To him that victory commands? Or do you purpose
A victor shall be known? Will you the knights
Shall to the edge of all extremity

Pursue each other; or shall they be divided
By any voice or order of the field?

Hector bade ask.

Agam.

Which way would Hector have it?

1

Ene. He cares not; he'll obey conditions. Achil. 'Tis done like Hector; but securely done, A little proudly, and great deal misprizing

The knight opposed.

Ene.

What is your name?
Achil.

If not Achilles, sir,

If not Achilles, nothing.

Ene. Therefore Achilles.

But, whate'er, know

this;

In the extremity of great and little,

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, Stand by our Ajax; as you and lord Æneas Consent upon the order of their fight,

So be it; either to the uttermost,

4

Or else a breath; the combatants being kin,

1 "Securely done," in the sense of the Latin securus, a negligent security arising from a contempt of the object opposed.

2 Hector is distinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valor more than other valor.

3 Ajax and Hector were cousins-german.

4 i. e. a breathing, an exercise. See Act ii. Sc. 3. note 3, p. 285.

Half stints' their strife before their strokes begin. [AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists.

Ulyss. They are opposed already.

Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy? 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 provoked, nor, being provoked, soon calmed. 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 3 To tender objects; 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 Æneas; 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;

Agam. His blows are well disposed :—there, Ajax ! Dio. You must no more.

Ene.

[Trumpets cease.

Princes, enough, so please you.

Why then, will I no more :

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

Hect.

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,

1 Stops.

2" An impair thought" is an unworthy or injurious thought.
submits, yields.

3 i. e.

That thou couldst say-This hand is Grecian all,
And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg
All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's; by Jove multipotent,
Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member,
Wherein my sword had not impressure made
Of our rank feud. But the just gods gainsay,
That any drop thou borrow'st from thy mother,
My sacred aunt,' should by my mortal sword
Be drained! Let me embrace thee, Ajax.
By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;
Hector would have them fall upon him thus.
Cousin, all honor to thee!

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

Hect. Not Neoptolemus 2 so mirable

(On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st O Cries, This is he!) could promise to himself

A thought of added honor torn from Hector.

yes

Ene. There is expectance here from both the sides, What further you will do.

Hect.
We'll answer it; 3
The issue is embracement.-Ajax, farewell.
Ajax. If I might in entreaties find success,
(As seld I have the chance,) I would desire
My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish; and great Achilles Doth long to see unarmed the valiant Hector.

Hect. Eneas, call my brother Troilus to me;

And signify this loving interview

To the expecters of our Trojan part;

1 The Greeks give to the aunt, the father's sister, the title of sacred. 2 By Neoptolemus Shakspeare seems to have meant Achilles; finding that the son was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, he considered Neoptolemus as the nomen gentilitium, and thought the father was likewise Achilles Neoptolemus. Or he was probably led into the error by some book of the

time.

3 i. e. answer the expectance.

Desire them home.-Give me thy hand, my cousin ; I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.'

Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by name; But for Achilles, my 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 strewed with husks
And formless ruin of oblivion;

But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strained purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,

2

From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
Agam. My well-famed lord of Troy, nó 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?

Men.

The noble Menelaus.3

Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks! Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath ; 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

Through ranks of Greekish youths; and I have seen

thee,

1 These knights, to the amount of about two hundred thousand (for there were no less in both armies), Shakspeare found with all the appendages of chivalry in the Old Troy Book.

2 It has been asserted that imperious and imperial had formerly the same signification; but Bullokar carefully distinguishes them:-" Imperial, royal or chief, emperor-like; imperious, that commandeth with authority, lord-like, stately."

3 Ritson thought that this speech belonged to Æneas.

4 Untraded is uncommon, unusual.

As hot as Perseus,' spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,
When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air,
Not letting it decline on the declined;"
That I have said to some 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 hemmed thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling. This have I seen;
But this thy countenance, still locked in steel,
I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,3
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 walked hand in hand with time:— Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.

Nest. I would my arms could match thee in contention,

As they contend with thee in courtesy.

Hect. I would they could.

Nest. Ha!

By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow.
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 Úlysses, 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 pertly front your town,

1 As the equestrian fame of Perseus is here again alluded to, it should appear that in a former simile his horse was meant for a real one, and not allegorically for a ship. See Act i. Sc. 3.

2 i. e. the fallen.

3 Laomedon.