Alex. Up to the eastern tower, In Hector's wrath. Cres. What was his cause of anger ? Alex. The noise goes, this: there is among the Greeks A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; Cres. Good; and what of him? Alex. They say he is a very man per se, And stands alone. Cres. So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs. ΤΟ Alex. This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their particular additions; he is as 20 valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he carries some stain of it he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the joints of every thing, : 7. husbandry, thrift; of which to be early stirring was regarded as a special sign. 8. light, quickly. 12. noise, report. 20. particular additions, spe. cial attributes. 28. against the hair, à contre-poil,' against the grain, out of season. 28. joints, limbs (playing upon the more usual sense: 'juncture of limbs '). but every thing so out of joint that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use, or purblind 30 Argus, all eyes and no sight. Cres. But how should this man, that makes me smile, make Hector angry ? Alex. They say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle and struck him down, the disdain and shame whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and waking. Cres. Who comes here? Alex. Madam, your uncle Pandarus. Enter PANDArus. Cres. Hector's a gallant man. Alex. As may be in the world, lady. Cres. Good morrow, uncle Pandarus. Pan. Good morrow, cousin Cressid: what do you talk of? Good morrow, Alexander. you, cousin? When were you at Ilium? Cres. This morning, uncle. How do Pan. What were you talking of when I came? Was Hector armed and gone ere ye came to Ilium ? Helen was not up, was she? Cres. Hector was gone, but Helen was not up. Pan. True, he was so I know the cause too: he'll lay about him to-day, I can tell them that: 30. Briareus, a hundredhanded monster who in Greek mythology aided Zeus against the Titans. 31. Argus, a like monster 40 50 with a hundred eyes, mythically sad to survive in the peacock's tail. 34. coped, encountered. 44. cousin, kinswoman, niece, and there's Troilus will not come far behind him ; let them take heed of Troilus, I can tell them 60 that too. Cres. What, is he angry too? Pan. Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of the two. Cres. O Jupiter! there's no comparison. Pan. What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man if you see him? Cres. Ay, if I ever saw him before and knew him. Pan. Well, I say Troilus is Troilus. Cres. Then you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is not Hector. Pan. No, nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees. Cres. 'Tis just to each of them; he is himself. Pan. Himself! Alas, poor Troilus! I would he were. Cres. So he is. 70 Pan. Condition, I had gone barefoot to India. 80 Cres. He is not Hector. Pan. Himself! no, he's not himself: would a' were himself! Well, the gods are above; time must friend or end: well, Troilus, well: I would my heart were in her body. No, Hector is not a better man than Troilus. Cres. Excuse me. Pan. He is elder. Cres. Pardon me, pardon me. Pan. Th' other's not come to 't; you shall tell me another tale, when th' other's come to 't. Hector shall not have his wit this year. 90 80. Condition, etc., on condition of his being so, I would have gone, etc. Cres. He shall not need it, if he have his own. Pan. Nor his qualities. Cres. No matter. Pan. Nor his beauty. Cres. 'Twould not become him; his own's better. Pan. You have no judgement, niece: Helen herself swore th' other day, that Troilus, for a 100 brown favour-for so 'tis, I must confess,—not brown neither,— Cres. No, but brown. Pan. 'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. Cres. To say the truth, true and not true. Pan. So he has. ΙΙΟ Cres. Then Troilus should have too much if 110 she praised him above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour enough, and the other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good complexion. I had as lief Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose. Pan. I swear to you, I think Helen loves him better than Paris. Cres. Then she's a merry Greek indeed. Pan. Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him th' other day into the compassed window, 120 and, you know, he has not past three or four hairs on his chin, Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total. 118. merry Greek, this character of the Greeks was proverbial in Elizabethan England as at Rome. 'Matthew Merry greek' was the chief figure in Ralph Roister Doister. 120. compassed window, bow window. Pan. Why, he is very young and yet will he, within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector. Cres. Is he so young a man and so old a lifter? Pan. But to prove to you that Helen loves 130 him she came and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin Cres. Juno have mercy! how came it cloven? Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia. Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. Pan. Does he not? Cres. O yes, an 'twere a cloud in autumn. Pan. Why, go to, then: but to prove to you 140 that Helen loves Troilus,— Cres. Troilus will stand to the proof, if you '11 prove it so. Pan. Troilus! why, he esteems her no more than I esteem an addle egg. Cres. If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' the shell. Pan. I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled his chin: indeed, she has a marvellous 150 white hand, I must needs confess,— Cres. Without the rack. Pan. And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin. Cres. Alas, poor chin! many a wart is richer. Pan. But there was such laughing! Queen Hecuba laughed that her eyes ran o'er. Cres. With mill-stones. Pan. And Cassandra laughed. 139. a cloud in autumn, i.e. one foretelling rain. |