Such things as might offend the weakest spleen To fight for and maintain! Par. Else might the world convince * of levity As well my undertakings, as your counsels: But I attest the gods, your full consent Gave wings to my propension, and cut off All fears attending on so dire a project. For what, alas, can these my single arms! What propugnation + is in one man's valour, To stand the push and enmity of those This quarrel would excite? Yet, I protest, 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: Par. Sir, I propose not merely to myself On terms of base compulsion? Can it be, And on the cause and question now in hand Have hears more deaf than adders to the voice But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion Is this in way of truth: yet ne'ertheless, In resolution to keep Helen still; For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependence Upon our joint and several dignities. Tro. Why, there you touch'd the life of our design: 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, but I'll see some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then there's Achilles,-a rare engineer. If Troy 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 dependent 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 Thersites, come in and rail. Ther. If I could have remembered a gilt counterfeit, thou wouldest 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 prayer? Ther. Ay; The heavens hear me ! 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 thyself 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. Ther. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; I am Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool. Achil. He is a privileged man.-Proceed, | We come to speak with him: And you shall not Thersites. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool: Achilles is a fool; Thersites is a fool; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is a fool. Achil. Derive this; come. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command Achilles; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of Agamemnon; Thersites is a fool to serve such a fool; and Patroclus is a fool positive. 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, Achil. Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody:- Agam. Where is Achilles ? Patr. Within his tent; but ill dispos'd, my lord. Agam. Let it be known to him that we are He shent our messengers; and we lay by [Exit. Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart: you may call it melancholy, if you will favour the mau; but, by my head, 'tis pride: But why, why 1 let him show us a cause.-A word, my lord. [Takes AGAMEMNON aside. Nest. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him? Ulyss. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him. Nest. Who? Thersites ? Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have ost 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. If any thing more than your sport and pleasure Agam. Hear you, Patroclus ; We are too well acquainted with these answers: Much attribute he hath; and much the reason sin, If you do say-we think him over-proud, Here tend the savage strangeness + he puts on; Ajax. What is he more than another? Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought, and say -he is? Agam. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as valiant, as wise, no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether more tractable. Ajax. Why should a man be proud? How doth pride grow? I know not what pride is. Agam. Your mind's the clearer, Ajax, and your virtues the fairer. He 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. Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engendering of toads. Nest. And yet he loves himself: Is it not [Aside. strange? Re-enter ULYSSES. Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-mor row. Agam. What's his excuse? But carries on the stream of his dispose, Agam. Why will he not, upon our fair re. That, 'twixt his mental and his active parts, Agam. Let Ajax go to him. Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent : Why we ascribe it to him: yet all his virtues-When they go from Achilles: shall the proud Not virtuously on his own part beheld,- lord, That bastes his arrogance with his own seam, • Attend. Thy spacious and dilated parts: Here's Nestor,- He must, he is, be cannot but be wise ;- Ajax. Shall I call you father? Dio. Be rul'd by him, lord Ajax. Ulyss. There is no tarrying here; the hart Keeps thicket. Please it our great general And here's a lord,-come knights from east to west, And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best. Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep: Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep. [Exeunt. Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow, Nest. How he describes Himself! [Aside. [Aside. Agam. He'll be physician, that should be the Ajax. An all men Were o' my mind, [Aside. ACT III. SCENE 1.-Troy.-A Room in PRIAM'S Palace. 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. Pan. You do depend upon him, I mean? Pan. You do depend upon a noble gentleman; I must needs praise him. Serv. The lord be praised! Pan. You know me, do you not? Pan. Friend, know me better; I am the lord Pandarus. Serv. I hope, I shall know your honour b.t ter. Pan. I do desire it. Serv. You are in the state of grace. [Music within. Pan. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles :-What music is this? Serv. I do but partly know, Sir; it is music in parts. Pan. Know you the musicians ? Pan. Who play they to? Serv. To the hearers, Sir. Pan. At whose pleasure, friend? Serv. At mine, Sir, and their's that love music. Pan. Command, I mean, friend. 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. Serv. Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase, indeed! Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended, Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this The sign in the zodiac into which the sun (Hyperion) fair company! fait desires, in all fair measure, enters at Midsummer. + Strike. Pan. Truly, lady, no. Pan. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude. Par. Well said, my lord! well, you say so in fits.. Pan. I have business to my lord, dear My lord, will you vouchsafe me a word? Pan. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me. But (marry) thus, my lord,-My dear lord, and most esteemed friend, your brother Troilus Helen. My lord lord, Pandarus; honey-sweet Pan. Go to, sweet queen, go to:-commends himself most affectionately to you. Helen. You shall not bob us out of our melody; If you do, our melancholy upon your head! Pan. Sweet queen, sweet queen; that's a sweet queen, i'faith. Helen. And to make a sweet lady sad, is a sour offence. Pan. Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall it not, in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such words; no, no.-And, my lord, he desires you, that, if the king call for him at sup. per, you will make his excuse. Helen. My lord Pandarus, Pan. What says my sweet queen,-my very very sweet queen? Par. What exploit's in hand? where sups he to-night ? Helen. Nay, but my lord, Pan. What says my sweet queen ?-My cousin will fall out with you. You must not know where he sups. Par. I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cres sida. Pan. No, no, no such matter, you are wide;t come, your disposer is sick. Par. Well, I'll make excuse. The shaft confounds, But tickles still the sore. These lovers cry-Oh! oh! they die! Yet that which seems the wound to kill, Doth turn oh! oh! to ha! ha! he! So dying love lives still: Oh oh! a while, but ha! ha! ha! Helen. In love, i'faith, to the very tip of the nose. Par. He eats nothing but doves, love; and that breeds hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love. Pan. Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot thoughts, and hot deeds?-Why, they are vi pers: Is love a generation of vipers? Sweet lord, who's a-field to-day? Par. Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all the gallantry of Troy: I would fain bave armed to-night, but my Nell would not have it so. How chance my brother Troilus went not? Helen. He hangs the lip at something ;-you know all, lord Pandarus. Pan. Not I, honey-sweet queen,-I long to hear how they sped to-day.-You'll remember your brother's excuse? Par. To a hair. Pan. Farewell, sweet queen. [Exit. [A Retreat sounded. Par. They are come from field: let us to Priam's ball, To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woe Pan. Ay, good my lord. Why should you say SCENE II.-The same. PANDARUS' Orchard. -Cressida? no, your poor disposer's sick. Par. I spy. Pan. You spy! what do you spy?-Come, give me an instrument.-Now, sweet queen. Helen. Why, this is kindly done. Pan. My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have, sweet queen. Helen. She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord Paris. Pan. He! no, she'll none of him; they two are twain. Helen. Falling in, after falling out, may make them three. Pan. Come, come, I'll hear no more of this; I'll sing you a song now. Helen. Ay, ay, pr'ythee now. By my troth, sweet lord, thou hast a fine forehead. Pan. Ay, yon may, you may. Enter PANDARUS and a SERVANT, meeting. Pan. How now? where's thy master? at my cousin Cressida's ? Serv. No, Sir; he stays for you to conduct him thither. Enter TROILUS. Pan. Oh! here he comes.-How now, how now? Tro. Sirrah, walk off. [Exit. SERVAN. Staying for waitage. Oh be thou my Charon, Helen. Let thy song be love: this love will From Cupid's shoulder pluck his painted wings, I fear it much; and I do fear besides, Re-enter PANDARES. Pan, She's making her ready, she'll come She does so straight you must be witty now. blush, and fetches her wind so short, as if she It is were frayed with a sprite: I'll fetch her. the prettiest villain :-she fetches her breath as short as a new-ta'en sparrow. [Exit PANDARUS. Tro. Even such a passion doth embrace my My heart beats thicker than a fevorous pulse; Tro. Are there such? such are not we: Praise us as we are tasted, allow us as we prove; our head shall go bare, till merit crown it: no perfection in reversion shall have a praise in present: we will not name desert, before his birth; and, being born, his addition shall be Few words to fair truth: Troilus humble. shall be such to Cressid, as what envy can say worst, shall be a mock for his truth; and what truth can speak truest, not truer than Troilus. Cres. Will you walk in, my lord? Re-enter PANDARUS. Pan. What, blushing still? have you not done talking yet? Cres. Well, uncle, what folly I commit, I dedicate to you. Pan. I thank you for that: if my lord get a boy of you, you'll give him me: Be true to my lord: if he flinch, chide ine for it. Tro. You know now your hostages: your uncle's word, and my firm faith. Pan. Nay, I'll give my word for her too; thrown. Enter PANDARUS and CRESSIDA. Pan. Come, come, what need you blush? shame's a baby.-Here she is now: swear the oaths now to her, that you have "sworn to me. -What are you gone again? you must be watch-our kindred, though they be long ere they are ed ere you be made tame, must you? Come your wooed, they are constant, being won: they are ways, come your ways: an you draw backward, burs, I can tell you; they'll stick where they are we'll put you i'the fills. Why do you not speak to her ?-Come, draw this curtain, and let's see your picture. Alas the day, how loath you are to offend daylight! an 'twere dark, you'd close sooner. So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress.+ How now, a kiss in fee-farm! build there, carpenter; the air is sweet. Nay, you shall fight your hearts out, ere I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i'the river: go to, go to. Tro. You have bereft me of all words, lady. Pan. Words pay no debts, give her deeds: but she'll bereave you of the deeds too, if she call your activity in question. What, billing again 1 Here's-In witness whereof the parties interchangeably-Come in come in; I'll go get a fire. Exit PANDARUS. Cres. Will you walk in, my lord? Tro. O Cressida, how often have I wished me thus? Cres. Wished my lord ?---The gods grant!-O my lord! Tro. What should they grant? what makes this pretty abruption? What too curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love? Cres. More dregs than water if my fears have eyes. Tro. Fears make devils cherubins; they never see truly. Cres. Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer footing than blind reason stumbling without fear: To fear the worst, oft cures the ster. Cres. Nor nothing monstrous neither? Tro. Nothing but our undertakings; when we Vow to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers; thinking it harder for our mistress to devise imposition enough, than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed. This is the monstruosity in love, lady,-that the will is infinite, and the execution confined; that the desire is boundless, and the act a slave to limit. Cres. They, say, all lovers swear more performauce than they are able, and yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the perfection of ten, and discharging less than the tenth part of one. They that have the voice of lions, and the act of hares, are they not monsters ? I. e. In the shafts. An allusion to bowling; what is now called the jack was formerly termed the anistress. The tercel is the male and the falcon the female hawk Cres. Boldness comes to me now, and brings Prince Troilus, I have lov'd you night and day Tro. Why was my Cressid then so hard to Cres. Hard to seem won; but I was won, my with the first glance that ever-Pardon me ; Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws Tro. And shall, albeit sweet music issues Pan. Pretty, i'faith. Cres. My lord, I do beseech you, pardon me ; Pan. Leave? an you take leave till to-morrow morning, Cres. Pray you, content you. Cres. Let me go and try: I have a kind of self resides with you; Cres. Perchance my lord, I show more craft And fell so roundly to a large confession, above. • Titles. |