Troilus And Cressida

1 Enter Ajax, armed; Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Menelaus, Ulysses,
2 Nestor and others.
3 AGAMEMNON.
4 Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
5 Anticipating time with starting courage.
6 Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,
7 Thou dreadful Ajax, that the appalled air
8 May pierce the head of the great combatant,
9 And hale him hither.
10 AJAX.
11 Thou, trumpet, there’s my purse.
12 Now crack thy lungs and split thy brazen pipe;
13 Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek
14 Out-swell the colic of puff’d Aquilon.
15 Come, stretch thy chest, and let thy eyes spout blood:
16 Thou blowest for Hector.
17 [_Trumpet sounds_.]
18 ULYSSES.
19 No trumpet answers.
20 ACHILLES.
21 ’Tis but early days.
22 AGAMEMNON.
23 Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas’ daughter?
24 ULYSSES.
25 ’Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait:
26 He rises on the toe. That spirit of his
27 In aspiration lifts him from the earth.
28 Enter Diomedes and Cressida.
29 AGAMEMNON.
30 Is this the Lady Cressid?
31 DIOMEDES.
32 Even she.
33 AGAMEMNON.
34 Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.
35 NESTOR.
36 Our general doth salute you with a kiss.
37 ULYSSES.
38 Yet is the kindness but particular;
39 ’Twere better she were kiss’d in general.
40 NESTOR.
41 And very courtly counsel: I’ll begin.
42 So much for Nestor.
43 ACHILLES.
44 I’ll take that winter from your lips, fair lady.
45 Achilles bids you welcome.
46 MENELAUS.
47 I had good argument for kissing once.
48 PATROCLUS.
49 But that’s no argument for kissing now;
50 For thus popp’d Paris in his hardiment,
51 And parted thus you and your argument.
52 ULYSSES.
53 O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns!
54 For which we lose our heads to gild his horns.
55 PATROCLUS.
56 The first was Menelaus’ kiss; this, mine:
57 Patroclus kisses you.
58 MENELAUS.
59 O, this is trim!
60 PATROCLUS.
61 Paris and I kiss evermore for him.
62 MENELAUS.
63 I’ll have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave.
64 CRESSIDA.
65 In kissing, do you render or receive?
66 PATROCLUS.
67 Both take and give.
68 CRESSIDA.
69 I’ll make my match to live,
70 The kiss you take is better than you give;
71 Therefore no kiss.
72 MENELAUS.
73 I’ll give you boot; I’ll give you three for one.
74 CRESSIDA.
75 You are an odd man; give even or give none.
76 MENELAUS.
77 An odd man, lady! Every man is odd.
78 CRESSIDA.
79 No, Paris is not; for you know ’tis true
80 That you are odd, and he is even with you.
81 MENELAUS.
82 You fillip me o’ th’head.
83 CRESSIDA.
84 No, I’ll be sworn.
85 ULYSSES.
86 It were no match, your nail against his horn.
87 May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?
88 CRESSIDA.
89 You may.
90 ULYSSES.
91 I do desire it.
92 CRESSIDA.
93 Why, beg then.
94 ULYSSES.
95 Why then, for Venus’ sake give me a kiss
96 When Helen is a maid again, and his.
97 CRESSIDA.
98 I am your debtor; claim it when ’tis due.
99 ULYSSES.
100 Never’s my day, and then a kiss of you.
101 DIOMEDES.
102 Lady, a word. I’ll bring you to your father.
103 [_Exit with_ Cressida.]
104 NESTOR.
105 A woman of quick sense.
106 ULYSSES.
107 Fie, fie upon her!
108 There’s language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
109 Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
110 At every joint and motive of her body.
111 O! these encounterers so glib of tongue
112 That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
113 And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
114 To every tickling reader! Set them down
115 For sluttish spoils of opportunity,
116 And daughters of the game.
117 [_Trumpet within_.]
118 ALL.
119 The Trojans’ trumpet.
120 AGAMEMNON.
121 Yonder comes the troop.
122 Enter Hector, armed; Aeneas, Troilus, Paris, Deiphobus and other
123 Trojans, with attendants.
124 AENEAS.
125 Hail, all you state of Greece! What shall be done
126 To him that victory commands? Or do you purpose
127 A victor shall be known? Will you the knights
128 Shall to the edge of all extremity
129 Pursue each other, or shall be divided
130 By any voice or order of the field?
131 Hector bade ask.
132 AGAMEMNON.
133 Which way would Hector have it?
134 AENEAS.
135 He cares not; he’ll obey conditions.
136 AGAMEMNON.
137 ’Tis done like Hector.
138 ACHILLES.
139 But securely done,
140 A little proudly, and great deal misprising
141 The knight oppos’d.
142 AENEAS.
143 If not Achilles, sir,
144 What is your name?
145 ACHILLES.
146 If not Achilles, nothing.
147 AENEAS.
148 Therefore Achilles. But whate’er, know this:
149 In the extremity of great and little
150 Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector;
151 The one almost as infinite as all,
152 The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,
153 And that which looks like pride is courtesy.
154 This Ajax is half made of Hector’s blood;
155 In love whereof half Hector stays at home;
156 Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek
157 This blended knight, half Trojan and half Greek.
158 ACHILLES.
159 A maiden battle then? O! I perceive you.
160 Re-enter Diomedes.
161 AGAMEMNON.
162 Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight,
163 Stand by our Ajax. As you and Lord Aeneas
164 Consent upon the order of their fight,
165 So be it; either to the uttermost,
166 Or else a breath. The combatants being kin
167 Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
168 Ajax and Hector enter the lists.
169 ULYSSES.
170 They are oppos’d already.
171 AGAMEMNON.
172 What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?
173 ULYSSES.
174 The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
175 Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word;
176 Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue;
177 Not soon provok’d, nor being provok’d soon calm’d;
178 His heart and hand both open and both free;
179 For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows,
180 Yet gives he not till judgement guide his bounty,
181 Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath;
182 Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
183 For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes
184 To tender objects, but he in heat of action
185 Is more vindicative than jealous love.
186 They call him Troilus, and on him erect
187 A second hope as fairly built as Hector.
188 Thus says Aeneas, one that knows the youth
189 Even to his inches, and, with private soul,
190 Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
191 [_Alarum. Hector and Ajax fight._]
192 AGAMEMNON.
193 They are in action.
194 NESTOR.
195 Now, Ajax, hold thine own!
196 TROILUS.
197 Hector, thou sleep’st; awake thee!
198 AGAMEMNON.
199 His blows are well dispos’d. There, Ajax!
200 [_Trumpets cease_.]
201 DIOMEDES.
202 You must no more.
203 AENEAS.
204 Princes, enough, so please you.
205 AJAX.
206 I am not warm yet; let us fight again.
207 DIOMEDES.
208 As Hector pleases.
209 HECTOR.
210 Why, then will I no more.
211 Thou art, great lord, my father’s sister’s son,
212 A cousin-german to great Priam’s seed;
213 The obligation of our blood forbids
214 A gory emulation ’twixt us twain:
215 Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so
216 That thou could’st say ‘This hand is Grecian all,
217 And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg
218 All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother’s blood
219 Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
220 Bounds in my father’s; by Jove multipotent,
221 Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member
222 Wherein my sword had not impressure made
223 Of our rank feud; but the just gods gainsay
224 That any drop thou borrow’dst from thy mother,
225 My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
226 Be drained! Let me embrace thee, Ajax.
227 By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;
228 Hector would have them fall upon him thus.
229 Cousin, all honour to thee!
230 AJAX.
231 I thank thee, Hector.
232 Thou art too gentle and too free a man.
233 I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence
234 A great addition earned in thy death.
235 HECTOR.
236 Not Neoptolemus so mirable,
237 On whose bright crest Fame with her loud’st Oyes
238 Cries ‘This is he!’ could promise to himself
239 A thought of added honour torn from Hector.
240 AENEAS.
241 There is expectance here from both the sides
242 What further you will do.
243 HECTOR.
244 We’ll answer it:
245 The issue is embracement. Ajax, farewell.
246 AJAX.
247 If I might in entreaties find success,
248 As seld’ I have the chance, I would desire
249 My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.
250 DIOMEDES.
251 ’Tis Agamemnon’s wish; and great Achilles
252 Doth long to see unarm’d the valiant Hector.
253 HECTOR.
254 Aeneas, call my brother Troilus to me,
255 And signify this loving interview
256 To the expecters of our Trojan part;
257 Desire them home. Give me thy hand, my cousin;
258 I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.
259 Agamemnon and the rest of the Greeks come forward.
260 AJAX.
261 Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.
262 HECTOR.
263 The worthiest of them tell me name by name;
264 But for Achilles, my own searching eyes
265 Shall find him by his large and portly size.
266 AGAMEMNON.
267 Worthy all arms! as welcome as to one
268 That would be rid of such an enemy.
269 But that’s no welcome. Understand more clear,
270 What’s past and what’s to come is strew’d with husks
271 And formless ruin of oblivion;
272 But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
273 Strain’d purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
274 Bids thee with most divine integrity,
275 From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
276 HECTOR.
277 I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
278 AGAMEMNON.
279 [_To Troilus._] My well-fam’d lord of Troy, no less to you.
280 MENELAUS.
281 Let me confirm my princely brother’s greeting.
282 You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.
283 HECTOR.
284 Who must we answer?
285 AENEAS.
286 The noble Menelaus.
287 HECTOR.
288 O you, my lord? By Mars his gauntlet, thanks!
289 Mock not that I affect the untraded oath;
290 Your quondam wife swears still by Venus’ glove.
291 She’s well, but bade me not commend her to you.
292 MENELAUS.
293 Name her not now, sir; she’s a deadly theme.
294 HECTOR.
295 O, pardon; I offend.
296 NESTOR.
297 I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,
298 Labouring for destiny, make cruel way
299 Through ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee,
300 As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
301 Despising many forfeits and subduements,
302 When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i’ th’air,
303 Not letting it decline on the declined;
304 That I have said to some my standers-by
305 ‘Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!’
306 And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,
307 When that a ring of Greeks have shrap’d thee in,
308 Like an Olympian wrestling. This have I seen;
309 But this thy countenance, still lock’d in steel,
310 I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
311 And once fought with him. He was a soldier good,
312 But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
313 Never like thee. O, let an old man embrace thee;
314 And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
315 AENEAS.
316 ’Tis the old Nestor.
317 HECTOR.
318 Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
319 That hast so long walk’d hand in hand with time.
320 Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.
321 NESTOR.
322 I would my arms could match thee in contention
323 As they contend with thee in courtesy.
324 HECTOR.
325 I would they could.
326 NESTOR.
327 Ha!
328 By this white beard, I’d fight with thee tomorrow.
329 Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time.
330 ULYSSES.
331 I wonder now how yonder city stands,
332 When we have here her base and pillar by us.
333 HECTOR.
334 I know your favour, Lord Ulysses, well.
335 Ah, sir, there’s many a Greek and Trojan dead,
336 Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
337 In Ilion on your Greekish embassy.
338 ULYSSES.
339 Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue.
340 My prophecy is but half his journey yet;
341 For yonder walls, that pertly front your town,
342 Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,
343 Must kiss their own feet.
344 HECTOR.
345 I must not believe you.
346 There they stand yet; and modestly I think
347 The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
348 A drop of Grecian blood. The end crowns all;
349 And that old common arbitrator, Time,
350 Will one day end it.
351 ULYSSES.
352 So to him we leave it.
353 Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome.
354 After the General, I beseech you next
355 To feast with me and see me at my tent.
356 ACHILLES.
357 I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou!
358 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;
359 I have with exact view perus’d thee, Hector,
360 And quoted joint by joint.
361 HECTOR.
362 Is this Achilles?
363 ACHILLES.
364 I am Achilles.
365 HECTOR.
366 Stand fair, I pray thee; let me look on thee.
367 ACHILLES.
368 Behold thy fill.
369 HECTOR.
370 Nay, I have done already.
371 ACHILLES.
372 Thou art too brief. I will the second time,
373 As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.
374 HECTOR.
375 O, like a book of sport thou’lt read me o’er;
376 But there’s more in me than thou understand’st.
377 Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?
378 ACHILLES.
379 Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body
380 Shall I destroy him? Whether there, or there, or there?
381 That I may give the local wound a name,
382 And make distinct the very breach whereout
383 Hector’s great spirit flew. Answer me, heavens.
384 HECTOR.
385 It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,
386 To answer such a question. Stand again.
387 Think’st thou to catch my life so pleasantly
388 As to prenominate in nice conjecture
389 Where thou wilt hit me dead?
390 ACHILLES.
391 I tell thee yea.
392 HECTOR.
393 Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,
394 I’d not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well;
395 For I’ll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
396 But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
397 I’ll kill thee everywhere, yea, o’er and o’er.
398 You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag.
399 His insolence draws folly from my lips;
400 But I’ll endeavour deeds to match these words,
401 Or may I never—
402 AJAX.
403 Do not chafe thee, cousin;
404 And you, Achilles, let these threats alone
405 Till accident or purpose bring you to’t.
406 You may have every day enough of Hector,
407 If you have stomach. The general state, I fear,
408 Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.
409 HECTOR.
410 I pray you let us see you in the field;
411 We have had pelting wars since you refus’d
412 The Grecians’ cause.
413 ACHILLES.
414 Dost thou entreat me, Hector?
415 Tomorrow do I meet thee, fell as death;
416 Tonight all friends.
417 HECTOR.
418 Thy hand upon that match.
419 AGAMEMNON.
420 First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;
421 There in the full convive we; afterwards,
422 As Hector’s leisure and your bounties shall
423 Concur together, severally entreat him.
424 Beat loud the tambourines, let the trumpets blow,
425 That this great soldier may his welcome know.
426 [_Exeunt all but Troilus and Ulysses_.]
427 TROILUS.
428 My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
429 In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?
430 ULYSSES.
431 At Menelaus’ tent, most princely Troilus.
432 There Diomed doth feast with him tonight,
433 Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth,
434 But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
435 On the fair Cressid.
436 TROILUS.
437 Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
438 After we part from Agamemnon’s tent,
439 To bring me thither?
440 ULYSSES.
441 You shall command me, sir.
442 As gentle tell me of what honour was
443 This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there
444 That wails her absence?
445 TROILUS.
446 O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars
447 A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord?
448 She was belov’d, she lov’d; she is, and doth;
449 But still sweet love is food for fortune’s tooth.
450 [_Exeunt_.]