Enter CRESSIDA.

Pan. How now, how now? how go maidenheads? – Here, you maid! where's my cousin, Cressid? Cres. Go hang yourself, you naughty mocking

uncle !

You bring me to do, and then you flout me too. Pan. To do what? to do what?let her say what what have I brought you to do?

Cres. How now? what is the matter? Who was here?

Pan. Ah, ah!

ne'er be good,

Nor suffer others.

Pan. Ha, ha! Alas, poor wretch! a poor capocchia hast not slept to-night? would he not, a naughty man, let it sleep? a bugbear take him! [Knocking. Cres. Did I not tell you? 'would he were knock'd o'the head!

Who's that at door? good uncle, go and see. —
My lord, come you again into my chamber:
You smile, and mock me, as if I meant naughtily.
Tro. Ha ha!

Cres. Come, you are deceiv'd, I think of no such thing.

[Knocking.

How earnestly they knock! pray you, come in; I would not for half Troy have you seen here. [Exeunt TROILUS and CRESSIDA.

Pan. [Going to the door.] Who's there? what's the matter? will you beat down the door? How now? what's the matter?

Enter ENEAS.

Ene. Good-morrow, lord, good-morrow. Pan. Who's there? my lord Eneas? By my troth, I knew you not: what news with you so early? Ene. Is not prince Troilus here? Pan. Here! what should he do here?

Ene. Come, he is here, my lord, do not deny him;

It doth import him much, to speak with me.
Pan. Is he here, say you? 'tis more than I know,
I'll be sworn :- For my own part, I came in late:
What should he do here?

Ene. Who!

nay, then :

Come, come, you'll do him wrong ere you are 'ware: You'll be so true to him, to be false to him :

Do not you know of him, yet go fetch him hither; Go.

AS PANDARUS is going out, enter TROILUS. Tro. How now? what's the matter?

Ene. My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute you, My matter is so rash: There is at hand Paris your brother, and Deiphobus, The Grecian Diomed, and our Antenor Deliver'd to us; and for him forthwith, Ere the first sacrifice, within this hour, We must give up to Diomedes' hand The lady Cressida.

Tro.

Is it so concluded?

Ene. By Priam, and the general state of Troy : They are at hand, and ready to effect it.

Tro. How my achievements mock me!

I will go meet them: and, my lord Æneas,
We met by chance; you did not find me here.
Ene. Good, good, my lord; the secrets of nature
Have not more gift in taciturnity.

[Exeunt TROILUS and NEAS. Pan. Is't possible? no sooner got, but lost? The devil take Antenor! the young prince will mad. A plague upon Antenor! I would, they had broke's neck!

go

Is it possible?

Tro. And suddenly; where injury of chance Puts back leave-taking, justles roughly by All time of pause, rudely beguiles our lips Of all rejoindure, forcibly prevents Our lock'd embrasures, strangles our dear vows Even in the birth of our own labouring breath: We two, that with so many thousand sighs Did buy each other, must poorly sell ourselves With the rude brevity and discharge of one. Injurious time now, with a robber's haste, Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how : As many farewells as be stars in heaven, With distinct breath and consign'd kisses to them, He fumbles up into a loose adieu ; And scants us with a single famish'd kiss, Distasted with the salt of broken tears.

Ene. [Within.] My lord! is the lady ready? Tro. Hark! you are call'd: Some say, the Genius so Cries, Come! to him that instantly must die. Bid them have patience; she shall come anon. Pan. Where are my tears? rain, to lay this wind, or my heart will be blown up by the root? [Exit PANDARUS. Cres. I must then to the Greeks? Tro. No remedy. Cres. A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks! When shall we see again?

Tro. Hear me, my love: Be thou but true of heart,

Cres. I true! how now? what wicked deem is this? Tro. Nay, we must use expostulation kindly,

For it is parting from us :

I speak not, be thou true, as fearing thee;
For I will throw my glove to death himself,
That there's no maculation in thy heart:
But, be thou true, say I, to fashion in
My sequent protestation; be thou true,
And I will see thee.

Cres. O, you shall be expos'd, my lord, to dangers As infinite as imminent! but, I'll be true.

But something may be done, that we will not:
And sometimes we are devils to ourselves,
When we will tempt the frailty of our powers,
Presuming on their changeful potency.
Ene. [Within.] Nay, good my lord, -
Tro.
Come, kiss; and let us part.
Par. Within.] Brother Troilus!

Tro.

Good brother, come you hither; And bring Æneas, and the Grecian, with you. Cres. My lord, will you be true?

Tre. Who I? alas, it is my vice, my fault; While others fish with craft for great opinion,

I with great truth catch mere simplicity;

Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare. Fear not my truth; the moral of my wit

Is-plain, and true,· there's all the reach of it.

So please you, save the thanks this prince expects
The lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek,
Pleads your fair usage; and to Diomed
You shall be mistress, and command him wholly.

Tro. Grecian, thou dost not use me courteously,

To shame the zeal of my petition to thee,
In praising her: I tell thee, lord of Greece,
She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises,
As thou unworthy to be call'd her servant.

| I charge thee, use her well, even for my charge; For, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not,

Agam. Here is sir Diomed: - Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas Consent upon the order of their fight,

So be it; either to the uttermost,

Or else a breath: the combatants being kin, Half stints their strife before their strokes begin. [AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists. Ulyss. They are oppos'd already. Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?

Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
Not yet mature, yet matchless: firm of word;
Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue;
Not soon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, soon
calm'd:

His heart and hand both open, and both free;
For what he has, he gives; what thinks, he shows;
Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath :
Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, subscribes
To tender objects; but he, in heat of action,
Is more vindicative than jealous love :
They call him Troilus; and on him erect
A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.
Thus says Æneas; one that knows the youth
Even to his inches, and, with private soul,
Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
[Alarum. HECTOR and Â3Ãx fight.

Agam. They are in action.
Nest. Now, Ajax, hold thine own!

Tro.

Awake thee!

:- - Ajax, farewell. Ajar. If I might in entreaties find success,' (As seld' I have the chance,) I would desire My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish, and great Achilles Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. Hect. Æneas, call my brother Troilus to me: And signify this loving interview To the expecters of our Trojan part; Desire them home.

Give me thy hand, my cousin ; I will go eat with thee, and see your knights. Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by

name;

But for Achilles, my own searching eyes
Shall find him by his large and portly size.

Agam. Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one That would be rid of such an enemy;

But that's no welcome: Understand more clear What's past, and what's to come, is strew'd with husks

And formless ruin of oblivion;

But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon
Agam. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to you.
[TO TROILUS.
Men. Let me confirm my princely brother's
greeting;

Agam. His blows are well dispos'd: — there,

Why then, will I no more:

Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son,
A cousin-german to great Priam's seed;
The obligation of our blood forbids

A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:

Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so,

That thou could'st say

This hand is Grecian all, And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister Bounds-in my father's; by Jove multipotent, Thou should'st not bear from me a Greekish member Wherein my sword had not impressure made Of our rank feud: But the just gods gainsay, That any drop thou borrow'st from thy mother, My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword Be drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax : By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms; Hector would have them fall upon him thus: Cousin, all honour to thee! Ajax.

I thank thee, Hector : Thou art too gentle, and too free a man : I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence A great addition earned in thy death. Hect. Not Neoptolemus so mirable

(On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st O yes

The noble Menelaus. Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks!

Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath ;
Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove:
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly
theme.

Hct. O, pardon; I offend.

Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft," Labouring for destiny, make cruel way

Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen

thee,

As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,
When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'the air
Not letting it decline on the declin'd;
That I have said to some my standers-by,
Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!

And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen;
But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel,
I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
And once fought with him he was a soldier good;
But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
Never like thee: Let an old man embrace thee;
And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
Ene. 'Tis the old Nestor.

Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time: Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee,

Tt

Achil. I am 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 to 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.
Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?
Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of
his body

Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or there?
That I may give the local wound a name;
And make distinct the very breach whereout
Hector's great spirit flew: Answer me, heavens !
Hect. It would discredit the bless'd gods, proud

man,

To answer such a question: Stand again: Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly,

As to prenominate in nice conjecture, Where thou wilt hit me dead?

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 deed 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,

Hect.

Thy hand upon that match. Agam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my

tent;

There in the full convive we: afterwards,

As Hector's leisure, and your bounties shall
Concur together, severally entreat him.
Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow,
That this great soldier may his welcome know.

[Exeunt all but TROILUS and ULYSSES. Tro. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you, In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?

Ulyss. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus: There Diomed doth feast with him to-night; Who neither looks upon the heaven, nor earth, But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view On the fair Cressid.

Tro. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much, After we part from Agamemnon's tent, To bring me thither?

Ulyss. You shall command me, sir. As gentle tell me, of what honour was This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there, That wails her absence?

Tro. O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars, 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. [Ereunt.