University of Virginia Library

Pyrrhus, Agamemnon, Calchas.
Ag.
The onely fault of youth it is not to refraine his rage
The Fathers bloud already sturres in Pryams wanton age:
Somtime Achilles grieuous checkes I bare with pacient hart,
The more thou mayst, the more thou oughtst to suffer in good part
Wherto would yee with slaughtred bloud a noble spirit stayne?
Thinke what is meete the Greekes to do, and Troyans to sustayne.
The proude estate of tyranny may neuer long endure.
The King that rules with modest meane of safety may be sure.
The higher step of princely state that fortune hath vs signd
The more behou'th a happy man humility of mynd
And dread the chaunge that chaūce may bring, whose gifts so sone be lost
And chiefly then to feare the Gods, whyle they the fauour most.
In beating downe that warre hath wonne, by proofe I haue ben taught,
What pompe and pride in twinke of eye, may fall and come to naught.
Troy made me fierce & proude of mynde, Troy makes me frayd withal:
The Grekes now stand wher Troy late fel, ech thing may haue his fal,
Sometyme I graunt I did my selfe, and Sceptors proudly beare,
The thing that might aduaunce my hart makes me the more to feare
Thou Priam perfit proofe presentst thou art to mee eftsones:
A cause of pride, a glasse of feare a mirrour for the nones,
Should I accoumpt the sceptors ought, but glorious vanity
Much like the borowed brayded hayre, the face to beautify.
One sodayne chaunce may turne to naught, and mayme the might of men
With fewer then a thousand shippes, and yeares in lesse then ten.
Not she that guydes the slipper wheele of fate, doth so delay:
That she to al possession grauntes, of ten yeares setled stay.
With leaue of Greece I wil confesse, I would haue wonne the towne
But not with ruine thus extreme to see it beaten downe.
But loe the battel made by night and rage of feruent mynd,
Could not abyde the brydling bitte that reason had assignd.
The happy sword once staind with blood vnsatiable is,
And in the darke the feruent rage doth strike thee more amis.
Now are we wreakt on Troy so much let all that may remayne.
A Uirgin borne of Princes bloud for offring to be slayne
And geuen be to slayne the tombe and ashes of the ded,
And vnder name of wedlocke see the guiltles bloud be shed,
I wil not graunt for myne should bee thereof both fault and blame.
Who when he may, forbiddeth not offence: doth wil the same.

Pyr.
And shall his sprights haue no reward their angers to appeyse?

Aga.
Yes very great, for all the world shall celebrate his prayse,
And landes vnknowen that neuer saw. the man so preysd by fame,
Shall heate and kepe for many yeares the glory of his name.
If bloudshed vayle his ashes ought strike of an Oxes hed,
And let no bloud that may be cause of mothers teares, be shed.
What furious fransy may this be that doth your will so leade,
This earnest carefull sutte to make in trauayle for the dead?
Let not such enuy towarde your father in your heart remayne,
That for his sacrifice yee would procure an others payne,

Pyr.
Proude tirant, while prosperity thy stomacke doth aduaunce,
And cowardly wretch that shrinks for feare in case of fearefull chaunce.
Is yet agayne thy breast enflamde, with brand of Venus might?
Wilt thou alone so oft depriue Achilles of his right?
This hand shall giue the sacrifice, the which if thou withstand.
A greater slaughter shall I make, and worthy Pyrrhus hand.
And now to long from Princes slaughter doth my hand abide,
And meete it were that Polyxene were layde by Priams side.

Aga.
I not deny, but Pyrrhus chiefe renowne, in warre is this,
That Pryam slaine with cruell sworde, to your father humbled is.

Pyr.
My fathers foes we haue them known, submit themselues humbly,
And Pryam presently yee wot, was glad to craue mercy.
But thou for feare not stout to rule, liest close from foes vp shit:
While thou to Aiax, and Vlysses, dost thy will commit.

Aga.
But needes I must, and will confesse, your father did not feare:
When burnt our fleete with Hectors brands, & Greeks they slaughtred weare.
While loytring then a loofe he lay, vnmindfull of the fight.
In steede of armes with scratch of quill, his sounding harp to smight.

Pyr.
Great Hector then despising thee, Achilles songes did feare:
And Thessale ships in greatest dread, in quiet peace yet weare.

Aga.
For why aloofe the Thessale fleete, they lay from Troyans handes,
And well your father might haue rest, he felt not Hectors brandes.

Pir.
Well seemes a noble king to giue an other king reliefe.

Aga.
Why hast thou then a worthy king berieued of his life?

Pyr.
A poinct of mercy sometime is, what liues in care to kill.

Aga.
But now your mercy mooueth you a virgins death to will.

Pyr.
Account yee cruell now her death whose sacrifice I craue.
Your own deere daughter once yee knowe, your selfe to th'aulters gaue.

Aga.
Naught els could saue the Greekes frō seas, but th'only bloud of her:
A king before his children ought, his countrey to prefer.

Pyr.
The law doth spare no captiues bloud nor wil'th their death to stay

Aga.
That which the law doth not forbid, yet shame doth oft say nay.

Pyr.
The conquerour what thing he list, may lawfully fulfill.

Aga.
So much the lesse he ought to list, that may do what he will.

PYR.
Thus boast ye these as though in all ye onely bare the stroke:
When Pyrrhus loosed hath the greekes, from bond of ten yeres yoke.

A.
Hath Scyros yle such stomaks bred?

P.
No bretherns wrath it knoes.

AG.
Beset about it is with waue.

PYR.
The seas it do enclose.
Thyestes noble stocke I know and Atreus eke full well,
And of the bretherns dire debate, perpetuall fame doth tell.

AG.
And thou a bastard of a mayde, defloured priuely.
Whom (then a boy) Achilles gat, in filthy lechery.

Pyr.
The same Achill that doth possesse, the raigne of Gods aboue,
With Thetys seas: with Æacus sprights, the starred heauen with Ioue

Aga.
The same Achilles that was slaine, by stroke of Paris hande.

Pyr.
The same Achilles, whom no god, durst euer yet withstand.

Aga.
The stoutest man I rather would his checkes he should refraine
I could them tame but all your bragges, I can full well sustaine.
For euen the captiues spares my sword: let Calchas called be.
If destynies require her bloud, I will thereto agree
Calchas whose counsel rulde our ships, and nauy hither brought,
Unlookst the poale and hast by arte the secretes thereof sought,
To whome the bowelles of the beast, to whom the thunder clap,
And blasyng starre with flaming traine, betokeneth what shall hap.
Whose words with dearest price I bought, now tell vs by what meane
The will of Gods agreeth that we returne to Greece againe.

Cal.
The fates apoint the Grekes to buy their waies with wonted price.
And with what cost ye came to Troy, ye shal repayre to Greece
With bloud ye came, with bloud ye must from hence returne againe,
And where Achilles ashes lieth, the virgin shal be slaine,
In seemely sort of habite, such as maydens wont ye see,
Of Thessalie, or Mycenas els, what time they wedded be.
With Pyrrhus hand she shal be slaine, of right it shalbe so
And meete it is that he the sonne, his fathers right should do.
But not this onely stayeth our shippes, our sayles may not be spred,
Before a worthier bloud then thine, (Polixena) be shed,
Which thirst thirst the fates, for Priames nephew, Hectors litle boy:
The Grekes shal tumble hedlonge down, from highest towre in Troy.
Let him there die, this onely way ye shal the gods appeas,
Then spread your thousand sayles with ioy ye neede not feare the seas.