Ene. Come, he is here, my lord, do not deny him; It doth import him much, to speak with me. Pan. Is he here, say you? 'tis more than I know, I'll be sworn :-For my own part, I came in late: What should he do here? Ene. Who!-nay, then.-Come, come, you'll do him wrong ere you are 'ware: you'll be so true to him, to be false to him: Do not you know of him? yet go fetch him hither; go. As PANDARUS is going out, enter TROILUS. Tro. How now? what's the matter? ne. My lord, I scarce have leisure to salute The Grecian Diomed, and our Antenor Tro. Tro. How my achievements mock me! I will go meet them: and, my lord Æneas, ture [Exeunt TROILUS and ÆNEAS. 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 Cres. A pestilence on him! now will he be mock-neck! ing: I shall have such a life, Pan. How now, how now? how go maiden heads? Ene. Good morrow, lord, good morrow. Ene. Is not Prince Troilus here? 11. e. the roguish or thierish crows.' Ribaldry signified roguery, naughtiness, or loose conduct of any kind, among our ancestors. It may, however, be used in the sense of obscene. 2 i. e. venefici, those who use nocturnal sorcery. 3 The hint for the following scene appears to have been suggested by Chaucer. Troilus and Cresseide, b. iii. v. 1561. 4 Capocchia, an Italian word for fool Enter CRESSIDA. Cres. How now? What is the matter? Who was Cres. Why sigh you so profoundly? where's my Tell me, sweet uncle, what's the matter? 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 Antenor! 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. I Cres. O you immortal gods !—I will not go. Cres. I will not, uncle: I have forgot my father; know no touch" of consanguinity; No kin, no love, no blood, no soul so near me, Cres. Tear my bright hair, and scratch my praised Crack my clear voice with sobs, and break my heart 5 i. e. hasty or abrupt. So in Romeo and Juliet :- 6 So in Antony and Cleopatra : And mock our eyes with air.' 7 Sense or feeling of relationship. So in Macbeth :He wants the natural touch. 8 i. e. the very height. So in Cymbeline : 'My supreme crown of grief. SCENE III. The same. Before Pandarus' House. Injurious time now, with a robber's haste, Par. It is great morning; and the.hour prefix'd Tro. Walk in to her house; A priest, there offering to it his own heart. [Exit. And 'would, as I shall pity, I could help!- SCENE IV. The same. [Exeunt. A Room in Pandarus' House. Enter PANDARUS and CRESSIDA. Pan. Be moderate, be moderate. Cres. Why tell you me of moderation? The grief is fine, full, perfect, that I taste? *And violenteth in a sense as strong Crams his rich thievery up, he knows not how: Ene. [Within.] My lord! is the lady ready? nius so Cries, Come! to him that instantly must die."- wind, or my heart will be blown up by the root! Cres. I must then to the Greeks? Tro. Hear me, my love: Be thou but true of Cres. I true! how now? what wicked deer this? As that which causeth it: How can I moderate it? For it is parting from us : Tro. Nay, we must use expostulation kindly, If I could temporize with my affection, Or brew it to a weak and colder palate, No more my grief, in such a precious loss. Pan. Here, here, here he comes.-Ah sweet ducks! Cres. Q Troilus! Troilus! [Embracing him. Pan. What a pair of spectacles is here! Let me embrace too: O heart,-as the goodly saying 18, 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 Tro. Cressid, I love thee in so strain'd a purity, Pan. Ay, ay, ay, ay; 'tis too plain a case. Is it possible? Our lock'd embrasures, strangles our dear vows 1 i.e. broad day. It is a familiar French idiom,— C'est grand matin. 2 This verb is used by Ben Jonson in The Devil is an Ass: 'Nor nature violenceth in both these.' 3 Consigned means sealed, from consigno, Lat. My soul just now about to take her flight, 5 So in Macbeth. "That tears will drown this wind.' I speak not, be thou true, as fearing thee; Cres. O, you shall be expos'd, my lord, to dangers Tro. And I'll grow friend with danger. Wear this sleeve." Cres. And you this glove. When shall I see you? But yet be true. Cres. .30 O heavens-be true again? And swelling o'er with arts and exercise; (Which I beseech you, call a virtuous sin) Cres. O heavens! you love me not. To. Die I a villain then! In this I do not call your faith in question, 7 Deem (a word now obsolete) signifies opinion, sur mise. 8 That is, I will challenge death himself in defence of thy fidelity. 9 In Histriomastix, or the Player Whipt, a Comedy, 1610, a circumstance of a similar kind is ridiculed, in a mock interlude wherein Troilus and Cressida are the speakers. I cannot but think that it is the elder drama by Decker and Chettle, that is the object of this satirica) allusion, and not Shakspeare's play, which was proba. bly not written when Histriomastix appeared, for Queen Elizabeth is complimented under the character of Astrea in the last Act of that piece, and is spoken of as then living. 10 i. e. highly accomplished: quality, like condition, 6 The expression has before occurred in Act i. Sc. 2, is applied to manners as well as dispositions. of this play. 11 The lavolta was a dance. Tro. Ene. [Within.] Nay, good my lord,-Come, kiss; and let us part. Par. [Within.] Brother Troilus! Tro. Good brother, come you hither; And bring Eneas, and the Grecian, with you. Cres. My lord, will you be true? To. Who I? alas, it is my vice, my fault: While 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 ENEAS, PARIS, ANTENOR, DEIPHOBUS, and DIOMEDES. Welcome, Sir Diomed! here is the lady, At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand; Dio. Fair lady Cressid, So please you, save the thanks this prince expects: I charge thee, use her well, even for my charge; Dio. O, be not mov'd, Prince Troilus; Let me be privileg'd by my place, and message, To be a speaker free: when I am hence, I'll answer to my lust: And know you, lord, I'll nothing do on charge: To her own worth She shall be priz'd ; but that you say-be't so, I'll speak it in my spirit and honour,-no. Tro. Come, to the port.-I 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 TROILUS, CRESSIDA, and DIOMED. [Trumpet heard. Par. Hark! Hector's trumpet. Dei. Let us make ready straight. Let us address to tend on Hector's heels: [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, 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 DIOMED, with 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; "Twere better she were kiss'd in general. Nest. And very courtly counsel: I'll begin.So much for Nestor. Achil. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair Ulyss. O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns! For which we lose our heads, to gild his horns. Patr. The first was Menelaus' kiss ;—this, mine; Patroclus kisses you. Men. Patr. Paris, and I, kiss ever more for him. Men. I'll have my kiss, sir:-Lady, by your leave. O, this is trim! Cres. In kissing do you render or receive 7a I'll make my match to live." The kiss you take is better than you give; Therefore no kiss. Men. I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one. May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you? 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. 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'll bring you to your fa[DIOMED leads out CRESSIDA ther. 5 i. e. I'll answer to my will or pleasure, according to my inclination, 6 i. e. preparation. 7 i. e. swelling out like the bias of a bowl. So in Vit 1 The moral of my wit' is the meaning of it. Thus in the Taming of the Shrew, Act iv. Sc. 4: He has left me behind to expound the meaning or moral of historia Corombona, 1612-signs and tokens,' 2 i. e. the gate. 3 i. e. inform. 4 Trojlus apparently means to say, that Diomed does not use him courteously by addressing himself to Cressi da, and assuring her that she shall be well treated for her own sake, and on account of her singular beauty, Instead of making a direct answer to that warm request which Troilus had just made to him to 'entreat her fair.' The subsequent words justify this interpretation : I charge thee, use her well, even for my charge. Nest. A woman of quick sense. Ulyss Fye, fye upon her! 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.2 O, these encounterers, so glib of tongue, That give a coasting welcome3 ere it comes, And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader! set them down For sluttish spoils of opportunity," And daughters of the game. All. The Trojan's trumpet. Agam. [Trumpet within. Yonder comes the troop. this In the extremity of great and little, Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector; The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well, Re-enter DIOMED. Agam. Here is Sir Diomed :--Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and Lord Æneas Consent upon the order of their fight, 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 oppos'd already. Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy? 1 Motive for part that contributes to motion. This word is employed with some singularity in All's Well that Ends Well, Act iv. Sc. 2: As it has fated her to be my motive 2 One would almost think that Shakspeare had, on this occasion, been reading St. Chrysostom, who says:Non loquuta es lingua, sed loquuta es gressu; non loquuta es voce, sed oculis loquuta es clarius quam voce :' I. e. 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 translation of it, is from Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy, Part III. Sect. ii. Memb. 2, Subs. 3. 3 A coasting welcome is a conciliatory welcome: that makes silent advances before the tongue has uttered a word. So in Venus and Adonist Anon she hears them chaunt it lustely, 4 i. e. corrupt wenches, of whose chastity every opportunity makes an easy prey. 5 Securely done,' in the sense of the Latin securus, a negligent security arising from a contempt of the object opposed. So in the last act of the Spanish Tragedy: O damned devil, how secure he is.' 6 Valour (says Æneas) is in Hector greater than va. lour in other men, and pride in Hector is less than pride 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 provok'd, nor, being provok'd, soon calm'd: His heart and hand both open, and both free; [Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight. Agam. They are in action. Awake thee! Hector, thou sleep'st; Dio. You must no more. Ene. [Trumpets cease. Princes, enough, so please you. Ajax. I am not warm yet, let us fight again. Why then, will I no more :- A gory emulation 'twixt us twain : All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood Wherein my sword had not impressure made Ajux. I thank thee, Hector: Thou art too gentle and too free a man : I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence A great addition1 earned in thy death. Hect. Not Neoptolemus19 so mirable (On whose bright crest fame with her loud'st O yes in other men. So that Hector is distinguished by the excellence of having pride less than other pride, and valour more than other valour. 7 Ajax and Hector were cousins-german. 8 Hence Thersites, in a former scene, called Ajax a mongrel. 9 i. e a breathing, an exercise. See Act ii. Sc. 3. note 2, p. 168. 10 Stops. 11 No boaster of his own deeds. 12 An impair thought' is an unworthy or injurious thought. Thus in Chapman's preface to his Shield of Homer, 1598;- Nor is it more impaire to an honest and absolute man,' &c. Cries, This is he!) could promise to himself A thought of added honour torn from Hector. Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen; Ene. There is expectance here from both the I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,10 sides, What further you will do. Hect. Dio. "Tis Agamemnon's wish: and great Achilles Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector. Hect. Eneas, call my brother Troilus to me: And signify this loving interview To the expecters of our Trojan part; But for Achilles, my own searching eyes Agam. Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one And formless ruin of oblivion; But in this extant moment, faith and troth, you. You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither. The noble Menelaus.' Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks! Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath ; Hect. O, pardon; I offend. Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny," make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youths and I have seen thee, : As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed, And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, tium, and thought the father was likewise Achilles Neoptolemus. Or he was probably led into the error by some book of the time. By a passage in Act iii. Sc. 3, it is evident that he knew Pyrrhus had not yet engaged in the siege of Troy : And once fought with him: he was a soldier good; 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. Nest. Ha! By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time Ulyss. I wonder now how yonder city stands, When we have here her base and pillar by us. Hect. I know your favour, Lord 'Ulysses, well. Ah, sir, there's many 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, Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds," Must kiss their own feet. Hect. I must not believe you. 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. 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!12 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee; Hect. Is this Achilles? Achil. I am Achilles. Hect. Hect. O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er; But there's more in me than thou understand'st. Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye? Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or there? 6 Untraded is uncommon, unusual. So in King Richard II:- Some way of common trade,' for some usual course, or trodden way. 7 Destiny is the vicegerent of fate. 'But it must grieve young Pyrrhus, now at home,' &c.luded to, it should appear that in a former simile his 1 i. e. answer the expectance. 2 These knights, to the amount of about two hundred thousand, (for there were no less in both armies,) Shakspeare found with all the appendages of chivalry in The Old Troy Book. Eques and armiger, rendered knight and squire, excite ideas of chivalry. Pope, in his Homer, has been liberal in his use of the latter. 3 i. e. integrity, like that of heaven. 8 As the equestrian fame of Perseus is here again alhorse was meant for a real one, and not allegorically for a ship. See Act i. Sc. 3. 9 i. e. the fallen. 10 Laomedon. 11 Thus in Shakspeare's Rape of Lucrece :Threatening cloud-kissing Ilion with annoy.' Ilion, according to Shakspeare's authority, was the name of Priam's palace, that was one of the richest and strongest that ever was in all the world. And 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 4 It has been asserted that imperious and imperial had formerly the same signification, but so far is this from being the fact, that Bullokar carefully distinguishes them: Imperial, royal or chief, emperor-like: im-raught up unto the heavens.-Destruction of Troy. perious, that commandeth with authority, lord-like, stately 5 Ritson thought that this speech belonged to Æneas, and indeed it seems hardly probable that Menelaus would be made to call himself the noble Menelaus.' 12 Mr. Tyrwhitt thought we should read:--'I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, though!" 13 Quoted is noted, observed. The hint for this scene of altercation between Achilles and Hector is furnished by Lydgate. |