Welcome, indeed! By Venus' hand I swear,
No man alive can love, in such a sort,
The thing he means to kill more excellently.
Dio. We sympathize:-Jove, let Æneas live,
If to my sword his fate be not the glory,
A thousand complete courses of the sun!
But, in mine emulous honour, let him die,
With every joint a wound; and that to-morrow!
Ene. We know each other well.

Dio. We do; and long to know each other worse. Par. This is the most despiteful gentle greeting, The noblest hateful love, that e'er I heard of.What business, lord, so early?

Ene. I was sent for to the king; but why, I

know not.

Par. His purpose meets you3: 'Twas to bring this Greek

To Calchas' house; and there to render him,
For the enfreed Antenor, the fair Cressid:
Let's have your company; or, if you please,
Haste there before us: I constantly do think
(Or, rather, call my thoughts a certain knowledge),
My brother Troilus lodges there to-night;
Rouse him, and give him note of our approach,
With the whole quality wherefore: I fear,

We shall be much unwelcome.

Ene.
Troilus had rather Troy were borne to Greece,
Than Cressid borne from Troy.

Par.

The bitter disposition of the time
Will have it so.

That I assure you;

There is no help;

[Exit.

On, lord; we'll follow you.

Ene. Good morrow,

all.

Par. And tell me,noble Diomed; 'faith,tell me true,

2 He swears first by the life of his father, and then by the hand of his mother.

3 i. e. I bring you his meaning and his orders.

Even in the soul of sound good-fellowship,-
Who, in your thoughts, merits fair Helen best,
Myself, or Menelaus?

Dio.

Both alike:

He merits well to have her, that doth seek her
(Not making any scruple of her soilure),
With such a hell of pain, and world of charge;
And you as well to keep her, that defend her
(Not palating the taste of her dishonour)
With such a costly loss of wealth and friends:
He, like a puling cuckold, would drink up
The lees and dregs of a flat tamed piece:
You, like a lecher, out of whorish loins
Are pleas'd to breed out your inheritors:
Both merits pois'd, each weighs nor less nor more;
But he as he, the heavier for a whore*.

Par. You are too bitter to your countrywoman. Dio. She's bitter to her country: Hear me, Paris,For every false drop in her bawdy veins.

A Grecian's life hath sunk; for every scruple
Of her contaminated carrion weight,

A Trojan hath been slain: since she could speak,
She hath not given so many good words breath,
As for her Greeks and Trojans suffer'd death.

Par. Fair Diomed, you do as chapmen do, Dispraise the thing that you desire to buy: But we in silence hold this virtue well,— We'll not commend what we intend to sell 5. Here lies our way.

[Exeunt.

4 The merits of each being weighed are exactly equal; in each of the scales a harlot must be placed, since each of them has been equally attached to one.

'We'll not commend what we intend not sell.'

So in Shakspeare's 21st Sonnet :

'I will not praise that purpose not to sell.'

Not sell sounds harsh; but such elliptical expressions are not unfrequent in these plays.

The same.

SCENE II.

Court before the House of Pandarus.

Enter TROILUS and CRESSIDA.

Tro. Dear, trouble not yourself; the morn is cold. Cres. Then, sweet my lord, I'll call mine uncle

down;

He shall unbolt the gates.

Tro.

Trouble him not;

To bed, to bed: Sleep kill those pretty eyes,
And give as soft attachment to thy senses,
As infants' empty of all thought!

Cres.

Good morrow then.

you aweary of me?

Tro. O Cressida! but that the busy day, Wak'd by the lark, hath rous'd the ribald1 crows, And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer, I would not from thee.

Cres.

Night hath been too brief. Tro. Beshrew the witch! with venomous wights?

she stays,

As tediously as hell; but flies the grasps of love, With wings more momentary-swift than thought. You will catch cold, and curse me.

Cres.

You men will never tarry.

Pr'ythee, tarry;

O foolish Cressid!—I might have still held off, And then you would have tarried. Hark! there's

one up.

1 i. e. the roguish or thievish crows.' Ribaldry signified roguery, naughtiness, or loose conduct of any kind, among our ancestors. It may, however, be used in the sense of obscene.

2 i. e. venefici, those who use nocturnal sorcery. Thus Baret: Veneficus-ca. He or she that poysoneth, or venimeth; one that useth sorcery.'-Alvearie, v. 22.

Pan. [Within.] What, are all the doors open

here?

Tro. It is

your

uncle.

Enter PANDARUS3.

Cres. A pestilence on him! now will he be mock

ing:

I shall have such a life,

Pan. How now, how now? how go maidenheads? -Here, you maid! where's my cousin Cressid? Cres. Go hang yourself, you naughty mocking

uncle!

You bring me to do, and then you flout me too. Pan. To do what? to do what?-let her say what: what have I brought you to do?

Cres. Come, come; beshrew your heart! you'll. ne'er be good,

Nor suffer others.

Pan. Ha, ha! Alas, poor wretch! a poor capocchia +-hast not slept to-night? would he not, a naughty man, let it sleep? a bugbear take him!

[Knocking.

Cres. Did I not tell you?'would he were knock'd o'the head!

Who's that at door? good uncle, go and see.

3 The hint for the following scene appears to have been suggested by Chaucer. Troilus and Cresseide, b. iii. v. 1561 :— Pandare, a morowe which that commen was Unto his necè, gan her faire to grete,

And saied all this night so rained it alas !
That all my drede is, that ye, necè swete,
Have little lesir had to slepe and mete,
All night (quod he) hath rain so do me wake,
That some of us I trowe their heddis ake,
Cresseide answerde,-never the bet for you,
Foxe that ye ben, God yeve your hertè care,
God help me so, ye caused all this fare,' &c.
4 Capocchia, an Italian word for fool.

My lord, come you again into my chamber:
You smile, and mock me, as if I meant naughtily.
Tro. Ha, ha!

Cres. Come, you are deceiv'd, I think of no such thing.[Knocking. How earnestly they knock!-pray you, come in; I would not for half Troy have you seen here.

[Exeunt TROILUS and CRESSIDA. Pan. [Going to the door.] Who's there? what's the matter? will you beat down the door? How now? what's the matter?

Enter ENEAS.

Ene. Good morrow, lord, good morrow.

Pan. Who's there? my Lord Æneas? By my troth, I knew you not: what news with you so early?

Ene. Is not Prince Troilus here?

Pan. Here! what should he do here?

Ene. Come, he is here, my lord, do not deny him; It doth import him much, to speak with me.

Pan. Is he here, say you? 'tis more than I know, I'll be sworn :-For my own part, I came in late: What should he do here?

Ene. Who!-nay, then :-Come, come, you'll do him wrong ere you are 'ware: you'll be so true to him, to be false to him: Do not you know of him? yet go fetch him hither; go.

As PANDARUS is going out, enter TROILUS.
Tro. How now? what's the matter?
Ene. My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute
My matter is so rash 5: There is at hand

5 i.e. hasty or abrupt. So in Romeo and Juliet:—
'It is too rash, too unadvis'd; too sudden,
Too like the lightning.'

you,