TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. Greeks. Helenus, Antenor, Trojan commanders. Calchas, a Trojan priest, taking part with the Cassandra, daughter to Priam; a prophetess. Pandarus, uncle to Cressida. Deiphobus, Diomedes. Helen, wife to Menelaus. Cressida, daughter to Calchas. Margarelon, a bastard son of Priam. Trojan and Greek Soldiers, and Attendants. Agamemnon, the Grecian general. Menelaus, his brother. Achilles, Scene, Troy, and the Grecian Camp before it. Ajax, Ulysses, Grecian commanders. Nestor, Diomedes, PROLOGUE. IN Troy, there lies the scene. Greece ACT I. From isles of SCENE 1.-Troy. Before Priam's palace. Enter Troilus armed, and Pandarus. The princes orgulous, their high blood chaf'd, Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay With wanton Paris sleeps; And that's the quarrel. And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge (1) Proud, disdainful. (2) Freight. (3) Shut. Troilus. CALL here my varlet, I'll unarm again: strength, But I am weaker than a woman's tear, Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I'll not meddle nor make no further. He, that will have a cake out of the wheat, must tarry the grinding. Tro. Have I not tarried? Pan. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance || Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair, to burn your lips. Tro. Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be, Doth lesser blench1 at sufferance than I do. At Priam's royal table do I sit; And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts, So, traitor! when she comes! thence? When is she Pan. Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look, or any woman else. T'ro. I was about to tell thee, - When my heart, As wedged with a sigh, would rive2 in twain; 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, PandarusWhen I do tell thee, There my hopes lie drown'd, Reply not in how many fathoms deep They lie indrench'd. I tell thee, I am mad In Cressid'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; Handlest 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 ploughmen! This thou tell'st me, As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love her; Pan. I speak no more than truth. Tro. Thou dost not speak so much. Pan. 'Faith, I'll not meddle in't. Let her be as she is: if she be fair, 'tis 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; illthought on of her, and ill-thought on of you: gone between and between, but small thanks for my la bour. Pan. Because she is 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. Tro. Say I, she is not fair? 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'll tell her the next time I see her: for my part, I'll meddle nor make no more in the matter. Tro. Pandarus, - Tro. Sweet Pandarus, Pan. Pray you, speak no more to me; I will leave all as I found it, and there an end. [Exit Pandarus. An Alarum. Tro. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds! When with your blood you daily paint her thus. It is too starv'd a subject for my sword. Alarum. Enter Æneas. Æne. How now, prince Troilus? wherefore not afield? Tro. Because not there; This woman's answer sorts, 3 For womanish it is to be from thence. Troilus, by Menelaus. Tro. Let Paris bleed: 'Tis but a scar to scorn; Paris is gor'd with Menelaus' horn. Alarum. Æne. Hark! what good sport is out of town today! Tro. Better at home, if could I might, were Queen Hecuba, and Helen. Cres. And whither go they? Up to the eastern tower, Cres. What was his cause of anger? Alex. The noise goes, this: There is among the A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; Cres. Good; And what of him? Alex. They say he is a very man per se,4 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 the lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the clephant: 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; 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 Pandarus. Cres. Who comes here? Alex. Madam, your uncle Pandarus. Cres. Hector's a gallant man. Alex. As may be in the world, lady. Pan. What's that? what's that? Cres. Good morrow, uncle Pandarus. 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 ye came to Ilium? Helen was not up, was she? Cres. Hector was gone; but Helen was not up. were we talking of, and of his anger. Pan. Was he angry? Pan. True, he was so; I know the cause too; he'll lay about him to-day, I can tell them that: and there is Troilus will not come far behind him; let them take heed of Troilus; I can tell them that Cres. No, but brown. Pan. 'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. 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 tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose. Pan. I swear to you, I think Helen loves him better than Paris. Cres. Then she's a merry Greek, indeed. Pan. Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him the other day into a 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. 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 smiling beccmes him better than any man in all Phrygia. Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. 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'll prove it so. Pan. Troilus? why, he esteems her no more than I esteem an addle egg. Cres. If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i'the shell. Pan. I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled his chin;-Indeed, she has a marvellous white hand, I must needs confess. Cres. Without the rack. 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.3 Pan. And Cassandra laughed. Cres. But there was a more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes;-Did her eyes run o'er too? Pan. And Hector laughed. Cres. At 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. Cres. What was his answer? Pan. Quoth she, Here's but one 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. One and fifty hairs, quoth he, and one white. That white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons. Jupiter! quoth she, which of these hairs is Paris my husband? The forked one, quoth he; pluck it out, and give it him. But, there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, and Paris 21 so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed. 1 not hear the people cry, Troilus?--Helenus is a Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great while Cres. So I do. Pan. I'll be sworn, 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'twere a man born in April. Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May. [A Retreat sounded. Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and see them, as they pass toward Ilium? goodniece, do; sweet niece Cressida. Cres. At your pleasure. Pan. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest. Æneas passes over the stage. Cres. Speak not so loud. Pan. That's Æneas; 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? Pan. Swords? any thing, he cares not: an the devil come to him, it's all one: By god's lid it does one's heart good:---Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris: look ye yonder, niece; Is't not a gallant man too, is't not?-Why, this is brave now. Who said, he came hurt home to-day? he's not hurt: why this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon. Cres. Who's that? Helenus passes over. Pan. That's Helenus ;-I marvel, where Troilus is:-That's Helenus ;-I think he went not forth today: That's Helenus. Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle? Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent well :-I marvel, where Troilus is!-Hark; do you priest. Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? Troilus passes over. 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!look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hack'd than Hector's; And how he looks, and how he goes! 0 admirable youth! he ne'er saw three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way; had I a sister were a Grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris?-Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot. Forces pass over the stage. 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. Cres. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a better man than Troilus. Pan. Achilles? a drayman, a porter, a very camel. Cres. Well, well. Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man? Cres. Ay, a minced man: and then to be baked with no dates in the pie, -for then the man's date is out. Pan. You are such a woman! one knows not at what 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'll watch you for that; and that's one of the chiefest of them too if I cannot ward what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it swell past hiding, and then it is past watching. Pan. You are such another! Enter Troilus' Boy. Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you Pan. Where? Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. Pan. Good boy, tell him I come: [Exit Boy.] I doubt, he be hurt-Fare ye well, good niece. Cres. Adieu, uncle. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by. Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. Cres. By the same token-you are a bawd. [Exit Pandarus. Words, vows, griefs, tears, and love's full sacrifice, He offers in another's enterprise : (5) Dates were an ingredient in ancient pastry (1) Went beyond bounds. (2) As if 'twere. (6) Guard. But more in Troilus thousand fold I see Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be ; Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is: What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? And, flies fled under shade, Why, then, the thing of courage, As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathize, Agamemnon,- I give to both your speeches, which were such, In all designs begun on earth below, expect? Nor, princes, is it matter new to us, That matter needless, of importless burden, That we come short of our suppose so far, When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws, That after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand; We shall hear music, wit, and oracle. Sith every action that hath gone before, Whereof we have record, trial did draw Bias and thwart, not answering the aim, Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down, And the great Hector's sword had lack'd & master, But for these instances. 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; else And think them shames, which are, indeed, nought But the protractive trials of great Jove, The specialty of rules hath been neglected: What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,9 Observe degree, priority, and place, Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat, And posts, like the commandment of a king, Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance Lies the true proof of men: The sea being smooth, Upon her patient breast, making their way 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, Doth valour's show, and valour's worth, divide, (1) Twisted and rambling. (2) Since. (3) Joined by affinity. (6) The gad-fly that stings cattle. (7) Expectation. Sans check, to good and bad: But when the planets, In evil mixture to disorder wander, What plagues, and what portents? what mutiny? Quite from their fixture; O, when degree is shak'd, The enterprise is sick! How could communities, |