Enter ACHILles. Achil. Welcome, brave Hector; welcome, princes all. Agam. So now, fair prince of Troy, I bid good night. Ajax commands the guard to tend on you. Hect. Thanks, and good night, to the Greeks' general. Men. Good night, my lord. Hect. Good night, sweet lord Menelaus. Ther. Sweet draught.' Sweet, quoth 'a! sweet sink, sweet sewer. Achil. Good night. And welcome both to those that go, or tarry. Agam. Good night. [Exeunt AGAMEMNON and MENELAUS. 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. Ulyss. To Calchas' tent: I'll keep you company. Follow his torch; he goes [Aside to TROILUS. Tro. Sweet sir, you honor me. Hect. 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 Brabbler the hound;2 but when he performs, astronomers foretell it; it is prodigious, there will come some change; the sun borrows of the moon, when Diomed keeps his word. I will rather leave to see Hector, than not to dog him; 1 Draught is the old word for forica. 2 If a hound gives mouth, and is not upon the scent of the game, he is called a babbler or brabbler. they say, he keeps a Trojan drab, and uses the traitor Calchas' tent: I'll after.-Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets! [Exit. SCENE II. The same. Before Calchas' Tent. Enter DIOMEDES. Dio. What, are you up here, ho? speak. Dio. Diomed.-Calchas, I think.-Where's your daughter? Cal. [Within.] She comes to you. Enter TROILUS and ULYSSES, at a distance; after them, THERSITES. Ulyss. Stand where the torch may not discover us. Enter CRESSIDA. Tro. Cressid comes forth to him! Dio. How now, my charge? Cres. Now, my sweet guardian!-Hark! a word with you. Tro. Yea, so familiar! [Whispers. Ulyss. She will sing any man at first sight. Ther. And any man may sing her, if he can take her cliff! She's noted. Dio. Will you remember? Cres. Dio. Remember? yes. Nay, but do, then, your words. And let your mind be coupled with Ulyss. List! Cres. Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly. Ther. Roguery! I'll tell you what. Dio. Pho! pho! come, tell a pin. You are forsworn.Cres. In faith, I cannot. What would you have me do? Ther. A juggling trick, to be-secretly open. Dio. What did you swear you would bestow on me? Cres. I pr'ythee, do not hold me to mine oath; Bid me do any thing but that, sweet Greek. Dio. Good night. Tro. Ulyss. Cres. Hold, patience! How now, Trojan? Dio. No, no, good night. I'll be your fool no more. Tro. Thy better must. Cres. Hark! one word in your ear. pray Tro. O plague and madness! Ulyss. You are moved, prince; let us depart, I you, Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself Ulyss. You flow to great destruction;1 come, my lord. Tro. I pr'ythee, stay. Ulyss. Now, good my lord, go off; You have not patience; come. Tro. I pray you, stay; by hell, and all hell's torments, I will not speak a word. 1 i. e. your impetuosity exposes you to imminent peril. The folio reads distraction. Dio. Pho, pho! adieu; you palter.1 Cres. In faith, I do not; come hither once again. Ulyss. You shake, my lord, at something; will you go? You will break out. Tro. Ulyss. She strokes his cheek! Come, come. Tro. Nay, stay; by Jove, I will not speak a word. There is between my will and all offences A guard of patience;-stay a little while. Ther. How the devil luxury, with his fat rump, and potatoe finger, tickles these together! Fry, lechery, fry! Dio. But will you then? Cres. In faith, I will, la; never trust me else. Ulyss. You have sworn patience. Tro. [Exit. Fear me not, my lord; I will not be myself, nor have cognition Re-enter CRESSIDA. Ther. Now the pledge; now, now, now! My lord! Tro. I will be patient; outwardly I will. Cres. You look upon that sleeve; behold it well.— He loved me-O false wench!-Give't me again. Dio. Whose was't? Cres. No matter, now I have't again. I will not meet with you to-morrow night; I pr'ythee, Diomed, visit me no more. 1 To palter is to equivocate, to shuffle. 2 Luxury, or lasciviousness, is said to have a potatoe-finger, because that root was thought "to strengthen the bodie, and procure bodily lust." 3 This sleeve was given by Troilus to Cressida at their parting. It was probably such a sleeve as was formerly worn at tournaments. Ther. Now she sharpens ;-Well said, whetstone. Dio. I shall have it. Cres. Dio. What, this? 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, As I kiss thee.-Nay, do not snatch it from me; Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; 'faith, you shall not; I'll give you something else. Dio. I will have this. Whose was it? Cres. 'Tis no matter. Dio. Come, tell me whose it was. Dio. Whose was it? Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women yonder,' 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 horn, It should be challenged. Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past.-And yet it is not; I will not keep my word. Dio. Why then, farewell; Thou never shalt mock Diomed again. Cres. You shall not go.-One cannot speak a word, But it straight starts you. I do not like this fooling. Dio. Ther. Nor I, by Pluto; but that that likes not you, pleases me best. Dio. What, shall I come? the hour? 1 i. e. the stars. |