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 to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other. AGAM. Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamus Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon Hath Doreus prisoner; And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam, Enter NESTOR. 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, And there lacks work; anon, he's there afoot, And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls 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: 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. Enter ULYSSES. b ULYSS. O, courage, courage, princes! great Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance: Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend, Engaging and redeeming of himself, MAR. Turn, slave, and fight. MAR. A bastard son of Priam's. THER. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I mind, bastard in valour, in everything illegitimate. am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in 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. (*) First folio arme 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 hangs his shield behind him. (3) Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons. ACHIL. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set; How ugly night comes breathing at his heels: Even with the vail and darking of the sun, I seek. [A retreat sounded. SCENE X.-Another part of the Plains. Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and others, marching. Shouts without. AGAM. Hark! hark! what shout is that? [Without.] 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.— If in his death the gods have us befriended, Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [Exeunt, marching. ALL. In beastly sort, dragged through the shameful ANE. My lord, you do discomfort all the host. (*) First folio, bed. a And, stickler-like, the armies separates.] "A stickler was one who stood by to part the combatants, when victory could be determined without bloodshed."-MALONE. They were so called, Address their dangers in. Hector is gone! I'll through and through you!—and thou greatsiz'd coward! No [Exeunt ENEAS and Trojans. PAN. A goodly med'cine for my aching bones! -O, world! world! world! thus is the poor agent despised! O, traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a-work, and how ill requited! Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance so loathed? what verse for it? what instance for it?-Let me see : Full 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. As many as be here of Pandar's hall, It should be now, but that my fear is this,— (*) First folio, Coole. [Exit. (†) First folio, desir'd. according to Minsheu, because they carried sticks or staves to interpose between the opponents. |