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Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his helm: I would fain see them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, [that loves the whore there,] might send that Greekish [whoremasterly] villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand. O' the t'other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals-that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese, Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses-is not proved worth a blackberry: they set me up, in policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of as bad a kind, Achilles and now is the cur Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm today; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism,1 and policy grows into an ill opinion.-Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,

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[Exit.

Hect. I do believe thee;-live. Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck for frightening me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think they have swallowed one another: I would laugh at that miracle:-[yet,in a sort, lechery eats itself.] I'll seek them. [Erit. SCENE V. Another part of the plains.

Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant. Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;

Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.
Serv.

go, my lord. [Exit.

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Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles; And bid the snail-pac'd Ajax arm for shame.There is a thousand Hectors in the field: Now here he fights on Galathe his horse, 20 And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot, [And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls3 Before the belching whale; then is he yonder.] And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge, Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:4 Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes;

Dexterity so obeying appetite,

That what he will he does; and does so much, That proof is call'd impossibility.

2 The dreadful Sagittary. See note 330.

3 Sculls shoals (of fish).

4 Swath, grass cut by the scythe.

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How now, my brother! Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas: shall it be? No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven, He shall not carry him; I'll be ta'en too, Or bring him off:-fate, hear me what I say! I reck not though I end my life to-day. [Exit. Enter one in sumptuous armour.

Hect. Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:

No? wilt thou not?—I like thy armour well;
I'll frush3 it, and unlock the rivets all,
But I'll be master of it:-wilt thou not, beast,
abide?

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

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Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in | [Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting; then 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. [Exeunt.

THERSITES.

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

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Mar. Turn, slave, and fight.

Ther. What art thou?

Mar. A bastard son of Priam's.

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: 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. [Exit.

1 Judgment, i.e. of heaven.

Mar. The devil take thee, coward! [Exit.] SCENE VIII. Another part of the plains. Enter HECTOR.

Hect. [Most putrefied 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 hangs his shield

behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons.

Achil. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;

How ugly night comes breathing at his heels:
Even with the vail1 and darkening of the sun,
To close the day up, Hector's life is done.
Hect. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage,
Greek.

Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the
man I seek.
[Hector falls.

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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 retire upon our Grecian part. Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.

Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,

And, stickler-like,3 the armies separates. [My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed,

Pleas'd with this dainty bait, thus goes to
bed.
[Sheathes his sword.]

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

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[Exeunt.

SCENE IX. Another part of the plains.

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and others, marching. Shouts within.

Agam. Hark! hark! what shout is that?
Nest. Peace, drums!

[Within] Achilles! Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles!

Dio. The bruit is, Hector's slain, and by Achilles.

Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be; Great Hector was a man as good as he. Agam. March patiently along:-let one be

sent

To pray Achilles see us at our tent.—

1 Vail, descent.

2 A retire, i.e. the sound for retiring. 3 Stickler-like, umpire-like.

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Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host. Tro. You understand me not that tell me so: I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death; But dare all imminence that gods and men Address their dangers in. Hector is gone: Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba? Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd, Go into Troy, and say there "Hector's dead:" [There is a word will Priam turn to stone; Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives, Cold statues of the youth; and, in a word, 20 Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away: Hector is dead; there is no more to say. Stay yet. You vile abominable tents, Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains, Let Titan rise as early as he dare, I'll through and through you!-and, thou great-siz'd coward,

No space of earth shall sunder our two hates: I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still, That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts.

Strike a free march to Troy!-with comfort go:

4 Frankly, to the full.

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Fully merrily the humble-bee doth sing,
Till he hath lost his honey and his sting;
And being once subdu'd in armed tail,
Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail.-

Good traders in the flesh, set this in your painted cloths.

48

As many as be here of pander's hall,
Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall;}
Or if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.
Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be
made:

It should be now, but that my fear is this,-
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:
Till then I'll sweat, and seek about for eases;
And at that time bequeath you my diseases.
[Exit.]

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