of us all, Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, [time:That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee. Nest. I would my arms could match thee in contention, As they contend with thee in courtesy. [row. By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morWell, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time [come. Ulyss. So to him we leave it. Most gentle, and most valiant Hector, web After the general, I beseech you next To feast with me, and see me at my tent. Achil. I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses thou! Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee; I have with exact view perus'd thee, Hector, And quoted joint by joint. Hect. Is this Achilles? Achil. I am Achilles. Hect. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee. Achil. Behold thy fill. Hect. Nay, I have done already. Achil. Thou art too brief; I will the second time, As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb. Hect. O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er; But there's more in me than thou understand'st. Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye? Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body [there? Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or That I may give the local wound a name; And make distinct the very breach whereout Hector's great spirit flew: Answer me, heavens! Hect. It would discredit the bless'd gods, proud man, To answer such a question: Stand again: Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly, As to prenominatet in nice conjecture, Where thou wilt hit me dead? Achil. I tell thee, yea. Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so, I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well; [there; For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor Ajax. Do not chafe thee, cousin ;- Hect. I pray you, let us see you in the field; We have had pelting|| wars, since you refus'd The Grecians' cause. Achil. Dost thou entreat me, Hector? To-morrow, do I meet thee, fell as death; Hect. Thy hand upon that match. Agam. First, all you peers of Greece go to Ulyss. I wonder now how yonder city stands,To-night, all friends. n llion, on your Greekish embassy. ensue: My prophecy is but half his journey yet; Hect. I must not believe you: * Imperial. + Singular, not common. Heretofore. $ Fallen. | Laomedon. my tent; There in the full convive¶ we: afterwards, That this great soldier may his welcome know. There Diomed doth feast with him to-night; Tro. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so After we part from Agamemnon's tent, Ulyss. You shall command me, Sir. Tro. O, Sir, to such as boasting show their Achil. How now, thou core of envy? Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news? Ther. Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot-worshippers, here's a letter for thee. Achil. From whence, fragment? Ther. Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy. Ther. The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound. Patr. Well said, Adversity!* and what need these tricks? Ther. Pr'ythee be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk: thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet. Patr. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that? Ther. Why, his masculine whore. Now the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o'gravel i'the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, limekilns i'the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter; take and take again such preposterous discoveries! Patr. Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus? Ther. Do I curse thee? Patr. Why, no, you ruinous butt; you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no. Ther. No? why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleivet silk, thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou 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! Achii. My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle. Both taxing me, and gaging me to keep [it: An oath that I have sworn. I will no break Fall, Greeks; fail, fame; honour, or go, of stay; My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent. This night in banqueting 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 madmen. Here's Agamemnon, -an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as earwax: 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 an 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 row, 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! Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMED, with Lights. Agam. We go wrong, we go wrong. Ajar. No, not a whit. Ulyss. Here comes himself to guide you. Enter ACHILLES. Achil. Welcome, brave Hector; welcome, princes all. Agam. So now, fair prince of Troy, I bid good night. Ajax commands the guard to tend on you. Hect. Thanks, and good night, to the Greeks' general. Men. Good night, my lord. And welcome, both to those that go, or tarry. ness, [Exeunt AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS. [Exit DIOMED; ULYSSES and TROILUS Achil. Come, come, enter my tent. [Exeunt ACHILLES, HECTOR, AJAX, and NESTOR. 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 11.-The sume.-Before CALCHAS' Tent. Enter DIOMEDES. Dio. What are you up here, ho? speak. Dio. Diomed.-Calchas, I think.-Where's your daughter? Cal. [Within.] She comes to you. Enter TROILUS and ULYSSES, at a distance; after them THERSITES. 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. Nay, stay; by Jove, I will not speak a There is between my will and all offences Ulyss. Stand where the torch may not disco- rump, and potatoe finger, tickles these together! ver us. Dio. Good night. Tro. Hold, patience! Ulyss. How now, Trojan? Cres. Diomed, Fry, lechery, fry! Dio. But will you then? He loved me-O false wench!-Giv't me again. Cres. No matter, now I hav't again. I will not meet with you to-morrow night: Dio. I shall have it. Cres. What, this? Cres. O, all you gods!-O pretty pretty Thy master now lies thinking in his bed glove, And gives memorial dainty kisses to it, [me; Dio. No, no, good night : I'll be your fool no He, that takes that, must take my heart withal. more. |