Labouring for destiny, make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen thee, As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, Not letting it decline on the declin'd; And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, But, by great Mars, the captain of us all, Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, [time :That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with 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. Nest. Ha! By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-mor row. Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the timeUlyss. 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; 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. Achil. I am Achilles. Is this Achilles ? Hect. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee. Achil. Behold thy fill. Hect. Nay, I have done already. Achil. Thou art too brief; I will the second time, As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb. Hect. O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er; But there's more in me than thou understand'st. To answer such a question: Stand again: 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, Or may I never Ajax. Do not chafe thee, cousin ; And you Achilles, let these threats alone, Till accident, or purpose, bring you to't: You may have 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. A Hect. Thy hand upon that match. Agam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent; There in the full convive we: afterwards, There Diomed doth feast with him to-night: Ulyss. [scars, Tro. 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. [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Grecian Camp. Before Achilles' Tent. Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. Achil. I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night, Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow.- Achil. Enter THERSITES. 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. 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. 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, limekilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ach, 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? Ther. Do I curse thee? Patr. Why, no, you ruinous butt; you whoreson indistinguishable cur, no. Ther. No? why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial skein of sleave silk, thou green 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. A token from her daughter, my fair love; An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it: 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 earwax. And the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull,-the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds; a thrifty shoeing-born 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.-Hey-day! spirits and fires! Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMED, with Lights. Agam. We go wrong, we go wrong. Ajax. No, yonder 'tis ; There, where we see the lights. |