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. SCENE IX. Another part of the Field. 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. 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 dark'ning 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 2. [HECTOR falls. 1 The vail of the sun' is the sinking, setting, or vailing of the sun. 2 Heywood, in his Rape of Lucrece, 1638, gives the same account of Achilles overpowering Hector by numbers : 'Had puissant Hector by Achilles' hand In Lydgate and the old story book the same account is given of the death of Troilus. Lydgate, following Guido of Colonna, who in the grossest manner has violated all the characters drawn 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 retreat 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, the armies separates. My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed, Pleas'd with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.— [Sheaths his sword. Come, tie his body to my horse's tail; Along the field I will the Trojan trail. [Exeunt. SCENE X. The same. Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and Others, marching. Shouts within. Agam. Hark! hark! what shout is that? Nest. Peace, drums. by Homer, reprehends the Grecian poet as the original offender. Thus in his fourth book : 'Oh, thou Homer, for shame be now red, And thee amase that holdest thyself so wyse, Above echone that dost hym magnyfye, That was so sleyghty and so full of fraude, Why gevest thou hym so hye a prayse and laude? 3 Sticklers were persons who attended upon combatants in trials of skill, to part them when they had fought enough, and, doubtless, to see fair play. They were probably so called from the stick or wand which they carried in their hands. The name is still given to the arbitrators at wrestling matches in the west country. [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 as good a man 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. SCENE XI. Another part of the Field. Enter ENEAS and Trojans. Ene. Stand, ho! yet are we masters of the field: Never go home; here starve we out the night. Enter TROILUS. Tro. Hector is slain. All. Hector? The gods forbid! Tro. He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail, In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful field.Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed! Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile' at Troy! I say, at once let your brief plagues be mercy, And linger not our sure destructions on! 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? 1 Hanmer and Warburton read: which, it must be confessed, is more in correspondence with the rest of Troilus's wish. Let him, that will a screech-owl aye be call'd, Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives, I'll through and through you!-And thou, greatsiz'd coward! No [Exeunt ENBAS and Trojans. As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, Pan. But hear PANDARUS. you, hear you! 4 Tro. Hence, broker 3 lackey! ignomy and shame Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name! [Exit TROILUS. 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 2 Pitched, fixed. 3 Broker anciently signified a bawd of either sex. So in King John: This bawd, this broker, this all changing word,' &c. • Ignominy. loathed? what verse for it? what instance for it? Let me see: Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing, Good traders in the flesh, set this in your painted cloths 5. As many as be here of pander's hall, Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall: [Exit. 5 Canvass hangings for rooms, painted with emblems and mot 6 See King Henry VI. Part 1. Act i. Sc. 3, note 8, p. 23. 7 See vol. ii. p. 11, note 4. |