2

Tro. Come both, you cogging 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.

[Exit.

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:3 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.

Enter One in sumptuous Armour.

[Exit.

Hect. Stand, stand, thou Greek! thou art a

goodly mark.

No? wilt thou not? -I like thy armour well;

I'll frush it, and unlock the rivets all,

2 Cogging is false, cheating.

3 That is, prevail over him.

To frush is to break or bruise. So in the Destruction of

But I'll be master of it: - Wilt thou not, beast

abide ?

Why, then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.

SCENE VII. The same.

Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons.

[Exeunt.

Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons; Mark what I say:-Attend me where I wheel; Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath ; And when I have the bloody Hector found, Empale him with your weapons round about; In fellest manner execute your aims.' Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye! It is decreed-Hector the great must die.

SCENE VIII. The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting; then THER

SITES.

Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it: Now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-henn'd sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game:— 'ware horns, ho!

[Exeunt PARIS and MENELAus.

Enter MARGARELON.

Mar. Turn, slave, and fight.

:

Troy Saying these words, Hercules caught by the head pocr Lychas, and threw him against a rocke so fiercely that he to-frushed and all to-burst his bones, and so slew him."

1 The folio and most copies of the quarto have arm instead of aim. Mr. Collier, however, found aims printed in a copy of the Aims is unques

quarto belonging to the duke of Devonshire. tionably right. See Act ii. sc. 3, note 2.

Н.

Ther. Who art thou?

Mar. A bastard son of Priam's.

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: 2 I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate One bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment. Farewell, bastard. Mar. The devil take thee, coward!

[Exeunt

SCENE IX. Another Part of the Field.

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.' Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath: Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death!

[Puts off his Helmet, and lays his Sword aside.

Bastard, in ancient times, was not a disreputable appellation. See 1 Henry VI., Act i. sc. 2, note 5.

1 Of course this "most putrified core" is the "one in sumptuous armour," at the close of scene 5. The incident was taken from Caxton's History: "When Achilles saw that Hector slew thus the nobles of Greece, and so many other that it was marvel to behold, he thought that if Hector were not slain the Grecks would never have victory. And forasmuch as he had slain many kings and princes, he ran upon him marvellously; but Hector cast to him a dart fiercely, and made him a wound in his thigh; ana then Achilles issued out of the battle, and did bind up his wound and took a great spear in purpose to slay Hector, if he might meet him. Among all these things Hector had taken a very noble baron of Greece, that was quaintly and richly armed, and, for to lead him out of the host at his ease, had cast his shield behind him at his back, and had left his breast discovered; and as he was in this point, and took none heed of Achilles, he came privily unto oim, and thrust his spear within his body, and Hector fell down dead to the ground."

H

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons.

Achil. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set; How ugly night comes breathing at his heels: Even with the vail2 and darkening of the sun To close the day up, Hector's life is done.

seek.

Hect. I am unarm'd: forego this vantage, Greek. Achil. Strike, fellows, strike! this is the man I [HECTOR falls. So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down: Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone. — On, Myrmidons; and cry you all amain, "Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain."

[A Retreat sounded. Hark! a retreat upon our Grecian part. Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord. Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,

3

And, stickler-like, the armies separates.

My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed,
Pleas'd with this dainty bit thus goes to bed. -
[Sheaths his Sword.

Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail.'

[Exeunt.

2 The vail of the sun" is the sinking, setting, or vailing of the sun. See 2 Henry IV., Act i. sc. 1, note 9.

3 Sticklers were persons who attended upon combatants in trials of skill, to part them when they had fought enough, and, doubtless, to see fair play. They were probably so called from the stick or wand which they carried in their hands. The name is still given to the arbitrators at wrestling matches in the west of Eng land.

4 Note 1 of this scene shows that in the History Hector was not slain in the manner here represented. The Poet applies to Hector a part of what the History relates of Troilus, as appears by the following: "Afore that Achilles entered into the battle, he assembled his Myrmidons, and prayed them that they would intend to

SCENE X. The Same.

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and Others, marching. Shouts within. Aga. Hark! hark! what shout is that?

Nest.

[Within.]

Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles !

Peace, drums!

Achilles !

Dio. The bruit is, Hector's slain, and by Achilles. Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be:

Great Hector was as good a man as he.

To

Aga. March patiently along:- Let one be sent pray Achilles see us at our tent.

If in his death the gods have us befriended, Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [Exeunt, marching.

none other thing but to inclose Troylus, and to hold him without flying till he came. And they promised him that they so would. And he thronged into the battle. And on the other side came Troylus, that began to flee and beat down all them that he caught, and did so much that about mid-day he put the Greeks to flight. Then the Myrmidons, that were about two thousand fighting men, thrust among the Trojans, and recovered the field. And as they held them together, and sought no man but Troylus, they found him, that he fought strongly and was inclosed on all parts; but he slew and wounded many. And as he was all alone among them, and had no man to help him, they slew his horse, and hurt nim in many places, and plucked off his head helm, and his coif of iron; and he defended him in the best manner he could. Then came on Achilles, when he saw Troylus all naked, and ran upon him in a rage, and smote off his head, and took the body and bound it to the tail of his horse, and so drew it after him through ont the host."

B