But for Achilles, mine own searching eyes 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; But in this extant moment, faith and troth, From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome! memnon. AGAM. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither. Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath; theme. HECT. O, pardon; I offend. [thee, NEST. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air, And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath, ENE. '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. (*) First folio, unto my. HECT. I would they could. 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; Must kiss their own feet. ULYSS. Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee; As to prenominate in nice conjecture, A CHIL. But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words, Or may I never AJAX. Do not chafe thee, cousin ;And you, Achilles, let these threats alone, Till accident or purpose bring you to't: You may havet every day enough of Hector, If you have stomach; the general state, I fear, Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him. HECT. I pray you, let us see you in the field; We have had pelting wars, since you refus'd The Grecians' cause. ACHIL. Dost thou entreat me, Hector? To-morrow, do I meet thee, fell as death; To-night, all friends. HECT. AGAM. First, all my tent; Thy hand upon that match. you peers of Greece, go to (*) First folio, the. (†) First folio omits, have. a-entreat him.] "Entreat " here signifies entertain; it is used There in the full convive we : * afterwards, [Exeunt all except TROILUS and ULYSSES. TROIL. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you, In what place of the field doth Calchas keep. ULYSS. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus : There Diomed doth feast with him to-night; TROIL. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to yout so much, After we part from Agamemnon's tent, 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? [scars, TROIL. O, sir, to such as boasting show their A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord? She was belov'd, she lov'd; she is, and doth: But, still, sweet love is food for fortune's tooth. PATR. Well said, Adversity! and what need these tricks? THER. Pr'ythee be silent, boy; I profit not by thy talk; thou art thought to be Achilles' male varlet.a b PATR. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that? THER. Why, his masculine whore. Now the rotten diseases of the south, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o' gravel i' the back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, lime-kilns i' the palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivelled fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries! PATR. Why thou damnable box of envy, thou, what meanest thou to curse thus ? An oath that I have sworn. I will not break it: and [Exeunt ACHILLES and PATROCLUS. THER. With too much blood and too little brain, these two may run mad; but if with too much brain and too little blood, they do, I'll be a cure of madmen. Here's Agamemnon,-an honest fellow enough, and one that loves quails; but he has not so much brain as ear-wax 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? ass, were nothing; he is both ass and ox: ox were nothing; he is both ox and ass. 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.-Hoyday! spirits and fires! To an to an To be To Calchas' tent; I'll keep you company. TROIL. Sweet sir, you honour me. HECT. And so good night. [Exit DIOMEDES; ULYSSES and TROILUS following. ACHIL. Come, come, enter my tent. [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 when he leers, than I will a serpent when he hisses he will spend his mouth, and promise, like 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 traitor Calchas' tent: I'll after.-Nothing but lechery! all incontinent varlets! : [Exit. SCENE II.-The same. Before Calchas' Tent. Enter DIOMEDES. Dro. What, are you up here, ho? speak. DIO. Diomed.-Calchas, I think.-Where's your daughter? CAL. [Within.] She comes to you. (*) First folio inserts, that. b Sweet draught:] See note (c), p. 605, Vol. II. |