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Labouring for destiny, make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee,

[As hot as Perseus, spur the Phrygian steed, Despising1 many forfeits2 and subduements,3] When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' th' air,

Not letting it decline on the declin'd;

That I have said to some my standers-by, 190 "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.

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Achil.

I tell thee, yea. Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so, I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well;

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For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;

But, by the forge that stithied1 Mars his helin,
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.

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Hect. I pray you, let us see you in the field: We have had pelting2 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 full3 convive1 we: afterwards,

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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-ache, and the rivelled1 fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries! 2

Patr. Why, thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus?

Ther. Do I curse thee?

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Achil. My sweet Patroclus, I am thwarted quite

From my great purpose in to-morrow s battle.
Here is a letter from Queen Hecuba;
A token from her daughter, my fair love;
Both taxing me and gaging me to keep
An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it:
Fall Greeks; fail fame; honour or go or stay;
My major vow lies here, this I'll obey.—
Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent;
This night in banqueting must all be spent.--
Away, Patroclus!

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[Exeunt Achilles and Patroclus into tent. 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 ear-wax: and the goodly transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the bull,[—the primitive statue, and oblique memorial of cuckolds; a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, hanging at his brother's leg,—to what form, but that he is, should wit larded with malice, and malice

1 Rivelled, wrinkled. 2 Discoveries, monstrosities. Immaterial, slight, worthless. 4 Taxing, blaming. * Shoeing-horn, one subservient as a tool or instrument to another.

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.-Hoy-day!-spirits and fires! Enter HECTOR, TROILUS, AJAX, AGAMEMNON, ULYSSES, NESTOR, MENELAUS, and DIOMEDES, with lights.

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Achil.

[Exit Diomedes; Ulysses and Troilus following.

Come, come, enter my tent. [Exeunt Achilles, Hector, Ajax, and Nestor into tent.

Ther. That same Diomed 's a false-hearted rogue, a most unjust knave; I will no more trust him when he leers than I will a serpent when he hisses: he will spend his mouth, and promise, like Brabbler the hound; but when he performs, astronomers foretell it; it is prodigious, there will come some change; the sun borrows of the moon when Diomed keeps his word. I will rather leave to see Hector than not to dog him: they say he keeps a Trojan drab, and uses the traitor Calchas' tent: I'll Safter. Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets!]

And let your mind be coupled with your words.
Tro. What should she remember?
Ulyss. List.

Cres. Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly.

Ther. Roguery!

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I'll tell you what,— come, tell a pin: you are

Cres. In faith, I cannot: what would you have me do?

[Ther. A juggling trick,-to be secretly' open.]

Dio. What did you swear you would bestow on me?

Cres. I prithee, do not hold me to mine oath; Bid me do any thing but that, sweet Greek. Dio. Good night.

Tro. Hold, patience!

Ulyss. How now, Trojan!

[Exit.

Dio. Give me some token for the surety of it.
Cres. I'll fetch you one. [Exit into tent.
Ulyss. You have sworn patience.
Tro.

Fear me not, sweet lord;
I will not be myself, nor have cognition
Of what I feel: I am all patience.

Re-enter CRESSIDA from tent.

Ther. Now the pledge; now, now, now!
Cres. Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve.

[Giving him the sleeve given her by Troilus. Tro. O beauty! where is thy faith? Пуза. My lord,Tro. I will be patient; outwardly I will. Cres. You look upon that sleeve; behold it well.

He lov'd me-O false wench!- Give 't me again.

1 Palter, trifle.

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