Troilus : 
 
 ■ Lady, give me your hand : and, as you walk. 
 To our own selves bend we our needful talk " 
 
 Troilus and Cressida Act IV Scene 4
 
 Copyright, 1901 
 
 By 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY
 
 LIBRAR 
 
 f^. 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. ^4 j 
 
 Preface. ^'\o\ 
 
 The Early Editions. In 1609 two quarto editions of 
 Troiliis and Crcssida were issued, with the following 
 title-pages : — 
 
 (i.) ''The I Historic of Troylus | and Cresseida. | As 
 it was acted by the Kings Maiesties | seruants at the 
 globe. I Written by William Shakespeare. | London 
 Imprinted by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. IValley, and 
 are to be sold at the spred Eagle in Paules | Church- 
 yeard, ouer against the | great North doore. | 1609."* 
 
 (ii.) The | Famous Historic of Troylus and Cresscid. j 
 Excellently expressing the beginning | of their loucs, with 
 the conceited wooing | of Pandarus Prince of Licia. \ 
 Written by William Shakespeare. | London | Imprinted 
 by G. Eld for R. Bonian and H. Walley, and | are to be 
 sold at the spred Eagle in Paules | Church-yeard, ouer 
 against the | great North doore. | 1609. | 
 
 The text is identical in the two quartos, the difference 
 being merely the variation in the title-page, and the addi- 
 tion of a preface to the latter edition. There is no doubt 
 that the leaf with the preface was not in the original issue, 
 and that the first quarto was published with the statement 
 that it had been acted by the King's servants at the Globe. 
 The Cambridge Editors beheve that the copies with this 
 title-page were first issued for the theatre, and afterwards 
 those with the new title-page and preface for the general 
 readers, and they are of opinion that in this case the ex- 
 pression '' never staled with the stage, never clapper- 
 claw'd with the palms of the "vulgar" must refer to the 
 first appearance of the play in type, unless we suppose 
 * Vide Shakespeare Quarto Facsimiles, No. 13.
 
 Preface TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 that the pubUsher was more careful to say what would 
 recommend his book than to state what was literally true. 
 It seems, however, scarcely plausible that the expression 
 can L'efer to mere publication, and not to actual per- 
 formance ; it is probable that the quartos differed in some 
 important respects from the version of the play acted by 
 '' the King's servants," and the new title-page and preface 
 were perhaps due to some remonstrance on the part of 
 the author or " the grand possessors." 
 
 In the First Folio Troihis and Cressida is found be- 
 tween the " Histories " and " Tragedies " ; it is not men - 
 tioned in the Table of Contents, and the editors were evi- 
 dently doubtful as to its classification. " Coriolanus," 
 " Titus Andronicus," "Romeo and Juliet/' "" Troilus and 
 Cressida/' was the original order of the Tragedies, and the 
 first three pages of the present play were actually paged 
 so as to follow Romeo and Juliet,"^ but Timon of Athens 
 was subsequently put in its place, and a neutral position 
 assigned to it between the two main divisions. The Folio 
 editors' view that the play was a Tragedy was certainly 
 neither in accordance with the sentiment of the prologue 
 (first found in the Folio and seemingly non-Shake- 
 spearian) and the quarto preface, which make it a com- 
 edy, nor with the title-page and running title of the 
 quartos, which treat it as a history. Troilus and Cressida 
 presents perhaps the most complex problem in the whole 
 range of Shakespeare's work. It has been well described 
 as " a History in which historical verisimilitude is openly 
 set at nought, a Comedy without genuine laughter, a 
 Tragedy without pathos." 
 
 There are many points of difference between the 
 Quarto and Folio text of the play, and the Cambridge 
 
 * " The editors cancelled the leaf containing the end of Romeo 
 and Juliet on one side and the beginning of Troihis and Cressida 
 on the other, but retained the other leaf already printed, and then 
 added the prologue to fill up the blank page, which in the original 
 setting of the type had been occupied by the end of Romeo and 
 Juliet "__ (Cambridge Ed. ) .
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Preface 
 
 editors are probably correct in their conclusions that the 
 discrepancies are to be explained thus : — the Quarto was 
 printed from a transcript of the author's original MS., 
 which was subsequently slightly revised by the author 
 himself ; before the First Folio was printed this revised 
 MS. had been tampered with by another hand, perhaps 
 by the writer of the prologue. 
 
 Date of Composition. The publication of the quar- 
 tos in 1609 gives us one limit for the date of Troilus and 
 Cressida, but (i.) certain discrepancies in the text, (ii.) 
 differences of style, thought, language, and metrical qual- 
 ities, and (iii.) important pieces of external evidence, 
 make it almost certain that the play passed through va- 
 rious stages of revision, and was in all probability com- 
 posed at different times. Under (i.) must be noticed that 
 *' in Act I. Sc. ii. Hector goes to the field and fights, in 
 Act I. Sc. iii., after this, we find him grown rusty in the 
 long-continued truce"; again "the rhyming couplet, V. 
 xi. 33, 34, which almost terminates the last scene, is by 
 the Folio editors repeated at the end of Act V. Sc. iii., 
 which fact strongly suggests that Scenes vi.-xi. are a 
 later insertion." As regard (ii.), the general style of 
 those parts of the play dealing with the Love Story con- 
 trasts strongly with the parts belonging to the Camp 
 Story; the former bear the impress of Shakespeare's 
 earlier characteristics,* the latter of his later. 
 
 (iii.) External evidence points to Shakespeare's con- 
 nexion \vith the subject of Troilus and Cressida at least 
 as early as 1599, for in the old anonymous play of His- 
 triomastix (written by Marston and others about that 
 year) a satirical production called forth by the famous 
 
 * Perhaps we should note in this connexion the characteristically 
 early * echo of Marlowe ' to be found in this portion of Act II. 
 Sc. ii. 82, where the reference is to Marlowe's famous lines in 
 Faiistus : — 
 
 " Was this the face that launched a thousand ships 
 And burnt the topmost tozvcrs of Ilium f"
 
 Preface TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Battle of the Theatres, associated with the quarrels of 
 Marston, Dekker, Jonson, etc. — occurs the following bur- 
 lesque passage: — 
 
 " Troy. Come, Cressida, my cresset light, 
 
 Thy face doth shine both day and night, 
 Behold, behold thy garter blue 
 Thy knight his valiant dhow wears,^ 
 That when he SHAKES his furious SPEARE, 
 The foe, in shivering fearful sort, 
 May lay him down in death to snort. 
 Cress. O knight, with valour in thy face, 
 
 Here take my skreene, wear it for grace; 
 Within thy helmet put the same, 
 Therewith to make thy enemies lame." f 
 
 There can be no doubt that we have here a travesty of an 
 incident (cp. Act V. ii.) in a play on the subject of Troiliis 
 and Cressida and that this play was by Shakespeare. 
 
 * The text is obviously corrupt ; a line has dropped out ending 
 in a word to rhyme with '' blue " ; " wears " should be " wear," 
 rhyming with " spcare." 
 
 t This passage lends colour to the hypothesis that Troilus and 
 Cressida originally had some real or supposed bearing on the 
 theatrical quarrels of the day, Ajax representing Jonson, and 
 Thersites standing for Dekker; "rank Thersites with his mastic 
 jaws" has been brought into connexion with Dekker's Satiro- 
 mastix (1601), and Jonson's description of him in The Poetaster, 
 " one of the most overflowing rank wits in Rome." Mr. Fleay 
 has suggested that the " physic " given " to the great Myrmidon " 
 (I. iii. 378; HI. iii. 34) is identical with the "purge" adminis- 
 tered by Shakespeare to Jonson in The Return from Parnassus. 
 The early Troilus and Cressida may have contained topical allu- 
 sions, but these allusions were intentionally ' overlaid ' in the 
 revised form of the play; minute criticism has probably detected 
 fossil remains of theatrical satire. Even the doubtful Prologue 
 with " its prologue armed " seems reminiscent of the armed Pro- 
 logue, in Jonson's polemical Poetaster. 
 
 It is worth while noting that the Envy Induction in the latter 
 play imitated the old play Muccdorus (1598, ist ed.) ; we have a 
 reference to the end of Mucedorus in Troilus and Cressida, II. 
 iii. 23, " Devil Envy, say Amen ! "
 
 TROILUS AND CRCSSIDA Preface 
 
 We know, from Henslowe's Diary, that about the same 
 time, during the early part of 1599, Dekker and Chettle 
 were preparing a play which was at first to be called 
 '' Troylles and Cresseda," but afterwards Agamemnon] 
 and it is just possible that both this and Shakespeare's 
 Troiliis were based on some older production. Under 
 the date of Feb. 7th, 1603, there is an entry in the Sta- 
 tioners' Register to " the book of Troilns and Cressida," 
 as it is acted by " my Lord Chamberlain's servants " ; the 
 book is entered for James Roberts to be printed " when 
 he had gotten sufficient authority for it." This must 
 have been Shakespeare's play. Roberts did not get the 
 necessary authority, and hence the re-entry in the Regis- 
 ter (Jan. 28, 1609) before the publication of the Quarto 
 edition. It is impossible to determine how far the play 
 burlesqued in Histriomastix, the 1603 play, and the 1609 
 quarto were identical.* 
 
 The safest course is to assign '' circa 1599 " to the play 
 in its first form, '' circa 1602 " to the second and main 
 revision, allowing for subsequent additions between the 
 latter date and its publication in 1609.! This perplexing 
 " comedy of disillusion," with its dark irony, its wistful 
 melancholy, its travesty of the faith of Romeo and Juliet, 
 its depreciation of ancient heroism and medieval chivalry, 
 its scoffing worldly wisdom, helps us perhaps to realise, 
 somewhat at least, the deepening changes in Shake- 
 speare's aspect of life, which lead him from farce to 
 comedy, from comedy to sombre tragi-comedy, and thence 
 to soul-racking tragedy. 
 
 Source of the Plot. The main sources of Troilus and 
 Cressida are: — (i.) Chaucer's Troilus, which formed 
 
 *The title-page of the first quarto evidently claimed that the 
 version was the same as that acted by the Chamberlain's men in 
 1603 ; the second quarto, with the preface, withdrew the statement. 
 
 t Troilus invites comparison with Timon of Athens, which be- 
 longs probably to (about) 1606, but its authorship is only Shake- 
 speare's in part {vide Preface to Timon) .
 
 Preface TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 the basis of the love-story;* (ii.) Caxton's Rccuyell of 
 the hist or yes of Troye (translated from Raoul le Fevre's 
 Rccneil des Histoires de Troyes),\ and Lydgate's Troy 
 Book (translated from Guido di Colonna), whence 
 Shakespeare drew his materials for the camp-story; (iii.) 
 from Chapman's Homer (Bk. I.-VIL, 1597) the char- 
 acter of Thersites was derived {vide Book IL)t 
 
 Duration of Action. It is impossible, according to 
 Mr. P. A. Daniel, to assign more than four days to 
 Troilus and Cressida, though certain discrepancies in 
 Act II. Sc. iii., and Act III. Sc. i. and iii., rather hamper 
 the distribution of the time : — 
 
 Day I, Act I. Sc. i. and ii. Interval. Day 2, Act I. 
 Sc. iii. ; Act II. and Act III. Day 3, Act IV. ; Act V. Sc. 
 i. and ii. Day 4, Act V. Sc. iii.-x. 
 
 Dryden's Version. " Troilus and Cressida; or, Truth 
 Foimd Too Late: A tragedy by John Dryden ; acted at 
 the Duke's Theatre " ; this improvement on Shake- 
 speare's play was published (4to, 1679) with a prefatory 
 Essay, wherein the writer explains that Shakespeare 
 '' began it with some fire," but '' the latter part is nothing 
 but a confusion of drums and trumpets, excursions and 
 alarms," many of the characters were, he believed, " be- 
 gun and left unfinished." 
 
 * For the literary history of Chaucer's Troilus, cp. Skeat's 
 Preface to the poem ; Shakespeare's and Chaucer's conceptions 
 are contrasted in Godwin's Life of Chaucer; concerning Shake- 
 speare's debt of Chaucer, cp. Lloyd's Essays on Shakespeare; 
 Hales' Essays and Notes on Shakespeare ; etc. 
 
 fH. O. Sommer's recent reprint of Caxton's Rccuyell (Nutt, 
 1894) contains a full bibliography and history of the book. 
 Shakespeare may well have used Creede's 1596 version. 
 
 4: In a valuable and suggestive paper on Greene's Romances and 
 Shakespeare (" New Shak. Soc," 1888) Prof. Herford points out 
 that in Euphiies, His Censure to Philautits (,1587), we have a 
 version of the Troilus and Cressida story, which, slight and in- 
 significant as it is, " approaches more nearly than any other 
 version, the manner of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida." 
 
 ~^ 6
 
 The Gates of Troy. 
 
 From an engraving in an old French edition of Raoul le Ffevre's 
 
 History of Troy, 1529.
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Critical Comments. 
 1. 
 
 Argument. 
 
 I. In the eighth year of the siege of Troy by the 
 Greeks, Troilus, son of King Priam of Troy, becomes 
 enamoured of Cressida, a Trojan maiden, and induces her 
 uncle Pandarus to intercede for him. At this time a 
 truce has been declared between the two armies. While 
 the Greeks are carping at the slowness of the siege, a 
 challenge is sent them by Hector of Troy, directed against 
 any one of their champions who dares meet him in single 
 combat; his evident desire being to cope with Achilles, 
 the Greek's chief warrior. 
 
 II. During the truce the Greeks had proposed terms 
 of peace, which included the return of the ravished Helen 
 and the payment of a war indemnity. The terms are 
 rejected and the besieging generals prepare to renew the 
 struggle. They seek an interview with Achilles, who 
 has for some time sulked within his tent. He denies them 
 an interview ; whereupon they select Ajax to fight with 
 Hector. 
 
 III. In the interim Pandarus prospers as go-between 
 for Troilus with Cressida. He arranges a rendezvous 
 where the lovers plight their troth and, according to cus- 
 tom, resolve to live together. But Cressida's father, who 
 has been traitorously serving the Greeks, requests them 
 to ask his daughter in exchange for a Trojan leader held 
 captive by them. 
 
 IV. The Greeks consent, and send Diomedes to effect 
 the exchange. He bears away Cressida on the morning 
 following her nuptial night. The lovers bewail this stern 
 
 8
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 necessity of war, and part after many protestations of 
 fidelity. Diomedes and Cressida reach the Grecian camp 
 just as Ajax is starting forth to meet Hector. The two 
 warriors fight; but after a passage at arms postpone 
 further conflict on account of kinship. The various 
 Grecian and Trojan leaders make use of this armistice 
 for an interchange of amicable courtesies. 
 
 V. Troilus asks the Greek Ulysses to lead him to the 
 tent where Cressida has been confined, and there he is 
 deeply mortified to become a secret witness of her faith- 
 lessness, for she has transferred her affections to Dio- 
 medes. In battle on the following day, Troilus engages 
 in conflict with Diomedes, but without serious result for 
 either. Meanwhile Hector also has gone forth to battle 
 again, disregarding the ominous predictions of his sister 
 Cassandra. He kills Patroclus, a close friend of Achilles, 
 which deed so enrages that moody warrior, that he shakes 
 oflF his lethargy, plunges into the fray, and slays Hector, 
 whose dead body he drags at his horse's heels along the 
 field before Troy. 
 
 McSpadden : Shakespearian Synopses. 
 
 II. 
 
 Troilus. 
 
 Troilus is the youngest of Priam's numerous sons, and 
 the passion of which he is the victim is the bare instinc- 
 tive impulse of the teens, the form that first love takes 
 when crossed by an unworthy object, which might have 
 been that of Romeo had Rosalind not overstood her op- 
 portunity. It is his age that explains how, notwithstand- 
 ing his high mental endowments, he is so infatuated as 
 to mistake the planned provocation of Cressida's coyness 
 for stubborn chastity, and to allow himself to be played 
 with and inflamed by her concerted airs of surprise and 
 confusion when at last they are brought together. He is 
 quite as dull in apprehending the character of Pandarus,
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 and complains of his techiness to be wooed to woo, when 
 in fact he is but holding off in the very spirit of his niece 
 and affecting reluctance in order to excite solicitation. 
 Boccaccio furnished some of the lines of this characteriza- 
 tion to Chaucer, but Chaucer gave them great develop- 
 ment in handing them down to Shakespeare. Troilus 
 is preserved from the ridiculousness that pursues the 
 dupes of coquettes of so debased a stamp as Cressida, 
 by the allowances that untried youth bespeaks, and by 
 the spirit and gallantry that promises the coming self- 
 recovery, the first process of which appears in the control 
 he imposes on his anger and impatience when he looks on 
 at the scene of her falseness. . . . Still our sympathies 
 are but moderately engaged for him, for what can we say 
 of him but that he is young and a fool — though heroes 
 have been so before and since, fit to be played with and 
 played upon by a jade who only tantalizes him that he may 
 cease to be shy. He is the subjected slave of an intoxica- 
 tion that makes him insensible to the debasement of admit- 
 ting such a worm as Pandarus into the very presence of 
 what should be the sanctities of love. The ungenuineness 
 of the love that is in question is self-betrayed, when in 
 the first declaration, as in the latest parting, he angles 
 for and invites assurances of faithfulness which it is not 
 in the nature of things should be either convincing or true. 
 Lloyd : Critical Essays on the Plays of Shakespeare. 
 
 III. 
 
 Cressida. 
 
 There is nothing in these two poets [Chaucer and Boc- 
 caccio] that can compare with the passionate heat and 
 hatred, the boundless bitterness with which Shakespeare 
 delineates and pursues his Cressida. His mood is the 
 more remarkable that he in no wise paints her as unlov- 
 able or corrupt ; she is merely a shallow, frivolous, sen- 
 sual, pleasure-loving coquette. 
 
 10
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 She does little, on the whole, to call for such severity of 
 judgement. She is a mere child and beginner in com- 
 parison with Cleopatra, for instance, who, for all that, is 
 not so unmercifully condemned. But Shakespeare has 
 aggravated and pointed every circumstance until Cressida 
 becomes odious, and rouses only aversion. The change 
 from love to treachery, from Troilus to Diomedes, is in 
 no earlier poet effected w^tli such rapidity. Whenever 
 Shakespeare expresses by the mouth of one or another of 
 his characters the estimate in wdiich he intends his audi- 
 ence to hold her, one is astounded by the bitterness of the 
 hatred he discloses. It is especially noticeable in the 
 scene (IV. v.) in which Cressida comes to the Greek camp 
 and is greeted by the kings with a kiss. 
 
 At this point Cressida has as yet offended in nothing. 
 She has, out of pure, vehement love for him, passed such 
 a night w^ith Troilus as Juliet did with Romeo, persuaded 
 to it by Pandarus, as Juliet was by her nurse. Now she 
 accepts and returns the kiss wherewith the Greek chief- 
 tains bid her welcome. We may remark, in parenthesis, 
 that at that time there w^as no impropriety in such a greet- 
 ing. In William Brenchley Rye's " England as seen by 
 Foreigners in the Days of Elizabeth and James the First," 
 are found, under the heading " England and English- 
 men," the following notes by Samuel Riechel, a merchant 
 from Ulm : " Item, when a foreigner or an inhabitant 
 goes to a citizen's house on business, or is invited as a 
 guest, and having entered therein, he is received by the 
 master of the house, the lady, or the daughter, and by 
 them welcomed ; he has even the right to take them by 
 the arm and kiss them, which is the custom of the coun- 
 try ; and if any one does not do so, it is regarded and 
 imputed as ignorance and ill-breeding on his part." 
 
 For all that, Ulysses, who sees through her at the first 
 glance, breaks out on occasion of this kiss which Cressida 
 returns. [IV. v. 54-63: Fie, fie, etc.] So Shakespeare 
 causes his heroine to be described, and doubtless it is his 
 own last word about her. 
 
 II
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Shakespeare deliberately made Cressida sensually at- 
 tractive, but spiritually repulsive and unclean. She has 
 desire for Troilus, but no love. She is among those who 
 are born experienced ; she knows how to inflame, win, 
 and keep men enchained, but the honourable love of a 
 man is useless to her. At the same time she is one of 
 those who easily find their master. Any man who is not 
 imposed upon by her airs, who sees through her mock- 
 prudish rebuffs, subdues her without difficulty. All her 
 sagacity amounted to, after all, was that Troilus would 
 continue ardent so long as she said " No " ; that men, in 
 short, value the unattainable and what is won with diffi- 
 culty — the wisdom of any commonplace coquette. Never 
 has Shakespeare represented coquetry as so void of 
 charming qualities. 
 
 Cressida is never modest even when she is most pru- 
 dish ; she understands a jest, even bold and libertine ones, 
 and she will bandy them with enjoyment. With all her 
 kittenish charm she is uninteresting, and, in spite of her 
 hot blood, she betrays the coldest selfishness. She is 
 neither ridiculous nor unlovely, but as little is she beauti- 
 ful ; in no other of Shakespeare's characters is the sensual 
 attraction exercised by a woman so completely shorn of its 
 poetry. 
 
 Brandes : William Shakespeare. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Ulysses. 
 
 Ulysses is the real hero of the play; the chief, or, at 
 least, the great purpose of which is the utterance of the 
 Ulyssean view of Hfe; and in this play Shakespeare is 
 Ulysses, or Ulysses Shakespeare. In all his other plays 
 Shakespeare so lost his personal consciousness in the in- 
 dividuality of his own creations that they think and feel, 
 as well as act, like real men and wonien other than their 
 creator, so that we cannot truly say of the thoughts and
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 feelings which they express, that Shakespeare says thus 
 or so; for it is not Shakespeare who speaks, but they 
 with his hps. But in Ulysses, Shakespeare, acting upon 
 a mere hint, filling up a mere traditionary outline, drew 
 a man of mature years, of wide observation, of profound- 
 est cogitative power, one who knew all the weakness and 
 all the wiles of human nature, and who yet remained 
 with blood unbittered and soul unsoured — a man who saw 
 through all shams, and fathomed all motives, and who 
 yet was not scornful of his kind, not misanthropic, hardly 
 cynical except in passing moods ; and what other man 
 was this than Shakespeare himself? What had he to do 
 when he had passed forty years, but to utter his own 
 thoughts when he would find words for the lips of 
 Ulysses? And thus it is that Troihis and Cressida is 
 Shakespeare's wisest play. If we would know what 
 Shakespeare thought of men and their motives after he 
 reached maturity, we have but to read this drama ; drama 
 it is ; but with what other character, who shall say ? For, 
 like the world's pageant, it is neither tragedy nor comedy, 
 but a tragi-comic history, in which the intrigues of amor- 
 ous men and hght-o'-loves and the brokerage of panders 
 are mingled with the deliberations of sages and the strife 
 and the death of heroes. 
 
 The thoughtful reader will observe that Ulysses per- 
 vades the serious parts of the play, which is all Ulyssean 
 in its thought and language. And this is the reason, or 
 rather the fact, of the play's lack of distinctive character- 
 ization. For Ulysses cannot speak all the time that he is 
 on the stage; and, therefore, the other personages, such 
 as may, speak Ulyssean, with, of course, such personal 
 allusion and peculiar trick as a dramatist of Shakespeare's 
 skill could not leave them without for difference. 
 
 Richard Grant White: On Reading Shakespeare. 
 
 13
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 V. 
 Thersites. 
 
 Thersites sits with Caliban high among- Shakespeare's 
 minor triumphs. He was brought in to please the 
 mob. He is the Fool of the piece, fulfilling the functions 
 of Touchstone, and Launce, and Launcelot, and Costard. 
 As the grave-diggers were brought into Hamlet for the 
 sake of the groundlings, so Thersites came into Troilus 
 and Cressida. As if that he might leave no form of hu- 
 man utterance ungilded by his genius, Shakespeare in 
 Thersites has given us the apotheosis of blackguardism 
 and billingsgate. Thersites is only a railing rascal. Some 
 low creatures are mere bellies with no brain. Thersites 
 is merely mouth, but this mouth has just enough coarse 
 brain above it to know a wise man and a fool when he 
 sees them. But the railings of this deformed slave are 
 splendid. Thersites is almost as good as Falstafif. He 
 is of course a far lower organization intellectually, and 
 somewhat lower, perhaps, morally. He is coarser in every 
 way ; his humour, such as he has, is of the grossest kind ; 
 but still his blackguardism is the ideal of vituperation. 
 He is far better than Apemantus in Timon of Athens, for 
 there is no hypocrisy in him, no egoism, and, comfortable 
 trait in such a personage, no pretence of gentility. For 
 good downright " sass " in its most splendid and aggres- 
 sive form, there is in literature nothing equal to the 
 speeches of Thersites. 
 
 Richard Grant White: On Reading Shakespeare. 
 
 VI. 
 Pandarus. 
 
 He has been named a demoralised Polonius, and the 
 epithet is good. He is an old voluptuary, who finds his 
 amusement in playing the spy and go-between, now that 
 
 14
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 more active pleasures are denied to him. The cynical en- 
 joyment with which Shakespeare (in spite of his con- 
 tempt for him) has drawn him is very characteristic of this 
 period of his Hfe. Pandarus is clever enough, and often 
 witty, but there is no enjoyment of his wit ; he is as comi- 
 cal, base, and shameless as Falstaff himself, but he never 
 calls forth the abstract sympathy we feel for the latter. 
 Nothing makes amends for his vileness, nor for that of 
 Thersites, nor for that of any other character in the whole 
 play. Here, as in other plays, Timon of Athens in par- 
 ticular, is shown that deep-seated Anglo-Saxon vein 
 which, according to the popular estimate, Shakespeare en- 
 tirely lacked — that vein in which flows the life-blood of 
 Swift's, Hogarth's, and even some of Byron's principal 
 works, and it shows how, after all, there was some sym- 
 pathy between the Merrie England of those days and the 
 later Land of Spleen. 
 
 Brandes: William Shakespeare. 
 
 VII. 
 Love and Wantonness. 
 
 As Shakespeare calls forth nothing from the mauso- 
 leum of history, or the catacombs of tradition, without 
 giving, or eliciting, some permanent and general interest, 
 and brings forward no subject, which he does not moral- 
 ize or intellectualize — so here he has drawn in Cressida 
 the portrait of a vehement passion, that, having its true 
 origin and proper cause in warmth of temperament, fast- 
 ens on, rather than fixes to, some one object by liking and 
 temporary preference. 
 
 There 's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip. 
 Nay, her foot speaks ; her wanton spirits look out 
 At every joint and motive of her body. 
 
 This Shakespeare has contrasted with the profound 
 affection represented in Troilus, and alone worthy the 
 
 15
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 name of love — affection, passionate indeed, swollen with 
 the confluence of youthful instincts and youthful fancy, 
 and growing in the radiance of hope newly risen, in short 
 enlarged by the collective sympathies of nature ; but still 
 having a depth of calmer element in a will stronger than 
 desire, more entire than choice, and which gives per- 
 manence to its own act by converting it into faith and 
 duty. Hence with excellent judgement, and with an ex- 
 cellence higher than mere judgement can give, at the 
 close of the play, when Cressida has sunk into infamy 
 below retrieval and beneath hope, the same will, which 
 had been the substance and the basis of his love, while 
 the restless pleasures and passionate longings, like sea- 
 waves, had tossed but on its surface — this same moral 
 energy is represented as snatching him aloof from all 
 neighbourhood with her dishonour, from all lingering 
 fondness and languishing regrets, whilst it rushes with 
 him into other and nobler duties, and deepens the channel 
 which his heroic brother's death had left empty for its 
 collected flood. 
 
 Coleridge : Notes and Lectures upon Shakespeare. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 The GreeK Heroes. 
 
 The whole catalogue of the Dramatis Personce in the 
 play of Troihis and Cressida, so far as they depend upon 
 a rich and original vein of humour in the author, are 
 drawn with a felicity which never was surpassed. The 
 genius of Homer has been a topic of admiration to almost 
 every generation of men since the period in which he 
 wrote. But his characters will not bear the sHghtest com- 
 parison with the delineation of the same characters as 
 they stand in Shakespeare. This is a species of honour 
 which ought by no means to be forgotten when we are 
 making the eulogium of our immortal bard, a sort of illus- 
 tration of his greatness which cannot fail to place it in a 
 
 i6
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 very conspicuous light. The dispositions of men perhaps 
 had not been sufficiently unfolded in the very early period 
 of intellectual refinement when Homer wrote ; the rays of 
 humour had not been dissected by the glass, or rendered 
 perdurable by the pencil of the poet. Homer's charac- 
 ters are drawn with a laudable portion of variety and 
 consistency; but his Achilles, his Ajax, and his Nestor 
 are, each of them, rather a species than an individual, and 
 can boast more of the propriety of abstraction than of the 
 vivacity of a moving scene of absolute life. The Achilles, 
 the Ajax, and the various Grecian heroes of Shakespeare, 
 on the other hand, are absolute men, deficient in nothing 
 which can tend to individualize them, and already touched 
 with the Promethean fire that might infuse a soul into 
 what, without it, were lifeless form. 
 
 One of the most formidable adversaries of true poetry 
 is an attribute which is generally miscalled dignity. 
 Shakespeare possessed, no man in higher perfection, the 
 true dignity and loftiness of the poetical afflatus, which 
 he has displayed in many of the finest passages of his 
 works with miraculous success. But he knew that no 
 man ever was, or ever can be, always dignified. He knew 
 that those subtler traits of character which identify a man 
 are familiar and relaxed, pervaded with passion, and not 
 played off with an eye to external decorum. In this re- 
 spect the peculiarities of Shakespeare's genius are no- 
 where more forcibly illustrated than in the play we are 
 here considering. The champions of Greece and Troy, 
 from the hour in which their names were first recorded, 
 had always worn a certain formality of attire, and 
 marched with a slow and measured step. No poet, till 
 this time, had ever ventured to force them out of the man- 
 ner which their epic creator had given them. Shake- 
 speare first supplied their limbs, took from them the 
 classic stiffness of their gait, and enriched them with 
 an entire set of those attributes which might render them 
 completely beings of the same species with ourselves. 
 
 Godwin • Life of Chaucer, 
 
 17
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 IX. 
 
 Moral Contrasts. 
 
 Shakspeare intended to point out the profound all- 
 pervading contrast between the much-commended mental 
 character and life of Greek antiquity, as compared with 
 the new principle of life in the Christian era, and to re- 
 veal theblemishes and defects of Greek life, especially in re- 
 gard to its morals, as compared with the ever-increasing 
 admiration bestowed upon it. This could probably not 
 be effected otherwise than by giving a closer view of 
 the essential foundation of the ancient, and more espe- 
 cially of Greek, life and mental culture, taken from a 
 comico-poetic standpoint. And this foundation, as is 
 acknowledged on all hands, is formed by the Homeric 
 poems, or, what is the same thing, the Trojan war in its 
 mythico-poetic conception. But these immortal poems, 
 when regarded from a strictly moral point of view, and in 
 spite of all their ideality, obviously contain a decidedly 
 immoral element, or if it be preferred, the form in which 
 the idea is clothed — according to our higher modem con- 
 ception of moral relations — presents an ugly blot. For the 
 whole of the external story turns upon the recovery of an 
 adulteress who has run off with her lover, and whose sen- 
 timents and manner of acting can in no way be excused, 
 either by ideal beauty or by the interference of the gods 
 (Aphrodite) ; on the* contrary, the immorality in which 
 even the gods themselves take part, appears only the more 
 glaring by such an interference. Helen's abduction was 
 not worthy of the great war of vengeance which was un- 
 dertaken by the Greek princes ; for the honour of the 
 Greek nation was more deeply wronged by Helen herself 
 than by Paris. A war undertaken for such a cause and 
 such an object must, therefore, be repulsive to the moral 
 consciousness of modern times ; and still more do we feel 
 this subsequently when Helen and her wronged husband 
 are again united, and restored to all their rights, as if 
 
 i8
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 nothing had happened. It is true that the Greeks had a 
 different idea of marriage and of the mission of women ; 
 this we all know, and Shakspeare doubtless knew it also. 
 But the very fact of their entertaining such notions, is the 
 immoral part of the matter. This is the dark side of 
 Greek antiquity : a youthfully vigorous, but also youthfully 
 sensuous view of life supported by the idea of beauty, and 
 idealised as regards form ; a view of life which raised 
 beauty into an absolute privilege, and considered its 
 value as greater than that of goodness and truth. It was 
 only individual philosophical minds that rose above this 
 idea. 
 
 Ulrici : Shakspeare' s Dramatic Art, 
 
 X. 
 
 " None More Witty." 
 
 A never writer to an ever reader, 
 
 News. 
 
 Eternal reader, you have here a new play, never staled 
 with the stage, never clapper-clawed with the palms of 
 the vulgar, and yet passing full of the palm comical ; for it 
 is a birth of your brain that never undertook anything 
 comical vainly : and were but the vain names of comedies 
 changed for titles of commodities or of plays for pleas, 
 you should see all those grand censors that now style them 
 such vanities flock to them for the main grace of their 
 gravities ; especially this author's comedies that are so 
 framed to the life, that they serve for the most common 
 commentaries of all the actions of our lives, showing such 
 a dexterity and power of wit, that the most displeased 
 with plays are pleased with his comedies. And all such 
 dull and heavy witted worldlings as were never capable 
 of the wit of a comedy, coming by report of them to his 
 representations have found that wit that they never found 
 in themselves, and have parted better witted than they 
 
 19
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 came, feenng an edge of wit set upon them more than 
 ever they dreamed they had brain to grind it on. So 
 much and such savoured salt of wit is in his comedies 
 that they seem for their height of pleasure, to be bom 
 In that sea that brought forth Venus. Amongst all there 
 is none more witty than this ; and had I time I would com- 
 ment upon it, though I know it needs not for so much as 
 will make you think your testern well bestowed ; but for 
 so much worth as even poor I know to be stuffed in it, 
 it deserves such a labour as well as the best comedy in 
 Terence or Plautus. And believe this that when he is 
 gone and his comedies out of sale, you will scramble for 
 them and set up a new English Inquisition. Take this for 
 a warning and at the peril of your pleasures' loss and 
 judgments, refuse not nor like this the less for not being 
 sullied with the smoky breath of the multitude ; but thank 
 fortune for the scape it hath made amongst you, since by 
 the grand possessors' wills I believe you should have 
 prayed for them rather than been prayed. And so I leave 
 all such to be prayed for (for the states of their wits' 
 healths) that will not praise it. Vale. 
 
 Preface to Quarto (2), 1609. 
 
 XI. 
 
 A Bitter Satire. 
 
 This is the most difficult of all Shakspere's plays to deal 
 with, as well for date as position. . . . The play is 
 evidently written in ill-humour with mankind ; it is a bit- 
 ter satire. Its purpose is not to show virtue her own 
 feature, but contemptible weakness, paltry vanity, false- 
 hood (like scorn), their own image. . . . Shak- 
 spere's treatment of Chaucer's heroine, Cressida, is, too, 
 a shock to any lover of the early poet's work. To have 
 the beautiful Cressida, hesitating, palpitating like the 
 nightingale, before her sin ; driven by force of hard cir- 
 cumstances which she could not control into unfaithful- 
 
 20
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 ness to her love; to have this Cressida, whom Chaucer 
 spared for very ruth, set before us as a mere shameless 
 wanton, making eyes at all the men she sees, and show- 
 ing her looseness in the movement of every limb, is a 
 terrible blow. But whatever may have been Shakspere's 
 motive in this play, we certainly have in it his least pleas- 
 ing production. There is no relief to the patchery, the 
 jugglery, and the knavery, except the generous welcome 
 of Nestor to Hector in the Grecian camp, and his frank 
 praise of the gallant Trojan, who, labouring for Destiny, 
 made cruel way through ranks of Greekish youth. 
 
 Furnivall: The Leopold Shakspere. 
 
 The scene soon opens with the indecent Pandarus 
 trifling with the famous epic names, as he taps them 
 lightly with his battledore to keep up his little game, 
 which is to get Troilus thoroughly involved with Cres- 
 sida : '' An her hair were not somewhat darker than 
 Helen's (well, go to), there were no more comparison 
 between the w^omen " ; then the puppy says, " I will not 
 dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit." Think of the 
 jaunty go-between thus estimating the terrible prophetess 
 of the Agamemnon, while he is only whetting Troilus's 
 passion for Cressida, and devising means to bring them 
 together. For this is meant to travesty the rape of Helen, 
 which was the motive of the siege. The play begins by 
 making incontinence a very important business, and thus 
 ridiculous. As Thersites says, '' All the argument is a 
 cuckold, and war and lechery confound all." 
 
 Subsequently Cressida, at a wink from the Greek Dio- 
 medes, passes out of the keeping of her Trojan lover, 
 thus making the politics as light as her love. And the 
 scenes where Pandarus lickerishly plans the assignation, 
 and rallies Cressida afterwards, are so purposely broad 
 that every pretence of sentiment is emptied out of the 
 play ; the vulgarity becomes so conspicuous that the fight- 
 ing itself is infected with it and runs into parody. The 
 reader need only turn to the inter jectional soliloquies of 
 
 21
 
 Comments TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Thersites, which supply to every mock-heroic incident a 
 very free translation, to perceive that there was an inten- 
 tion in the co-laborers upon this play to make all such 
 famous court-manners and their quarrels seem ridiculous. 
 Weiss: IVit, Humor, and Shakspeare. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Unique and Enigmatic. 
 
 It is indeed a wonderful production — wonderful alike 
 for the profusion of wit, of poetry, and of wisdom 
 crowded into it, and for the depth, the subtlety, and life- 
 likeness of the individual characterization. And so far 
 nearly all the later and better critics are substantially 
 agreed. On the other side, one cannot discover what the 
 Poet is driving at : marvellous as are the details in spirit 
 and variety of life, they do not seem to grow from any 
 common principle or purpose ; and it is only in the light 
 of such principle or purpose that they can receive a logical 
 statement and interpretation. Hence there has grown a 
 remarkable diversity, not to say oppugnancy, of criticism 
 respecting it; and some of the higher critics have em- 
 ployed what seems to us a great over-refinement of specu- 
 lation, in order to make out some one idea under which 
 the details might all be artistically reduced. 
 
 Hudson : The Works of Shakespeare. 
 
 The fame of its story has contributed as much as its 
 many enigmatic and its many splendid qualities, to give 
 this drama a unique position among Shakespeare's works. 
 Elsewhere, Shakespeare has commonly avoided the great 
 master-themes of literature ; here he became the rival of 
 Chaucer, Boccaccio, and Homer. It would not have sur- 
 prised us if the man whose peculiar art lay in creating 
 " a soul within the ribs " of a dead or moribund tale 
 should have failed to figure in the procession of the poets 
 
 22
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Comments 
 
 of the tale of Troy. But it is strange that, in that pro- 
 cession, having joined it, he should play the role of the 
 ironic caricaturist, not only degrading a beautiful and 
 noble tradition, which for the sake of dramatic truth he 
 might, but degrading it without vindicating the added 
 " realism " by added reality. Troiliis and Cressida is 
 strangely mingled of splendour and foulness, of rhetorical 
 strength and dramatic perversity. 
 
 Herford : The Everslcy Shakespeare.
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE. 
 
 Priam, king of Troy. 
 
 Hector, 
 
 Troilus, 
 
 Paris, r" his sons. 
 
 Deiphobus, 
 
 Helenus, J 
 
 Margarelon, a bastard son of Priam. 
 
 .^Eneas ^ 
 
 . ■" >- Trojan commanders. 
 
 Antenor, ) 
 
 Calchas, a Trojan priest, taking part zuith the Greeks. 
 
 Pandarus, uncle to Cressida. 
 
 Agamemnon, the Grecian general. 
 
 Menelaus, his brother. 
 
 Achilles, 
 
 
 
 AjAX, 
 
 
 
 Ulysses, 
 Nestor, 
 
 
 > Grecian commanders. 
 
 Diomedes, 
 Patroclus, 
 
 
 
 Thersites, 
 
 a deformed and scurrilous Grecian. 
 
 Alexander 
 
 servant to Cressida. 
 
 Servant to 
 
 Troilus. 
 
 Servant to Paris. 
 
 Servant to Dioi 
 
 nedes. 
 
 Helen, wife to Menelaus. 
 
 Andromache, wife to Hector. 
 
 Cassandra, daughter to Priam; a prophetess. 
 
 Cressida, daughter to Calchas. 
 
 Trojan and Greek Soldiers, and Attendants. 
 
 Scene: Troy, and the Grecian camp. 
 
 24
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 THE PROLOGUE. 
 
 In Troy there lies the scene. From isles of Greece 
 The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed, 
 Have to the port of Athens sent their ships, 
 Fraught with the ministers and instruments 
 Of cruel war: sixty and nine, that wore 
 Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay 
 Put forth toward Phrygia, and their vow is made 
 To ransack Troy, within whose strong immures 
 The ravish'd Helen, Menelaus' queen, 
 With wanton Paris sleeps ; and that 's the quarrel. 
 To Tenedos they come; ii 
 
 And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge 
 Their warlike fraughtage: now on Dardan plains 
 The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch 
 Their brave pavilions: Priam's six-gated city, 
 Dardan, and Timbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien, 
 And Antenorides, with massy staples. 
 And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts, 
 Sperr up the sons of Troy. 
 
 Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, 20 
 
 On one and other side, Trojan and Greek, 
 Sets all on hazard: and hither am I come 
 A prologue arm'd, but not in confidence 
 Of author's pen or actor's voice, but suited 
 
 25
 
 Act I. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 In like conditions as our argument, 
 
 To tell you, fair beholders, that our play 
 
 Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils, 
 
 Beginning in the middle; starting thence away 
 
 To what, may be digested in a play. 
 
 Like, or find fault; do as your pleasures are: 30 
 
 Now good or bad, 'tis but the chance of war. 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I, 
 
 Troy. Before Priam's palace. 
 Enter Pandariis and Troihis. 
 
 Tro. Call here my varlet; I'll unarm again: 
 
 Why should I war without the walls of Troy, 
 That find such cruel battle here within? 
 Each Trojan that is master of his heart. 
 Let him to field; Troilus, alas, hath none! 
 
 Pan. Will this gear ne'er be mended? 
 
 Tro. The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength, 
 Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant, 
 But I am weaker than a woman's tear, 
 Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance, 10 
 
 Less valiant than the virgin in the night. 
 And skilless as unpractised infancy. 
 
 Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my 
 part, I '11 not meddle nor make no farther. He 
 that will have a cake out of the wheat must 
 needs tarry the grinding. 
 
 Tro. Have I not tarried? 
 
 Pan. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting. 
 
 26
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Tro. Have I not tarried ? 
 
 Pan. Ay, the bolting ; but you must tarry the leavening. 
 
 Tro. Still have I tarried. 21 
 
 Pan. Ay, to the leavening ; but here 's yet in the word 
 * hereafter,' the kneading, the making of the cake, 
 the heating of the oven, and the baking; nay, 
 you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance 
 to burn your lips. 
 
 Tro, Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be. 
 Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do. 
 At Priam's royal table do 1 sit ; 
 And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts, — 
 So, traitor ! — ' When she comes ! ' — When is she 
 thence? 31 
 
 Pan. Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I 
 saw her look, or any woman else. 
 
 Tro. I was. about to tell thee: — when.my heart. 
 As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain, 
 Lest Hector or my father should perceive me, 
 I. have, as when the sun doth light a storm. 
 Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile : 
 But sorrow, that is crouch'd in seeming gladness. 
 Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness. 40 
 
 Pan. An her hair were not somewhat darker than 
 Helen's — well, go to — there were no more 
 comparison between the women : but, for my 
 part, she is my kinswoman ; I would not, as 
 they term it, praise her : but I would somebody 
 had heard her talk yesterday, as I did. I will 
 not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit, but — ' 
 
 Tro. O Pandarus ! I tell thee, Pandarus, — 
 
 When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown'd, 
 27
 
 Act I. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Reply not in how many fathoms deep 50 
 
 They He indrench'd. I tell thee, I am mad 
 
 In Cressld's love : thou answer'st ' she is fair ' ; 
 
 Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart 
 
 Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice, 
 
 Handiest in thy discourse, O, that her hand. 
 
 In whose comparison all whites are ink 
 
 Writing their own reproach, to whose soft seizure 
 
 The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense 
 
 Hard as the palm of ploughman : this thou tell'st me, 
 
 As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love her ; 60 
 
 But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm. 
 
 Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me 
 
 The knife that made it. 
 
 Pan. I speak no more than truth. 
 
 Tro. Thou dost not speak so much. 
 
 Pan. Faith, I '11 not meddle in 't. Let her be as 
 she is : if she be fair, 'tis the better for her ; an 
 she be not, she has the mends in her own hands. 
 
 Tro. Good Pandarus, how now, Pandarus! 
 
 Pan. I have had my labour for my travail; ill- 70 
 thought on of her, and ill-thought on of you : 
 gone between and between, but small thanks for 
 my labour. 
 
 Tro. What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with 
 me? 
 
 Pan. Because she 's kin to me, therefore she 's not 
 so fair as Helen : an she were not kin to me, 
 she would be as fair on Friday as Helen is on 
 Sunday. But what care I? I care not an she 
 were a black-a-moor ; 'tis all one to me. 80 
 
 Tro. Say I she is not fair? 
 
 28
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Pan. I do not care whether you do or no. She 's a 
 fool to stay behind her father; let her to the 
 Greeks ; and so I '11 tell her the next time I 
 see her : for my part, I '11 meddle nor make no 
 more i' the matter. 
 
 Tro. Pandarus, — 
 
 Pan. Not I. 
 
 Tro. Sweet Pandarus, — 
 
 Pan. Pray you, speak no more to me: I will leave 90 
 all as I found it, and there an end. [Exit. An alarum, 
 
 Tro. Peace, you ungracious clamours ! peace, rude sounds ! 
 Fools on both sides ! Helen must needs be fair, 
 When with your blood you daily paint her thus. 
 I cannot fight upon this argument ; 
 It is too starved a subject for my sword. 
 But Pandarus — O gods, how do you plague me ! 
 I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar; 
 And he 's as tetchy to be woo' d to woo 
 As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit. 100 
 
 Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love, 
 What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we. 
 Her bed is India ; there she lies, a pearl : 
 Between our Ilium and where she resides, 
 Let it be call'd the wild and wandering flood, 
 Ourself the merchant, and this sailing Pandar 
 Our doubtful hope, our convoy and our bark. 
 
 'Alarum. Enter ^neas. 
 
 ^ne. How now. Prince Troilus ! wherefore not afield ? 
 
 Tro. Because not there : this woman's answer sorts, 
 
 For womanish it is to be from thence. no 
 
 What news, ^neas, from the field to-day ? 
 29
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 ^ne. That Paris is returned home, and hurt. 
 Tro. By whom, ^neas ? 
 
 ^ne. Troilus, by Menelaus. 
 
 Tro. Let Paris bleed : 'tis but a scar to scorn ; 
 
 Paris is gored with Menelaus' horn. [Alarum, 
 
 j^ne. Hark, what good sport is out of town to-day ! 
 Tro. Better at home, if ' w^ould I might ' were ' may.' 
 
 But to the sport abroad : are you bound thither ? 
 uSne. In all swift haste. 
 Tro. Come, go we then together. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 The same. A street. 
 Enter Cressida and Alexander her man* 
 
 Cres. Who were those went by ? 
 
 Alex. Queen Hecuba and Helen. 
 
 Cres. And whither go they ? 
 
 Alex. Up to the eastern tower. 
 
 Whose height commands as subject all the vale, 
 To see the battle. Hector, whose patience 
 Is as a virtue fix'd, to-day was moved : 
 He chid Andromache and struck his armourer ; 
 And, like as there were husbandry in war. 
 Before the sun rose he was harnessM light. 
 And to the field goes he ; where every flower 
 Did, as a prophet, weep what it foresaw lo 
 
 In Hector's wrath. 
 
 Cres. What was his cause of anger ? 
 
 Alex. The noise goes, this : there is among the Greeks 
 A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; 
 They call him Ajax. 
 
 30
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Cres. Good ; and what of him ? 
 
 Alex. They say he is a very man per se, 
 And stands alone. 
 
 Cres. So do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or 
 have no legs. 
 
 Alex. This man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of 
 
 their particular additions ; he is as valiant as 20 
 the lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the 
 elephant: a man into whom nature hath so 
 crowded humours that his valour is crushed into 
 folly, his folly sauced with discretion : there is 
 no man hath a virtue that he hath not a glimpse 
 of, nor any man an attaint but he carries some 
 stain of it : he is melancholy without cause and 
 merry against the hair: he hath the joints of 
 every thing ; but every thing so out of joint that 
 he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use, 30 
 or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight. 
 
 Cres. But how should this man, that makes me smile, 
 make Hector angry ? 
 
 Alex. They say he yesterday coped Hector in the 
 battle and struck him down, the disdain and 
 shame whereof hath ever since kept Hector 
 fasting and waking. 
 
 Enter Pan darns. 
 
 Cres. Who comes here? 
 
 Alex. Madam, your uncle Pandarus. 
 
 Cres. Hector 's a gallant man. 40 
 
 Alex. As may be in the world, lady. 
 
 Pan. What 's that? what 's that? 
 
 Cres. Good morrow, uncle Pandarus. 
 
 31
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Pan. Good morrow, cousin Cressid: what do you 
 talk of? Good morrow, Alexander. How do 
 you, cousin ? When were you at Ilium ? 
 
 Cres. This morning, uncle. 
 
 Pan. What were you talking of when I came ? Was 
 Hector armed and gone ere you came to Ilium ? 
 Helen was not up, was she ? 50 
 
 Cres. Hector was gone ; but Helen was not up. 
 
 Pan. E'en so : Hector was stirring early. 
 
 Crcs. That were we talking of, and of his anger. 
 
 Pan. Was he angry ? 
 
 Cres. So he says here. 
 
 Pan. True, he was so ; I know the cause too ; he '11 
 lay about him to-day, I can tell them that : and 
 there 's Troilus will not come far behind him ; 
 let them take heed of Troilus, I can tell them 
 that too. 60 
 
 Cres. What, is he angry too ? 
 
 Pan. Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of 
 the two. 
 
 Cres. O Jupiter ! there 's no comparison. 
 
 Pan. What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do 
 you know a man if you see him ? 
 
 Cres. Ay, if I ever saw him before and knew him. 
 
 Pan. Well, I say Troilus is Troilus. 
 
 Cres. Then you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is 
 
 not Hector. 70 
 
 Pan. No, nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees. 
 
 Cres. 'Tis just to each of them; he is himself. 
 
 Pan. Himself ! Alas, poor Troilus ! I would he were. 
 
 Cres. So he is. 
 
 Pan, Condition, I had gone barefoot to India. 
 
 32
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Cres, He is not Hector. 
 
 Pan. Himself ! no, he 's not himself : would a' were 
 himself! Well, the gods are above; time must 
 friend or end: well, Troilus, well, I would my 
 heart were in her body! No, Hector is not a 80 
 better man than Troilus. 
 
 Cres. Excuse me. 
 
 Pan. He is elder. 
 
 Cres. Pardon me, pardon me. 
 
 Pan. Th' other 's not come to 't ; you shall tell me 
 another tale, when th' other 's come to 't. Hector 
 shall not have his wit this year. 
 
 Cres. He shall not need it, if he have his own. 
 
 Pan. Nor his qualities. 
 
 Cres. No matter. 90 
 
 Pan. Nor his beauty. 
 
 Cres. 'Twould not become him ; his own 's better. 
 
 Pan. You have no judgement, niece: Helen herself 
 swore th' other day, that Troilus, for a brown 
 favour — for so 'tis, I must confess, — not brown 
 neither, — 
 
 Cres. No, but brown. 
 ,Pan. Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. 
 
 Cres. To say the truth, true and not true. 
 
 Pan. She praised his complexion above Paris. 100 
 
 Cres. Why, Paris hath colour enough. 
 
 Pan. So he has. 
 
 Cres. Then Troilus should have too much : if she 
 praised him above, his complexion is higher 
 than his ; he having colour enough, and the 
 other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good 
 complexion. I had as lief Helen's golden 
 
 33
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 tongue had commended Troilus for a copper 
 
 nose. 
 Pan. I swear to you, I think Helen loves him better no 
 
 than Paris. 
 Cres. Then she 's a merry Greek indeed. 
 Pan. Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him th' 
 
 other day into the compassed window, — and, 
 
 you know, he has not past three or four hairs on 
 
 his chin, — 
 Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring 
 
 his particulars therein to a total. 
 Pan. Why, he is very young : and yet will he, within 
 
 three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector. 120 
 Cres. Is he so young a man and so old a lifter? 
 Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him: 
 
 she came and puts me her white hand to his 
 
 cloven chin, — 
 Cres. Juno have mercy ! how came it cloven ? 
 Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled : I think his smi- 
 ling becomes him better than any man in all 
 
 Phrygia. 
 Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. 
 
 Pan. Does he not? 130 
 
 Cres. O yes, an 'twere a cloud in autumn. 
 Pan. Why, go to, then: but to prove to you that 
 
 Helen loves Troilus, — 
 Cres. Troilus will stand to the proof, if you '11 prove 
 
 it so. 
 Pan. Troilus! why, he esteems her no more than I 
 
 esteem an addle &gg. 
 Cres. If you love an addle ^.gg as well as you love 
 
 an idle head, you would eat chickens i' the shell. 
 
 34
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Pan. I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she 140 
 tickled his chin; indeed, she has a marvellous 
 white hand, I must needs confess, — 
 
 Cres. Without the rack. 
 
 Pan. And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on 
 his chin. 
 
 Cres. Alas, poor chin ! many a wart is richer. 
 
 Pan. But there was such laughing! Queen Hecuba 
 laughed, that her eyes ran o'er. 
 
 .Cres. With mill-stones. 
 
 Pan. And Cassandra laughed. 150 
 
 Cres. But there was more temperate fire under the 
 pot of her eyes : did her eyes run o'er too ? 
 
 Pan. And Hector laughed. 
 
 Cres. And what was all this laughing ? 
 
 Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on 
 Troilus' chin. 
 
 Cres. An 't had been a green hair, I should have 
 laughed too. 
 
 Pan. They laughed not so much at the hair as at his 
 
 pretty answer. 160 
 
 Cres. What was his answer? 
 
 Pan. Quoth she, ' Here 's but two and fifty hairs on 
 your chin, and one of them is white.' 
 
 Cres. This is her question. 
 
 Pan. That 's true ; make no question of that. ' Two 
 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 't out, and give it him.' But 170 
 there was such laughing ! and Helen so blushed, 
 
 35
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 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. 
 Paji. I '11 be sworn 'tis true ; he will weep you, an 
 
 'twere a man born in April. i8o 
 
 Cres. And I '11 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 '11 tell you them all 
 
 by their names as they pass by ; but mark Troilus 190 
 
 above the rest. 
 
 ^neas passes. 
 
 Cres. Speak not so loud. 
 
 Pan. That 's 7Enea.s : is not that a brave man ? he 's 
 
 one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you : but 
 
 mark Troilus ; you shall see anon. 
 Cres. Who's that? 
 
 Antenor passes. 
 
 Pan. That's Antenor: he has a shrevv^d wit, I can 
 tell you ; and he 's a man good enough : he 's 
 one o' the soundest judgements in Troy, whoso- 
 ever, and a proper man of person. When comes 200 
 
 36
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Troilus ? I '11 show you Troilus anon : if he see 
 
 me, you shall see him nod at me. 
 Cres. Will he give you the nod ? 
 Fan. You shall see. 
 Cres. If he do, the rich shall have more. 
 
 Hector passes. 
 
 Pan. That 's Hector, that, that, look you, that ; there 's 
 a fellow ! Go thy way, Hector ! There 's a brave 
 man, niece. O brave Hector! Look how he 
 looks! there 'sacountenance! is 't not a brave man? 
 
 Cres. O, a brave man ! 210 
 
 Pan. Is a' not? it does a man's heart good. Look 
 you what hacks are on his helmet! look you 
 yonder, do you see ? look you there : there 's 
 no jesting; there's laying on, take 't off who 
 will, as they say : there be hacks ! 
 
 Cres. Be those with swords ? 
 
 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. 220 
 
 Paris passes. 
 
 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? 
 
 Helenas passes. 
 Pan. That 's Helenus : I marvel where Troilus is. 
 
 37
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 That 's Helenus. I think he went not forth to- 
 day. That 's Helenus. 230 
 
 Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle ? 
 
 Paji. Helenus ! no ; yes, he '11 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? 
 
 Troilus passes. 
 
 Pan. Where ? yonder ? That 's Deiphobus. 'Tis 
 Troilus ! there 's a man, niece ! Hem ! Brave 
 Troilus ! the prince of chivalry ! 
 
 Cres. Peace, for shame, peace ! 
 
 Pan. Mark him ; note him. O brave Troilus ! 240 
 Look well upon him, niece; look you how his 
 sword is bloodied, and his helm more hacked 
 than Hector's; and how he looks, and how he 
 goes ! O admirable youth ! he never 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. 250 
 
 Common Soldiers pass. 
 
 Cres. Here come more. 
 
 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. 
 
 38
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Cres. There Is among the Greeks 'Achilles, a better 
 man than Troilus. 
 
 Pan. Achilles ! a drayman, a porter, a very camel. 260 
 
 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 ? 
 
 Cres. Ay, a minced man : and then to be baked with 
 no date in the pie, for then the man's date is out. 
 
 Pan. You are such a woman ! one knows not at what 270 
 ward you lie. 
 
 Cres. Upon my back, to defend my belly ; upon my 
 wit, to defend my wiles; upon my 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 '11 watch you for that ; and that 's one 
 
 of the chiefest of them too: if I cannot ward 280 
 what I would not have hit, I can watch you for 
 telling how I took the blow ; unless it swell past 
 hiding, and then it 's past watching. 
 
 Pan. You are such another! 
 
 Enter Troilus' s Boy. 
 
 Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. 
 
 Pan. Where? 
 
 Boy. At your own house ; there he unarms him. 
 
 39
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Pan. Good boy, tell him I come. [Exit Boy.] I 
 doubt he be hurt. Fare ye well, good niece. 
 
 Cres. Adieu, uncle. 290 
 
 Pan. I will be with you, niece, by and by. 
 
 Cres. To bring, uncle ? 
 
 Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. 
 
 Cres. By the same token, you are a bawd. 
 
 [Exeunt Pandariis. 
 Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice, 
 He offers in another's enterprise : 
 But more in Troilus thousand fold I see 
 Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be ; 
 Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing : 299 
 Things won are done ; joy's soul lies in the doing: 
 That she beloved 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. 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The Grecian camp. Before Agamemnon's tent. 
 
 Sennet. Enter Agamemjton, Nestor, Ulysses, Menelaus, 
 with others. 
 
 Agam. Princes, 
 
 What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? 
 The ample proposition that hope makes 
 In all designs begun on earth below 
 40
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 Fails in the promised largeness : checks and disasters 
 Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd, 
 As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, 
 Infect the sound pine and divert his grain 
 Tortive and errant from his course of growth. 
 Nor, princes, is it matter new to us lo 
 
 That we come short of our suppose so far 
 That after seven years' siege yet Troy walls stand ; 
 Sith every action that hath gone before. 
 Whereof we have record, trial did draw 
 Bias and thwart, not answering the aim 
 And that unbodied figure of the thought 
 That gave 't surmised shape. Why then, you princes. 
 Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works, 
 And call them shames ? which are indeed nought else 
 But the protractive trials of great Jove 20 
 
 To find persistive constancy in men : 
 The fineness of which metal is not found 
 In fortune's love ; for then the bold and coward, 
 The wise and fool, the artist and unread, 
 The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin : 
 But in the wind and tempest of her frown, 
 Distinction with a broad and powerful fan. 
 Puffing at all, winnows the light away, 
 And what hath mass or matter, by itself 
 Lies rich in virtue and unmingled. 30 
 
 Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat, 
 Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply 
 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 
 Upon her patient breast, m.aking their way 
 
 41
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 With those of nobler bulk ! 
 
 But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage 
 
 The gentle Thetis, and anon behold 
 
 The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut, 
 
 Bounding between the two moist elements, 41 
 
 Like Perseus' horse : where 's then the saucy boat, 
 
 Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now 
 
 Co-rivall'd greatness ? either to harbour fled. 
 
 Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so 
 
 Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide 
 
 In storms of fortune : for in her ray and brightness 
 
 The herd hath more annoyance by the breese 
 
 Than by the tiger; but- when the splitting wind 
 
 Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks, 50 
 
 And flies fled under shade, why then the thing of 
 
 courage 
 As roused with rage with rage doth sympathize, 
 And with an accent tuned in self-same key 
 Retorts to chiding fortune. 
 Ulyss. Agamemnon, 
 
 Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece, 
 
 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, [To Agamemnon] most mighty for thy 
 
 place and sway, 60 
 
 [To Nestor] And thou most reverend for thy 
 
 stretch'd-out life, 
 I give to both your speeches, which were such 
 As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece 
 Should hold up high in brass, and such again 
 42
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver, 
 Should with a bond of air, strong as the axletree 
 On which heaven rides, knit all the Greekish ears 
 To his experienced tongue, yet let it please both. 
 Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak. 
 
 Agam. Speak, Prince of Ithaca ; and be 't of less expect 
 That matter needless, of importless burthen, 71 
 
 Divide thy lips, than we are confident. 
 When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws, 
 We shall hear music, wit and oracle. 
 
 Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down. 
 
 And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master, 
 But for these instances. 
 The specialty of rule hath been neglected: 
 Vnd, look, how many Grecian tents do stand 
 Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions. 
 When that the general is not like the hive 81 
 
 To whom the foragers shall all repair. 
 What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded. 
 The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. 
 The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre, 
 Observe degree, priority and place, 
 Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, 
 Office and custom, in all line of order : 
 And therefore is the glorious planet Sol 
 In noble eminence enthroned and sphered 90 
 
 Amidst the other ; whose medicinable eye 
 Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil, 
 And posts like the commandment of a king. 
 Sans check to good and bad : but when the planets 
 In evil mixture to disorder wander, 
 What plagues and what portents, what mutiny, 
 
 43
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 What raging of the sea, shaking of earth, 
 
 Commotion in the winds, frights, changes, horrors. 
 
 Divert and crack, rend and deracinate 
 
 The unity and married calm of states loo 
 
 Quite from their fixure ! O, when degree is shaked. 
 
 Which is the ladder to all high designs, 
 
 The enterprise is sick! How could communities. 
 
 Degrees in schools and brotherhoods in cities, 
 
 Peaceful commerce from dividable 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 1 1 1 
 
 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, 
 
 Power into will, will into appetite ; 120 
 
 And appetite, an universal w^olf. 
 
 So doubly seconded with will and power, 
 
 Must make perforce an universal prey. 
 
 And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon, 
 
 This chaos, when degree is suffocate, 
 
 Follows the choking. 
 
 And this neglection of degree it is 
 
 That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose 
 
 44
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 It hath to dimb. The general 's disdain'd 
 
 By him one step below; he by the next; 130 
 
 That next by him beneath : so every step, 
 
 Exampled by the first pace that is sick 
 
 Of his superior, grows to an envious fever 
 
 Of pale and bloodless emulation : 
 
 And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot, 
 
 Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length, 
 
 Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength. 
 
 Nest. Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd 
 The fever whereof all our power is sick. 
 
 Agam. The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses, 140 
 What is the remedy ? 
 
 Ulyss. The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns 
 The sinew and the forehand of our host. 
 Having his ear full of his airy fame. 
 Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent 
 Lies mocking our designs : with him, Patroclus, 
 Upon a lazy bed, the livelong day 
 Breaks scurril jests; 
 
 And with ridiculous and awkward action, 
 Which, slanderer, he imitation calls, 150 
 
 He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon, 
 Thy topless deputation he puts on ; 
 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- wrested seeming 
 He acts thy greatness in : and when he speaks, 
 'Tis like a chime a-mending ; with terms unsquared. 
 Which, from the tongue o^ roaring Typhon dropp'd, 
 
 45
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff, i6i 
 The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling, 
 From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause ; 
 Cries 'Excellent! 'tis Agamemnon just. 
 Now play me Nestor; hem, and stroke thy beard, 
 As he being dress'd to some oration.' 
 That 's done ; as near as the extremest ends 
 Of parallels, as like as Vulcan and his wife : 
 Yet god Achilles still cries ' Excellent ! 
 'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus, 
 Arming to answer in a night alarm.' 171 
 
 And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age 
 Must be the scene of mirth ; to cough and spit. 
 And, with a palsy fumbling on his gorget. 
 Shake in and out the rivet : and at this sport 
 Sir Valour dies ; cries ' O, enough, Patroclus ; 
 Or give me ribs of steel ! I shall split all 
 In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion. 
 All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes, 
 Severals and generals of grace exact, 180 
 
 Achievements, plots, orders, preventions. 
 Excitements to the field or speech for truce. 
 Success or loss, what is or is not, serves 
 As stuff for these two to make paradoxes. 
 Nest. And in the imitation of these twain, 
 Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns 
 With an imperial voice, many are infect. 
 Ajax is grown self-will'd, and bears his head 
 In such a rein, in full as proud a place 
 As broad Achilles ; keeps his tent like him ; 190 
 
 Makes factious feasts ; rails on our state of war 
 Bold as an oracle, and sets Thersites, 
 
 46
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint, 
 To match us in comparisons with dirt, 
 To weaken and discredit our exposure, 
 How rank* soever rounded in with danger. 
 
 Ulyss. They tax our policy and call it cowardice, 
 Count wisdom as no member of the war, 
 Forestall prescience, and esteem no act 
 But that of hand : the still and mental parts 200 
 
 That do contrive how many hands shall strike 
 When fitness calls them on, and know by measure 
 Of their observant toil the enemies' weight, — 
 Why, this hath not a finger's dignity ; 
 They call this bed-work, mappery, closet-war : 
 So that the ram that batters down the wall. 
 For the great swing and rudeness of his poise. 
 They place before his hand that made the engine, 
 Or those that with the fineness of their souls 
 By reason guide his execution. 210 
 
 N'cst. Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse 
 
 Makes many Thetis' sons. [Tticket. 
 
 Agam. What trumpet? look, Menelaus. 
 
 Men. From Troy. 
 
 Enter Mneas. 
 
 Agam. What would you 'fore our tent? 
 
 ^ne. Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you? 
 
 Agam. Even this. 
 
 JEne. May one that is a herald and a prince 
 
 Do a fair message to his kingly ears ? 
 Agam. With surety stronger than Achilles' arm 220 
 
 'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice 
 
 Call Agamemnon head and general. 
 ^ne. Fair leave and large security. How may 
 
 47
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 A stranger to chose most imperial looks 
 Know them from eyes of other mortals ? 
 
 Again. How ! 
 
 JEne. Ay: 
 
 I ask, that I might waken reverence, 
 
 And bid the cheek be ready with a blush 
 
 Modest as morning when she coldly eyes 
 
 The youthful Phoebus : 230 
 
 Which is that god in office, guiding men? 
 
 Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon? 
 
 A gam. This Trojan scorns us ; or the men of Troy 
 Are ceremonious courtiers. 
 
 ^ne. Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd, 
 
 As bending angels ; that 's their fame in peace : 
 But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls. 
 Good arms, strong joints, true swords ; and, Jove's 
 
 accord. 
 Nothing so full of heart. But peace, ^neas, 
 Peace, Trojan ; lay thy finger on thy lips ! 240 
 
 The worthiness of praise distains his worth, 
 If that the praised himself bring the praise forth : 
 But what the repining enemy commends. 
 That breath fame blows ; that praise, sole pure, 
 transcends. 
 
 Agam. Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself ^neas? 
 
 ^ne. Ay, Greek, that is my name. 
 
 Agam. What 's your affair, I pray you ? 
 
 Mne. Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears. 
 
 Agam. He hears nought privately that comes from Troy. 
 
 JEne. Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him : 250 
 I bring a trumpet to awake his ear, 
 To set his sense on the attentive bent, 
 
 48
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act L Sc. iii. 
 
 And then to speak. 
 
 Agani. 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. 
 
 ^ne. Trumpet, blow loud, 
 
 Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents ; 
 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 260 
 
 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 his fear. 
 That loves his mistress more than in confession 
 With truant vows to her own lips he loves, 270 
 
 And dare avow her beauty and her worth 
 In other arms than hers — to him this challenge. 
 Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks, 
 Shall make it good, or do his best to do it, 
 He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer. 
 Than ever Greek did compass in his arms; 
 And will to-morrow with his trumpet call 
 Midway between your tents and walls of Troy, 
 To rouse a Grecian that is true in love: 
 If any come, Hector shall honour him; 280 
 
 If none, he '11 say in Troy when he retires, 
 
 49
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 The Grecian dames are sunburnt and not worth 
 The spHnter of a lance. Even so much. 
 
 Again. This shall be told our lovers, Lord ^neas ; 
 If none of them have soul in such a kind, 
 We left them all at home : but we are soldiers ; 
 And may that soldier a mere recreant prove, 
 That means not, hath not, or is not in love! 
 If then one is, or hath, or means to be, 
 That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he. 290 
 
 Nest. Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man 
 
 When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now; 
 
 But if there be not in our Grecian host 
 
 One noble man that hath one spark of fire, 
 
 To answer for his love, tell him from me 
 
 I '11 hide my silver beard in a gold beaver. 
 
 And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn, 
 
 And meeting him will tell him that my lady 
 
 Was fairer than his grandam, and as chaste 
 
 As may be in the world : his youth in flood, 300 
 
 I '11 prove this truth with my three drops of blood. 
 
 ^ne. Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth ! 
 
 Ulyss. Amen. 
 
 Agam, Fair Lord ^neas, let me touch your hand ; 
 To our paviHon shall I lead you, sir. 
 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! 310 
 
 Nest. What says Ulysses ? 
 
 Ulyss. I have a young conception in my brain; 
 
 SO
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 Be you my time to bring it to some shape. 
 
 Nest. What is 't? 
 
 Ulyss. This 'tis : 
 
 Blunt wedges rive hard knots: the seeded pride 
 That hath to this maturity blown up 
 In rank Achilles must or now be cropp'd, 
 Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil, 
 To overbulk us all. 
 
 Nest. Well, and how? 320 
 
 Ulyss. This challenge that the gallant Hector sends. 
 However it is spread in general name, 
 Relates in purpose only to Achilles. 
 
 Nest. The purpose is perspicuous even as substance. 
 Whose grossness Httle characters sum up: 
 And, in the publication, make no strain, 
 But that Achilles, were his brain as barren 
 As banks of Libya, — though, Apollo knows, 
 'Tis dry enough — will, with great speed of judgement, 
 Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose 330 
 
 Pointing on him. 
 
 Ulyss. And wake him to the answer, think you? 
 
 Nest. Yes, 'tis most meet: who may you else oppose. 
 That can from Hector bring his honour off. 
 If not Achilles? Though 't be a sportful combat, 
 Yet in this trial much opinion dwells; 
 For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute 
 With their finest palate: and trust to me, Ulysses, 
 Our imputation shall be oddly poised 
 In this wild action; for the success, 340 
 
 Although particular, shall give a scantling 
 Of good or bad unto the general; 
 And in such indexes, although small pricks 
 
 SI
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 To their subsequent volumes, there is seen 
 
 The baby figure of the giant mass 
 
 Of things to come at large. It is supposed 
 
 He that meets Hector issues from our choice: 
 
 And choice, being mutual act of all our souls, 
 
 Makes merit her election, and doth boil, 
 
 As 'twere from forth us all, a man distill'd 350 
 
 Out of our virtues; who miscarrying, 
 
 What heart from hence receives the conquering part, 
 
 To steel a 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 ; 
 
 Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector. 
 
 Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares. 
 
 And think, perchance, they '11 sell; if not, 360 
 
 The lustre of the better yet to show, 
 
 Shall show the better. Do not consent 
 
 That ever Hector and Achilles meet ; 
 
 For both our honour and our shame in this 
 
 Are dogg'd with two strange followers. 
 
 Nest. I see them not with my old eyes : what are they ? 
 
 Ulyss. What glory our Achilles shares from Hector, 
 Were he not proud, we all should share with him: 
 But he already is too insolent; 
 
 And we were better parch in Afric sun 370 
 
 Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes. 
 Should he 'scape Hector fair: if he were foil'd, 
 Why then, we did our main opinion crush 
 In taint of our best man. No, make a lottery; 
 And by device let blockish Ajax draw 
 
 52
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 The sort to fight with Hector : among ourselves 
 Give him allowance for the better man ; 
 For that will physic the great Myrmidon 
 Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall 
 His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends. 380 
 
 If the dull brainless Ajax come safe off, 
 We '11 dress him up in voices : if he fail, 
 Yet go we under our opinion still 
 That we have better men. But, hit or miss, 
 Our project's life this shape of sense assumes, 
 Ajax employ'd plucks down Achilles' plumes. 
 Nest. Ulysses, 
 
 Now I begin to relish thy advice ; 
 
 And I will give a taste of it forthwith 
 
 To Agamemnon : go we to him straight. 390 
 
 Two curs shall tame each other : pride alone 
 
 Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone. 
 
 {Exeunt. 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 
 Scene I. 
 
 The Grecian camp. 
 
 Enter Ajax and Thersites. 
 
 Ajax. Thersites ! 
 
 Ther. Agamemnon — how if he had boils — full, all 
 
 over, generally? 
 Ajax. Thersites ! 
 Ther. And those boils did run? — Say so, — did not 
 
 the general run then? were not that a botchy 
 
 core? 
 Ajax. Dog! 
 
 53
 
 Act II. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Ther. Then would come some matter from him ; I see 
 
 none now. lo 
 
 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 vinewed'st 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 20 
 jade's tricks ! 
 
 Ajax. Toadstool, 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, porpentine, 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 30 
 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 shouldst strike him. 
 
 Ajax. Cobloaf! 40 
 
 54
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Ther. He would pi.m thee into shivers with his fist, as 
 a sailor breaks a biscuit. 
 
 Ajax. [Beating him] You w^horeson cur ! 
 
 Ther. Do, do. 
 
 AjaA', Thou stool for a witch ! 
 
 Ther. Ay, do, do; thou sodden-witted lord! thou 
 hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows ; 
 an assinego may tutor thee : thou scurvy valiant 
 ass! thou art here but to thrash Trojans; and 
 thou art bought and sold among those of any wit, 50 
 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 ! 
 
 Ajax. [Beating him] You cur! 
 
 Ther. Mars his idiot ! do, rudeness ; do, camel, do, do. 
 
 Enter Achilles and Patroclus. 
 
 Achil. Why, how now, Ajax! wherefore do ye thus? 
 How now, Thersites ! what 's the matter, man ? 
 
 Ther. You see him there, do you ? 60 
 
 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. 
 
 Achil. ' Well ! ' why, so I do. 
 
 Ther. But yet you look not well upon him ; for, who- 
 soever you take him to be, he is Ajax. 
 
 Achil. I know that, fool. 
 
 Ther. Ay, but that fool knows not himself. 
 
 Ajax. Therefore I beat thee. 70 
 
 55
 
 Act II. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Ther. Lo, lo, lo, lo, what modicums of wit he utters ! 
 his evasions have ears thus long. I have bobbed 
 his brain more than he has beat my bones : I will 
 buy nine sparrows for a penny, and his pia mater 
 is not worth the ninth part of a sparrow. This 
 lord, Achilles, Ajax, who wears his wit in his 
 belly and his guts in his head, I '11 tell you what 
 I say of him. 
 
 Achil. What? 
 
 Ther. I say, this Ajax — [Ajax offers to strike him. 
 
 Achil. Nay, good Ajax. 8i 
 
 Ther. Has not so much wit — 
 
 Achil. Nay, I must hold you. 
 
 Ther. As will stop the eye of Helen's needle, for 
 whom he comes to fight. 
 
 Achil. Peace, fool! 
 
 Ther. I would have peace and quietness, but the fool 
 will not : he there : that he : look you there ! 
 
 Ajax. O thou damned cur ! I shall — 
 
 Achil. Will you set your wit to a fool's? 90 
 
 Ther. No, I warrant you ; for a fool's will shame it. 
 
 Patr. Good words, Thersites. 
 
 Achil. What 's the quarrel ? 
 
 Ajax. I bade the vile owl go learn me the tenour of 
 the proclamation, and he rails upon me. 
 
 Ther. I serve thee not. 
 
 Ajax. Well, go to, go to. 
 
 Ther. I serve here voluntary. 
 
 Achil. Your last service was sufferance, 'twas not 
 
 voluntary ; no man is beaten voluntary : Ajax 100 
 was here the voluntary, and you as under an 
 impress. 
 
 56
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Ther. E'en so; a great deal of your wit too lies in 
 your sinews, or else there be liars. Hector shall 
 have a great catch, if he knock out either of 
 your brains : a' were as good crack a fusty nut 
 with no kernel. 
 
 Achil. What, with me too, Thersites? 
 
 Ther. There 's Ulysses and old Nestor, whose wit 
 
 was mouldy ere your grandsires had nails on no 
 their toes, yoke you like draught-oxen, and make 
 you plough up the wars. 
 
 Achil. What? what? 
 
 Ther. Yes, good sooth : to, Achilles ! to, Ajax ! to ! 
 
 Ajax. I shall cut out your tongue. 
 
 Ther. 'Tis no matter ; I shall speak as much as thou 
 afterwards. 
 
 Patr. No more words, Thersites ; peace ! 
 
 Ther. I will hold my peace when Achilles' brooch 
 
 bids me, shall I ? I20 
 
 Achil. There 's for you, Patroclus. 
 
 Ther. I will see you hanged, like clotpoles, ere I 
 come any more to your tents : I will keep where 
 there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of 
 fools. [Exit. 
 
 Patr. A good riddance. 
 
 Achil. Marry, this, sir, is proclaim'd through all our 
 host: 
 That Hector, by the fifth hour of the sun. 
 Will with a trumpet 'twixt our tents and Troy 
 To-morrow morning call some knight to arms 130 
 That hath a stomach, and such a one that dare 
 Maintain — I know not what : 'tis trash. Farewell. 
 
 Ajax. Farewell. Who shall answer him ? 
 
 57
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Achil. I know not ; 'tis put to lottery ; otherwise 
 
 He knew his man. 
 Ajax. O, meaning you. I will go learn more of it. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Troy. A room in Priam's palace. 
 Enter Priam, Hector, Troilus, Paris, and Helenus. 
 
 Pri. After so many hours, lives, speeches spent. 
 
 Thus once again says Nestor from the Greeks : 
 
 * Deliver Helen, and all damage else, 
 
 As honour, loss of time, travail, expense. 
 
 Wounds, friends, and what else dear that is consumed 
 
 In hot digestion of this cormorant war, 
 
 Shall be struck off.' Hector, what say you to 't? 
 
 Hect. Though no man lesser fears the Greeks than I 
 As far as toucheth my particular, 
 Yet, dread Priam, lo 
 
 There is no lady of more softer bowels, 
 More spongy to suck in the sense of fear, 
 More ready to cry out ' Who knows what follows ? ' 
 Than Hector is : the wound of peace is surety. 
 Surety secure : but modest doubt is call'd 
 The beacon of the wise, the tent that searches 
 To the bottom of the worst. Let Helen go. 
 Since the first sword was drawn about this question, 
 Every tithe soul, 'mongst many thousand dismes, 
 Hath been as dear as Helen ; I mean, of ours : 20 
 
 If we have lost so many tenths of ours, 
 To guard a thing not ours, nor worth to us, 
 Had it our name, the value of one ten, 
 
 58
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 What merit 's in that reason which denies 
 The yielding of her up? 
 
 Tro. Fie, fie, my brother! 
 
 Weigh you the worth and honour of a king, 
 So great as our dread father, in a scale 
 Of common ounces? will you with counters sum 
 The past proportion of his infinite? 
 And buckle in a waist most fathomless 30 
 
 With spans and inches so diminutive 
 As fears and reasons? fie, for godly shame! 
 
 Hel. No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons, 
 You are so empty of them. Should not our father 
 Bear the great sway of his afifairs with reasons, 
 Because your speech hath none that tells him so? 
 
 Tro. You are for dreams and slumbers, brother priest; 
 You fur your gloves with reason. Here are your 
 
 reasons: 
 You know an enemy intends you harm; 
 You know a sword employ'd is perilous, 40 
 
 And reason flies the object of all harm: 
 Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds 
 A Grecian and his sword, if he do set 
 The very wings of reason to his heels, 
 And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove, 
 Or like a star disorb'd? Nay, if we talk of reason. 
 Let 's shut our gates, and sleep : manhood and honour 
 Should have hare hearts, would they but fat their 
 
 thoughts 
 With this cramm'd reason: reason and respect 
 Make livers pale and lustihood deject. 50 
 
 Hect. Brother, she is not worth what she doth cost 
 The holding. 
 
 59
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Tro. What 's aught, but as 'tis valued ? 
 
 Hect. But value dwells not in particular will; 
 It holds his estimate and dignity 
 As well wherein 'tis precious of itself 
 As in the prizer : 'tis mad idolatry 
 To make the service greater than the god; 
 And the will dotes, that is attributive 
 To what infectiously itself affects, 
 Without some image of the afifected merit, 60 
 
 Tro. I take to-day a wife, and my election 
 Is led on in the conduct of my will; 
 My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears. 
 Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores 
 Of will and judgement: how may I avoid. 
 Although my will distaste what it elected, 
 The wife I chose ? there can be no evasion 
 To blench from this, and to stand firm by honour. 
 We turn not back the silks upon the merchant 
 When we have soil'd them, nor the remainder viands 
 We do not throw in unrespective sieve, 70 
 
 Because we now are full. It was thought meet 
 Paris should do some vengeance on the Greeks: 
 Your breath of full consent belHed.his sails; 
 The seas and winds, old wranglers, took a truce, 
 And did him service : he touch'd the ports desired ; 
 And for an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive 
 He brought a Grecian queen, whose youth and 
 
 freshness 
 Wrinkles Apollo's and makes stale the morning. 
 Why keep we her? the Grecians ket^ our aunt: 80 
 Is she worth keeping? why, she is a pearl, 
 Whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships, 
 60
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 And tum'd crown'd kings to merchants. 
 
 If you '11 avouch 'twas wisdom Paris went, 
 
 As you must needs, for you all cried ' Go, go,' 
 
 If you '11 confess he brought home noble prize, 
 
 As you must needs, for you all clapp'd your hands, 
 
 And cried ' Inestimable ! ' why do you now 
 
 The issue of your proper wisdoms rate, 
 
 And do a deed that Fortune never did, 90 
 
 Beggar the estimation which you prized 
 
 Richer than sea and land? O, theft most base, 
 
 That we have stol'n what we do fear to keep ! 
 
 But thieves unworthy of a thing so stol'n. 
 
 That in their country did them that disgrace, 
 
 We fear to warrant in our native place! 
 
 Ca^. [Within] Cry, Trojans, cry! 
 
 Pri. What noise? what shriek is this? 
 
 Tro. 'Tis our mad sister, I do know her voice. 
 
 Cas. [Within'] Cry, Trojans! 
 
 Hect. It is Cassandra. 100 
 
 Enter Cassandra, raving, with her hair about her ears. 
 
 Cas. Cry, Trojans, cry! lend me ten thousand eyes. 
 And I will fill them with prophetic tears. 
 
 Hect. Peace, sister, peace! 
 
 Cas. Virgins and boys, mid age and wrinkled eld, 
 Soft infancy, that nothing canst but cry. 
 Add to my clamours! let us pay betimes 
 A moiety of that mass of moan to come. 
 Cry, Trojans, cry! practise your eyes with tears! 
 Troy must not be, nor goodly Ilion stand; 
 Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all. no 
 
 Cry, Trojans, cry! a Helen and a woe: 
 61
 
 Act 11. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go. [Exit. 
 
 Hect. Now, youthful Troilus, do not these high strains 
 Of divination in our sister work 
 Some touches of remorse? or is your blood 
 So madly hot that no discourse of reason, 
 Nor fear of bad success in a bad cause. 
 Can qualify the same? 
 
 Tro. Why, brother Hector, 
 
 We may not think the justness of each act 
 Such and no other than event doth form it; 120 
 
 Nor once deject the courage of our minds. 
 Because Cassandra 's mad : her brain-sick raptures 
 Cannot distaste the goodness of a quarrel 
 Which hath our several honours all engaged 
 To make it gracious. For my private part, 
 I am no more touch'd than all Priam's sons: 
 And Jove forbid there should be done amongst us 
 Such things as might offend the weakest spleen 
 To fight for and maintain ! 
 
 Par. Else might the world convince of levity 130 
 
 As well my undertakings as your counsels : 
 But I attest the gods, your full consent 
 Gave wings to my propension, and cut off 
 All fears attending on so dire a project. 
 For what, alas, can these my single arms? 
 What propugnation is in one man's valour, 
 To stand the push and enmity of those 
 This quarrel would excite? Yet, I protest, 
 Were I alone to pass the difficulties. 
 And had as ample power as I haive will, 140 
 
 Paris should ne'er retract what he hath done, 
 Nor faint in the pursuit. 
 62
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 Pri. Paris, you speak 
 
 Like one besotted on your sweet delights: 
 You have the honey still, but these the gall; 
 So to be vaHant is no praise at all. 
 
 Par. Sir, I propose not merely to myself 
 
 The pleasures such a beauty brings with it ; 
 
 But I would have the soil of her fair rape 
 
 Wiped off in honourable keeping her. 
 
 What treason were it to the ransack'd queen, 150 
 
 Disgrace to your great worths, and shame to me, 
 
 Now to deliver her possession up 
 
 On terms of base compulsion! Can it be 
 
 That so degenerate a strain as this 
 
 Should once set footing in your generous bosoms? 
 
 There 's not the meanest spirit on our party, 
 
 Without a heart to dare, or sword to draw, 
 
 When Helen is defended, nor none so noble. 
 
 Whose life were ill bestow'd, or death unfamed, 
 
 Where Helen is the subject: then, I say, 160 
 
 Well may we fight for her, whom, we know well. 
 
 The world's large spaces cannot parallel. 
 
 Hect. Paris and Troilus, you have both said well; 
 And on the cause and question now in hand 
 Have glozed, but superficially; not much 
 Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought 
 Unfit to hear moral philosophy. 
 The reasons you allege do more conduce 
 To the hot passion of distemper'd blood. 
 Than to make up a free determination ^ 170 
 
 'Twixt right and wrong; for pleasure and revenge 
 Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice 
 Of any true decision. Nature craves 
 
 63
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 All dues be render'd to their owners: now, 
 What nearer debt in all humanity 
 Than wife is to the husband? If this law 
 Of nature be corrupted through affection, 
 And that great minds, of partial indulgence 
 To their benumbed wills, resist the same. 
 There is a law in each well-order'd nation i8o 
 
 To curb those raging appetites that are 
 Most disobedient and refractory. 
 If Helen then be wife to Sparta's king, 
 As it is known she is, these moral laws 
 Of nature and of nations speak aloud 
 To have her back return'd : thus to persist 
 In doing wrong extenuates not wrong. 
 But makes it much more heavy. Hector's opinion 
 Is this in way of truth: yet, ne'ertheless. 
 My spritely brethren, I propend to you 190 
 
 In resolution to keep Helen still ; 
 For 'tis a cause that hath no mean dependance 
 Upon our joint and several dignities. 
 Tro. Why, there you touch'd the life of our design: 
 Were it not glory that we more affected 
 Than the performance of our heaving spleens, 
 I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood 
 Spent more in her defence. But, worthy Hector, 
 She is a theme of honour and renown; 
 A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds, 200 
 
 Whose present courage may beat down our foes. 
 And fame in time to come canonize us: 
 For, I presume, brave Hector would not lose 
 So rich advantage of a promised glory 
 As smiles upon the forehead of this action 
 64
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 For the wide world's revenue. 
 Hect. I am yours, 
 
 You valiant offspring of great Priamus. 
 I have a roisting challenge sent amongst 
 The dull and factious nobles of the Greeks, 
 Will strike amazement to their drowsy spirits : 210 
 I was advertised their great general slept, 
 Whilst emulation in the army crept: 
 This, I presume, will wake him. [Exeunt, 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The Grecian camp. Before the tent of Achilles. 
 
 Enter Ther sites, solus. 
 
 Ther. How now, Thersites ! what, lost in the labyrinth 
 of thy fury! Shall the elephant Ajax carry it 
 thus ? he beats me, and I rail at him : O, worthy 
 satisfaction ! would it were otherwise ; that I 
 could beat him, whilst he railed at me. 'Sfoot, 
 I '11 learn to conjure and raise devils, but I '11 see 
 some issue of my spiteful execrations. Then 
 there 's Achilles, a rare enginer. If Troy be 
 not taken till these two undermine it, the walls 
 will stand till they fall of themselves. O thou 10 
 great thunder-darter of Olympus, forget that 
 thou art Jove, the king of gods, and. Mercury, 
 lose all the serpentine craft of thy caduceus, if 
 ye take not that little little less than little wit 
 from them that they have! which short-armed 
 ignorance itself knows is so abundant scarce, it 
 will not in circumvention deliver a fly from a 
 spider, without drawing their massy irons and 
 
 65
 
 Act II. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 cutting the web. After this, the vengeance on 
 the whole camp ! or, rather, the NeapoHtan bone- 20 
 ache ! for that, methinks, is the curse dependant 
 on those that war for a placket. I have said my 
 prayers ; and devil Envy say amen. What, ho ! 
 my Lord Achilles! 
 
 Enter Patroclus. 
 
 Pair. Who 's there ? Thersitcs ! Good Thersites, 
 come in and rail. 
 
 Ther. If I could ha' remembered a gilt counterfeit, 
 thou wouldst not have slipped out of my con- 
 templation: but it is no matter; thyself upon 
 thyself! The common curse of mankind, folly 30 
 and ignorance, be thine in great revenue ! heaven 
 bless thee from a tutor, and discipline come not 
 near thee! Let thy blood be thy direction till 
 thy death! then if she that lays thee out says 
 thou art a fair corse, I '11 be sworn and sworn 
 upon 't she never shrouded any but lazars. 
 Amen. Where 's Achilles ? 
 
 Pair. What, art thou devout? wast thou in prayer? 
 
 Ther, Ay ; the heavens hear me ! 
 
 Pair. Amen. 40 
 
 Enter Achilles. 
 
 Achil. Who's there? 
 
 Pair. Thersites, my lord. 
 
 Achil. Where, where? Art thou come? why, my 
 cheese, my digestion, why hast thou not served 
 thyself in to my table so many meals? Come, 
 what 's Agamemnon ? 
 
 66
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 Ther. Thy commander, Achilles : then tell me, 
 Patroclus, what 's Achilles ? 
 
 Pair, Thy lord, Thersites : then tell me, I pray thee, 
 
 what 's thyself ? 50 
 
 Ther. Thy knower, Patroclus : then tell me, Patro- 
 clus, what art thou? 
 
 Pair. Thou mayst tell that knowest. 
 
 AMI O, tell, tell. 
 
 Ther. I '11 decline the whole question. Agamemnon 
 commands Achilles ; Achilles is my lord ; I am 
 Patroclus' knower, and Patroclus is a fool. 
 
 Patr. You rascal! 
 
 Ther. Peace, fool ! I have not done. 
 
 .^''chiL He is a privileg-ed man. Proceed, Thersites. 60 
 
 Ther. Agamemnon is a fool ; Achilles is a fool ; 
 Thersites is a fool, and, as aforesaid, Patroclus 
 is a fool. 
 
 Achil. Derive this ; come. 
 
 Ther. Agamemnon is a fool to offer to command 
 Achilles ; Achilles is a fool to be commanded of 
 Agamemnon ; Thersites is a fool to serve such a 
 fool ; and Patroclus is a fool positive. 
 
 Patr, Why am I a fool? 
 
 Ther. Make that demand of the prover. It suffices 
 
 me thou art. Look you, who comes here ? 70 
 
 Achil. Patroclus, I '11 speak with nobody. Come in 
 
 with me, Thersites. [Exit, 
 
 Ther. Here is such patchery, such juggling and such 
 knavery! all the argument is a cuckold and a 
 whore ; a good quarrel to draw emulous factions 
 and bleed to death upon. Now, the dry serpigo 
 on the subject! and war and lechery confound 
 all ! [Exit. 
 
 67
 
 Act II. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Diomedes, and Ajax. 
 
 Agam, Where is Achilles? 
 
 Patr, Within his tent ; but ill-disposed, my lord. 80 
 
 Agam. Let it be known to him that we are here. 
 He shent our messengers ; and we lay by 
 Our appertainments, visiting of him : 
 Let him be told so, lest perchance he think 
 We dare not move the question of our place, 
 Or know not what we are. 
 
 Patr. T shall say so to him. [Exit. 
 
 Ulyss. We saw him at the opening of his tent : 
 He is not sick. 
 
 Ajax. Yes, lion-sick, sick of proud heart : you may 
 
 call it melancholy, if you will favour the man ; 90 
 but, by my head, 'tis pride: but why, why? let 
 him show us the cause. A word, my lord. 
 
 [Takes Agamemnon aside. 
 
 Nest. What moves Ajax thus to bay at him? 
 
 Ulyss. Achilles hath inveigled his fool from him. 
 
 Nest. Who, Thersites? 
 
 Ulyss. He. 
 
 Nest. Then will Ajax lack matter, if he have lost his 
 argument. 
 
 Ulyss. No, you see, he is his argument that has his 
 
 argument, Achilles. 100 
 
 Nest, All the better ; their fraction is more our wish 
 than their faction : but it was a strong compos- 
 ure a fool could disunite. 
 
 Ulyss. The amity that wisdom knits not, folly may 
 easily untie. 
 
 Re-enter Patroclus. 
 
 Here comes Patroclus. **
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 Nest. No Achilles with him. 
 
 Ulyss. The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy: 
 his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure. 
 
 Pair. Achilles bids me say, he is much sorry, no 
 
 If anything more than your sport and pleasure 
 Did move your greatness and this noble state 
 To call upon him ; he hopes it is no other 
 But for your health and your digestion sake, 
 An after-dinner's breath. 
 
 Agam. Hear you, Patroclus; 
 
 We are too well acquainted with these answers: 
 But his evasion, wing'd thus swift with scorn, 
 Cannot outfly our apprehensions. 
 Much attribute he hath, and much the reason 
 Why we ascribe it to him : yet all his virtues, 120 
 Not virtuously on his own part beheld. 
 Do in our eyes begin to lose their gloss. 
 Yea, like fair fruit in an unwholesome dish. 
 Are Hke to rot untasted. Go and tell him, 
 We come to speak with him ; and you shall not sin, 
 If you do say we think him over-proud 
 And under-honest; in self-assumption greater 
 Than in the note of judgement; and worthier than 
 
 himself 
 Here tend the savage strangeness he puts on. 
 Disguise the holy strength of their command, 130 
 And underwrite in an observing kind 
 His humorous predominance ; yea, watch 
 His pettish lunes, his ebbs, his flows, as if 
 The passage and whole carriage of this action 
 Rode on his tide. Go tell him this, and add. 
 That if he overbold his price so much, 
 
 69
 
 Act II. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 We '11 none of him, but let him, like an engine 
 
 Not portable, lie under this report : 
 
 * Bring action hither, this cannot go to war : 
 
 A stirring dwarf we do allowance give 140 
 
 Before a sleeping giant ' : tell him so. 
 
 Pair. I shall ; and bring his answer presently. [Exit, 
 
 Agam. In second voice we '11 not be satisfied ; 
 
 We come to speak with him. Ulysses, enter you. 
 
 [Exit Ulysses. 
 
 Ajax. What is he more than another? 
 
 Agam. No more than what he thinks he is. 
 
 Ajax. Is he so much? Do you not think he thinks 
 himself a better man than I am? 
 
 Agam. No question. 
 
 Ajax. Will you subscribe his thought and say he is? 150 
 
 Agam. No, noble Ajax ; you are as strong, as vali- 
 ant, as wise, no less noble, much more gentle and 
 altogether more tractable. 
 
 Ajax. Why should a man be proud? How doth 
 pride grow? I know not what pride is. 
 
 Agam. Your mind is the clearer, Ajax, and your 
 virtues the fairer. He that is proud eats up him- 
 self: pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, 
 his own chronicle; and whatever praises itself 
 but in the deed, devours the deed in the praise. 160 
 
 Ajax. I do hate a proud man, as I hate the engender- 
 ing of toads. 
 
 Nest. [Aside] Yet he loves himself: is 't not strange? 
 
 Re-enter Ulysses. 
 
 Ulyss. Achilles will not to the field to-morrow. 
 Agam. What 's his excuse ? 
 
 70
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 Ulyss. He doth rely on none, 
 
 But carries on the stream of his dispose, 
 Without observance or respect of any. 
 In will peculiar and in self-admission. 
 
 Agaml Why will he not, upon our fair request, 
 
 Untent his person, and share the air with us? 170 
 
 Ulyss. Things small as nothing, for request's sake only 
 He makes important : possess'd he is with greatness, 
 And speaks not to himself but with a pride 
 That quarrels at self-breath : imagined worth 
 Holds in his blood such swoln and hot discourse 
 That 'twixt his mental and his active parts 
 Kingdom'd Achilles in commotion rages 
 And batters down himself : what should I say ? 
 He is so plaguy proud that the death-tokens of it 
 Cry ' No recovery.' 
 
 A gam. Let Ajax go to him. 180 
 
 Dear lord, go you and greet him in his tent : 
 'Tis said he holds you well, and will be led 
 At your request a little from himself. 
 
 Ulyss. O Agamemnon, let it not be so ! 
 
 We '11 consecrate the steps that Ajax makes 
 
 When they go from Achilles. Shall the proud lord 
 
 That bastes his arrogance with his own seam. 
 
 And never suffers matter of the world 
 
 Enter his thoughts, save such as do revolve 
 
 And ruminate himself, shall he be worshipp'd 190 
 
 Of that we hold an idol more than he? 
 
 No, this thrice worthy and right valiant lord 
 
 Must not so stale his palm, nobly acquired, 
 
 Nor, by my will, assub jugate his merits 
 
 A5 amply titled as Achilles is, 
 
 71
 
 Act II. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 By going to Achilles : 
 
 That were to enlard his fat-already pride, 
 
 And add more coals to Cancer when he burns 
 
 With entertaining great Hyperion. 
 
 This lord go to him ! Jupiter forbid, 200 
 
 And say in thunder ' Achilles go to him.' 
 Nest. [Aside] O, this is well ; he rubs the vein of him. 
 Dio. [Aside] And how his silence drinks up this applause ! 
 Ajax. If I go to him, with my armed fist 
 
 I '11 pash him o'er the face. 
 Agam. O, no, you shall not go. 
 Ajax. An a' be proud with me, I '11 pheeze his pride : 
 
 Let me go to him. 
 Ulyss. Not for the worth that hangs upon our quarrel. 
 Ajax. A paltry, insolent fellow! 210 
 
 Nest. [Aside] How he describes himself! 
 Ajax. Can he not be sociable ? 
 Ulyss. [Aside] The raven chides blackness. 
 Ajax. I '11 let his humours blood. 
 Agam. [Aside] He will be the physician that should 
 
 be the patient. 
 Ajax. An all men were o' my mind, — 
 Ulyss. [Aside] Wit would be out of fashion. 
 Ajax. A' should not bear it so, a' should eat swords 
 
 first : shall pride carry it ? 220 
 
 Nest. [Aside] An 'twould, you 'Id carry half. 
 Ulyss. [Aside] A' would have ten shares. 
 Ajax. I will knead him, I '11 make him supple. 
 Nest. [Aside] He's not yet through warm : force him 
 
 with praises : pour in, pour in ; his ambition is dry. 
 Ulyss. [To Agamemnon] My lord, you feed too 
 much on this dislike. 
 
 72
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 Nest, Our noble general, do not do so. 
 
 Dio, You must prepare to fight without Achilles. 
 
 Ulyss, Why, 'tis this naming of him does him harm. 
 
 Here is a man — but 'tis before his face ; 230 
 
 I will be silent. 
 
 Nest. Wherefore should you so? 
 
 He is not emulous, as Achilles is. 
 
 Ulyss. Know the whole world, he is as valiant. 
 
 Ajax. A whoreson dog, that shall palter thus with 
 us ! Would he were a Trojan ! 
 
 Nest. What a vice were it in Ajax now — 
 
 Ulyss. H he were proud, — 
 
 Dio. Or covetous of praise, — 
 
 Ulyss. Ay, or surly borne, — 
 
 Dio. Or strange, or self-affected ! 240 
 
 Ulyss. Thank the heavens, lord, thou art of sweet com- 
 posure ; 
 Praise him that got thee, she that gave thee suck : 
 Famed be thy tutor, and thy parts of nature 
 Thrice-famed beyond, beyond all erudition : 
 But he that disciplined thine arms to fight. 
 Let Mars divide eternity in twain. 
 And give him half : and, for thy vigour. 
 Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield 
 To sinewy Ajax. I will not praise thy wisdom, 
 Which, like a bourn, a pale, a shore, confines 250 
 Thy spacious and dilated parts : here 's Nestor, 
 Instructed by the antiquary times. 
 He must, he is, he cannot but be wise ; 
 But pardon, father Nestor, were your days 
 As green as Ajax', and your brain so temper'd, 
 You should not have the eminence of him, 
 
 73
 
 Act III. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 But be as Ajax. 
 
 Ajax. Shall I call you father? 
 
 iV^^^. Ay, my good son. 
 
 Dio. Be ruled by him, Lord Ajax. 
 
 Ulyss. There is no tarrying here ; the hart Achilles 
 
 Keeps thicket. Please it our great general 260 
 
 To call together all his state of war : 
 
 Fresh kings are come to Troy : to-morrow 
 
 We must with all our main of power stand fast : 
 
 And here 's a lord, come knights from east to west, 
 
 And cull their flower, Ajax shall cope the best. 
 
 Agam. Go we to council. Let Achilles sleep : 
 
 Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw 
 deep^ [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 Troy. A room in Priam's palace. 
 Enter Pan darns and a Servant. 
 
 Pan. Friend, you, pray you, a word: do you not 
 
 follow the young Lord Paris ? 
 Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me. 
 Pan. You depend upon him, I mean? 
 Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the Lord. 
 Pan, You depend upon a noble gentleman; I must 
 
 needs praise him. 
 Serv. The Lord be praised ! 
 Pan. You know me, do you not? 
 
 Serv. Faith, sir, superficially. 10 
 
 Pan, Friend, know me better ; I am the Lord Pandartis, 
 
 74
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 Serv. I hope I shall know your honour better. 
 
 Pan. I do desire it. 
 
 Serv. You are in the state of grace. 
 
 Pan. Grace ! not so, friend ; honour and lordship 
 
 are my titles. [Music zvithin.] What music is 
 
 this? ' 
 Serv. I do but partly know, sir : it is music in parts. 
 Pan. Know you the musicians? 
 
 Serv. Wholly, sir. 20 
 
 Pan. Who play they to ? 
 Serv. To the hearers, sir. 
 Pan. At whose pleasure, friend? 
 Serv. At mine, sir, and theirs that love music. 
 Pan. Command, I mean, friend. 
 Serv. Who shall I command, sir ? 
 Pan. Friend, we imderstand not one another: I am 
 
 too courtly, and thou art too cunning. At whose 
 
 request do these men play ? 
 Serv. That 's to 't, indeed, sir : marry, sir, at the 30 
 
 request of Paris my lord, who is there in person ; 
 
 with him, the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of 
 
 beauty, love's invisible soul. 
 Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida ? 
 Serv. No, sir, Helen : could not you find out that by 
 
 her attributes ? 
 Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not 
 
 seen the Lady Cressida. I come to speak 
 
 w4th Paris from the Prince Troilus: I will 
 
 make a complimental assault upon him, for my 40 
 
 business seethes. 
 Serv. Sodden business ! there 's a stewed phrase 
 
 indeed ! 
 
 75
 
 Act III. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Enter Paris and Helen, attended. 
 
 Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair 
 company ! fair desires, in all fair measure, fairly 
 guide them ! especially to you, fair queen ! fair 
 thoughts be your fair pillow ! 
 
 Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words. 
 
 Pan. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. 
 
 Fair prince, here is good broken music. 50 
 
 Par. You have broke it, cousin : and, by my life, 
 you shall make it whole again; you shall piece 
 it out with a piece of your performance. Nell, 
 he is full of harmony. 
 
 Pan. Truly, lady, no. 
 
 Helen. O, sir, — 
 
 Pan. Rude, in sooth ; in good sooth, very rude. 
 
 Par. Well said, my lord ! well, you say so in fits. 
 
 Pan. I have business to my lord, dear queen. My 
 
 lord, will you vouchsafe me a word ? 60 
 
 Helen. Nay, this shall not hedge us out : we '11 hear 
 you sing, certainly. 
 
 Pan. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me. 
 But, marry, thus, my lord: my dear lord, and 
 most esteemed friend, your brother Troilus — 
 
 Helen. ^ly Lord Pandarus ; honey-sweet lord, — 
 
 Pan. Go to, sweet queen, go to: — commends him- 
 self most affectionately to you — 
 
 Helen. You shall not bob us out of our melody : if 
 
 you do, our melancholy upon your head ! 70 
 
 Pan. Sweet queen, sweet queen; that's a sweet 
 queen, i' faith. 
 
 Helen. And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence. 
 
 Pan. Nay, that shall not serve your turn ; that shall 
 
 76
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 it not, in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such 
 
 words ; no, no. And, my lord, he desires you, 
 
 that if the king call for him at supper, you will 
 
 make his excuse. 
 Helen. My Lord Pandarus, — 
 Pan. What says my sweet queen, my very very 80 
 
 sweet queen ? 
 Par. What exploit 's in hand ? where sups he to-night ? 
 Helen. Nay, but, my lord, — 
 Pan. What says my sweet queen ? My cousin will fall 
 
 out with you. You must not know where he sups. 
 Par. I '11 lay my life, with my disposer Cressida. 
 Pan. No, no, no such matter; you are wide: come 
 
 your disposer is sick. 
 Par. Well, I '11 make excuse. 
 Pan. Ay, good my lord. Why should you say 90 
 
 Cressida ? no, your poor disposer 's sick. 
 Par, I spy. 
 Pan. You spy ! what do you spy ? Come, give me an 
 
 instrument. Now, sweet queen. 
 Helen. Why, this is kindly done. 
 Pan, My niece is horribly in love with a thing you 
 
 have, sweet queen. 
 Helen. She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord 
 
 Paris. 
 Pan. He! no, she '11 none of him ; they two are twain. 100 
 Helen. Falling in, after falling out, may make them three. 
 Pan. Come, come, I '11 hear no more of this ; I '11 sing 
 
 you a song now. 
 Helen. Ay, ay, prithee now. By my troth, sweet lord, 
 
 thou hast a fine forehead. 
 Pan, Ay, you may, you may. 
 
 77
 
 Act III. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Helen. Let thy song be love : this love will undo us 
 
 all. O Cupid, Cupid, Cupid ! 
 Pan. Love ! ay, that it shall, i' faith. 
 
 Par. Ay, good now, love, love, nothing but love. no 
 
 Pan. In good troth, it begins so. [Sings. 
 
 Love, love, nothing but love, still more ! 
 
 For, O, love's bow 
 
 Shoots buck and doe : 
 
 The shaft confounds, 
 
 Not that it wounds, 
 But tickles still the sore. 
 These lovers cry Oh ! oh ! they die : 
 
 Yet that which seems the wound to kill. 
 Doth turn oh ! oh ! to ha ! ha ! he ! 120 
 
 So dying love lives still : 
 Oh ! oh ! a while, but ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 Oh ! oh ! groans out for ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 
 Heigh-ho ! 
 Helen. In love, i' faith, to the very tip of the nose. 
 Par. He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds 
 
 hot blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, 
 
 and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds 
 
 is love. 
 Pan. Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot 130 
 
 thoughts and hot deeds ? Why, they are vipers : 
 
 is love a generation of vipers ? Sweet lord, who 's 
 
 afield to-day ? 
 Par. Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all 
 
 the gallantry of Troy : I would fain have armed 
 
 to-day, but my Nell would not have it so. How 
 
 chance my brother Troilus went not ? 
 
 78
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Helen. He hangs the Up at something : you know all, 
 Lord Pandarus. 
 
 Pan, Not I, honey-sweet queen. I long to hear 140 
 how they sped to-day. You '11 remember your 
 brother's excuse? 
 
 Par. To a hair. 
 
 Pan. Farewell, sweet queen. 
 
 Helen. Commend me to your niece. 
 
 Pan. I will, sweet queen. [Exit, 
 
 [A retreat sounded. 
 
 Par. They 're come from field : let us to Priam's hall, 
 To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woo 
 
 you 
 To help unarm our Hector : his stubborn buckles, 
 With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd, 
 Shall more obey than to the edge of steel 151 
 
 Or force of Greekish sinews ; you shall do more 
 Than all the island kings, — disarm great Hector. 
 
 Helen. 'Twill make us proud to be his servant, Paris ; 
 Yea, what he shall receive of us in duty 
 Gives us more palm in beauty than we have. 
 Yea, overshines ourself. 
 
 Par. Sweet, above thought I love thee. [Exeunt 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 An orchard to Pandarus' house. 
 Enter Pandarus and Troiliis's Boy, meeting. 
 
 Pan. How now ! where 's thy master ? at my cousin 
 
 Cressida's ? 
 Boy. No, sir ; he stays for you to conduct him thither. 
 Pan. O, here he comes. 
 
 79
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Enter Troilus. 
 
 How now, how now ! 
 
 Tro. Sirrah, walk off. {Exit Boy. 
 
 Pan. Have you seen my cousin ? 
 
 Tro. Nc , Pandarus : I stalk about her door. 
 
 Like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks 
 Staying for waftage. O, be thou my Charon, lo 
 And give me swift transportance to those fields 
 Where I may wallow in the lily-beds 
 Proposed for the deserver! O gentle Pandarus, 
 From Cupid's shoulder pluck his painted wings, 
 And fly with me to Cressid ! 
 
 Pan. Walk here i' the orchard, I '11 bring her straight. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Tro. I am giddy; expectation whirls me round. 
 The imaginary relish is so sweet 
 That it enchants my sense : what will it be. 
 When that the watery palates taste indeed 20 
 
 Love's thrice repured nectar? death, I fear me, 
 S wounding destruction, or some joy too fine, 
 Too subtle-potent, tuned too sharp in sweetne^, 
 For the capacity of my ruder powers : 
 I fear it much, and I do fear besides 
 That I shall lose distinction in my joys. 
 As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps 
 The enemy flying. 
 
 Re-enter Pandarus. 
 
 Pan. She 's making her ready, she '11 come straight : 
 
 you must be witty now. She does so blush, 30 
 and fetches her wind so short, as if she were 
 frayed with a sprite : I '11 fetch her. It is the 
 
 80
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 prettiest villain : she fetches her breath as short 
 as a new-ta'en sparrow. [Exit. 
 
 Tro. Even such a passion doth embrace my bosom : 
 My heart beats thicker than a feverous pulse ; 
 And all my powers do their bestowing lose, 
 Like vassalage at unawares encountering 
 The eye of majesty. 
 
 Re-enter Pandarus with Cressida. 
 
 Pan. Come, come, what need you blush ? shame 's 40 
 a baby. Here she is now : swear the oaths 
 now to her that you have sworn to me. What, 
 are you gone again ? you must be watched ere 
 you be made tame, must you? Come your 
 ways, come your ways ; an you draw backward, 
 we '11 put you i' the fills. Why do you not 
 speak to her? Come, draw this curtain, and let 's 
 see your picture. Alas the day, how loath you are 
 to offend daylight ! an 'twere dark, you 'Id close 
 sooner. So, so; rub on, and kiss the mistress. 50 
 How now ! a kiss in fee-farm ! build there, car- 
 penter; the air is sweet. Nay, you shall fight 
 your hearts out ere I part you. The falcon as the 
 tercel, for all the ducks i' the river : go to, go to. 
 
 Tro. You have bereft me of all words, lady. 
 
 Pan. Words pay no debts, give her deeds : but 
 she '11 bereave you o' the deeds too, if she call 
 your activity in question. What, billing again? 
 Here 's ' In witness whereof the parties inter- 
 changeably ' — Come in, come in : I '11 go get a 60 
 fire. [Exit. 
 
 Cres. Will you walk in, my lord? 
 
 81
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Tro. O Cressida, how often have I wished me thus ! 
 
 Cres. Wished, my lord? — The gods grant — O my 
 lord! 
 
 Tro. What should they grant ? what makes this pretty 
 abruption ? What too curious dreg espies my 
 sweet lady in the fountain of our love? 
 
 Cres. More dregs than water, if my fears have eyes. 
 
 Tro, Fears make devils of cherubins ; they never see 70 
 truly. 
 
 Cres. Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer 
 footing than blind reason stumbling without fear: 
 to fear the worst oft cures the worse. 
 
 Tro. O, let my lady apprehend no fear: in all 
 Cupid's pageant there is presented no monster. 
 
 Cres. Nor nothing monstrous neither ? 
 
 Tro. Nothing, but our undertakings ; when we vow 
 to weep seas, live in fire, eat rocks, tame tigers ; 
 thinking it harder for our mistress to devise 80 
 imposition enough than for us to undergo any 
 difficulty imposed. This is the monstruosity in 
 love, lady, that the will is infinite and the execu- 
 tion confined, that the desire is boundless and the 
 act a slave to limit. 
 
 Cres. They say, all lovers swear more performance 
 than they are able, and yet reserve an ability 
 that they never perform, vowing more than the 
 perfection of ten, and discharging less than the 
 tenth part of one. They that have the voice of op 
 lions and the act of hares, are they not monsters ? 
 
 Tro. Are there such ? such are not we : praise us as 
 we are tasted, allow us as we prove ; our head 
 shall go bare till merit crown it: no perfection 
 
 82
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 in reversion shall have a praise in present: we 
 will not name desert before his birth, and, being 
 born, his addition shall be humble. Few words 
 to fair faith : Troilus shall be such to Cressid as 
 what envy can say worst shall be a mock for his 
 truth, and what truth can speak truest, not truer loo 
 than Troilus. 
 Cres. Will you walk in, my lord ? 
 
 Re-enter Pandarns. 
 
 Pan. What, blushing still ? have you not done talking 
 yet? 
 
 Cres. Well, uncle, what folly I commit, I dedicate to 
 
 you. 
 Pan. I thank you for that : if my lord get a boy of 
 
 you, you '11 give him me. Be true to my lord : 
 
 if he flinch, chide me for it. 
 Tro. You know now your hostages ; your uncle's word no 
 
 and my firm faith. 
 Pan. Nay, I '11 give my word for her too : our 
 
 kindred, though they be long ere they are 
 
 wooed, they are constant being won : they are 
 
 burs, I can tell you ; they '11 stick where they 
 
 are thrown. 
 Cres. Boldness comes to me now, and brings me heart. 
 
 Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day 
 
 For many weary months. 
 Tro. Why was my Cressid then so hard to win ? 120 
 
 Cres. Hard to seem won : but I was won, my lord, 
 
 With the flrst glance that ever — pardon me ; 
 
 If I confess much, you will play the tyrant. 
 
 I love you now ; but not, till now, so much 
 
 83
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 But I might master it : in faith, I he ; 
 
 My thoughts were hke unbridled children, grown 
 
 Too headstrong for their mother. See, we fools ! 
 
 Why have I blabb'd ? who shall be true to us. 
 
 When we are so unsecret to ourselves? 
 
 But, though I loved you well, I woo'd you not; 130 
 
 And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man, 
 
 Or that we women had men's privilege 
 
 Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue ; 
 
 For in this rapture I shall surely speak 
 
 The thing I shall repent. See, see, your silence, 
 
 Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws 
 
 My very soul of counsel ! Stop my mouth. 
 
 Tro. And shall, albeit sweet music issues thence. 
 
 Pan. Pretty, i' faith. 
 
 Cres. My lord, I do beseech you, pardon me ; 140 
 
 'Twas not my purpose thus to beg a kiss : 
 I am ashamed ; O heavens ! what have I done ? 
 For this time will I take my leave, my lord. 
 
 Tro. Your leave, sweet Cressid ? 
 
 Pan. Leave! an you take leave till to-morrow 
 morning — 
 
 Cres. Pray you, content you. 
 
 Tro. What offends you, lady? 
 
 Cres. Sir, mine own company. 
 
 Tro. You cannot shun yourself. 150 
 
 Cres. Let me go and try : 
 
 I have a kind of self resides with you, 
 But an unkind self that itself will leave 
 To be another's fool. I would be gone : 
 Where is my wit ? I know not what I speak. 
 
 Tro, Well know they what they speak that speak so wisely. 
 
 84
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Cres. Perchance, my lord, I show more craft than love. 
 And fell so roundly to a large confession 
 To angle for your thoughts: but you are wise; 
 Or else you love not, for to be wise and love i6o 
 Exceeds man's might; that dwells with gods above. 
 
 Tro. O that I thought it could be in a woman — 
 As, if it can, I will presume in you — 
 To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love; 
 To keep her constancy in plight and youth, 
 Outliving beauty's outward, with a mind 
 That doth renew swifter than blood decays! 
 Or that persuasion could but thus convince me, 
 That my integrity and truth to you 
 Might be affronted with the match and weight 170 
 Of such a winnowed purity in love; 
 How were I then uplifted! but, alas! 
 I am as true as truth's simplicity. 
 And simpler than the infancy of truth. 
 
 Cres. In that I '11 war with you. 
 
 Tro. O virtuous fight. 
 
 When right with right wars who shall be most right! 
 True swains in love shall in the world to come 
 Approve their truths by Troilus : when their rhymes, 
 Full of protest, of oath and big compare, 
 Want similes, truth tired with iteration, 180 
 
 * As true as steel, as plantage to the moon, 
 As sun to day, as turtle to her mate, 
 
 As iron to adamant, as earth to the centre,' 
 Yet, after all comparisons of truth, 
 As truth's authentic author to be cited, 
 
 * As true as Troilus ' shall crown up the verse 
 And sanctify the numbers. 
 
 85
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Ores. Prophet may you be! 
 
 If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth. 
 When time is old and hath forgot itself. 
 When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy, 190 
 And blind oblivion swallow'd cities up, 
 And mighty states characterless are grated 
 To dusty nothing, yet let memory. 
 From false to false, among false maids in love, 
 Upbraid my falsehood! when they 've said ' as false 
 As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth. 
 As fox to lamb, or wolf to heifer's calf, 
 Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son,' 
 ' Yea,' let them say, to stick the heart of falsehood, 
 ' As false as Cressid.' 200 
 
 Paji. Go to, a bargain made: seal it, seal it; I '11 be 
 the witness. Here I hold your hand; here my 
 cousin's. If ever you prove false one to another, 
 since I have taken such pains to bring you to- 
 gether, let all pitiful goers-between be called to 
 the world's end after my name; call them all 
 Pandars; let all constant men be Troiluses, all 
 false women Cressids, and all brokers-between 
 Pandars ! Say ' amen.' 
 
 Tro. Amen. 210 
 
 Crcs. Amen. 
 
 Pan. Amen. Whereupon I will show you a chamber 
 with a bed; which bed, because it shall not 
 speak of your pretty encounters, press it to death : 
 away! [Exeunt Tro. and Cres. 
 
 And Cupid grant all tongue-tied maidens here 
 Bed, chamber, Pandar to provide this gear! 
 
 [Exit, 
 
 86
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. Hi. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The Grecian camp. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Diomcdes, 
 Nestor, Ajax, Mcnelaus, and Calchas. 
 
 Cal. Now, princes, for the service I have done yon, 
 The advantage of the time prompts me aloud 
 To call for recompense. Appear it to your mind 
 That, through the sight I bear in things to love, 
 I have abandoned Troy, left my possession, 
 Incurr'd a traitor's name ; exposed myself, 
 From certain and possessed conveniences, 
 To doubtful fortunes ; sequestering from me all 
 That time, acquaintance, custom and condition 
 . Made tame and most familiar to my nature, lo 
 
 And here, to do you service, am become 
 As new into the world, strange, unacquainted : 
 I do beseech you, as in way of taste, 
 To give me now a little benefit, 
 Out of those many registered in promise. 
 Which, you say, live to come in my behalf. 
 
 Again. What wouldst thou of us, Trojan? make demand. 
 
 Cal. You have a Trojan prisoner, call'd Antenor, 
 Yesterday took : Troy holds him very dear. 
 Oft have you — often have you thanks therefore — 
 Desired my Cressid in right great exchange, 21 
 
 Whom Troy hath still denied: but this Antenor, 
 I know, is such a wrest in their affairs. 
 That their negotiations all must slack, 
 Wanting his manage ; and they will almost 
 Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam, 
 
 87.
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 In change of him : let him be sent, great princes, 
 And he shall buy my daughter ; and her presence 
 Shall quite strike off all service I have done, 
 In most accepted pain. 
 
 Agam. Let Diomedes bear him, 30 
 
 And bring us Cressid hither: Calchas shall have 
 What he requests of us. Good Diomed, 
 Furnish you fairly for this interchange: 
 Withal, bring word if Hector will to-morrow 
 Be answer'd in his challenge: Ajax is ready. 
 
 Dio. This shall I undertake ; and 'tis a burthen 
 Which I am proud to bear. 
 
 [Exeunt Diomedes and Calchas. 
 
 Enter Achilles and Patroclns, before their tent. 
 
 Ulyss. Achilles stands i' the entrance of his tent : 
 Please it our general pass strangely by him, 
 As if he were forgot ; and, princes all, 40 
 
 Lay negligent and loose regard upon him : 
 I will come last. 'Tis like he '11 question me 
 Why such unplausive eyes are bent on him : 
 If so, I have derision medicinable. 
 To use between your strangeness and his pride, 
 Which his own will shall have desire to drink. 
 It may do good : pride hath no other glass 
 To show itself but pride, for supple knees 
 Feed arrogance and are the proud man's fees. 
 
 Agam. We '11 execute your purpose and put on 50 
 
 A form of strangeness as we pass along ; 
 So do each lord, and either greet him not 
 Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more 
 Than if not look'd on. T will lead the way.
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. 
 
 Achil. What, comes the general to speak with me? 
 
 You know my mind ; I '11 fight no more 'gainst Troy. 
 
 Agam. What says Achilles? vvould he aught with us? 
 
 Nest. Would you, my lord, aught with the general ? 
 
 Achil No. 
 
 Nest. Nothing, my lord. 60 
 
 Agam. The better. \^Exeunt Agamemnon and Nestor. 
 
 Achil. Good day, good day. 
 
 Men. How do you? how do you? [Exit. 
 
 Archil. What, does the cuckold scorn me? 
 
 Ajax. How now, Patroclus ! 
 
 Achil. Good morrow, Ajax. 
 
 Ajax. Ha? 
 
 Achil. Good morrow. 
 
 Ajax. Ay, and good next day too. [Exit. 
 
 Achil. What mean these fellows? Know they not 
 Achilles ? 70 
 
 Pair. They pass by strangely : they were used to bend. 
 To send their smiles before them to Achilles, 
 To come as humbly as they used to creep 
 To holy altars. 
 
 Achil. What, am I poor of late? 
 
 'Tis certain, greatness,, once fall'n out with fortune, 
 
 Must fall out with men too : what the declined is. 
 
 He shall as soon read in the eyes of others 
 
 As feel in his own fall : for men, like butterflies. 
 
 Show not their mealy wings but to the summer.; 
 
 And not a man, for being simply man, 80 
 
 Hath any honour, but honour for those honours 
 
 That are without him, as place, riches, and favour. 
 
 Prizes of accident as oft as merit : 
 
 Which when they fall, as being slippery standers, 
 
 89
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 The love that lean'd on them as shppery too, 
 
 Do one pluck down another and together 
 
 Die in the fall. But 'tis not so with me : 
 
 Fortune and I are friends : I do enjoy 
 
 At ample point all that I did possess, 
 
 Save these men's looks ; who do, methinks, find out 
 
 Something not worth in me such rich beholding 91 
 
 As they have often given. Here is Ulysses : 
 
 I '11 interrupt his reading. 
 
 How now, Ulysses ! 
 
 Ulyss. Now, great Thetis' son! 
 
 AchiL What are you reading? 
 
 Ulyss. A strange fellow here 
 
 Writes me : ' That man, how dearly ever parted. 
 How much in having, or without or in, 
 Cannot make boast to have that which he hath. 
 Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection ; 
 As when his virtues shining upon others 100 
 
 Heat them, and they retort that heat again 
 To the first giver.' 
 
 AchiL This is not strange, Ulysses. 
 
 The beauty that is borne here in the face 
 The bearer knows not, but commends itself 
 To others' eyes : nor doth the eye itself, 
 That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself. 
 Not going from itself ; but eye to eye opposed 
 Salutes each other with each other's form: 
 For speculation turns not to itself. 
 Till it hath travell'd and is mirror'd there no 
 
 Where it may see itself. This is not strange at all. 
 
 Ulyss. I do not strain at the position — 
 
 It is familiar— but at the author's drift ; 
 
 90
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. Hi. 
 
 Who in his circumstance expressly proves 
 That no man is the lord of any thing, 
 Though in and of him there be much consisting, 
 Till he communicate his parts to others; 
 Nor doth he of himself know them for aught, 
 Till he behold them formed in the applause 
 Where they're extended; who, like an arch, rever- 
 berates ^^° 
 The voice again; or, like a gate of steel 
 Fronting the sun, receives and renders back 
 His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this; 
 And apprehended here immediately 
 The unknown Ajax. 
 
 Heavens, what a man is there! a very horse; 
 That has he knows not what. Nature, what things 
 
 there are, 
 Most abject in regard and dear in use! 
 What things again most dear in the esteem 
 And poor in worth! Now shall we see to-morrow— 
 An act that very chance doth throw upon him — 131 
 Ajax renown' d. O heavens, what some men do, 
 While some men leave to do! 
 How some men creep in skittish fortune's hall, 
 While others play the idiots in her eyes ! 
 How one man eats into another's pride, 
 While pride is fasting in his wantonness! 
 To see these Grecian lords! Why, even already 
 They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder. 
 As if his foot were on brave Hector's breast 140 
 And great Troy shrieking. 
 Achil. I do believe it, for they pass'd by me 
 
 As misers do by beggars, neither gave to me 
 
 91
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Good word nor look : what, are my deeds forgot ? 
 L^/3'^^. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back 
 Wherein he puts alms for oblivion, 
 A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: 
 Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devour'd 
 As fast as they are made, forgot as soon 
 As done: perseverance, dear my lord, 150 
 
 Keeps honour bright : to have done, is to hang 
 Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail 
 In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; 
 For honour travels in a strait so narrow. 
 Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path; 
 For emulation hath a thousand sons 
 That one by one pursue: if you give way. 
 Or hedge aside from the direct forthright. 
 Like to an enter'd tide they all rush by 
 And leave you hindmost: 160 
 
 Or, like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank, 
 Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, 
 O'er-run and trampled on: then what they do in 
 
 present. 
 Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours; 
 For time is like a fashionable host 
 That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, 
 And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly. 
 Grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles. 
 And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek 
 Remuneration for the thing it was; 170 
 
 For beauty, wit. 
 
 High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service. 
 Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all 
 To envious and calumniating time. 
 
 92
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. iii. 
 
 One touch of nature makes the whole world kin; 
 That all with one consent praise new-born gawds, 
 Though they are made and moulded of things past, 
 And give to dust that is a Httle gilt 
 More laud than gilt o'er-dusted. 
 The present eye praises the present object: i8o 
 
 Then marvel not, thou great and complete man, 
 That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax; 
 Since things in motion sooner catch the eye 
 Than what not stirs. The cry went once on thee, 
 And still it might, and yet it may again. 
 If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive 
 And case thy reputation in thy tent. 
 Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late. 
 Made emulous missions 'mongst the gods themselves 
 And drave great Mars to faction. 
 
 Achil. Of this my privacy 190 
 
 I have strong reasons. 
 
 Ulyss. But 'gainst your privacy 
 
 The reasons are more potent and heroical: 
 'Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love 
 With one of Priam's daughters. 
 
 Achil. Ha! known? 
 
 Ulyss. Is that a wonder? 
 
 The providence that 's in a watchful state 
 Knows almost every grain of Plutus' gold, 
 Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deeps, 
 Keeps place with thought, and almost like the gods 
 Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles. 200 
 
 There is a mystery, with whom relation 
 Durst never meddle, in the soul of state ; 
 Which hath an operation more divine 
 
 93
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Than breath or pen can give expressure to : 
 
 All the commerce that you have had with Troj 
 
 As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord; 
 
 And better would it fit Achilles much 
 
 To throw down Hector than Polyxena: 
 
 But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home, 
 
 When fame shall in our islands sound her trump ; 
 
 And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing 211 
 
 ' Great Hector's sister did Achilles win, 
 
 But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.' 
 
 Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak; 
 
 The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Pair. To this effect, Achilles, have I moved you: 
 A woman impudent and mannish grown 
 Is not more loathed than an effeminate man 
 In time of action. I stand condemn'd for this; 
 They think my little stomach to the war 220 
 
 And your great love to me restrains you thus : 
 Sweet, rouse yourself, and the weak wanton Cupid 
 Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold. 
 And, like a dew-drop from the lion's mane. 
 Be shook to air. 
 
 Achil. Shall Ajax fight with Hector? 
 
 Pair, Ay, and perhaps receive much honour by him. 
 
 Achil. I see my reputation is at stake; 
 My fame is shrewdly gored. 
 
 Pair. O, then, beware; 
 
 Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves: 
 Omission to do what is necessary 230 
 
 Seals a commission to a blank of danger; 
 And danger, like an ague, subtly taints 
 
 94
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act III. Sc. iii. 
 
 Even then when we sit idly in the sun. 
 Achil. Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus 
 I '11 send the fool to Ajax, and desire him 
 To invite the Trojan lords after the combat 
 To see us here unarm'd : I have a w^oman's longing, 
 An appetite that I am sick withal, 
 To see great Hector in his weeds of peace ; 
 To talk with him, and to behold his visage, 240 
 
 Even to my full of view. — A labour saved 1 
 
 Enter Thersites. 
 
 Ther. A wonder ! 
 
 Achil. What? 
 
 Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for 
 himself. 
 
 Achil. How so? 
 
 Ther. He must fight singly to-morrow with Hector, 
 and is so prophetically proud of an heroical 
 cudgelling that he raves in saying nothing. 
 
 Achil. How can that be ? 250 
 
 Ther. Whv, a' stalks up and down like a peacock, — 
 a stride and a stand : ruminates like an hostess 
 that hath no arithmetic but her brain to set down 
 her reckoning : bites his lip with a politic regard, 
 as who should say ' There were wit in this head, 
 an 'twould out : ' and so there is ; but it lies as 
 coldly in him as fire in a" flint, which will not 
 show without knocking. The man 's undone for 
 ever; for if Hector break not his neck i' the 
 combat, he 11 break 't himself in vain-glory. He 260 
 knows not me: I said 'Good morrow, Ajax;' 
 and he replies ' Thanks, Agamemnon.' What 
 
 95
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 think you of this man, that takes me for the 
 general ? He 's grown a very land-fish, language- 
 less, a monster. A plague of opinion ! a man 
 may wear it on both sides, like a leather jerkin. 
 Achil. Thou must be my ambassador to him, Thersites. 
 
 Ther. Who, I ? why, he '11 answer nobody ; he pro- 
 fesses not answering : speaking is for beggars ; 
 he wears his tongue in 's arms. I will put on 270 
 his presence : let Patroclus make demands to me, 
 you shall see the pageant of Ajax. 
 
 Achil. To him, Patroclus : tell him I humbly desire 
 the valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous 
 Hector to come unarmed to my tent, and to 
 procure safe-conduct for his person of the mag- 
 nanimous and most illustrious six-or-seven-times- 
 honoured captain-general of the Grecian army, 
 Agamemnon, et cetera. Do this. 
 
 Pair. Jove bless great Ajax. 280 
 
 Ther. Hum ! 
 
 Pair. I come from the w^orthy Achilles, — 
 
 Ther. Ha! 
 
 Patr. Who most humbly desires you to invite Hector 
 to his tent, — 
 
 Ther. Hum ! 
 
 Patr. And to procure safe-conduct from Agamemnon. 
 
 Ther. Agamemnon? 
 
 Patr. Ay, my lord. 
 
 Ther. Ha! 290 
 
 Patr. What say you to 't ? 
 
 Ther. God be wi' you, with all my heart. 
 
 Patr. Your answer, sir. 
 
 Ther. If to-morrow be a fair day, by eleven of the 
 
 96
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. i. 
 
 clock it will go one way or other: howsoever, 
 he shall pay for me ere he has me. 
 
 Pair. Your answer, sir. 
 
 Ther. Fare you well, with all my heart. 
 
 Achil. Why, but he is not in this tune, is he ? 
 
 Ther. No, but he 's out o' tune thus. What music 300 
 w^il be in him when Hector has knocked out 
 his brains, I know not; but, I am sure, none, 
 unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make 
 catlings on. 
 
 Achil. Come, thou shalt bear a letter to him straight. 
 
 llicr. Let me bear another to his horse; for that's 
 the more capable creature. 
 
 Achil. My mind is troubled like a fountain stirr'd. 
 And I myself see not the bottom of it. 
 
 [Exeunt Achilles and Patroclns. 
 
 Ther. Would the fountain of your mind were clear 310 
 again, that I might water an ass at it! I had 
 rather be a tick in a sheep than such a valiant 
 ignorance.- [Exit. 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 Troy. A street. 
 
 Enter, at one side, Apneas, and Servant with a torch; at 
 the other, Paris, Deiphohus, Antenor, Diomedes, and 
 others, with torches. 
 
 Par. See, ho! who is that there ? 
 
 Dei. It is the Lord .^neas. 
 
 jEne. Is the prince there in person ? 
 
 97
 
 Act IV. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Had I so good occasion to lie long 
 
 As you, Prince Paris, nothing but heavenly business 
 
 Should rob my bed-mate of my company. 
 
 Dio. That 's my mind too. Good morrow, Lord ^neas. 
 
 Par. A valiant Greek, ^neas, — take his hand, — 
 Witness the process of your speech, wherein 
 You told how Diomed a whole week by days lo 
 
 Did haunt you in the field. 
 
 ^ne. Health to you, valiant sir. 
 
 During all question of the gentle truce ; 
 
 But when I meet you arm'd, as black defiance 
 
 As heart can think or courage execute. 
 
 Dio. The one and other Diomed embraces. 
 
 Our bloods are now in calm ; and, so long, health ; 
 
 But when contention and occasion meet. 
 
 By Jove, I '11 play the hunter for thy life 
 
 With all my force, pursuit and policy. 20 
 
 ^ne. And thou shalt hunt a lion, that will fly 
 
 With his face backward. In humane gentleness, 
 Welcome to Troy ! now, by Anchises' life. 
 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 sympathise. Jove, let ^neas 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, 30 
 
 With every joint a wound, and that to-morrow. 
 
 ^ne. 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. 
 98
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. i. 
 
 What business, lord, so early ? 
 
 \^nc. I was sent for to the king ; but why, I know not. 
 
 Par. His purpose meets you : 'twas to bring this Greek 
 To Calchas' house ; and there to render him. 
 For the enf reed Antenor, the fair Cressid : 40 
 
 Let 's have your company, or, if you please. 
 Haste there before us. I constantly do think, 
 Or rather, call my thought 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. 
 
 JEne. That I assure you: 
 
 Troilus had rather Troy were borne to Greece 
 Than Cressid borne from Troy. 
 
 Par. There is no help ; 
 
 The bitter disposition of the time 50 
 
 Will have it so. On, lord ; we '11 follow you. 
 
 ^ne. Good morrow, all. {Exit with Servant. 
 
 Par. And tell me, noble Diomed, faith, tell me true, 
 Even in the soul of sound good-fellowship, 
 Who, in your thoughts, deserves 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, 60 
 
 Nor 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 ; 
 
 99
 
 Act IV. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 You, like a lecher, out of whorish loins 
 
 Are pleased to breed out your inheritors : 
 
 Both merits poised, 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 : 70 
 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 '11 not commend what we intend to sell. 80 
 
 Here lies our way. {Exeunt, 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Court of Pandarus' house. 
 
 Enter Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 Pro. Dear, trouble not yourself : the morn is cold. 
 Cres. Then, sweet my lord, I '11 call mine uncle down ; 
 
 He shall unbolt the gates. 
 Pro. 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. 
 
 Pro. I prithee now, to bed. 
 
 Cres. Are you a-weary of me? 
 
 100
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. ii. 
 
 Tro. O Cressida ! but that the busy day, 
 
 Waked by the lark, hath roused the ribald crows. 
 And dreaming night will hide our joys no longer, lo 
 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. Prithee, tarry: 
 
 You men will never tarry. 
 
 foolish Cressid ! I might have still held ofif, 
 Andthenyouwouldhavetarried. Hark! there 'soneup. 
 
 Pan. [Within] What, 's all the doors open here? 
 
 Tro. It is your uncle. 20 
 
 Cres. A pestilence on him ! now will he be mocking : 
 
 1 shall have such a life ! 
 
 Enter Pan dams. 
 
 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 '11 ne'er 
 
 be good, nor suffer others. 30 
 
 Pan. Ha, ha ! Alas, poor wretch ! ah, poor capoc- 
 
 chia ! hast not slept to-night ? would he not, a 
 
 naughty man, let it sleep ? a bugbear take him ! 
 Cres. Did not I tell you? would he were knock'd i' the 
 head! [One knocks. 
 
 lOI
 
 Act IV. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Who 's that at door ? good uncle, go and see. 
 
 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 deceived, I think of no such thing. 
 
 {Knocking. 
 
 How earnestly they knock ! Pray you, come in : 40 
 
 I would not for half Troy have you seen here. 
 
 [Exeunt Troilns and Cressida. 
 Pan. Who 's there ? what 's the matter ? will you 
 
 beat down the door ? How now ! what 's the 
 
 matter ? 
 
 Enter ^neas. 
 
 jEne. Good morrow, lord, good morrow. 
 
 Pan. Who 's there ? my Lord ^-Eneas ! By my troth, 
 
 I knew you no't : what news with you so early ? 
 j^ne. Is not prince Troilus here? 
 Pan. Here ! what should he do here ? 
 ^^Ene. Come, he is here, my lord ; do not deny him : 50 
 
 It doth import him much to speak with me. 
 Pan. Is he here, say you ? 'tis more than I know, I '11 
 
 be sworn : for my own part, I came in late. 
 
 What should he do here? 
 JEne. Who ! nay, then : come, come, you '11 do him 
 
 wrong ere you are ware : you '11 be so true to 
 
 him, to be false to him: do not you know of 
 
 him, but yet go fetch him hither; go. 
 
 Re-enter Troilns. 
 
 Tro. How now ! what 's the matter ? 
 ^ne. My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute you, 60 
 My matter is so rash : there is at hand 
 
 102
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. ii. 
 
 Paris your brother and Deiphobus, 
 The Grecian Diomed, and our Antenor 
 Dehver'd to us ; and for him forthwith, 
 Ere the first sacrifice, within this hour. 
 We must give up to Diomedes' hand 
 The Lady Cressida. 
 
 Tro. Is it so concluded? 
 
 ^ne. By Priam and the general state of Troy. 
 They are at hand and ready to effect it. 
 
 Tro. How my achievements mock me ! 70 
 
 I will go meet them : and, my Lord ^neas, 
 We met by chance ; you did not find me here. 
 
 ^ne. Good, good, my lord ; the secrets of nature 
 Have not more gift in taciturnity. 
 
 [Exeunt Troilus and ^neas. 
 
 Pan. Is 't possible? no sooner got but lost? The 
 devil take Antenor! the young prince will go 
 mad : a plague upon Antenor ! I would they 
 had broke 's neck ! 
 
 Re-enter Cressida. 
 
 Crcs. How now ! what 's the matter ? who was here ? 
 Pan. Ah, ah ! 80 
 
 Cres. Why sigh you so profoundly? where 's my 
 
 lord ? gone ! Tell me, sweet uncle, what 's 
 
 the matter ? 
 Pan. Would I were as deep under the earth as I am 
 
 above ! 
 Crcs. O the gods ! What 's the matter ? 
 Pan. Prithee, get thee in : would thou hadst ne'er 
 
 been born ! I knew thou wouldst be his death : 
 
 O, poor gentleman! A plague upon Antenor! 
 
 103
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Cres. Good uncle, I beseech you, on my knees I 90 
 beseech you, what 's the matter ? 
 
 Pan. Thou must be gone, wench, thou must be 
 gone ; thou art changed for Antenor : thou 
 must to thy father, and be gone from Troilus : 
 'twill be his death ; 'twill be his bane ; he cannot 
 bear it. 
 
 Cres. O you immortal gods ! T will not go. 
 
 Pan. Thou must. 
 
 Cres. I will not, uncle : I have forgot my father ; 
 
 I know no touch of consanguinity ; 100 
 
 No kin, no love, no blood, no soul so near me 
 As the sweet Troilus ! O you gods divine ! 
 Make Cressid's name the very crown of falsehood. 
 If ever she leave Troilus ! Time, force, and death. 
 Do to this body what extremes you can ; 
 But the strong base and building of my love 
 Is as the very centre of the earth. 
 Drawing all things to it. I '11 go in and weep, — 
 
 Pan. Do, do. 109 
 
 Cres. Tear my bright hair and scratch my praised cheeks. 
 Crack my clear voice with sobs, and break my heart 
 With sounding Troilus. I will not go from Troy. 
 
 [Exetmt. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Before Pandams' house. 
 
 Enter Paris, Troilus, Aineas, DeiphobiiSj Antenor, and 
 Diomedes. 
 
 Par. It is great morning, and the hour prefix'd 
 For her delivery to this valiant Greek 
 Comes fast upon : good my brother Troilus, 
 
 104
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. iv. 
 
 Tell you the lady what she is to do, 
 
 And haste her to the purpose. 
 Tro. Walk mto her house; 
 
 I '11 bring her to the Grecian presently: 
 
 And to his hand when I deliver her, 
 
 Think it an altar, and thy brother Troilus 
 
 A priest, there offering to it his own heart. [Exit. 
 Par. I know what 'tis to love; lo 
 
 And would, as I shall pity, I could help! 
 
 Please you walk in, my lords. [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 A room in Pandarus' house. 
 
 Enter Pandarus and Cressida. 
 
 Pan. Be moderate, be moderate. 
 Crcs. Why tell you me of moderation? 
 
 The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste. 
 
 And violenteth in a sense as strong 
 
 As that which causeth it: how can I moderate it? 
 
 If I could temporise with my affection. 
 
 Or brew it to a weak and colder palate. 
 
 The like allayment could I give my grief: 
 
 My love admits no qualifying dross; 
 
 No more my grief, in such a precious loss. lo 
 
 Enter Troilus. 
 
 Pan. Here, here, here he comes. Ah, sweet ducks! 
 Cres. O Troilus ! Troilus ! [Embracing him. 
 
 Pan. What a pair of spectacles is here! Let me 
 embrace too. ' O heart,' as the goodly saying is, 
 
 105
 
 Act IV. Sc. iv. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 ' O heart, heavy heart, 
 Why sigh'st thou without breaking? ' 
 
 where he answers again, 
 
 ' Because thou canst not ease thy smart 
 By friendship nor by speaking.' 
 
 There was never a truer rhyme. Let us cast 20 
 away nothing, for we may Uve to have need of 
 such a verse: we see it, we see it. How now, 
 lambs ! 
 
 Tro. Cressid, I love thee in so strain'd a purity, 
 That the blest gods, as angry with my fancy, 
 More bright in zeal than the devotion which 
 Cold lips blow to their deities, take thee from me. 
 
 Cres. Have the gods envy? 
 
 Pan. Ay, ay, ay, ay; 'tis too plain a case. 
 
 Cres. And is it true that I must go from Troy? 30 
 
 Tro. A hateful truth. 
 
 Cres. What, and from Troilus too ? 
 
 Tro. From Troy and Troilus. 
 
 Cres. Is it possible ? 
 
 Tro. And suddenly; where injury of chance 
 Puts back leave-taking, justles roughly by 
 All time of pause, rudely beguiles our hps 
 Of all rejoindure, forcibly prevents 
 Our lock'd embrasures, strangles our dear vows 
 Even in the birth of our own labouring breath: 
 We two, that with so many thousand sighs 
 Did buy each other, must poorly sell ourselves 40 
 With the rude brevity and discharge of one. 
 Injurious time now with a robber's haste 
 Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how 
 
 .106
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. iv. 
 
 As many farewells as be stars in heaven, 
 
 With distinct breath and consign'd kisses to them, 
 
 He fumbles up into a loose adieu, 
 
 And scants us with a single famish'd kiss, 
 
 Distasted with the salt of broken tears. 
 ^ne. IWithin] My lord, is the lady ready? 
 Tro. Hark ! you are call'd : some say the Genius so 50 
 
 Cries ' Come ! ' to him that instantly must die. 
 
 Bid them have patience ; she shall come anon. 
 Pan. Where are my tears ? rain, to lay this wind, or 
 
 my heart will be blown up by the root. [Exit. 
 
 Cres. I must then to the Grecians ? 
 Tro. No remedy. 
 
 Cres. A woeful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks ! 
 
 When shall we see again ? 
 Tro. Hear me, my love : be thou but true of heart. 
 Cres. I true ! how now ! what wicked deem is this ? 
 Tro. Nay, we must use expostulation kindly, 60 
 
 For it is parting from us : 
 
 I speak not ' be thou true,' as fearing thee ; 
 
 For I will throw my glove to Death himself, 
 
 That there 's no maculation in thy heart : 
 
 But ' be thou true ' say I, to fashion in 
 
 My sequent protestation ; be thou true, 
 
 And I will see thee. 
 Cres. O, you shall be exposed, my lord, to dangers 
 
 As infinite as imminent : but I '11 be true. 
 Tro. And I '11 grow friend with danger. Wear this 
 sleeve. 70 
 
 Cres. And you this glove. When shall I see you? 
 Tro. I will corrupt the Grecian sentinels, 
 
 To give thee nightly visitation. 
 
 107
 
 Act IV. Sc. iv. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 But yet, be true. 
 
 Cres. O heavens ! ' Be true ' again ! 
 
 Tro. Hear why I speak it, love : 
 
 The Grecian youths are full of quality ; 
 
 They 're loving, well composed with gifts of nature, 
 
 And flowing o'er with arts and exercise : 
 
 How novelties may move and parts with person, 
 
 Alas, a kind of godly jealousy — 80 
 
 Which, I beseech you, call a virtuous sin — 
 
 Makes me afeard. 
 
 Cres. O heavens ! you love me not. 
 
 Tro. Die I a villain then ! 
 
 In this I do not call your faith in question, 
 So mainly as my merit : I cannot sing, 
 Nor heel the high lavolt, nor sweeten talk. 
 Nor play at subtle games ; fair virtues all, 
 To which the Grecians are most prompt and preg- 
 nant: 
 But I can tell that in each grace of these 
 There lurks a still and dumb-discoursive devil 90 
 That tempts most cunningly : but be not tempted. 
 
 Cres. Do you think I will ? 
 
 Tro. No: 
 
 But something may be done that we will not : 
 And sometimes we are devils to ourselves, 
 When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, 
 Presuming on their changeful potency. 
 
 ^ne. [Within'] Nay, good my lord! 
 
 Tro. Come, kiss ; and let us part. 
 
 Far. [Within'] Brother Troilus ! 
 
 Tro. Good brother, come you hither ; 
 
 And bring ^neas and the Grecian with you. 100 
 
 108
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. iv. 
 
 Cres. My lord, will you be true ? 
 
 Tro. Who, I ? alas, it is my vice, my fault : 
 
 Whiles others fish, with craft for great opinion, 
 
 I with great truth catch mere simplicity ; 
 
 Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns. 
 
 With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare. 
 
 Fear not my truth : the moral of my wit 
 
 Is ' plain and true ' ; there 's all the reach of it. 
 
 Enter JEneas, Paris, Antenor, Deiphohus, and Diomedes. 
 
 Welcome, Sir Diomed! here is the lady 
 Which for Antenor we deliver you: no 
 
 At the port, lord, I '11 give her to thy hand ; 
 ■ And by the way possess thee what she is. 
 Entreat her fair ; and, by my soul, fair Greek, 
 If e'er thou stand at mercy of my sword. 
 Name Cressid, and thy life shall be as safe 
 As Priam is in Ilion. 
 
 Dio. Fair Lady Cressid, 
 
 So please you, save the thanks this prince expects : 
 The lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek. 
 Pleads your fair usage ; and to Diomed 
 You shall be mistress, and command him wholly. 120 
 
 Tro. Grecian, thou dost not use me courteously, 
 To shame the zeal of my petition to thee 
 In praising her: I tell thee, lord of Greece, 
 She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises 
 As thou unworthy to be call'd her servant. 
 I charge thee use her well, even for my charge ; 
 For, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not. 
 Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard, 
 I '11 cut thy throat. 
 
 109
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Dio. O, be not moved, Prince Troilus : 
 
 Let me be privileged by my place and message 130 
 To be a speaker free ; when I am hence, 
 I '11 answer to my lust : and know you, lord, 
 I '11 nothing do on charge : to her own worth 
 She shall be prized ; but that you say ' Be 't so/ 
 I '11 speak it in my spirit and honour ' No ! ' 
 
 Tro. Come, to the port. I '11 tell thee, Diomed, 
 
 This brave shall oft make thee to hide thy head. 
 Lady, give me your hand ; and, as we walk. 
 To our own selves bend we our needful talk. 
 
 [Exeunt Troihis, Cressida, and Diomedes. 
 [A trumpet sounds. 
 
 Par. Hark ! Hector's trumpet. 
 
 ^ne. How have we spent this morning ! 140 
 
 The prince must think me tardy and remiss, 
 That swore to ride before him to the field. 
 
 Par. 'Tis Troilus' fault : come, come, to field with him. 
 
 Dei. Let us make ready straight. 
 
 ^ne. Yea, with a bridegroom's fresh alacrity, 
 Let us address to tend on Hector's heels : 
 The glory of our Troy doth this day lie 
 On his fair worth and single chivalry. {Exeunt. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 The Grecian camp. Lists set out. 
 
 Enter Ajax, armed; Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, 
 Menelaus, Ulysses, Nestor, and others. 
 
 Agam. Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair, 
 Anticipating time with starting courage. 
 Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy, 
 
 no
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 Thou dreadful Ajax, that the appalled air 
 
 May pierce the head of the great combatant 
 
 And hale him hither. 
 Ajax. Thou, trumpet, there 's my purse. 
 
 Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe : 
 
 Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek 
 
 Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon : 
 
 Come, stretch thy chest, and left thy eyes spout blood ; 
 
 Thou blow'st for Hector. [Trumpet sounds, ii 
 
 Ulyss. No trumpet answers. 
 Achil. 'Tis but early days. 
 
 Again. Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas' daughter ? 
 Ulyss. 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait; 
 
 He rises on the toe : that spirit of his 
 
 In aspiration lifts him from the earth. 
 
 Enter Diomedes, zvith Cressida, 
 
 Agam. Is this the Lady Cressid ? 
 
 Dio. Even she. 
 
 Agam. Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady. 
 
 Nest. Our general doth salute you with a kiss. 
 
 Ulyss. Yet is the kindness but particular ; 20 
 
 'Twere better she were kiss'd in general. 
 Nest. And very courtly counsel : I '11 begin. 
 
 So much for Nestor. 
 Achil. I '11 take that winter from your lips, fair lady: 
 
 Achilles bids you welcome. 
 Men. I had good argument for kissing once. 
 Patr. But that 's no argument for kissing now ; 
 
 For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment. 
 
 And parted thus you and your argument. 
 Ulyss. O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns ! 30
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 For which we lose our heads to gild his horns. 
 Pair. The first was Menelaus' kiss ; this, mine : 
 
 Patroclus kisses you. 
 Men. O, this is trim ! 
 
 Pair. Paris and I kiss evermore for him. 
 Men. I '11 have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave. 
 Cres. In kissing, do you render or receive ? 
 Pair. Both take and give. 
 Cres. I '11 make my match to live, 
 
 The kiss you take is better than you give ; 
 
 Therefore no kiss. 
 Men. I '11 give you boot, I '11 give you three for one. 40 
 Cres. You 're an odd man ; give even, or give none. 
 Men. An odd man, lady ! every man is odd. 
 Cres. No, Paris is not ; for, you know, 'tis true. 
 
 That you are odd, and he is even with you. 
 Men. You fillip me o' the head. 
 Cres. No, I '11 be sworn. 
 
 Ulyss. It were no match, your nail against his horn. 
 
 May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you ? 
 Cres. You may. 
 Ulyss. I do desire it. 
 
 Cres. Why, beg then. 
 
 Ulyss. Why then, for Venus' sake, give me a kiss, 
 
 When Helen is a maid again, and his. 50 
 
 Cres. I am your debtor ; claim it when 'tis due. 
 Ulyss. Never 's my day, and then a kiss of you. 
 Dio. Lady, a word : I '11 bring you to your father. 
 
 [Exit zvith Cressida. 
 Nest. A woman of quick sense. 
 Ulyss. Fie, fie upon her ! 
 
 There 's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, 
 
 112
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 Nay, her foot speaks ; her wanton spirits look out 
 
 At every joint and motive of her body. 
 
 O, these encounterers, so gUb of tongue, 
 
 That give accosting welcome ere it comes. 
 
 And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts 60 
 
 To every ticklish reader ! set them down 
 
 For sluttish spoils of opportunity, 
 
 And daughters of the game. [Trumpet zvithin. 
 
 All. The Trojans' trumpet. 
 
 Agam, Yonder comes the troop. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Hector, armed; Mneas, Troilus, 
 and other Trojans, zvith Attendants. 
 
 ^ne. Hail, all the state of Greece ! what shall be done 
 To him that victory commands ? or do you purpose 
 A victor shall be known ? will you the knights 
 Shall to the edge of all extremity 
 Pursue each other, or shall they be divided 
 By any voice or order of the field ? 70 
 
 Hector bade ask. 
 
 Agam, Which way would Hector have it ? 
 
 ^ne. He cares not ; he '11 obey conditions. 
 
 Achil 'Tis done like Hector ; but securely done, 
 A little proudly, and great deal misprizing 
 The knight opposed. 
 
 ^ne. If not Achilles, sir, 
 
 What is your name ? 
 
 Achil. If not Achilles, nothing. 
 
 ^ne. Therefore Achilles : but, whate'er, know this : 
 In the extremity of great and Httle, 
 Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector ; 
 The one almost as infinite as all, 80 
 
 113
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well, 
 And that which looks like pride is courtesy. 
 This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood : 
 In love whereof, half Hector stays at home ; 
 Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek 
 This blended knight, half Trojan and half Greek. 
 Achil. A maiden battle then? O, I perceive you. 
 
 Re-enter Diomedes. 
 
 A gam. Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight, 
 Stand by our Ajax : as you and Lord ^neas 
 Consent upon the order of their fight, 90 
 
 So be it ; either to the uttermost, 
 Or else a breath : the combatants being kin 
 Half stints their strife before their strokes begin. 
 
 {Ajax and Hector enter the lists. 
 
 Ulyss. They are opposed already. 
 
 Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy? 
 
 Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight. 
 Not yet mature, yet matchless, firm of word, 
 Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue. 
 Not soon provoked nor being provoked soon calm'd ; 
 His heart and hand both open and both free ; 100 
 
 For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows ; 
 Yet gives he not till judgement guide his bounty. 
 Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath ; 
 Manly as Hector, but more dangerous ; 
 For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes 
 To tender objects, but he in heat of action 
 Is more vindicative than jealous love: 
 They call him Troilus, and on him erect 
 A second hope, as fairly built as Hector. 
 
 114
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 Thus says ^neas ; one that knows the youth i lo 
 Even to his inches, and with private soul 
 Did in great IHon thus translate him to me. 
 
 [Alarum. Hector and Ajax £ght. 
 
 Agam. They are in action. 
 
 A^^^^. Now, Ajax, hold thine own ! 
 
 Tro. Hector, thou sleep'st ; 
 
 Awake thee ! 
 
 Agam. His blows are well disposed : there, Ajax ! 
 
 Dio. You must no more. [Trumpets cease. 
 
 ^ne. Princes, enough, so please you. 
 
 Ajax. I am not warm yet ; let us fight again. 
 
 Dio. As Hector pleases. 
 
 Hect. Why, then will I no more : ^ 
 
 Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son, 120 
 A cousin-german to great Priam's seed ; 
 The obligation of our blood forbids 
 A gory emulation 'twixt us twain : 
 Were thy commixion Greek and Trojan so, 
 That thou couldst say ' This hand is Grecian all. 
 And this is Trojan ; the sinews of this leg 
 All Greek, and this all Troy ; my mother's blood 
 Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister 
 Bounds in my father's ' ; by Jove multipotent, 
 Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member 
 Wherein my sword had not impressure made 131 
 Of our rank feud : but the just gods gainsay 
 That any drop thou borrow'dst from thy mother, 
 My sacred aunt should by my mortal sword 
 Be drained ! Let me embrace thee, Ajax : 
 By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms ; 
 Hector would have them fall upon him thus : 
 115
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Cousin, all honour to thee ! 
 Ajax. I thank thee, Hector : 
 
 Thou art too gentle and too free a man : 
 
 I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence 140 
 
 A great addition earned in thy death. 
 Hect. Not Neoptolemus so mirable, 
 
 On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st Oyes 
 
 Cries ' This is he,' could promise to himself 
 
 A thought of added honour torn from Hector. 
 M7ie. There is expectance here from both the sides, 
 
 What further you will do. 
 Hect. We '11 answer it ; 
 
 The issue is embracement : Ajax, farewell. 
 Ajax. If I might in entreaties find success, — 
 
 As seld I have the chance — I would desire 150 
 
 My famous cousin to our Grecian tents. 
 Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish ; and great Achilles 
 
 Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. 
 Hect. ^neas, call my brother Troilus to me : 
 
 And signify this loving interview 
 
 To the expecters of our Trojan part ; 
 
 Desire them home. Give me thy hand, my cousin ; 
 
 I will go eat with thee, and see your knights. 
 Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. 
 Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by name ; 160 
 
 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 strew'd with husks 
 
 And formless ruin of oblivion ; 
 
 n6 —
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 But in this extant moment, faith and troth, 
 Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing. 
 Bids thee, with most divine integrity, 170 
 
 From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome. 
 
 Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon. 
 
 Agam. [To Troihis] My well-famed lord of Troy, no less 
 to you. 
 
 Men, Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting ; 
 You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither. 
 
 Hect. Who must we answer? 
 
 j^ne. 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 : 
 She 's well, but bade me not commend her to you. 
 
 Aden. Name her not now, sir; she 's a deadly theme. 181 
 
 Hect. O, pardon ; I offend. 
 
 Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft. 
 Labouring for destiny, make cruel way 
 Through ranks of Greekish youth ; and I have seen 
 
 thee. 
 As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed. 
 Despising many forfeits and subduements. 
 When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, 
 Not letting it decline on the declined, 
 That I have said to some my standers by 190 
 
 * Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life ! ' 
 And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath. 
 When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in. 
 Like an Olympian wrestling : this have I seen ; 
 But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel, 
 I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire, 
 117
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 And once fought with him : he was a soldier good ; 
 
 But, by great Mars the captain of us all, 
 
 Never like thee. Let an old man embrace thee ; 
 
 And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents. 200 
 
 ^ne. 'Tis the old Nestor. 
 Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle, 
 
 That hast so long walk'd 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 'Id fight thee to-morrow : 
 Well, welcome, welcome ! — I have seen the time. 
 
 Ulyss. I wonder now how yonder city stands, 211 
 
 When we have here her base and pillar by us. 
 
 Hect. I know your favour. Lord Ulysses, well. 
 
 Ah, sir, there 's m^ny a Greek and Trojan dead, 
 Since first I saw yourself and Diomed 
 In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy. 
 
 Ulyss. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue : 
 My prophecy is but half his journey yet; 
 For yonder walls, that pertly front your town, 
 Yond towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds. 
 Must kiss their own feet. 
 
 Hect. I must not believe you : 221 
 
 There they stand yet ; and modestly I think, 
 The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost 
 A drop of Grecian blood : the end crowns all, 
 And that old common arbitrator, Time, 
 Will one day end it. 
 
 Ulyss. So to him we leave it. 
 
 118
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act IV. Sc. v. 
 
 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 ! 230 
 
 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee ; 
 I have with exact view perused thee, Hector, 
 And quoted joint by joint. 
 
 Hect. Is this Achilles ? 
 
 Achil. I am 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 'It read me o'er ; 
 
 But there 's more in me than thou understand'st. 
 
 Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye ? 241 
 Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body 
 
 Shall I destroy him ? whether there, or there, or there ? 
 
 That I may give the local wound a name, 
 
 And make distinct the very breach whereout 
 
 Hector's great spirit flew : answer me, heavens ! 
 Hect. It would discredit the blest gods, proud man, 
 
 To answer such a question : stand 'again : 
 
 Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly, 
 
 As to prenominate in nice conjecture 250 
 
 Where thou wilt hit me dead ? 
 Achil. I tell thee, yea. 
 
 Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so, 
 
 I 'Id not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well ; 
 
 For I '11 not kill thee there, nor there, nor there ; 
 
 But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm, 
 
 119
 
 Act IV. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 I '11 kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er. 
 You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag ; 
 His insolence draws folly from my lips ; 
 But I '11 endeavour deeds to match these words, 
 Or may I never — 
 
 Ajax. , Do not chafe thee, cousin : 260 
 
 And you, Achilles, let these threats alone 
 Till accident or purpose bring you to 't : 
 You may have every day enough of Hector, 
 If you have stomach : the general state, I fear, 
 Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him. 
 
 Hcct. I pray you, let us see you in the field : 
 
 We have had pelting wars since you refused 
 The Grecians' cause. 
 
 Achil. Dost thou entreat me. Hector? 
 
 To-morrow do I meet thee, fell as death ; 
 To-night all friends. 
 
 Hect. Thy hand upon that match. 270 
 
 A gam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent ; 
 There in the full convive w^e : afterwards. 
 As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall 
 Concur together, severally entreat him. 
 Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow, 
 That this great soldier may his welcome know. 
 
 [Exeunt all hut Troilus and Ulysses* 
 
 Tro. My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you. 
 In wdiat place of the field doth Calchas keep ? 
 
 Ulyss. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus : 
 
 There Diomed doth feast with him to-night ; 280 
 
 Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth. 
 But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view 
 On the fair Cressid. 
 
 120
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. i. 
 
 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. 
 
 As gentle tell me, of what honour was 
 This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there 
 That wails her absence? 
 
 Tro. O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars, 290 
 A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord? 
 She was beloved, she loved ; she is, and doth : 
 But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 The Grecian camp. Before Achilles' tent. 
 Enter Achilles and Patroclus. 
 
 Achil. I '11 heat his blood with Greekish wine to-night, 
 Which with my scimitar I '11 cool to-morrow. 
 Patroclus, let us feast him to the height. 
 
 Pair. Here comes Thersites. 
 
 Enter Thersites. 
 
 Achil. How now, thou core of envy! 
 
 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. 
 Pair. Who keeps the tent now? 10 
 
 121
 
 Act V. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 T'her. The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound. 
 
 Pair. Well said, adversity! and what need these 
 tricks? 
 
 Ther. Prithee, be silent, boy; I profit not by thy 
 talk : thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet. 
 
 Pair. Male varlet, you rogue ! what 's that ? 
 
 Ther. Why, his masculine ivhore. Now, the rotten 20 
 diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, 
 catarrhs, loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, 
 cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheez- 
 ing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, 
 limekilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and 
 the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and 
 take again such preposterous discoveries ! 
 
 Pair. Why, thou damnable box of envy, thou, what 
 mean'st thou to curse thus? 
 
 T'her. Do I curse thee? 
 
 Pair. Why, no, you ruinous butt; you whoreson 
 indistinguishable cur, no. 
 
 Ther. No! why art thou then exasperate, thou idle 30 
 immaterial skein of sleave 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 waterflies, diminu- 
 tives of nature ! 
 
 Pair. 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, 40 
 
 A token from her daughter, my fair love, 
 Both taxing me and gaging me to keep 
 
 122
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. i. 
 
 An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it : 
 Fall Greeks ; fail fame ; honour or go or stay ; 
 My major vow lies here, this I '11 obey. 
 Come, come, Thersites, help to trim my tent : 
 This night in banqueting must all be spent. 
 Away, Patroclus ! [Exeunt Achilles and Patroclus. 
 Ther. With too much blood and too little brain, these 
 
 two may run mad; but, if with too much brain 50 
 and too little blood they do, I '11 be a curer of 
 madmen. Here 's Agamemnon, an honest fellow 
 enough and one that loves quails ; but he has 
 not so much brain as ear-wax : and the goodly 
 transformation of Jupiter there, his brother, the 
 bull, the primitive statue and oblique memorial 
 of cuckolds; a thrifty shoeing-horn in a chain, 
 hanging at his brother's leg, — to what form but 
 that he is, should wit larded with malice and 
 malice forced with wit turn him to ? To an ass, 60 
 were nothing ; he is both ass and ox : to an ox, 
 were nothing ; he is both ox and ass. To be a 
 dog, a mule, a cat, a fitchew, a toad, a lizard, an 
 owl, a puttock, or a herring without a roe, I- 
 would not care; but to" be Menelaus ! I would 
 conspire against destiny. Ask me not what I 
 would be, if I were not Thersites ; for I care not 
 to be the louse of a lazar, so I were not Menelaus. 
 Hoy-day ! spirits and fires ! 
 
 Enter Hector, Troilus, Ajax, Agamemnon, Ulysses, 
 Nestor, Menelaus, and Diomedes, with lights. 
 
 Agam, We go wrong, we go wrong. 
 Ajax. No, yonder 'tis ; 70 
 
 123
 
 Act V. Sc. i. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 There, where we see the hghts. 
 Hect. I trouble you. 
 
 Ajax. No, not a whit. 
 
 Re-enter Achilles. 
 
 Ulyss. Here comes himself to guide you. 
 
 Achil. Welcome, brave Hector ; welcome, princes all. 
 Again. So now, fair Prince of Troy, I bid good night. 
 
 Ajax commands the guard to tend on you. 
 Hect. Thanks and good night to the Greeks' general. 
 Men. Good night, my lord. 
 
 Hect. Good night, sweet Lord Menelaus. 
 
 Ther. Sweet draught : sweet, quoth a' ! sweet sink, 
 
 sweet sewer. 
 Achil. Good night and welcome, both at once, to those 80 
 
 That go or tarry. 
 Agam. Good night. [Exeunt Agamemnon and Menelaus. 
 Achil. Old Nestor tarries ; and you too, Diomed, 
 
 Keep Hector company an hour or two. 
 Dio. I cannot, lord ; I have important business. 
 
 The tide whereof is now. Good night, great Hector. 
 Hect. Give me your hand. 
 
 Ulyss, [Aside to Troiliis] Follow his torch; he goes to 
 Calchas' tent : 
 
 I '11 keep you company. 
 Tro. Sweet sir, you honour me. 
 
 Hect. And so, good night. 
 
 [Exit Diomedes; Ulysses and Troiliis follozving, 
 
 Achil. Come, come, enter my tent. 9*^ 
 
 [Exeunt Achilles, Hector, Ajax, and Nestor. 
 Ther. That same Diomed 's a false-hearted rogue, a 
 most unjust knave; I will no more trust him 
 
 124
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 when he leers than I will a serpent when he 
 hisses: he will spend his mouth and promise, 
 Hke Brabbler the hound ; but when he performs, 
 astronomers foretell it; it is prodigious, there 
 will come some change; the sun borrows of the 
 moon when Diomed keeps his word. I will 
 rather leave to see Hector than not to dog him : 
 they say he keeps a Trojan drab and uses the loo 
 traitor Calchas' tent : I '11 after. Nothing but 
 lechery ! all incontinent varlets ! [Exit. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 The same. Before Calchas' tent. 
 
 Enter Diomedes. 
 
 Dio. What, are you up here, ho? speak. 
 
 Cal [Within] Who calls? 
 
 Dio. Diomed. Calchas, I think. Where's your daughter? 
 
 Cal. [Within'] She comes to you. 
 
 Enter Troilns and Ulysses, at a distance; after them, 
 Thersites. 
 
 Ulyss. Stand where the torch may not discover us. 
 Enter Cressida. 
 
 Tro. Cressid comes forth to him. 
 
 Dio. How now, my charge ! 
 
 Cres. Now, my sweet guardian ! Hark, a word with you. 
 
 [Whispers. 
 Tro. Yea, so familiar! 
 
 125
 
 Act V. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Ulyss. She will sing any man at first sight. 
 
 Ther. And any man may sing her, if he can take her lo 
 
 cliff ; she 's noted. 
 Dio. Will you remember? 
 Cres. Remember! yes. 
 Dio. Nay, but do, then ; 
 
 And let your mind be coupled with your words. 
 Tro. What should she remember ? 
 Ulyss. List. 
 
 Cres. Sweet honey Greek, tempt me no more to folly. 
 Ther. Roguery! 
 
 Dio. Nay, then, — • 20 
 
 Cres. I '11 tell you what, — 
 
 Dio. Fob, fob! come, .tell a pin: you are forsworn. 
 Cres. In faith, I cannot : what would you have me do ? 
 Ther. A juggling trick, — to be secretly open. 
 Dio. What did you swear you would bestow on me? 
 Cres. I prithee, do not hold me to mine oath ; 
 
 Bid me do any thing but that, sweet Greek. 
 Dio. Good night. 
 Tro. Hold, patience! 
 
 Ulyss. How now% Trojan! 30 
 
 Cres. Diomed, — 
 
 Dio. No, no, good night : I '11 be your fool no more. 
 Tro. Thy better must. 
 Cres. Hark, one word in your ear. 
 Tro. O plague and madness ! 
 Ulyss. You are moved, prince ; let us depart, I pray you. 
 
 Lest your displeasure should enlarge itself 
 
 To wrathful terms : this place is dangerous ; 
 
 The time right deadly ; I beseech you, go. 
 Tro. Behold, I pray you ! 
 
 126
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 Ulyss. Nay, good my lord, go off : 40 
 
 You flow to great distraction ; come, my lord. 
 
 Tro. I pray thee, stay. 
 
 Ulyss. You have not patience ; come. 
 
 Tro. I pray you, stay ; by hell and all hell's torments, 
 I will not speak a word. 
 
 Dio. And so, good night. 
 
 Cres. Nay, but you part in anger. 
 
 Tro. Doth that grieve thee ? 
 
 wither'd truth ! 
 
 Ulyss. Why, how now, lord ! 
 
 Tro. By Jove, 
 
 1 will be patient. 
 
 Cres. Guardian! — why, Greek! 
 
 Dio. Foh, foh ! adieu ; you palter. 
 
 Cres. In faith, I do not : come hither once again. 49 
 
 Ulyss. You shake, my lord, at something : will you go ? 
 
 You will break out. 
 Tro. She strokes his cheek ! 
 
 Ulyss. Come, come. 
 
 Tro. Nay, stay ; by Jove, I will not speak a word : 
 
 There is between my will and all offences 
 
 A guard of patience : stay a little while. 
 Ther. How the devil luxury, with his fat rump 
 
 and potato-finger, tickles these together! Fry, 
 
 lechery, fry! 
 Dio. But will you, then ? 
 
 Cres. In faith, I will, la ; never trust me else. 
 Dio. Give me some token for the surety of it. 60 
 
 Cres. I '11 fetch you one. [Exit. 
 
 Ulyss. You have sworn patience. 
 
 Tro. Fear me not, sweet lord ; 
 
 127
 
 Act V. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 I will not be myself, nor have cognition 
 Of what I feel : I am all patience. 
 
 Re-enter Cressida. 
 
 Tro. Now the pledge; now, now, now! 
 
 Cres. Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve. 
 
 Tro. O beauty! where is thy faith? 
 
 Ulyss. ' My lord, — 
 
 Tro. I will be patient ; outwardly I will. 
 
 Cres. You look upon that sleeve ; behold it well. 
 
 He loved me — O false wench ! — Give't me again. 70 
 
 Dio. Whose was 't ? 
 
 Cres. It is no matter, now I have 't again. 
 
 I will not meet with you to-morrow night : 
 I prithee, Diomed, visit me no more. 
 
 Ther. Now she sharpens : well said, whetstone ! 
 
 Dio. I shall have it. 
 
 Cres. What, this? 
 
 Dio, Ay, that. 
 
 Cres, O, all you gods ! O pretty, pretty pledge ! 
 Thy master now lies thinking in his bed 
 Of thee and me, and sighs, and takes my glove, 
 And gives memorial dainty kisses to it, 80 
 
 As I kiss thee. Nay, do not snatch it from me ; 
 He that takes that doth take my heart withal. 
 
 Dio. I had your heart before ; this follows it. 
 
 Tro. I did swear patience. 
 
 Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; faith, you shall 
 not; 
 I '11 give you something else. 
 
 Dio. I will have this : whose was it ? 
 
 Cres. It is no matter. 
 
 128
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 Dio. Come, tell me whose It was. 
 
 Cres. 'Twas one's that loved me better than you will. 
 
 But, now you have it, take it. 
 Dio. Whose was it ? 90 
 
 Cres, By all Diana's waiting- women yond, 
 
 And by herself, I will not tell you whose. 
 Dio. To-morrow will I wear it on my helm, 
 
 And grieve his spirit that dares not challenge it. 
 Tro. Wert thou the devil, and worest it on thy horn, 
 
 It should be challenged. 
 Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past ; and yet it is not ; 
 
 I will not keep my word. 
 Dio. Why then, farewell ; 
 
 Thou never shalt mock Diomed again. 
 Cres. You shall not go : one cannot speak a word, 100 
 
 But it straight starts you. 
 Dio. I do not like this fooling. 
 
 Ther. Nor I, by Pluto : but that that likes not you 
 
 Pleases me best. 
 Dio. What, shall I come? the hour? 
 
 Cres. Ay, come : O Jove ! do come : I shall be plagued. 
 Dio. Farewell till then. 
 Cres. Good night : I prithee, come. 
 
 [Exit Diomedes. 
 
 Troilus, farewell ! one eye yet looks on thee. 
 
 But with my heart the other eye doth see. 
 
 Ah, poor our sex ! this fault in us I find. 
 
 The error of our eye directs our mind : 
 
 What error leads must err ; O, then conclude no 
 
 Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude. [Exit. 
 Ther. A proof of strength she could not publish more. 
 
 Unless she said ' My mind is now turn'd whore.' 
 129
 
 Act V. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Ulyss. All 's done, my lord. 
 
 Tro. It is. 
 
 Ulyss. Why stay we then ? 
 
 Tro. To make a recordation to my soul 
 
 Of every syllable that here was spoke. 
 
 But if I tell how these two did co-act, 
 
 Shall I not lie in publishing a truth ? 
 
 Sith yet there is a credence in my heart, 
 
 An esperance so obstinately strong, 120 
 
 That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears ; 
 
 As if those organs had deceptious functions, 
 
 Created only to calumniate. 
 
 Was Cressid here ? 
 Ulyss. I cannot conjure, Trojan. 
 
 Tro. She was not, sure. 
 Ulyss. j\Iost sure she was. 
 
 Tro. Why, my negation hath no taste of madness. 
 Ulyss. Nor mine, my lord : Cressid was here but now. 
 Tro. Let it not be believed for womanhood ! 
 
 Think, we had mothers ; do not give advantage 
 
 To stubborn critics, apt without a theme 130 
 
 For depravation, to square the general sex 
 
 By Cressid's rule : rather think this not Cressid. 
 Ulyss. What hath she done, prince, that can soil our 
 
 mothers ? 
 Tro. Nothing at all, unless that this were she. 
 Ther. W^ill a' swagger himself out on's own eyes ? 
 Tro. This she ? no, this is Diomed's Cressida : 
 
 If beauty have a soul, this is not she ; 
 
 If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimonies, 
 
 If sanctimony be the gods' delight. 
 
 If there be rule in unity itself, 140 
 
 130
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 This is not she. O madness of discourse, 
 That cause sets up with and against itself ! 
 Bi-fold authority ! where reason can revolt 
 Without perdition, and loss assume all reason 
 Without revolt : this is, and is not, Cressid ! 
 Within my soul there doth conduce a fight 
 Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate 
 Divides more wider than the sky and earth ; 
 And yet the spacious breadth of this division 
 Admits no orifex for a point as subtle 150 
 
 As Ariachne's broken woof to enter. 
 Instance, O instance ! strong as Pluto's gates ; 
 Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven : 
 Instance, O instance ! strong as heaven itself ; 
 The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolved and 
 
 loosed ; 
 And with another knot, five-finger-tied, 
 The fractions of her faith, orts of her love, 
 The fragments, scraps, the bits and greasy relics 
 Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed. 
 
 Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attached 160 
 
 With that which here his passion doth express ? 
 
 Tro. Ay, Greek ; and that shall be divulged well 
 In characters as red as Mars his heart 
 Inflamed with Venus : never did young man fancy 
 With so eternal and so fix'd a soul. 
 Hark, Greek : as much as I do Cressid love, 
 So much by weight hate I her Diomed : 
 That sleeve is mine that he '11 bear on his helm : 
 Were it a casque composed by Vulcan's skill, 
 ]My sword should bite it : not the dreadful spout 170 
 Which shipmen do the hurricane call, 
 
 131
 
 Act V. Sc. ii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Constringed in mass by the almighty sun, 
 
 Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear 
 
 In his descent, than shall my prompted sword 
 
 Falling on Diomed. 
 Ther. He '11 tickle it for his concupy. 
 Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false! 
 
 Let all untruths stand by thy stained name, 
 
 And they '11 seem glorious. 
 Ulyss. O, contain yourself ; 
 
 Your passion draws ears hither. i8o 
 
 Enter JEneas. 
 
 '^ne. I have been seeking you this hour, my lord : 
 Hector by this is arming him in Troy ; 
 Ajax your guard stays to conduct you home. 
 
 Tro. Have with you, prince. My courteous lord, adieu. 
 Farewell, revolted fair! and, Diomed, 
 Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head ! 
 
 Ulyss. I '11 bring you to the gates. 
 
 Tro. Accept distracted thanks. 
 
 [Exeunt Troilus, Mneas, and Ulysses, 
 
 Ther. Would I could meet that rogue Diomed! I 190 
 would croak like a raven; I would bode, I 
 would bode. Patroclus will give me any thing 
 for the intelligence of this whore: the parrot 
 will not do more for an almond than he for a 
 commodious drab. Lechery, lechery! still wars 
 and lechery! nothing else holds fashion. A 
 burning devil take them ! [Exit. 
 
 132
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Troy. Before Priam's palace. 
 Enter Hector and Andromache, 
 
 And. When was my lord so much ungently temper'd, 
 To stop his ears against admonishment? 
 Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day. 
 
 Hect. You train me to offend you ; get you in : 
 By all the everlasting gods, I '11 go ! 
 
 And. My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day. 
 
 Hect. No more, I say. 
 
 Enter Cassandra. 
 
 Cas. Where is my brother Hector ? 
 
 And. Here, sister ; arm'd, and bloody in intent. 
 
 Consort with me in loud and dear petition ; 
 
 Pursue we him on knees ; for I have dream'd lo 
 
 Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night 
 
 Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter. 
 Cas. O, 'tis true. 
 
 Hect. Ho! bid my trumpet sound! 
 
 Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother. 
 Hect. Be gone, I say : the gods have heard me swear. 
 Cas. The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows : 
 
 They are polluted offerings, more abhorr'd 
 
 Than spotted livers in the sacrifice. 
 And, O, be persuaded ! do not count it holy 
 
 To hurt by being just : it is as lawful, 20 
 
 For we would give much, to use violent thefts 
 
 And rob in the behalf of charity. 
 Cas. It is the purpose that makes strong the vow ; 
 
 But vows to every purpose must not hold : 
 
 133
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Unarm, sweet Hector. 
 Hect. Hold you still, I say ; 
 
 Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate : 
 Life every man holds dear ; but the dear man 
 Holds honour far more precious-dear than life. 
 
 Enter Troilus. 
 
 How now, young man ! mean'st thou to fight to-day ? 
 And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade. 30 
 
 [Exit Cassandra. 
 
 Hect. No, faith, young Troilus ; doff thy harness, youth : 
 I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry : 
 Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong, 
 And tempt not yet the brushes of the war. 
 Unarm thee, go ; and doubt thou not, brave boy, 
 I '11 stand to-day for thee and me and Troy. 
 
 Tro. Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you. 
 Which better fits a lion than a man. 
 
 Hect. What vice is that, good Troilus ? chide me for it. 
 
 Tro. When many times the captive Grecian falls, 40 
 
 Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword. 
 You bid them rise and live. 
 
 Hect. O, 'tis fair play. 
 
 Tro. Fool's play, by heaven. Hector. 
 
 Hect. How now ! how now ! 
 
 Tro. For the love of all the gods, 
 
 Let 's leave the hermit pity with our mother ; 
 And when we have our armours buckled on. 
 The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords, 
 Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth ! 
 
 Hect. Fie, savage, fie! 
 
 Tro. Hector, then 'tis wars. 
 
 134
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Hect Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day. 50 
 
 Tro. Who should withhold me ? 
 
 Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars 
 
 Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire ; 
 
 Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees. 
 
 Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears ; 
 
 Nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn. 
 
 Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way. 
 
 But by my ruin. 
 
 Re-enter Cassandra^ with Priam. 
 
 Cas. Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast : 
 
 He is thy crutch ; now if thou lose thy stay, 60 
 
 Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee. 
 Fall all together. 
 
 Pri. Come, Hector, come, go back : 
 
 Thy wife hath dream'd ; thy mother hath had visions ; 
 Cassandra doth foresee ; and I myself 
 Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt. 
 To tell thee that this day is ominous : 
 Therefore, come back. 
 
 Hect. ^neas is afield; 
 
 And I do stand engaged to many Greeks, 
 Even in the faith of valour, to appear 
 This morning to them. 
 
 Pri. Ay, but thou shalt not go. 70 
 
 Hect. I must not break my faith. 
 
 You know me dutiful ; therefore, dear sir, 
 Let me not shame respect ; but give me leave 
 To take that course by your consent and voice, 
 Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam. 
 
 Cas. O Priam, yield not to him ! 
 
 I3S
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 And. Do not, dear father 
 
 Hecf. Andromache, I am offended with you : 
 
 Upon the love you bear me, get you in. 
 
 [Exit Andromache. 
 Tro. This foohsh, dreaming, superstitious girl 
 
 Makes all these bodements. 
 Cas. O, farewell, dear Hector! 80 
 
 Look, how thou diest ! look, how thy eye turns pale ! 
 
 Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents ! 
 
 Hark, how Troy roars ! how Hecuba cries out ! 
 
 How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth! 
 
 Behold, distraction, frenzy and amazement, 
 
 Like witless antics, one another meet. 
 
 And all cry ' Hector ! Hector 's dead ! O Hector ! ' 
 Tro. Away! away! 
 Cas. Farewell : yet, soft ! Hector, I take my leave : 
 
 Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive. [Exit. 
 Hect. You are amazed, my liege, at her exclaim : 91 
 
 Go in and cheer the town : we '11 forth and fight, 
 
 Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night. 
 Pri. Farewell : the gods with safety stand about thee ! 
 
 [Exeunt severally Priam and Hector, Alarum. 
 Tro. They are at it, hark ! Proud DIomed, believe, 
 
 I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve. 
 
 Enter Pandarus. 
 
 Pan. Do you hear, my lord? do you hear? 
 Tro. What now ? 
 
 Pan. Here 's a letter come from yond poor girl. 
 Tro. Let me read. 100 
 
 Pan. A whoreson tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick 
 so troubles me, and the foolish fortune of this 
 
 136
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. iv. 
 
 girl ; and what one thing, what another, that I 
 shall leave you one o' these days : and I have a 
 rheum in mine eyes too, and such an ache in my 
 bones that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot 
 tell what to think on 't. What says she there ? 
 Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from the 
 heart ; 
 The effect doth operate another way. 
 
 [Tearing the letter. 
 Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together. 
 My love with words and errors still she feeds, in 
 But edifies another with her deeds. 
 
 [Exeunt severally. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 The Held between Troy and the Grecian camp. 
 
 Alarums. Excursions. Enter Thersitcs. 
 
 Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another; 
 I '11 go look on. That dissembling abominable 
 varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting 
 foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in 
 his helm : I would fain see them meet ; that 
 that same young Trojan ass, that loves the 
 whore there, might send that Greekish whore- 
 masterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dis- 
 sembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand. 
 O' the t'other side, the policy of those crafty lO 
 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 
 
 137
 
 Act V. Sc. iv. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 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. 
 
 Enter Diomedes and Troilus. 
 
 Soft ! here comes sleeve, and t' other. 20 
 
 Tro. Fly not, for shculdst thou take the river Styx, 
 
 I would swim after. 
 Dio. Thou dost miscall retire : 
 
 I do not fly ; but advantageous care 
 
 Withdrew me from the odds of multitude: 
 
 Have at thee ! 
 Tlicr. Hold thy • whore, Grecian ! Now for thy 
 
 whore, Trojan! Now the sleeve, now the 
 
 sleeve! [Exeunt Troilus and Diomedes^ fighting. 
 
 Enter Hector. 
 
 Hect. What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's 
 match ? 
 Art thou of blood and honour ? 30 
 
 Ther. No, no : I am a rascal ; a scurvy railing knave ; 
 a very filthy rogue. 
 
 Heet. I do believe thee. Live. [Exit. 
 
 Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but 
 a plague break thy neck for frighting me! 
 W^hat 's become of the wenching rogues ? I 
 think they have swallowed one another : I would 
 laugh at that miracle : yet in a sort lechery eats 
 itself. I '11 seek them. [Exit.
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. v. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 Another part of the field. 
 Enter Diornedes and Servant. 
 
 Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse ; 
 
 Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid : 
 
 Fellow, commend my service to her beauty ; 
 
 Tell her I have chastised the amorous Trojan, 
 
 And am her knight by oroof. 
 Ser. I go, my lord. [Exit. 
 
 Enter Agamemnon. 
 
 Agam. Renew, renew ! The lierce Polydamas 
 Hath beat down Menon : bastard Margarelon 
 Hath Doreus prisoner, 
 
 And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam. 
 Upon the pashed corses of the kings 10 
 
 Epistrophus and Cedius : Polyxenes is slain ; 
 Amphimachus and^ Thoas deadly hurt ; 
 Patroclus ta'en or slain ; and Palamedes 
 Sore hurt and bruised : the dreadful sagittary 
 Appals our num.bers : haste we, Diomed, 
 To reinforcement, or we perish all. 
 
 Enter Nestor. 
 
 Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles, 
 
 And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame. 
 There is a thousand Hectors in the field : 
 Now here he fights on Galathe his horse, 20 
 
 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, 
 
 139
 
 Act V. Sc. V. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 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. 
 
 Ulyss. O, courage, courage, princes ! great Achilles 30 
 Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance : 
 Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood. 
 Together with his mangled Myrmidons, 
 That noseless, handless,hack'd and chipp'd, come to him, 
 Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend, 
 And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd, and at it, 
 Roaring for Troilus ; who hath done to-day 
 Mad and fantastic execution, 
 Engaging and redeeming of himself, 
 With such a careless force and forceless care, 40 
 As if that luck, in very spite of cunning, 
 Bade him win all. 
 
 Eiiter Ajax. 
 
 Ajax. Troilus ! thou coward Troilus ! [Exit. 
 
 Dio. Ay, there, there. 
 
 Nest. So, so, we draw together. 
 
 Enter Achilles. 
 
 Achil. Where is this Hector ? 
 
 Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face; 
 Know what it is to meet Achilles angry : 
 Hector ! where 's Hector ? I will none but Hector. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 140
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. vi. 
 
 Scene VI. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 Enter Ajax. 
 Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy head ! 
 
 Enter Diomedes. 
 
 Dio. Troilus, I say ! where 's Troilus ? 
 Ajax. What would'st thou? 
 
 Dto. I would correct him. 
 
 Ajax. Were I the general, thou shouldst have my office 
 Ere that correction. Troilus, I say ! what, Troilus ! 
 
 Enter Troilus. 
 
 Tro. O traitor Diomed ! Turn thy false face, thou traitor, 
 
 And pay thy life thou owest me for my horse. 
 Dio. Ha, art thou there? 
 
 Ajax. I '11 fight with him alone : stand, Diomed. 
 Dio, He is my prize ; I will not look upon. lo 
 
 Tro. Come both, you cogging Greeks ; have at you both ! 
 
 [Exeunt, -fighting. 
 
 Enter Hector. 
 Hect. Yea, Troilus ? O, well fought, my youngest brother ! 
 
 Enter Achilles. 
 
 Achil. Now do I see thee; ha! have at thee, Hector! 
 
 Hect. Pause, if thou wilt. 
 
 Achil. I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Trojan : 
 Be happy that my arms are out of use : 
 My rest and negligence befriends thee now, 
 But thou anon shalt hear of me again ; 
 
 141
 
 Act V. Sc. vii. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Till when, go seek thy fortune. [Exit. 
 
 Hect. Fare thee well : 
 
 I would have been much more a fresher man, 20 
 Had I expected thee. 
 
 Re-enter Troilns. 
 
 How now, my brother ! 
 Tro. Ajax hath ta'en ^neas : shall it be? 
 
 No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven, 
 
 He shall not carry him ; I '11 be ta'en too, 
 
 Or bring him off. Fate, hear me what I say ! 
 
 I reck not though I end my life to-day. [Exit. 
 
 Enter one in sumptuous armour. 
 
 Hect. Stand, stand, thou Greek ; thou art a goodly mark. 
 No? wilt thou not? I like thy armour well ; 
 I '11 frush it, and unlock the rivets all. 
 But I '11 be master of it. Wilt thou not, beast, abide ? 
 Why then, fly on, I '11 hunt thee for thy hide. 31 
 
 [Exeunt.. 
 
 Scene VII. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 
 Enter Achilles, zvith Myrmidons. 
 
 Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons ; 
 Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel : 
 Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath : 
 And when I have the bloody Hector found. 
 Empale him with your weapons round about ; 
 In fellest manner execute your aims. 
 Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye : 
 It is decreed Hector the great must die. [Exeunt, 
 
 142
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. viii. 
 
 Enter Menelaus and Paris, fighting: then Thersites. 
 
 Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. 
 
 Now, bull! now, dog! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! now lo 
 my double-henned sparrow ! 'loo, Paris, 'loo ! 
 The bull has the game : ware horns, ho ! 
 
 [Exeunt Paris and Menelaus. 
 
 Enter Margarelon. 
 
 Mar. Turn, slave, and fight. 
 
 Ther. What art thou? 
 
 Mar. A bastard son of Priam's. 
 
 Ther. I am a bastard too ; I love bastards : I am a 
 bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in 
 mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegiti- 
 mate. One bear will not bite another, and 
 wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, 20 
 the quarrel 's most ominous to us : if the son 
 of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judge- 
 ment: farewell, bastard. [Exit. 
 
 Mar. The devil take thee, coward ! [Exit. 
 
 Scene VIII. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 
 Enter Hector. 
 
 Hect. Most putrefied core, so fair without, 
 Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. 
 Now is my day's work done ; I '11 take good breath : 
 Rest, sword ; thou hast thy fill of blood and death. 
 [Puts off his helmet and hangs his shield behind him. 
 
 143
 
 Act V. Sc. ix. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 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, 
 
 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. lo 
 
 [Hector falls. 
 
 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 retire 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. 
 
 Pleased with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed. 20 
 
 [Sheathes his sword. 
 
 Come, tie his body to my horse's tail ; 
 
 Along the field I will the Trojan trail. 
 
 [Exeunt. A retreat sounded. 
 
 Scene IX. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 
 Enter Agamemnon, Ajax, Menelaus, Nestor, Diomedes, 
 and the rest, marching. Shouts zvithin. 
 
 Agam. Hark ! hark ! what shout is that ? 
 A^^^^. Peace, drums ! 
 
 144
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. x. 
 
 [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 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, 9 
 
 Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. 
 
 [Exeunt, marching. 
 
 Scene X. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 
 Enter ^neas, Paris, Antenor, and Deiphohus. 
 
 ^ne. 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 ! 
 
 .^ne. My lord, you do discomfort all the host. 10 
 
 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 ? 
 
 145
 
 Act V. Sc. X. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd, 
 
 Go in to Troy, and say there ' Hector 's dead ' : 
 
 There is a word will Priam turn to stone, 
 
 Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives, 
 
 Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word, 20 
 
 Scare Troy'out of itself. But march aw^ay: 
 
 Hector is dead ; there is no more to say. 
 
 Stay yet. You vile abominable tents, 
 
 Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains. 
 
 Let Titan rise as early as he dare, 
 
 I '11 through and through you ! and, thou great-sized" 
 
 coward, 
 No space of earth shall sunder our two hates : 
 I '11 haunt thee like a wicked conscience still, 
 That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy's thoughts. 
 Strike a free march to Troy ! with comfort go : 30 
 Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe. 
 
 [Exeunt ^neas and Trojans. 
 
 As Troilus is going out, enter, from the other side, 
 Pandarus. 
 
 Pan. But hear you, hear you ! 
 
 Tro. Hence, broker-lackey ! ignomy and shame 
 Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name ! 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Pan. A goodly medicine 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 per- 
 formance so loathed? what verse for it? what 40 
 instance for it ? Let me see : 
 146
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Act V. Sc. x. 
 
 Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing-, 
 Till he hath lost his honey and his sting; 
 And being once subdued 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, 
 
 Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall ; 
 
 Or if you cannot weep, yet give some groans, 50 
 
 Though not for me, yet for your aching bones 
 
 Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade, 
 
 Some two months hence my will shall here be made : 
 
 It should be now, but that my fear is this, 
 
 Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss : 
 
 Till then I '11 sweat and seek about for eases. 
 
 And at that time bequeath you my diseases. [Exit. 
 
 147
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary. 
 
 A', he; I. ii. 211. 
 
 Abject in regard, held in little 
 estimation (Quarto, "oh- 
 iect"); III. iii. 128. 
 
 Abruption, breaking off; III. ii. 
 67. 
 
 Adamant, the loadstone; III. ii. 
 183. 
 
 Addition, title; II. iii. 248. 
 
 Additions, virtues, characteris- 
 tic qualities; I. ii. 20. 
 
 Addle, used with play on 
 " idle " ; I. ii. 138. 
 
 Address, prepare ; IV. iv. 146. 
 
 Advertised, informed; II. ii. 
 211. 
 
 Afeard, afraid; IV. iv. 82. 
 
 Affection, passion, lust; II. ii. 
 177- 
 
 AfUned, related, joined by af- 
 finity; I. iii. 25. 
 
 Affronted, e ncountered, 
 matched; III. ii. 170. 
 
 Against, just before, in expecta- 
 tion of; I. ii. 182. 
 
 Albeit, although ; III. ii. 138. 
 
 Allow, acknowledge; III. ii. 93. 
 
 Allowance, acknowledgment; I. 
 iii. 377- 
 
 An, if, as if ; " an 'twere," like, 
 just as (Quartos, Folios, 
 "and") ; I. i. 79. 
 
 Anchises, the father of ^neas ; 
 IV. i. 21. 
 
 Antics, buffoons; V. iii. 86. 
 
 Appear it, let it appear ; III. 
 iii. 3. 
 
 Appertainments, dignity apper- 
 taining to us (Quarto, " ap~ 
 pertainings") ; II. iii. 87. 
 
 Apply, explain, interpret ; I. iii. 
 
 Appointment, equipment; IV. 
 V. I. 
 
 Apprehensions, conception, per- 
 ception; II. iii. 118. 
 
 Approve, prove ; III. ii. 178. 
 
 Aquilon, the north wind; IV. 
 V. 9. 
 
 Argument, subject of a play; 
 Prol. 25. 
 
 Argus, the fabulous monster 
 with a hundred eyes; I. ii. 31. 
 
 Ariachne's, Arachne's; i.e. the 
 spider's (Folios, "Ariach- 
 nes " ; Quarto, " Ariachnas " ; 
 Pope, "slight Arachne's" ; 
 Capell, "is Arachnes" ; Stee- 
 vens conj. "Ariadne's or 
 Arachnea's") ; V. ii. 152, 
 
 Artist, scholar ; I. iii. 24. 
 
 As, equal to, as good as. III. ii. 
 53; as if. III. iii. 167. 
 
 Aspects, influence ; I. iii. 92. 
 
 Assinego, ass (Quarto, Folios, 
 " Asinico " ; Singer conj. 
 " asnico ") ; II. i. 48. 
 
 Assub Jugate, bring into subjec- 
 tion, debase; II. iii. 194. 
 
 148
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Attach' d, '* be a. with," have a 
 feeling of; V. ii. i6i. 
 
 Attaint, taint, stain; I. ii. 26. 
 
 Attest, testimony; V. ii. 122. 
 
 , call to witness ; II. ii. 
 
 132. 
 
 Attribute, reputation; II. iii. 
 119. 
 
 Attributive, ascribing excellent 
 qualities (Folios, " incline- 
 able"); II. ii. 58. 
 
 Barks, ships ; Prol. 12. 
 
 Battle, army; III. ii. 27, 
 
 Beam, heavy lance ; V. v. 9. 
 
 Beastly, like a beast ; V. x. 5. 
 
 Beaver, here helmet ; properly, 
 the front of the helmet ; I. iii. 
 296. 
 
 Beef-witted, with no more wit 
 than an ox (Grey conj. 
 "half-witted") ; II. i. 14. 
 
 Benumbed, deprived of sensa- 
 tion, insensible ; II. ii, 179. 
 
 Bestowing, functions; III. ii. 
 2>7- 
 
 Better, used quibblingly — a bet- 
 ter man; III. i. 12. 
 
 ; "were b.," had better; I. 
 
 iii. 370. 
 
 Bias, originally a term in the 
 game of bowls ; here, out of 
 a straight line, awry; I. iii. 15. 
 
 Bias cheek, " as the bowl on 
 the biassed side " ; IV. v. 8. 
 
 Bias-drawing, turning awry ; 
 IV. V. 169. 
 
 Bi-fold, two-fold, double (Col- 
 lier MS., "by foole") ; V. ii. 
 144. 
 
 Black-a-moor, negress; I. i. 80. 
 
 Blank of danger, unknown dan- 
 ger ; blank ^ a charter, to 
 which one sets his seal or sig- 
 nature before it is filled up ; 
 III. iii. 231. 
 
 Blench, start, flinch ; I. i. 28. 
 
 Blench from, fly off from, be 
 inconstant to ; II. ii. 68. 
 
 Bless, preserve; II. iii. 32. 
 
 Blood, passions, natural pro- 
 pensities ; II. iii. 33. 
 
 Blown up, grown up (Capell 
 conj. "grown tip"); I. iii. 
 317. 
 
 Bob, cheat, trick; III. i. 69. 
 
 ' B/ow, vi//ain, till thy bias cheeky etc. 
 
 From a Pompeian wall-painting. (The 
 cheeks are braced as a precaution 
 against dangerous distention.) 
 
 Bobbed, thumped ; II. i. 72. 
 Bode, forbode, be ominous ; V. 
 
 ii. 191. 
 Bodements, presages ; V. iii. 80. 
 Bolting, sifting; I. i. 18. 
 
 149
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Boot, something into the bar- 
 gain, advantage ; IV. v. 40. 
 
 ; "to b.," into the bargain; 
 
 I. ii. 250. 
 
 Boreas, the north wind ; I. iii. 
 38. 
 
 Bought and sold, made a fool 
 of; II. i. 50. 
 
 Boy-queller, boy-killer ; V. v. 
 45. 
 
 Brave, fine, splendid ; Prol. 15. 
 
 , defying, bravado ; IV. iv. 
 
 137. 
 
 Bravely, admirably ; I. ii. 189. 
 
 Bnaivn, arm (Quarto, 
 '' hraunes") ; I. iii. 297. 
 
 Breath, breathing, exercise ; II. 
 iii. 115. 
 
 Breese, gadfly (Quarto, 
 " Bryze " ; Folio i, " Brieze " ; 
 Folios 2, 3, 4, " Brize") ; I. 
 iii. 48. 
 
 Briareus, the fabulous giant 
 who was supposed to have a 
 hundred hands ; I. ii. 30. 
 
 Bring; "be with you to b.," an 
 idiomatic expression = " to 
 bring as good as I get " (give 
 six for your half-dozen) ; I. 
 ii. 291, 2. 
 
 , take ; IV. v. 53. 
 
 , conduct ; IV. v. 286. 
 
 Broad, wide (so Quarto; Fo- 
 lios read. " I w d" and 
 "loud") ; I. iii. 27. 
 
 , puffed with pride ; I. iii. 
 
 190. 
 
 Broils ; " b. in loud applause," 
 " basks in the sunshine of ap- 
 plause, even to broiling " 
 (Schmidt) ; I. iii. 379. 
 
 Broken, interrupted ; IV. iv. 48. 
 
 Broken music ; " some instru- 
 ments, such as viols, violins, 
 flutes, etc., were formerly 
 made in sets of four, which 
 when played together formed 
 a " consort." If one or more 
 instruments of one set were 
 substituted for the corre- 
 sponding ones of another set, 
 the result was no longer a 
 " consort," but " broken mu- 
 sic " (Chapell) ; III. i. 50. 
 
 Brooch, V. Notes ; II. i. 119. 
 
 Brotherhoods, associations, cor- 
 porations ; I. iii. 104. 
 
 Bruit, rumour ; V. ix. 4. 
 
 Brushes, hurts; V. iii. 34. 
 
 Buss, kiss ; IV. v. 220. 
 
 By God's lid = hy God's eye, 
 an oath ; I. ii. 218. 
 
 Caduceus, Mercury's rod; II. 
 iii. 13. 
 
 Can = can do ; II. ii. 135. 
 
 Cancer, the zodiacal sign of the 
 summer solstice; II. iii. 198. 
 
 Capable; "more c," abler; III. 
 iii. 307. 
 
 Capocchia; "a fabricated femi- 
 nine form of the Italian word 
 ' capocchio' which means a 
 dolt, a simpleton, a fool " 
 (Clarke) ; (Folios, Quarto, 
 " chipochia" ; Collier, "ca- 
 pocchio") ; IV. ii. 31. 
 
 Captive, conquered; V. iii. 40. 
 
 Carry, carry off, bear off ; V. 
 vi. 24. 
 
 Catlings, strings of catgut ; III 
 iii. 304. 
 
 150
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Centre, earth; I. iii. 85. 
 
 Chafe thee, become angry; IV. 
 
 V. 260. 
 Chance, chances it; III. i. 137. 
 Changeful, inconstant ; IV. iv. 
 
 97- 
 
 Change of, exchange for; III. 
 iii. 27. 
 
 Chapmen, buyers ; IV. i. 75. 
 
 Characterless, unrecorded; III. 
 ii. 192. 
 
 Characters,, figures ; I. iii. 325. 
 
 Charge, expense ; IV. i. 57. 
 
 ; "on c," on compulsion, 
 
 by your order ; IV. iv. 133. 
 
 Charon, the ferryman who 
 rowed the souls of the de- 
 parted over the river Styx ; 
 III. ii. 10. 
 
 Circumstance, details of argu- 
 ment; III. iii. 114. 
 
 Clamours, noises, sounds; I. i. 
 92. 
 
 Cliff, clef or key ; a musical 
 term; V. ii. 11. 
 
 Clotpoles, blockheads ; II. i. 122. 
 
 Cloud ; " a c. in autumn," a 
 cloud heralding bad weather ; 
 I. ii. 131. 
 
 Co-act, act, play together ; V. ii. 
 118. 
 
 Cohloaf, a crusty, uneven loaf 
 with a round top to it (Ma- 
 lone conj. " Coploaf") II. i. 
 
 Cogging, cheating, deceiving ; 
 
 V. vi. II. 
 Cognition, perception ; V. ii. 63. 
 Colossus-wise, like a Colossus ; 
 
 V. V. 9. 
 Compare, comparison ; III. ii. 
 
 179. 
 
 Compassed, round ; " c. win- 
 dow," bay-window (Quarto, 
 Folios, " compast") ; I. ii. 114. 
 
 Composure, bond (Folios, 
 " counsell that") ; II. iii. 102. 
 
 Con, learn by heart (Quarto, 
 " cunne") ; II. i. 18. 
 
 Condition, on condition, even 
 though ; I. ii. 75. 
 
 Conduce, is joined, brought 
 together ( R o w e, " com- 
 mence ") \ V. ii. 147. 
 
 Conjure ; " I cannot c." I can- 
 not raise up spirits ; V. ii, 125. 
 
 Constringed, contracted, 
 cramped; V. ii. 173. 
 
 Convince, convict, prove guilty; 
 
 II. ii. 130. 
 
 Convive zve, we will feast ; IV. 
 V. 272. 
 
 Convoy, conveyance ; I. i. 107. 
 
 Coped, encountered; I. ii. 34. 
 
 Core, ulcer ; II. i. 7. 
 
 Cormorant, ravenous (Folio i, 
 "cormorant") ; II. ii. 6. 
 
 Corse, corpse, body ; II. iii. 35. 
 
 Counters, round pieces of metal 
 used in counting; II. ii. 28. 
 
 Cousin, niece (a title given to 
 any kinsman and kinswom- 
 an) ; I. ii. 44. 
 
 Creep in, steal secretly into ; 
 
 III. iii. 134. 
 
 Critics, censurers, carpers ; V. 
 
 ii. 131. 
 Crownets, coronets ; Prol. 6. 
 Crushed into, pressed into, 
 
 mixed with (Warburton, 
 
 "crusted into"): I. ii- 23. 
 Cunning, powerful ; III. ii. 136. 
 Curious, causing care; III. ii. 
 
 67. 
 
 151
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Daphne, the nymph beloved by 
 Apollo, who fleeing from his 
 pursuit was changed into a 
 laurel tree ; I. i. loi. 
 
 Darking, darkening, growing 
 dark; V. viii. 7. 
 
 Date, dates were commonly 
 used in pastry in Shake- 
 speare's time ; I. ii. 269. 
 
 Daws, jackdaws; I. ii. 255. 
 
 Days, " a whole week by d.," 
 every day for a whole week; 
 IV. i. 9. 
 
 Dear, earnest ; V. iii. 9. 
 
 Death-tokens, " the spots which 
 indicate the approaching 
 death of persons infected 
 with the plague " ; II. iii. 179. 
 
 Debonair, gentle, meek; I. iii. 
 
 235. 
 Deceptions, delusive ; V. ii. 123. 
 Decline, run through in detail ; 
 
 II. iii. 55. 
 
 , fall ; IV. V. 189. 
 
 Declined, fallen; IV. v. 189. 
 Deem, thought ; IV. iv. 59. 
 Deject, dejected; II. ii. 50. 
 Depravation, detraction; V. ii. 
 
 132. 
 Deputation, power deputed to 
 
 thee ; I. iii. 152. 
 Deracinate, uproot ; I. iii, 99. 
 Derive, deduce logically ; II. iii. 
 
 63. 
 Destiny, fate [" labouring for 
 
 destiny" = "the viceregent of 
 
 Fate" (Malone)] ; IV. v. 184. 
 Dexter, right ; IV. v. 128. 
 Diana's waiting-women, i.e. the 
 
 stars ; V. ii. 91. 
 Diminutive s, insignificant 
 
 things ; V. i. 34. 
 
 Directive, able to be directed; 
 I. iii. 356. 
 
 Discourse, reasoning; V. ii. 142. 
 
 Discover' d, revealed, disclosed; 
 I. iii. 138. 
 
 Discoveries, (?) monstrosities 
 (Hanmer, " debaucheries" ', 
 Singer (Ed. 2), "discover- 
 ers " ; Collier MS., " discol- 
 ourers") ; V. i. 27. 
 
 Dismes, tenths ; II. ii. 19. 
 
 Disorb'd, unsphered (Quarto, 
 " disorbd ") ; II. ii. 46. 
 
 Dispose, disposition ; II. iii. 166. 
 
 Disposer, one who can bring 
 another to do anything (or 
 perhaps = entertainer) ; III. 
 i. 91. 
 
 Distains, stains, taints ; I. iii. 
 
 241- 
 
 Distaste, dislike ; II. ii. 66. 
 
 , make distasteful ; II. ii, 
 
 123. 
 
 Distasted, made distasteful ; IV. 
 iv. 48. 
 
 Distraction, despair, madness ; 
 V. ii. 41. 
 
 Dividable, divided ; I. iii. 105. 
 
 Double-henned; " perhaps, with 
 a double hen, i.e. with a fe- 
 male married to two cocks, 
 and thus false to both " 
 (Schmidt) ; V. vii* 11. 
 
 Draught-oxen, oxen used to 
 draw a cart or plough (Fo- 
 lios, "draft-oxen") ; II. i. iii. 
 
 Drave, urged on ; III. iii. 190. 
 
 Dress' d, addressed, prepared; I. 
 iii. 166. 
 
 Dwells, depends on ; I. iii, 2,2>^- 
 
 Edge, sword ; V. \. 24. 
 
 152
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Eld, old age (Quarto, "el- 
 ders"; Folios, "old"); 11. 
 ii. 104. 
 
 Elements; " the two moist e.," 
 i.e. water and air; I. iii. 41. 
 
 Emhracement, embracing; IV. 
 V. 148. 
 
 Embrasures, embraces ; IV, iv. 
 
 Emulation, envy, jealousy; II. 
 
 ii. 212, 
 Emulous, envious (Folios i, 2, 
 
 "emulations" ; Folios 3, 4, 
 
 "emulatwus") ; II, iii. 75. 
 Encountcrers, people who meet 
 
 others half-way ; IV. v. 58. 
 End, kill, destroy ; I. ii. 79. 
 Engine, instrument ; II. iii. 137. 
 Enginer, pioneer; II. iii. 8. 
 Enter, to enter; II. iii. 189. 
 Entreat, treat; IV. iv. 113. 
 
 ■ , invite ; IV. v. 274. 
 
 Envy, malice ; III. ii. 99. 
 Errant, deviating; I. iii. 9. 
 Errors, deceptions; V. iii. iii. 
 Exact; "grace exact"; v. 
 
 Note ; I. iii. 180. 
 Exasperate = exasperated ; V. 
 
 i. 30. 
 Excitements, incitements ; I. iii. 
 
 182. 
 Exclaim, outcry ; V. iii. 91. 
 Execute, practise, use ; V. vii. 6. 
 Execution, working; I. iii. 210. 
 Expect, expectation; I. iii. 70. 
 Expectance = Q.yi^tct2L\\o\\; IV. 
 
 V. 146. 
 Expressure, expression ; III. iii. 
 
 204. 
 Extremes, ey.\.rtm\ty ; IV. ii. 105. 
 Extremity ; " the edge of all e.." 
 
 to the uttermost; IV. v. 68. 
 
 Faction, union ; II. iii. 102. 
 
 , take sides in the quarrel; 
 
 III. iii. 190. 
 Fail, let fail ; V. i. 44. 
 Fair, well; IV. iv. 113. 
 Fall, let fall ; I. iii. 379. 
 Fan =: winnowing fan ; I. iii. 27. 
 
 From an emblazoning on the shield of 
 Sir R. de Septvans (d. 1306), in Chart- 
 ham Church, near Canterbury. 
 
 Fancy, love ; IV. iv. 25. 
 
 , love (verb) ; V. ii. 165. 
 
 Fat, nourish ; II. ii. 48. 
 
 Favour, countenance, face; I. 
 ii. 95. 
 
 Fee farm, " of a duration that 
 has no bounds ; a fee-farm 
 being a grant of lands in fee, 
 that is for ever, reserving a 
 certain rent" (Malone) ; III. 
 ii. 51. 
 
 Fell, fierce, savage ; IV. v. 269. 
 
 Fills, shafts of a carriage ; III. 
 ii. 46. 
 
 Finch-egg, a term of contempt; 
 V. i. Z7- 
 
 Fitchew, polecat ; V. i. 63. 
 
 Fits, the divisions of a song or 
 tune ; (perhaps =: " when the 
 humour takes you ") ; III. i. 
 58. 
 
 153
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Five-Hngcr-tied. tied with all 
 the fingers of the hand ; V. ii. 
 
 Fixture, stability; I. iii. loi. 
 Flat tamed, stale, insipid; IV. i. 
 
 62. 
 Fled, have fled (Pope, "get"; 
 
 Capell, " Uee " ; Keightley 
 
 conj. " have Ued") ; I. iii. 51. 
 Flexure, bending (Folios, 
 
 "night"); II. iii. 109. 
 Flood, ocean, sea; I. i. 105. 
 , " in f.," in full flow ; I. iii. 
 
 300. 
 Flow to, hasten towards (John- 
 son conj. "show too"); V. 
 
 ii. 41. 
 Fonder, more foolish ; I. i. 10. 
 For, against; I. ii. 281. 
 
 , because; V. iii. 21, 
 
 Force, power, might ; IV. i. 18. 
 
 , stuff; II. iii. 224. 
 
 Forced, stuffed; V. i. 60. 
 Forthright, straight path; III. 
 
 iii. 158. 
 Fraction, discord; II. iii. loi. 
 Fratightage, freight, cargo; 
 
 Prol. 13. 
 Frayed with, frightened by 
 
 (Quarto, Folios, " fraid") ; 
 
 III. ii. 32. , 
 
 Free, generous, noble-minded ; 
 
 IV. V. 139. 
 Friend, befriend, favour ; I. ii. 
 
 79. 
 Frighting, frightening; V. iv. 
 
 34. 
 
 Frush, bruise, batter ; V. vi. 29, 
 
 Fulfilling, filling full ; Prol. 18. 
 
 Full; " in the f.," in full com- 
 pany, all together ; IV. v. 272. 
 
 Fusty, mouldy ; I. iii. 161. 
 
 Gaging, engaging, binding; V. 
 
 i. 42. 
 Gait, walk ; IV. v. 14. 
 Gallantry, gallants; III. i. 135. 
 Gear, matter, affair ; I. i. 6. 
 Generals, collective qualities ; I. 
 
 iii. 180. 
 Genius, the spirit supposed to 
 
 direct the actions of man ; 
 
 IV. iv. 50. 
 
 Closed, used mere words ; II. ii. 
 
 165. 
 God-a-mercy, used in the sense 
 
 of Gramercy, many thanks ; 
 
 V. iv. 2>2>- 
 
 Goose of Winchester, strumpet 
 (the houses of ill-fame in 
 London were under the juris- 
 diction of the Bishop of Win- 
 
 
 — ^^^S^
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Chester ; the annexed engrav- 
 ing, from Aggas's map in 
 Guildhall, represents the lo- 
 cality — in Southwark — where 
 these houses were situated) ; 
 V. X. 55. 
 
 Gored, hurt, wounded; III. iii. 
 228. 
 
 Gorget, throat armour; I. iii. 
 174. 
 
 From a specimen in the Londesborough 
 collection. 
 
 Gracious, holy; II. ii. 125. 
 Grated, ground ; III. ii. 192. 
 Great morning, broad day; IV. 
 
 iii. I. 
 Greckish, Greek; III. iii. 211. 
 ; "all the G. ears." i.e. the 
 
 ears of all the Greeks ; I. iii. 
 
 67. 
 Grossness, bulk; I. iii. 325. 
 
 Hair, grain ; " against the h." 
 = against the grain; I. ii. 28. 
 
 Hale, drag; IV. v. 6. 
 
 Hamstring, tendon of the knee- 
 joint ; I. iii. 154. 
 
 Hardiment, hardihood; IV. v. 
 28. 
 
 Hare, timid (Folios, "hard") ; 
 II. ii. 48. 
 
 Hatch'd, engraved ; " h. in sil- 
 V e r," probably = silver- 
 haired; I. iii. 65. 
 
 Hateful, full of hate ; IV. i. 2>2>- 
 
 Have at thee, be warned; V. iv. 
 24. 
 
 Having, possessions, endow- 
 ments ; III. iii. 97. 
 
 Heart; " from h. of very h.," 
 from my heart's core ; IV. v. 
 
 171. 
 Heaving, swelling, resentful ; 
 
 II. ii. 196. 
 Hedge aside, creep along by the 
 
 hedge (Quarto, "turne": 
 
 Collier, "edge"); III. iii. 
 
 158. 
 Him, himself ; I. ii. 287. 
 His, its ; I. iii. 210. 
 His=i's; "Mars his idiot " = 
 
 Mars's idiot; II. i. 57. 
 Hold, regard as, look upon as ; 
 
 II. Tii. 191. 
 Holding, keeping (Quarto, 
 
 "keeping"); II. ii. 52. 
 Honesty, chastity ; I. ii. 284. 
 Hot, rash ; V. iii. 16. 
 However, although •, I. iii. 322. 
 Hoy-day, an exclamation ; V. i. 
 
 69. 
 Hulks, large, heavy ships (Fo- 
 lios, "Inilkes"); II. iii. 267. 
 Humorous, capricious; II. iii. 
 
 132. 
 Humota's, caprices ; T. ii'. 23. 
 Hung, made linger ; IV. v. 188. 
 Hurricano, water-spout; V. ii. 
 
 172. 
 Hurt, do harm ; V. iii. 20. 
 Husbandry, thrift: I. ii. 7. 
 Hyperion, the sun-god, Phoebus 
 
 Apollo; II. iii. 199. 
 
 155
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Idle, used with play on " ad- 
 dle " ; I. ii. 139. 
 
 , useless ; V. i. 30. 
 
 Ignomy, ignominy (Quarto, 
 " ignomyny") ; V, x. 33. 
 
 Ilion, Troy (Quarto, Folios i, 
 2, " Illion") ; II. ii. 109. 
 
 Immaterial, worthless ; V. i. 
 
 35. 
 
 Immures, walls (Folio i, 
 " emiires") ; Prol. 8. 
 
 Impair, unsuitable, inappropri- 
 ate (Quarto, " impare" ; Ca- 
 pell, " hnpar" ; Johnson conj. 
 "impure") ; IV. v. 103. 
 
 Imperious, imperial; IV. v. 172. 
 
 Imposition, injunction, the task 
 imposed; III. ii. 81. 
 
 Impressure, impression; IV. v. 
 
 131. 
 
 Imputation, reputation ; I. iii. 
 
 339. 
 
 In, in the estimation of; II. ii. 
 56. _ 
 
 , within, internally, mental- 
 ly; III. iii. 97. 
 
 Inches; " even to his i.," most 
 thoroughly, exactly ; IV. v. 
 III. 
 
 Includes, ends, comes to an end 
 (Quarto, "include")', I. iii. 
 
 Indrench'd, immersed (Rowe, 
 " intrench' d") ; I. i. 51. 
 
 7w/^cf,' infected; I. iii. 187. 
 
 Infinite, infinity, immense great- 
 ness ; II. ii. 29. 
 
 Inseparate, indivisible ; V. ii. 
 148. 
 
 Insist u r e, persistency, con- 
 stancy ; I. iii. 87. 
 
 Instance, proof; V. ii. 153, 155. 
 
 Instant; "take the i. way," 
 serve the present time ; III. 
 iii. 153- 
 
 love's accord, i.e. with Jove's 
 accord, assent ; I. iii. 238. 
 
 Keep, lodge, dwell; IV. v. 278. 
 Ken, know; IV. v. 14. 
 
 Last, at last, in the end ; I. iii. 
 
 124. 
 Lavolt, i.e. the lavota, a lively 
 
 dance ; IV. iv. 86. 
 Lacars, lepers ; II. iii. 36. 
 Learn, teach, tell ; II. i. 22. 
 Leather jerkin, a short leathern 
 
 coat ; III. iii. 266. 
 Leavening, the admixing of 
 
 sour dough ; I. i. 20. 
 Leave to see, give up seeing; V. 
 
 i. 99. 
 Let blood, bleed; II. iii. 214. 
 Libya; "the banks of L.," the 
 
 African desert ; I. iii. 328. 
 Lie, you lie ; III. iii. 162. 
 Lief, willingly ; I. ii. 107. 
 Lifter, cheat, thief (used quib- 
 
 blingly) ; I. ii. 121. 
 Light, quickly (Quarto, Folio i, 
 
 " harnest lyte"; Folios 2, 3, 
 
 4, "harnest light"; Theo- 
 bald, " harness-dight") ; 1. 
 
 ii. 8. 
 Like, likely ; III. iii. 42. 
 Like as, as if; I. ii. 7. 
 Likes not you, does not please 
 
 (Folios, "likes not me"); 
 
 V. ii. 103. 
 Lime-kilns i' the palm, i.r. gouty 
 
 lumps (chalk-stones) in the 
 
 hand; V. i. 25. 
 
 156
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Look upon, be a spectator; 
 
 V. 
 
 VI. 10 
 
 Lover; " your 1.," one who 
 loves you ; III, iii. 214. 
 
 Limes, mad freaks (Folios, 
 " lines " ; Quarto, " course, 
 and time ") ; II. iii. 133. 
 
 Lust, pleasure ; IV. iv. 132. 
 
 Liistihood, high spirits ; II. ii. 
 50. 
 
 Luxurious, lustful ; V. iv. 9. 
 
 Luxury, lust ; V. ii. 55. 
 
 Maculation, stain; IV. iv. 64. 
 
 Maiden battle, unbloody com- 
 bat ; IV. V. 87. 
 
 Mail, coat of mail, armour ; III, 
 iii, 152. 
 
 Main, general; I, iii, 2,73- 
 
 , full force ; II, iii. 263. 
 
 Manage, direction, administra- 
 tion ; III. iii. 25. 
 
 Mark, attend, listen to ; V, vii. 2. 
 
 Mars his helm, Mars' helmet 
 (his = possessive) ; IV. v. 
 
 255. 
 
 Marvellous = marvellously 
 (Pope's unnecessary emenda- 
 tion ; Quarto, Folio i, '' mar- 
 vel's " ; Folios 2, 3, " mar- 
 vel's"^ ; abbreviated form of 
 " marvellously " ; I. ii. 141. 
 
 Mastic, V. note ; I. iii. 73. 
 
 Match, i.e. " I'll lay my life " ; 
 IV. V. Z7- 
 
 Matter, business ; IV. ii. 61. 
 
 May, can ; V. ii. loi. 
 
 Means no/ = means not to be; 
 1. iii. 288. 
 
 Medicinahle, medicinal (Quar- 
 to, Folios, " med'cinahle") ; 
 I. iii. 91. 
 
 Mends; " she has the mends in 
 her own hands"; probably a 
 proverbial expression = " she 
 must make the best of it " ; I. 
 i. 68. 
 
 Mere, absolute; I. iii. iii. 
 
 Merry Greek, boon-companion ; 
 " The Greeks were prover- 
 bially spoken of by the Ro- 
 mans as fond of good living 
 and free potations " (Nares) ; 
 I. ii. 112. 
 
 Mill-stones; " to weep mill- 
 stones " was a proverbial ex- 
 pression which meant '' to re- 
 main hard and unfeeling as 
 a stone " = " not to weep at 
 all " ; I. ii. 149. 
 
 Milo, the famous Greek athlete, 
 who was said to be able to 
 carry a bull ; II. iii. 248. 
 
 Mirable = admirable, worthy 
 of admiration ; IV. v. 142. 
 
 Miscarrying, being defeated, 
 killed; I. iii. 351. 
 
 Misprising, undervaluing; IV. 
 V. 74. 
 
 Moiety, part ; II. ii. 107. 
 
 Moist, wet, damp ; I. iii. 41. 
 
 Monstruosity, unnaturalness ; 
 III. ii. 28. 
 
 Monumental, memorial ; III. 
 iii. 153- 
 
 Moral, meaning ; IV. iv. 107. 
 
 Motive, instrument, moving 
 limb; IV. v. 57. 
 
 Multipotent, almighty; IV. v. 
 129. 
 
 Myrmidon; "the great m.," i.e. 
 Achilles, the chief of the 
 myrmidons; I. iii. 378. 
 
 157
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Nail, finger-nail ; IV. v. 46. 
 
 Neglection, neglect; I. iii. 127. 
 
 Nice, accurate ; IV. v. 250. 
 
 Nod; " to give the nod " was a 
 term in the game of cards 
 called Noddy ; the words 
 meant also " a silly fellow, a 
 fool " ; I. ii. 203. 
 
 Noise, rumour ; I. ii. 12. 
 
 Nothing, nothing is ; I. iii. 239. 
 
 Oblique ( ?) indirect (Hanmer. 
 "antique"; Warburion, 
 " ohelisque") ; V. i. 56. 
 
 Odd; " to be o.," to be at odds ; 
 IV. V. 265. 
 
 Oddly, unequally ; I. iii. 339. 
 
 O'er-eaten, " eaten and begnawn 
 on all sides"; V. ii. 160. 
 
 O' erf ailed, inflamed ; V. iii. 55. 
 
 O'er-wrested, strained (Pope's 
 reading; Quarto, Folios i, 2, 
 3, " ore-rested " ; Folio 4, 
 " o'er-rested" ; Delius conj. 
 " o'er-jested") ; I. iii. 157. 
 
 Of, by; I. i. 71 ; II. iii. 191. 
 
 ■ , on ; III. iii. 265. 
 
 On, of; I. i, 71 ; III. iii. 304. 
 
 , with, by ; II. ii. 143. 
 
 , in; III. ii. 27. 
 
 , " crying on," crying out 
 
 on; V. V. 35. 
 
 One; " 'tis all one," it is all the 
 same ; I. i. 80. 
 
 Opes, opens; I. iii. 72,. 
 
 Opinion, reputation; I. iii. 336; 
 
 I. iii. 2>73- 
 
 , self-conceit, arrogance ; 
 
 II. iii. 265. 
 
 Oppugnancy, opposition ; I. iii. 
 
 III. 
 Orchard, garden ; III. ii. 16. 
 
 Orgulous, proud, haughty; 
 Prol. 2. 
 
 Orifex, orifice, aperture; V. ii. 
 151. 
 
 Oris, remnants; V. ii. 158. 
 
 Overbulk, overtower ; I. iii. 320. 
 
 Owes, ownes ; III. iii. 99. 
 
 Oyes, hear ye ! ; attend ! the 
 usual introduction to a proc- 
 lamation ; IV. V. 143. 
 
 Pace, step, degree ; I. iii. 132. 
 Pageant, theatrical exhibition; 
 
 III. ii. 76. 
 
 Pageants, mimics; I. iii. 151. 
 
 Painted cloths, hangings for 
 walls; V. X. 47. {Cp. illus- 
 tration in. As You Like It.) 
 
 Palating, perceiving by taste; 
 
 IV. i. 59. 
 
 Palter, trifle, shuffle; II. iii. 234. 
 
 Paradoxes, absurdities (John- 
 son conj. "parodies") ; I. iii. 
 184. 
 
 Parallels, i.e. parallel lines ; I. 
 iii. 168. 
 
 Pard, leopard; III. ii. 198. 
 
 Part, party, side ; I. iii. 352. 
 
 Parted; " how dearly ever p.," 
 however richly endowed by 
 nature ; III. iii. 96. 
 
 Partial, to which they are in- 
 clined; II. ii. 178. 
 
 Particular; "toucheth my p.," I 
 am personally concerned; II. 
 ii. 9- 
 
 , personal, with play upon 
 
 general; IV. v. 20. 
 
 Parts, gifts, endowments ; III. 
 iii. 117, 
 
 Parts of nature, natural gifts, 
 II. iii. 243. 
 
 158
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Party, side ; II. ii. 156. 
 
 Pash, strike {Q\i2irio," push") ; 
 
 II. iii. 205. 
 Fashed, struck down ; V. v. 10. 
 Pass, experience, suffer (Col- 
 lier MS., "poise") ; II. ii. 
 
 139- 
 Passed = surpassed, beggars 
 
 description; I. ii. 173. 
 Past proportions, immensity ; 
 
 II. ii. 29. 
 Patchery, gross and bungling 
 
 hypocrisy; II. iii. y^- 
 Peace, be still, be silent; I. i. 
 
 92. 
 Peevish, foolish ; V. iii. 16. 
 Pelting, paltry ; IV. v. 267. 
 Perdition, destruction ; V. ii. 
 
 145- 
 
 Perforce, of necessity ; I. iii. 
 123. 
 
 Performance, carrying out; II. 
 ii. 196. 
 
 Per se, by himself, pre-emi- 
 nent; I. ii. 15. 
 
 Perseus' horse, Pegasus, the 
 winged horse ridden by Per- 
 seus ; I. iii. 42. 
 
 Persistive, patient, persevering ; 
 I. iii. 21. 
 
 Person, personal appearance; 
 IV. iv. 79. 
 
 Pertly, saucily; IV. v. 219. 
 
 Pheese, make to hurry, drive, 
 beat; II. iii. 207. 
 
 Pia mater, brain ; II. i. 74. 
 
 Piece, cask of wine; IV. i. 62. 
 
 PigJit, pitched; V. x. 24. 
 
 Placket, petticoat, woman ; II. 
 iii, 22. 
 
 Plague; "the p. of Greece," 
 " alluding perhaps to the 
 
 plague sent by Apollo on the 
 Grecian army" (Johnson); 
 II. i. 13. 
 
 Plaguy, pestilently (used with 
 play upon the word " death- 
 tokens ") ; II. iii. 179. 
 
 Plantagc, anything planted 
 ("plants were supposed to 
 improve as the moon in- 
 creases") (Nares) ; III. ii. 
 181. 
 
 Poised, weighed, balanced; I. 
 iii- 339. 
 
 Politic regard, a look full of 
 meaning ; perhaps, shrewd, 
 or sly ; III. iii. 254. 
 
 Porpentine, porcupine; II. i. 
 27. 
 
 Port, gate; IV. iv. iii. 
 
 Possess, put you in possession, 
 inform; IV. iv. 112. 
 
 Possession; " her p.," posses- 
 sion of her; II. ii. 152. 
 
 Power, armed force; I. iii. 139. 
 
 Pregnant, ready ; IV. iv. 88. 
 
 Prenominate, foretell ; IV. v. 
 250. 
 
 Presented, represented ; depict- 
 ed; III. ii. 76. 
 
 Presently, immediately; II. iii. 
 142. 
 
 Pricks, points ; I. iii. 343. 
 
 Primogenitive, right of primo- 
 geniture (Quarto, " primo- 
 genitie " ; Rowe, 4," primogeni- 
 ture ") ; I. iii. 106. 
 
 Private soul, personal opinion ; 
 IV. v. III. 
 
 Prodigious, portentous ; V. i. 
 96. 
 
 Proof, the thing which is 
 proved ; V. v. 29. 
 
 159
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Proof of more strength, strong- 
 er proof; V. ii. 113. 
 Propend, incline ; II. ii. 190. 
 Propension, inclination ; II. ii. 
 
 133. 
 
 Proper, handsome, comely; I. 
 ii. 200, 
 
 , own ; II. ii. 89. 
 
 Propugnation, means of com- 
 bat, defence ; II. ii. 136. 
 
 Protractive, prolonged; I. iii. 
 20. 
 
 Prove = prove ourselves ; III. 
 ii. 93. 
 
 Pun, pound, dash to pieces; II. 
 
 i. 41. 
 Puttock, kite ; V. I. 64. 
 
 Quality, cause, reason ; IV. i. 
 44. 
 
 ; "full of q.," highly ac- 
 complished; IV. iv. jG. 
 
 Question, conversation, inter- 
 course; IV. i. II. 
 
 Rank, rankly ; I. iii. 196. 
 Ransack' d, stolen, carried off ; 
 
 II. ii. 150. 
 Rape, carrying off; II. ii. 148. 
 , Rash, urgent, hasty (Rowe, 
 
 "harsh") ; IV. ii. 61. 
 Reck not, care not ; V. vi. 26. 
 Recordation, remembrance; 
 
 " to make a r. to my soul," 
 
 i.e. to recall to mind ; V. ii. 
 
 116. 
 Recourse, frequent flowing ; V. 
 
 iii. 55.^ 
 Rein; "in such a r.," bridles 
 
 up ; I. iii. 189. 
 Rejoindure, joining again; IV. 
 
 iv. 36. 
 
 Relation, report, narration ; III. 
 iii. 201. 
 
 Reproof, confutation, refuta- 
 tion; I. iii. 3S^ 
 
 Repured, refined, purified (Fo- 
 lios, " reputed '*) ; III. ii. 21. 
 
 Respect, deliberation, reflec- 
 tion ; II. ii. 49. 
 
 , i.e. the respect due to 
 
 thee ; V. iii. 73. 
 
 Retire, retreat; V. iii. 53; V. 
 iv. 21. 
 
 Retort, throw back; III. iii. 
 loi. 
 
 Revolt, rebellion ; V. ii. 146. 
 
 , rebel ; V. ii. 144. 
 
 Rheum, cold watering; V. iii. 
 105. 
 
 Ribald, noisy (Ingleby conj. 
 "rabble"); IV. ii. g. 
 
 Rich; " the r. shall have more," 
 probably alluding to the 
 Scriptural phrase, " To him 
 that hath shall be given"; I. 
 ii. 205. 
 
 Right, exactly; I. iii. 170. 
 
 Rive, be split; I. i. 35. 
 
 Roisting, roistering ; II. ii. 208. 
 
 Roundly, plainly; III. ii. 158. 
 
 Rub on, and kiss the mistress; 
 " The allusion is to bowling. 
 What we now call the Jack 
 seems, in Shakespeare's time, 
 to have been termed the mis- 
 tress. A bowl that kissed the 
 Jack or mistress is in the 
 most advantageous position. 
 Rub on is a term at the same 
 game" (Malone) ; III. ii. 50. 
 
 Ruin, overthrow, fall ; V. iii. 58. 
 
 Ruth, pity; V. iii. 48. 
 
 Ruthful, piteous ; V. iii. 48. 
 
 160
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Sacred, consecrated (an appro- 
 priate epithet of royalty) ; 
 IV. V. 134- 
 
 Sagittary, Centaur ; V. v. 14. 
 
 Salt, bitter ; I. iii. 371. 
 
 Sans, without; I. iii. 94. 
 
 Savage strangeness, unpolished 
 rude reserve ; II. iii. 129. 
 
 Scaffoldage, the woodwork of 
 the stage (Folios i, 2, 3, 
 " Scaffolage " \ Quarto, 
 " Scoaffollage") ; I. iii. 156. 
 
 Scaled, having scales ; V. v. 22. 
 
 Scantling, small portion; 1. iii. 
 
 341- 
 Scar, wound ; I. i. 1 14. 
 Scorn, laugh to scorn, make a 
 
 mock of; I. i. 114. 
 Sculls, shoals (Folios, "sculs"; 
 
 Pope, "shoals"; Anon. conj. 
 
 "schools") ; V. v. 22. 
 Seam, lard; II. iii. 187. 
 Secure, over-confident ; II. ii. 
 
 15. 
 
 Securely, carelessly, confident- 
 ly ; IV. V. 73- 
 
 See = see each other ; IV. iv. 
 57. _ 
 
 Seeming, show; I. iii. I57- 
 
 Seethes, is urgent, in hot haste ; 
 III. i. 41. 
 
 Seld, seldom ; IV. v. 150. 
 
 Self-affected, self-loving ; II. 
 iii. 240. 
 
 Self-breath, his own words; II. 
 iii. 174- 
 
 Sennet, a set of notes on the 
 cornet or trumpet ; I. iii. 
 Stage Direc. 
 
 Sequestering, separating, put- 
 ting aside; III. iii. 8. 
 
 Serpigo, eruption on the skin, 
 
 leprosy; II. iii. 76. 
 Set to, oppose to ; II. i. 90. 
 Severally, separately; 9V. v. 
 
 274. 
 Severals, individual qualities ; 
 
 I. iii. 180. 
 
 'Sfoot, a corruption of God's 
 
 foot', II. iii. 5- 
 Shame, disgrace; V. iii. 7Z- 
 She, woman; I. ii. 301, 303. 
 Shent, put to shame, reviled; 
 
 II. iii. 82. 
 
 Shipmen, seamen, sailors ; V. ii. 
 
 172. 
 Shoeing-horn, " the emblem of 
 
 one who is a subservient tool 
 
 to the caprices of another " ; 
 
 V. i. 57- 
 Short-armed, not reachmg far 
 
 (Dyce conj. "short- 
 
 aimed") ; II. iii. i5- 
 Should, would; I. iii. 112, 114, 
 
 115, 116, 118. 
 Shrewd, cunning, keen ; I. ii. 
 
 197. 
 Shrewdly, quite badly ; III. iii. 
 
 228. 
 Shrills forth, utters loudly; V. 
 
 iii. 84. 
 Sick, envious ; I. iii. 133. 
 Sieve, wicker basket, voider 
 
 (Quarto, "sine"; Folio i, 
 
 "same"; Folios 2, 3, 4- 
 
 "place"; Delius conj. 
 
 "sink"; Anon, conj., 
 
 "safe"); II. ii. 71- 
 Sinister, left; IV. v. 128. 
 Sith, since; I. iii. 13. 
 Skilless, ignorant ; I. i. 12. 
 Sleave silk, soft floss silk used 
 
 for weaving; V. i. 31. 
 
 161
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Sleeveless, bootless ; V. iv. 9. 
 
 Sluttish, unchaste (Collier 
 conj. "skittish") ; IV. v. 62. 
 
 Smiled at, mock at, laugh de- 
 risively at (Hanmer, "smite 
 all Troy " ; Warburton, 
 "smite at Troy"; etc.); V. 
 X. 7. 
 
 So, in such a way; under such 
 conditions ; 11. ii. 145. 
 
 Soilure, stain (Quarto, 
 "soyle")] IV. i. 56. 
 
 Sometime = sometimes ; I. iii. 
 
 151. 
 
 Sort, lot; I. iii. 376. 
 
 , manner ; V. x. 5. 
 
 Sorts, befits, is fitting; I. i. 109. 
 
 Specialty; "the s. of rule," i.e. 
 "the particular rights of su- 
 preme authority " ( J o h n- 
 son) ; (Folios 3, 4, "special- 
 ity ") ; I. iii. 78. 
 
 Speculation, the power of see- 
 ing; III. iii. 109. 
 
 Spend his mouth, bark ; V. i. 94. 
 
 Sperr, shut, bar (Theobald's 
 
 emendation of Folios i, 2, 
 
 ^" Stirre"', Collier MS., 
 
 " S p arre" ; Capell, 
 
 "Sperrs") ; Prol. 19. 
 
 Sphered, placed in a sphere; I. 
 iii. 90. 
 
 , rounded, swelled ; IV. v. 8. 
 
 Spirits (monosyllabic) ; Prol. 
 
 fit of laughter; I. 
 
 20. 
 Spleen, 
 
 178. 
 ; "the weakest s." = " the 
 
 dullest and coldest heart " ; 
 
 II. ii. 128. 
 Spleens, impulses, caprices; II. 
 
 ii. 196. 
 
 Splinter, splintering, breaking; 
 
 I. iii. 283. 
 
 Spoils, prey ; IV. v. 62. 
 Spritely, spirited ; II. ii. 190. 
 Square, judge; V. ii. 132. 
 Stale, vapid, used up (Quarto, 
 
 "pale") ; II. ii. 79- 
 , make common, vulgarize ; 
 
 II. iii. 193. 
 
 Starts, startles ; V. ii. loi. 
 
 State; "this noble s.," stately, 
 noble train; II. iii. 112. 
 
 Stickler-like, like an umpire in 
 a combat ; V. viii. 18. 
 
 Still, continually, always; IV. 
 V. 195- 
 
 S tit hied, forged ; IV. v. 255. 
 
 Stomach, inclination (with a 
 quibble on other sense = 
 courage) ; IV. v. 264. 
 
 Stomach, courage ; II. i. 131. 
 
 Stool for a witch (the sub- 
 joined engraving represents a 
 
 162
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 specimen of the ducking-stool 
 belonging to the corporation 
 of Ipswich) ; II. i. 6. 
 
 Straight, straightway, immedi- 
 ately; III. ii. i6. 
 
 Strain, difficulty, doubt 
 (Keightley conj. "doubt"); 
 I. iii. 326. 
 
 , impulse; II. ii. 154. 
 
 Strange, reserved ; II. iii. 240. 
 
 Strawy, resembling straw (Fo- 
 lios, " straying ") ; V. v. 24. 
 
 Stretch'd, affected, exaggera- 
 ted; 1. iii. 156. 
 
 Stygian hanks, banks of the 
 river Styx, the river of the 
 infernal regions over which 
 Charon ferried the souls of 
 the dead; III. ii. 9. 
 
 Suhdiiements, victories ; IV. v. 
 187. . 
 
 Subscribes, submits, yields ; IV. 
 V. 105. 
 
 Substance, wealth ; I, iii. 324. 
 
 Success, result, issue; I. iii. 
 340. 
 
 Sufferance, suffering; I. i. 28. 
 
 Suffocate = suffocated ; I. iii. 
 125. 
 
 Sum, count up ; II, ii. 28. 
 
 Sunburnt, tanned by the sun, 
 hence plain, not fair ; I. iii. 
 282. 
 
 Suppose, supposition; I. iii. 11. 
 
 Sure, surely ; V. ii. 126. 
 
 Swath, grass cut by the scythe ; 
 V. V. 25. 
 
 Swounding, swooning (Quarto, 
 Folios, " Sounding " ; Pope, 
 " Swooning ") ; III. ii. 22. 
 
 Tables, tablets ; IV. v. 60. 
 
 Tabourines, drums ; IV. v. 275. 
 
 Tarre on, incite, urge on ; I. iii. 
 392. 
 
 Tender objects, tender feeling; 
 IV. V. 106. 
 
 Tent, probe for searching a 
 wound ; II. ii. 16. 
 
 Tercel, male hawk (the an- 
 nexed engraving represents a 
 falconer on the borders of a 
 lake arousing the ducks to 
 flight that the hawk may 
 strike them) ; III. ii. 54. 
 
 From Queen Mary's Psalter (XlVth 
 cent.) Royal MS 2B vii. 
 
 Tetchy, touchy, peevish (Quar- 
 to, Folios, " teachy") ', I. i. 
 99. 
 
 That, that person ; II. iii. 191. 
 
 Thetis, a sea-goddess, mother 
 of Achilles ; " confounded 
 with Tethys, the wife of 
 Oceanus, and used for the 
 sea, the ocean" (Schmidt); 
 I. iii. 39. 
 
 Thicker, quicker; III. ii. 36. 
 
 This = this way, thus ; I. ii. 12. 
 
 Through warm, thoroughly 
 warmed; II. iii. 224. 
 
 Throw my glove, challenge; 
 IV. iv. 63. 
 
 Thwart, athwart, crosswise; I. 
 iii. 15. 
 
 Tick, an insect; III. iii. 312. 
 
 163
 
 Glossary 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Tickle it, make him pay ; V. ii. 
 
 177; 
 
 Ticklish, wanton (Folios," tick- 
 ling ■') ; IV. V. 6i. 
 
 Tide, right time ; V. i. 86. 
 
 Titan, the god of the sun ; V. x. 
 
 25. 
 
 Tithe, tenth ; II. ii. 19. 
 
 To, in addition to ; I. i. 7. 
 
 , compared to; I. iii. 344. 
 
 , set to, onward; II. i. 114. 
 
 Toast, a dainty morsel (Beck- 
 ett conj. "tot''; Halliwell 
 conj. "boast") ; I. iii. 45. 
 
 Topless, immeasurably high, 
 supreme (Warburton, "stop- 
 less") ; I. iii. 152. 
 
 Tortive, distorted ; I. iii. 9. 
 
 Traded, practised, professional ; 
 II. ii. 64. 
 
 Train, entice, draw ; V. iii. 4. 
 
 Transportance, transport ; III. 
 ii. II. 
 
 Troy walls, the walls of Troy; 
 I. iii. 12. 
 
 Trump, trumpet ; III. iii. 210. 
 
 Trumpet, trumpeter ; I. iii. 256. 
 
 Turtle, turtle-dove; III. ii. 182. 
 
 'Twixt, between; II. ii. 64. 
 
 Typhon = Typhorus, a fabu- 
 lous giant, who attempted to 
 dethrone Jove, but was de- 
 feated and imprisoned under 
 Etna; I. iii. 160. 
 
 Unarm' d, when unarmed ; I. iii. 
 
 235. 
 Uncomprehcnsiz'C, i n c o m p r e- 
 
 hensible, mysterious ; III. iii. 
 
 198. 
 Undergo, undertake ; III. ii. 
 
 81. 
 
 Under-honest, " too little hon- 
 ourable " ; II. iii. 127. 
 
 Underwrite, submit to; II. iii. 
 131. 
 
 Ungracious, hateful ; I. i. 92. 
 
 Unity; " if there be rule in u. 
 itself," i.e. " If there be cer- 
 tainty in unity, if there be a 
 rule that one is one " (John- 
 son) ; V. ii. 141. 
 
 Unknown; " u. Ajax," i.e. 
 " having abilities which were 
 never brought into view or 
 use " (Johnson) ; III. iii. 
 
 125. 
 
 Unmingled (quadri syllabic) ; I. 
 iii. 30. 
 
 Unplausivc, displeased (Quar- 
 to, " xinpaulsivc") ; III. iii. 
 
 43. 
 
 Unrespective, used at random; 
 II. ii. 71. 
 
 Unsquared, not shaped or adap- 
 ted to the purpose (Quarto, 
 " unsquare") ; I. iii. 159. 
 
 Un traded, unhackneyed; IV. v. 
 178. 
 
 Unwholesome, un-appetizing ; 
 II. iii. 123. 
 
 Usage, treatment; IV. iv. 119. 
 
 Use, utility ; " dear in use " = 
 very useful ; III. iii. 128. 
 
 Use to, make a practice; II. i. 
 51- 
 
 Vail, setting ; V. viii. 7. 
 Valiantly, bravely, finely (used 
 
 ironically) ; I. ii. 129. 
 Vantbrace, armour for the arm 
 
 (Quarto, "vantbrace") ; I. 
 
 iii. 297. 
 
 164
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Glossary 
 
 From a specimen in the Meyrick 
 collection. 
 
 Varlet, servant to a knight ; I. 
 i. I. 
 
 , (?) = harlot (perhaps 
 
 the old speUings show a 
 blending of (i) varlet and 
 (2) harlot; Quarto, Folios i, 
 2, 3, "varlot"; Thirlby conj. 
 "harlot"); V. i. 18. 
 
 Vassalage, vassals ; III. ii. 38. 
 
 Vaunt, first beginning; Prol. 27. 
 
 Venomous, malignant; IV. ii. 
 12. 
 
 Vents, outlets ; V. iii. 82. 
 
 Very, mere ; III. iii. 126. 
 
 Villain, a term of endearment ; 
 III. ii. 33. 
 
 Vindicative, vindictive ; IV. v. 
 107. 
 
 Vinewed'st, most mouldy 
 (Quarto, " vnsalted" ; Fo- 
 lios, " whined' st " ; Theobald, 
 " unwinnou/d'st" ; etc); II. 
 i. 15- 
 
 Violenteth, is violent, doth 
 rage ; IV. iv. 4. 
 
 Visarded, covered with a mask 
 or vizor =. masked ; I. iii. 83. 
 
 Voices, applause, applauding 
 voices ; I. iii. 382. 
 
 Fo/imtory = voluntarily ; II. i. 
 99, 100, lOI. 
 
 Waftage, passage ; III. ii. 10. 
 
 Wails, bewails; IV. v. 289. 
 
 Wallet, knapsack; III. iii. 145. 
 
 Ward, guard (a term in fen- 
 cing) ; " at what w.," in what 
 posture of defence ; I. ii. 280. 
 
 JVare, aware; IV. ii. 56. 
 
 Watched, a term in falconry; 
 hawks were kept from sleep- 
 ing = watched, to tame them ; 
 III. ii. 43. 
 
 Waterilies, used contemptuous- 
 ly, the emblem of vanity ; V. 
 
 i. 34- 
 
 Watery, watering, desiring; 
 III. ii. 20. 
 
 Weather; " keeps the w.," has 
 the advantage ; = weather- 
 gage (a nautical term) ; V. 
 iii. 26. 
 
 Weeds, garments; III. iii. 239. 
 
 When that ^ when ; I. iii. 81. 
 
 Where, so that ; IV. iv. ZZ- 
 
 Whom, which ; III. iii. 201. 
 
 Whosoever, let him be whoso- 
 ever he will ; I. ii. 199. 
 
 Without, externally, physically ; 
 III. iii. 97. 
 
 Works =■ work, what we have 
 been able to accomplish 
 (Singer conj. " mocks " ; Col- 
 lier MS.," wrecks " ; Kinnear 
 conj. "wars") ; I. iii. 18. 
 
 Worth, worthy of ; V. iii. 93. 
 
 Worthier = men worthier ; II. 
 iii. 128. 
 
 Wrest, instrument for tighten- 
 ing the strings of a harp 
 (used here figuratively) ; III. 
 iii. 23. 
 
 Yond, yonder; IV. v. 13. 
 
 16S
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Critical Notes. 
 
 BY ISRAEL GOLLANCZ. 
 
 Prol. 15. ' six-gated 'city ' ; Theobald, ' six gates i' th' city.' 
 
 Prol. 16. ' Timbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien' so Folios ; Theo- 
 bald reads, ' Thymbria, Ilia, Sccea, Troian ' ; Capell, ' Thymbria, 
 Ilias, Chetas, Troyan.' 
 
 Prol. 17. ' Antenorides' ; Theobald's emendation of Folios, 'An- 
 tenonidus'; Pope reads, 'Anteroridas.' 
 
 Prol. 23. 'A prologue arm'd'; i.e. clad in armour instead of in 
 a black cloak, which was the usual garb of the speaker of the 
 Prologue. 
 
 Prol. 28. ' Beginning in the middle ' ; Theobald reads, ' 'Ginning 
 i' th' middle.' 
 
 1. i. 31. 'So, traitor! — "When she comes!" — When is she 
 thence f ' ; Quarto, ' So traitor then she comes when she is thence ' ; 
 Folios, So {Traitor) then she* comes, when she is thence.' 
 
 I. i. S7. ' a storm ' ; Rowe's correction of Quarto, ' a scorne ' ; 
 Folios I, 2, ' a-scorne ' ; Folios 3, 4, ' a-scorn.' 
 
 I. i. 45. 'praise her'; so Quarto; Folios read, 'praise it.' 
 
 1. i. 55. ' Handiest in thy discourse, O, that her hand,' etc. ; 
 Theobald, ' discourse — hozu white her hand ' ; similar emendations 
 have been proposed, but probably 'that her hand' =^' that hand 
 of hers.' 
 
 I. i. 78-79. ' as fair on Friday as Helen is on Sunday ' ; i.e. as 
 beautiful in her worst dress as Helen in her ' Sunday best.' 
 
 I. ii. 162. ' tzvo and fifty ' ; so Quarto, Folios ; Theobald reads, 
 ' one and fifty ' ; ' hairs ' ; Quarto reads, * heires.' 
 
 I. ii. 250. 'an eye'; so Quarto; Folios read, 'money'; Collier 
 conj. 'one eye.' 
 
 I. ii. 300. 'joy's soul lies in the doing,' so Quarto, Folio i; 
 Folios 2, 3, 4 read, ' the soules joy lyes in dooing.' Mason conj. 
 ' dies ' ; Seymour conj. ' lives' etc. 
 
 I. iii. 31. 'thy godlike'; Theobald's emendation; Quarto, 'the 
 godlike ' ; Folios, ' thy godly ' ; Pope, ' thy goodly' 
 
 I. iii. 54. ' Retorts ' ; Dyce's emendation ; Quarto, Folios read, 
 ' Retires.' 
 
 166
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Notes 
 
 I. iii. 70-75. Omitted in Quarto. 
 
 I. iii. yz- ' Mastic,' perhaps a corrupt form of L. mastigia, a ras- 
 cal that ought to be whipped ; later, a scourge ; the more usual 
 form of the word was ' mastix,' cp. ' His trio mas tix.' 
 
 I. iii. 92. 'ill aspects of planets evil'; so Folios; Quarto, * in- 
 Huence. of euill Planets' 
 
 I. iii. 153. 'And, like a strutting player.' Cp. the accompanying 
 illustration, where Apollo as a 
 quack doctor, and his assistant, 
 are helping Charon, who is old 
 and blind, to mount the steps 
 of the stage. 
 
 I. iii. 220. 'Achilles"; John- 
 son conj. 'Alcides'.' 
 
 I. iii. 238. 'And, Jove's ac- 
 cord' i.e. * And, Jove granting 
 or favouring ' ; various emen- 
 dations have been proposed on 
 the supposition that the pas- 
 sage is corrupt. 
 
 I- iii- 315, 354-356. Omitted 
 in Quarto. 
 
 II. i. 30-32. ' When thou art . 
 II. i. 119. 'brooch'; Rowe, 'brach'; Malone conj. 'brock.' 
 
 II. ii. 77. 'an old aunt whom the Greeks held captive,' i.e. 
 " Priam's sister, Hesione, whom Hercules, being enraged at 
 Priam's breech of faith, gave to Telamon, who by her had Ajax " 
 (Malone). 
 
 II. ii. no. 'Our firebrand brother, Paris,' alluding to Hecuba's 
 dream that she should be delivered of a burning torch. 
 
 II. ii. 166. 'Aristotle thought' ; Rowe and Pope proposed ' ^rat'^r 
 sages think,' to save Shakespeare from the terrible anachronism. 
 It has been pointed out that Aristotle speaks of political and not of 
 moral philosophy; and, further, that Bacon makes the same mis- 
 take in his Advancement of Learning, Book II. (published 1605). 
 
 II. iii. 69. ' of the prover,' the reading of Quarto : Folios read, 
 'to the Creator'; Rowe (ed. 2), 'to thy creator'; Capell, 'of thy 
 creator.' 
 
 II. iii. 82. 'He shent our,' Theobald's emendation; Quarto 
 reads, 'He sate our' ; Folios, 'He sent our.' 
 
 II. iii. 108. ' The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy.' 
 "The popular opinion in the Middle Ages was that the elephant 
 
 167 
 
 From a Greek vase in the Hope collec- 
 tion. 
 
 another'; omitted in Folios.
 
 Notes 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 had no flexibility of legs, that they were jointless. and that he 
 rested and slept by leaning against a tree, which being adroitly 
 cut down, left him at the mercy of his captors." 
 
 ^Tj^^ji^ 
 
 
 h 
 
 k^= 
 
 &m1 
 
 l^^^^C'-^^mM^^^ 
 
 i 
 
 ^^^^^^^^\ 
 
 ' The elephant so huge and stronge to see, 
 No perill fear'd; but thought a sleepe to gaine, 
 But foes before had undermin'de the tree, 
 And dozi'ne he falles; and so by them was slaine.' 
 
 From Whitney's Emblems, 1596. 
 
 II. iii. 144. 'Enter you'; so Folios; Quarto reads, ' entertaine.' 
 
 III. i. Ill, The reading of Folios; omitted in Quarto. 
 
 III. ii. 70. 'fears'; so Folio 3; Quarto, Folios i, 2, ' teares' ; 
 Folio 4, ' tears.' 
 
 III. ii. 157. 'show'; Folios i, 2, 3, 
 ' shczi'= showed.' 
 
 III. iii. 4. 'through the sight I 
 bear in things to love'; (?) 
 ' through my peculiar knowledge as 
 to where it is well to place affec- 
 tion ' ; Johnson proposed ' Jove ' for 
 ' love,' reading, ' through the sight I 
 bear in things, to Jove J have aban- 
 doned/ etc., but Jove favoured the 
 Trojans. No very satisfactory ex- 
 planation has been advanced. 
 
 III. iii. 30. ' Jn most accepted 
 pain,' = trouble willingly undergone. 
 Hanmer suggested ' pay ' for ' pain.' 
 
 III. iii. 47, 48. 'pride hath no other 
 "The allusion seems borrowed 
 
 ''Pride hath no other glass. 
 
 glass to show itself but pride 
 
 168
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Notes 
 
 from the emblematic pictures of Pride, common to the Shake- 
 spearian era," one of which, from Kuchlein's illustrations of the 
 festivities at Stuttgart in 1609, is here reproduced. 
 
 III. iii. no. ' mirror' d,' the reading of Singer MS. and Collier 
 MS. ; Quarto, Folios, ' married ' ; Keightley, ' arrived ' ; etc. 
 
 III. iii. 175. ' One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,' 
 i.e. one touch of human nature, one natural trait, shows the kin- 
 ship of all mankind, viz. that they praise new-born gawds, and are 
 always hankering after novelty. 
 
 III. iii. 194. 'one of Priam's daughters' ', i.e. ' Polyxena, in the 
 act of marrying whom she was afterwards killed by Paris.' 
 
 III. iii. 303. ' the fiddler Apollo:' In the mythological art of the 
 Shakespearian era, the lyre is often replaced by a fiddle in the hands 
 of Apollo as is illustrated in the accompanying cut, copied from a 
 volume descriptive of the festivities held at Antwerp in 1582. 
 
 IV. ii. 73. ' secrets of nature ' ; so 
 Folios; Quarto, 'secrets of neighbor 
 Pandar'; Theobald, ' secret' st things of 
 nature ' ; Hanmer, *' secretest of na- 
 tures' etc., etc. 
 
 IV. iv. 4. ' violenteth in a sense as 
 strong, As that which ' ; so Quarto ; 
 Folios read, ' no lesse in . . . As that 
 which,' etc.; Pope, 'in its sense is no 
 less strong, than that Which.' 
 
 IV. iv. 75-78. The reading in the text 
 is Staunton's ; many emendations have 
 been proposed, but this is generally ac- 
 cepted by modern editors. 
 
 IV. iv. 144-148; V. 165-170. Omitted 
 in Quarto. 
 
 IV. V. 29. Omitted in Folios ; the 
 reading of Quarto; Collier MS. reads, 'And parted you by your 
 same argument.' 
 
 IV. V. 59. 'accosting,' Theobald's conj, 
 coasting ' ; Collier MS., ' occasion ' ; etc. 
 
 IV. V. 142. 'Ncoptolemus so mirable'; Hanmer reads, 'Neop- 
 tolemus' sire so mirable'; Warburton, 'Neoptolemus's sire iras- 
 cible'; Collier conj. ' Neoptolemiis so admirable' etc. 
 
 V. i. 23-26. ' raw . . . tetter,' the reading of Quarto ; omitted 
 in Folios, substituting ' and the like.' 
 
 V. i. 58. 'hanging at his brother's leg'; so Folios; Quarto 
 reads, ' at his bare leg.' 
 
 169 
 
 ' The fiddler Apollo: 
 
 Quarto, Folios,
 
 Notes 
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 V. ii, 75. ' Well said, whetstone.' Cp. the subjoined illustrative 
 drawing from an old book of emblems. 
 
 ' The whettstone is a knave that all men know, 
 Yet many on him doe much cost bestowe: 
 Hee's us'd almost in every shoppe, hut whye? 
 An edge must needs he set on every lye.' 
 
 The ^ 
 
 ^ irmi 
 
 wKeilstone 
 
 IT 
 
 ^ 
 
 L^ 
 
 
 
 V. ill. 20-21. ' as lawful. For we would give much, to use violent 
 thefts' ; Tyrwhitt's conj.; Folios read, 'as lawfull: For we would 
 count give much to as violent thefts.' 
 
 V. iii. 112. The Folio here inserts: — 
 
 " Pand, Why, hut heare you? 
 Troy. Hence brother lackie; ignomie and shame 
 
 Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name." 
 
 Cf. Sc. X. 
 
 V. vii. 6. 'aims'; so Capell ; Quarto, Folio 2, ' armes'; Folio i, 
 ' arme ' ; Folios 3, 4, ' arms.' 
 
 170
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Explanatory Notes. 
 
 The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and 
 adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the 
 most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, including Johnson, 
 Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and 
 others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best 
 annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition. 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 "This Prologue," says White, "is found only In the Folio; 
 and Steevens conjectured, perhaps with reason, that it was not 
 written by Shakespeare. Its style is not unlike Chapman's ; and 
 he was just the man to be called upon (perhaps by Shakespeare 
 himself) to write it. May it not be his? " 
 
 I. In Troy there lies the scene : — Brandes remarks : " The last 
 work which had lain ready on his [Shakespeare's] table was 
 Antony and Cleopatra. He had there, for the second time, given 
 his impression of the subversion of a world. There was a pend- 
 ant to this war of the East (which was in reality waged for 
 Cleopatra's sake), a war fought by all the countries of the 
 Mediterranean for the possession of a loose woman ; the most 
 famous of all wars, the old Trojan war. Here was stuff for a 
 tragi-comedy of right bitter sort. From childhood he, and every 
 one else, had been filled with the fame and glory of this war. 
 All its heroes were models of bravery, magnanimity, wisdom, 
 friendship, and fidelity, as if such things existed ! For the first 
 time in his life he feels a desire to mock — to shout ' Bah ! ' straight 
 out of his heart — to turn the wrong side out, the true side." 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I. 
 
 [Pandarus.] It is Chaucer who first submits the character of 
 Pandarus to an important change, and makes it the transition 
 point of the Pandarus we find in Shakespeare. In his poem 
 
 171
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Troilus's young friend has become the elderly kinsman of 
 Creseyde, and he brings the young pair together, mostly out of 
 looseness. It was not Chaucer's intention, as it was Shake- 
 speare's, to make the old fellow odious. His role is not carried 
 out with the cynical and repulsive lowness of Shakespeare's char- 
 acter. Chaucer endeavours to ward off any painful impression 
 by making the shameless old rascal the wit of his poem. He did 
 not achieve his object; his readers saw only the procurer in 
 Pandarus, whose name became thenceforward a by-word in the 
 English language, and it was as such that Shakespeare drew 
 the character in downright, unmistakable disgust. 
 
 83. to stay behind her father : — Calchas, according to Caxton in 
 The Destruction of Troy, was " a great learned bishop," who 
 was sent by Priam to consult the oracle of Delphi concerning 
 the result of the war. As soon as he had made " his oblations 
 and demands for them of Troy, Apollo answered unto him say- 
 ing, Calcas, Calcas, beware thou returne not back againe to Troy, 
 but goe thou with Achylles unto the Greekes, and depart never 
 from them, for the Greekes shall have victorie of the Trojans, by 
 the agreement of the gods." Chaucer's version of the story is 
 much like this. 
 
 104. Ilium was properly the name of the city; but by Caxton 
 it is thus described : " In the most open place of the cittie, upon 
 a rock, the king Priamus did build his rich pallace, which was 
 named Ilion : that was one of the richest pallaces and the strong- 
 est that ever was in all the world." 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 38 et seq. The long scene between Cressida and Pandarus is 
 but an exhibition of the art of stimulating reluctance or hesita- 
 tion, as she pertinaciously foils the pertinacious go-between in 
 his recommendations of Troilus, only at last (291-293) to bespeak 
 his services more certainly in bringing him to her : — 
 
 Pandarus. I will be with you, niece, by and by. 
 Cressida. To bring, uncle? 
 Pand. Ay, a token from Troilus. 
 
 The inspiration of Shakespeare is due here less to Chaucer than 
 to Homer, and he has caught exactly the intention so often mis- 
 understood, of the pert reply of Helen to the inviting Aphrodite 
 on the Trojan walls. 
 
 172
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 197. That's Antenur: he has a sJirezud wit: — In the Troy Book 
 of Lydgate, Antenor is thus described : — 
 
 " Copious in words, and one that much time spent 
 To jest, whenas he was in companie, 
 So driely, that no man could it espie ; 
 And therewith held his countenance so well, 
 
 That every man received great content 
 To heare him speake, and pretty jests to tell. 
 When he was pleasant and in merriment : 
 For though that he most commonly was sad, 
 Yet in his speech some jest he always had." 
 292. To bring : — Of this Dyce says : " The expression, to be 
 with a person to bring, is one of which I can more easily adduce 
 examples than explain the exact meaning." As an instance in 
 point, he quotes the following from Kyd's Spanish Tragedy : 
 " And heere He have a fling at him, that 's flat ; and Balthazar, 
 lie be with thee to bring, and thee, Lorenzo." Also this from 
 Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady : — 
 
 Lady. You have been with my sister? 
 Wei. Yes, to bring. 
 
 E. Love. An heir into the world, he means. 
 Of course, Pandarus catches at the word bring, and construes it 
 in the sense commonly understood. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 49 et seq. the tiger . . . sympathise : — It was formerly said 
 that in violent storms tigers were wont to rage and roar most 
 furiously. 
 
 83-101. Degree being vizarded, etc.: — This may have been sug- 
 gested by a magnificent strain of eloquence in the first book of 
 Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, 1594: "If nature should intermit 
 her course, and leave altogether, though it were but for a while, 
 the observation of her own laws ; if those principal and mother 
 elements, whereof all things in this lower world are made, should 
 lose the qualities which now they have; if the frame of that 
 heavenly arch erected over our heads should loosen and dissolve 
 itself; if celestial spheres should forget their wonted motions, 
 and by irregular volubility turn themselves any way as it might 
 happen ; if the prince of the lights of heaven, which now as a 
 giant doth run his unwearied course, should as it were through 
 
 173
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 a languishing faintness begin to stand and rest himself; if the 
 moon should wander from her beaten way, the times and seasons 
 of the year blend themselves by disordered and confused mix- 
 tures, the winds breathe out their last gasp, the clouds yield 
 no rain, the earth be defeated of heavenly influence, the fruits 
 of the earth pine away as children at the withered breasts of their 
 mother no longer able to yield them relief; — what would become 
 of man himself, whom these things do all now serve? See we 
 not plainly that obedience of creatures unto the law of nature 
 is the stay of the whole world? " 
 
 94, 95. when the planets, etc. : — The apparently irregular motions 
 of the planets were supposed to portend some disasters to man- 
 kind ; indeed the planets themselves were not thought formerly to 
 be confined in any fixed orbits of their own, but to wander about, 
 as the etymology of their name demonstrates. 
 
 127-129. this neglection, etc. : — Of course, where each man 
 strives to overtop or kick back his superiors, others will be moved 
 to do the same by him, so that his way of climbing will result 
 in a progress downwards; as men, by despising the law of their 
 fathers, teach their children to despise them. 
 
 155. wooden dialogue : — " The epithet wooden," as Clarke ob- 
 serves, " has admirable significance here ; not only convejang to 
 the ear the resounding tread of the strutting player on the boards, 
 but bringing to our eye his puppet hardness and stiffness as well 
 as the awkward stupidity of his look and action." 
 
 272. this challenge: — Steevens remarks upon the Poet's an- 
 achronism in putting this challenge in a style more suitable to 
 Palmerin or Amadis than to Hector or ^neas. But is not the 
 whole play a binding up of the characters and incidents of classic 
 times with the manners and sentiments of Gothic chivalry? 
 Shakespeare learned this from the romance writers, and from 
 none more than from Chaucer, who, nevertheless, seems to have 
 known that Greece was neither a Gothic nor a Christian nation. 
 The incident of the challenge was most likely taken from Chap- 
 man's translation of Homer. 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 Scene I. 
 
 [Thersites.] Recall the friendship, the brotherhood, existing 
 between Achilles and Patroclus as drawn by Homer, and then 
 
 174
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 see what Shakespeare, under the influence of his own times, 
 makes of it. " He causes Thersites," says Brandes, " to spit 
 upon the connection, and by not allowing any one to protest, 
 leaves us to suppose his version to be correct." Brandes at- 
 tributes Shakespeare's picture of this " abomination " to his des- 
 pondency at the time of writing, when he was " full of loathing 
 for humanity." 
 
 13. mongrel: — Thersites calls Ajax mongrel, on account of his 
 father being a Grecian and his mother a Trojan. 
 
 40. The misshapen head of Thersites is probably what is here 
 alluded to. 
 
 125. [Exit Thersites.] For the character of Thersites Shake- 
 speare probably took a general hint from Chapman; there being 
 nothing of him in Chaucer, Caxton, or Lydgate, In Homer he is 
 represented merely as a deformed jester: — 
 
 " Thersites only would speak all. A most disorder'd store 
 Of words he foolishly pour'd out, of which his mind held more 
 Than it could manage : anything with which he could procure 
 Laughter, he never could contain. He should have yet been sure 
 To touch no kings: t' oppose their states becomes not jesters 
 
 parts. 
 But he the filthiest fellow was of all that had deserts 
 In Troy's brave siege : he was squint-ey'd, and lame, of either 
 
 foot; 
 So crook-back'd that he had no breast ; sharp-headed, where did 
 
 shoot 
 (Here and there sperst) thin mossy hair. He most of all envied 
 Ulysses and ^acides, whom still his spleen would chide ; 
 Nor could the sacred king himself avoid his saucy vein, 
 Against whom, since he knew the Greeks did vehement hates 
 
 sustain, 
 (Being angry for Achilles' wrong,) he cried out, railing. . . ." 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 49, reason and respect : — Thus in The Rape of Lucrece, 274- 
 277:— 
 
 " Then, childish fear avaunt ! debating die ! 
 Respect and reason wait on wrinkled age ! 
 My heart shall never countermand mine eye : 
 Sad pause and deep regard beseems the sage." 
 
 175
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Caxton furnishes the following illustration of this passage : 
 " Then arose upon his feet Troylus, the youngest son of king 
 Pryamus, and began to speake in this manner : O noble men and 
 hardie, how be ye abashed for the words of this cowardlie priest 
 here ! ... If Helenus be affraid, let him goe into the Temple, 
 and sing the divine service, and let the other take revenge of their 
 injurious wrongs by strength and force of armes. . . . All 
 they that heard Troylus thus speake allowed him, saying that he 
 had verie well spoken. And thus they finished their parliament, 
 and went to dinner." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Brandes, speaking of the ninth book of the Iliad and of its 
 relation to this Scene, says : " This book is one of the few fin- 
 ished works of art which have been produced upon this earth. 
 . . . Achilles' wrath, Nestor's experience, Odysseus' subtle 
 tact. Phoenix's good-natured rambling, the wounded pride of the 
 Hellenic emissaries, are all gathered together in the endeavour 
 to induce Achilles to quit his tent. Contrast this with the bur- 
 lesque attempt to provoke that cowardly snob and raw dunce of 
 an Achilles out of his exclusiveness, by passing him by without re- 
 turning his greeting or seeming conscious of his existence; this 
 same Achilles, who falls upon Hector with his myrmidons and 
 scoundrelly murders him, just as the hero, wearied by battle, has 
 taken off his helmet and laid aside his' sword. It reads like the in- 
 vention of a mediaeval barbarian. But Shakespeare is neither 
 mediaeval nor a barbarian. No, he has written it down out of a 
 bitterness so deep that he has felt hero-worship, like love, to be 
 an illusion of the senses. As the phantasy of first love is absurd, 
 and Troilus's loyalty towards its object ridiculous, so is the 
 honour of our forefathers and of war in general a delusion. 
 Shakespeare now suspects the most assured reputations ; he be- 
 lives that if Achilles reall}^ lived at all, he was most probably 
 a stupid and vainglorious boaster, just as Helen must have been 
 a hussy by no means worthy of the turmoil which was made 
 about her. As he distorted Achilles into an absurdity, so he 
 wrenched all other personalities into caricatures. Gervinus has 
 justly remarked that Shakespeare here acts very much as his 
 Patroclus does when he mimics Agamemnon's loftiness and Nes- 
 tor's weakness, for Achilles' delectation." 
 
 27, 28. a gilt counterfeit . . . slipped : — The quibble here is 
 
 176
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 clearly explained by the following passage quoted by Reed, from 
 Greene's Thieves falling out True Men come by their Goods: 
 " And therefore he went and got him certain slips, which are 
 counterfeit pieces of money, being brasse, and covered over with 
 silver, which the common people call slips." 
 
 179. He is so plaguy proud: — Plaguy is constantly used in 
 New England, and indeed throughout the Northern States, just 
 as it is used here. Steevens (in 1773) branded it as vulgar, and 
 would have excluded it from the text, regardless of its relations 
 to the remainder of the sentence, which explains the origin of 
 the phrase. 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 12. / hope I shall knozu your honour better: — A quibble. He 
 hopes Pandarus will become a better man than he is at present. 
 In his next speech he chooses to understand Pandarus as if he 
 had wished to grow better ; and hence the servant affirms that 
 he is in a state of grace. 
 
 I35> 136. / would fain, etc. : — " This trait of Paris," says Ver- 
 planck, " painted as a man of spirit and ability, yet wasting im- 
 portant hours in submission to the whims of his mistress, oddly 
 resembles the anecdotes, of which the English memoirs are full, 
 of the habits of Charles II. ; and to this the coincidence of the 
 name, Nell, adds effect. It affords a proof of the general truth 
 of the portrait, that the grandson of the monarch who reigned 
 when this play was written should have thus, half a century af- 
 terwards, re-enacted the sauntering indolence of Paris." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Here again we trace the Poet's reading in Chaucer's Troilus 
 and Cresseide, Book i. : — 
 
 " So when this Calcas knew by calculing, 
 And eke by the answere of this god Apollo, 
 That the Greekes should such a people bring, 
 Thorow the which that Troy must be fordo, 
 He cast anone out of the toune to go ; 
 For well he wist by sort, that Troie shoulde 
 Destroyed be, ye would whoso or n'olde. 
 
 177
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Wherefore he to departen softely 
 
 Tooke purpose full, this foreknowing wise, 
 
 And to the Greekes host full prively 
 
 He stale anone; and they in courteous wise 
 
 Did unto him both worship and servise 
 
 In trust that he hath cunning hem to rede 
 
 In every perill, which that was to drede. 
 
 Great rumour rose, whan it was first espied, 
 
 In all the toune, and openly was spoken, 
 
 That Calcas traitour fled was and alied 
 
 To hem of Greece ; and cast was to be wroken 
 
 On him that falsely hath his faith broken, 
 
 And sayed, he and all his kinne atones 
 
 Were worthy to be brent, both fell and bones." 
 
 145 et seq. Time hath, my lord, a wallet, etc. : — Boaden re- 
 marks that the image here is from Spenser's Faerie Queene : — 
 
 " But tell me, Lady, wherefore doe you beare 
 This bottle thus before you with such toile. 
 And eeke this wallet at your backe arreare. 
 That for these Carles to carry much more comely were? 
 
 'Here in this bottle' (sayd the sorry Mayd) 
 ' I put the tears of my contrition, 
 Till to the brim I have it full defrayd : 
 And in this bag, which I behinde me don, 
 I put repentaunce for things past and gon.' " 
 
 189, 190. Made emulous missions, etc. : — Alluding to the de- 
 scent of the gods, as told of in Homer, to take part in the fight 
 before Troy. Shakespeare probably followed Chapman : in the 
 fifth book of the Iliad Diomed wounds Mars, who, on his return 
 to Olympus, is rated by Jupiter for having interfered in the bat- 
 tle. This disobedience is the faction alluded to. 
 
 200. Does thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles: — In their 
 infancy, before they can give themselves utterance; as men often 
 act out their thoughts before they express them, and even before 
 they are fully conscious of having them; some pre-existing im- 
 pulse being in fact the seed of the thought. 
 
 214, 215. Farezvell . . . break : — F, Halliwell-Phillips pub- 
 lished, concerning these two lines, a miniature book. The Fool 
 and the Ice, London, 1883. He explains that a whole little his- 
 
 178
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 tory lies behind this curious simile. When Lord Chandos's 
 company played at Evesham, near Stratford (before 1600), a 
 country fool there, Jack Miller by name, became so infatuated 
 with their clown that he wanted to run away with them, and had, 
 consequently, to be locked up. He saw from the window, how- 
 ever, that the company was preparing to depart, and springing 
 out, sped, in spite of the danger, over forty yards of ice so 
 thin that it would not bear a piece of brick which was laid upon 
 it. (First told in a little book by the player Robert Arnim, after- 
 wards one of Shakespeare's colleagues. It was published in 
 1603 under the title " Foole upon Foole, or Sixe Sortes of 
 Sottes, by Colonnico del Mondo Snuffe," clown at the Globe 
 Theatre.) 
 
 2^7. To see us here unarm'd : — So in Caxton : " The truce dur- 
 ing. Hector went on a day unto the tents of the Greekes, and 
 Achilles beheld him gladly, forasmuch as he had never seen him 
 unarmed. And at the request of Achilles, Hector went into his 
 tent ; and as they spake together of many things, Achilles said to 
 Hector, I have great pleasure to see thee unarmed, forasmuch as 
 I have never seen thee before." 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 7. Good morrow, Lord ^neas: — In the greeting of ^neas and 
 Diomed — somewhat reminiscent of that of Glaucus and Diomed 
 in Homer, we have a glimpse of a more genuine and moderated 
 gallantry that gives the tone and scale of weaker or coarser varia- 
 tions. In this Scene Paris entertains with unruffled politeness 
 and complacency the plain-spoken truth which Diomed bestows 
 on the character of Helen. 
 
 23, 24. by Anchises' life . . . Venus' hand : — He swears first 
 by the life of his father, and then by the hand of his mother. 
 
 Scene 11. 
 
 60 et seq. Caxton tells this part of the story as follows: " Cal- 
 cas, that by the commandment of Apollo had left the Trojans, had 
 a passing faire daughter and wise, named Briseyda — Chaucer, in 
 his book that he made of Troykis, named her Cresida — for which 
 
 179
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 daughter he prayed to king Agamemnon and to the other princes, 
 that they would require the king Priamus to send Briseyda unto 
 him. They prayed enough to king Priamus at the instance of 
 Calcas ; but the Trojans blamed sore Calcas, and called him evil 
 and false traitor, and worthie to die, that had left his owne and 
 and naturall lord, for to goe into the companie of his mortal ene- 
 mies : yet at the petition and earnest desire of the Greekes, the 
 king Priamus sent Briseyda to her father." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 7-9. And to his hand . . . own heart: — "It is true," says 
 Brandes, " that there is a chivalrous fine feeling and sensual ten- 
 derness in Troilus's love, which seems to foreshadow, as it were, 
 that which some centuries later found such full expression in 
 Keats. But the melancholy of Shakespeare's matured perception 
 sets its iron tooth in everything at this period of his life, and he 
 looks upon absorption in love as senseless and laughable. He 
 shows us how blindly Troilus runs into the snare, giddy with 
 happiness and uplifted to the heavens, and how the next moment 
 he awakes from his intoxication, betrayed; but he shows it with- 
 out sympathy, coldly. Therefore, the play never once arouses any 
 true emotion." 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 58. be thou but true of heart : — Knight thinks that Shake- 
 speare's conception of the character of Cressida is altogether dif- 
 ferent from that of Chaucer, and that there is little in the scene 
 before us to make us believe that Cressida will keep her vows. 
 In the elder poet she manifests a loftiness of character which 
 ought to have preserved her faith, but Shakespeare has made her 
 consistent. 
 
 70. Wear this sleeve : — The custom of wearing a lady's sleeve 
 or glove as a favovir is thus referred to in the Chronicles of 
 Hall : " One ware on his headpiece his lady's sleeve, and another 
 bare on his helme the glove of his deareling." And in Drayton's 
 Barons' Wars: "A lady's sleeve high-spirited Hastings wore," 
 etc. Malone says that the sleeve which Troilus here gives Cres- 
 sida may be an ornamented cuff, such perhaps as was worn by 
 some of our young nobility at a tilt." She afterwards (V. ii, 66) 
 gives it to Diomed. 
 
 j8o
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 Scene V, 
 
 55-57. There 's language, etc. : — One would almost think that 
 Shakespeare had, on this occasion, been reading St. Chrysostom : 
 " Non loquuta es lingua, sed loquuta es gressu ; non loquuta es 
 voce, sed oculis loquuta es clarius quam voce " : that is, " They 
 say nothing with their mouthes, they speake in their gaite, they 
 speake with their eyes, they speake in the carriage of their 
 bodies." This invective against a wanton, as well as the transla- 
 tion of it, is from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. 
 
 120 et seq. The fine incident of this passage is thus narrated 
 by Caxton: "As they were fighting, they spake and talked to- 
 gether, and thereby Hector knew that he was his cousin-german, 
 son of his aunt; and then Hector for courtesy embraced him in 
 his arms, and made great cheer, and offered to him to do all his 
 pleasure, if he desired anything of him, and prayed him that he 
 would come to Troy with him for to see his lineage of his 
 mother's side. But the said Thelamon, that intended to nothing 
 but his best advantage, said that he would not go at this time. 
 But he prayed Hector, requesting that, if he loved him so much 
 as he said, he would for his sake, and at his instance, cease the 
 battle for that day, and that the Trojans should leave the 
 Greeks in peace. The unhappy Hector accorded unto him his 
 request, and blew a horn, and made all his people to withdraw 
 into the city." 
 
 142. By Neoptolemus Shakespeare must mean Achilles, though 
 he was not so named. Finding that his son was Pyrrhus Neop- 
 tolemus, the Poet probably considered Neoptolemus as the nomen 
 gentilitium or gentilitial name, and thought the father was likewise 
 Achilles Neoptolemus. Or he may have been led into the error 
 by some book of the time. From another passage (HI. iii. 209) it 
 is evident that he knew Pyrrhus had not yet engaged in the siege 
 of Troy: " But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home." 
 
 219, 220. yonder walls, etc. : — Caxton thus describes Priam's 
 palace, which was named Ilion : " It was of height five hundred 
 paces, besides the height of the towers, whereof there was great 
 plenty, and so high that it seemed to them that saw them from 
 farre, they raught up unto the heavens." 
 
 231-233. The incident of Achilles viewing Hector "limb by 
 limb " is narrated in the twenty-second book of the Iliad. We 
 subjoin Chapman's version of the passage, though Shakespeare 
 probably had not seen it when he wrote this play : — 
 
 iSi
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 " His bright and sparkling eyes 
 Look'd through the body of his foe, and sought through all that 
 
 prize 
 The next way to his thirsted life. Of all ways, onfy one 
 Appear'd to him ; and this was, where th' unequal winding bone 
 That joins the shoulders and the neck had place, and where there 
 
 lay 
 The speeding way to death ; and there his quick eye could dis- 
 play ^ 
 The place it sought — even through those arms his friend Patro- 
 
 clus wore 
 When Hector slew him." 
 
 233. Quoted is observed, marked, noted. 
 
 261-265. Ajax treats Achilles with contempt, and means to in- 
 sinuate that he is afraid of fighting with Hector. " You may 
 every day," says he, " have enough of Hector, if you have the 
 inclination; but I believe the whole state of Greece will scarcely 
 prevail on you to be at odds with him, to contend with him." 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 65, but to be Menelaus! — In Homer there is no hint of the 
 modern ridicule of Menelaus; he is equally worthy, equally "be- 
 loved by the gods," and still the same mighty hero, if his wife 
 has been abducted. But here, this eternal mockery of Menelaus 
 as a deserted husband, these endless good and bad jests on his 
 lot, mingled with barbaric laughter over Helen as unchaste ! 
 Thersites is made the mouthpiece of most of it. Shakespeare 
 found his name in Ovid, and a description of his person in 
 Homer. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 66. Here, Diomed, keep this sleeve: — This is the sleeve that 
 Troilus gave Cressida (IV. iv. 70), when she gave him a glove 
 in return. 
 
 186. zvear a castle on thy head: — That is, defend thy head with 
 armour of more than common security. So in The History of 
 Prince Arthur, 1634 : " Do thy best, said Sir Gawaine ; there- 
 
 182
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 fore hie thee fast, and wit thou well we shall soon come after, 
 and breake the strongest castle that thou hast upon thy head." 
 It appears that a kind of close helmet was called a castle ; but the 
 word is here clearly metaphorical. Heath explains that Troilus 
 tells Diomed to shut his head up, if it were possible, in a castle, 
 else his sword should reach it. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 6. My dreams, etc. : — That is. my dreams of the night forebode 
 ill to the day. The incident is thus related by Caxton : " An- 
 dromeda saw that night a marvellous vision, and her seemed if 
 Hector went that day to the battle he should be slaine. And she, 
 that had great fear and dread of her husband, weeping, said to 
 him, praying that he would not go to the battle that day : whereof 
 Hector blamed his wife, saying that she should not believe nor 
 give faith to dreams, and would not abide nor tarry therefore." 
 Shakespeare was familiar, no doubt, with Chaucer's brief account 
 in The Nonnes Preestes Tale : — 
 
 " Lo, hire Andromacha, Hectores wif. 
 That day that Hector shulde lese his lif, 
 She dremed on the same night beforne 
 How that the lif of Hector shuld be lorne. 
 If thilke day he went into bataille : 
 She warned him, but it might not availle; 
 He went forth for to fighten natheles, 
 And was yslain anon of Achilles." 
 
 38. a lion : — The traditions and stories of the darker ages 
 abounded with examples of the lion's generosity. Upon the sup- 
 position that these acts of clemency were true, Troilus reasons, 
 not improperly, that to spare against reason, by mere instinct and 
 pity, became rather a generous beast than a wise man. 
 
 78. [Exit Andromache.] The Destruction of Troy continues 
 the story thus : " In the morning Andromeda went to the king 
 Priamus, and to the queene, and told them the verity of her 
 vision, and prayed them with all her heart, that they would do so 
 much at her request as to dissuade Hector, that he should not in 
 any wise that day go to the battle. It happened that the day was 
 faire and clear, and the Trojans armed them, and Troylus issued 
 first into the battle ; after him ^neas. And the king Priamus 
 sent to Hector, that he should keepe him well that day from 
 
 183
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 going to battle. Wherefore Sector was angry, and said to his 
 wife many reproachful words, as that he knew well that this 
 commandment came by her request ; yet, notwithstanding the for- 
 bidding, he armed him. At this instant came the queene Hecuba, 
 and the queene Helen, and the sisters of Hector, and kneeled 
 down presently before his feet, and prayed him with weeping 
 tears that he would do off his harness, and come with them into 
 the hall : but never would he do it for their prayers, but descended 
 from the palace, and tooke his horse, and would have gone to 
 battle. But at the request of Andromeda the king Priamus came 
 running anon, and tooke him by the bridle, and said to him so 
 many things of one and other, that he made him to return, but in 
 no wise w^ould he be made to unarm him." This scene — the part- 
 ing of Hector and Andromache — takes place in the sixth book of 
 the Iliad, which some commentators believe to have been un- 
 translated by Chapman when this play was written, and therefore 
 unknown to Shakespeare. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 i8. to proclaim barbarism : — To set up the authority of igno- 
 rance, and to declare that they will be governed by policy no 
 longer. 
 
 30. According to the rules of chivalry, a person of superior 
 birth might not be challenged by an inferior; or, if challenged, 
 might refuse combat. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 I et seq. Caxton gives the matter thus: "And of the partie 
 of the Trojans came the king Ademon that jousted against Men- 
 elaus, and smote him, and hurt him in the face : and he and Troy- 
 lus tooke him, and had led him away, if Diomedes had not come 
 the sooner with a great companie of knights, and fought with 
 Troylus at his coming, and smote him downe, and tooke his horse, 
 and sent it to Briseyda, and did cause to say to her by his servant 
 that it was Troyluses horse, her love,^and that he had conquered 
 him by his promise, and prayed her* from thenceforth that she 
 would hold him for her love." 
 
 14. sagittary: — Thus described in The Destruction of Troy: 
 "A mervayllous beaste that was called Sagittayre, that behynde 
 
 184
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 the myddes was an horse, and to-fore a man. This beste was 
 heery like an horse, and had his eyen red as a cole, and shotte 
 well with a bowe: this beste made the Grekes sore aferde, and 
 slewe many of them with his bowe." Likewise in Lydgate : — 
 
 " A wonder archer of sight mervaylous. 
 Of form and shape in manner monstrous: 
 For like mine auctour as I rehearse can. 
 Fro the navel upward he was man, 
 And lower down like a horse yshaped; 
 And thilke part that after man was maked 
 Of skin was black and rough as any beare, 
 Covered with hair fro cold him for to weare. 
 Passing foul and horrible of sight, 
 Whose eyes twain were sparkling as bright 
 As is a furnace with his red leven, 
 Or the lightning that falleth fro the heven; 
 Dredeful of looke, and red as fire of cheer, 
 And, as I rede, he was a good archer; 
 And with his bow both at even and morow 
 Upon the Grekes he wrought much sorrow." 
 
 20. So in Caxton's History : " Then, when Hector was richly 
 arraied, and armed with good harnesse and sure, he mounted 
 upon his horse named Galathe, that was one of the most great 
 and strongest horses of the world." 
 
 Scene VIII. 
 
 I. Most putrefied core: — This is the "one in sumptuous ar- 
 mour," at the close of Scene vi. The incident was taken from 
 The Destruction of Troy. 
 
 ID. " The heroic greatness of Achilles is mere semblance," 
 says Ulrici ; " it is only by a treacherous attack that — with the aid 
 of his Myrmidons — he succeeds in killing Hector, who was rest- 
 ing and unarmed." 
 
 22. The Poet applies to Hector a part of what the History re- 
 lates of Troilus, as appears by the following : "Afore that Achil- 
 les entered into the battle, he assembled his Myrmidons, and' 
 prayed them that they would intend to none other thing but to 
 inclose Troylus, and to hold him without flying till he came. 
 And they promised him that they so would. And he thronged 
 
 185
 
 Notes TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 into the battle. And on the other side came Troylus, that began 
 to flee and beat down all them that he caught, and did so much that 
 about mid-day he put the Greeks to flight. Then the Myrmidons, 
 that were about two thousand fighting men, thrust in among the 
 Trojans, and recovered the field. And as they held them together, 
 and sought no man but Troylus, they found him, and he fought 
 strongly and was inclosed on all parts ; but he slew and wounded 
 many. And as he was all alone among them, and had no man to 
 help him, they slew his horse, and hurt him in many places, and 
 plucked off his head helm, and his coif of iron ; and he defended 
 him in the best manner he could. Then came on Achilles, when 
 he saw Troylus all naked, and ran upon him in a rage, and smote 
 off his head, and took the body and bound it to the tail of his 
 horse, and so drew it after him throughout the host." 
 
 Scene IX. 
 
 10. Great Troy is ours: — " In the play, as so frequently in life," 
 says Lloyd, " the honours of success fall to the share of those who 
 deserved it, but in a mode they neither expected nor influenced. 
 The purposes of Agamemnon, Ulysses, and Nestor, have been 
 sustained throughout and well pursued, and though as Thersites 
 says, their policy promises little fruit from circumstances run- 
 ning cross, others arise that give full compensation. The trifling 
 that they strove against brings on consequences that aid them 
 shrewdly. Achilles is roused by the death of Patroclus and 
 slaughter of his Myrmidons, Ajax also suffers for his absence, 
 and is also roused by the loss of a friend. This is the same mo- 
 tive that gives the last force to the single-thoughted resolution of 
 Troilus, and thus the play appropriately ends when on either side 
 the levities and frivolousnesses that had drawn out to ten years' 
 length the desultory and harassing war, are finally disposed of, 
 and the decisive contest and crash of fully collected and deter- 
 mined powers is at last prepared for." 
 
 Scene X. 
 
 34. [Exit Troilus.] In the twenty-fourth book of the Iliad 
 Homer makes his solitary mention of Troilus as a son whom 
 Priam had lost before the opening of the poem. ' The old king 
 says : — 
 
 186
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Notes 
 
 " O me, accursed man, 
 
 All my good sons are gone, my light the shades Cimmerian 
 Have swallowed from me. I have lost Mestor, surnamed the Fair, 
 Troilus, that ready knight at arms, that made his field repair 
 Ever so prompt and joyfully." 
 
 This is all the great old-world poet says of the king's son, 
 whose fame in the Middle Ages outshone Hector's own. This 
 brief mention of an early death stirred the imagination and set 
 fancy at work. The cyclic poets expanded the hint and developed 
 Troilus into a handsome youth who fell by Achilles' lance. It 
 had become the custom under imperial Rome to derive the empire 
 from the Trojans, and the theory gave birth to many fabrica- 
 tions, professing to emanate from eye-witnesses of the war. 
 
 187
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 Questions on 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 1. What difficulties are experienced in assigning the date of 
 this play? What conjectures are advanced as to the possibility 
 of different parts being written at different times? 
 
 2. What are the probable sources from which materials for the 
 play were taken? 
 
 PROLOGUE. 
 
 3. What epithet is applied in the second line to the princes of 
 Greece ? 
 
 4. At what stage of the Trojan war does the action begin? 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 
 5. What traits as a lover does Troilus display? 
 
 6. What is Troilus's comment on the war? How is the war 
 and its cause thrown up thus early as a background for the love- 
 story? What key for the play is struck in Sc. i. ? 
 
 7. What description is given of Ajax in Sc. ii.? With what 
 Trojan warrior is he brought into comparison? 
 
 8. What is the purpose of the long dialogue in Sc. ii. as con- 
 cerns Cressida: as concerns Pandarus; as concerns the plot? 
 How does it serve in helping to create the enveloping atmos- 
 phere? 
 
 9. What is Cressida's attitude during the passing of the Trojan 
 warriors? Does one guess her secret before she reveals herself 
 at the end of Sc. ii.? What type of character does she repre- 
 sent ? 
 
 ID. In Sc. iii. what state of affairs at the end of the seventh 
 year of the war does Agamemnon describe? To what does he 
 assign the cause? 
 
 II. How does Nestor describe the situation? Does he attempt 
 
 188
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Questions 
 
 to fathom a cause? Is his speech mere oratory and in accordance 
 with his historic reputation? 
 
 12. Account for the temper of lines 70-74. 
 
 13. How does Ulysses solve the situation? What remedy does 
 he propose? What picture of disorganization does he draw? 
 What does he say of Ajax; of Thersites? 
 
 14. Should Agamemnon not have been known personally to 
 ^neas at the end of seven years' fighting? 
 
 15. What challenge is brought from Hector? To what motive 
 does the challenge appeal? Who penetrates its real significance? 
 
 16. What method of treating the challenge does Ulysses advise? 
 
 17. Does the first Act establish a motif for the action? 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 
 18. How is Thersites introduced? Has the key to his char- 
 acter been already given? What is the quality of his wit? 
 
 19. What has embittered him, or is he a born railer? Does any 
 one escape his vituperation? 
 
 20. What had been the effect of Thersites's gibes had Ajax or 
 Achilles or Patroclus been worthier men? What new facts do 
 we learn concerning these heroes? Does Sc. i. advance the 
 plot any? 
 
 21. Indicate the personal touch with which Achilles quits the 
 scene. 
 
 22. To what preceding part of the play does Sc. ii. form a con- 
 trast? How is the contrast carried out as to characters? 
 
 23. What demand is sent to the Trojans concerning Helen? 
 
 24. What is Hector's advice? How is he answered by Troi- 
 lus? Whose argument is the stronger? 
 
 25. What is the dramatic purpose of the warning of Cassandra? 
 Does the argument take on a higher moral tone after her en- 
 trance? 
 
 26. What reason does Paris allege for keeping Helen? 
 
 27. Why does Shakespeare make Hector touch the high moral 
 of the problem with illuminating vision and then calmly yield to 
 the lower motives of the others? 
 
 28. What is effected by making the soliloquies of Thersites in 
 Sc. iii. take on the form of prayers? 
 
 29. Is there an abatement of power in presenting the succeed- 
 ing dialogue which suggests Thersites as the court fool? 
 
 189
 
 Questions TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 30. Who make up the deputation that calls upon Achilles? 
 How does he receive them? 
 
 31. What is effected by the depreciations uttered in asides 
 against Ajax? 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 
 32. What anachronisms does the dialogue between the Servant 
 and Pandarus contain? 
 
 S3. In what aspect does this Scene present Paris? Why was 
 he not in the field? 
 
 34. What is the errand on which Pandarus comes to him? 
 
 35. In Sc. ii, is there shown a temper peculiar to the classic 
 world and different from, let us say, the mediaeval Italy of 
 Romeo and Juliet? 
 
 36. Between the Nurse of the play just named and Pandarus 
 is there anything to choose ? 
 
 37. How do the characters of this Scene bequeath their names 
 to representatives of their class? 
 
 38. Who was Calchas? What services did he do the Greeks 
 and what reward did he ask? 
 
 39. Among the Trojans what office did Antenor hold? 
 
 40. What was the purpose of the disrespect offered by the gen- 
 erals to Achilles? 
 
 41. What does Ulysses say as to the way a man comes to know 
 himself? How does he apply this to Ajax? 
 
 42. In what way does he bring the argument around to apply 
 to the case of Achilles? What was Achilles' motive in keeping 
 out of the conflict? 
 
 43. What is the purpose of the satirical account of Ajax that 
 Thersites furnishes? 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 
 44. Indicate the nature of the greetings between Diomedes and 
 -^neas. 
 
 45. What is effected through juxtaposition by the discussion 
 between Diomedes and Paris concerning Helen? 
 
 46. Does Paris err on the side of courtesy or weakness in re- 
 ceiving the plain speech of Diomedes? 
 
 47. Who brings to Cressida (Sc. ii.) the news of Priam's man- 
 date to convey her to the Grecian camp ? 
 
 190
 
 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Questions 
 
 48. What does she say in response to it? What does Troilus 
 say in Sc. iii. about the sacrifice he is about to make? 
 
 49. How does Cressida (Sc. iv.) receive the pleadings of Troi- 
 lus that she be true? Does she ever promise anything? 
 
 50. What gave Diomedes assurance to make the speech that 
 Troilus resents as discourteous usage? Where does the atten- 
 tion briefly turn at the close of the Scene? With war as a 
 background for love, in what relations are they frequently em- 
 phasized? 
 
 51. In Sc. V. how does Ulysses answer the bombast of Ajax? 
 How does Ulysses show himself the observer of men? 
 
 52. In what manner does Cressida bear herself in the Grecian 
 camp? How does Ulysses comment upon her? 
 
 53. What was Ajax's origin? What account of Troilus is 
 given by Ulysses, and what dramatic end does it serve in this 
 place ? 
 
 54. What follows after the trial between Ajax and Hector? 
 What kind of courtesies are exchanged? What passes between 
 Hector and Achilles? 
 
 55. What combat is set for the following day? Does anything 
 in modern warfare resemble the scene of the Grecian's enter- 
 tainment of Hector and Troilus? 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 56. Of whom does Achilles speak at the opening of the Act? 
 
 57. What inspires Thersites to such habitual venomous speech? 
 What measure of truth is there usually in his words? 
 
 58. Sc. i. is transitional in what respects? 
 
 59. What contrasts are there between the scene between Cres- 
 sida and Diomedes and the earlier one between Cressida and 
 Troilus ? 
 
 60. What motive, do you think, had Ulysses for conducting 
 Troilus to the scene of his disillusion? 
 
 61. How does this Scene affect Troilus's whole philosophy of 
 life? 
 
 62. Why does Ulysses forbear to argue with him now? What 
 is insinuated by the question of Ulysses in Sc. ii., line 133? 
 
 63. What would doubtless be the reflection of Ulysses upon a 
 scene like this? 
 
 64. What does Troilus resolve to do? 
 
 191
 
 Questions TROILUS AND CRESSIDA 
 
 65. Who urge Hector not to go out to battle? What attribute 
 does Troilus give him? 
 
 66. What effect is produced by the scene of waiting and high- 
 wrought passion on the eve of Hector's departure? 
 
 67. How does Cressida end her Hfe dramatically? 
 
 68. Is detestation of Thersites increased by Hector's allowing 
 him to live? 
 
 69. What brings Achilles finally into the battle? 
 
 70. What are the fortunes of battle before the encounter of 
 Achilles and Hector? What is the significance of the one in 
 sumptuous armour? 
 
 71. What advantage does Achilles take over Hector? 
 
 72. How does Troilus quit the scene? What eff^ect is pro- 
 duced by bringing forward Pandarus as the epilogue to the play? 
 
 73. Does this play seem defective in informing purpose? Is it 
 a tragedy? If so, why does the dramatist allow the hero and 
 heroine to live on after the end of the play? 
 
 74. What elements of the story vary from the Homeric narra- 
 tive ? 
 
 75. Is Troilus a tragic -figure? Does he draw upon the sym- 
 pathies as strongly as Romeo? How is he differentiated from 
 the latter? 
 
 76. What type of character does Shakespeare draw in Cressida? 
 Does he ever allow any mitigating touches in relation to her? 
 Does he allow her any charm such as he gave to Cleopatra? 
 How would the question of such an endowment be affected by 
 the difference between Antony and Troilus? 
 
 yy. Is Thersites a character of nature? What are his com- 
 ponents? Is he a poetical figure like Caliban? 
 
 78. In what does he resemble the chorus? 
 
 79. Is the Achilles of this play true to Homeric traditions? 
 How do you estimate his character? 
 
 80. What resemblance is there between Ulysses and the Duke 
 of dark corners in Measure for Measure? 
 
 81. Construct the dramatist's philosophy of life as revealed in 
 this play. 
 
 192
 
 L 009 978 311