Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Tro. I did swear patience.

Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; 'faith

shall not;

I'll give you something else.

Dio. I will have this; whose was it?

Cres. 'Tis no matter.

Dio. Come, tell me whose it was.

you

Cres. 'Twas one's that loved me better than you will.

But, now you have it, take it.

Dio. Whose was it?

Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women yonder,
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.

And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Admits no orifice for a point, as subtle
As is Arachne'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 reliques
Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.
Ulyss. May worthy Troilus be half attach'd
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.

Gres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past;-and yet Hark, Greek ;--As much as I do Cressid love,

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,

But it straight starts you.

Dio. I do not like this fooling.

So much by weight hate I her Diomed:
That sleeve is mine, that he'll bear on his helm;
Were it a casque † composed by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout,
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constringed in mass by the almighty sun,
Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear
In his descent, than shall my prompted sword

Ther. Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not Falling on Diomed.

you, pleases me best.

Dio. What, shall I come? The hour?
Cres. Ay, come :-O Jovel-

Do come I shall be plagued.
Dio. Farewell till then.

Cres. Good night. I pr'ythee 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,
Minds, sway'd by eyes, are full of turpitude.

[Exit Cressida. Ther. A proof of strength she could not publish

more,

Unless she said, my mind is now turn'd whore.
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,

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. Most sure she was.

Ther. He'll tickle it for his concupy §.

Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid False, false,
false!

Let all untruths stand by thy stained name,
And they'll seem glorious.

Ulyss. O, contain yourself;
Your passion draws ears hither.

Enter ANEAS.

Ene. 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, adien :-

Farewell, revolted fair!-And, Diomed,
Stand fast, and wear a castle on thy head!
Ulyss. I'll bring you to the gates.
Tro. Accept distracted thanks.

[Exit Troilus, Æneas, and Ulysses. Ther. 'Would, I could meet that rogue Diomed! I 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 [Exit.

them!

SCENE III-Troy.-Before Priam's Palace.
Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE.

And. When was my lord so much ungently tem
per'd,

Tro. Why, my negation ** hath no taste of mad-To stop his ears against admonishment?

ness.'

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 Hapt, without a theme,
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. Will he 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 sanctimony,
if sanctimony be the gods' delight,
If there be rule in unity itself,
This was 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 commence a fight
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate
Divides more wider than the sky and earth;
+ Remembrance, 1 Since.
Hope.
Testimony.
For the sake of.

The stars.

⚫ Belief.

• Denial.

[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

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: Unarin, sweet Hector.

Heet. 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

Enter TROILUS.

than life.

How now, young man? Mean'st thou to fight

to-day?

And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade. [Exit Cassandra.

Hect. No, 'faith, young Troilus; doff thy har ness, 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'll 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 Grecians fall, 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 ruthfulf work, rein them from ruth §.
Hect. Fie, savage, fie!

Tro. Hector, then 'tis wars.

Hect. Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day. 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.

Cus. Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast: He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay, Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee, Fall all together.

Pri. Come, Hector, come, go back:

Cas. Farewell.-Yet, soft:-Hector, I take my leave:

Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive. [Exit. Hect. You are amazed, my fiege, at her exclaim: Go in, and cheer the town: we'll 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. Alarums.

Tro. They are at it; hark! Proud Diomed, believe,

my sleeve.

As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, I come to lose my arm, or win

PANDARUS.

Pan. Do you hear, my lord? Do you hear?
Tro. What now?

Pan. Here's a letter from yon' poor girl.
Tro. Let me read.

Pan. A whoreson ptisick, a whoreson rascally ptisick so trouoles me, and the foolish fortune of this girl; and what one thing, what another, that I shall leave you one o' these days: and I have a rheum in nine 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; [Tearing the Letter.

The effect doth operate another way.-
Go, wind to wind, there turn and change together.-
My love with words and errors still she feeds;
But edities another with her deeds,

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE IV.-Between Troy and the Grecian Camp,

Alarums: Excursions.-Enter THERSITES. Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there, in his varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting helm: I would fain see them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, that loves the whore there, might send that Greekish whore-masterly villian, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, policy of those crafty swearing rascals,-that stale on a sleeveless errand. O' the other side, the old mouse-caten 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 cur Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarisnt, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here come

Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had sleeve, and t' other.

visions;

Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt,
To tell thee that this day is ominous :
Therefore, come back.

Heet. Æneas is a-field;

And I do stand engaged to many Greeks,'
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.

Pri. But thou shalt not go.

Heet. 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.
And, Do not, dear father.

Hect. Andromache, I am offended with you:
Upon the love you bear me, get you in.
[Exit Andromac
Tre. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.

Cas. O farewell, dear Hector.

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, destruction, frenzy, and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,

And all ery-Hector! Hector's dead! O Hector!
Tro. Away!-Away !—

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
[ocr errors]

492

[blocks in formation]

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, And there lacks work; anon, he's there, afoot, And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls t Before the belching whale; then is he yonder, 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 called impossibility.

Enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. O, courage, Achilles

courage, princes! Great

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 foains 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,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

[blocks in formation]

Dio. Troilus I say! Where's Troilus ?
Ajax. What wouldst thou?

Dio. 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'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.
Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon .
Tro. Come both, you cogging ¶ Greeks; have at
you both.
[Exeunt, fighting.

Enter HECTOR. Hect. Yea, Troilus? O, well fought, my youngest brother:

[blocks in formation]

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 befriend thee now, But thou anon shalt hear of me again; Till when, go seek thy fortune.

Hect. Fare thee well:

[Exit.

I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee.-How now, my brother ?
Re-enter TROILUS.

Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas; shall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,
He shall not carry him; I'll be taken too,
Or bring him off:-Fate, hear me what I say!
I reck† not though I end my life to-day.

Enter one in sumptuous Armour.

[Exit.

[blocks in formation]

Enter ACHILLES, with 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 arms. Follow me, Sirs, and my proceedings eye :It is decreed-Hector the great must die. [Exeunt. SCENE VIII.-The same.

Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting; then THER

SITES.

Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it: Now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! Now my double-henn'd 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 illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment: farewell, bastard. Mar. The devil take thee, coward! SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Field

Enter HECTOR.

[Exeunt.

Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath: Rest sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death [Puts off his Helmet, and hangs his Shield behind him.

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 dark'ning 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! seek. [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 retreat upon our Grecian part. • Prevail over. + Care. ↑ Burst. Employ. Take not this advantage.

[merged small][ocr errors]

Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord. | Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba ?
Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the
earth,

[blocks in formation]

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR,
DIOMEDES, and others, marching.-Shouts within.
Agam. Hark! hark! What shout is that?-
Nest. Peace, drums.

[Within.] Achilles!

Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles!

Let him, that will a screech-owl aye⚫ be call'd,
Go into Troy, and say there-Hector's dead:
There i 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,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away;
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'll through and through you!-And thou, great

sized coward!

No space of earth shall sunder our two hates;
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,
That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts.-
Strike a free march to Troy! With comfort go:
Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.
[Exeunt Eneas, and Trojans.

Dio. The bruit is,-Hector's slain, and by As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side,

Achilles.

Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be;

Great Hector was as good a man 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,
Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended.
[Exeunt marching.

SCENE XI.-Another Part of the Field.

Enter ENEAS, and TROJANS.

Ene. 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!

Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host.
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!

• An arbitrator at athletic games.
+ Fattening.

Rumour.

PANDARUS.

Pan. But hear you, hear you!

Tro. Hence, broker lackey! ignomy and shame
Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name,
Exit Troilus.
Pan. A goodly med'cine for my aching bones!
-O world! world! world! thus is the poor
agent despised! O traitors and bawds, how earn-
estly are you set a' work, and how ill requited!
Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the
performance so loathed? What verse for it? What
instance for it?-Let me see :→

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.

1

As many as be bere of pander's hall,
Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall:
Or, if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
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'll sweat, and seek about for eases;
And, at that time, bequeath you my diseases.

[Exit.

• Ever. + Pitched, fixed. t Ignominy Canvas hangings for rooms, painted with emblems and mottoes.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Cit. Resolved, resolved.

Enter MENENIUS AGRIPPA.

2 Cit. Worthy Menenius Agrippa; one that hath always loved the people.

1 Cit. He's one honest enough; 'would all the rest were so!

Men. What work's, my countrymen, in hand? Where go you

With bats and clubs? The matter? Speak, I pray

you.

1 Cit. Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have had inkling, this fortnight, what we

1 Cit. First, you know, Caius Marcius is chief intend to do, which now we'll shew 'em in deeds. enemy to the people.

Cit. We know't, we know't.

1 Cit. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. Is't a verdict?

Cit. No more talking on't; let it be done : Away,

away.

2 Čit. One word, good citizens.

1 Cit. We are accounted poor citizens; the patricians, good: what authority surfeits on, would relieve us if they would yield us but the superfluity, while it were wholesome, we might guess, they relieved us humanely; but they think, we are too dear the leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an inventory to particularise their abundance; our sufferance is a gain to them.-Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes+: for the gods know, I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.

2 Cit. Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?

Cit. Against him first; he's a very dog to the commonalty.

2 Cit. Consider you what services he has done for his country?

1 Cit. Very well; and could be content to give him good report for't, but that he pays himself with being proud.

2 Cit. Nay, but speak not maliciously.

1 Cit. I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end: though soft conscienced men can be content to say, it was for his country, he did it to please his mother, and to be partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of

his virtue.

2 Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him: you must in no way say,

he is covetous.

1 Cit. If I must not, I need not be barren of accusations; he hath faults, with surplus, to tire in repetition. [Shouts within.] What shouts are these? The other side o' the city is risen: Why stay we prating here? To the Capitol.

Cit. Come, come.

1 Cit. Soft; who comes here?

[blocks in formation]

They say, poor suitors have strong breaths; they shall know, we have strong arms too.

Men. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours, Will you undo yourselves?

1 Cit. We cannot, Sir, we are undone already. Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care Have the patricians of you. For your wants, Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well Strike at the heaven with your staves, as lift them Against the Roman state; whose course will on The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs Of more strong link asunder, than can ever Appear in your impediment: for the dearth, The gods, not the patricians, make it, and Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack, You are transported by calamity Thither where more attends you; and you slander The helms o' the state, who care for you like fathers,

When you curse them as enemies.

1 Cit. Care for us!-True, indeed!-They ne'er cared for us yet. Suffer us to famish, and their store-houses cramm'd with grain; make edicts for usury, to support usurers: repeal daily any wholesome act establish'd against the rich; and provide more piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and there's all the love they bear us. Men. Either you must Confess yourselves wondrous malicious, Or be accused of folly. I shall tell you A pretty tale; it may be, you have heard it; But, since it serves my purpose, I will venture To scale't a little more.

think to fob off our disgrace with a tale: but an't 1 Cit. Well, I'll hear it, Sir; yet you must not please you deliver.

Men. There was a time, when all the body's
members

Rebell'd against the belly; thus accused it:-
That only like a gulf it did remain
Pthe midst o'the body, idle and inactive,
Still cupboarding the viand, never bearing
+ Hardship.

• Spread it.

« AnteriorContinuar »