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; An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it: [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. [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. [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. 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 Now, good my lord, go off; You have not patience; come. Dio. 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. As I kiss thee.-Nay, do not snatch it from me; 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? '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. Dio. To-morrow will I wear it on my helm: Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past;-and yet it is not: I will not keep my word. Dio. Cres. You shall not go :-one cannot speak a word, Dio. What, shall I come ? The hour? Do come; I shall be plagu'd. 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, The fractions of her faith, orts of her love, Tro. Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged well Hark, Greek; as much as I do Cressid love, Ther. He'll tickle it for his concupy. Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false! Ulyss. 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! 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? Hect. You train me to offend you: get you in: 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 Cas. It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow: Hect. How now, young man? mean'st thou to fight to-day? 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, Tro. Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you 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, Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM. Pri. Come, Hector, come, go back: Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had visions; To tell thee-that this day is ominous: 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. 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 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 Enter NESTOR. Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles; That what he wills he does: and does so much, 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, With such a careless force, and forceless care, 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! Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed. Enter HECTOR. Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons; Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then 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. 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. 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. Come, tie his body to my horse's tail; SCENE X.-The same, If in his death the gods have us befriended, Enter ENEAS and Trojans. Tro. Hector is slain. All. Hector ?-The gods forbid. Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host. Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains, 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, 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: |