The obligation of our blood forbids
A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:
Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so,
That thou couldst say-This hand is Grecian all,
And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg
All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek and this sinister
Bounds-in my father's; by Jove multipotent,
Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member
Wherein my sword had not impressure made
Of our rank feud: But the just gods gainsay,
That any drop thou borrow'st from thy mother,
My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
Be drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax:
By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;
Hector would have them fall upon him thus:
Cousin, all honour to thee!

Ajax.

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

Hect. Not Neoptolemus so mirable,

(On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st 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 sides, What further you will do.

Hect.
We'll answer it;
The issue is embracement:-Ajax, farewell.
Ajax. If I might in entreaties find success,
(As seld I have the chance) I would desire
My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Dio. "Tis Agamemnon's wish: and great Achilles Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector.

Hect. Eneas, call my brother Troilus to me: And signify this loving interview

To the expecters of our Trojan part;

Desire them home.-Give me thy hand, my cousin ; I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.

Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by name; But for Achilles, my own searching eyes Shall find him by his large and portly size.

Aga. Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one That would be rid of such an enemy;

But that's no welcome: Understand more clear, What's past, and what's to come, is strew'd with husks And formless ruin of oblivion;

But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
Aga. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to you.
[To Troilus.
'Men. Let me confirm my princely brother's greet-
ing;

-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:
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.
Heet. O, pardon; I offend.

Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,
Labouring for destiny, make cruel way

Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen thee,

As hot as Perseus. spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,

When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'the air,
Not letting it decline on the declin'd;

That I have said to some my standers-by,

Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!

And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen;
But this thy countenance, still loek'd in steel,
I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
And once fought with him: he was a soldier good;
But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
Never like thee: Let an old man embrace thee;
And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
Ene. 'Tis the old Nestor.

Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time: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.
Hect. I would they could.

Nest. Ha!

By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow.
Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time-

Ulyss. I wonder now how yonder city stands,
When we have here her base and pillar by us.
Hect. I know your favour, lord Ulysses, well.
Ah, sir, there's many a Greek and Trojan dead,
Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy.

Ulyss. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue :
My prophecy is but half his journey yet;
For yonder walls, that pertly front your town,
Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,
Must kiss their own feet.

Hect.
I must not believe you:
There they stand yet; and modestly I think,
The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
A drop of Grecian blood: The end crowns all;
And that old common arbitrator, time,
Will one day end it.

Ulyss.
So to him we leave it.
Most gentle, and most valiant Hector, welcome:
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.

Hert. 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

Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or there?
That I may give the local wound a name;
And make distinct the very breach, whereout
Hector's great spirit flew Answer me, heavens!
Hert. 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 prenominate 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;
For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
But, by the forge that stithied Mars his belm,
I'll kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.-
You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag,
His insolence draws folly from my lips;
But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words,
Or may I never→→→

Ajax.
Do not chafe thee, cousin ;—
And you, Achilles, let these threats alone
Till accident, or purpose bring you to't:
You may have every day enough of Hector,
If you have stomach; the general state, I fear,
Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.

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; To-night, all friends.

Hect.

Thy hand upon that match.

Aga. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent; There in the full convive we; afterwards, As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall Concur together, severally entreat him.— Beat loud the taborines, let the trumpets blow, That this great soldier may his welcome know. [Exeunt all but Troilus and Ulysses. Tro. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you, In what place of the field doth Calchas keep? Ulyss. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus: There Diomed doth feast with him to-night; Who neither looks upon the heaven, nor earth, But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view On the fair Cressid.

Tre. Shall 1, sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
After we part from Agamemnon's teat,
To bring me thither?

Ulyss.
You shall command me, sir.
As gentle tell me, of what honour was
This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there
That wails her absence?

Tro. O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars,
A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord?
She was belov'd. she lov'd; she is, and doth :
But, still, sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.
[Exeunt.

Patr. Who keeps the tent now?

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, sciatacas, lime-kilns i'the palm, incurable bone-ach, 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 sleive 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!

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;
Both taxing me, and gaging me to keep
An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:
Fall, Greeks; fail, fame; honour, or go, or 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 Achil. and Patr.
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'l 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 caz-
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 noth-
ing; 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 fit-
chew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, a puttoc, 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 Menclaus.-Hey-
day! spirits and fires!

Enter Hector, Troilus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Ulysses,
Nestor, Menelaus, and Diomed, with lights.
Aga. We go wrong, we go wrong.
Ajax.

There, where we see the lights.
Hect.

No, yonder 'tis ;

I trouble you.

Ajax. No, not a whit.
Ulyss. Here comes himself to guide you.

Enter Achilles.

Achil. Welcome, brave Hector;-welcome, princes all.

Aga. 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' gen

eral.

Men. Good night, my lord.
Hect.

Good night, sweet Menelaus. Ther. Sweet draught: Sweet, quoth 'a! sweet sink,

sweet sewer.

Achil. Good night,

And welcome, both to those that go, or tarry.

Agu. Good night. [Exeunt Agam. and Menel. 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. Viyss. Follow his torch, he goes 'To Calchas' tent; I'll keep you company. [Aside to Troilus.

Tro. Sweet sir, you honour me.
Hect.

And so, good night. [Exit Diomed; Ulysses and Troilus following. 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.

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!

Ulyss. 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 potatoe 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.
Cres. I'll fetch you one.

Ulyss. You have sworn patience.

Tro. Fear me not, my lord;

I will not be myself, nor have cognition
Of what I feel; I am all patience.

Re-enter Cressida.

[Exit.

Ther. Now the pledge; now, now, now! Cres. Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve. Tro. O beauty! where's thy faith? Ulyss. My lord,Tro. I will be patient; outwardly, I will. Cres. You look upon that sleeve; Behold it well.He loved me-O false wench!-Give't me again. Dio. Who was't?

Cres.

No matter, now I have't again. I will not meet with you to-morrow night:

I pr'y thee, Diomed, visit me no more.

Ther. Now she sharpens;-Well said, whetstone. Dio. I shall have it.

Cres.

What, this?

Dio.

Ay, that.

Cres. O, all you gods!-O pretty pretty pledge!

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, must take my heart withal.
Dio. I had your heart before, this follows it.
Tre. 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.

"Tis no matter.

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,
If sanctimony be the gods' delight,
If there be rule in unity itself,

This was 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 commence 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
Admits no orifice for a point as subtle

As is Arachne's broken woof to enter.
Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates;
Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven;

Dio.

[Exit Dio.

Farewell till then. Cres. Good night. I pr'ythee, come. Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee; But with my heart the other eye doth see. Ah! poor our sex! this fault in us I find, The error of our eye directs our mind: What error leads, must err; O then conclude, Minds. sway'd by eyes, are full of turpitude. [Exit. Ther. A proof of strength she could not publish more, Unless she said, My mind is now turn'd whore. Ulyss. All's done, my lord.

The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolv'd and loos'd;
And with another knot, five-finger-tied,

The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,
The fragments, scraps, the bits, and greasy reliques
Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
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
Inflam'd 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 bate I her Diomed:
That sleeve is mine, that he'll bear on his helm;
Were it a casque compos'd by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout,
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constring'd 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;

Your passion draws ears hither.

Hector and Andromache.

Cas. The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows; They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.

And. O! be persuaded: Do not count it holy To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,

For we would give much, to use violent thefts,

And rob in the behalf of charity.

Cas. It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow; 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 dear man Holds honour far more precious-dear than life. Enter Troilus.

How now, young man? mean'st thou to fight to-day? And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade.

[Exit Cassandra. Hect. No, faith, young Troilus; deff 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.

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.

Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,

Their eyes o'er-galled with recourse of tears;
Nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
Oppos'd to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

Re-enter Cassandra, with Priam.

Cas. Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast: He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay, Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee, Fall all together.

Hect. Andromache, I am offended with you: Upon the love you bear me, get you in. [Exit And. 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 vents! 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;
Do deeds worth praise, and tell you them at night.
Pri. Farewell: the gods with safety stand about

thee!

[Exeunt severally Priam and Hector. Alarums. Tro. They are at it; hark! Proud Diomed, believe I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.

As Troilus is going out, enter, from the other side,
Pandarus.

Pan. Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?
Tro. What now?

Pan. Here's a letter from yon' poor girl.
Tro. Let me read.

Pan. A whoreson ptisie, a whoreson rascally ptisie 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'tWhat says she there?

Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart; [Tearing the letter.

The effect doth operate another way.