A Pan. That's true; make no question of that. | One and fifty hairs, quoth he, and one white: That white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons. Jupiter! quoth she, which of these hairs is Paris my husband? The forked one, quoth he; pluck it out and give it him. But, there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, and Paris so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed.* Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by, Pan. Well, cousin, I told you a thing yesterday; think on't. Cres. So I do. Pan. I'll be sworn, 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'tweret a man born in April. Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May. [A Retreat sounded. Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and see them, as they pass toward Ilium? good niece, do; sweet niece Cressida. Cres. At your pleasure. Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest. PARIS passes over. Pan. Swords? any thing, he cares not: an the devil come to him, it's all one: By god's lid, it does one's heart good:-Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris: look ye yonder, niece; Is't not a gallant man too, is't not?Why, this is brave now.-Who said, he came hurt home to-day? he's not hurt: why this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon. Cres. Who's that? HELENUS passes over. Pun. That's Helenus,-I marvel, where Troilus is:-That's Helenus;-I think he wen not forth to-day :-That's Helenus. Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle? Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent well:-I marvel, where Troilus is!Hark ;-do you not hear the people cry, Troilus?-Helenus is a priest. Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? Tis Troilus! there's a man, niece!-Hem!- Cres. Peace, for shame, peace! Pan. Mark him; note him;-O brave Troilus ?-look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hack'd than Hector's; And how he looks, and how he goes!-O admirable youth! he ne'er saw three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way; had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris?-Paris is dirt to him; and I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Forces pass over the stage. Pan. Asses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! porridge after meat! I could live and die i'the eyes of Troilus. Ne'er look, ne'er look; the eagles are gone; crows and daws, crows and daws! I had rather be such a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece. Cres. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a better man than Troilus. Pan. Achilles? a drayman, a porter, a very camel. Cres. Well, well. Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man? baked with no datet in the pye,-for then the Cres. Ay, a minced man: and then to be man's date is out. Pan. You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie. upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my Cres. Upon my back, to defend my belly; secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a thousand watches. Pan. Say one of your watches. Cres. Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the chiefest of them too: if I cannot ward what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; watching. unless it swell past hiding, and then it is past Pan. You are such another! Enter TROILUS' Boy. Pan. Where? Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. Pun. Good boy, tell him I come: [Exit Boy.] I doubt, he be hurt.-Fare ye well, good niece. Cres. Adieu, uncle. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by. Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. That she belov'd knows nought, that knows not this, Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is: That she was never yet, that ever knew Love got so sweet, as when desire did sue: Therefore this maxim out of love I teach,Achievement is command; ungain'd beseech: Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear, Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear. [Exit. SCENE III.—The Grecian Camp.-Before Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, Nestor, nought else But the protractive trials of great Jove. In fortune's love: for then, the bold and coward, The wise and fool, the artist and unread, Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply *Twisted and rambling. Joined by affinity. + Since. The throne. Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance Lies the true proof of men: The sea being smooth, How many shallow bauble boats dare sail But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage Bounding between the two moist elements, Like Perseus' horse: Where's then the saucy boat, Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now The herd hath more annoyance by the brize,+' thing of courage, [thize, As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympa. And with an accent turn'd in self-same key, Returns to chiding fortune. Ulyss. Agamemnon, [Greece, Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit, In whom the tempers and the minds of all Should be shut up,-hear what Ulysses speaks. Besides the applause and approbation The which,-most mighty for thy place and [To AGAMEMNON. sway, And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out I give to both your speeches,—which were life,[TO NESTOR. such, As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should hold up high in brass; and such again, As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver, [tree Should with a bond of air (strong as the axleOn which heaven rides,) knit all the Greekish [both, ears To his experienc'd tongue,-yet let it please Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak. Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect That matter needless, of importless burden, Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis had been down, [master, And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a The speciality of rules hath been neglected: And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow fac But for these instances. tions. When that the general is not like the hive, The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre, Observe degree, priority, and place, + Expectation. ¶ Constancy. Amidst the other; whose med'cinable eye In evil mixture, to disorder wander, [tiny? Divert and crack, rend and deracinatet And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich To hear the wooden dialogue and sound "Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,* Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrestedt seeming He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks, "Tis like a chime a mending; with terms unsquar'd, [dropp'd, Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff, The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling, Quite from their fixture? O, when degree is From his deep chest laughs out a loud ap shak'd, Which is the ladder of all high designs, The enterprize is sick! How could communities, Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities, Peaceful commérce from dividables shores, The primogenitive and due of birth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentic place? Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy: The bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores, And make a sop of all this solid globe: Strength should be lord of imbecility, And the rude son should strike his father dead: Force should be right; or, rather, right and wrong, (Between whose endless jar justice resides,) Should lose their names, and so should justice too. Then every thing includes itself in power, [non, And this neglection of degree it is, Nest. Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd The fever whereof all our power¶ is sick. plause; Cries-Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon just.-- And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all Nest. And in the imitation of these twain Count wisdom as no member of the war; Ene. Ay; I ask, that I might waken reverence, Which is that god in office, guiding men? Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and, Nothing so full of heart. But peace, Eneas, But what the repining enemy commends, Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Ene. Ay, Greek, that is my name. ears. Agam. He hears nought privately, that comes from Troy. [him: Ene. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper oring a trumpet to awake his ear; To set his sense on the attentive bent, And then to speak. Agam. Speak frankly* as the wind; It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour: That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake, He tells thee so himself. Ene. Trumpet, blow loud, [tents; Send thy brass voice through all these lazy And every Greek of mettle, let him know, What Troy means fairly shall be spoke aloud. [Trumpet sounds. We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy A prince call'd Hector, (Priam is his father,) Who in this dull and long-continued truce Is rusty grown; he bade me take a trumpet, And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords! If there be one among the fair'st of Greece, That holds his honour higher than his ease; That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril; That knows his valour, and knows not to fear; Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks, • Freely. The splinter of a lance. Even so much. man If none of them have soul in such a kind, Ene. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth! Ulyss. Amen! Agam. Fair lord Eneas, let me touch your To our pavilion shall I lead you, Sir. [hand; Achilles shall have word of this intent:" So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent: Yourself shall feast with us before you go, And find the welcome of a noble foe. [Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR. Ulyss. Nestor, - Nest. What says Ulysses? Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain, Be you my time to bring it to some shape. Ulyss. This 'tis: [pride Blunt wedges rive hard knots: The seeded In rank Achilles, must or now be cropp'd, Nest. Well, and how? Ulyss. This challenge that the gallant Hec tor sends, However it is spread in general name, Nest. The purpose is perspicuous even as substance, Whose grossness little characters sum up: Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose Ulyss. And wake him to the answer, think you? Nest. Yes, It is most meet; Whom may you else oppose, That can from Hector bring those honours off, If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat, Yet in the trial much opinion dwells; For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute Our imputation shall be oddly pois'd Of things to come at large. It is suppos'd, part, To steel strong opinion to themselves? Which entertain'd, limbs are his instruments, In no less working, than are swords and bows Directive by the limbs. Ulyss. Give pardon to my speech;- Ulyss. What glory our Achilles shares fro Were he not proud, we all should share with him: But he already is too insolent; And we were better parch in Afric sun, Give him allowance for the better man, His crest, that prouder than blue Iris bends. Now I begin to relish thy advice; did not the general run then? were not that a botchy core? Ajax. Dog, Ther. Then would come some matter from him; I see none now. Ajax. Thou bitch-wolf's son, canst thou not hear? Feel then. [Strikes him. Ther. The plague of Greece upon thee, thou mongrel beef-witted lord! Ajax. Speak then, thou unsalted leaven, speak: I will beat thee into handsomeness. Ther. I shall sooner rail thee into wit and holiness: but, I think, thy horse will sooner con an oration, than thou learn a prayer without book. Thou canst strike, canst thou? a red murrain o' thy jade's tricks! Ajax. Toads-stool, learn me the proclamation. Ther. Dost thou think, I have no sense, thou strikest me thus? Ajax. The proclamation, Ther. Thou art proclaimed a fool, I think. Ajax. Do not, porcupine, do not; my fingers itch. Ther. I would, thou didst itch from head to foot, and I had the scratching of thee; I would make thee the loathsomest scab in Greece. When thou art forth in the incursions, thou strikest as slow as another. Ajax. I say, the proclamation, Ther. Thou grumblest and railest every hour on Achilles; and thou art as full of envy at his greatness, as Cerberus is at Proserpina's beauty, ay, that thou barkest at him. Ajax. Mistress Thersites! Ther. Thou shouldest strike him. Ther. He would pun* thee into shivers with his list, as a sailor breaks a biscuit. Ajax. You whoreson cur! [Beating hun. Ther. Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows; an assinegot may tutor thee: Thou scurvy valiant ass; thou art here put to thrash Trojans; and thou art bought and sold among those of any wit, like a Barbarian slave. If thou use to beat me, I will begin at thy heel, and tell what thou art by inches, thou thing of no bowels, thou! Ajax. You dog! Ther. You scurvy lord! [Beating him. Ther. Mars his idiot! do, rudeness; do, camel; do, do. Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. Achil. Why, how now, Ajax? wherefore do you thus? How now, Thersites? what's the matter, man? Ther. You see him there, do you? Achil. Ay; what's the matter? Ther. Nay, look upon him. Achil. So I do; What's the matter? Ther. Nay, but regard him well. Ther. But yet you look not well upon him: for, whosoever you take him to be, he is Ajax. Achil. I knew that, fool. Ther. Ay, but that fool knows not himself. Ajax. Therefore I beat thee. Ther. Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit I have bobbed his brain, more than he has beat he utters! his evasions have ears thus long. |