Enter DIOMED, with CRESSIDA.

Agam. Is this the lady Creffid?

Dio. Even fhe.

Agam. Molt dearly welcome to the Greeks, fweet lady. Neft. Our general doth falute you with a kiss. Uly. Yet is the kindness but particular; 'Twere better, fhe were kifs'd in general. Neft. And very courtly counfel: I'll begin.So much for Neftor.

Achil. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady: Achilles bids you welcome.

Men. I had good argument for kiffing once.
Patr. But that's no argument for kiffing now:
For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment;
And parted thus you and your argument.

Uly. O deadly gall, and theme of all our fcorns!
For which we lofe our heads, to gild his horns.
Patr. The first was Menelaus' kifs ;-this, mine:
Patroclus kiffes you.

Men. O, this is trim!

Patr. Paris, and I, kiss evermore for him.

Men. I'll have my kifs, fir:-Lady, by your leave.
Cre. In kiffing, do you render, or receive?

Patr. Both take and give 9.

Cre. I'll make my match to live',

The kiss you take is better than you give ;
Therefore no kiss.

Men. I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.
Cre. You're an odd man; give even, or give none.
Men. An odd man, lady? every man is odd.
Cre. No, Paris is not; for, you know, 'tis true,
That you are odd, and he is even with you.

Men.

This fpeech fhould rather be given to Menelaus. TYRWHITT. I will make fuch bargains as I may live by, fuch as may bring me profit, therefore will not take a worfe kifs than I give. JOHNSON. I believe this only means-I'll lay my life. TYRWHITT.

Men. You fillip me o' the head.

Cre. No, I'll be fworn.

Uly. It were no match, your nail against his horn.-May I, fweet lady, beg a kifs of you ?

Cre. You may.

Ulyff. I do defire it.

Cre. Why, beg then.

Uly. Why then, for Venus' fake, give me a kifs,
When Helen is a maid again, and his.

Cre. I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.
Uly. Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.
Dio. Lady, a word;-I'll bring you to your father.
[Diomed leads out Crefida..
Neft. A woman of quick fenfe,

Uly. Fie, fie upon her!

There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
Nay, her foot fpeaks; her wanton fpirits look out
At every joint and motive of her body.
O, thefe encounterers, fo glib of tongue,
That give a coafting welcome ere it comes,
And wide unclafp the tables of their thoughts
Το every ticklish reader! fet them down
For fluttish spoils of opportunity 5,
And daughters of the game.
All. The Trojans' trumpet!

Agam. Yonder comes the troop.

[Trumpet within.

Enter HECTOR arm'd, ENEAS, TROILUS, and other Trojans, with Attendants.

Æne. Hail, all the state of Greece! what shall be done to him

That victory commands? Or do you purpose,

R 4

A victor

2 For the fake of rhime we should read: Why beg two. If you think kiffes worth begging, beg more than one. JOHNSON. 3 Motive for part that contributes to motions

4 A conciliatory welcome; that makes filent advances before the tongue has uttered a word.

5 Corrupt wenches, of whose chastity every opportunity may make a prey.

A victor shall be known? will you, the knights
Shall to the edge of all extremity

Purfue each other; or fhall they be divided
By any voice or order of the field?

Hector bade ask.

Agam. Which way would Hector have it?
Ene. He cares not, he'll obey conditions.
Achil. 'Tis done like Hector; but fecurely done",
A little proudly, and great deal mifprizing

The knight oppos'd.

Ene. If not Achilles, fir.

What is your name?

Acbil. If not Achilles, nothing.

Ene. Therefore Achilles: But, whate'er, know this ;In the extremity of great and little,

Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector';
The one almoft as infinite as all,

The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,
And that, which looks like pride, is courtefy.
This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood:
In love whereof, half Hector flays at home;
Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to feek
This blended knight, half Trojan, and half Greek".
Achil. A maiden battle then?-O, I perceive you.

Re-enter DIOMED.

Agam. Here is fir Diomed:-Go, gentle knight,

Stand

6 'Tis done like Hedor; but securely done,] In the fenfe of the Latin, fecurus:fecurus admodum de bello, animi fecuri bomo. A negligent fecurity arifing from a contempt of the object oppofed. WARBURTON. Cavalero, with the Spanish termination, it is to be found in Hey. wood, Withers, Davies, Taylor, and many other writers.

7 Shakspeare's thought is not exactly deduced. Nicety of expreffion is not his character. The meaning is plain: "Valour (lays neas} is in Hector greater than valour in other men, and pride in Hector is lefs than pride in other men. So that Hector is diftinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour "

8 Ajax and Hector were coufin-germans.

9 Hence Patroclus in a former scene called Ajax a mongrel.

Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas
Concent upon the order of their fight,
So be it; either to the uttermoft,

Or elfe a breath: the combatants being kin,
Half ftints their ftrife before their strokes begin.

[Ajax and Hector enter the lifts.

Uly. They are oppos'd already.

Agam.What Trojan is that fame that looks fo heavy ľ
Ulyff. The youngest fon of Priam, a true knight;
Not yet mature, yet matchlefs; firm of word;
Speaking in deeds, and deedlefs in his tongue;
Not foon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, foon calm'd:-
His heart and hand both open, and both free;
For what he has, he gives, what thinks, he fhews;
Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath:
Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;

For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, fubfcribes
To tender objects 3; but he, in heat of action,
Is more vindicative than jealous love:
They call him Troilus; and on him erect
A fecond hope, as fairly built as Hector.
Thus fays Æneas; one that knows the youth
Even to his inches, and, with private foul,
Did in great Ilion thus tranflate him to me.

[Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight. Agam. They are in action.

Neft. Now, Ajax, hold thine own!

Tro. Hector, thou fleep'ft, awake thee!

Agam. His blows are well difpos'd:-there, Ajax !

Dio. You must no more.

Ene. Princes, enough, fo please you.

[Trumpets ceafe.

Ajax. I am not warm yet, let us fight again.

Dio. As Hector pleases.

2 A thought unsuitable to the dignity of his character. This word I fhould have changed to impure, were I not over-powered by the unanimity of the editors, and concurrence of the old copies. JoHNSON. 3 That is, yields, gives way.

4 Thus explain bis charañer.

Het. Why then, will I no more :

Thou art, great lord, my father's fifter's-fon,
A coufin-german to great Priam's feed;
The obligation of our blood forbids

A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:

Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan fo,
That thou could'st say-This hand is Grecian all,
And this is Trojan; the finews of this leg
All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this finifter
Bounds-in my father's; by Jove multipotent,
Thou fhould't not bear from me a Greekish member
Wherein my fword had not impreffure made
Of our rank feud: But the juft gods gainsay,
That any drop thou borrow'ft from thy mother,
My facred aunt, fhould by my mortal fword
Be drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax:
By him that thunders, thou haft lufty arms;
Hector would have them fall upon him thus:
Coufin, all honour to thee!

Ajax. I thank thee, Hector:

Thou art too gentle, and too free a man:
I came to kill thee, coufin, and bear hence
A great addition earned in thy death.

Het. Not Neoptolemus fo mirable

(On whofe bright creft Fame with her loud'ft O yes Cries, This is he,) could promise to himself

A thought of added honour torn from Hector.

Ene. There is expectance here from both the fides, What further you will do.

Hect. We'll answer it;

The iffue is embracement:-Ajax, farewel. Ajax. If I might in entreaties find fuccefs, (As feld I have the chance, I would defire

My

5 My opinion is, that by Neoptolemus the authour meant Achilles himfelf; and remembering that the fon was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, confidered Neoptolemus as the nomen gentilitium, and thought the father was likewife Achilles Neoptolemus. JOHNSON.

That is, anfwer the expectance.