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Fall all together.

Pri.

Come, Hector, come; go back.

Thy wife hath dream'd, thy mother hath had visions,
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt,
To tell thee that this day is ominous:
Therefore, come back.

Hect.
Eneas is a-field;
And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.

Pri.

Ay, but thou shalt not go.

Hect. I must not break my faith.

You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
Let me not shame respect, but give me leave
To take that course by your consent and voice,
Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam.
Cas. O Priam! yield not to him.
And.
Do not, dear father.
Hect. Andromache, I am offended with you :
Upon the love you bear me, get you in.

[Exit ANDROMACHE. Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl

Makes all these bodements.

Cas.

O farewell, dear Hector!
Look, how thou diest! look, how thine eye turns pale!
Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents!
Hark, how Troy roars! how Hecuba cries out!
How poor Andromache shrills her dolour forth!
Behold, distraction, frenzy, and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,

And all cry-Hector! Hector 's dead! O Hector!
Tro. Away!—Away !—

Cas. Farewell.-Yet, soft!-Hector, I take my leave: Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.

[Exit.

Hect. You are amaz'd, my liege, at her exclaim. Go in, and cheer the town: we 'll forth, and fight; Do deeds worth praise, and tell you them at night. Pri. Farewell: the gods with safety stand about thee!

[Exeunt severally PRIAM and HECTOR. Alarums. Tro. They are at it; hark!-Proud Diomed, believe, I come to lose mine arm, or win my sleeve. [Going. Enter PANDARUS.

Pan. Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?

Tro. What now?

Pan. Here's a letter come from yond' poor girl.

Tro. Let me read.

[Giving it.1

Pan. A whoreson phthisick, a whoreson rascally phthisick so troubles me, and the foolish fortune of this girl; and what one thing, what another, that I shall leave you one o' these days: and I have a rheum in mine eyes too; and such an ache in my bones, that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot tell what to think on't. What says she there?

Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from the

heart;

[Tearing the letter. Th' effect doth operate another way.

Go, wind to wind, there turn and change together.My love with words and air still she feeds,

But edifies another with her deeds'. [Exeunt severally.

SCENE IV.-Between Troy and the Grecian Camp.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter THERSITES.

Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another: I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve, of Troy there, in his helm: I would fain see them meet; that same young Trojan ass, that loves the whore there, might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab of a sleeveless errand. O' the other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals, -that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese, Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses,-is not proved worth a blackberry-they set me up in policy that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of as bad a kind, Achilles; and now is the cur Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm to-day: whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here come sleeve, and sleeveless3. [Stands back.

1 Not in f. e. 2 The folio adds:

Pan. Why, but hear you!

Tro. Hence, brother lackey! ignomy and shame,
Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name.

As they occur again near the close of the play, they are omitted in this place, by most mod. eds. 3 th' other. 4 Not in f. e.

VOL. VI.-9

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx, I would swim after.

Dio.

Thou dost miscall retire:

I do not fly, but advantageous care

Withdrew me from the odds of multitude.

Have at thee!

thy

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian !-now for whore, Trojan !-now the sleeve! now the sleeveless !1 [Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting. Enter HECTOR.

Hect. What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's

match?

Art thou of blood, and honour?

[Dragging THER. forward.2 Ther. No, no—I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave, a very filthy rogue.

Hect. I do believe thee-live.

[Exit. Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck, for frighting me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think, they have swallowed one another: I would laugh at that miracle; yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek them.

SCENE V.-The Same.

Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant.

[Exit.

Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.

Fellow, commend my service to her beauty:
Tell her, I have chastis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

Serv.

I go, my lord. [Exit Servant.
Enter AGAMEMNON.

Agam. Renew, renew! Hath beat down Menon Hath Doreus prisoner,

The fierce Polydamus bastard Margarelon

And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polixenes is slain;
Amphimachus, and Thoas, deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en, or slain; and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruis'd: the dreadful Sagittary
1 sleeve in f. e. 2 Not in f. e.

Appals our numbers. Haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Enter NESTOR.

Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles,
And bid the snail-pac'd Ajax arm for shame.-
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now, here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon, he 's there afoot,
And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls1
Before the belching whale: then, is he yonder,
And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath.
Here, there, and every where, he leaves, and takes;
Dexterity so obeying appetite,

That what he will, he does; and does so much,
That proof is call'd impossibility.

Enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance. Patroclus' wounds have rous'd his drowsy blood, Together with his mangled Myrmidons,

That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,

Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend,

And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd, and at it,
Roaring for Troilus; who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,

Engaging and redeeming of himself,

With such a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,

Bade him win all.

[blocks in formation]

Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;

Know what it is to meet Achilles angry.

Hector

where 's Hector? I will none but Hector.

1 Shoal of fish. 2 straying in folio.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.-Another Part of the Field.

Enter AJAX.

Ajax. Troilus! thou coward Troilus, show thy head!

Enter DIOMEDES.

Dio. Troilus, I say! where's Troilus?

Ajax.

Dio. I would correct him.

What wouldst thou?

Ajax. Were I the general, thou shouldst have my

office,

Ere that correction.-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus! Enter TROILUS.

Tro. O, traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face, thou traitor,

And pay the life thou ow'st me for my horse.

Dio. Ha! art thou there?

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.
Dio. He is my prize; I will not look upon1.

Tro. Come both, you cogging2 Greeks; have at you
both.
[Exeunt fighting.

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Yea, Troilus. O! well fought, my youngest

brother.

Enter ACHILLES.

Achil. Now do I see thee. Ha!-Have at thee,

Hector.

Hect. Pause, if thou wilt.

Achil. I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Trojan.

Be happy that my arms are out of use:

My rest and negligence befriend thee now,
But thou anon shalt hear of me again;

Till when, go seek thy fortune.

Hect.
Fare thee well.
I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee.-How now, my brother!
Re-enter TROILUS.

Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas: shall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,
He shall not carry him: I'll be taken too,
Or bring him off.-Fate, hear me what I say!
I reck not though I' end my life to-day.

1 Be a looker on. 2 Cheating. 3 thou in folio.

[Exit.

[Exit.

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