XML Bible (2nd Edition)/XML_Bible_Second_Edition_Hungry_Minds_2001.iso/mac/examples/shakespeare/troilus.xml

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<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE PLAY SYSTEM "play.dtd">

<PLAY>
<TITLE>The History of Troilus and Cressida</TITLE>

<FM>
<P>ASCII text placed in the public domain by Moby Lexical Tools, 1992.</P>
<P>SGML markup by Jon Bosak, 1992-1994.</P>
<P>XML version by Jon Bosak, 1996-1999.</P>
<P>The XML markup in this version is Copyright © 1999 Jon Bosak.
This work may freely be distributed on condition that it not be
modified or altered in any way.</P>
</FM>

<PERSONAE>
<TITLE>Dramatis Personae</TITLE>

<PERSONA>PRIAM, king of Troy.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>HECTOR</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>TROILUS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PARIS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DEIPHOBUS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>HELENUS</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>his sons.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>MARGARELON, a bastard son of Priam.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>AENEAS</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ANTENOR</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>Trojan commanders.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>CALCHAS, a Trojan priest, taking part with the Greeks.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PANDARUS, uncle to Cressida.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>AGAMEMNON, the Grecian general.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>MENELAUS, his brother.</PERSONA>

<PGROUP>
<PERSONA>ACHILLES</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>AJAX</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ULYSSES</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>NESTOR</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>DIOMEDES</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>PATROCLUS</PERSONA>
<GRPDESCR>Grecian princes.</GRPDESCR>
</PGROUP>

<PERSONA>THERSITES, a deformed and scurrilous Grecian.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ALEXANDER, servant to Cressida.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Servant to Troilus. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Servant to Paris.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Servant to Diomedes. </PERSONA>
<PERSONA>HELEN, wife to Menelaus.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>ANDROMACHE, wife to Hector.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>CASSANDRA, daughter to Priam, a prophetess.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>CRESSIDA, daughter to Calchas.</PERSONA>
<PERSONA>Trojan and Greek Soldiers, and Attendants.</PERSONA>
</PERSONAE>

<SCNDESCR>SCENE  Troy, and the Grecian camp before it.</SCNDESCR>

<PLAYSUBT>TROILUS AND CRESSIDA</PLAYSUBT>

<PROLOGUE><TITLE>PROLOGUE</TITLE>
<SPEECH><SPEAKER></SPEAKER>
<LINE>In Troy, there lies the scene. From isles of Greece</LINE>
<LINE>The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed,</LINE>
<LINE>Have to the port of Athens sent their ships,</LINE>
<LINE>Fraught with the ministers and instruments</LINE>
<LINE>Of cruel war: sixty and nine, that wore</LINE>
<LINE>Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay</LINE>
<LINE>Put forth toward Phrygia; and their vow is made</LINE>
<LINE>To ransack Troy, within whose strong immures</LINE>
<LINE>The ravish'd Helen, Menelaus' queen,</LINE>
<LINE>With wanton Paris sleeps; and that's the quarrel.</LINE>
<LINE>To Tenedos they come;</LINE>
<LINE>And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge</LINE>
<LINE>Their warlike fraughtage: now on Dardan plains</LINE>
<LINE>The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch</LINE>
<LINE>Their brave pavilions: Priam's six-gated city,</LINE>
<LINE>Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien,</LINE>
<LINE>And Antenorides, with massy staples</LINE>
<LINE>And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts,</LINE>
<LINE>Sperr up the sons of Troy.</LINE>
<LINE>Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits,</LINE>
<LINE>On one and other side, Trojan and Greek,</LINE>
<LINE>Sets all on hazard: and hither am I come</LINE>
<LINE>A prologue arm'd, but not in confidence</LINE>
<LINE>Of author's pen or actor's voice, but suited</LINE>
<LINE>In like conditions as our argument,</LINE>
<LINE>To tell you, fair beholders, that our play</LINE>
<LINE>Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,</LINE>
<LINE>Beginning in the middle, starting thence away</LINE>
<LINE>To what may be digested in a play.</LINE>
<LINE>Like or find fault; do as your pleasures are:</LINE>
<LINE>Now good or bad, 'tis but the chance of war.</LINE>
</SPEECH>
</PROLOGUE>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT I</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Troy. Before Priam's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS armed, and PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Call here my varlet; I'll unarm again:</LINE>
<LINE>Why should I war without the walls of Troy,</LINE>
<LINE>That find such cruel battle here within?</LINE>
<LINE>Each Trojan that is master of his heart,</LINE>
<LINE>Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will this gear ne'er be mended?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength,</LINE>
<LINE>Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant;</LINE>
<LINE>But I am weaker than a woman's tear,</LINE>
<LINE>Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance,</LINE>
<LINE>Less valiant than the virgin in the night</LINE>
<LINE>And skilless as unpractised infancy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll not meddle nor make no further. He that will</LINE>
<LINE>have a cake out of the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have I not tarried?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry</LINE>
<LINE>the bolting.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have I not tarried?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, the bolting, but you must tarry the leavening.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Still have I tarried.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, to the leavening; but here's yet in the word</LINE>
<LINE>'hereafter' the kneading, the making of the cake, the</LINE>
<LINE>heating of the oven and the baking; nay, you must</LINE>
<LINE>stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be,</LINE>
<LINE>Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do.</LINE>
<LINE>At Priam's royal table do I sit;</LINE>
<LINE>And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts,--</LINE>
<LINE>So, traitor! 'When she comes!' When is she thence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw</LINE>
<LINE>her look, or any woman else.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was about to tell thee:--when my heart,</LINE>
<LINE>As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest Hector or my father should perceive me,</LINE>
<LINE>I have, as when the sun doth light a storm,</LINE>
<LINE>Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile:</LINE>
<LINE>But sorrow, that is couch'd in seeming gladness,</LINE>
<LINE>Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's--</LINE>
<LINE>well, go to--there were no more comparison between</LINE>
<LINE>the women: but, for my part, she is my kinswoman; I</LINE>
<LINE>would not, as they term it, praise her: but I would</LINE>
<LINE>somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did. I</LINE>
<LINE>will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit, but--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,--</LINE>
<LINE>When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Reply not in how many fathoms deep</LINE>
<LINE>They lie indrench'd. I tell thee I am mad</LINE>
<LINE>In Cressid's love: thou answer'st 'she is fair;'</LINE>
<LINE>Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart</LINE>
<LINE>Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice,</LINE>
<LINE>Handlest in thy discourse, O, that her hand,</LINE>
<LINE>In whose comparison all whites are ink,</LINE>
<LINE>Writing their own reproach, to whose soft seizure</LINE>
<LINE>The cygnet's down is harsh and spirit of sense</LINE>
<LINE>Hard as the palm of ploughman: this thou tell'st me,</LINE>
<LINE>As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love her;</LINE>
<LINE>But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me</LINE>
<LINE>The knife that made it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I speak no more than truth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou dost not speak so much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Faith, I'll not meddle in't. Let her be as she is:</LINE>
<LINE>if she be fair, 'tis the better for her; an she be</LINE>
<LINE>not, she has the mends in her own hands.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good Pandarus, how now, Pandarus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have had my labour for my travail; ill-thought on of</LINE>
<LINE>her and ill-thought on of you; gone between and</LINE>
<LINE>between, but small thanks for my labour.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Because she's kin to me, therefore she's not so fair</LINE>
<LINE>as Helen: an she were not kin to me, she would be as</LINE>
<LINE>fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday. But what care</LINE>
<LINE>I? I care not an she were a black-a-moor; 'tis all one to me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say I she is not fair?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do not care whether you do or no. She's a fool to</LINE>
<LINE>stay behind her father; let her to the Greeks; and so</LINE>
<LINE>I'll tell her the next time I see her: for my part,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll meddle nor make no more i' the matter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pandarus,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not I.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet Pandarus,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray you, speak no more to me: I will leave all as I</LINE>
<LINE>found it, and there an end.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit PANDARUS. An alarum</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds!</LINE>
<LINE>Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,</LINE>
<LINE>When with your blood you daily paint her thus.</LINE>
<LINE>I cannot fight upon this argument;</LINE>
<LINE>It is too starved a subject for my sword.</LINE>
<LINE>But Pandarus,--O gods, how do you plague me!</LINE>
<LINE>I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar;</LINE>
<LINE>And he's as tetchy to be woo'd to woo.</LINE>
<LINE>As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit.</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love,</LINE>
<LINE>What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we?</LINE>
<LINE>Her bed is India; there she lies, a pearl:</LINE>
<LINE>Between our Ilium and where she resides,</LINE>
<LINE>Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood,</LINE>
<LINE>Ourself the merchant, and this sailing Pandar</LINE>
<LINE>Our doubtful hope, our convoy and our bark.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Enter AENEAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, Prince Troilus! wherefore not afield?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Because not there: this woman's answer sorts,</LINE>
<LINE>For womanish it is to be from thence.</LINE>
<LINE>What news, AEneas, from the field to-day?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That Paris is returned home and hurt.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By whom, AEneas?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus, by Menelaus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let Paris bleed; 'tis but a scar to scorn;</LINE>
<LINE>Paris is gored with Menelaus' horn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Alarum</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark, what good sport is out of town to-day!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Better at home, if 'would I might' were 'may.'</LINE>
<LINE>But to the sport abroad: are you bound thither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In all swift haste.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, go we then together.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  The Same. A street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter CRESSIDA and ALEXANDER</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who were those went by?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Queen Hecuba and Helen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And whither go they?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Up to the eastern tower,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose height commands as subject all the vale,</LINE>
<LINE>To see the battle. Hector, whose patience</LINE>
<LINE>Is, as a virtue, fix'd, to-day was moved:</LINE>
<LINE>He chid Andromache and struck his armourer,</LINE>
<LINE>And, like as there were husbandry in war,</LINE>
<LINE>Before the sun rose he was harness'd light,</LINE>
<LINE>And to the field goes he; where every flower</LINE>
<LINE>Did, as a prophet, weep what it foresaw</LINE>
<LINE>In Hector's wrath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What was his cause of anger?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The noise goes, this: there is among the Greeks</LINE>
<LINE>A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector;</LINE>
<LINE>They call him Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good; and what of him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They say he is a very man per se,</LINE>
<LINE>And stands alone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their</LINE>
<LINE>particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion,</LINE>
<LINE>churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man</LINE>
<LINE>into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his</LINE>
<LINE>valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with</LINE>
<LINE>discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he</LINE>
<LINE>hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he</LINE>
<LINE>carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without</LINE>
<LINE>cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the</LINE>
<LINE>joints of every thing, but everything so out of joint</LINE>
<LINE>that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use,</LINE>
<LINE>or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But how should this man, that makes</LINE>
<LINE>me smile, make Hector angry?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle and</LINE>
<LINE>struck him down, the disdain and shame whereof hath</LINE>
<LINE>ever since kept Hector fasting and waking.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who comes here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Madam, your uncle Pandarus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector's a gallant man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALEXANDER</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As may be in the world, lady.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's that? what's that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, uncle Pandarus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, cousin Cressid: what do you talk of?</LINE>
<LINE>Good morrow, Alexander. How do you, cousin? When</LINE>
<LINE>were you at Ilium?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This morning, uncle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What were you talking of when I came? Was Hector</LINE>
<LINE>armed and gone ere ye came to Ilium? Helen was not</LINE>
<LINE>up, was she?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector was gone, but Helen was not up.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even so: Hector was stirring early.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That were we talking of, and of his anger.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Was he angry?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So he says here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>True, he was so: I know the cause too: he'll lay</LINE>
<LINE>about him to-day, I can tell them that: and there's</LINE>
<LINE>Troilus will not come far behind him: let them take</LINE>
<LINE>heed of Troilus, I can tell them that too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, is he angry too?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of the two.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Jupiter! there's no comparison.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a</LINE>
<LINE>man if you see him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, if I ever saw him before and knew him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, I say Troilus is Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is not Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis just to each of them; he is himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Himself! Alas, poor Troilus! I would he were.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So he is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Condition, I had gone barefoot to India.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is not Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Himself! no, he's not himself: would a' were</LINE>
<LINE>himself! Well, the gods are above; time must friend</LINE>
<LINE>or end: well, Troilus, well: I would my heart were</LINE>
<LINE>in her body. No, Hector is not a better man than Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Excuse me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is elder.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pardon me, pardon me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Th' other's not come to't; you shall tell me another</LINE>
<LINE>tale, when th' other's come to't. Hector shall not</LINE>
<LINE>have his wit this year.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He shall not need it, if he have his own.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor his qualities.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No matter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor his beauty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twould not become him; his own's better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have no judgment, niece: Helen</LINE>
<LINE>herself swore th' other day, that Troilus, for</LINE>
<LINE>a brown favour--for so 'tis, I must confess,--</LINE>
<LINE>not brown neither,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, but brown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To say the truth, true and not true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She praised his complexion above Paris.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, Paris hath colour enough.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So he has.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then Troilus should have too much: if she praised</LINE>
<LINE>him above, his complexion is higher than his; he</LINE>
<LINE>having colour enough, and the other higher, is too</LINE>
<LINE>flaming a praise for a good complexion. I had as</LINE>
<LINE>lief Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for</LINE>
<LINE>a copper nose.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I swear to you. I think Helen loves him better than Paris.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then she's a merry Greek indeed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him th' other</LINE>
<LINE>day into the compassed window,--and, you know, he</LINE>
<LINE>has not past three or four hairs on his chin,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his</LINE>
<LINE>particulars therein to a total.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, he is very young: and yet will he, within</LINE>
<LINE>three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is he so young a man and so old a lifter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But to prove to you that Helen loves him: she came</LINE>
<LINE>and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Juno have mercy! how came it cloven?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, you know 'tis dimpled: I think his smiling</LINE>
<LINE>becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, he smiles valiantly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Does he not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O yes, an 'twere a cloud in autumn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, go to, then: but to prove to you that Helen</LINE>
<LINE>loves Troilus,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus will stand to the proof, if you'll</LINE>
<LINE>prove it so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus! why, he esteems her no more than I esteem</LINE>
<LINE>an addle egg.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle</LINE>
<LINE>head, you would eat chickens i' the shell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled</LINE>
<LINE>his chin: indeed, she has a marvellous white hand, I</LINE>
<LINE>must needs confess,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Without the rack.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Alas, poor chin! many a wart is richer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But there was such laughing! Queen Hecuba laughed</LINE>
<LINE>that her eyes ran o'er.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With mill-stones.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Cassandra laughed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But there was more temperate fire under the pot of</LINE>
<LINE>her eyes: did her eyes run o'er too?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And Hector laughed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At what was all this laughing?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An't had been a green hair, I should have laughed</LINE>
<LINE>too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They laughed not so much at the hair as at his pretty answer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What was his answer?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Quoth she, 'Here's but two and fifty hairs on your</LINE>
<LINE>chin, and one of them is white.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is her question.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's true; make no question of that. 'Two and</LINE>
<LINE>fifty hairs' quoth he, 'and one white: that white</LINE>
<LINE>hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons.'</LINE>
<LINE>'Jupiter!' quoth she, 'which of these hairs is Paris,</LINE>
<LINE>my husband? 'The forked one,' quoth he, 'pluck't</LINE>
<LINE>out, and give it him.' But there was such laughing!</LINE>
<LINE>and Helen so blushed, an Paris so chafed, and all the</LINE>
<LINE>rest so laughed, that it passed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So let it now; for it has been while going by.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, cousin. I told you a thing yesterday; think on't.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So I do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll be sworn 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'twere</LINE>
<LINE>a man born in April.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle</LINE>
<LINE>against May.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>A retreat sounded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark! they are coming from the field: shall we</LINE>
<LINE>stand up here, and see them as they pass toward</LINE>
<LINE>Ilium? good niece, do, sweet niece Cressida.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At your pleasure.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may</LINE>
<LINE>see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their</LINE>
<LINE>names as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak not so loud.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>AENEAS passes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's AEneas: is not that a brave man? he's one of</LINE>
<LINE>the flowers of Troy, I can tell you: but mark</LINE>
<LINE>Troilus; you shall see anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>ANTENOR passes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's Antenor: he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you;</LINE>
<LINE>and he's a man good enough, he's one o' the soundest</LINE>
<LINE>judgments in whosoever, and a proper man of person.</LINE>
<LINE>When comes Troilus? I'll show you Troilus anon: if</LINE>
<LINE>he see me, you shall see him nod at me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will he give you the nod?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall see.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If he do, the rich shall have more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>HECTOR passes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's Hector, that, that, look you, that; there's a</LINE>
<LINE>fellow! Go thy way, Hector! There's a brave man,</LINE>
<LINE>niece. O brave Hector! Look how he looks! there's</LINE>
<LINE>a countenance! is't not a brave man?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, a brave man!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is a' not? it does a man's heart good. Look you</LINE>
<LINE>what hacks are on his helmet! look you yonder, do</LINE>
<LINE>you see? look you there: there's no jesting;</LINE>
<LINE>there's laying on, take't off who will, as they say:</LINE>
<LINE>there be hacks!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be those with swords?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Swords! any thing, he cares not; an the devil come</LINE>
<LINE>to him, it's all one: by God's lid, it does one's</LINE>
<LINE>heart good. Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>PARIS passes</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Look ye yonder, niece; is't not a gallant man too,</LINE>
<LINE>is't not? Why, this is brave now. Who said he came</LINE>
<LINE>hurt home to-day? he's not hurt: why, this will do</LINE>
<LINE>Helen's heart good now, ha! Would I could see</LINE>
<LINE>Troilus now! You shall see Troilus anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>HELENUS passes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's Helenus. I marvel where Troilus is. That's</LINE>
<LINE>Helenus. I think he went not forth to-day. That's Helenus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Can Helenus fight, uncle?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Helenus? no. Yes, he'll fight indifferent well. I</LINE>
<LINE>marvel where Troilus is. Hark! do you not hear the</LINE>
<LINE>people cry 'Troilus'? Helenus is a priest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What sneaking fellow comes yonder?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>TROILUS passes</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus. 'Tis Troilus!</LINE>
<LINE>there's a man, niece! Hem! Brave Troilus! the</LINE>
<LINE>prince of chivalry!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, for shame, peace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mark him; note him. O brave Troilus! Look well upon</LINE>
<LINE>him, niece: look you how his sword is bloodied, and</LINE>
<LINE>his helm more hacked than Hector's, and how he looks,</LINE>
<LINE>and how he goes! O admirable youth! he ne'er saw</LINE>
<LINE>three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way!</LINE>
<LINE>Had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess,</LINE>
<LINE>he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris?</LINE>
<LINE>Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to</LINE>
<LINE>change, would give an eye to boot.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here come more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Forces pass</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Asses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran!</LINE>
<LINE>porridge after meat! I could live and die i' the</LINE>
<LINE>eyes of Troilus. Ne'er look, ne'er look: the eagles</LINE>
<LINE>are gone: crows and daws, crows and daws! I had</LINE>
<LINE>rather be such a man as Troilus than Agamemnon and</LINE>
<LINE>all Greece.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is among the Greeks Achilles, a better man than Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Achilles! a drayman, a porter, a very camel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Well, well!' why, have you any discretion? have</LINE>
<LINE>you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not</LINE>
<LINE>birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood,</LINE>
<LINE>learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality,</LINE>
<LINE>and such like, the spice and salt that season a man?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, a minced man: and then to be baked with no date</LINE>
<LINE>in the pie, for then the man's date's out.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you</LINE>
<LINE>lie.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to</LINE>
<LINE>defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine</LINE>
<LINE>honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to</LINE>
<LINE>defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a</LINE>
<LINE>thousand watches.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Say one of your watches.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the</LINE>
<LINE>chiefest of them too: if I cannot ward what I would</LINE>
<LINE>not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took</LINE>
<LINE>the blow; unless it swell past hiding, and then it's</LINE>
<LINE>past watching.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are such another!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter Troilus's Boy</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Boy</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Boy</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At your own house; there he unarms him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good boy, tell him I come.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit boy</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>I doubt he be hurt. Fare ye well, good niece.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Adieu, uncle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll be with you, niece, by and by.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To bring, uncle?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, a token from Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By the same token, you are a bawd.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice,</LINE>
<LINE>He offers in another's enterprise;</LINE>
<LINE>But more in Troilus thousand fold I see</LINE>
<LINE>Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be;</LINE>
<LINE>Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:</LINE>
<LINE>Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.</LINE>
<LINE>That she beloved knows nought that knows not this:</LINE>
<LINE>Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is:</LINE>
<LINE>That she was never yet that ever knew</LINE>
<LINE>Love got so sweet as when desire did sue.</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore this maxim out of love I teach:</LINE>
<LINE>Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech:</LINE>
<LINE>Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear,</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  The Grecian camp. Before Agamemnon's tent.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Sennet. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR, ULYSSES,
MENELAUS, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Princes,</LINE>
<LINE>What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?</LINE>
<LINE>The ample proposition that hope makes</LINE>
<LINE>In all designs begun on earth below</LINE>
<LINE>Fails in the promised largeness: cheques and disasters</LINE>
<LINE>Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd,</LINE>
<LINE>As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap,</LINE>
<LINE>Infect the sound pine and divert his grain</LINE>
<LINE>Tortive and errant from his course of growth.</LINE>
<LINE>Nor, princes, is it matter new to us</LINE>
<LINE>That we come short of our suppose so far</LINE>
<LINE>That after seven years' siege yet Troy walls stand;</LINE>
<LINE>Sith every action that hath gone before,</LINE>
<LINE>Whereof we have record, trial did draw</LINE>
<LINE>Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,</LINE>
<LINE>And that unbodied figure of the thought</LINE>
<LINE>That gave't surmised shape. Why then, you princes,</LINE>
<LINE>Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works,</LINE>
<LINE>And call them shames? which are indeed nought else</LINE>
<LINE>But the protractive trials of great Jove</LINE>
<LINE>To find persistive constancy in men:</LINE>
<LINE>The fineness of which metal is not found</LINE>
<LINE>In fortune's love; for then the bold and coward,</LINE>
<LINE>The wise and fool, the artist and unread,</LINE>
<LINE>The hard and soft seem all affined and kin:</LINE>
<LINE>But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,</LINE>
<LINE>Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,</LINE>
<LINE>Puffing at all, winnows the light away;</LINE>
<LINE>And what hath mass or matter, by itself</LINE>
<LINE>Lies rich in virtue and unmingled.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With due observance of thy godlike seat,</LINE>
<LINE>Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply</LINE>
<LINE>Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance</LINE>
<LINE>Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,</LINE>
<LINE>How many shallow bauble boats dare sail</LINE>
<LINE>Upon her patient breast, making their way</LINE>
<LINE>With those of nobler bulk!</LINE>
<LINE>But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage</LINE>
<LINE>The gentle Thetis, and anon behold</LINE>
<LINE>The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,</LINE>
<LINE>Bounding between the two moist elements,</LINE>
<LINE>Like Perseus' horse: where's then the saucy boat</LINE>
<LINE>Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now</LINE>
<LINE>Co-rivall'd greatness? Either to harbour fled,</LINE>
<LINE>Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so</LINE>
<LINE>Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide</LINE>
<LINE>In storms of fortune; for in her ray and brightness</LINE>
<LINE>The herd hath more annoyance by the breeze</LINE>
<LINE>Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind</LINE>
<LINE>Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,</LINE>
<LINE>And flies fled under shade, why, then the thing of courage</LINE>
<LINE>As roused with rage with rage doth sympathize,</LINE>
<LINE>And with an accent tuned in selfsame key</LINE>
<LINE>Retorts to chiding fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Agamemnon,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,</LINE>
<LINE>Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit.</LINE>
<LINE>In whom the tempers and the minds of all</LINE>
<LINE>Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.</LINE>
<LINE>Besides the applause and approbation To which,</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To AGAMEMNON</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>most mighty for thy place and sway,</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>To NESTOR</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life</LINE>
<LINE>I give to both your speeches, which were such</LINE>
<LINE>As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece</LINE>
<LINE>Should hold up high in brass, and such again</LINE>
<LINE>As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,</LINE>
<LINE>Should with a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree</LINE>
<LINE>On which heaven rides, knit all the Greekish ears</LINE>
<LINE>To his experienced tongue, yet let it please both,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect</LINE>
<LINE>That matter needless, of importless burden,</LINE>
<LINE>Divide thy lips, than we are confident,</LINE>
<LINE>When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws,</LINE>
<LINE>We shall hear music, wit and oracle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,</LINE>
<LINE>And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master,</LINE>
<LINE>But for these instances.</LINE>
<LINE>The specialty of rule hath been neglected:</LINE>
<LINE>And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand</LINE>
<LINE>Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.</LINE>
<LINE>When that the general is not like the hive</LINE>
<LINE>To whom the foragers shall all repair,</LINE>
<LINE>What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,</LINE>
<LINE>The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.</LINE>
<LINE>The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre</LINE>
<LINE>Observe degree, priority and place,</LINE>
<LINE>Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,</LINE>
<LINE>Office and custom, in all line of order;</LINE>
<LINE>And therefore is the glorious planet Sol</LINE>
<LINE>In noble eminence enthroned and sphered</LINE>
<LINE>Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye</LINE>
<LINE>Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,</LINE>
<LINE>And posts, like the commandment of a king,</LINE>
<LINE>Sans cheque to good and bad: but when the planets</LINE>
<LINE>In evil mixture to disorder wander,</LINE>
<LINE>What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!</LINE>
<LINE>What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!</LINE>
<LINE>Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors,</LINE>
<LINE>Divert and crack, rend and deracinate</LINE>
<LINE>The unity and married calm of states</LINE>
<LINE>Quite from their fixure! O, when degree is shaked,</LINE>
<LINE>Which is the ladder to all high designs,</LINE>
<LINE>Then enterprise is sick! How could communities,</LINE>
<LINE>Degrees in schools and brotherhoods in cities,</LINE>
<LINE>Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,</LINE>
<LINE>The primogenitive and due of birth,</LINE>
<LINE>Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,</LINE>
<LINE>But by degree, stand in authentic place?</LINE>
<LINE>Take but degree away, untune that string,</LINE>
<LINE>And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets</LINE>
<LINE>In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters</LINE>
<LINE>Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores</LINE>
<LINE>And make a sop of all this solid globe:</LINE>
<LINE>Strength should be lord of imbecility,</LINE>
<LINE>And the rude son should strike his father dead:</LINE>
<LINE>Force should be right; or rather, right and wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>Between whose endless jar justice resides,</LINE>
<LINE>Should lose their names, and so should justice too.</LINE>
<LINE>Then every thing includes itself in power,</LINE>
<LINE>Power into will, will into appetite;</LINE>
<LINE>And appetite, an universal wolf,</LINE>
<LINE>So doubly seconded with will and power,</LINE>
<LINE>Must make perforce an universal prey,</LINE>
<LINE>And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,</LINE>
<LINE>This chaos, when degree is suffocate,</LINE>
<LINE>Follows the choking.</LINE>
<LINE>And this neglection of degree it is</LINE>
<LINE>That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose</LINE>
<LINE>It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd</LINE>
<LINE>By him one step below, he by the next,</LINE>
<LINE>That next by him beneath; so every step,</LINE>
<LINE>Exampled by the first pace that is sick</LINE>
<LINE>Of his superior, grows to an envious fever</LINE>
<LINE>Of pale and bloodless emulation:</LINE>
<LINE>And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,</LINE>
<LINE>Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,</LINE>
<LINE>Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd</LINE>
<LINE>The fever whereof all our power is sick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses,</LINE>
<LINE>What is the remedy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns</LINE>
<LINE>The sinew and the forehand of our host,</LINE>
<LINE>Having his ear full of his airy fame,</LINE>
<LINE>Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent</LINE>
<LINE>Lies mocking our designs: with him Patroclus</LINE>
<LINE>Upon a lazy bed the livelong day</LINE>
<LINE>Breaks scurril jests;</LINE>
<LINE>And with ridiculous and awkward action,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, slanderer, he imitation calls,</LINE>
<LINE>He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy topless deputation he puts on,</LINE>
<LINE>And, like a strutting player, whose conceit</LINE>
<LINE>Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich</LINE>
<LINE>To hear the wooden dialogue and sound</LINE>
<LINE>'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,--</LINE>
<LINE>Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming</LINE>
<LINE>He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis like a chime a-mending; with terms unsquared,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd</LINE>
<LINE>Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff</LINE>
<LINE>The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,</LINE>
<LINE>From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause;</LINE>
<LINE>Cries 'Excellent! 'tis Agamemnon just.</LINE>
<LINE>Now play me Nestor; hem, and stroke thy beard,</LINE>
<LINE>As he being drest to some oration.'</LINE>
<LINE>That's done, as near as the extremest ends</LINE>
<LINE>Of parallels, as like as Vulcan and his wife:</LINE>
<LINE>Yet god Achilles still cries 'Excellent!</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus,</LINE>
<LINE>Arming to answer in a night alarm.'</LINE>
<LINE>And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age</LINE>
<LINE>Must be the scene of mirth; to cough and spit,</LINE>
<LINE>And, with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget,</LINE>
<LINE>Shake in and out the rivet: and at this sport</LINE>
<LINE>Sir Valour dies; cries 'O, enough, Patroclus;</LINE>
<LINE>Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all</LINE>
<LINE>In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion,</LINE>
<LINE>All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,</LINE>
<LINE>Severals and generals of grace exact,</LINE>
<LINE>Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,</LINE>
<LINE>Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,</LINE>
<LINE>Success or loss, what is or is not, serves</LINE>
<LINE>As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And in the imitation of these twain--</LINE>
<LINE>Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns</LINE>
<LINE>With an imperial voice--many are infect.</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax is grown self-will'd, and bears his head</LINE>
<LINE>In such a rein, in full as proud a place</LINE>
<LINE>As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him;</LINE>
<LINE>Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war,</LINE>
<LINE>Bold as an oracle, and sets Thersites,</LINE>
<LINE>A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint,</LINE>
<LINE>To match us in comparisons with dirt,</LINE>
<LINE>To weaken and discredit our exposure,</LINE>
<LINE>How rank soever rounded in with danger.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They tax our policy, and call it cowardice,</LINE>
<LINE>Count wisdom as no member of the war,</LINE>
<LINE>Forestall prescience, and esteem no act</LINE>
<LINE>But that of hand: the still and mental parts,</LINE>
<LINE>That do contrive how many hands shall strike,</LINE>
<LINE>When fitness calls them on, and know by measure</LINE>
<LINE>Of their observant toil the enemies' weight,--</LINE>
<LINE>Why, this hath not a finger's dignity:</LINE>
<LINE>They call this bed-work, mappery, closet-war;</LINE>
<LINE>So that the ram that batters down the wall,</LINE>
<LINE>For the great swing and rudeness of his poise,</LINE>
<LINE>They place before his hand that made the engine,</LINE>
<LINE>Or those that with the fineness of their souls</LINE>
<LINE>By reason guide his execution.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse</LINE>
<LINE>Makes many Thetis' sons.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>A tucket</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What trumpet? look, Menelaus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter AENEAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What would you 'fore our tent?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>May one, that is a herald and a prince,</LINE>
<LINE>Do a fair message to his kingly ears?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With surety stronger than Achilles' arm</LINE>
<LINE>'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice</LINE>
<LINE>Call Agamemnon head and general.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair leave and large security. How may</LINE>
<LINE>A stranger to those most imperial looks</LINE>
<LINE>Know them from eyes of other mortals?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay;</LINE>
<LINE>I ask, that I might waken reverence,</LINE>
<LINE>And bid the cheek be ready with a blush</LINE>
<LINE>Modest as morning when she coldly eyes</LINE>
<LINE>The youthful Phoebus:</LINE>
<LINE>Which is that god in office, guiding men?</LINE>
<LINE>Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This Trojan scorns us; or the men of Troy</LINE>
<LINE>Are ceremonious courtiers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,</LINE>
<LINE>As bending angels; that's their fame in peace:</LINE>
<LINE>But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls,</LINE>
<LINE>Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and,</LINE>
<LINE>Jove's accord,</LINE>
<LINE>Nothing so full of heart. But peace, AEneas,</LINE>
<LINE>Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!</LINE>
<LINE>The worthiness of praise distains his worth,</LINE>
<LINE>If that the praised himself bring the praise forth:</LINE>
<LINE>But what the repining enemy commends,</LINE>
<LINE>That breath fame blows; that praise, sole sure,</LINE>
<LINE>transcends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself AEneas?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, Greek, that is my name.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's your affair I pray you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hears naught privately that comes from Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him:</LINE>
<LINE>I bring a trumpet to awake his ear,</LINE>
<LINE>To set his sense on the attentive bent,</LINE>
<LINE>And then to speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak frankly as the wind;</LINE>
<LINE>It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour:</LINE>
<LINE>That thou shalt know. Trojan, he is awake,</LINE>
<LINE>He tells thee so himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Trumpet, blow loud,</LINE>
<LINE>Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents;</LINE>
<LINE>And every Greek of mettle, let him know,</LINE>
<LINE>What Troy means fairly shall be spoke aloud.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Trumpet sounds</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy</LINE>
<LINE>A prince call'd Hector,--Priam is his father,--</LINE>
<LINE>Who in this dull and long-continued truce</LINE>
<LINE>Is rusty grown: he bade me take a trumpet,</LINE>
<LINE>And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords!</LINE>
<LINE>If there be one among the fair'st of Greece</LINE>
<LINE>That holds his honour higher than his ease,</LINE>
<LINE>That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril,</LINE>
<LINE>That knows his valour, and knows not his fear,</LINE>
<LINE>That loves his mistress more than in confession,</LINE>
<LINE>With truant vows to her own lips he loves,</LINE>
<LINE>And dare avow her beauty and her worth</LINE>
<LINE>In other arms than hers,--to him this challenge.</LINE>
<LINE>Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall make it good, or do his best to do it,</LINE>
<LINE>He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer,</LINE>
<LINE>Than ever Greek did compass in his arms,</LINE>
<LINE>And will to-morrow with his trumpet call</LINE>
<LINE>Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,</LINE>
<LINE>To rouse a Grecian that is true in love:</LINE>
<LINE>If any come, Hector shall honour him;</LINE>
<LINE>If none, he'll say in Troy when he retires,</LINE>
<LINE>The Grecian dames are sunburnt and not worth</LINE>
<LINE>The splinter of a lance. Even so much.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This shall be told our lovers, Lord AEneas;</LINE>
<LINE>If none of them have soul in such a kind,</LINE>
<LINE>We left them all at home: but we are soldiers;</LINE>
<LINE>And may that soldier a mere recreant prove,</LINE>
<LINE>That means not, hath not, or is not in love!</LINE>
<LINE>If then one is, or hath, or means to be,</LINE>
<LINE>That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man</LINE>
<LINE>When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;</LINE>
<LINE>But if there be not in our Grecian host</LINE>
<LINE>One noble man that hath one spark of fire,</LINE>
<LINE>To answer for his love, tell him from me</LINE>
<LINE>I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver</LINE>
<LINE>And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn,</LINE>
<LINE>And meeting him will tell him that my lady</LINE>
<LINE>Was fairer than his grandam and as chaste</LINE>
<LINE>As may be in the world: his youth in flood,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Amen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair Lord AEneas, let me touch your hand;</LINE>
<LINE>To our pavilion shall I lead you, sir.</LINE>
<LINE>Achilles shall have word of this intent;</LINE>
<LINE>So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent:</LINE>
<LINE>Yourself shall feast with us before you go</LINE>
<LINE>And find the welcome of a noble foe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nestor!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What says Ulysses?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have a young conception in my brain;</LINE>
<LINE>Be you my time to bring it to some shape.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This 'tis:</LINE>
<LINE>Blunt wedges rive hard knots: the seeded pride</LINE>
<LINE>That hath to this maturity blown up</LINE>
<LINE>In rank Achilles must or now be cropp'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil,</LINE>
<LINE>To overbulk us all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, and how?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This challenge that the gallant Hector sends,</LINE>
<LINE>However it is spread in general name,</LINE>
<LINE>Relates in purpose only to Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The purpose is perspicuous even as substance,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose grossness little characters sum up:</LINE>
<LINE>And, in the publication, make no strain,</LINE>
<LINE>But that Achilles, were his brain as barren</LINE>
<LINE>As banks of Libya,--though, Apollo knows,</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis dry enough,--will, with great speed of judgment,</LINE>
<LINE>Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose</LINE>
<LINE>Pointing on him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And wake him to the answer, think you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, 'tis most meet: whom may you else oppose,</LINE>
<LINE>That can from Hector bring his honour off,</LINE>
<LINE>If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;</LINE>
<LINE>For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute</LINE>
<LINE>With their finest palate: and trust to me, Ulysses,</LINE>
<LINE>Our imputation shall be oddly poised</LINE>
<LINE>In this wild action; for the success,</LINE>
<LINE>Although particular, shall give a scantling</LINE>
<LINE>Of good or bad unto the general;</LINE>
<LINE>And in such indexes, although small pricks</LINE>
<LINE>To their subsequent volumes, there is seen</LINE>
<LINE>The baby figure of the giant mass</LINE>
<LINE>Of things to come at large. It is supposed</LINE>
<LINE>He that meets Hector issues from our choice</LINE>
<LINE>And choice, being mutual act of all our souls,</LINE>
<LINE>Makes merit her election, and doth boil,</LINE>
<LINE>As 'twere from us all, a man distill'd</LINE>
<LINE>Out of our virtues; who miscarrying,</LINE>
<LINE>What heart receives from hence the conquering part,</LINE>
<LINE>To steel a strong opinion to themselves?</LINE>
<LINE>Which entertain'd, limbs are his instruments,</LINE>
<LINE>In no less working than are swords and bows</LINE>
<LINE>Directive by the limbs.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give pardon to my speech:</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector.</LINE>
<LINE>Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares,</LINE>
<LINE>And think, perchance, they'll sell; if not,</LINE>
<LINE>The lustre of the better yet to show,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall show the better. Do not consent</LINE>
<LINE>That ever Hector and Achilles meet;</LINE>
<LINE>For both our honour and our shame in this</LINE>
<LINE>Are dogg'd with two strange followers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I see them not with my old eyes: what are they?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What glory our Achilles shares from Hector,</LINE>
<LINE>Were he not proud, we all should share with him:</LINE>
<LINE>But he already is too insolent;</LINE>
<LINE>And we were better parch in Afric sun</LINE>
<LINE>Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>Should he 'scape Hector fair: if he were foil'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Why then, we did our main opinion crush</LINE>
<LINE>In taint of our best man. No, make a lottery;</LINE>
<LINE>And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw</LINE>
<LINE>The sort to fight with Hector: among ourselves</LINE>
<LINE>Give him allowance for the better man;</LINE>
<LINE>For that will physic the great Myrmidon</LINE>
<LINE>Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall</LINE>
<LINE>His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends.</LINE>
<LINE>If the dull brainless Ajax come safe off,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll dress him up in voices: if he fail,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet go we under our opinion still</LINE>
<LINE>That we have better men. But, hit or miss,</LINE>
<LINE>Our project's life this shape of sense assumes:</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax employ'd plucks down Achilles' plumes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ulysses,</LINE>
<LINE>Now I begin to relish thy advice;</LINE>
<LINE>And I will give a taste of it forthwith</LINE>
<LINE>To Agamemnon: go we to him straight.</LINE>
<LINE>Two curs shall tame each other: pride alone</LINE>
<LINE>Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT II</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  A part of the Grecian camp.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AJAX and THERSITES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thersites!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Agamemnon, how if he had boils? full, all over,</LINE>
<LINE>generally?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thersites!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And those boils did run? say so: did not the</LINE>
<LINE>general run then? were not that a botchy core?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dog!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then would come some matter from him; I see none now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear?</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Beating him</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Feel, then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel</LINE>
<LINE>beef-witted lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Speak then, thou vinewedst leaven, speak: I will</LINE>
<LINE>beat thee into handsomeness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness: but,</LINE>
<LINE>I think, thy horse will sooner con an oration than</LINE>
<LINE>thou learn a prayer without book. Thou canst strike,</LINE>
<LINE>canst thou? a red murrain o' thy jade's tricks!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Toadstool, learn me the proclamation.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dost thou think I have no sense, thou strikest me thus?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The proclamation!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art proclaimed a fool, I think.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do not, porpentine, do not: my fingers itch.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would thou didst itch from head to foot and I had</LINE>
<LINE>the scratching of thee; I would make thee the</LINE>
<LINE>loathsomest scab in Greece. When thou art forth in</LINE>
<LINE>the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I say, the proclamation!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles,</LINE>
<LINE>and thou art as full of envy at his greatness as</LINE>
<LINE>Cerberus is at Proserpine's beauty, ay, that thou</LINE>
<LINE>barkest at him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mistress Thersites!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou shouldest strike him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cobloaf!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a</LINE>
<LINE>sailor breaks a biscuit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Beating him</STAGEDIR>  You whoreson cur!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do, do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou stool for a witch!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast no</LINE>
<LINE>more brain than I have in mine elbows; an assinego</LINE>
<LINE>may tutor thee: thou scurvy-valiant ass! thou art</LINE>
<LINE>here but to thrash Trojans; and thou art bought and</LINE>
<LINE>sold among those of any wit, like a barbarian slave.</LINE>
<LINE>If thou use to beat me, I will begin at thy heel, and</LINE>
<LINE>tell what thou art by inches, thou thing of no</LINE>
<LINE>bowels, thou!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You dog!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You scurvy lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Beating him</STAGEDIR>  You cur!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Mars his idiot! do, rudeness; do, camel; do, do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, how now, Ajax! wherefore do you thus? How now,</LINE>
<LINE>Thersites! what's the matter, man?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You see him there, do you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay; what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, look upon him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So I do: what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but regard him well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Well!' why, I do so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But yet you look not well upon him; for whosoever you</LINE>
<LINE>take him to be, he is Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know that, fool.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but that fool knows not himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Therefore I beat thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he utters! his</LINE>
<LINE>evasions have ears thus long. I have bobbed his</LINE>
<LINE>brain more than he has beat my bones: I will buy</LINE>
<LINE>nine sparrows for a penny, and his pia mater is not</LINE>
<LINE>worth the nineth part of a sparrow. This lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Achilles, Ajax, who wears his wit in his belly and</LINE>
<LINE>his guts in his head, I'll tell you what I say of</LINE>
<LINE>him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I say, this Ajax--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Ajax offers to beat him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, good Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Has not so much wit--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, I must hold you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As will stop the eye of Helen's needle, for whom he</LINE>
<LINE>comes to fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, fool!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would have peace and quietness, but the fool will</LINE>
<LINE>not: he there: that he: look you there.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O thou damned cur! I shall--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you set your wit to a fool's?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I warrant you; for a fools will shame it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good words, Thersites.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's the quarrel?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I bade the vile owl go learn me the tenor of the</LINE>
<LINE>proclamation, and he rails upon me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I serve thee not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, go to, go to.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I serve here voluntarily.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your last service was sufferance, 'twas not</LINE>
<LINE>voluntary: no man is beaten voluntary: Ajax was</LINE>
<LINE>here the voluntary, and you as under an impress.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>E'en so; a great deal of your wit, too, lies in your</LINE>
<LINE>sinews, or else there be liars. Hector have a great</LINE>
<LINE>catch, if he knock out either of your brains: a'</LINE>
<LINE>were as good crack a fusty nut with no kernel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, with me too, Thersites?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's Ulysses and old Nestor, whose wit was mouldy</LINE>
<LINE>ere your grandsires had nails on their toes, yoke you</LINE>
<LINE>like draught-oxen and make you plough up the wars.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, what?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, good sooth: to, Achilles! to, Ajax! to!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall cut out your tongue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis no matter! I shall speak as much as thou</LINE>
<LINE>afterwards.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more words, Thersites; peace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will hold my peace when Achilles' brach bids me, shall I?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There's for you, Patroclus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will see you hanged, like clotpoles, ere I come</LINE>
<LINE>any more to your tents: I will keep where there is</LINE>
<LINE>wit stirring and leave the faction of fools.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A good riddance.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Marry, this, sir, is proclaim'd through all our host:</LINE>
<LINE>That Hector, by the fifth hour of the sun,</LINE>
<LINE>Will with a trumpet 'twixt our tents and Troy</LINE>
<LINE>To-morrow morning call some knight to arms</LINE>
<LINE>That hath a stomach; and such a one that dare</LINE>
<LINE>Maintain--I know not what: 'tis trash. Farewell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell. Who shall answer him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know not: 'tis put to lottery; otherwise</LINE>
<LINE>He knew his man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, meaning you. I will go learn more of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  Troy. A room in Priam's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PRIAM, HECTOR, TROILUS, PARIS, and HELENUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>After so many hours, lives, speeches spent,</LINE>
<LINE>Thus once again says Nestor from the Greeks:</LINE>
<LINE>'Deliver Helen, and all damage else--</LINE>
<LINE>As honour, loss of time, travail, expense,</LINE>
<LINE>Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is consumed</LINE>
<LINE>In hot digestion of this cormorant war--</LINE>
<LINE>Shall be struck off.' Hector, what say you to't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I</LINE>
<LINE>As far as toucheth my particular,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, dread Priam,</LINE>
<LINE>There is no lady of more softer bowels,</LINE>
<LINE>More spongy to suck in the sense of fear,</LINE>
<LINE>More ready to cry out 'Who knows what follows?'</LINE>
<LINE>Than Hector is: the wound of peace is surety,</LINE>
<LINE>Surety secure; but modest doubt is call'd</LINE>
<LINE>The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches</LINE>
<LINE>To the bottom of the worst. Let Helen go:</LINE>
<LINE>Since the first sword was drawn about this question,</LINE>
<LINE>Every tithe soul, 'mongst many thousand dismes,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath been as dear as Helen; I mean, of ours:</LINE>
<LINE>If we have lost so many tenths of ours,</LINE>
<LINE>To guard a thing not ours nor worth to us,</LINE>
<LINE>Had it our name, the value of one ten,</LINE>
<LINE>What merit's in that reason which denies</LINE>
<LINE>The yielding of her up?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fie, fie, my brother!</LINE>
<LINE>Weigh you the worth and honour of a king</LINE>
<LINE>So great as our dread father in a scale</LINE>
<LINE>Of common ounces? will you with counters sum</LINE>
<LINE>The past proportion of his infinite?</LINE>
<LINE>And buckle in a waist most fathomless</LINE>
<LINE>With spans and inches so diminutive</LINE>
<LINE>As fears and reasons? fie, for godly shame!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELENUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons,</LINE>
<LINE>You are so empty of them. Should not our father</LINE>
<LINE>Bear the great sway of his affairs with reasons,</LINE>
<LINE>Because your speech hath none that tells him so?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are for dreams and slumbers, brother priest;</LINE>
<LINE>You fur your gloves with reason. Here are</LINE>
<LINE>your reasons:</LINE>
<LINE>You know an enemy intends you harm;</LINE>
<LINE>You know a sword employ'd is perilous,</LINE>
<LINE>And reason flies the object of all harm:</LINE>
<LINE>Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds</LINE>
<LINE>A Grecian and his sword, if he do set</LINE>
<LINE>The very wings of reason to his heels</LINE>
<LINE>And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,</LINE>
<LINE>Or like a star disorb'd? Nay, if we talk of reason,</LINE>
<LINE>Let's shut our gates and sleep: manhood and honour</LINE>
<LINE>Should have hare-hearts, would they but fat</LINE>
<LINE>their thoughts</LINE>
<LINE>With this cramm'd reason: reason and respect</LINE>
<LINE>Make livers pale and lustihood deject.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, she is not worth what she doth cost</LINE>
<LINE>The holding.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is aught, but as 'tis valued?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But value dwells not in particular will;</LINE>
<LINE>It holds his estimate and dignity</LINE>
<LINE>As well wherein 'tis precious of itself</LINE>
<LINE>As in the prizer: 'tis mad idolatry</LINE>
<LINE>To make the service greater than the god</LINE>
<LINE>And the will dotes that is attributive</LINE>
<LINE>To what infectiously itself affects,</LINE>
<LINE>Without some image of the affected merit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I take to-day a wife, and my election</LINE>
<LINE>Is led on in the conduct of my will;</LINE>
<LINE>My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears,</LINE>
<LINE>Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores</LINE>
<LINE>Of will and judgment: how may I avoid,</LINE>
<LINE>Although my will distaste what it elected,</LINE>
<LINE>The wife I chose? there can be no evasion</LINE>
<LINE>To blench from this and to stand firm by honour:</LINE>
<LINE>We turn not back the silks upon the merchant,</LINE>
<LINE>When we have soil'd them, nor the remainder viands</LINE>
<LINE>We do not throw in unrespective sieve,</LINE>
<LINE>Because we now are full. It was thought meet</LINE>
<LINE>Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks:</LINE>
<LINE>Your breath of full consent bellied his sails;</LINE>
<LINE>The seas and winds, old wranglers, took a truce</LINE>
<LINE>And did him service: he touch'd the ports desired,</LINE>
<LINE>And for an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive,</LINE>
<LINE>He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and freshness</LINE>
<LINE>Wrinkles Apollo's, and makes stale the morning.</LINE>
<LINE>Why keep we her? the Grecians keep our aunt:</LINE>
<LINE>Is she worth keeping? why, she is a pearl,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships,</LINE>
<LINE>And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants.</LINE>
<LINE>If you'll avouch 'twas wisdom Paris went--</LINE>
<LINE>As you must needs, for you all cried 'Go, go,'--</LINE>
<LINE>If you'll confess he brought home noble prize--</LINE>
<LINE>As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands</LINE>
<LINE>And cried 'Inestimable!'--why do you now</LINE>
<LINE>The issue of your proper wisdoms rate,</LINE>
<LINE>And do a deed that fortune never did,</LINE>
<LINE>Beggar the estimation which you prized</LINE>
<LINE>Richer than sea and land? O, theft most base,</LINE>
<LINE>That we have stol'n what we do fear to keep!</LINE>
<LINE>But, thieves, unworthy of a thing so stol'n,</LINE>
<LINE>That in their country did them that disgrace,</LINE>
<LINE>We fear to warrant in our native place!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Cry, Trojans, cry!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What noise? what shriek is this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis our mad sister, I do know her voice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Cry, Trojans!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is Cassandra.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter CASSANDRA, raving</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cry, Trojans, cry! lend me ten thousand eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>And I will fill them with prophetic tears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, sister, peace!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Virgins and boys, mid-age and wrinkled eld,</LINE>
<LINE>Soft infancy, that nothing canst but cry,</LINE>
<LINE>Add to my clamours! let us pay betimes</LINE>
<LINE>A moiety of that mass of moan to come.</LINE>
<LINE>Cry, Trojans, cry! practise your eyes with tears!</LINE>
<LINE>Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilion stand;</LINE>
<LINE>Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all.</LINE>
<LINE>Cry, Trojans, cry! a Helen and a woe:</LINE>
<LINE>Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, youthful Troilus, do not these high strains</LINE>
<LINE>Of divination in our sister work</LINE>
<LINE>Some touches of remorse? or is your blood</LINE>
<LINE>So madly hot that no discourse of reason,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause,</LINE>
<LINE>Can qualify the same?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, brother Hector,</LINE>
<LINE>We may not think the justness of each act</LINE>
<LINE>Such and no other than event doth form it,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor once deject the courage of our minds,</LINE>
<LINE>Because Cassandra's mad: her brain-sick raptures</LINE>
<LINE>Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel</LINE>
<LINE>Which hath our several honours all engaged</LINE>
<LINE>To make it gracious. For my private part,</LINE>
<LINE>I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons:</LINE>
<LINE>And Jove forbid there should be done amongst us</LINE>
<LINE>Such things as might offend the weakest spleen</LINE>
<LINE>To fight for and maintain!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Else might the world convince of levity</LINE>
<LINE>As well my undertakings as your counsels:</LINE>
<LINE>But I attest the gods, your full consent</LINE>
<LINE>Gave wings to my propension and cut off</LINE>
<LINE>All fears attending on so dire a project.</LINE>
<LINE>For what, alas, can these my single arms?</LINE>
<LINE>What Propugnation is in one man's valour,</LINE>
<LINE>To stand the push and enmity of those</LINE>
<LINE>This quarrel would excite? Yet, I protest,</LINE>
<LINE>Were I alone to pass the difficulties</LINE>
<LINE>And had as ample power as I have will,</LINE>
<LINE>Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor faint in the pursuit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Paris, you speak</LINE>
<LINE>Like one besotted on your sweet delights:</LINE>
<LINE>You have the honey still, but these the gall;</LINE>
<LINE>So to be valiant is no praise at all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, I propose not merely to myself</LINE>
<LINE>The pleasures such a beauty brings with it;</LINE>
<LINE>But I would have the soil of her fair rape</LINE>
<LINE>Wiped off, in honourable keeping her.</LINE>
<LINE>What treason were it to the ransack'd queen,</LINE>
<LINE>Disgrace to your great worths and shame to me,</LINE>
<LINE>Now to deliver her possession up</LINE>
<LINE>On terms of base compulsion! Can it be</LINE>
<LINE>That so degenerate a strain as this</LINE>
<LINE>Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?</LINE>
<LINE>There's not the meanest spirit on our party</LINE>
<LINE>Without a heart to dare or sword to draw</LINE>
<LINE>When Helen is defended, nor none so noble</LINE>
<LINE>Whose life were ill bestow'd or death unfamed</LINE>
<LINE>Where Helen is the subject; then, I say,</LINE>
<LINE>Well may we fight for her whom, we know well,</LINE>
<LINE>The world's large spaces cannot parallel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Paris and Troilus, you have both said well,</LINE>
<LINE>And on the cause and question now in hand</LINE>
<LINE>Have glozed, but superficially: not much</LINE>
<LINE>Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought</LINE>
<LINE>Unfit to hear moral philosophy:</LINE>
<LINE>The reasons you allege do more conduce</LINE>
<LINE>To the hot passion of distemper'd blood</LINE>
<LINE>Than to make up a free determination</LINE>
<LINE>'Twixt right and wrong, for pleasure and revenge</LINE>
<LINE>Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice</LINE>
<LINE>Of any true decision. Nature craves</LINE>
<LINE>All dues be render'd to their owners: now,</LINE>
<LINE>What nearer debt in all humanity</LINE>
<LINE>Than wife is to the husband? If this law</LINE>
<LINE>Of nature be corrupted through affection,</LINE>
<LINE>And that great minds, of partial indulgence</LINE>
<LINE>To their benumbed wills, resist the same,</LINE>
<LINE>There is a law in each well-order'd nation</LINE>
<LINE>To curb those raging appetites that are</LINE>
<LINE>Most disobedient and refractory.</LINE>
<LINE>If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,</LINE>
<LINE>As it is known she is, these moral laws</LINE>
<LINE>Of nature and of nations speak aloud</LINE>
<LINE>To have her back return'd: thus to persist</LINE>
<LINE>In doing wrong extenuates not wrong,</LINE>
<LINE>But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion</LINE>
<LINE>Is this in way of truth; yet ne'ertheless,</LINE>
<LINE>My spritely brethren, I propend to you</LINE>
<LINE>In resolution to keep Helen still,</LINE>
<LINE>For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance</LINE>
<LINE>Upon our joint and several dignities.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, there you touch'd the life of our design:</LINE>
<LINE>Were it not glory that we more affected</LINE>
<LINE>Than the performance of our heaving spleens,</LINE>
<LINE>I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood</LINE>
<LINE>Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,</LINE>
<LINE>She is a theme of honour and renown,</LINE>
<LINE>A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,</LINE>
<LINE>Whose present courage may beat down our foes,</LINE>
<LINE>And fame in time to come canonize us;</LINE>
<LINE>For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose</LINE>
<LINE>So rich advantage of a promised glory</LINE>
<LINE>As smiles upon the forehead of this action</LINE>
<LINE>For the wide world's revenue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am yours,</LINE>
<LINE>You valiant offspring of great Priamus.</LINE>
<LINE>I have a roisting challenge sent amongst</LINE>
<LINE>The dun and factious nobles of the Greeks</LINE>
<LINE>Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits:</LINE>
<LINE>I was advertised their great general slept,</LINE>
<LINE>Whilst emulation in the army crept:</LINE>
<LINE>This, I presume, will wake him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  The Grecian camp. Before Achilles' tent.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter THERSITES, solus</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, Thersites! what lost in the labyrinth of</LINE>
<LINE>thy fury! Shall the elephant Ajax carry it thus? He</LINE>
<LINE>beats me, and I rail at him: O, worthy satisfaction!</LINE>
<LINE>would it were otherwise; that I could beat him,</LINE>
<LINE>whilst he railed at me. 'Sfoot, I'll learn to</LINE>
<LINE>conjure and raise devils, but I'll see some issue of</LINE>
<LINE>my spiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles, a</LINE>
<LINE>rare enginer! If Troy be not taken till these two</LINE>
<LINE>undermine it, the walls will stand till they fall of</LINE>
<LINE>themselves. O thou great thunder-darter of Olympus,</LINE>
<LINE>forget that thou art Jove, the king of gods and,</LINE>
<LINE>Mercury, lose all the serpentine craft of thy</LINE>
<LINE>caduceus, if ye take not that little, little less</LINE>
<LINE>than little wit from them that they have! which</LINE>
<LINE>short-armed ignorance itself knows is so abundant</LINE>
<LINE>scarce, it will not in circumvention deliver a fly</LINE>
<LINE>from a spider, without drawing their massy irons and</LINE>
<LINE>cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on the</LINE>
<LINE>whole camp! or rather, the bone-ache! for that,</LINE>
<LINE>methinks, is the curse dependent on those that war</LINE>
<LINE>for a placket. I have said my prayers and devil Envy</LINE>
<LINE>say Amen. What ho! my Lord Achilles!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's there? Thersites! Good Thersites, come in and rail.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou</LINE>
<LINE>wouldst not have slipped out of my contemplation: but</LINE>
<LINE>it is no matter; thyself upon thyself! The common</LINE>
<LINE>curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in</LINE>
<LINE>great revenue! heaven bless thee from a tutor, and</LINE>
<LINE>discipline come not near thee! Let thy blood be thy</LINE>
<LINE>direction till thy death! then if she that lays thee</LINE>
<LINE>out says thou art a fair corse, I'll be sworn and</LINE>
<LINE>sworn upon't she never shrouded any but lazars.</LINE>
<LINE>Amen. Where's Achilles?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, art thou devout? wast thou in prayer?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay: the heavens hear me!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thersites, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where, where? Art thou come? why, my cheese, my</LINE>
<LINE>digestion, why hast thou not served thyself in to</LINE>
<LINE>my table so many meals? Come, what's Agamemnon?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy commander, Achilles. Then tell me, Patroclus,</LINE>
<LINE>what's Achilles?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy lord, Thersites: then tell me, I pray thee,</LINE>
<LINE>what's thyself?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy knower, Patroclus: then tell me, Patroclus,</LINE>
<LINE>what art thou?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou mayst tell that knowest.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, tell, tell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands</LINE>
<LINE>Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus'</LINE>
<LINE>knower, and Patroclus is a fool.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You rascal!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, fool! I have not done.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is a privileged man. Proceed, Thersites.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Thersites</LINE>
<LINE>is a fool, and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Derive this; come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles;</LINE>
<LINE>Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon;</LINE>
<LINE>Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool, and</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus is a fool positive.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why am I a fool?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Make that demand of the prover. It suffices me thou</LINE>
<LINE>art. Look you, who comes here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody.</LINE>
<LINE>Come in with me, Thersites.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here is such patchery, such juggling and such</LINE>
<LINE>knavery! all the argument is a cuckold and a</LINE>
<LINE>whore; a good quarrel to draw emulous factions</LINE>
<LINE>and bleed to death upon. Now, the dry serpigo on</LINE>
<LINE>the subject! and war and lechery confound all!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and AJAX</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is Achilles?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Within his tent; but ill disposed, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it be known to him that we are here.</LINE>
<LINE>He shent our messengers; and we lay by</LINE>
<LINE>Our appertainments, visiting of him:</LINE>
<LINE>Let him be told so; lest perchance he think</LINE>
<LINE>We dare not move the question of our place,</LINE>
<LINE>Or know not what we are.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall say so to him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We saw him at the opening of his tent:</LINE>
<LINE>He is not sick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart: you may call it</LINE>
<LINE>melancholy, if you will favour the man; but, by my</LINE>
<LINE>head, 'tis pride: but why, why? let him show us the</LINE>
<LINE>cause. A word, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Takes AGAMEMNON aside</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What moves Ajax thus to bay at him?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, Thersites?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his argument.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, you see, he is his argument that has his</LINE>
<LINE>argument, Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>All the better; their fraction is more our wish than</LINE>
<LINE>their faction: but it was a strong composure a fool</LINE>
<LINE>could disunite.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily</LINE>
<LINE>untie. Here comes Patroclus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No Achilles with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy:</LINE>
<LINE>his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Achilles bids me say, he is much sorry,</LINE>
<LINE>If any thing more than your sport and pleasure</LINE>
<LINE>Did move your greatness and this noble state</LINE>
<LINE>To call upon him; he hopes it is no other</LINE>
<LINE>But for your health and your digestion sake,</LINE>
<LINE>And after-dinner's breath.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hear you, Patroclus:</LINE>
<LINE>We are too well acquainted with these answers:</LINE>
<LINE>But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn,</LINE>
<LINE>Cannot outfly our apprehensions.</LINE>
<LINE>Much attribute he hath, and much the reason</LINE>
<LINE>Why we ascribe it to him; yet all his virtues,</LINE>
<LINE>Not virtuously on his own part beheld,</LINE>
<LINE>Do in our eyes begin to lose their gloss,</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish,</LINE>
<LINE>Are like to rot untasted. Go and tell him,</LINE>
<LINE>We come to speak with him; and you shall not sin,</LINE>
<LINE>If you do say we think him over-proud</LINE>
<LINE>And under-honest, in self-assumption greater</LINE>
<LINE>Than in the note of judgment; and worthier</LINE>
<LINE>than himself</LINE>
<LINE>Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on,</LINE>
<LINE>Disguise the holy strength of their command,</LINE>
<LINE>And underwrite in an observing kind</LINE>
<LINE>His humorous predominance; yea, watch</LINE>
<LINE>His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if</LINE>
<LINE>The passage and whole carriage of this action</LINE>
<LINE>Rode on his tide. Go tell him this, and add,</LINE>
<LINE>That if he overhold his price so much,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll none of him; but let him, like an engine</LINE>
<LINE>Not portable, lie under this report:</LINE>
<LINE>'Bring action hither, this cannot go to war:</LINE>
<LINE>A stirring dwarf we do allowance give</LINE>
<LINE>Before a sleeping giant.' Tell him so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall; and bring his answer presently.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In second voice we'll not be satisfied;</LINE>
<LINE>We come to speak with him. Ulysses, enter you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit ULYSSES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What is he more than another?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more than what he thinks he is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is he so much? Do you not think he thinks himself a</LINE>
<LINE>better man than I am?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No question.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you subscribe his thought, and say he is?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant, as</LINE>
<LINE>wise, no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether</LINE>
<LINE>more tractable.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why should a man be proud? How doth pride grow? I</LINE>
<LINE>know not what pride is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your mind is the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues the</LINE>
<LINE>fairer. He that is proud eats up himself: pride is</LINE>
<LINE>his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle;</LINE>
<LINE>and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours</LINE>
<LINE>the deed in the praise.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yet he loves himself: is't not strange?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Aside</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Re-enter ULYSSES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Achilles will not to the field to-morrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What's his excuse?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He doth rely on none,</LINE>
<LINE>But carries on the stream of his dispose</LINE>
<LINE>Without observance or respect of any,</LINE>
<LINE>In will peculiar and in self-admission.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why will he not upon our fair request</LINE>
<LINE>Untent his person and share the air with us?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Things small as nothing, for request's sake only,</LINE>
<LINE>He makes important: possess'd he is with greatness,</LINE>
<LINE>And speaks not to himself but with a pride</LINE>
<LINE>That quarrels at self-breath: imagined worth</LINE>
<LINE>Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse</LINE>
<LINE>That 'twixt his mental and his active parts</LINE>
<LINE>Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages</LINE>
<LINE>And batters down himself: what should I say?</LINE>
<LINE>He is so plaguy proud that the death-tokens of it</LINE>
<LINE>Cry 'No recovery.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let Ajax go to him.</LINE>
<LINE>Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis said he holds you well, and will be led</LINE>
<LINE>At your request a little from himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Agamemnon, let it not be so!</LINE>
<LINE>We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes</LINE>
<LINE>When they go from Achilles: shall the proud lord</LINE>
<LINE>That bastes his arrogance with his own seam</LINE>
<LINE>And never suffers matter of the world</LINE>
<LINE>Enter his thoughts, save such as do revolve</LINE>
<LINE>And ruminate himself, shall he be worshipp'd</LINE>
<LINE>Of that we hold an idol more than he?</LINE>
<LINE>No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord</LINE>
<LINE>Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquired;</LINE>
<LINE>Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,</LINE>
<LINE>As amply titled as Achilles is,</LINE>
<LINE>By going to Achilles:</LINE>
<LINE>That were to enlard his fat already pride</LINE>
<LINE>And add more coals to Cancer when he burns</LINE>
<LINE>With entertaining great Hyperion.</LINE>
<LINE>This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid,</LINE>
<LINE>And say in thunder 'Achilles go to him.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>  O, this is well; he rubs the</LINE>
<LINE>vein of him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to NESTOR</STAGEDIR>  And how his silence drinks up</LINE>
<LINE>this applause!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I go to him, with my armed fist I'll pash him o'er the face.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, no, you shall not go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An a' be proud with me, I'll pheeze his pride:</LINE>
<LINE>Let me go to him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A paltry, insolent fellow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How he describes himself!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Can he not be sociable?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The raven chides blackness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll let his humours blood.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He will be the physician that should be the patient.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An all men were o' my mind,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wit would be out of fashion.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A' should not bear it so, a' should eat swords first:</LINE>
<LINE>shall pride carry it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An 'twould, you'ld carry half.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A' would have ten shares.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will knead him; I'll make him supple.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's not yet through warm: force him with praises:</LINE>
<LINE>pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To AGAMEMNON</STAGEDIR>  My lord, you feed too much on this dislike.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Our noble general, do not do so.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must prepare to fight without Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm.</LINE>
<LINE>Here is a man--but 'tis before his face;</LINE>
<LINE>I will be silent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wherefore should you so?</LINE>
<LINE>He is not emulous, as Achilles is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Know the whole world, he is as valiant.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A whoreson dog, that shall pelter thus with us!</LINE>
<LINE>Would he were a Trojan!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What a vice were it in Ajax now,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If he were proud,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Or covetous of praise,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, or surly borne,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Or strange, or self-affected!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet composure;</LINE>
<LINE>Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck:</LINE>
<LINE>Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature</LINE>
<LINE>Thrice famed, beyond all erudition:</LINE>
<LINE>But he that disciplined thy arms to fight,</LINE>
<LINE>Let Mars divide eternity in twain,</LINE>
<LINE>And give him half: and, for thy vigour,</LINE>
<LINE>Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield</LINE>
<LINE>To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines</LINE>
<LINE>Thy spacious and dilated parts: here's Nestor;</LINE>
<LINE>Instructed by the antiquary times,</LINE>
<LINE>He must, he is, he cannot but be wise:</LINE>
<LINE>Put pardon, father Nestor, were your days</LINE>
<LINE>As green as Ajax' and your brain so temper'd,</LINE>
<LINE>You should not have the eminence of him,</LINE>
<LINE>But be as Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall I call you father?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my good son.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be ruled by him, Lord Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles</LINE>
<LINE>Keeps thicket. Please it our great general</LINE>
<LINE>To call together all his state of war;</LINE>
<LINE>Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow</LINE>
<LINE>We must with all our main of power stand fast:</LINE>
<LINE>And here's a lord,--come knights from east to west,</LINE>
<LINE>And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep:</LINE>
<LINE>Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT III</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Troy. Priam's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter a Servant and PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Friend, you! pray you, a word: do not you follow</LINE>
<LINE>the young Lord Paris?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, sir, when he goes before me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You depend upon him, I mean?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, I do depend upon the lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You depend upon a noble gentleman; I must needs</LINE>
<LINE>praise him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The lord be praised!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You know me, do you not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Faith, sir, superficially.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Friend, know me better; I am the Lord Pandarus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I hope I shall know your honour better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do desire it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are in the state of grace.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Grace! not so, friend: honour and lordship are my titles.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Music within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>What music is this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do but partly know, sir: it is music in parts.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Know you the musicians?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wholly, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who play they to?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To the hearers, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At whose pleasure, friend</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At mine, sir, and theirs that love music.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Command, I mean, friend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who shall I command, sir?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Friend, we understand not one another: I am too</LINE>
<LINE>courtly and thou art too cunning. At whose request</LINE>
<LINE>do these men play?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's to 't indeed, sir: marry, sir, at the request</LINE>
<LINE>of Paris my lord, who's there in person; with him,</LINE>
<LINE>the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love's</LINE>
<LINE>invisible soul,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, my cousin Cressida?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, sir, Helen: could you not find out that by her</LINE>
<LINE>attributes?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the</LINE>
<LINE>Lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the</LINE>
<LINE>Prince Troilus: I will make a complimental assault</LINE>
<LINE>upon him, for my business seethes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase indeed!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair</LINE>
<LINE>company! fair desires, in all fair measure,</LINE>
<LINE>fairly guide them! especially to you, fair queen!</LINE>
<LINE>fair thoughts be your fair pillow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dear lord, you are full of fair words.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. Fair</LINE>
<LINE>prince, here is good broken music.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have broke it, cousin: and, by my life, you</LINE>
<LINE>shall make it whole again; you shall piece it out</LINE>
<LINE>with a piece of your performance. Nell, he is full</LINE>
<LINE>of harmony.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Truly, lady, no.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, sir,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said, my lord! well, you say so in fits.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have business to my lord, dear queen. My lord,</LINE>
<LINE>will you vouchsafe me a word?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you</LINE>
<LINE>sing, certainly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, sweet queen. you are pleasant with me. But,</LINE>
<LINE>marry, thus, my lord: my dear lord and most esteemed</LINE>
<LINE>friend, your brother Troilus,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to, sweet queen, to go:--commends himself most</LINE>
<LINE>affectionately to you,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall not bob us out of our melody: if you do,</LINE>
<LINE>our melancholy upon your head!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet queen, sweet queen! that's a sweet queen, i' faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall not,</LINE>
<LINE>in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such words; no,</LINE>
<LINE>no. And, my lord, he desires you, that if the king</LINE>
<LINE>call for him at supper, you will make his excuse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord Pandarus,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What says my sweet queen, my very very sweet queen?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What exploit's in hand? where sups he to-night?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but, my lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What says my sweet queen? My cousin will fall out</LINE>
<LINE>with you. You must not know where he sups.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cressida.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, no such matter; you are wide: come, your</LINE>
<LINE>disposer is sick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, I'll make excuse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, good my lord. Why should you say Cressida? no,</LINE>
<LINE>your poor disposer's sick.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I spy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You spy! what do you spy? Come, give me an</LINE>
<LINE>instrument. Now, sweet queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, this is kindly done.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have,</LINE>
<LINE>sweet queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord Paris.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He! no, she'll none of him; they two are twain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Falling in, after falling out, may make them three.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, I'll hear no more of this; I'll sing</LINE>
<LINE>you a song now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, ay, prithee now. By my troth, sweet lord, thou</LINE>
<LINE>hast a fine forehead.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, you may, you may.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let thy song be love: this love will undo us all.</LINE>
<LINE>O Cupid, Cupid, Cupid!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Love! ay, that it shall, i' faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, good now, love, love, nothing but love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In good troth, it begins so.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Sings</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Love, love, nothing but love, still more!</LINE>
<LINE>For, O, love's bow</LINE>
<LINE>Shoots buck and doe:</LINE>
<LINE>The shaft confounds,</LINE>
<LINE>Not that it wounds,</LINE>
<LINE>But tickles still the sore.</LINE>
<LINE>These lovers cry Oh! oh! they die!</LINE>
<LINE>Yet that which seems the wound to kill,</LINE>
<LINE>Doth turn oh! oh! to ha! ha! he!</LINE>
<LINE>So dying love lives still:</LINE>
<LINE>Oh! oh! a while, but ha! ha! ha!</LINE>
<LINE>Oh! oh! groans out for ha! ha! ha!</LINE>
<LINE>Heigh-ho!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In love, i' faith, to the very tip of the nose.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot</LINE>
<LINE>blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot</LINE>
<LINE>thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot</LINE>
<LINE>thoughts, and hot deeds? Why, they are vipers:</LINE>
<LINE>is love a generation of vipers? Sweet lord, who's</LINE>
<LINE>a-field to-day?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all the</LINE>
<LINE>gallantry of Troy: I  would fain have armed to-day,</LINE>
<LINE>but my Nell would not have it so. How chance my</LINE>
<LINE>brother Troilus went not?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He hangs the lip at something: you know all, Lord Pandarus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not I, honey-sweet queen. I long to hear how they</LINE>
<LINE>sped to-day. You'll remember your brother's excuse?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To a hair.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell, sweet queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Commend me to your niece.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will, sweet queen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>A retreat sounded</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They're come from field: let us to Priam's hall,</LINE>
<LINE>To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woo you</LINE>
<LINE>To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles,</LINE>
<LINE>With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall more obey than to the edge of steel</LINE>
<LINE>Or force of Greekish sinews; you shall do more</LINE>
<LINE>Than all the island kings,--disarm great Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HELEN</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twill make us proud to be his servant, Paris;</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, what he shall receive of us in duty</LINE>
<LINE>Gives us more palm in beauty than we have,</LINE>
<LINE>Yea, overshines ourself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet, above thought I love thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  The same. Pandarus' orchard.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PANDARUS and Troilus's Boy, meeting</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! where's thy master? at my cousin</LINE>
<LINE>Cressida's?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Boy</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, sir; he stays for you to conduct him thither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, here he comes.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now, how now!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sirrah, walk off.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit Boy</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have you seen my cousin?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, Pandarus: I stalk about her door,</LINE>
<LINE>Like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks</LINE>
<LINE>Staying for waftage. O, be thou my Charon,</LINE>
<LINE>And give me swift transportance to those fields</LINE>
<LINE>Where I may wallow in the lily-beds</LINE>
<LINE>Proposed for the deserver! O gentle Pandarus,</LINE>
<LINE>From Cupid's shoulder pluck his painted wings</LINE>
<LINE>And fly with me to Cressid!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Walk here i' the orchard, I'll bring her straight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am giddy; expectation whirls me round.</LINE>
<LINE>The imaginary relish is so sweet</LINE>
<LINE>That it enchants my sense: what will it be,</LINE>
<LINE>When that the watery palate tastes indeed</LINE>
<LINE>Love's thrice repured nectar? death, I fear me,</LINE>
<LINE>Swooning destruction, or some joy too fine,</LINE>
<LINE>Too subtle-potent, tuned too sharp in sweetness,</LINE>
<LINE>For the capacity of my ruder powers:</LINE>
<LINE>I fear it much; and I do fear besides,</LINE>
<LINE>That I shall lose distinction in my joys;</LINE>
<LINE>As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps</LINE>
<LINE>The enemy flying.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She's making her ready, she'll come straight: you</LINE>
<LINE>must be witty now. She does so blush, and fetches</LINE>
<LINE>her wind so short, as if she were frayed with a</LINE>
<LINE>sprite: I'll fetch her. It is the prettiest</LINE>
<LINE>villain: she fetches her breath as short as a</LINE>
<LINE>new-ta'en sparrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even such a passion doth embrace my bosom:</LINE>
<LINE>My heart beats thicker than a feverous pulse;</LINE>
<LINE>And all my powers do their bestowing lose,</LINE>
<LINE>Like vassalage at unawares encountering</LINE>
<LINE>The eye of majesty.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PANDARUS with CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, what need you blush? shame's a baby.</LINE>
<LINE>Here she is now: swear the oaths now to her that</LINE>
<LINE>you have sworn to me. What, are you gone again?</LINE>
<LINE>you must be watched ere you be made tame, must you?</LINE>
<LINE>Come your ways, come your ways; an you draw backward,</LINE>
<LINE>we'll put you i' the fills. Why do you not speak to</LINE>
<LINE>her? Come, draw this curtain, and let's see your</LINE>
<LINE>picture. Alas the day, how loath you are to offend</LINE>
<LINE>daylight! an 'twere dark, you'ld close sooner.</LINE>
<LINE>So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress. How now!</LINE>
<LINE>a kiss in fee-farm! build there, carpenter; the air</LINE>
<LINE>is sweet. Nay, you shall fight your hearts out ere</LINE>
<LINE>I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the</LINE>
<LINE>ducks i' the river: go to, go to.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have bereft me of all words, lady.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Words pay no debts, give her deeds: but she'll</LINE>
<LINE>bereave you o' the deeds too, if she call your</LINE>
<LINE>activity in question. What, billing again? Here's</LINE>
<LINE>'In witness whereof the parties interchangeably'--</LINE>
<LINE>Come in, come in: I'll go get a fire.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you walk in, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Cressida, how often have I wished me thus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wished, my lord! The gods grant,--O my lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What should they grant? what makes this pretty</LINE>
<LINE>abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet</LINE>
<LINE>lady in the fountain of our love?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>More dregs than water, if my fears have eyes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fears make devils of cherubims; they never see truly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer</LINE>
<LINE>footing than blind reason stumbling without fear: to</LINE>
<LINE>fear the worst oft cures the worse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, let my lady apprehend no fear: in all Cupid's</LINE>
<LINE>pageant there is presented no monster.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor nothing monstrous neither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nothing, but our undertakings; when we vow to weep</LINE>
<LINE>seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers; thinking</LINE>
<LINE>it harder for our mistress to devise imposition</LINE>
<LINE>enough than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed.</LINE>
<LINE>This is the monstruosity in love, lady, that the will</LINE>
<LINE>is infinite and the execution confined, that the</LINE>
<LINE>desire is boundless and the act a slave to limit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They say all lovers swear more performance than they</LINE>
<LINE>are able and yet reserve an ability that they never</LINE>
<LINE>perform, vowing more than the perfection of ten and</LINE>
<LINE>discharging less than the tenth part of one. They</LINE>
<LINE>that have the voice of lions and the act of hares,</LINE>
<LINE>are they not monsters?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are there such? such are not we: praise us as we</LINE>
<LINE>are tasted, allow us as we prove; our head shall go</LINE>
<LINE>bare till merit crown it: no perfection in reversion</LINE>
<LINE>shall have a praise in present: we will not name</LINE>
<LINE>desert before his birth, and, being born, his addition</LINE>
<LINE>shall be humble. Few words to fair faith: Troilus</LINE>
<LINE>shall be such to Cressid as what envy can say worst</LINE>
<LINE>shall be a mock for his truth, and what truth can</LINE>
<LINE>speak truest not truer than Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you walk in, my lord?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, blushing still? have you not done talking yet?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, uncle, what folly I commit, I dedicate to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thank you for that: if my lord get a boy of you,</LINE>
<LINE>you'll give him me. Be true to my lord: if he</LINE>
<LINE>flinch, chide me for it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You know now your hostages; your uncle's word and my</LINE>
<LINE>firm faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, I'll give my word for her too: our kindred,</LINE>
<LINE>though they be long ere they are wooed, they are</LINE>
<LINE>constant being won: they are burs, I can tell you;</LINE>
<LINE>they'll stick where they are thrown.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Boldness comes to me now, and brings me heart.</LINE>
<LINE>Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day</LINE>
<LINE>For many weary months.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why was my Cressid then so hard to win?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hard to seem won: but I was won, my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>With the first glance that ever--pardon me--</LINE>
<LINE>If I confess much, you will play the tyrant.</LINE>
<LINE>I love you now; but not, till now, so much</LINE>
<LINE>But I might master it: in faith, I lie;</LINE>
<LINE>My thoughts were like unbridled children, grown</LINE>
<LINE>Too headstrong for their mother. See, we fools!</LINE>
<LINE>Why have I blabb'd? who shall be true to us,</LINE>
<LINE>When we are so unsecret to ourselves?</LINE>
<LINE>But, though I loved you well, I woo'd you not;</LINE>
<LINE>And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man,</LINE>
<LINE>Or that we women had men's privilege</LINE>
<LINE>Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue,</LINE>
<LINE>For in this rapture I shall surely speak</LINE>
<LINE>The thing I shall repent. See, see, your silence,</LINE>
<LINE>Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws</LINE>
<LINE>My very soul of counsel! stop my mouth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And shall, albeit sweet music issues thence.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pretty, i' faith.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I do beseech you, pardon me;</LINE>
<LINE>'Twas not my purpose, thus to beg a kiss:</LINE>
<LINE>I am ashamed. O heavens! what have I done?</LINE>
<LINE>For this time will I take my leave, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your leave, sweet Cressid!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Leave! an you take leave till to-morrow morning,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pray you, content you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What offends you, lady?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sir, mine own company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You cannot shun Yourself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me go and try:</LINE>
<LINE>I have a kind of self resides with you;</LINE>
<LINE>But an unkind self, that itself will leave,</LINE>
<LINE>To be another's fool. I would be gone:</LINE>
<LINE>Where is my wit? I know not what I speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well know they what they speak that speak so wisely.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Perchance, my lord, I show more craft than love;</LINE>
<LINE>And fell so roundly to a large confession,</LINE>
<LINE>To angle for your thoughts: but you are wise,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else you love not, for to be wise and love</LINE>
<LINE>Exceeds man's might; that dwells with gods above.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O that I thought it could be in a woman--</LINE>
<LINE>As, if it can, I will presume in you--</LINE>
<LINE>To feed for aye her ramp and flames of love;</LINE>
<LINE>To keep her constancy in plight and youth,</LINE>
<LINE>Outliving beauty's outward, with a mind</LINE>
<LINE>That doth renew swifter than blood decays!</LINE>
<LINE>Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,</LINE>
<LINE>That my integrity and truth to you</LINE>
<LINE>Might be affronted with the match and weight</LINE>
<LINE>Of such a winnow'd purity in love;</LINE>
<LINE>How were I then uplifted! but, alas!</LINE>
<LINE>I am as true as truth's simplicity</LINE>
<LINE>And simpler than the infancy of truth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In that I'll war with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O virtuous fight,</LINE>
<LINE>When right with right wars who shall be most right!</LINE>
<LINE>True swains in love shall in the world to come</LINE>
<LINE>Approve their truths by Troilus: when their rhymes,</LINE>
<LINE>Full of protest, of oath and big compare,</LINE>
<LINE>Want similes, truth tired with iteration,</LINE>
<LINE>As true as steel, as plantage to the moon,</LINE>
<LINE>As sun to day, as turtle to her mate,</LINE>
<LINE>As iron to adamant, as earth to the centre,</LINE>
<LINE>Yet, after all comparisons of truth,</LINE>
<LINE>As truth's authentic author to be cited,</LINE>
<LINE>'As true as Troilus' shall crown up the verse,</LINE>
<LINE>And sanctify the numbers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prophet may you be!</LINE>
<LINE>If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth,</LINE>
<LINE>When time is old and hath forgot itself,</LINE>
<LINE>When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy,</LINE>
<LINE>And blind oblivion swallow'd cities up,</LINE>
<LINE>And mighty states characterless are grated</LINE>
<LINE>To dusty nothing, yet let memory,</LINE>
<LINE>From false to false, among false maids in love,</LINE>
<LINE>Upbraid my falsehood! when they've said 'as false</LINE>
<LINE>As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth,</LINE>
<LINE>As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf,</LINE>
<LINE>Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son,'</LINE>
<LINE>'Yea,' let them say, to stick the heart of falsehood,</LINE>
<LINE>'As false as Cressid.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go to, a bargain made: seal it, seal it; I'll be the</LINE>
<LINE>witness. Here I hold your hand, here my cousin's.</LINE>
<LINE>If ever you prove false one to another, since I have</LINE>
<LINE>taken such pains to bring you together, let all</LINE>
<LINE>pitiful goers-between be called to the world's end</LINE>
<LINE>after my name; call them all Pandars; let all</LINE>
<LINE>constant men be Troiluses, all false women Cressids,</LINE>
<LINE>and all brokers-between Pandars! say, amen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Amen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Amen.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Amen. Whereupon I will show you a chamber with a</LINE>
<LINE>bed; which bed, because it shall not speak of your</LINE>
<LINE>pretty encounters, press it to death: away!</LINE>
<LINE>And Cupid grant all tongue-tied maidens here</LINE>
<LINE>Bed, chamber, Pandar to provide this gear!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  The Grecian camp. Before Achilles' tent.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, DIOMEDES, NESTOR, AJAX,
MENELAUS, and CALCHAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CALCHAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, princes, for the service I have done you,</LINE>
<LINE>The advantage of the time prompts me aloud</LINE>
<LINE>To call for recompense. Appear it to your mind</LINE>
<LINE>That, through the sight I bear in things to love,</LINE>
<LINE>I have abandon'd Troy, left my possession,</LINE>
<LINE>Incurr'd a traitor's name; exposed myself,</LINE>
<LINE>From certain and possess'd conveniences,</LINE>
<LINE>To doubtful fortunes; sequestering from me all</LINE>
<LINE>That time, acquaintance, custom and condition</LINE>
<LINE>Made tame and most familiar to my nature,</LINE>
<LINE>And here, to do you service, am become</LINE>
<LINE>As new into the world, strange, unacquainted:</LINE>
<LINE>I do beseech you, as in way of taste,</LINE>
<LINE>To give me now a little benefit,</LINE>
<LINE>Out of those many register'd in promise,</LINE>
<LINE>Which, you say, live to come in my behalf.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wouldst thou of us, Trojan? make demand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CALCHAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have a Trojan prisoner, call'd Antenor,</LINE>
<LINE>Yesterday took: Troy holds him very dear.</LINE>
<LINE>Oft have you--often have you thanks therefore--</LINE>
<LINE>Desired my Cressid in right great exchange,</LINE>
<LINE>Whom Troy hath still denied: but this Antenor,</LINE>
<LINE>I know, is such a wrest in their affairs</LINE>
<LINE>That their negotiations all must slack,</LINE>
<LINE>Wanting his manage; and they will almost</LINE>
<LINE>Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam,</LINE>
<LINE>In change of him: let him be sent, great princes,</LINE>
<LINE>And he shall buy my daughter; and her presence</LINE>
<LINE>Shall quite strike off all service I have done,</LINE>
<LINE>In most accepted pain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let Diomedes bear him,</LINE>
<LINE>And bring us Cressid hither: Calchas shall have</LINE>
<LINE>What he requests of us. Good Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>Furnish you fairly for this interchange:</LINE>
<LINE>Withal bring word if Hector will to-morrow</LINE>
<LINE>Be answer'd in his challenge: Ajax is ready.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This shall I undertake; and 'tis a burden</LINE>
<LINE>Which I am proud to bear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt DIOMEDES and CALCHAS</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS, before their tent</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Achilles stands i' the entrance of his tent:</LINE>
<LINE>Please it our general to pass strangely by him,</LINE>
<LINE>As if he were forgot; and, princes all,</LINE>
<LINE>Lay negligent and loose regard upon him:</LINE>
<LINE>I will come last. 'Tis like he'll question me</LINE>
<LINE>Why such unplausive eyes are bent on him:</LINE>
<LINE>If so, I have derision medicinable,</LINE>
<LINE>To use between your strangeness and his pride,</LINE>
<LINE>Which his own will shall have desire to drink:</LINE>
<LINE>It may be good: pride hath no other glass</LINE>
<LINE>To show itself but pride, for supple knees</LINE>
<LINE>Feed arrogance and are the proud man's fees.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We'll execute your purpose, and put on</LINE>
<LINE>A form of strangeness as we pass along:</LINE>
<LINE>So do each lord, and either greet him not,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more</LINE>
<LINE>Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, comes the general to speak with me?</LINE>
<LINE>You know my mind, I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What says Achilles? would he aught with us?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would you, my lord, aught with the general?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nothing, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The better.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt AGAMEMNON and NESTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good day, good day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How do you? how do you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, does the cuckold scorn me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, Patroclus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and good next day too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What mean these fellows? Know they not Achilles?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They pass by strangely: they were used to bend</LINE>
<LINE>To send their smiles before them to Achilles;</LINE>
<LINE>To come as humbly as they used to creep</LINE>
<LINE>To holy altars.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, am I poor of late?</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis certain, greatness, once fall'n out with fortune,</LINE>
<LINE>Must fall out with men too: what the declined is</LINE>
<LINE>He shall as soon read in the eyes of others</LINE>
<LINE>As feel in his own fall; for men, like butterflies,</LINE>
<LINE>Show not their mealy wings but to the summer,</LINE>
<LINE>And not a man, for being simply man,</LINE>
<LINE>Hath any honour, but honour for those honours</LINE>
<LINE>That are without him, as place, riches, favour,</LINE>
<LINE>Prizes of accident as oft as merit:</LINE>
<LINE>Which when they fall, as being slippery standers,</LINE>
<LINE>The love that lean'd on them as slippery too,</LINE>
<LINE>Do one pluck down another and together</LINE>
<LINE>Die in the fall. But 'tis not so with me:</LINE>
<LINE>Fortune and I are friends: I do enjoy</LINE>
<LINE>At ample point all that I did possess,</LINE>
<LINE>Save these men's looks; who do, methinks, find out</LINE>
<LINE>Something not worth in me such rich beholding</LINE>
<LINE>As they have often given. Here is Ulysses;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll interrupt his reading.</LINE>
<LINE>How now Ulysses!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, great Thetis' son!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What are you reading?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A strange fellow here</LINE>
<LINE>Writes me: 'That man, how dearly ever parted,</LINE>
<LINE>How much in having, or without or in,</LINE>
<LINE>Cannot make boast to have that which he hath,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;</LINE>
<LINE>As when his virtues shining upon others</LINE>
<LINE>Heat them and they retort that heat again</LINE>
<LINE>To the first giver.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is not strange, Ulysses.</LINE>
<LINE>The beauty that is borne here in the face</LINE>
<LINE>The bearer knows not, but commends itself</LINE>
<LINE>To others' eyes; nor doth the eye itself,</LINE>
<LINE>That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself,</LINE>
<LINE>Not going from itself; but eye to eye opposed</LINE>
<LINE>Salutes each other with each other's form;</LINE>
<LINE>For speculation turns not to itself,</LINE>
<LINE>Till it hath travell'd and is mirror'd there</LINE>
<LINE>Where it may see itself. This is not strange at all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do not strain at the position,--</LINE>
<LINE>It is familiar,--but at the author's drift;</LINE>
<LINE>Who, in his circumstance, expressly proves</LINE>
<LINE>That no man is the lord of any thing,</LINE>
<LINE>Though in and of him there be much consisting,</LINE>
<LINE>Till he communicate his parts to others:</LINE>
<LINE>Nor doth he of himself know them for aught</LINE>
<LINE>Till he behold them form'd in the applause</LINE>
<LINE>Where they're extended; who, like an arch,</LINE>
<LINE>reverberates</LINE>
<LINE>The voice again, or, like a gate of steel</LINE>
<LINE>Fronting the sun, receives and renders back</LINE>
<LINE>His figure and his heat.  I was much wrapt in this;</LINE>
<LINE>And apprehended here immediately</LINE>
<LINE>The unknown Ajax.</LINE>
<LINE>Heavens, what a man is there! a very horse,</LINE>
<LINE>That has he knows not what. Nature, what things there are</LINE>
<LINE>Most abject in regard and dear in use!</LINE>
<LINE>What things again most dear in the esteem</LINE>
<LINE>And poor in worth! Now shall we see to-morrow--</LINE>
<LINE>An act that very chance doth throw upon him--</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax renown'd. O heavens, what some men do,</LINE>
<LINE>While some men leave to do!</LINE>
<LINE>How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall,</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes!</LINE>
<LINE>How one man eats into another's pride,</LINE>
<LINE>While pride is fasting in his wantonness!</LINE>
<LINE>To see these Grecian lords!--why, even already</LINE>
<LINE>They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder,</LINE>
<LINE>As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast</LINE>
<LINE>And great Troy shrieking.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do believe it; for they pass'd by me</LINE>
<LINE>As misers do by beggars, neither gave to me</LINE>
<LINE>Good word nor look: what, are my deeds forgot?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,</LINE>
<LINE>A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:</LINE>
<LINE>Those scraps are good deeds past; which are devour'd</LINE>
<LINE>As fast as they are made, forgot as soon</LINE>
<LINE>As done: perseverance, dear my lord,</LINE>
<LINE>Keeps honour bright: to have done is to hang</LINE>
<LINE>Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail</LINE>
<LINE>In monumental mockery. Take the instant way;</LINE>
<LINE>For honour travels in a strait so narrow,</LINE>
<LINE>Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path;</LINE>
<LINE>For emulation hath a thousand sons</LINE>
<LINE>That one by one pursue: if you give way,</LINE>
<LINE>Or hedge aside from the direct forthright,</LINE>
<LINE>Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by</LINE>
<LINE>And leave you hindmost;</LINE>
<LINE>Or like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank,</LINE>
<LINE>Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,</LINE>
<LINE>O'er-run and trampled on: then what they do in present,</LINE>
<LINE>Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours;</LINE>
<LINE>For time is like a fashionable host</LINE>
<LINE>That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand,</LINE>
<LINE>And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly,</LINE>
<LINE>Grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles,</LINE>
<LINE>And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not</LINE>
<LINE>virtue seek</LINE>
<LINE>Remuneration for the thing it was;</LINE>
<LINE>For beauty, wit,</LINE>
<LINE>High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service,</LINE>
<LINE>Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all</LINE>
<LINE>To envious and calumniating time.</LINE>
<LINE>One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,</LINE>
<LINE>That all with one consent praise new-born gawds,</LINE>
<LINE>Though they are made and moulded of things past,</LINE>
<LINE>And give to dust that is a little gilt</LINE>
<LINE>More laud than gilt o'er-dusted.</LINE>
<LINE>The present eye praises the present object.</LINE>
<LINE>Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,</LINE>
<LINE>That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;</LINE>
<LINE>Since things in motion sooner catch the eye</LINE>
<LINE>Than what not stirs. The cry went once on thee,</LINE>
<LINE>And still it might, and yet it may again,</LINE>
<LINE>If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive</LINE>
<LINE>And case thy reputation in thy tent;</LINE>
<LINE>Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,</LINE>
<LINE>Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves</LINE>
<LINE>And drave great Mars to faction.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Of this my privacy</LINE>
<LINE>I have strong reasons.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But 'gainst your privacy</LINE>
<LINE>The reasons are more potent and heroical:</LINE>
<LINE>'Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love</LINE>
<LINE>With one of Priam's daughters.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! known!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is that a wonder?</LINE>
<LINE>The providence that's in a watchful state</LINE>
<LINE>Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold,</LINE>
<LINE>Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps,</LINE>
<LINE>Keeps place with thought and almost, like the gods,</LINE>
<LINE>Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.</LINE>
<LINE>There is a mystery--with whom relation</LINE>
<LINE>Durst never meddle--in the soul of state;</LINE>
<LINE>Which hath an operation more divine</LINE>
<LINE>Than breath or pen can give expressure to:</LINE>
<LINE>All the commerce that you have had with Troy</LINE>
<LINE>As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord;</LINE>
<LINE>And better would it fit Achilles much</LINE>
<LINE>To throw down Hector than Polyxena:</LINE>
<LINE>But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,</LINE>
<LINE>When fame shall in our islands sound her trump,</LINE>
<LINE>And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,</LINE>
<LINE>'Great Hector's sister did Achilles win,</LINE>
<LINE>But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.'</LINE>
<LINE>Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;</LINE>
<LINE>The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To this effect, Achilles, have I moved you:</LINE>
<LINE>A woman impudent and mannish grown</LINE>
<LINE>Is not more loathed than an effeminate man</LINE>
<LINE>In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this;</LINE>
<LINE>They think my little stomach to the war</LINE>
<LINE>And your great love to me restrains you thus:</LINE>
<LINE>Sweet, rouse yourself; and the weak wanton Cupid</LINE>
<LINE>Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold,</LINE>
<LINE>And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane,</LINE>
<LINE>Be shook to air.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall Ajax fight with Hector?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, and perhaps receive much honour by him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I see my reputation is at stake</LINE>
<LINE>My fame is shrewdly gored.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, then, beware;</LINE>
<LINE>Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves:</LINE>
<LINE>Omission to do what is necessary</LINE>
<LINE>Seals a commission to a blank of danger;</LINE>
<LINE>And danger, like an ague, subtly taints</LINE>
<LINE>Even then when we sit idly in the sun.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll send the fool to Ajax and desire him</LINE>
<LINE>To invite the Trojan lords after the combat</LINE>
<LINE>To see us here unarm'd: I have a woman's longing,</LINE>
<LINE>An appetite that I am sick withal,</LINE>
<LINE>To see great Hector in his weeds of peace,</LINE>
<LINE>To talk with him and to behold his visage,</LINE>
<LINE>Even to my full of view.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter THERSITES</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>A labour saved!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A wonder!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for himself.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How so?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector, and is so</LINE>
<LINE>prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling that he</LINE>
<LINE>raves in saying nothing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How can that be?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock,--a stride</LINE>
<LINE>and a stand: ruminates like an hostess that hath no</LINE>
<LINE>arithmetic but her brain to set down her reckoning:</LINE>
<LINE>bites his lip with a politic regard, as who should</LINE>
<LINE>say 'There were wit in this head, an 'twould out;'</LINE>
<LINE>and so there is, but it lies as coldly in him as fire</LINE>
<LINE>in a flint, which will not show without knocking.</LINE>
<LINE>The man's undone forever; for if Hector break not his</LINE>
<LINE>neck i' the combat, he'll break 't himself in</LINE>
<LINE>vain-glory. He knows not me: I said 'Good morrow,</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax;' and he replies 'Thanks, Agamemnon.' What think</LINE>
<LINE>you of this man that takes me for the general? He's</LINE>
<LINE>grown a very land-fish, language-less, a monster.</LINE>
<LINE>A plague of opinion! a man may wear it on both</LINE>
<LINE>sides, like a leather jerkin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou must be my ambassador to him, Thersites.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, I? why, he'll answer nobody; he professes not</LINE>
<LINE>answering: speaking is for beggars; he wears his</LINE>
<LINE>tongue in's arms. I will put on his presence: let</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus make demands to me, you shall see the</LINE>
<LINE>pageant of Ajax.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To him, Patroclus; tell him I humbly desire the</LINE>
<LINE>valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous Hector</LINE>
<LINE>to come unarmed to my tent, and to procure</LINE>
<LINE>safe-conduct for his person of the magnanimous</LINE>
<LINE>and most illustrious six-or-seven-times-honoured</LINE>
<LINE>captain-general of the Grecian army, Agamemnon,</LINE>
<LINE>et cetera. Do this.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Jove bless great Ajax!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hum!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I come from the worthy Achilles,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who most humbly desires you to invite Hector to his tent,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hum!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And to procure safe-conduct from Agamemnon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Agamemnon!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What say you to't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>God b' wi' you, with all my heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your answer, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If to-morrow be a fair day, by eleven o'clock it will</LINE>
<LINE>go one way or other: howsoever, he shall pay for me</LINE>
<LINE>ere he has me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Your answer, sir.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fare you well, with all my heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, but he is not in this tune, is he?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, but he's out o' tune thus. What music will be in</LINE>
<LINE>him when Hector has knocked out his brains, I know</LINE>
<LINE>not; but, I am sure, none, unless the fiddler Apollo</LINE>
<LINE>get his sinews to make catlings on.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, thou shalt bear a letter to him straight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me bear another to his horse; for that's the more</LINE>
<LINE>capable creature.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirr'd;</LINE>
<LINE>And I myself see not the bottom of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would the fountain of your mind were clear again,</LINE>
<LINE>that I might water an ass at it! I had rather be a</LINE>
<LINE>tick in a sheep than such a valiant ignorance.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT IV</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  Troy. A street.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter, from one side, AENEAS, and Servant with a
torch; from the other, PARIS, DEIPHOBUS, ANTENOR,
DIOMEDES, and others, with torches</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>See, ho! who is that there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DEIPHOBUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is the Lord AEneas.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is the prince there in person?</LINE>
<LINE>Had I so good occasion to lie long</LINE>
<LINE>As you, prince Paris, nothing but heavenly business</LINE>
<LINE>Should rob my bed-mate of my company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That's my mind too. Good morrow, Lord AEneas.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A valiant Greek, AEneas,--take his hand,--</LINE>
<LINE>Witness the process of your speech, wherein</LINE>
<LINE>You told how Diomed, a whole week by days,</LINE>
<LINE>Did haunt you in the field.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Health to you, valiant sir,</LINE>
<LINE>During all question of the gentle truce;</LINE>
<LINE>But when I meet you arm'd, as black defiance</LINE>
<LINE>As heart can think or courage execute.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The one and other Diomed embraces.</LINE>
<LINE>Our bloods are now in calm; and, so long, health!</LINE>
<LINE>But when contention and occasion meet,</LINE>
<LINE>By Jove, I'll play the hunter for thy life</LINE>
<LINE>With all my force, pursuit and policy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And thou shalt hunt a lion, that will fly</LINE>
<LINE>With his face backward. In humane gentleness,</LINE>
<LINE>Welcome to Troy! now, by Anchises' life,</LINE>
<LINE>Welcome, indeed! By Venus' hand I swear,</LINE>
<LINE>No man alive can love in such a sort</LINE>
<LINE>The thing he means to kill more excellently.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We sympathize: Jove, let AEneas live,</LINE>
<LINE>If to my sword his fate be not the glory,</LINE>
<LINE>A thousand complete courses of the sun!</LINE>
<LINE>But, in mine emulous honour, let him die,</LINE>
<LINE>With every joint a wound, and that to-morrow!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We know each other well.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We do; and long to know each other worse.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This is the most despiteful gentle greeting,</LINE>
<LINE>The noblest hateful love, that e'er I heard of.</LINE>
<LINE>What business, lord, so early?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I was sent for to the king; but why, I know not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His purpose meets you: 'twas to bring this Greek</LINE>
<LINE>To Calchas' house, and there to render him,</LINE>
<LINE>For the enfreed Antenor, the fair Cressid:</LINE>
<LINE>Let's have your company, or, if you please,</LINE>
<LINE>Haste there before us: I constantly do think--</LINE>
<LINE>Or rather, call my thought a certain knowledge--</LINE>
<LINE>My brother Troilus lodges there to-night:</LINE>
<LINE>Rouse him and give him note of our approach.</LINE>
<LINE>With the whole quality wherefore: I fear</LINE>
<LINE>We shall be much unwelcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That I assure you:</LINE>
<LINE>Troilus had rather Troy were borne to Greece</LINE>
<LINE>Than Cressid borne from Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is no help;</LINE>
<LINE>The bitter disposition of the time</LINE>
<LINE>Will have it so. On, lord; we'll follow you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And tell me, noble Diomed, faith, tell me true,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the soul of sound good-fellowship,</LINE>
<LINE>Who, in your thoughts, merits fair Helen best,</LINE>
<LINE>Myself or Menelaus?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Both alike:</LINE>
<LINE>He merits well to have her, that doth seek her,</LINE>
<LINE>Not making any scruple of her soilure,</LINE>
<LINE>With such a hell of pain and world of charge,</LINE>
<LINE>And you as well to keep her, that defend her,</LINE>
<LINE>Not palating the taste of her dishonour,</LINE>
<LINE>With such a costly loss of wealth and friends:</LINE>
<LINE>He, like a puling cuckold, would drink up</LINE>
<LINE>The lees and dregs of a flat tamed piece;</LINE>
<LINE>You, like a lecher, out of whorish loins</LINE>
<LINE>Are pleased to breed out your inheritors:</LINE>
<LINE>Both merits poised, each weighs nor less nor more;</LINE>
<LINE>But he as he, the heavier for a whore.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are too bitter to your countrywoman.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She's bitter to her country: hear me, Paris:</LINE>
<LINE>For every false drop in her bawdy veins</LINE>
<LINE>A Grecian's life hath sunk; for every scruple</LINE>
<LINE>Of her contaminated carrion weight,</LINE>
<LINE>A Trojan hath been slain: since she could speak,</LINE>
<LINE>She hath not given so many good words breath</LINE>
<LINE>As for her Greeks and Trojans suffer'd death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair Diomed, you do as chapmen do,</LINE>
<LINE>Dispraise the thing that you desire to buy:</LINE>
<LINE>But we in silence hold this virtue well,</LINE>
<LINE>We'll but commend what we intend to sell.</LINE>
<LINE>Here lies our way.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  The same. Court of Pandarus' house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS and CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dear, trouble not yourself: the morn is cold.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Then, sweet my lord, I'll call mine uncle down;</LINE>
<LINE>He shall unbolt the gates.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Trouble him not;</LINE>
<LINE>To bed, to bed: sleep kill those pretty eyes,</LINE>
<LINE>And give as soft attachment to thy senses</LINE>
<LINE>As infants' empty of all thought!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I prithee now, to bed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Are you a-weary of me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Cressida! but that the busy day,</LINE>
<LINE>Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows,</LINE>
<LINE>And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer,</LINE>
<LINE>I would not from thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Night hath been too brief.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Beshrew the witch! with venomous wights she stays</LINE>
<LINE>As tediously as hell, but flies the grasps of love</LINE>
<LINE>With wings more momentary-swift than thought.</LINE>
<LINE>You will catch cold, and curse me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, tarry:</LINE>
<LINE>You men will never tarry.</LINE>
<LINE>O foolish Cressid! I might have still held off,</LINE>
<LINE>And then you would have tarried. Hark!</LINE>
<LINE>there's one up.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  What, 's all the doors open here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is your uncle.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A pestilence on him! now will he be mocking:</LINE>
<LINE>I shall have such a life!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, how now! how go maidenheads? Here, you</LINE>
<LINE>maid! where's my cousin Cressid?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go hang yourself, you naughty mocking uncle!</LINE>
<LINE>You bring me to do, and then you flout me too.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To do what? to do what? let her say</LINE>
<LINE>what: what have I brought you to do?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, beshrew your heart! you'll ne'er be good,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor suffer others.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha! ha! Alas, poor wretch! ah, poor capocchia!</LINE>
<LINE>hast not slept to-night? would he not, a naughty</LINE>
<LINE>man, let it sleep? a bugbear take him!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Did not I tell you? Would he were knock'd i' the head!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Knocking within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Who's that at door? good uncle, go and see.</LINE>
<LINE>My lord, come you again into my chamber:</LINE>
<LINE>You smile and mock me, as if I meant naughtily.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, ha!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, you are deceived, I think of no such thing.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Knocking within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How earnestly they knock! Pray you, come in:</LINE>
<LINE>I would not for half Troy have you seen here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt TROILUS and CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's there? what's the matter? will you beat</LINE>
<LINE>down the door? How now! what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter AENEAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good morrow, lord, good morrow.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who's there? my Lord AEneas! By my troth,</LINE>
<LINE>I knew you not: what news with you so early?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is not Prince Troilus here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here! what should he do here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, he is here, my lord; do not deny him:</LINE>
<LINE>It doth import him much to speak with me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is he here, say you? 'tis more than I know, I'll</LINE>
<LINE>be sworn: for my own part, I came in late. What</LINE>
<LINE>should he do here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who!--nay, then: come, come, you'll do him wrong</LINE>
<LINE>ere you're ware: you'll be so true to him, to be</LINE>
<LINE>false to him: do not you know of him, but yet go</LINE>
<LINE>fetch him hither; go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute you,</LINE>
<LINE>My matter is so rash: there is at hand</LINE>
<LINE>Paris your brother, and Deiphobus,</LINE>
<LINE>The Grecian Diomed, and our Antenor</LINE>
<LINE>Deliver'd to us; and for him forthwith,</LINE>
<LINE>Ere the first sacrifice, within this hour,</LINE>
<LINE>We must give up to Diomedes' hand</LINE>
<LINE>The Lady Cressida.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it so concluded?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By Priam and the general state of Troy:</LINE>
<LINE>They are at hand and ready to effect it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How my achievements mock me!</LINE>
<LINE>I will go meet them: and, my Lord AEneas,</LINE>
<LINE>We met by chance; you did not find me here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good, good, my lord; the secrets of nature</LINE>
<LINE>Have not more gift in taciturnity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt TROILUS and AENEAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is't possible? no sooner got but lost? The devil</LINE>
<LINE>take Antenor! the young prince will go mad: a</LINE>
<LINE>plague upon Antenor! I would they had broke 's neck!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! what's the matter? who was here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ah, ah!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why sigh you so profoundly? where's my lord? gone!</LINE>
<LINE>Tell me, sweet uncle, what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would I were as deep under the earth as I am above!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O the gods! what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, get thee in: would thou hadst ne'er been</LINE>
<LINE>born! I knew thou wouldst be his death. O, poor</LINE>
<LINE>gentleman! A plague upon Antenor!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good uncle, I beseech you, on my knees! beseech you,</LINE>
<LINE>what's the matter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou must be gone, wench, thou must be gone; thou</LINE>
<LINE>art changed for Antenor: thou must to thy father,</LINE>
<LINE>and be gone from Troilus: 'twill be his death;</LINE>
<LINE>'twill be his bane; he cannot bear it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O you immortal gods! I will not go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou must.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will not, uncle: I have forgot my father;</LINE>
<LINE>I know no touch of consanguinity;</LINE>
<LINE>No kin no love, no blood, no soul so near me</LINE>
<LINE>As the sweet Troilus. O you gods divine!</LINE>
<LINE>Make Cressid's name the very crown of falsehood,</LINE>
<LINE>If ever she leave Troilus! Time, force, and death,</LINE>
<LINE>Do to this body what extremes you can;</LINE>
<LINE>But the strong base and building of my love</LINE>
<LINE>Is as the very centre of the earth,</LINE>
<LINE>Drawing all things to it. I'll go in and weep,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do, do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tear my bright hair and scratch my praised cheeks,</LINE>
<LINE>Crack my clear voice with sobs and break my heart</LINE>
<LINE>With sounding Troilus. I will not go from Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  The same. Street before Pandarus' house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PARIS, TROILUS, AENEAS, DEIPHOBUS, ANTENOR,
and DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is great morning, and the hour prefix'd</LINE>
<LINE>Of her delivery to this valiant Greek</LINE>
<LINE>Comes fast upon. Good my brother Troilus,</LINE>
<LINE>Tell you the lady what she is to do,</LINE>
<LINE>And haste her to the purpose.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Walk into her house;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll bring her to the Grecian presently:</LINE>
<LINE>And to his hand when I deliver her,</LINE>
<LINE>Think it an altar, and thy brother Troilus</LINE>
<LINE>A priest there offering to it his own heart.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know what 'tis to love;</LINE>
<LINE>And would, as I shall pity, I could help!</LINE>
<LINE>Please you walk in, my lords.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  The same. Pandarus' house.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter PANDARUS and CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be moderate, be moderate.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why tell you me of moderation?</LINE>
<LINE>The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,</LINE>
<LINE>And violenteth in a sense as strong</LINE>
<LINE>As that which causeth it: how can I moderate it?</LINE>
<LINE>If I could temporize with my affection,</LINE>
<LINE>Or brew it to a weak and colder palate,</LINE>
<LINE>The like allayment could I give my grief.</LINE>
<LINE>My love admits no qualifying dross;</LINE>
<LINE>No more my grief, in such a precious loss.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, here, here he comes.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Ah, sweet ducks!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Troilus! Troilus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Embracing him</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What a pair of spectacles is here!</LINE>
<LINE>Let me embrace too. 'O heart,' as the goodly saying is,</LINE>
<LINE>'--O heart, heavy heart,</LINE>
<LINE>Why sigh'st thou without breaking?</LINE>
<LINE>where he answers again,</LINE>
<LINE>'Because thou canst not ease thy smart</LINE>
<LINE>By friendship nor by speaking.'</LINE>
<LINE>There was never a truer rhyme. Let us cast away</LINE>
<LINE>nothing, for we may live to have need of such a</LINE>
<LINE>verse: we see it, we see it. How now, lambs?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cressid, I love thee in so strain'd a purity,</LINE>
<LINE>That the bless'd gods, as angry with my fancy,</LINE>
<LINE>More bright in zeal than the devotion which</LINE>
<LINE>Cold lips blow to their deities, take thee from me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have the gods envy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, ay, ay, ay; 'tis too plain a case.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And is it true that I must go from Troy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A hateful truth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, and from Troilus too?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From Troy and Troilus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is it possible?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And suddenly; where injury of chance</LINE>
<LINE>Puts back leave-taking, justles roughly by</LINE>
<LINE>All time of pause, rudely beguiles our lips</LINE>
<LINE>Of all rejoindure, forcibly prevents</LINE>
<LINE>Our lock'd embrasures, strangles our dear vows</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the birth of our own labouring breath:</LINE>
<LINE>We two, that with so many thousand sighs</LINE>
<LINE>Did buy each other, must poorly sell ourselves</LINE>
<LINE>With the rude brevity and discharge of one.</LINE>
<LINE>Injurious time now with a robber's haste</LINE>
<LINE>Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how:</LINE>
<LINE>As many farewells as be stars in heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>With distinct breath and consign'd kisses to them,</LINE>
<LINE>He fumbles up into a lose adieu,</LINE>
<LINE>And scants us with a single famish'd kiss,</LINE>
<LINE>Distasted with the salt of broken tears.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  My lord, is the lady ready?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark! you are call'd: some say the Genius so</LINE>
<LINE>Cries 'come' to him that instantly must die.</LINE>
<LINE>Bid them have patience; she shall come anon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where are my tears? rain, to lay this wind, or</LINE>
<LINE>my heart will be blown up by the root.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must then to the Grecians?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No remedy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A woful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks!</LINE>
<LINE>When shall we see again?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hear me, my love: be thou but true of heart,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I true! how now! what wicked deem is this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, we must use expostulation kindly,</LINE>
<LINE>For it is parting from us:</LINE>
<LINE>I speak not 'be thou true,' as fearing thee,</LINE>
<LINE>For I will throw my glove to Death himself,</LINE>
<LINE>That there's no maculation in thy heart:</LINE>
<LINE>But 'be thou true,' say I, to fashion in</LINE>
<LINE>My sequent protestation; be thou true,</LINE>
<LINE>And I will see thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, you shall be exposed, my lord, to dangers</LINE>
<LINE>As infinite as imminent! but I'll be true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And I'll grow friend with danger. Wear this sleeve.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And you this glove. When shall I see you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will corrupt the Grecian sentinels,</LINE>
<LINE>To give thee nightly visitation.</LINE>
<LINE>But yet be true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O heavens! 'be true' again!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hear while I speak it, love:</LINE>
<LINE>The Grecian youths are full of quality;</LINE>
<LINE>They're loving, well composed with gifts of nature,</LINE>
<LINE>Flowing and swelling o'er with arts and exercise:</LINE>
<LINE>How novelty may move, and parts with person,</LINE>
<LINE>Alas, a kind of godly jealousy--</LINE>
<LINE>Which, I beseech you, call a virtuous sin--</LINE>
<LINE>Makes me afeard.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O heavens! you love me not.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Die I a villain, then!</LINE>
<LINE>In this I do not call your faith in question</LINE>
<LINE>So mainly as my merit: I cannot sing,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor heel the high lavolt, nor sweeten talk,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor play at subtle games; fair virtues all,</LINE>
<LINE>To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant:</LINE>
<LINE>But I can tell that in each grace of these</LINE>
<LINE>There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil</LINE>
<LINE>That tempts most cunningly: but be not tempted.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do you think I will?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No.</LINE>
<LINE>But something may be done that we will not:</LINE>
<LINE>And sometimes we are devils to ourselves,</LINE>
<LINE>When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,</LINE>
<LINE>Presuming on their changeful potency.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Nay, good my lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, kiss; and let us part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Brother Troilus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good brother, come you hither;</LINE>
<LINE>And bring AEneas and the Grecian with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, will you be true?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who, I? alas, it is my vice, my fault:</LINE>
<LINE>Whiles others fish with craft for great opinion,</LINE>
<LINE>I with great truth catch mere simplicity;</LINE>
<LINE>Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns,</LINE>
<LINE>With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare.</LINE>
<LINE>Fear not my truth: the moral of my wit</LINE>
<LINE>Is 'plain and true;' there's all the reach of it.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AENEAS, PARIS, ANTENOR, DEIPHOBUS,
and DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Welcome, Sir Diomed! here is the lady</LINE>
<LINE>Which for Antenor we deliver you:</LINE>
<LINE>At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand,</LINE>
<LINE>And by the way possess thee what she is.</LINE>
<LINE>Entreat her fair; and, by my soul, fair Greek,</LINE>
<LINE>If e'er thou stand at mercy of my sword,</LINE>
<LINE>Name Cressida and thy life shall be as safe</LINE>
<LINE>As Priam is in Ilion.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fair Lady Cressid,</LINE>
<LINE>So please you, save the thanks this prince expects:</LINE>
<LINE>The lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek,</LINE>
<LINE>Pleads your fair usage; and to Diomed</LINE>
<LINE>You shall be mistress, and command him wholly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Grecian, thou dost not use me courteously,</LINE>
<LINE>To shame the zeal of my petition to thee</LINE>
<LINE>In praising her: I tell thee, lord of Greece,</LINE>
<LINE>She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises</LINE>
<LINE>As thou unworthy to be call'd her servant.</LINE>
<LINE>I charge thee use her well, even for my charge;</LINE>
<LINE>For, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not,</LINE>
<LINE>Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll cut thy throat.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, be not moved, Prince Troilus:</LINE>
<LINE>Let me be privileged by my place and message,</LINE>
<LINE>To be a speaker free; when I am hence</LINE>
<LINE>I'll answer to my lust: and know you, lord,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll nothing do on charge: to her own worth</LINE>
<LINE>She shall be prized; but that you say 'be't so,'</LINE>
<LINE>I'll speak it in my spirit and honour, 'no.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, to the port. I'll tell thee, Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>This brave shall oft make thee to hide thy head.</LINE>
<LINE>Lady, give me your hand, and, as we walk,</LINE>
<LINE>To our own selves bend we our needful talk.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt TROILUS, CRESSIDA, and DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Trumpet within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark! Hector's trumpet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How have we spent this morning!</LINE>
<LINE>The prince must think me tardy and remiss,</LINE>
<LINE>That sore to ride before him to the field.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PARIS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis Troilus' fault: come, come, to field with him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DEIPHOBUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let us make ready straight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity,</LINE>
<LINE>Let us address to tend on Hector's heels:</LINE>
<LINE>The glory of our Troy doth this day lie</LINE>
<LINE>On his fair worth and single chivalry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  The Grecian camp. Lists set out.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AJAX, armed; AGAMEMNON, ACHILLES, PATROCLUS,
MENELAUS, ULYSSES, NESTOR, and others</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,</LINE>
<LINE>Anticipating time with starting courage.</LINE>
<LINE>Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou dreadful Ajax; that the appalled air</LINE>
<LINE>May pierce the head of the great combatant</LINE>
<LINE>And hale him hither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou, trumpet, there's my purse.</LINE>
<LINE>Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe:</LINE>
<LINE>Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek</LINE>
<LINE>Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon:</LINE>
<LINE>Come, stretch thy chest and let thy eyes spout blood;</LINE>
<LINE>Thou blow'st for Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Trumpet sounds</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No trumpet answers.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis but early days.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas' daughter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait;</LINE>
<LINE>He rises on the toe: that spirit of his</LINE>
<LINE>In aspiration lifts him from the earth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter DIOMEDES, with CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is this the Lady Cressid?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Even she.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Our general doth salute you with a kiss.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yet is the kindness but particular;</LINE>
<LINE>'Twere better she were kiss'd in general.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And very courtly counsel: I'll begin.</LINE>
<LINE>So much for Nestor.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll take what winter from your lips, fair lady:</LINE>
<LINE>Achilles bids you welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I had good argument for kissing once.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But that's no argument for kissing now;</LINE>
<LINE>For this popp'd Paris in his hardiment,</LINE>
<LINE>And parted thus you and your argument.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns!</LINE>
<LINE>For which we lose our heads to gild his horns.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The first was Menelaus' kiss; this, mine:</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus kisses you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, this is trim!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Paris and I kiss evermore for him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In kissing, do you render or receive?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Both take and give.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll make my match to live,</LINE>
<LINE>The kiss you take is better than you give;</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore no kiss.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You're an odd man; give even or give none.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>An odd man, lady! every man is odd.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, Paris is not; for you know 'tis true,</LINE>
<LINE>That you are odd, and he is even with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You fillip me o' the head.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, I'll be sworn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It were no match, your nail against his horn.</LINE>
<LINE>May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You may.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do desire it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, beg, then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why then for Venus' sake, give me a kiss,</LINE>
<LINE>When Helen is a maid again, and his.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lady, a word: I'll bring you to your father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit with CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A woman of quick sense.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fie, fie upon her!</LINE>
<LINE>There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,</LINE>
<LINE>Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out</LINE>
<LINE>At every joint and motive of her body.</LINE>
<LINE>O, these encounterers, so glib of tongue,</LINE>
<LINE>That give accosting welcome ere it comes,</LINE>
<LINE>And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts</LINE>
<LINE>To every ticklish reader! set them down</LINE>
<LINE>For sluttish spoils of opportunity</LINE>
<LINE>And daughters of the game.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Trumpet within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Trojans' trumpet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yonder comes the troop.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR, armed; AENEAS, TROILUS, and other
Trojans, with Attendants</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hail, all you state of Greece! what shall be done</LINE>
<LINE>To him that victory commands? or do you purpose</LINE>
<LINE>A victor shall be known? will you the knights</LINE>
<LINE>Shall to the edge of all extremity</LINE>
<LINE>Pursue each other, or shall be divided</LINE>
<LINE>By any voice or order of the field?</LINE>
<LINE>Hector bade ask.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Which way would Hector have it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He cares not; he'll obey conditions.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis done like Hector; but securely done,</LINE>
<LINE>A little proudly, and great deal misprizing</LINE>
<LINE>The knight opposed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If not Achilles, sir,</LINE>
<LINE>What is your name?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If not Achilles, nothing.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Therefore Achilles: but, whate'er, know this:</LINE>
<LINE>In the extremity of great and little,</LINE>
<LINE>Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector;</LINE>
<LINE>The one almost as infinite as all,</LINE>
<LINE>The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,</LINE>
<LINE>And that which looks like pride is courtesy.</LINE>
<LINE>This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood:</LINE>
<LINE>In love whereof, half Hector stays at home;</LINE>
<LINE>Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek</LINE>
<LINE>This blended knight, half Trojan and half Greek.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A maiden battle, then? O, I perceive you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight,</LINE>
<LINE>Stand by our Ajax: as you and Lord AEneas</LINE>
<LINE>Consent upon the order of their fight,</LINE>
<LINE>So be it; either to the uttermost,</LINE>
<LINE>Or else a breath: the combatants being kin</LINE>
<LINE>Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They are opposed already.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The youngest son of Priam, a true knight,</LINE>
<LINE>Not yet mature, yet matchless, firm of word,</LINE>
<LINE>Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue;</LINE>
<LINE>Not soon provoked nor being provoked soon calm'd:</LINE>
<LINE>His heart and hand both open and both free;</LINE>
<LINE>For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows;</LINE>
<LINE>Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,</LINE>
<LINE>Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath;</LINE>
<LINE>Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;</LINE>
<LINE>For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes</LINE>
<LINE>To tender objects, but he in heat of action</LINE>
<LINE>Is more vindicative than jealous love:</LINE>
<LINE>They call him Troilus, and on him erect</LINE>
<LINE>A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.</LINE>
<LINE>Thus says AEneas; one that knows the youth</LINE>
<LINE>Even to his inches, and with private soul</LINE>
<LINE>Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Alarum. Hector and Ajax fight</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They are in action.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, Ajax, hold thine own!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector, thou sleep'st;</LINE>
<LINE>Awake thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>His blows are well disposed: there, Ajax!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You must no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Trumpets cease</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Princes, enough, so please you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am not warm yet; let us fight again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>As Hector pleases.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then will I no more:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son,</LINE>
<LINE>A cousin-german to great Priam's seed;</LINE>
<LINE>The obligation of our blood forbids</LINE>
<LINE>A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:</LINE>
<LINE>Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so</LINE>
<LINE>That thou couldst say 'This hand is Grecian all,</LINE>
<LINE>And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg</LINE>
<LINE>All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood</LINE>
<LINE>Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister</LINE>
<LINE>Bounds in my father's;' by Jove multipotent,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member</LINE>
<LINE>Wherein my sword had not impressure made</LINE>
<LINE>Of our rank feud: but the just gods gainsay</LINE>
<LINE>That any drop thou borrow'dst from thy mother,</LINE>
<LINE>My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword</LINE>
<LINE>Be drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax:</LINE>
<LINE>By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;</LINE>
<LINE>Hector would have them fall upon him thus:</LINE>
<LINE>Cousin, all honour to thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Not Neoptolemus so mirable,</LINE>
<LINE>On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st Oyes</LINE>
<LINE>Cries 'This is he,' could promise to himself</LINE>
<LINE>A thought of added honour torn from Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>There is expectance here from both the sides,</LINE>
<LINE>What further you will do.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We'll answer it;</LINE>
<LINE>The issue is embracement: Ajax, farewell.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If I might in entreaties find success--</LINE>
<LINE>As seld I have the chance--I would desire</LINE>
<LINE>My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis Agamemnon's wish, and great Achilles</LINE>
<LINE>Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>AEneas, call my brother Troilus to me,</LINE>
<LINE>And signify this loving interview</LINE>
<LINE>To the expecters of our Trojan part;</LINE>
<LINE>Desire them home. Give me thy hand, my cousin;</LINE>
<LINE>I will go eat with thee and see your knights.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The worthiest of them tell me name by name;</LINE>
<LINE>But for Achilles, mine own searching eyes</LINE>
<LINE>Shall find him by his large and portly size.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one</LINE>
<LINE>That would be rid of such an enemy;</LINE>
<LINE>But that's no welcome: understand more clear,</LINE>
<LINE>What's past and what's to come is strew'd with husks</LINE>
<LINE>And formless ruin of oblivion;</LINE>
<LINE>But in this extant moment, faith and troth,</LINE>
<LINE>Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing,</LINE>
<LINE>Bids thee, with most divine integrity,</LINE>
<LINE>From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>To TROILUS</STAGEDIR>  My well-famed lord of Troy, no</LINE>
<LINE>less to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting:</LINE>
<LINE>You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who must we answer?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The noble Menelaus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks!</LINE>
<LINE>Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath;</LINE>
<LINE>Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove:</LINE>
<LINE>She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, pardon; I offend.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft</LINE>
<LINE>Labouring for destiny make cruel way</LINE>
<LINE>Through ranks of Greekish youth, and I have seen thee,</LINE>
<LINE>As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,</LINE>
<LINE>Despising many forfeits and subduements,</LINE>
<LINE>When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air,</LINE>
<LINE>Not letting it decline on the declined,</LINE>
<LINE>That I have said to some my standers by</LINE>
<LINE>'Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!'</LINE>
<LINE>And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,</LINE>
<LINE>When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,</LINE>
<LINE>Like an Olympian wrestling: this have I seen;</LINE>
<LINE>But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel,</LINE>
<LINE>I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,</LINE>
<LINE>And once fought with him: he was a soldier good;</LINE>
<LINE>But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,</LINE>
<LINE>Never saw like thee. Let an old man embrace thee;</LINE>
<LINE>And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Tis the old Nestor.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,</LINE>
<LINE>That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time:</LINE>
<LINE>Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would my arms could match thee in contention,</LINE>
<LINE>As they contend with thee in courtesy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would they could.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha!</LINE>
<LINE>By this white beard, I'ld fight with thee to-morrow.</LINE>
<LINE>Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I wonder now how yonder city stands</LINE>
<LINE>When we have here her base and pillar by us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I know your favour, Lord Ulysses, well.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, sir, there's many a Greek and Trojan dead,</LINE>
<LINE>Since first I saw yourself and Diomed</LINE>
<LINE>In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must not believe you:</LINE>
<LINE>There they stand yet, and modestly I think,</LINE>
<LINE>The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost</LINE>
<LINE>A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all,</LINE>
<LINE>And that old common arbitrator, Time,</LINE>
<LINE>Will one day end it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So to him we leave it.</LINE>
<LINE>Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome:</LINE>
<LINE>After the general, I beseech you next</LINE>
<LINE>To feast with me and see me at my tent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou!</LINE>
<LINE>Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;</LINE>
<LINE>I have with exact view perused thee, Hector,</LINE>
<LINE>And quoted joint by joint.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Is this Achilles?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Behold thy fill.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, I have done already.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou art too brief: I will the second time,</LINE>
<LINE>As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er;</LINE>
<LINE>But there's more in me than thou understand'st.</LINE>
<LINE>Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body</LINE>
<LINE>Shall I destroy him? whether there, or there, or there?</LINE>
<LINE>That I may give the local wound a name</LINE>
<LINE>And make distinct the very breach whereout</LINE>
<LINE>Hector's great spirit flew: answer me, heavens!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,</LINE>
<LINE>To answer such a question: stand again:</LINE>
<LINE>Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly</LINE>
<LINE>As to prenominate in nice conjecture</LINE>
<LINE>Where thou wilt hit me dead?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I tell thee, yea.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,</LINE>
<LINE>I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well;</LINE>
<LINE>For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;</LINE>
<LINE>But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.</LINE>
<LINE>You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag;</LINE>
<LINE>His insolence draws folly from my lips;</LINE>
<LINE>But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words,</LINE>
<LINE>Or may I never--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

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

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray you, let us see you in the field:</LINE>
<LINE>We have had pelting wars, since you refused</LINE>
<LINE>The Grecians' cause.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Dost thou entreat me, Hector?</LINE>
<LINE>To-morrow do I meet thee, fell as death;</LINE>
<LINE>To-night all friends.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy hand upon that match.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;</LINE>
<LINE>There in the full convive we: afterwards,</LINE>
<LINE>As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall</LINE>
<LINE>Concur together, severally entreat him.</LINE>
<LINE>Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow,</LINE>
<LINE>That this great soldier may his welcome know.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt all except TROILUS and ULYSSES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,</LINE>
<LINE>In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus:</LINE>
<LINE>There Diomed doth feast with him to-night;</LINE>
<LINE>Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth,</LINE>
<LINE>But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view</LINE>
<LINE>On the fair Cressid.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Shall sweet lord, be bound to you so much,</LINE>
<LINE>After we part from Agamemnon's tent,</LINE>
<LINE>To bring me thither?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall command me, sir.</LINE>
<LINE>As gentle tell me, of what honour was</LINE>
<LINE>This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there</LINE>
<LINE>That wails her absence?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars</LINE>
<LINE>A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord?</LINE>
<LINE>She was beloved, she loved; she is, and doth:</LINE>
<LINE>But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

</ACT>

<ACT><TITLE>ACT V</TITLE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE I.  The Grecian camp. Before Achilles' tent.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night,</LINE>
<LINE>Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow.</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus, let us feast him to the height.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes Thersites.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter THERSITES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, thou core of envy!</LINE>
<LINE>Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol</LINE>
<LINE>of idiot worshippers, here's a letter for thee.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>From whence, fragment?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who keeps the tent now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well said, adversity! and what need these tricks?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Prithee, be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk:</LINE>
<LINE>thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Male varlet, you rogue! what's that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, his masculine whore. Now, the rotten diseases</LINE>
<LINE>of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs,</LINE>
<LINE>loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, cold</LINE>
<LINE>palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing</LINE>
<LINE>lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas,</LINE>
<LINE>limekilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the</LINE>
<LINE>rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take</LINE>
<LINE>again such preposterous discoveries!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest</LINE>
<LINE>thou to curse thus?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do I curse thee?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson</LINE>
<LINE>indistinguishable cur, no.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle</LINE>
<LINE>immaterial skein of sleave-silk, thou green sarcenet</LINE>
<LINE>flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's</LINE>
<LINE>purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered</LINE>
<LINE>with such waterflies, diminutives of nature!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PATROCLUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Out, gall!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Finch-egg!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite</LINE>
<LINE>From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle.</LINE>
<LINE>Here is a letter from Queen Hecuba,</LINE>
<LINE>A token from her daughter, my fair love,</LINE>
<LINE>Both taxing me and gaging me to keep</LINE>
<LINE>An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:</LINE>
<LINE>Fall Greeks; fail fame; honour or go or stay;</LINE>
<LINE>My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.</LINE>
<LINE>Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent:</LINE>
<LINE>This night in banqueting must all be spent.</LINE>
<LINE>Away, Patroclus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>With too much blood and too little brain, these two</LINE>
<LINE>may run mad; but, if with too much brain and too</LINE>
<LINE>little blood they do, I'll be a curer of madmen.</LINE>
<LINE>Here's Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough and one</LINE>
<LINE>that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as</LINE>
<LINE>earwax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter</LINE>
<LINE>there, his brother, the bull,--the primitive statue,</LINE>
<LINE>and oblique memorial of cuckolds; a thrifty</LINE>
<LINE>shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's</LINE>
<LINE>leg,--to what form but that he is, should wit larded</LINE>
<LINE>with malice and malice forced with wit turn him to?</LINE>
<LINE>To an ass, were nothing; he is both ass and ox: to</LINE>
<LINE>an ox, were nothing; he is both ox and ass. To be a</LINE>
<LINE>dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an</LINE>
<LINE>owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe, I would</LINE>
<LINE>not care; but to be Menelaus, I would conspire</LINE>
<LINE>against destiny. Ask me not, what I would be, if I</LINE>
<LINE>were not Thersites; for I care not to be the louse</LINE>
<LINE>of a lazar, so I were not Menelaus! Hey-day!</LINE>
<LINE>spirits and fires!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES,
NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMEDES, with lights</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>We go wrong, we go wrong.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, yonder 'tis;</LINE>
<LINE>There, where we see the lights.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I trouble you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, not a whit.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here comes himself to guide you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter ACHILLES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Welcome, brave Hector; welcome, princes all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So now, fair prince of Troy, I bid good night.</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax commands the guard to tend on you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thanks and good night to the Greeks' general.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MENELAUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night, sweet lord Menelaus.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet draught: 'sweet' quoth 'a! sweet sink,</LINE>
<LINE>sweet sewer.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night and welcome, both at once, to those</LINE>
<LINE>That go or tarry.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Old Nestor tarries; and you too, Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>Keep Hector company an hour or two.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot, lord; I have important business,</LINE>
<LINE>The tide whereof is now. Good night, great Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give me your hand.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Aside to TROILUS</STAGEDIR>  Follow his torch; he goes to</LINE>
<LINE>Calchas' tent:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll keep you company.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet sir, you honour me.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And so, good night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit DIOMEDES; ULYSSES and TROILUS following</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come, enter my tent.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt ACHILLES, HECTOR, AJAX, and NESTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>That same Diomed's a false-hearted rogue, a most</LINE>
<LINE>unjust knave; I will no more trust him when he leers</LINE>
<LINE>than I will a serpent when he hisses: he will spend</LINE>
<LINE>his mouth, and promise, like Brabbler the hound:</LINE>
<LINE>but when he performs, astronomers foretell it; it</LINE>
<LINE>is prodigious, there will come some change; the sun</LINE>
<LINE>borrows of the moon, when Diomed keeps his</LINE>
<LINE>word. I will rather leave to see Hector, than</LINE>
<LINE>not to dog him: they say he keeps a Trojan</LINE>
<LINE>drab, and uses the traitor Calchas' tent: I'll</LINE>
<LINE>after. Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE II.  The same. Before Calchas' tent.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, are you up here, ho? speak.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CALCHAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  Who calls?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Calchas, I think. Where's your daughter?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CALCHAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE><STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>  She comes to you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS and ULYSSES, at a distance;
after them, THERSITES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stand where the torch may not discover us.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cressid comes forth to him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, my charge!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now, my sweet guardian! Hark, a word with you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Whispers</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, so familiar!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She will sing any man at first sight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And any man may sing her, if he can take her cliff;</LINE>
<LINE>she's noted.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will you remember?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Remember! yes.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but do, then;</LINE>
<LINE>And let your mind be coupled with your words.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What should she remember?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>List.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Roguery!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, then,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll tell you what,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Foh, foh! come, tell a pin: you are forsworn.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In faith, I cannot: what would you have me do?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A juggling trick,--to be secretly open.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What did you swear you would bestow on me?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I prithee, do not hold me to mine oath;</LINE>
<LINE>Bid me do any thing but that, sweet Greek.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold, patience!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now, Trojan!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Diomed,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, good night: I'll be your fool no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thy better must.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark, one word in your ear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O plague and madness!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are moved, prince; let us depart, I pray you,</LINE>
<LINE>Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself</LINE>
<LINE>To wrathful terms: this place is dangerous;</LINE>
<LINE>The time right deadly; I beseech you, go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Behold, I pray you!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, good my lord, go off:</LINE>
<LINE>You flow to great distraction; come, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray thee, stay.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have not patience; come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I pray you, stay; by hell and all hell's torments</LINE>
<LINE>I will not speak a word!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>And so, good night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, but you part in anger.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Doth that grieve thee?</LINE>
<LINE>O wither'd truth!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, how now, lord!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By Jove,</LINE>
<LINE>I will be patient.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Guardian!--why, Greek!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Foh, foh! adieu; you palter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In faith, I do not: come hither once again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shake, my lord, at something: will you go?</LINE>
<LINE>You will break out.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She strokes his cheek!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, come.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nay, stay; by Jove, I will not speak a word:</LINE>
<LINE>There is between my will and all offences</LINE>
<LINE>A guard of patience: stay a little while.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and</LINE>
<LINE>potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But will you, then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>In faith, I will, la; never trust me else.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Give me some token for the surety of it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll fetch you one.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You have sworn patience.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fear me not, sweet lord;</LINE>
<LINE>I will not be myself, nor have cognition</LINE>
<LINE>Of what I feel: I am all patience.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter CRESSIDA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now the pledge; now, now, now!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O beauty! where is thy faith?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord,--</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will be patient; outwardly I will.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You look upon that sleeve; behold it well.</LINE>
<LINE>He loved me--O false wench!--Give't me again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whose was't?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is no matter, now I have't again.</LINE>
<LINE>I will not meet with you to-morrow night:</LINE>
<LINE>I prithee, Diomed, visit me no more.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now she sharpens: well said, whetstone!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I shall have it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, this?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, that.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, all you gods! O pretty, pretty pledge!</LINE>
<LINE>Thy master now lies thinking in his bed</LINE>
<LINE>Of thee and me, and sighs, and takes my glove,</LINE>
<LINE>And gives memorial dainty kisses to it,</LINE>
<LINE>As I kiss thee. Nay, do not snatch it from me;</LINE>
<LINE>He that takes that doth take my heart withal.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I had your heart before, this follows it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I did swear patience.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall not have it, Diomed; faith, you shall not;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll give you something else.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I will have this: whose was it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is no matter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, tell me whose it was.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>'Twas one's that loved me better than you will.</LINE>
<LINE>But, now you have it, take it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Whose was it?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>By all Diana's waiting-women yond,</LINE>
<LINE>And by herself, I will not tell you whose.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To-morrow will I wear it on my helm,</LINE>
<LINE>And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Wert thou the devil, and worest it on thy horn,</LINE>
<LINE>It should be challenged.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past: and yet it is not;</LINE>
<LINE>I will not keep my word.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, then, farewell;</LINE>
<LINE>Thou never shalt mock Diomed again.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You shall not go: one cannot speak a word,</LINE>
<LINE>But it straight starts you.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do not like this fooling.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not you pleases me best.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What, shall I come? the hour?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, come:--O Jove!--do come:--I shall be plagued.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell till then.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CRESSIDA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Good night: I prithee, come.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Exit DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee</LINE>
<LINE>But with my heart the other eye doth see.</LINE>
<LINE>Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,</LINE>
<LINE>The error of our eye directs our mind:</LINE>
<LINE>What error leads must err; O, then conclude</LINE>
<LINE>Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A proof of strength she could not publish more,</LINE>
<LINE>Unless she said ' My mind is now turn'd whore.'</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>All's done, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why stay we, then?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>To make a recordation to my soul</LINE>
<LINE>Of every syllable that here was spoke.</LINE>
<LINE>But if I tell how these two did co-act,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall I not lie in publishing a truth?</LINE>
<LINE>Sith yet there is a credence in my heart,</LINE>
<LINE>An esperance so obstinately strong,</LINE>
<LINE>That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears,</LINE>
<LINE>As if those organs had deceptious functions,</LINE>
<LINE>Created only to calumniate.</LINE>
<LINE>Was Cressid here?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I cannot conjure, Trojan.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>She was not, sure.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most sure she was.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Why, my negation hath no taste of madness.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nor mine, my lord: Cressid was here but now.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let it not be believed for womanhood!</LINE>
<LINE>Think, we had mothers; do not give advantage</LINE>
<LINE>To stubborn critics, apt, without a theme,</LINE>
<LINE>For depravation, to square the general sex</LINE>
<LINE>By Cressid's rule: rather think this not Cressid.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What hath she done, prince, that can soil our mothers?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Nothing at all, unless that this were she.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This she? no, this is Diomed's Cressida:</LINE>
<LINE>If beauty have a soul, this is not she;</LINE>
<LINE>If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimonies,</LINE>
<LINE>If sanctimony be the gods' delight,</LINE>
<LINE>If there be rule in unity itself,</LINE>
<LINE>This is not she. O madness of discourse,</LINE>
<LINE>That cause sets up with and against itself!</LINE>
<LINE>Bi-fold authority! where reason can revolt</LINE>
<LINE>Without perdition, and loss assume all reason</LINE>
<LINE>Without revolt: this is, and is not, Cressid.</LINE>
<LINE>Within my soul there doth conduce a fight</LINE>
<LINE>Of this strange nature that a thing inseparate</LINE>
<LINE>Divides more wider than the sky and earth,</LINE>
<LINE>And yet the spacious breadth of this division</LINE>
<LINE>Admits no orifex for a point as subtle</LINE>
<LINE>As Ariachne's broken woof to enter.</LINE>
<LINE>Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates;</LINE>
<LINE>Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven:</LINE>
<LINE>Instance, O instance! strong as heaven itself;</LINE>
<LINE>The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolved, and loosed;</LINE>
<LINE>And with another knot, five-finger-tied,</LINE>
<LINE>The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,</LINE>
<LINE>The fragments, scraps, the bits and greasy relics</LINE>
<LINE>Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>May worthy Troilus be half attach'd</LINE>
<LINE>With that which here his passion doth express?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged well</LINE>
<LINE>In characters as red as Mars his heart</LINE>
<LINE>Inflamed with Venus: never did young man fancy</LINE>
<LINE>With so eternal and so fix'd a soul.</LINE>
<LINE>Hark, Greek: as much as I do Cressid love,</LINE>
<LINE>So much by weight hate I her Diomed:</LINE>
<LINE>That sleeve is mine that he'll bear on his helm;</LINE>
<LINE>Were it a casque composed by Vulcan's skill,</LINE>
<LINE>My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout</LINE>
<LINE>Which shipmen do the hurricano call,</LINE>
<LINE>Constringed in mass by the almighty sun,</LINE>
<LINE>Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear</LINE>
<LINE>In his descent than shall my prompted sword</LINE>
<LINE>Falling on Diomed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He'll tickle it for his concupy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false!</LINE>
<LINE>Let all untruths stand by thy stained name,</LINE>
<LINE>And they'll seem glorious.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, contain yourself</LINE>
<LINE>Your passion draws ears hither.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter AENEAS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I have been seeking you this hour, my lord:</LINE>
<LINE>Hector, by this, is arming him in Troy;</LINE>
<LINE>Ajax, your guard, stays to conduct you home.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Have with you, prince. My courteous lord, adieu.</LINE>
<LINE>Farewell, revolted fair! and, Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll bring you to the gates.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Accept distracted thanks.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt TROILUS, AENEAS, and ULYSSES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Would I could meet that rogue Diomed! I would</LINE>
<LINE>croak like a raven; I would bode, I would bode.</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus will give me any thing for the</LINE>
<LINE>intelligence of this whore: the parrot will not</LINE>
<LINE>do more for an almond than he for a commodious drab.</LINE>
<LINE>Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery; nothing</LINE>
<LINE>else holds fashion: a burning devil take them!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE III.  Troy. Before Priam's palace.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When was my lord so much ungently temper'd,</LINE>
<LINE>To stop his ears against admonishment?</LINE>
<LINE>Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You train me to offend you; get you in:</LINE>
<LINE>By all the everlasting gods, I'll go!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No more, I say.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter CASSANDRA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is my brother Hector?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in intent.</LINE>
<LINE>Consort with me in loud and dear petition,</LINE>
<LINE>Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd</LINE>
<LINE>Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night</LINE>
<LINE>Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, 'tis true.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ho! bid my trumpet sound!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Be gone, I say: the gods have heard me swear.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows:</LINE>
<LINE>They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd</LINE>
<LINE>Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, be persuaded! do not count it holy</LINE>
<LINE>To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,</LINE>
<LINE>For we would give much, to use violent thefts,</LINE>
<LINE>And rob in the behalf of charity.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;</LINE>
<LINE>But vows to every purpose must not hold:</LINE>
<LINE>Unarm, sweet Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold you still, I say;</LINE>
<LINE>Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:</LINE>
<LINE>Lie every man holds dear; but the brave man</LINE>
<LINE>Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>How now, young man! mean'st thou to fight to-day?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Cassandra, call my father to persuade.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit CASSANDRA</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, faith, young Troilus; doff thy harness, youth;</LINE>
<LINE>I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry:</LINE>
<LINE>Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,</LINE>
<LINE>And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.</LINE>
<LINE>Unarm thee, go, and doubt thou not, brave boy,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll stand to-day for thee and me and Troy.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,</LINE>
<LINE>Which better fits a lion than a man.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me for it.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>When many times the captive Grecian falls,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,</LINE>
<LINE>You bid them rise, and live.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O,'tis fair play.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fool's play, by heaven, Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>How now! how now!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>For the love of all the gods,</LINE>
<LINE>Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers,</LINE>
<LINE>And when we have our armours buckled on,</LINE>
<LINE>The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords,</LINE>
<LINE>Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fie, savage, fie!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector, then 'tis wars.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Who should withhold me?</LINE>
<LINE>Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars</LINE>
<LINE>Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;</LINE>
<LINE>Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,</LINE>
<LINE>Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;</LINE>
<LINE>Not you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,</LINE>
<LINE>Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,</LINE>
<LINE>But by my ruin.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast:</LINE>
<LINE>He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay,</LINE>
<LINE>Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee,</LINE>
<LINE>Fall all together.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, Hector, come, go back:</LINE>
<LINE>Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had visions;</LINE>
<LINE>Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself</LINE>
<LINE>Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt</LINE>
<LINE>To tell thee that this day is ominous:</LINE>
<LINE>Therefore, come back.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>AEneas is a-field;</LINE>
<LINE>And I do stand engaged to many Greeks,</LINE>
<LINE>Even in the faith of valour, to appear</LINE>
<LINE>This morning to them.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, but thou shalt not go.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I must not break my faith.</LINE>
<LINE>You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,</LINE>
<LINE>Let me not shame respect; but give me leave</LINE>
<LINE>To take that course by your consent and voice,</LINE>
<LINE>Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O Priam, yield not to him!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ANDROMACHE</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do not, dear father.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Andromache, I am offended with you:</LINE>
<LINE>Upon the love you bear me, get you in.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit ANDROMACHE</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl</LINE>
<LINE>Makes all these bodements.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, farewell, dear Hector!</LINE>
<LINE>Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale!</LINE>
<LINE>Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents!</LINE>
<LINE>Hark, how Troy roars! how Hecuba cries out!</LINE>
<LINE>How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth!</LINE>
<LINE>Behold, distraction, frenzy and amazement,</LINE>
<LINE>Like witless antics, one another meet,</LINE>
<LINE>And all cry, Hector! Hector's dead! O Hector!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Away! away!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>CASSANDRA</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell: yet, soft! Hector! take my leave:</LINE>
<LINE>Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You are amazed, my liege, at her exclaim:</LINE>
<LINE>Go in and cheer the town: we'll forth and fight,</LINE>
<LINE>Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PRIAM</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Farewell: the gods with safety stand about thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt severally PRIAM and HECTOR. Alarums</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>They are at it, hark! Proud Diomed, believe,</LINE>
<LINE>I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What now?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Here's a letter come from yond poor girl.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Let me read.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A whoreson tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick so</LINE>
<LINE>troubles me, and the foolish fortune of this girl;</LINE>
<LINE>and what one thing, what another, that I shall</LINE>
<LINE>leave you one o' these days: and I have a rheum</LINE>
<LINE>in mine eyes too, and such an ache in my bones</LINE>
<LINE>that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot tell what</LINE>
<LINE>to think on't. What says she there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart:</LINE>
<LINE>The effect doth operate another way.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Tearing the letter</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together.</LINE>
<LINE>My love with words and errors still she feeds;</LINE>
<LINE>But edifies another with her deeds.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt severally</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IV.  Plains between Troy and the Grecian camp.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Alarums: excursions. Enter THERSITES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go</LINE>
<LINE>look on. That dissembling abominable varlets Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's</LINE>
<LINE>sleeve of Troy there in his helm: I would fain see</LINE>
<LINE>them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, that</LINE>
<LINE>loves the whore there, might send that Greekish</LINE>
<LINE>whore-masterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the</LINE>
<LINE>dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand.</LINE>
<LINE>O' the t'other side, the policy of those crafty</LINE>
<LINE>swearing rascals, that stale old mouse-eaten dry</LINE>
<LINE>cheese, Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses, is</LINE>
<LINE>not proved worthy a blackberry: they set me up, in</LINE>
<LINE>policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of</LINE>
<LINE>as bad a kind, Achilles: and now is the cur Ajax</LINE>
<LINE>prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm</LINE>
<LINE>to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim</LINE>
<LINE>barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion.</LINE>
<LINE>Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,</LINE>
<LINE>I would swim after.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Thou dost miscall retire:</LINE>
<LINE>I do not fly, but advantageous care</LINE>
<LINE>Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:</LINE>
<LINE>Have at thee!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hold thy whore, Grecian!--now for thy whore,</LINE>
<LINE>Trojan!--now the sleeve, now the sleeve!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's match?</LINE>
<LINE>Art thou of blood and honour?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>No, no, I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave:</LINE>
<LINE>a very filthy rogue.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do believe thee: live.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

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

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE V.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;</LINE>
<LINE>Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:</LINE>
<LINE>Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;</LINE>
<LINE>Tell her I have chastised the amorous Trojan,</LINE>
<LINE>And am her knight by proof.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>Servant</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I go, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AGAMEMNON</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamas</LINE>
<LINE>Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon</LINE>
<LINE>Hath Doreus prisoner,</LINE>
<LINE>And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,</LINE>
<LINE>Upon the pashed corses of the kings</LINE>
<LINE>Epistrophus and Cedius: Polyxenes is slain,</LINE>
<LINE>Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt,</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus ta'en or slain, and Palamedes</LINE>
<LINE>Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful Sagittary</LINE>
<LINE>Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomed,</LINE>
<LINE>To reinforcement, or we perish all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter NESTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles;</LINE>
<LINE>And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.</LINE>
<LINE>There is a thousand Hectors in the field:</LINE>
<LINE>Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,</LINE>
<LINE>And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,</LINE>
<LINE>And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls</LINE>
<LINE>Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,</LINE>
<LINE>And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,</LINE>
<LINE>Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:</LINE>
<LINE>Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,</LINE>
<LINE>Dexterity so obeying appetite</LINE>
<LINE>That what he will he does, and does so much</LINE>
<LINE>That proof is call'd impossibility.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter ULYSSES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ULYSSES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles</LINE>
<LINE>Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:</LINE>
<LINE>Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood,</LINE>
<LINE>Together with his mangled Myrmidons,</LINE>
<LINE>That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,</LINE>
<LINE>Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend</LINE>
<LINE>And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,</LINE>
<LINE>Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day</LINE>
<LINE>Mad and fantastic execution,</LINE>
<LINE>Engaging and redeeming of himself</LINE>
<LINE>With such a careless force and forceless care</LINE>
<LINE>As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,</LINE>
<LINE>Bade him win all.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter AJAX</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus! thou coward Troilus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ay, there, there.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>So, so, we draw together.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Where is this Hector?</LINE>
<LINE>Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;</LINE>
<LINE>Know what it is to meet Achilles angry:</LINE>
<LINE>Hector? where's Hector? I will none but Hector.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VI.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AJAX</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy head!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter DIOMEDES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Troilus, I say! where's Troilus?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What wouldst thou?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I would correct him.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Were I the general, thou shouldst have my office</LINE>
<LINE>Ere that correction. Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>O traitor Diomed! turn thy false face, thou traitor,</LINE>
<LINE>And pay thy life thou owest me for my horse!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ha, art thou there?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He is my prize; I will not look upon.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come, both you cogging Greeks; have at you both!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt, fighting</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Yea, Troilus? O, well fought, my youngest brother!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Now do I see thee, ha! have at thee, Hector!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Pause, if thou wilt.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Trojan:</LINE>
<LINE>Be happy that my arms are out of use:</LINE>
<LINE>My rest and negligence befriends thee now,</LINE>
<LINE>But thou anon shalt hear of me again;</LINE>
<LINE>Till when, go seek thy fortune.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Fare thee well:</LINE>
<LINE>I would have been much more a fresher man,</LINE>
<LINE>Had I expected thee. How now, my brother!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Re-enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Ajax hath ta'en AEneas: shall it be?</LINE>
<LINE>No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,</LINE>
<LINE>He shall not carry him: I'll be ta'en too,</LINE>
<LINE>Or bring him off: fate, hear me what I say!</LINE>
<LINE>I reck not though I end my life to-day.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter one in sumptuous armour</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:</LINE>
<LINE>No? wilt thou not? I like thy armour well;</LINE>
<LINE>I'll frush it and unlock the rivets all,</LINE>
<LINE>But I'll be master of it: wilt thou not,</LINE>
<LINE>beast, abide?</LINE>
<LINE>Why, then fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VII.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;</LINE>
<LINE>Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel:</LINE>
<LINE>Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath:</LINE>
<LINE>And when I have the bloody Hector found,</LINE>
<LINE>Empale him with your weapons round about;</LINE>
<LINE>In fellest manner execute your aims.</LINE>
<LINE>Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:</LINE>
<LINE>It is decreed Hector the great must die.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting:
then THERSITES</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. Now,</LINE>
<LINE>bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-</LINE>
<LINE>henned sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the</LINE>
<LINE>game: ware horns, ho!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter MARGARELON</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MARGARELON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Turn, slave, and fight.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>What art thou?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MARGARELON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A bastard son of Priam's.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>THERSITES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard</LINE>
<LINE>begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard</LINE>
<LINE>in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One bear will</LINE>
<LINE>not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard?</LINE>
<LINE>Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the</LINE>
<LINE>son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment:</LINE>
<LINE>farewell, bastard.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MARGARELON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The devil take thee, coward!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE VIII.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter HECTOR</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Most putrefied core, so fair without,</LINE>
<LINE>Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.</LINE>
<LINE>Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath:</LINE>
<LINE>Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Puts off his helmet and hangs his shield
behind him</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;</LINE>
<LINE>How ugly night comes breathing at his heels:</LINE>
<LINE>Even with the vail and darking of the sun,</LINE>
<LINE>To close the day up, Hector's life is done.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>HECTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>HECTOR falls</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down!</LINE>
<LINE>Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.</LINE>
<LINE>On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain,</LINE>
<LINE>'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.'</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>A retreat sounded</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Hark! a retire upon our Grecian part.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>MYRMIDONS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ACHILLES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,</LINE>
<LINE>And, stickler-like, the armies separates.</LINE>
<LINE>My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed,</LINE>
<LINE>Pleased with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed.</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Sheathes his sword</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;</LINE>
<LINE>Along the field I will the Trojan trail.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE IX.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES,
and others, marching. Shouts within</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hark! hark! what shout is that?</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>NESTOR</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Peace, drums!</LINE>
<STAGEDIR>Within</STAGEDIR>
<LINE>Achilles! Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>DIOMEDES</SPEAKER>
<LINE>The bruit is, Hector's slain, and by Achilles.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AJAX</SPEAKER>
<LINE>If it be so, yet bragless let it be;</LINE>
<LINE>Great Hector was a man as good as he.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AGAMEMNON</SPEAKER>
<LINE>March patiently along: let one be sent</LINE>
<LINE>To pray Achilles see us at our tent.</LINE>
<LINE>If in his death the gods have us befriended,</LINE>
<LINE>Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt, marching</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>

<SCENE><TITLE>SCENE X.  Another part of the plains.</TITLE>
<STAGEDIR>Enter AENEAS and Trojans</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Stand, ho! yet are we masters of the field:</LINE>
<LINE>Never go home; here starve we out the night.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Enter TROILUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector is slain.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>ALL</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hector! the gods forbid!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail,</LINE>
<LINE>In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful field.</LINE>
<LINE>Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed!</LINE>
<LINE>Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile at Troy!</LINE>
<LINE>I say, at once let your brief plagues be mercy,</LINE>
<LINE>And linger not our sure destructions on!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>AENEAS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>My lord, you do discomfort all the host!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>You understand me not that tell me so:</LINE>
<LINE>I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death,</LINE>
<LINE>But dare all imminence that gods and men</LINE>
<LINE>Address their dangers in. Hector is gone:</LINE>
<LINE>Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba?</LINE>
<LINE>Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd,</LINE>
<LINE>Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead:</LINE>
<LINE>There is a word will Priam turn to stone;</LINE>
<LINE>Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,</LINE>
<LINE>Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word,</LINE>
<LINE>Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away:</LINE>
<LINE>Hector is dead; there is no more to say.</LINE>
<LINE>Stay yet. You vile abominable tents,</LINE>
<LINE>Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains,</LINE>
<LINE>Let Titan rise as early as he dare,</LINE>
<LINE>I'll through and through you! and, thou great-sized coward,</LINE>
<LINE>No space of earth shall sunder our two hates:</LINE>
<LINE>I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,</LINE>
<LINE>That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy's thoughts.</LINE>
<LINE>Strike a free march to Troy! with comfort go:</LINE>
<LINE>Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exeunt AENEAS and Trojans</STAGEDIR>
<STAGEDIR>As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other
side, PANDARUS</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>But hear you, hear you!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>TROILUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>Hence, broker-lackey! ignomy and shame</LINE>
<LINE>Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name!</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>

<SPEECH>
<SPEAKER>PANDARUS</SPEAKER>
<LINE>A goodly medicine for my aching bones! O world!</LINE>
<LINE>world! world! thus is the poor agent despised!</LINE>
<LINE>O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set</LINE>
<LINE>a-work, and how ill requited! why should our</LINE>
<LINE>endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed?</LINE>
<LINE>what verse for it? what instance for it? Let me see:</LINE>
<LINE>Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing,</LINE>
<LINE>Till he hath lost his honey and his sting;</LINE>
<LINE>And being once subdued in armed tail,</LINE>
<LINE>Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.</LINE>
<LINE>Good traders in the flesh, set this in your</LINE>
<LINE>painted cloths.</LINE>
<LINE>As many as be here of pander's hall,</LINE>
<LINE>Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall;</LINE>
<LINE>Or if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,</LINE>
<LINE>Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.</LINE>
<LINE>Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade,</LINE>
<LINE>Some two months hence my will shall here be made:</LINE>
<LINE>It should be now, but that my fear is this,</LINE>
<LINE>Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:</LINE>
<LINE>Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases,</LINE>
<LINE>And at that time bequeathe you my diseases.</LINE>
</SPEECH>

<STAGEDIR>Exit</STAGEDIR>
</SCENE>
</ACT>
</PLAY>