ENE. Therefore Achilles: but, whate'er, know

this ;

In the extremity of great and little,
Valour 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 DIOMEDES.

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,

Or else a breath: the combatants being kin,
Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
[AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists.

ULYSS. They are oppos'd already. AGAM. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy? [knight; ULYSS. The youngest son of Priam, a true Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word; Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue; Not soon provok'd, nor being provok'd soon calm'd: 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 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 Eneas; 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.(3) AGAM. They are in action.

NEST. Now, Ajax, hold thine own!

TROIL.

Awake thee!

Hector, thou sleep'st;

ENE.
Princes, enough, so please you.
AJAX. I am not warm yet; let us fight again.
Dro. As Hector pleases.
HECT.
Why then, will I no more:--
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,
That thou could'st 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 should'st 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'dst 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 honour 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.

ILECT. Not Neoptolemus so mirable

(On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st O

yes

Cries, This is he,) could promise to himself
A thought of added honour torn from Hector.
ENE. There is expectance here from both the
sides,

What further you will do.

HECT.
We'll answer it;
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.

Dro. Tis Agamemnon's wish: and great
Achilles

Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. HECT. Æneas, call my brother Troilus to me: And signify this loving interview

To the expecters of our Trojan part; 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. [name; HECT. The worthiest of them tell me name by

a Or else a breath:] That is, a breathing; a combat merely for exercise. The folio reads "breach."

b Nor dignifies an impair thought-] Mr. Dyce, perhaps rightly, reads.-"an impure thought."

e Not Neoptolemus-] By Neoptolemus was meant Achilles; VOL. III. 305

(*) First folio, could'st.

the author, as Johnson conjectured, supposing, as that hero's son was Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, Neoptolemus must have been the nomen gentilitium.

X

But for Achilles, mine 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 strew'd with husks,

And formless ruin of oblivion ;

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

From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome!
HECT. I thank thee, most imperious Aga-

memnon.

AGAM. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to
you.
[TO TROILUS.
MEN. Let me confirm my princely brother's
greeting;-

You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.
HECT. Whom must we answer?
ENE.
The noble Menelaus.
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.

#

[thee,

NEST. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny, make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, Despising many forfeits and subduements,a When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, Not letting it decline on the declin'd; 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 hemm'd thee in, Like an Olympian wrestling: this have I seen; But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel, I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire, 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 walk'd 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.

(*) First folio, unto my.

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 favour, lord Ulysses, 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,
Yond towers, whose wanton tops do buss the
clouds,

Must kiss their own feet.
HECT.
I must not believe you:
There they stand yet; and modestly I think,
The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
A drop of Grecian blood: the end crowns all;
And that old common arbitrator, Time,
Will one day end it.

ULYSS.
So to him we leave it.
Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome:
After the general, I beseech you next
To feast with me, and see me at my tent.
ACHIL. I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses,
thou!-

Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;
I have with exact view perus'd thee, Hector,
And quoted joint by joint.

HECT.

Is this Achilles?

As to prenominate in nice conjecture, Where thou wilt hit me dead?

ACHIL.

I tell thee, yea.
HECT. Wert thou an* oracle to tell me so,
I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well,
For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
I'll kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.-
You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag,
His insolence draws folly from my lips;
But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words,
I never-

Or
may
AJAX.
Do not chafe thee, cousin
And you, Achilles, let these threats alone,
Till accident or purpose bring you to't:
You may havet every day enough of Hector,
If
you have stomach; the general state, I fear,
Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.

HECT. I pray you, let us see you in the field;
We have had pelting wars, since you refus'd
The Grecians' cause.

ACHIL. Dost thou entreat me, Hector? To-morrow, do I meet thee, fell as death; To-night, all friends.

НЕСТ. AGAM. First, all my tent;

(*) First folio, the.

Thy hand upon that match. you peers of Greece, go to

(†) First folio omits, have.

- entreat him.] "Entreat " here signifies entertain; it is used

There in the full convive we : * afterwards,
As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall
Concur together, severally entreat him.-
Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow,
That this great soldier may his welcome know!

[Exeunt all except TROILUS and ULYSSES. TROIL. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you, In what place of the field doth Calchas keep. ULYSS. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus:

There Diomed doth feast with him to-night;
Who neither looks on heaven, nor on earth,
But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
On the fair Cressid.

TROIL. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to yout so much,

After we part from Agamemnon's tent,
To bring me thither?

ULYSS.

You shall command me, sir. As gentle tell me, of what honour was This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there, That wails her absence? [scars, TROIL. O, sir, to such as boasting show their A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord? She was belov'd, she lov'd; she is, and doth : But, still, sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.

Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow.Patroclus, let us feast him to the height.

PATR. Here comes Thersites.

Enter THERSITES.

ACHIL. How now, thou core of envy? Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news? THER. Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot-worshippers, here's a letter for thee.

ACHIL. From whence, fragment?

THER. Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy. PATR. Who keeps the tent now?

THER. The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound.

amale varlet.] Some editors have seriously proposed to read, "male harlot," not being aware that the former word often represented the latter one: thus, in Middleton's "Roaring Girl," Act I. Sc. 1,-"She's a varlet." In Decker and Middleton's play called "The Honest Whore," Act I. Sc. 10, we have, indeed, the very expression of the text,

PATR. Well said, Adversity! and what need these tricks?

THER. Pr'ythee be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk; thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet.a

b

PATR. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that? THER. Why, his masculine whore. Now the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, lime-kilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries!

PATR. Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus ?

sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies-diminutives of nature!

PATR. Out, gall!

THER. Finch egg!

ACHIL. My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted
quite

From my great purpose in to-morrow's battle.
Here is a letter from queen Hecuba ;

A token from her daughter, my fair love;
Both taxing me, and gaging me to keep

An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it :
Fall Greeks; fail fame; honour or go or stay,
My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.-
Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent;
This night in banqueting must all be spent.-
Away, Patroclus!

[Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. THER. With too much blood and too little brain, these two may run mad; but if with too much brain and too little blood, they do, I'll be a curer of madmen. Here's Agamemnon,-an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as ear-wax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull, the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds; a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's leg,-to what form but that he is, should wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit, turn him to? To an ass, were nothing; he is both ass and ox: to an ox were nothing; he is both ox and ass.

To be a dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe, I would not care: but to be Menelaus,-I would conspire against destiny. Ask me not what I would be, if I were not Thersites; for I care not to be the louse of a lazar, so I were not Menelaus.-Hoyday! spirits and fires !

goes

To Calchas' tent; I'll keep you company. TROIL. Sweet sir, you honour me. HECT. And so good night. [Exit DIOMEDES; 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; 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: 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.

Dro. What, are you up here, ho? speak.
CAL. [Within.] Who calls?

Dro. Diomed.-Calchas, I think.-Where's your daughter?

CAL. [Within.] She comes to you.

(*) First folio inserts, that.

b Sweet draught:] See note (c), p. 605, Vol. II.