Ajax. I thank thee, Hector; I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence Hect. Not Neoptolemus so mirable (On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st O yes Cries, This is he !) could promise to himself A thought of added honor torn from Hector. Ene. There is expectance here from both the sides, What further you will do. Hect. Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish; and great Achilles To the expecters of our Trojan part; Desire them home.-Give me thy hand, my cousin; Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. 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 strewed with husks But in this extant moment, faith and troth, From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome. Men. 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: Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme. Hect. O, pardon; I offend. Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Through ranks of Greekish youths; and I have seen thee, When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life! And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, Ene. 'Tis the old Nestor. Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, That hast so long walked hand in hand with time,Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee. Nest. I would my arms could match thee in contention, As they contend with thee in courtesy. Hect. I would they could. Nest. Ha! By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow. Hect. I know your favor, lord Ulysses, well. In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy. Ulyss. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue. Hect. I must not believe you. And that old, common arbitrator, time, Will one day end it. Ulyss. So to him we leave it. Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome: After the general, I beseech you next To feast with me, and see me at my tent. Achil. I shall forestall thee, lord Ulysses, thou!Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee; I have with exact view perused thee, Hector, And quoted joint by joint. Hect. Achil. I am Achilles. Is this 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 too 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? 1 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 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, Or Ajax. Hect. I pray you, let us see you in the field; Achil. To-morrow do I meet Dost thou entreat me, Hector? 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 taborines, 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. This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there Tro. O sir, to such as boasting show their scars, [Exeunt. ACT V. SCENE I. The Grecian Camp. Before Achilles' Tent. Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. Achil. I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night, Which with my cimeter I'll cool to-morrow. Patroclus, let us feast him to the height. Achil How now, thou core of envy? ? Enter THERSITES. Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news? Ther. Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot-worshippers, here's a letter for thee. Achil. From whence, fragment? Ther. Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy. Ther. The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound. Patr. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that? Ther. Why, his masculine whore. Now, the 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, lime kilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivalled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries! Patr. Why, thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus? Ther. Do I curse thee? Patr. Why, no, you ruinous butt; you whoreson, indistinguishable cur, no. Ther. No? why art thou then exasperate, thou idle, immaterial skein of sleive silk, thou green sarcenet flap for a sore eye, thou tassel of a prodigal's purse, thou? Ah, how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies; diminutives of nature! Patr. Out, gall! Ther. Finch egg! 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; An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it: Ther. With too much blood, and too little brain, these two may run mad; but if with too much brain, and too little VOL. III.—26 |