Scene III.

Ther. A proof of strength she could not pub-
lish more,

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

Tro. It is.

Ulyss. Why stay we then?
Tro. To make a recordation

to my sou

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,
And 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?

Ulyss. I cannot conjure, Trojan.

Tro. She was not sure.

Ulyss. Most sure she was.

Tro. Why, my negation ¶ hath no taste of madness.

Ulyss. Nor mine, my lord: Cressid was here

but now.

Tro. Let it not be believ'd 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.
Ulyss. What hath she done, prince, that can
soil our mothers?

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 was not she. O madness of discourse,
That cause sets up with and against itself!
Bifold 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 commence a tight
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate
Divides more widely than the sky and earth;
And yet the spacious breath of this division
Admits no orifice for a point as subtle
As is 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 re-
liques

Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attach'd
With that which here his passion doth express?
Tro. Ay, Greek; and that shall be divulged
[well
In characters as red as Mars his heart
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 $ compos'd by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout,
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constring'd 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,

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. Oh! 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, adieu:

Farewell, revolted fair!-and, Diomed,
Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head!
Ulyss. I'll bring you to the gates.
Tro. Accept distracted thanks.

[Exeunt TROILUS, ÆNEAS, and ULYSSES.
Ther. 'Would I could meet that rogue Dio-
med! 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 com
modious drab. Lechery, lechery; still, wars and
lechery; nothing else holds fashion: A burning
devil take them!
[Exit

SCENE III.-Troy.-Before PRIAM'S
Palace.

Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE.
And. When was my lord so much ungently
temper'd,

To stop his ears against admonishment?
Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.

Hect. You train me to offend you; get you in:
By all the everlasting gods, I'll go.

And. My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.

Hect. No more, I say.

Enter CASSANDRA.

Cas. Where is my brother Hector?

And. Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in in

tent:

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.

Cas. Oh! it is true.

Hect. Ho! bid my trumpet sound!

Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother.

Hect. Begone, I say: the gods have heard me

swear.

Cas. The gods are deaf to hot and peevish

Vows;

They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd
Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.

And. Oh! 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 hehalf of charity.

Cas. It is the purpose that makes strong the

But vows, to every purpose, must not hold :
Unarm, sweet Hector.

Hect. Hold you still, I say;

Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Holds
Life every man holds dear; but the dear man
honour far more precious-dear† than
life.-

Enter TROILUS.

How now, young man? mean'st thou to fight to-
day?

And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade.
[Exit CASSANDRA.
Hect. No, 'faith, young Troilus; doff thy
harness, youth,

I am to-day i'the vein of chivalry:

1 Put off.

Let grow thy sinews til 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.
To. Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,
Which better fits a lion than a man.

Hect. What vice is that, good Troilus? chide
me for it.

Tro. When many times the captive Grecians

fall,

Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise, and live.

Hect. Oh! 'tis fair play.

Tro. Fool's play, by heaven, Hector.

Hect. How now? how now?

Tro. For the love of all the gods,
Let's leave the hermit pity with our mother;
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. +

Hect. Fie, savage, fie!

Tro. Hector, then 'tis wars.

Go in, and cheer the town: we'll forth, and
fight;
[night.
Do deeds worth praise, and tell you them at
Pri. Farewell: the gods with safety stand
about thee!

'Exeunt severally PRIAM and HECTOR.
Alarums.

Tro. They are at it; hark! Proud Diomed believe,

I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.

AS TROILUS is going out, enter, from the
other side, PANDARUS.

Pan. Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?
Tro. What now?

Pan. Here's a letter from yon' poor girl.
Tro. Let me read.

Pan. A whoreson ptisick, a whoreson rascally ptisick 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,

Hect. Troilus, I would not have you fight I cannot tell what to think on't.-What says she

to-day.

Tro. 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;
Nor you, my brother, with your true sword
drawn,

Oppos'd to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM.

Cas. 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 altogether.

Pri. Come, Hector, come, go back:

there?

Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart; [Tearing the letter. The effect doth operate another way.

Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change toge-
ther.-

My love with words and errors still she feeds;
But edifies another with her deeds.

[Exeunt severally. SCENE IV.-Between Troy and the Grecian Camp.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter THERSITES. Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one auother; I'll go look on. This dissembling abo minable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy

Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had there, in his helm: I would fain see them meet;

visions;

Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself

Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt,
To tell thee-that this day is ominous:
Therefore, come back.

Hect. Eneas is a-field;

And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.

Pri. But thou shalt not go.

Hect. 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.
Cas. O Priam, yield not to him.
And. Do not, dear father.
Hect. Andromache, I am offended with you :
Upon the love you bear me, get you in.
[Exit ANDROMACHE.
Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.

Cas. O farewell, dear Hector.

Look, now 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, destruction, frenzy, and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,

And all cry-Hector! Hector's dead! O Hec-
tor!

Tro. Away!--Away!

Cas. Farewell.-Yet, soft :-Heotor, I take my

leave :

that that same young Trojan ass, that loves the
whore there, might send that Greekish whore-
masterly villain with the sleeve, back to the dis-
sembling luxurions drab, on a sleeveless errand.
O' the 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 worth 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 barbarisin, and policy grows
into an ill opinion. Soft! here come sleeve,
and t'other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.
Tro. Fly not; for, should'st thou take the
river Styx,
I would swim after.

Dio. Thou dost miscal retire:

I do not fly; but advantageous care
Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:
Have at thee!

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian !-now for thy whore, Trojan!-now the sleeve, now the sleeve !

[Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting.

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 inanner execute ¶ your arms.
Follow me, Sirs, and my proceedings eye:
[Exit. It is decreed-Hector the great must die.

Come, come, thou boy-queller, § show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry.
Hector! where's Hector? I will none but Hec-
[Exeunt.
SCENE VI.-Another part of the Field.
Enter AJAX.

Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy
head!

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard begct, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and [Troilus! wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the Ere that correction :-Troilus, I say! what, quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a

Ajax. Were I the general thou should'st have my office,

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NES-LOW earnestly are you set a' work, and how il and others marching