The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

Men.

O! this is trim. Patr. Paris, and I, kiss evermore for him. Men. I'll have my kiss, sir.-Lady, by your leave. Cres. In kissing do you render or receive? Patr. Both take and give. Cres. I'll make my match to live. The kiss you take is better than you give; Therefore no kiss.

Men. I'll give you boot; I'll give you three for one. Cres. You're an odd man: give even, or give none. Men. An odd man, lady? every man is odd. Cres. No, Paris is not; for, you know, 'tis true, That you are odd, and he is even with you. Men. You fillip me o' the head. Cres. No, I'll be sworn. Ulyss. It were no match, your nail against his May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you? [horn.

Cres. You may.

I do desire it.

Ulyss. Cres. Why, beg then. Ulyss. Why then, for Venus' sake, give me a kiss, When Helen is a maid again, and his.

her!

Cres. I am your debtor; claim it when 'tis due.
Ulyss. Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.
Dio. Lady, a word:-I'll bring you to your father.
[DIOMED leads out CRESSIDA.
Nest. A woman of quick sense.
Ulyss.
Fie, fie upon
There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
At every joint and motive of her body.
O! these encounters, so glib of tongue,
That give occasion welcome ere it comes,

And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
To every tickling reader, set them down

For sluttish spoils of opportunity,

And daughters of the game. [Trumpet within.
All. The Trojans' trumpet.
Agam.

Yonder comes the troop. Enter HECTOR, armed; ÆNEAS, TROILUS, and other Trojans, with Attendants.

Ene. Hail, all you state of Greece! what shall

be done

What is your name? Achil.

If not Achilles, sir,

If not Achilles, nothing.
Ene. Therefore Achilles; but, whate'er, know
In the extremity of great and little, [this:-
Valor and pride excel themselves in Hector;
The one almost as infinite as all,

The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,
And that which looks like pride is courtesy.
This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood:
In love whereof half Hector stays at home;
Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek
This blended knight, half Trojan, and half Greek.
Achil. A maiden battle, then ?-O! I perceive you.
Re-enter DIOMED.

Agam. Here is sir Diomed.-Go, gentle knight,

*Motion. Ajax and Hector were cousins german,

Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas
Consent upon the order of their fight,
So be it; either to the utterance,
Or else a breach: the combatants being kin,
Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
[AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists.
Ulyss. They are oppos'd already. [heavy?
Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks 80
Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word,
Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue;
Not soon provok'd, nor being provok'd soon calm'd:
His heart and hand both open, and both free;
For what he has, he gives, what thinks, he shows;
Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath.
Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, 'subscribes
To tender abjects; but he, in heat of action,
Is more vindicative than jealous love.
They call him Troilus; and on him erect
A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.
Thus, says Eneas; one that knows the youth,
Even to his inches, and with private soul
Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
[Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight.
Agam. They are in action.
Nest. Now, Ajax, hold thine own.

Tro. Awake thee!

Hector, thou sleep'st:

Princes, enough, so please you.

Ajax. I am not warm yet; let us fight again.
Dio. As Hector pleases.

Hect.

Why then, will I no more.Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son, A cousin-german to great Priam's seed; The obligation of our blood forbids A gory emulation twixt us twain. Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so, And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg That thou could'st say-" This hand is Grecian all, Runs on the dexter cheek, and this 'sinister All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood Bounds in my father's;" by Jove multipotent, Thou should'st not bear from me a Greekish member Wherein my sword had not impressure made Of our rank feud. But the just gods gainsay, My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword That any drop thou borrow'dst from thy mother, Be drain'd. Let me embrace thee, AjaxBy him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms. Hector would have them fall upon him thus: Cousin, all honor to thee! [They embrace. Ajax.

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

Hect. Not 'Neoptolemus so mirable

On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st Oyez
Cries, "This is he!" could promise to himself
A thought of added honor torn from Hector.
Ene. There is expectance here from both the sides,
What farther you will do.

Hect.

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

•Stops. No boaster.-Injurious; unworthy. - 'Submits; yields.-"Translate him," i. e., explained his char acter. Right Left. Title. Achilles. Seldom.

To the expecters of our Trojan part:
Desire them home.-Give me thy hand, my cousin ;
I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.

Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish; and great Achilles | Yond' towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds, Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. Must kiss their own feet. Hect. Æneas, call my brother Troilus to me; Hect. I must not believe you. And signify this loving interview There they stand yet; and modestly I think, The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all; And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it. Ulyss. So to him we leave it. Most gentle, and most valiant Hector, welcome. After the general, I beseech you next To feast with me, and see me at my tent. Achil. I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses, then.Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee: I have with exact view perus'd thee, Hector, And quoted joint by joint. Hect.

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

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

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

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

You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.
Hect. Whom must we answer?
Ene.
The noble Menelaus.
Hect. O! you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet,
Mock not, that I affect th' untraded oath: [thanks.
Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove;
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.
Hect. O! pardon; I offend.

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

[thee,

Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen
As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,

Is this Achilles?

Achil. I am Achilles.
Hect. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee.
Achil. Behold thy fill.

Hect.
Nay, I have done already. |
Achil. Thou art too brief: I will the second time,
As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.

Hect. O! like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er;
But there's more in me than thou understand'st.
Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?

Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body

(man,

Shall I destroy him, whether there, there, or there?
That I may give the local wound a name,
And make distinct the very breach, whereout
Hector's great spirit flew. Answer me, heavens!
Hect. It would discredit the bless'd gods, proud
To answer such a question. Stand again:
Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly,
As to 'prenominate in nice conjecture,
Where thou wilt hit me dead?
Achil.
I tell thee, yea.
Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,

When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' th' air, I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well,

Not letting it decline on the declin'd;
That I have said unto my standers-by,
"Lo! Jupiter is yonder, dealing life."

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

Ene. 'Tis the old Nestor.

Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time.
Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.

Nest. I would, my arms could match thee in con-
As they contend with thee in courtesy. [tention,
Hect. I would they could.
[to-morrow.
Nest. Ha! By this white beard, I'd fight with thee
Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time.
Ulyss. I wonder now how yonder city stands,
When we have here her base and pillar by us.
Hect. I know your favor, lord Ulysses, well.
Ah, sir! there's many a Greek and Trojan dead,
Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy.

Ulyss. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue :
My prophecy is but half his journey yet;
For yonder walls, that portly front your town,

Imperial. Uncommon; unusual.-"The declined," 1. c., the fallen.- Laomedon.

For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
I'll kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.-
You, wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag:
His insolence draws folly from my lips;
But I'll endeavor deeds to match these words,
Or may I never-

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

Hect. I pray you, let us see you in the field:
We have had pelting wars, since you refus'd
The Grecians' cause.

Achil
Dost thou entreat me, Hector!
To-morrow, do I meet thee, fell as death;
To-night, all friends.
Hect.

Thy hand upon that match.
Agam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;
There in the full 'convive we: afterwards,
As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall
Concur together, severally entreat him.-
Beat loud the taborines, let the trumpets blow,
That this great soldier may his welcome know.
[Exeunt all but TROILUS and ULYSSES.
Tro. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?
Ulyss. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus:

Noted; observed.- Forename.- Stithied, from stitky, a smith's shop.- Inclination. “To be odd," i. e., to cas tend. Petty; paltry. Feast. Small drums.

There Diomed doth feast with him to-night;
Who neither looks upon the heaven, nor earth,
But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
On the fair Cressid.

Tro. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
After we part from Agamemnon's tent,

To bring me thither?
Ulyss.

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

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

ACT V.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-The Grecian Camp. Before
ACHILLES' Tent.

Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS.

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. Ther. With too much blood, and too little brain, these two may run mad; but if with too much brain, and too little blood, they do, I'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 ear-wax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull,the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds, a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's leg,-to what form, but that he is, should wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit, turn him to? To an ass, were 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 efitchew, 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 flazar, so I were not Menelaus.-Hey-day! spirits and fires!

Achil. I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to- Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON,

night,

Ther. Pr'ythee be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk: thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet. Patr. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that?

Ther. Why, his masculine whore. Now the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, lime-kilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivelled feesimple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous 2 discolorers.

Patr. Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus ?

Ther. Do I curse thee?

Patr. Why no, you ruinous butt; you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no.

Ther. No? why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of 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!

Patr. Out, gall!

Ther. Finch egg!

Achil. My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite
From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle.
Here is a letter from queen Hecuba;
A token from her daughter, my fair love;
Both taxing me, and 'gaging me to keep
An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:
Fall Greeks, fail fame, honor, or go, or stay,

⚫ Contrariety.

ULYSSES, NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMEDEs,
with lights.

Agam. We go wrong; we go wrong.
Ajax.

There, where we see the lights.
Hect.

No, yonder 'tis;

I trouble you.

Here comes himself to guide you.

Enter ACHIlles.

Ajax. No, not a whit.
Ulyss.

Agam. So now, fair prince of Troy, I bid good
[eral.
Ajax commands the guard to tend on you.
Hect. Thanks, and good night, to the Greeks'gen-
Men. Good night, my lord.

Hect. Good night, sweet lord Menelaus.
Ther. Sweet draught: sweet, quoth 'a! sweet
sink, sweet sewer.
[those
That go, or tarry.
Achil. Good night, and welcome, both at once to

Agam. Good night. [Exeunt AGAM. and MEN. Achil. Old Nestor tarries; and you too, Diomed, Keep Hector company an hour or two.

Dio. I cannot, lord; I have important business, The tide whereof is now.-Good night, great Hector. Hect. Give me your hand.

And so good night. [Exit DIOMED; ULYSSES and TROILUS following. Achil. Come, come; enter my tent.

[Exeunt ACHILLES, HECTOR, AJAX,and NESTOR. Ther. That same Diomed's a false-hearted rogue, a most unjust knave: I will no more trust him when he leers, than I will a serpent when he hisses. He will spend his mouth, and promise, like Brabler the hound; but when he performs, astronomers foretel it: it is prodigious, there will come some change: the sun borrows of the moon when Dibmed keeps his word. I will rather leave to see Hector, than not

b Harlots Menelaus. Stuffed. Polecat.-f Diseased beggar. This is the exclamation of Thersites upon the first sight of the distant lights. Privy. Portentous; omi

nous.

Cres.

Hold, patience!

How now, Trojan? Diomed!

[you,

Dio. No, no; good night: I'll be your fool no more. Tro. Thy better must. Cres. Hark! one word in your ear. Tro. O, plague and madness! Ulyss. You are mov'd, prince : let us depart, I pray Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself To wrathful terms. This place is dangerous; The time right deadly: I beseech you, go. Tro. Behold, I pray you! Ulyss.

Nay, good my lord, go off: You flow to great distraction; come, my lord. Tro. I pr'ythee, stay. Ulyss. You have not patience; come. Tro. I pray you, stay. By hell, and all hell's torI will not speak a word. Dio. And so, good night. Cres. Nay, but you part in anger. Tro.

O, wither'd truth!

[ments,

Doth that grieve thee?

Dio. But will you then?

Cres. In faith, I will, lord: never trust me else.
Dio. Give me some token for the surety of it.
Cres. I'll fetch you one.

Ulyss. You have sworn patience.
Tro.

[Erit

Fear me not, sweet lord; I will not be myself, nor have cognition Of what I feel: I am all patience.

Re-enter CRESSIDA.

Ther. Now the pledge! now, now, now!
Cres. Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve.

Tro. O beauty! where is thy faith?
Ulyss.

[Giring it.

My lord,

Tro. I will be patient; outwardly I will. Cres. You look upon that sleeve; behold it well— He lov'd me-O false wench!-Give't me again. Dio. Whose was't?

Cres.

4 It is no matter, now I have't again: I will not meet with you to-morrow night. I pr'ythee, Diomed, visit me no more. Ther. Now she sharpens.-Well said, whetstone Dio. I shall have it.

Cres.

What, this?

Dio.
Ay, that.
Cres. O, all you gods!-O pretty, pretty pledge!
Thy master now lies thinking in his bed
Of thee, and me; and sighs, and takes my glove,
And gives memorial dainty kisses to it,
As I kiss thee.-Nay, do not snatch it from me;
He that takes that doth take my heart withal.

Dio. I had your heart before; this follows it.
Tro. I did swear patience.

[shall not:

Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; 'faith you I'll give you something else.

[They strive.

"Tis no matter.

[will.

Dio. I will have this. Whose was it?
Cres.

Dio. Come, tell me whose it was.
Cres. 'Twas one's that lov'd me better than you
But, now you have it, take it.

Dio. Whose was it? Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women yond', And by herself, I will not tell you whose. Dio. To-morrow will I wear it on my helm, And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it. Tro. Wert thou the devil, and wor'st it on thy hore, It should be challeng'd. [is not: Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past;-and yet it I will not keep my word.

I do not like this fooling. Ther. Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not you, pleases me best. Dio. What shall I come? the hour? Cres.

Ay, come:-O Jove!

Cres. Good night: I pr'ythee, come.

Tro. Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged well [Exit Dio. In characters as red as Mars his heart

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 CRESSIDA. Ther. A proof of strength, she could not publish a more,

Unless she said, "my mind is now turn'd whore." Ulyss. All's done, my lord.

Tro. Nothing at all, unless that this were she.
Ther. Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes?
Tro. This she? no; this is Diomed's Cressida.
If beauty have a soul, this is not she:

If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimony,
If sanctimony be the gods' delight,

If there be rule in unity itself,

This 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 orifice for a point, as subtle
As Arachne'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, dissolv'd, and loos'd;
And with another knot, five-finger-tied,
The fractions of her faith, orts of her love,
The fragments, scraps, the bits, and greasy reliques
Of her o'er-eaten faith, are given to Diomed.
Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attach'd
With that which here his passion doth express?

Inflam'd with Venus: never did young man 'fancy
With so eternal and so fix'd a soul.

Hark, Greek:-as much as I do Cressid love,
So much by weight 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,

m Constring'd in mass by the almighty sun,
Shall dizzy with more clamor Neptune's car
In his descent, than shall my prompted sword
Falling on Diomed.

Ther. He'll tickle it for his "concupy.

Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false! Let all untruths stand by thy stained name, And they'll seem glorious.

Ulyss.

O! contain yourself;

Your passion draws ears hither.
Enter ENEAS.

Ene. 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.

Tro. Have with you, prince.-My courteous lord, Farewell, revolted fair!-and, Diomed, [adieu.Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head! Ulyss. I'll bring you to the gates. Tro. Accept distracted thanks.

[Exeunt TROILUS, ENEAS, and ULYSSES. Ther. [Coming forward.] 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.

That is, she could not publish a stronger proof-Re-3 membrance. Since.-d "An esperance," i. e., a hope.That is, turns the very testimony of seeing and hearing against themselves. For the sake of womanhood.- Cynics, That is, if it be true that one individual cannot be two distinct persons.-i" A thing inseparate," i. e., the plighted faith of lovers. That is, Does Troilus feel half of what he utters?

Hect.

Ho! bid my trumpet sound. Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother. [swear.

Hect. Begone, I say: the gods have heard me
Cas. The gods are deaf to hot and P peevish vows:
They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.

And. O! be persuaded: do not count it holy
To hurt by being just: it is as lawful
For us to give much count to violent thefts,
And rob in the behalf of charity.

Cas. It is the purpose that makes strong the vow ;

1 Love.- Contracted.- Concupiscence.-• Earnest, P Foolish

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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: Comprising His Lays and Poems ...