 | Troilus and Cressida |  |
Act 5
Scene 1
The Grecian camp. Before Achilles' tent.
Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS
I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night,
Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow.
Patroclus, let us feast him to the height.
PATROCLUS
Here comes Thersites.
Enter THERSITES
ACHILLES
How now, thou core of envy!
Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news?
THERSITES
Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol
of idiot worshippers, here's a letter for thee.
ACHILLES
From whence, fragment?
THERSITES
Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy.
PATROCLUS
Who keeps the tent now?
THERSITES
The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound.
PATROCLUS
Well said, adversity! and what need these tricks?
THERSITES
Prithee, be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk:
thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet.
PATROCLUS
Male varlet, you rogue! what's that?
THERSITES
Why, his masculine whore. Now, the rotten diseases
of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs,
loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, cold
palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing
lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas,
limekilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the
rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take
again such preposterous discoveries!
PATROCLUS
Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest
thou to curse thus?
THERSITES
Do I curse thee?
PATROCLUS
Why no, you ruinous butt, you whoreson
indistinguishable cur, no.
THERSITES
No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle
immaterial skein of sleave-silk, thou green sarcenet
flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's
purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered
with such waterflies, diminutives of nature!
PATROCLUS
Out, gall!
THERSITES
Finch-egg!
ACHILLES
My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite
From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle.
Here is a letter from Queen Hecuba,
A token from her daughter, my fair love,
Both taxing me and gaging me to keep
An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:
Fall Greeks; fail fame; honour or go or stay;
My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.
Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent:
This night in banqueting must all be spent.
Away, Patroclus!
Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS
THERSITES
With too much blood and too little brain, these two
may run mad; but, if with too much brain and too
little blood they do, I'll be a curer of madmen.
Here's Agamemnon, an honest fellow enough and one
that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as
earwax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter
there, his brother, the bull,—the primitive statue,
and oblique memorial of cuckolds; a thrifty
shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's
leg,—to what form but that he is, should wit larded
with malice and malice forced with wit turn him to?
To an ass, were nothing; he is both ass and ox: to
an ox, were nothing; he is both ox and ass. To be a
dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an
owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe, I would
not care; but to be Menelaus, I would conspire
against destiny. Ask me not, what I would be, if I
were not Thersites; for I care not to be the louse
of a lazar, so I were not Menelaus! Hey-day!
spirits and fires!
Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMEDES, with lights
AGAMEMNON
We go wrong, we go wrong.
AJAX
No, yonder 'tis;
There, where we see the lights.
HECTOR
I trouble you.
AJAX
No, not a whit.
ULYSSES
Here comes himself to guide you.
Re-enter ACHILLES
ACHILLES
Welcome, brave Hector; welcome, princes all.
AGAMEMNON
So now, fair prince of Troy, I bid good night.
Ajax commands the guard to tend on you.
HECTOR
Thanks and good night to the Greeks' general.
MENELAUS
Good night, my lord.
HECTOR
Good night, sweet lord Menelaus.
THERSITES
Sweet draught: 'sweet' quoth 'a! sweet sink,
sweet sewer.
ACHILLES
Good night and welcome, both at once, to those
That go or tarry.
AGAMEMNON
Good night.
Exeunt AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS
ACHILLES
Old Nestor tarries; and you too, Diomed,
Keep Hector company an hour or two.
DIOMEDES
I cannot, lord; I have important business,
The tide whereof is now. Good night, great Hector.
HECTOR
Give me your hand.
ULYSSES
[Aside to TROILUS]
Follow his torch; he goes to
Calchas' tent:
I'll keep you company.
TROILUS
Sweet sir, you honour me.
HECTOR
And so, good night.
Exit DIOMEDES; ULYSSES and TROILUS following
ACHILLES
Come, come, enter my tent.
Exeunt ACHILLES, HECTOR, AJAX, and NESTOR
THERSITES
That same Diomed's a false-hearted rogue, a most
unjust knave; I will no more trust him when he leers
than I will a serpent when he hisses: he will spend
his mouth, and promise, like Brabbler the hound:
but when he performs, astronomers foretell it; it
is prodigious, there will come some change; the sun
borrows of the moon, when Diomed keeps his
word. I will rather leave to see Hector, than
not to dog him: they say he keeps a Trojan
drab, and uses the traitor Calchas' tent: I'll
after. Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets!
Exit
Scene 2
The same. Before Calchas' tent.
Enter DIOMEDES
What, are you up here, ho? speak.
CALCHAS
[Within]
Who calls?
DIOMEDES
Calchas, I think. Where's your daughter?
CALCHAS
[Within]
She comes to you.
Enter TROILUS and ULYSSES, at a distance; after them, THERSITES
ULYSSES
Stand where the torch may not discover us.
Enter CRESSIDA
TROILUS
Cressid comes forth to him.
DIOMEDES
How now, my charge!
CRESSIDA
Now, my sweet guardian! Hark, a word with you.
Whispers
TROILUS
Yea, so familiar!
ULYSSES
She will sing any man at first sight.
THERSITES
And any man may sing her, if he can take her cliff;
she's noted.
DIOMEDES
Will you remember?
CRESSIDA
Remember! yes.
DIOMEDES
Nay, but do, then;
And let your mind be coupled with your words.
TROILUS
What should she remember?
ULYSSES
List.
CRESSIDA
Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly.
THERSITES
Roguery!
DIOMEDES
Nay, then,—
CRESSIDA
I'll tell you what,—
DIOMEDES
Foh, foh! come, tell a pin: you are forsworn.
CRESSIDA
In faith, I cannot: what would you have me do?
THERSITES
A juggling trick,—to be secretly open.
DIOMEDES
What did you swear you would bestow on me?
CRESSIDA
I prithee, do not hold me to mine oath;
Bid me do any thing but that, sweet Greek.
DIOMEDES
Good night.
TROILUS
Hold, patience!
ULYSSES
How now, Trojan!
CRESSIDA
Diomed,—
DIOMEDES
No, no, good night: I'll be your fool no more.
TROILUS
Thy better must.
CRESSIDA
Hark, one word in your ear.
TROILUS
O plague and madness!
ULYSSES
You are moved, prince; let us depart, I pray you,
Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself
To wrathful terms: this place is dangerous;
The time right deadly; I beseech you, go.
TROILUS
Behold, I pray you!
ULYSSES
Nay, good my lord, go off:
You flow to great distraction; come, my lord.
TROILUS
I pray thee, stay.
ULYSSES
You have not patience; come.
TROILUS
I pray you, stay; by hell and all hell's torments
I will not speak a word!
DIOMEDES
And so, good night.
CRESSIDA
Nay, but you part in anger.
TROILUS
Doth that grieve thee?
O wither'd truth!
ULYSSES
Why, how now, lord!
TROILUS
By Jove,
I will be patient.
CRESSIDA
Guardian!—why, Greek!
DIOMEDES
Foh, foh! adieu; you palter.
CRESSIDA
In faith, I do not: come hither once again.
ULYSSES
You shake, my lord, at something: will you go?
You will break out.
TROILUS
She strokes his cheek!
ULYSSES
Come, come.
TROILUS
Nay, stay; by Jove, I will not speak a word:
There is between my will and all offences
A guard of patience: stay a little while.
THERSITES
How the devil Luxury, with his fat rump and
potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry!
DIOMEDES
But will you, then?
CRESSIDA
In faith, I will, la; never trust me else.
DIOMEDES
Give me some token for the surety of it.
CRESSIDA
I'll fetch you one.
Exit
ULYSSES
You have sworn patience.
TROILUS
Fear me not, sweet lord;
I will not be myself, nor have cognition
Of what I feel: I am all patience.
Re-enter CRESSIDA
THERSITES
Now the pledge; now, now, now!
CRESSIDA
Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve.
TROILUS
O beauty! where is thy faith?
ULYSSES
My lord,—
TROILUS
I will be patient; outwardly I will.
CRESSIDA
You look upon that sleeve; behold it well.
He loved me—O false wench!—Give't me again.
DIOMEDES
Whose was't?
CRESSIDA
It is no matter, now I have't again.
I will not meet with you to-morrow night:
I prithee, Diomed, visit me no more.
THERSITES
Now she sharpens: well said, whetstone!
DIOMEDES
I shall have it.
CRESSIDA
What, this?
DIOMEDES
Ay, that.
CRESSIDA
O, all you gods! O pretty, pretty pledge!
Thy master now lies thinking in his bed
Of thee and me, and sighs, and takes my glove,
And gives memorial dainty kisses to it,
As I kiss thee. Nay, do not snatch it from me;
He that takes that doth take my heart withal.
DIOMEDES
I had your heart before, this follows it.
TROILUS
I did swear patience.
CRESSIDA
You shall not have it, Diomed; faith, you shall not;
I'll give you something else.
DIOMEDES
I will have this: whose was it?
CRESSIDA
It is no matter.
DIOMEDES
Come, tell me whose it was.
CRESSIDA
'Twas one's that loved me better than you will.
But, now you have it, take it.
DIOMEDES
Whose was it?
CRESSIDA
By all Diana's waiting-women yond,
And by herself, I will not tell you whose.
DIOMEDES
To-morrow will I wear it on my helm,
And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it.
TROILUS
Wert thou the devil, and worest it on thy horn,
It should be challenged.
CRESSIDA
Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past: and yet it is not;
I will not keep my word.
DIOMEDES
Why, then, farewell;
Thou never shalt mock Diomed again.
CRESSIDA
You shall not go: one cannot speak a word,
But it straight starts you.
DIOMEDES
I do not like this fooling.
THERSITES
Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not you pleases me best.
DIOMEDES
What, shall I come? the hour?
CRESSIDA
Ay, come:—O Jove!—do come:—I shall be plagued.
DIOMEDES
Farewell till then.
CRESSIDA
Good night: I prithee, come.
Exit DIOMEDES
Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee
But with my heart the other eye doth see.
Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,
The error of our eye directs our mind:
What error leads must err; O, then conclude
Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude.
Exit
THERSITES
A proof of strength she could not publish more,
Unless she said ' My mind is now turn'd whore.'
ULYSSES
All's done, my lord.
TROILUS
It is.
ULYSSES
Why stay we, then?
TROILUS
To make a recordation to my soul
Of every syllable that here was spoke.
But if I tell how these two did co-act,
Shall I not lie in publishing a truth?
Sith yet there is a credence in my heart,
An esperance so obstinately strong,
That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears,
As if those organs had deceptious functions,
Created only to calumniate.
Was Cressid here?
ULYSSES
I cannot conjure, Trojan.
TROILUS
She was not, sure.
ULYSSES
Most sure she was.
TROILUS
Why, my negation hath no taste of madness.
ULYSSES
Nor mine, my lord: Cressid was here but now.
TROILUS
Let it not be believed for womanhood!
Think, we had mothers; do not give advantage
To stubborn critics, apt, without a theme,
For depravation, to square the general sex
By Cressid's rule: rather think this not Cressid.
ULYSSES
What hath she done, prince, that can soil our mothers?
TROILUS
Nothing at all, unless that this were she.
THERSITES
Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes?
TROILUS
This she? no, this is Diomed's Cressida:
If beauty have a soul, this is not she;
If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimonies,
If sanctimony be the gods' delight,
If there be rule in unity itself,
This is not she. O madness of discourse,
That cause sets up with and against itself!
Bi-fold authority! where reason can revolt
Without perdition, and loss assume all reason
Without revolt: this is, and is not, Cressid.
Within my soul there doth conduce a fight
Of this strange nature that a thing inseparate
Divides more wider than the sky and earth,
And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Admits no orifex for a point as subtle
As Ariachne's broken woof to enter.
Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates;
Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven:
Instance, O instance! strong as heaven itself;
The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolved, and loosed;
And with another knot, five-finger-tied,
The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,
The fragments, scraps, the bits and greasy relics
Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
ULYSSES
May worthy Troilus be half attach'd
With that which here his passion doth express?
TROILUS
Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged well
In characters as red as Mars his heart
Inflamed with Venus: never did young man fancy
With so eternal and so fix'd a soul.
Hark, Greek: as much as I do Cressid love,
So much by weight hate I her Diomed:
That sleeve is mine that he'll bear on his helm;
Were it a casque composed by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constringed in mass by the almighty sun,
Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear
In his descent than shall my prompted sword
Falling on Diomed.
THERSITES
He'll tickle it for his concupy.
TROILUS
O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false!
Let all untruths stand by thy stained name,
And they'll seem glorious.
ULYSSES
O, contain yourself
Your passion draws ears hither.
Enter AENEAS
AENEAS
I have been seeking you this hour, my lord:
Hector, by this, is arming him in Troy;
Ajax, your guard, stays to conduct you home.
TROILUS
Have with you, prince. My courteous lord, adieu.
Farewell, revolted fair! and, Diomed,
Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head!
ULYSSES
I'll bring you to the gates.
TROILUS
Accept distracted thanks.
Exeunt TROILUS, AENEAS, and ULYSSES
THERSITES
Would I could meet that rogue Diomed! I would
croak like a raven; I would bode, I would bode.
Patroclus will give me any thing for the
intelligence of this whore: the parrot will not
do more for an almond than he for a commodious drab.
Lechery, lechery; still, wars and lechery; nothing
else holds fashion: a burning devil take them!
Exit
Scene 3
Troy. Before Priam's palace.
Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE
When was my lord so much ungently temper'd,
To stop his ears against admonishment?
Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.
HECTOR
You train me to offend you; get you in:
By all the everlasting gods, I'll go!
ANDROMACHE
My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.
HECTOR
No more, I say.
Enter CASSANDRA
CASSANDRA
Where is my brother Hector?
ANDROMACHE
Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in intent.
Consort with me in loud and dear petition,
Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd
Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night
Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter.
CASSANDRA
O, 'tis true.
HECTOR
Ho! bid my trumpet sound!
CASSANDRA
No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother.
HECTOR
Be gone, I say: the gods have heard me swear.
CASSANDRA
The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows:
They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.
ANDROMACHE
O, be persuaded! do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,
For we would give much, to use violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity.
CASSANDRA
It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;
But vows to every purpose must not hold:
Unarm, sweet Hector.
HECTOR
Hold you still, I say;
Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Lie every man holds dear; but the brave man
Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.
Enter TROILUS
How now, young man! mean'st thou to fight to-day?
ANDROMACHE
Cassandra, call my father to persuade.
Exit CASSANDRA
HECTOR
No, faith, young Troilus; doff thy harness, youth;
I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry:
Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,
And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.
Unarm thee, go, and doubt thou not, brave boy,
I'll stand to-day for thee and me and Troy.
TROILUS
Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,
Which better fits a lion than a man.
HECTOR
What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me for it.
TROILUS
When many times the captive Grecian falls,
Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise, and live.
HECTOR
O,'tis fair play.
TROILUS
Fool's play, by heaven, Hector.
HECTOR
How now! how now!
TROILUS
For the love of all the gods,
Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers,
And when we have our armours buckled on,
The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords,
Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.
HECTOR
Fie, savage, fie!
TROILUS
Hector, then 'tis wars.
HECTOR
Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day.
TROILUS
Who should withhold me?
Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars
Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;
Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,
Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;
Not you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.
Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM
CASSANDRA
Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast:
He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay,
Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee,
Fall all together.
PRIAM
Come, Hector, come, go back:
Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had visions;
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt
To tell thee that this day is ominous:
Therefore, come back.
HECTOR
AEneas is a-field;
And I do stand engaged to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.
PRIAM
Ay, but thou shalt not go.
HECTOR
I must not break my faith.
You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
Let me not shame respect; but give me leave
To take that course by your consent and voice,
Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam.
CASSANDRA
O Priam, yield not to him!
ANDROMACHE
Do not, dear father.
HECTOR
Andromache, I am offended with you:
Upon the love you bear me, get you in.
Exit ANDROMACHE
TROILUS
This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.
CASSANDRA
O, farewell, dear Hector!
Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale!
Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents!
Hark, how Troy roars! how Hecuba cries out!
How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth!
Behold, distraction, frenzy and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,
And all cry, Hector! Hector's dead! O Hector!
TROILUS
Away! away!
CASSANDRA
Farewell: yet, soft! Hector! take my leave:
Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.
Exit
HECTOR
You are amazed, my liege, at her exclaim:
Go in and cheer the town: we'll forth and fight,
Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night.
PRIAM
Farewell: the gods with safety stand about thee!
Exeunt severally PRIAM and HECTOR. Alarums
TROILUS
They are at it, hark! Proud Diomed, believe,
I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.
Enter PANDARUS
PANDARUS
Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?
TROILUS
What now?
PANDARUS
Here's a letter come from yond poor girl.
TROILUS
Let me read.
PANDARUS
A whoreson tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick so
troubles me, and the foolish fortune of this girl;
and what one thing, what another, that I shall
leave you one o' these days: and I have a rheum
in mine eyes too, and such an ache in my bones
that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot tell what
to think on't. What says she there?
TROILUS
Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart:
The effect doth operate another way.
Tearing the letter
Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together.
My love with words and errors still she feeds;
But edifies another with her deeds.
Exeunt severally
Scene 4
Plains between Troy and the Grecian camp.
Alarums: excursions. Enter THERSITES
Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go
look on. That dissembling abominable varlets Diomed,
has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's
sleeve of Troy there in his helm: I would fain see
them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, that
loves the whore there, might send that Greekish
whore-masterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the
dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand.
O' the t'other side, the policy of those crafty
swearing rascals, that stale old mouse-eaten dry
cheese, Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses, is
not proved worthy a blackberry: they set me up, in
policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of
as bad a kind, Achilles: and now is the cur Ajax
prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm
to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim
barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion.
Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.
Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following
TROILUS
Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,
I would swim after.
DIOMEDES
Thou dost miscall retire:
I do not fly, but advantageous care
Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:
Have at thee!
THERSITES
Hold thy whore, Grecian!—now for thy whore,
Trojan!—now the sleeve, now the sleeve!
Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting
Enter HECTOR
HECTOR
What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's match?
Art thou of blood and honour?
THERSITES
No, no, I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave:
a very filthy rogue.
HECTOR
I do believe thee: live.
Exit
THERSITES
God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a
plague break thy neck for frightening me! What's
become of the wenching rogues? I think they have
swallowed one another: I would laugh at that
miracle: yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself.
I'll seek them.
Exit
Scene 5
Another part of the plains.
Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant
Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastised the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.
Servant
I go, my lord.
Exit
Enter AGAMEMNON
AGAMEMNON
Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamas
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner,
And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polyxenes is slain,
Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt,
Patroclus ta'en or slain, and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Enter NESTOR
NESTOR
Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is call'd impossibility.
Enter ULYSSES
ULYSSES
O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,
Engaging and redeeming of himself
With such a careless force and forceless care
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.
Enter AJAX
AJAX
Troilus! thou coward Troilus!
Exit
DIOMEDES
Ay, there, there.
NESTOR
So, so, we draw together.
Enter ACHILLES
ACHILLES
Where is this Hector?
Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry:
Hector? where's Hector? I will none but Hector.
Exeunt
Scene 6
Another part of the plains.
Enter AJAX
Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy head!
Enter DIOMEDES
DIOMEDES
Troilus, I say! where's Troilus?
AJAX
What wouldst thou?
DIOMEDES
I would correct him.
AJAX
Were I the general, thou shouldst have my office
Ere that correction. Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!
Enter TROILUS
TROILUS
O traitor Diomed! turn thy false face, thou traitor,
And pay thy life thou owest me for my horse!
DIOMEDES
Ha, art thou there?
AJAX
I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.
DIOMEDES
He is my prize; I will not look upon.
TROILUS
Come, both you cogging Greeks; have at you both!
Exeunt, fighting
Enter HECTOR
HECTOR
Yea, Troilus? O, well fought, my youngest brother!
Enter ACHILLES
ACHILLES
Now do I see thee, ha! have at thee, Hector!
HECTOR
Pause, if thou wilt.
ACHILLES
I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Trojan:
Be happy that my arms are out of use:
My rest and negligence befriends thee now,
But thou anon shalt hear of me again;
Till when, go seek thy fortune.
Exit
HECTOR
Fare thee well:
I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee. How now, my brother!
Re-enter TROILUS
TROILUS
Ajax hath ta'en AEneas: shall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,
He shall not carry him: I'll be ta'en too,
Or bring him off: fate, hear me what I say!
I reck not though I end my life to-day.
Exit
Enter one in sumptuous armour
HECTOR
Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:
No? wilt thou not? I like thy armour well;
I'll frush it and unlock the rivets all,
But I'll be master of it: wilt thou not,
beast, abide?
Why, then fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.
Exeunt
Scene 7
Another part of the plains.
Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons
Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;
Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel:
Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath:
And when I have the bloody Hector found,
Empale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your aims.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:
It is decreed Hector the great must die.
Exeunt
Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then THERSITES
THERSITES
The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. Now,
bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-
henned sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the
game: ware horns, ho!
Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS
Enter MARGARELON
MARGARELON
Turn, slave, and fight.
THERSITES
What art thou?
MARGARELON
A bastard son of Priam's.
THERSITES
I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard
begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard
in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One bear will
not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard?
Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the
son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment:
farewell, bastard.
Exit
MARGARELON
The devil take thee, coward!
Exit
Scene 8
Another part of the plains.
Enter HECTOR
Most putrefied core, so fair without,
Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.
Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath:
Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death.
Puts off his helmet and hangs his shield behind him
Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons
ACHILLES
Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;
How ugly night comes breathing at his heels:
Even with the vail and darking of the sun,
To close the day up, Hector's life is done.
HECTOR
I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek.
ACHILLES
Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek.
HECTOR falls
So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down!
Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.
On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain,
'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.'
A retreat sounded
Hark! a retire upon our Grecian part.
MYRMIDONS
The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.
ACHILLES
The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,
And, stickler-like, the armies separates.
My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed,
Pleased with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed.
Sheathes his sword
Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail.
Exeunt
Scene 9
Another part of the plains.
Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and others, marching. Shouts within
Hark! hark! what shout is that?
NESTOR
Peace, drums!
Within
Achilles! Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles.
DIOMEDES
The bruit is, Hector's slain, and by Achilles.
AJAX
If it be so, yet bragless let it be;
Great Hector was a man as good as he.
AGAMEMNON
March patiently along: let one be sent
To pray Achilles see us at our tent.
If in his death the gods have us befriended,
Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended.
Exeunt, marching
Scene 10
Another part of the plains.
Enter AENEAS and Trojans
Stand, ho! yet are we masters of the field:
Never go home; here starve we out the night.
Enter TROILUS
TROILUS
Hector is slain.
ALL
Hector! the gods forbid!
TROILUS
He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail,
In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful field.
Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed!
Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile at Troy!
I say, at once let your brief plagues be mercy,
And linger not our sure destructions on!
AENEAS
My lord, you do discomfort all the host!
TROILUS
You understand me not that tell me so:
I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death,
But dare all imminence that gods and men
Address their dangers in. Hector is gone:
Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba?
Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd,
Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead:
There is a word will Priam turn to stone;
Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,
Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away:
Hector is dead; there is no more to say.
Stay yet. You vile abominable tents,
Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains,
Let Titan rise as early as he dare,
I'll through and through you! and, thou great-sized coward,
No space of earth shall sunder our two hates:
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,
That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy's thoughts.
Strike a free march to Troy! with comfort go:
Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.
Exeunt AENEAS and Trojans
As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, PANDARUS
PANDARUS
But hear you, hear you!
TROILUS
Hence, broker-lackey! ignomy and shame
Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name!
Exit
PANDARUS
A goodly medicine for my aching bones! O world!
world! world! thus is the poor agent despised!
O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set
a-work, and how ill requited! why should our
endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed?
what verse for it? what instance for it? Let me see:
Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing,
Till he hath lost his honey and his sting;
And being once subdued in armed tail,
Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.
Good traders in the flesh, set this in your
painted cloths.
As many as be here of pander's hall,
Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall;
Or if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.
Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be made:
It should be now, but that my fear is this,
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:
Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases,
And at that time bequeathe you my diseases.
Exit
| Troilus and Cressida | |