In faith, I do not: come hither once again.

Ulyss. You shake, my lord, at something: will you go?

cover us.

Enter CRESSIDA.

Tro. Cressid comes forth to him. Dio. How now, my charge! Cres. Now, my sweet guardian! Hark, a word with you. [Whispers.

Tro. Yea, so familiar!

Ulyss. She will sing any man at first sight. Ther. And any man may sing her, if he can

take her cliff; she's noted.

Dio. Will you remember?
Cres. Remember! yes.
Dio. Nay, but do, then;

And let your mind be coupled with your words.
Tro. What should she remember?
Ulyss. List.

II

Cres. Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly.

Ther. Roguery!

Dio. Nay, then,

Cres. I'll tell you what,

20

Dio. Foh, foh! come, tell a pin: you are for

Tro. Ulyss.

50

She strokes his cheek!
Come, come.

Tro. Nay, stay; by Jove, I will not speak a word:

There is between my will and all offences
A guard of patience: stay a little while.

Ther. How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry!

Dio. But will you, then?

Cres. In faith, I will, la; never trust me else.
Dio. Give me some token for the surety of it. 60
Cres. I'll fetch you one.

Ulyss. You have sworn patience.
Tro.

[Exit.

Fear me not, sweet lord; I will not be myself, nor have cognition Of what I feel: I am all patience.

30

Dio.

Dio. No, no, good night: I'll be your fool

What, this?

Ay, that. Cres. O, all you gods! O pretty, pretty pledge!

80

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 doth 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.

It is no matter.

Dio. Come, tell me whose it was.
Cres. 'Twas one's that loved me better than

you will.
But, now you have it, take it.

90

Dio. Whose was it? Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women yond, 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 worest it on thy horn,

It should be challenged.

Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past: and yet it is not;

Tro. Why, my negation hath no taste of madness.

Ulyss. Nor mine, my lord: Cressid was here but now.

131

Tro. Let it not be believed 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 sanctimonies, If sanctimony be the gods' delight, If there be rule in unity itself,

140

This is 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 conduce 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 150
Admits no orifex for a point as subtle

As Ariachne'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, dissolved, and
loosed;

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. 160
Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attach'd
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
Inflamed with Venus: never did young man fancy
With so eternal and so fix'd 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 composed by Vulcan's skill, 170
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constringed 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; 180

Your passion draws ears hither.

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 holds 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 temper'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 10 Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night

Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,
Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;
Nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

slaughter.

Cas. O, 'tis true.
Heft.
Ho bid my trumpet sound.
Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet
brother.

Heft. Be gone, I say: the gods have heard

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 brave man
Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.
Enter TROILUS.

How now, young man! mean'st thou to fight today?

And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade. 30 [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 knots 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.

Heft. What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me for it.

Tro. When many times the captive Grecian falls,

Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise, and live.
Heft. O, 'tis fair play.
Tro.

40

Fool's play, by heaven, Hector.
Heft. How now! how now!
Tro.
For the love of all the gods,
Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers,
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;

50

60

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.

Heft.
Æneas is a-field;
And I do stand engaged to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.

Pri.

71

Ay, but thou shalt not go. Heft. 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!

81

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;

The effect doth operate another way.

109

[Tearing the letter. 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. Plains 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, of 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 to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following. Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,

I would swim after.

20

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian!-now for thy whore, Trojan!-now the sleeve, now the

sleeve !

[Exeunt Troilus and Diomedes, fighting.

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's match?

Art thou of blood and honour?

Ther. No, no, I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hect. I do believe thee: live.

31

[Exit.

Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck for frighting me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think they have swallowed one another: I would laugh at that miracle: yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek them. [Exit.

SCENE V. Another part of the plains.

Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant.

Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;

Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;

Mar.

Enter MARGARELON.

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 a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One 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 judgement: farewell, bastard. [Exit. Mar. The devil take thee, coward! [Exit. SCENE VIII. Another part of the plains. Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrefied core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.

midons;

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,
Empale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your aims.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:
It is decreed Hector the great must die. [Exeunt.
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.

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 darking 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 seek. [Hector falls. 10 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.'

[A retreat sounded. Hark! a retire upon our Grecian part. Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.

Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads

the earth,