Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is consum'd
In hot digestion of this cormorant war,
Shall be struck of:-Hector, what say you to't?
Heet, Though no man lesser fears the Greeks
As far as toucheth my particular, yet, [than I,
Dread Priam,

There is no lady of more softer bowels,
More spungy to suck in the sense of fear,
More ready to cry out-Who knows what follows?
Than Hector is: The wound of peace is surety,
Surety secure: but modest doubt is called
The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches
To the bottom of the worst. Let Helen go:
Since the first sword was drawn about this
question,

Everytithe soul,'mongst many thousand dismes,
Hath been as dear as Helen; I mean of ours:
If we have lost so many tenths of ours,
To guard a thing not ours; not worth to us,
Had it our name, the value of one ten;
What merit's in that reason, which denies
The yielding of her up?
Tro.
Fye, fye, my brother!
Weigh you the worth and honour of a king,
So great as our dread father, in a scale
Of common ounces? will you with counters sum
The past-proportion of his infinite?
And buckle-in a waist most fathomless,
With spans and inches so diminutive
As fears and reasons? fye, for godly shame!
Hel. No marvel, though you bite so sharp at

reasons,

You are so empty of them. Shodld not our father
Bear the great sway of his affairs with reasons,
Because your speech hath none, that tells him so?
Tro. You are for dreams and slumbers, bro-
ther priest,
[your reasons:
You fur your gloves with reason. Here are
You know, an enemy intends you harm;
You know, a sword employ'd is perilous,
And reason flies the object of all harm;
Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds
A Grecian and his sword, if he do set
The very wings of reason to his heels;
And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,
Or like a star disorb'd?-Nay, if we talk of
[honour
Let's shut our gates, and sleep: Manhood and
Should have hare hearts, would they but fat
their thoughts

reason,

With this cramm'd reason: reason and respect
Make livers pale, and lustlihood deject.
Hect. Brother, she is not worth what she doth
The holding.
[cost
Tro.
What is aught, but as 'tis valued?
Hect. But valne dwells not in particular will;
It holds his estimate and dignity
As well wherein 'tis precious of itself
As in the prizer: 'tis mad idolatry,

To make the service greater than the god;
And the will dotes, that is attributive
To what infectiously itself affects,
Without some image of the affected merit.

Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks: Your breath with full consent bellied his sails; The seas and winds (old wranglers) took a truce, And did him service! he touch'd the ports desir'd: [captive,

And, for an old aunt, whom the Greeks held He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and freshness

Wrinkles Apollo's,and makes pale the morning.
Why keep we her? the Grecians keep our aunt:
Is she worth keeping? why, she is a pearl,
Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand
And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants. [ships,
If you'll avouch, 'twas wisdom Paris went
(As you must needs, for you all cry'd—Go, go),
If you'll confess, he brought home noble prize,
(As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your
hands,

And cry'd-Inestimable !) why do you now
The issue of your proper wisdoms rate;
And do a deed that fortune never did,
Beggar the estimation which you priz'd
Richer than sea and land? O theft most base;
That we have stolen what we do fear to keep!
But, thieves, unworthy of a thing so stolen,
That in their country did them that disgrace,
We fear to warrant in our native place!
Cas. [Within.] Cry, Trojans, cry!

Pri.
What noise? what shriek is this?
Tro. 'Tis our mad sister, I do know her voice.
Cas. [Within.] Cry, Trojans !
Hect. It is Cassandra.

Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel,
Which hath our several honours all engag'd
To make it gracious. For my private part,
I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons:
And Jove forbid, there should be done amongst

us

Snch things as might offend the weakest spleen To fight for and maintain!

Were I alone to pass the difficulties,
And had as ample power as I have will,
Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done,
Nor faint in the pursuit.

Pri.
Paris, you speak
Like one besotted on your sweet delights:
You have the honey still, but these the gall;
So to be valiant is no praise at all.

Par. Sir, I propose not merely to myself
The pleasure such a beauty brings with it;
But I would have the soil of her fair rape
Wip'd off, in honourable keeping her.
What treason were it to the ransack'd queen,
Disgrace to your great worths, and shame to me,
Now to deliver her possession up,
On terms of base compulsion? Can it be,
That so degenerate a stain as this [soms?
Should once set footing in your generous bo-
There's not the meanest spirit on our party,
Without a heart to dare, or sword to draw,
When Helen is defended; nor none so noble,
Whose life were ill bestow'd, or death unfam'd,
Where Helen is the subject: then, I say,
Well may we fight for her, whom we know well,
The world's large spaces cannot parallel. [well:
Hect. Paris, and Troilus, you have both said
And on the cause and question now in hand
Have gloz'd,-but superficially; not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:

The reasous, you allege, do more conduce
To the hot passion of distemper'd blood,
Than to make up a free determination [venge,
'Twixt right and wrong; For pleasure, and re-
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves,
All dues be rendered to their owners; Now
What nearer debt in all humanity,
Than wife is to the husband? if this law
Of nature be corrupted through affection;
And that great minds, of partial indulgence
To their benumbed wills, resist the same;
There is a law in each well order'd nation,
To curb those raging appetites that are
Most disobedient and refractory.
If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king,-
As it is known she is,-these moral laws
Of nature, and of nations, speak aloud
To have her back return'd: Thus to persist
In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong, [nion
But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opi-
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My spritely brethren, I propend to you
In resolution to keep Helen still;
For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance
Upon our joint and several dignities. [design:
Tro. Why, there you touch'd the life of our
Were it not glory that we more affected
Than the performance of our heaving spleens,
I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood
Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector,
She is a theme of honour and renown;
A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds;
Whose present courage maybeat down our foes,
And fame, in time to come, canonize us:
For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose
So rich advantage of a promis'd glory,
As smiles upon the forehead of this action,
For the wide world's revenue.

Hect.
I am yours,
You valiant offspring of great Priamus.--
I have a roisting challenge sent amongst
The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks,
Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits:
I was advertis'd, their great general slept

The Grecian Camp. Before Achilles' Tent.
Enter THERSITES.

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

Enter PATROCLUS.

Patr. Who's there? Thersites? Good Ther

sites, come in and rail.

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

Patr. What, art thou devout? wast thou in Ther. Ay, the heavens hear me! [prayer?

Enter ACHILLES.

Achil. Who's there?

Patr. Thersites, my lord.

Achil. Where, where?-Art thou come? Why, my cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served thysel in to my table so many meals? Come, what's Agamemnon?

Ther. Thy commander, Achilles;-Then tell me, Patroclus, what's Achilles?

Patr. Thy lord, Thersites; Then tell me, I pray thee, what's thyself?

Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus; Then tell me Patroclus, what art thou?

Patr. Thou mayest tell, that knowest.
Achil. O, tell, tell.

Patr. Why am I a fool?

Ther. Make that demand of the prover.-It suffices me, thou art. Look you, who comes here?

Enter AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and AJAX.

[Exit.

Futr. Within his tent; but ill dispos'd,my lord. Agam, Let it be known to him, that we are

Nest. Who? Thersites ? Ulyss. He.

Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his argument.

Ulyss. No; you see he is his argument, that has his argument; Achilles.

Nest. All the better; their fraction is more our wish, than their faction: But it was a strong composure, a fool could disunite.

Ulyss. The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may easily untie. Here comes Patroclus. Re-enter PATROCLUS.

Nest. No Achilles with him.

Ulyss. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy: his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure.

Patr. Achilles bids me say-he is much sorry,
If any thing more than your sport and pleasure
Did move your greatness, and this noble state,
To call upon him; he hopes it is no other,
But, for your health and your digestion sake,
An after-dinner's breath.
Agam
Hear you, Patroclus;-
We are too well acquainted with these answers;
But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn,
Cannot outfly our apprehensions.

Much attribute he hath; and much the reason
Why we ascribe it to him; yet all his virtues,-
Not virtuously on his own part beheld,-
De, in our eyes, begin to lose their gloss;
Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish,
Are like to rot untasted. Go and tell him,
We come to speak with him; And you shall
not sin,

If you do say-We think him over-proud,
And under-honest; in self-assumption greater,
That in the note of judgment; and worthier than
himself

Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on;

Ajax. What is he more than another? Agam. No more than what he thinks he is. Ajax. Is he so much? Do yon not think. he thinks himself a better man than I am. Agam. No question.

[--he is?

Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought, and say Agam. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant, as wise, no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether more tractable.

pride grow? I know not what pride is. Ajax. Why should a man be proud? How doth

Agam. Your mind's the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues the fairer. Ile that is proud, eats up himself: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle: and whatever praises itself but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise.

engendering of toads. Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the

Nest. And yet he loves himself: Is it not strange? [Aside.

Re-enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morAgam. What's his excuse? [row. Ulyss. He doth rely on none; But carries on the stream of his dispose, Without observance or respect of any, In will peculiar, and in self-admission. Agam. Why will he not, upon our fair request, Untent his person, and share the air with us? Ulyss. Things small as nothing, for request's [greatness;

sake only, He makes important: Possess'd he is with And speaks not to himself, but with a pride That quarrels at self-breath: imagin'd worth Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse, That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages, And batters down himself: What should I say? He is so plaguy proud,that the death tokens of it Cry-No recovery. Agam. Let Ajax go to him.Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent: 'Tis said he holds you well: and will be led, At your request, a little from himself.

Ulyss. O Agamemnon, let it not be so!
We'll consecrate the steps that Ajax makes
When they go from Achilles. Shall the proud
lord,

That bastes his arrogance with his own seam;
And never suffers matter of the world
Enter his thoughts,-save such as do revolve
And ruminate himself,-shall he be worship'd
Of that we hold an idol more than he?
No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord
Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquir'd;
Nor, by my will, assubjugate his merit,
As amply titled as Achilles is,

By going to Achilles :

That were to enlard his fat-already pride; And add more coals to Cancer, when he burns With entertaining great Hyperion. This lord go to him! Jupiter forbid, And say in thunder-Achilles, go to him. Nest. O, this is well; he rubs the vein of him. [Aside. Dio. And how his silence drinks up this applause! [Aside. Ajax. If I go to him, with my arm'd fist I'll Over the face. [pash him Agam. O, no, you shall not go. Ajar. An he be proud with me, I'll pheeze Let me go to him. [his pride:

Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow!- [quarrel.

Nest.

Himself!
Ajax. Can he not be sociable?
Ulyss.
Chides blackness.

[Aside.

The raven

[Aside.

Ajax.
I will let his humours blood.
Agam. He'll be physician, that should be
the patient.

Ajax. An all men

Were o' my mind,

Ulyss.

Enter PANDARUS and a Servant.

Pan. Friend! you; pray you, a word: Do not you follow the young lord Paris? Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.

[Aside.

I

Wit would be out of fashion.

[Aside.

Ajax. He should not bear it so, He should eat swords first: Shall pride carry it? Nest. An 'twould, you'd carry half. [Aside. Ulyss. He'd have ten shares. [Aside. Ajax. I'll knead him, I will make him supple: [with praises: Nest. He's not yet thorough warm: force him Pour in, pour in; his ambition is dry. [Aside. Ulyss. My lord, you feed too much on this dislike. [To AGAMEMNON.

Nest. O noble general, do not do so. [les. Dio. You must prepare to fight without AchilUlyss. Why, 'tis this naming of him does him Here is a man-But 'tis before his face; [harm. I will be silent.

Nest.

Wherefore should you so? He is not emulons, as Achilles is. Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. Ajar. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus I would, he were a Trojan! [with us! Nest.

Were it in Ajax now

Ulyss.

What a vice

If he were proud?

Dio. Or covetous of praise?
Ulyss.

Ay, or surly borne?
Dio. Or strange, or self-affected?
Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of

sweet composure;
Praise him that got thee,she that gave thee suck:
Fam'd be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature
Thrice-fam'd, beyond all erudition:
But he that disciplin'd thy arms to fight,
Let Mars divide eternity in twain,
And give him half: and, for thy vigour,
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield

To sinewy Ajax. I'll not praise thy wisdom,
Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore confines
Thy spacious and dilated parts: Here's Nestor,-
Instructed by the antiquary times,
He must, he is, he cannot but be wise;-
But pardon, father Nestor, were your days
As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper'd,
You should not have the eminence of him,
But be as Ajax.
Ajax.

Shall I call you father?

Pan. You do depend upon him, I mean?
Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

Pan. You do depend upon a noble gentleman; must needs praise him.

Serv. The lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not?

Serv. 'Faith, sir, superficially.

[Pandarus.

Pon. Friend, know me better; I am the lord Serv. I hope, I shall know your honour better. Par. I do desire it.

Serv. You are in the state of grace.

[Musick within. Pun. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles:--What musick is this? Serv. I do but partly know, sir; it is musick Pan. Know you the musicians? [in parts. Serv. Wholly, sir.

Pan. Who play they to?
Serv. To the hearers, sir.
Pan. At whose pleasure, friend?

Serv. At mine, sir, and theirs that love musick.
Pan. Command, I mean, friend.

Serv. Who shall I command, sir?

Pan. Friend, we understand not one another; I am too courtly, and thou art too cunning: At whose request do these men play?

Serv. That's to't, indeed, sir: Marry, sir, at the request of Paris, my lord, who is there in person; with him, the mortal Venus, the heartblood of beauty, love's invisible soul,Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida?

Serv. No, sir, Helen: Could you not find out that by her attributes?

Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the prince Troilus; I will make a complimental assault upon him, for my business seeths. [indeed!

Serv. Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase, Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended. Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair company! fair desires, in all fair measure, fairly guide them! especially to you, fair queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words. Pan. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. Fair prince, here is good broken musick.

Par. You have broke it, cousin and, by my life, you shall make it whole again; you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance -Nell, he is full of harmony.

Pan. Truly, lady, no.