Puslapio vaizdai
PDF
„ePub“

women Cressids, and all brokers-between Pan-So do each lord, and either greet him not,

dars! say, Amen.

Tro. Amen.

Cres. Amen.

Pan. Amen. Whereupon I will show you a chamber and a bed, which bed, because it shall not speak of your pretty encounters, press it to death: away.

And Cupid grant all tongue-tied maidens here, Bed, chamber, Pandar, to provide this geer!

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The Grecian camp. Enter Agamemnon, Ulysses, Diomedes, Nestor, Ajax, Menelaus, and Calchas.

Cal. Now, princes, for the service I have done

you,

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 Jove
I have abandon'd Troy, left my possession,
Incurr'd a traitor's name; expos'd myself,
From certain and possess'd conveniences,
To doubtful fortunes; séquest'ring from me all
That time, acquaintance, custom, and condition,
Made tame and most familiar to my nature ;
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 register'd in promise,
Which, you say, live to come in my behalf.
Agam. What would'st 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,)
Desir'd my Cressid in right great exchange,
Whom Troy hath still denied: But this Antenor,
I know, is such a wrest1 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,
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,

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 burden

Which I am proud to bear. [Exe. Dio. and Cal. Enter Achilles and Patroclus, before their tent.

Ulyss. Achilles stands i'the entrance of his

tent:

Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more Than if not look'd on. I will lead the way.

Achil. What, comes the general to speak with me? You know my mind, I'll fight no more 'gainst Troy. Agam. What says Achilles? would he aught with us?

Nest. Would you, my lord, aught with the
general?
Achil.
No.

[blocks in formation]

Achil. What mean these fellows? Know they not Achilles?

Patr. They pass by strangely: they were us'd to bend,

To send their smiles before them to Achilles;
To come as humbly, as they us'd to creep
To holy altars.

Achil.

What, am I poor of late? 'Tis certain, greatness, once fallen out with fortune, Must fall out with men too: What the declin'd 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,

Hath any honour; but honour for those honours
That are without him, as place, riches, favour,
Prizes of accident as oft as merit:

Which when they fall, as being slippery standers,
The love that lean'd on them, as slippery 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
As they have often given. Here is Ulysses;
I'll 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 Heat them, and they retort that heat again To the first giver. Achil.

This is not strange, Ulysses.

Please it our general to pass strangely2 by him,
As if he were forgot; and, princes all,
Lay negligent and loose regard upon him:
I will come last: 'Tis like, he'll question me,
Why such unplausive eyes are bent, why turn'd on The bearer knows not, but commends itself

If so, I have derision med'cinable,

The beauty that is borne here in the face

him:

To others' eyes; nor doth the eye itself
(That most pure spirit of sense) behold itself,
Not going from itself; but eye to eye oppos'd
Salutes each other with each other's form.

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'll execute your purpose, and put on
A form of strangeness as we pass along ;-

(1) An instrument for tuning harps, &c.

[blocks in formation]

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

The present eye praises the present object:
Then marvel not, thou great and cómplete 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,

Till he behold them form'd in the applause

And still it might; and yet it may again,

verberates

And case thy reputation in thy tent;

Where they are extended; which, like an arch, re- If thou would'st not entomb thyself alive,

[blocks in formation]

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,
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,
And great Troy shrinking.

Achil. I do believe it: for they pass'd by me,
As misers do by beggars: neither gave to me
Good word, nor look: What, are my deeds forgot?
Ulyss. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,

A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late,
Made emulous missions3 'mongst the gods them-

selves,

[blocks in formation]

Ulyss. Is that a wonder?

Ha! known?

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.
There is a mystery (with whom relation
Durst never meddle) in the soul of state;
Which hath an operation more divine,
Than breath, or pen, can give expressure to:
All the commerce that you have had with Troy,
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,-

Those scraps are good deeds past: which are de- Great Hector's sister did Achilles win;

vour'd

As fast as they are made, forgot as soon
As done: Perseverance, dear my lord,

Keeps honour bright: To have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a trusty 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;-

Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank,
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,

O'er-run and trampled on: Then what they do in

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

O, then beware;

Those wounds heal ill, that men do give themselves:
Omission to do what is necessary

Seals a commission to a blank of danger;
And danger, like an ague, subtly taints

Even then when we sit idly in the sun.

Achil. Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus:

I'll 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 woman'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,

Even to my full of view. A labour sav'd!

(3) The descent of the deities to combat on either side.

[blocks in formation]

Enter Thersites.

Ther. A wonder! Achil. What?

And I myself see not the bottom of it. [Exeunt Achilles and Patroclus. Ther. 'Would the fountain of your mind were Ther. Ajax goes up and down the field, asking clear again, that I might water an ass at it! I had

for himself.

Achil. How so?

Ther. He must fight singly to-morrow with Hесtor; and is so prophetically proud of an heroical cudgelling, that he raves in saying nothing. Achil. How can that be?

Ther. Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock, a stride and a stand: ruminates, like a 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'll break it himself in vain-glory. He knows not me: I said, Good-morrow, Ajax; and he replies, Thanks, Agamemnon. What think you of this man, that takes me for the general? He is grown a very land-fish, languageless, 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'll answer nobody; he professes not answering; speaking is for beggars; he wears his tongue in his arrns. I will put on 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 magnanimous, and most illustrious, six-or-seven-times-honoured captain-general of the Grecian army, Aga

memnon. Do this.

Patr. Jove bless great Ajax.

Ther. Humph!

Patr. I come from the worthy Achilles,Ther. Ha!

Patr. Who most humbly desires you, to invite Hector to his tent!

[blocks in formation]

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 o'clock it will go one way or other; howsoever, he shall pay for me ere he has me.

Patr. 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 will 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.

Ther. Let me bear another to his horse; for that's the more capable? creature.

Achil. My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirr'd;

(1) Lute-strings made of catgut. (2) Intelligent.

rather be a tick in a sheep, than such a valiant ignorance. [Exit.

[blocks in formation]

Æne. Is the prince there in person?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 Æneas.

Par. A valiant Greek, Æneas; take his hand. Witness the process of your speech, wherein You told how Diomed, a whole week by days, Did haunt you in the field.

Æne.

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'll play the hunter for thy life,
With all my force, pursuit, and policy.

Æne. 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 sympathize:-Jove, let Æneas live, If to my sword his fate be not the glory, A thousand complete courses of the sun! But, in mine emulous honour, let him die, With every joint a wound; and that to-morrow! Æne. We know each other well.

Dio. We do; and long to know each other

[blocks in formation]

not.

Par. His purpose meets you; 'Twas to bring this Greek

To Calchas' house; and there to render him,
For the enfreed Antenor, the fair Cressid:
Let's have your company; or, if you please,
Haste there before us: I constantly do think
(Or, rather, call my 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.

Æne.

That I assure you;
Troilus had rather Troy were borne to Greece,
Than Cressid borne from Troy.
Par.

The bitter disposition of the time
Will have it so.

There is no help;

On, lord; we'll follow you.

(3) Conversation.

Æne. Good morrow, all.

[Exit. -Here, you maid! where's my cousin Cressid?

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

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

Dio.

Both alike:

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

Par. You are too bitter to your countrywoman.
Dio. She's bitter to her country: Hear me,
Paris,-

For every false drop in her bawdy veins

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

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

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

[Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same. Court before the house of Pandarus. Enter Troilus and Cressida. Tro. Dear, trouble not yourself; the morn is cold.

uncle !

Cres. Go hang yourself, you naughty mocking 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; beshrew3 your heart! you'll ne'er be good,

Nor suffer others.

Pan. Ha, ha! Alas, poor wretch! a poor capocchia!4-hast not slept to-night? would he not, a naughty man, let it sleep? a bugbear take him! [Knocking.

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

Who's that at door? good uncle, go and see.-
My lord, come you again into my chamber:
You smile, and mock me, as if I meant naughtily.
Tro. Ha, ha!

Cres. Come, you are deceiv'd, I think of no such thing.[Knocking. How earnestly they knock!-pray you, come in; I would not for half Troy have you seen here. [Exeunt Troilus and Cressida. Pan. [Going to the door. Who's there? what's the matter? will you beat down the door? How now? what's the matter?

Enter Æneas.

Æne. Good morrow, lord, good morrow. Pan. Who's there? my lord Æneas? By my troth, I knew you not: what news with you so early? Æne. Is not prince Troilus here? Pan. Here! what should he do here? Æne. Come, he is here, my lord, do not deny him; It doth import him much, to speak with me.

Pan. Is he here, say you? 'tis more than I know, Cres. Then, sweet my lord, I'll call mine uncle I'll be sworn: For my own part, I came in late:

down;

[blocks in formation]

What should he do here?

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

Good morrow then. Go.

Are you a-weary of me?

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

ture

Enter Pandarus.

Have not more gift in taciturnity.

[blocks in formation]

[Exeunt Troilus and Æneas. Pan. Is't possible? no sooner got, but lost? The devil take Antenor! the young prince will go mad.

Pan. How now, how now? how go maiden- A plague upon Antenor: I would, they had broke's

[blocks in formation]

164

Enter Cressida.

Cres. How now? What is the matter? Who
was here?

Pan. Ah, ah!

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!

Cres. O the gods!-what's the matter?

Pan. Pr'ythee, get thee in; 'Would thou hadst ne'er been born! I knew, thou would'st be his death:-O poor gentleman!-A plague upon An

tenor?

Cres. Good uncle, I beseech you on my knees,
I 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!-I will not go.
Pan. Thou must.

Cres. I will not, uncle: I have forgot my father;
I know no touch of consanguinity:

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'll go in, and weep;

Pan. Do, do.

Cres. Tear my bright hair, and scratch my praised cheeks,

Crack my clear voice with sobs, and break my heart

[Exeunt.

With sounding Troilus. I will not go from Troy.
SCENE III.-The same. Before Pandarus'
house. Enter Paris, Troilus, Æneas, Deipho-
bus, Antenor, and Diomedes.

Par. It is great morning; and the hour prefix'd
Of her delivery to this valiant Greek
Comes fast upon :-Good my brother Troilus,
Tell you the lady what she is to do,

And haste her to the purpose.

Tro.

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,

o heart, o 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 never was a truer rhyme. Let us cast away
nothing, for we may live to have need of such a
verse; we see it, we see it.-How now, lambs?

That the blest gods-as angry with my fancy,
Tro. Cressid, I love thee in so strain'd a purity,
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?
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
Of all rejoindure, forcibly prevents
All time of pause, rudely beguiles our lips
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
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 :
As many farewells as be stars in heaven,

With distinct breath and consign'd2
And scants us with a single famish'd kiss,
He fumbles up into a loose adieu;
kisses to them,
Distasted with the salt of broken tears.
Æne. [Within.] My lord! is the lady ready?
Tro. Hark! you are call'd: Some say, the
Genius so

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,

Walk in to her house; or my heart will be blown up by the root!

I'll 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;

And 'would, as I shall pity, I could help!-
Please you, walk in, my lords.

SCENE IV. -The same. A room in Pandarus'
house. Enter Pandarus and Cressida.

[Exit Pandarus.

Cres. I must then to the Greeks?
Tro.
Cres. A woful Cressid 'mongst the merry Greeks!
No remedy.

When shall we see again?

Tro. Hear me, my love: Be thou but true of

[Exeunt.

heart,

Cres. I true! how now? what wicked deem is

this?

Tro. Nay, we must use expostulation kindly,

Pan. Be moderate, be moderate.

For it is parting from us:

Cres. Why tell you me of moderation?

The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste,

I speak not, be thou true, as fearing thee;
For I will throw my glove to death himself,

And violenteth in a sense as strong

That there's no maculations in thy heart:

As that which causeth it: How can I moderate it? But be thou true, say I, to fashion in

If I could temporize with my affection,

My sequent protestation; be thou true,

Or brew it to a weak and colder palate,

And I will see thee.

The like allayment could I give my grief:

Cres. O, you shall be expos'd, my lord, to dangers

My love admits no qualifying dross:

As infinite as imminent! but, I'll be true.

No more my grief, in such a precious loss.

Tro. And I'll grow friend with danger. Wear

this sleeve.

[blocks in formation]

Cres. And you this glove. When shall I see you?
Tro. I will corrupt the Grecian sentinels,

(3) Interrupted. (4) Surmise.
(6) Following.

(5) Spot.

« AnkstesnisTęsti »