And will to-morrow with his trumpet call,
Mid-way between your tents and walls of Troy,
To rouse a Grecian that is true in love:
If any come, Hector shall honour him;
If none, he'll say in Troy, when he retires,
The Grecian dames are sun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lance. Even so much.

Agam. This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas;
If none of them have soul in such a kind,
We left them all at home: but we are soldiers;
And may that soldier a mere recreaut prove,
That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
If then, one is, or hath, or means to be,
That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he.
Nest. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
When Hector's grandsire suck'd; he is old now;
But, if there be not in our Grecian host
One noble man, that hath one spark of tire
To answer for his love, teli hini from me,-
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver,
And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn;
And, meeting him, will tell him, that my lady
Was fairer than his grandame, and as chaste
As may be in the world; his youth in flood,
I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
ne. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth!
Uluss. Amen.

Agum. Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand ;
To our pavilion shall I lead you, Sir,
Achilles shall have word of this intent;

So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent:
Yourself shall feast with us before you go,
And find the welcome of a noble foe.

[Exeunt all but Ulysses and Nestor.

Ulyss. Nestor,

Nest. What says Ulysses?

Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to some shape. Nest. What is't?

Ulyss. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends,

However it is spread in general name,
Relates in purpose to Achilles.

Nest. The purpose is perspicuous even as sub

stance,

Whose grossness little characters sum up: And, in the publication, make no strain †, But that Achilles, were in brain as barren

As banks of Libya,-though, Apollo knows,

Hector,

Were he not proud, we all should share with him:
But he already is too insolent;

And we were better parch in Afric sun,
Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes,
Should he 'scape Hector fair: if he were foil'd,
Why, then we did our main opinion crush
In taint of our best man. No, make a lottery;
And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw
The sort to tight with Hector: among ourselves,
Give him allowance for the better man,
For that will physic the great Myrmidon,
Who boils in loud applause; and make him fall
His crest, that prouder than blue Iris bends.
If the dull brainless Ajax come sate off,
We'll dress him up in voices: if he fail,
Yet go we under our opinion still,

That we have better men. But, hit or miss
Our project's life this shape of sense assumes,—'
Ajax, employ'd, plucks down Achilles' plumes.
Nest. Ulysses,

Now I begin to relish thy advice;
And I will give a taste of it forthwith
To Agamemnon; go we to him straight.
Two curs shall tame each other; pride alone,
Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone.
[Exeunt.

Ajar. Dog,-

ment,

Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
Pointing on him.

Ulyss. And awake him to the answer, think
Nest. Yes,

yon?

It is most meet; whom may you else oppose,
That can from Hector bring those honours off,
If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat,
Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;
For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute
With their finest palate: and trust to me, Ulysses,
Our imputation shall be oddly poised
In this wild action: for the success,
Although particular, shall give a scantling t
Of good or bad unto the general;

And in such indexes although small pricks §
To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
The baby figure of the giant mass

Of things to come at large. It is supposed,
He, that meets Hector, issues from our choice,
And choice, being mutual act of all our souls,
Makes merit her election; and doth boil,
As 'twere from forth us all, a man distill'd
Out of our virtues; who miscarrying,
What heart receives from hence a conquering part,
To steel a strong opinion to themselves?
Which entertain'd, limbs are his instruments,
In no less working, than are swords and bows
Directive by the limbs.

Ulyss. Give pardon to my speech-
Therefore 'tis ineet, Achilles meet not Hector.

Ajar. Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak ⚫ I will beat thee into handsomeness.

Ther. I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness: but, I think, thy horse will sooner con an oration, than thou learn a prayer without book. Thou canst strike, canst thou? A red murrain o' thy jade's tricks!

Ajax. Toad's-stool, learn me the proclamation. Ther. Dost thou think, I have no sense, thou strikest me thus ?

Ajax. The proclamation,-

Ther. Thou art proclaim'd a fool, I think. Ajax. Do not, porcupine, do not; my fingers itch. Ther. I would, thou didst itch from head to foot," and I had the scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest scab in Greece. When thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another.

Ajar. I say, the proclamation.-

Ther. Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles; and thou art as full of envy at his greatness, as Cerberus is at Proserpina's beauty, ay, that thou barkest at him.

Ajax. Mistress Thersites!

Ther. Thou shouldest strike him.
Ajax. Cobloaf!

Ther. He would pun thee into shivers with his fist, as a sailor breaks a biscuit. Ajax. You whoreson cur!

Ther. Do, do.

Ajax Thou stool for a witch

[Beating him.

Ther. Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! Thou

The wife I chose ↑ There can be no evasion

To blench from this, and to stand firm by honour:
We turn not back the silks upon the merchant,
When we have soil'd them; nor the remainder
viands

We do not throw in nnrespective sieve t,
Because we now are full. It was thought meet,
Paris should do some vengeance on the Grecks:
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 desired;
And, for an old annt, whom the Greeks held captive,
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 ships,
And turn'd crown'd kings to merchants.
If you'll avouch, 'twas wisdom Paris went,
(As you must needs, for you all cried-Go, go,)
If you'll confess, he brought home noble prize,
(As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands,
And cried-Inestimable!) Why do you now
The issue of your proper wisdoms rate;
And do a deed that fortune never did,
Beggar the estimation which yon prized,
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.

Enter CASSANDRA, raving.

Par. Str, I propose not merely to myself
The pleasures such a beauty brings with it;
But I would have the soil of her fair rape
Wiped 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 strain as this,
Should once set footing in your generous bosoms?
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 unfamed
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.

Hect. Paris, and Troilus, you have both said well;

And on the cause and question now in hand
Have glozed •,—but superficially; not much
Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought
Unfit to hear moral philosophy:

The reasons, you allege, do more conduce
To the hot passion of distemper'd blood,
Than to make up a free determination
Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure and revenge,
Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice
Of any true decision. Nature craves,
All dues be render'd 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, oft 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,

strains

Of divination in our sister work

Some touches of remorse? Or is your blood
So madly hot, that no discourse of reason,
Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause,
Can qualify the same?

Tro. Why, brother Hector,

We may not think the justness of each act
Such and no other than event doth form it;
Nor once deject the courage of our minds,
Because Cassandra's mad; her brain-sick raptures
Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel,
Which hath our several honours all engaged
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
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: You have the honey still, but these the gall; So to be valiant, is no praise at all.

Of nature, and of nations, speak aloud
To have her back return'd; thus to persist

| In doing wrong, extenuates not wrong,

But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion
Is this, in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless,
My sprightly brethren, I propend ‡ to you
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 de

sign:

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 may beat down our foes,
And fame, in time to come, canonize us:
For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose
So rich advantage of a promised glory,
As smiles upon the forehead of this action,
For the wide world's revenue.

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: 0 worthy satisfaction! 'Would it were otherwise; that could beat him, whilst he rail'd 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 • Commented. + Through. Incline to, as a question of honour. Blustering. Envy.

serpentine craft of thy Caduceus: if ye take not that little little less-than-little wit froni them that they have! which short-arm'd 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 cure 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.

but, by my head, 'tis pride. But why, why? Let him slew us a cause.-A word, my lord.

[Takes Agamemnon aside. Nest. What moves Ajax to bay at him? Ulyss. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him.

Nest. Who? Thersites ? Ulyss. He.

come in and rail.

Ther. If I could have remember'd a gilt coun terfeit, thou wouldst not have slipp'd 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?

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 To call upon him. He hopes it is no other, Did move your greatness, and this noble state 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,-
Do, 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,

Patr. Thou mayest tell, that knowest.

Achil. O, tell, tell.

am

Ther. I'll decline the whole question. Agamemnon commands Achilles; Achilles is my lord; Patroclus' knower; and Patroclus is a fool. Patr. You rascal!

Ther. Peace, fool; I have not done. Achil. He is a privileged man.-Proceed,Thersites. Ther. Agamemnon is a fool; Achilles is a fool; Thersites is a fool; and, as aforesaid, Patroclus is 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.

Achil. Patroclus, I'll speak with nobody :-Come in with me, Thersites. [Exit. Ther. Here is such patchery, such juggling, and such knavery! All the argument is, a cuckold and a whore; a good quarrel, to draw emulous faction, and bleed to death upon. Now the dry serpigo on the subject! And war, and lechery, confound all! [Exit.

Agam. Where is Achilles? Putr. Within his tent; but ill-disposed, my lord. Agam. Let it be known to him that we are here. He shent our messengers; and we lay by Our appertainments **, visiting of him: Let him be told so; lest, perchance, he think We dare not move the question of our place, Or know not what we are. Pair. I shall say so to him. Ulyss. We saw him at the opening of his tent; he is not sick.

[Erit.

himself

Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on;
Disguise the holy strength of their command,
And underwrite in an observing kind
His humorous predominance; yea, watch
His pettish lunes ¶, his ebbs, his flows, as if
The passage and whole carriage of this action
Rode on his tide. Go, tell him this; and add,
That, if he overhold his price so much,
We'll none of him; but let him, like an engine
Not portable, lie under this report-
Bring action hither, this cannot go to war:
A stirring dwarf we do allowance give
Before a sleeping giant:-Tell him so.
Patr. I shall; and bring his answer presently.
[Exit.

Agam. In second voice we'll not be satisfied,
We come to speak with him.-Ulysses, enter.

[Exit Ulysses.

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

Agam. No question.

Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought, and say-he is?

Agam. No, noble Ajax; you are as strong, as va liant, as wise, no less noble, much more gentle, and altogether more tractable.

Ajax. Why should a man be prond? 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 him self: 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 strange! ¡Aside.

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 sake only,

He makes important: possess'd he is with greatness;
And speaks not to himself, but with a pride
That quarrels at self breath: imagined 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 worshipp'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 acquired;
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.
Thus 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 armed fist, I'll pash ‡

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 :
Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature
Thrice-fained, beyond all erudition:

But he that disciplined 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, contines
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?

Nest. Ay, my good son.

Dio. Be ruled by him, lord Ajax.

Ulyss. There is no tarrying here; the hart Achilles Keeps thicket. Please it our great general

To call together all his state of war;

Fresh kings are come to Troy: to-morrow,

We must with all our main of power stand fast: And here's a lord,-come kuights 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.

ACT III.

SCENE I.-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.

Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the lord.

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?

Serv. 'Faith, Sir, superficially.

Pan. Friend, know me better; I am the lord

parts.

Pan. Know you the musicians?

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 music.
Pan. Command, I mean, friend?
Serv. Who shall I command, Sir?

Pun. 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 heart-blood of beauty, love's invisible soul,———

Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida ?

Serv. No, Si, Helen; could you not find out that by her attributes?

Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thon 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 1. Serv. Sodden business! There's a stew'd phrase, indeed!

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!