In Troy, there lies the scene. From isles of Dardan, and Tymbria, Ilias, Chetas, Trojan, Greece The princes orgulous *, their high blood chafed, The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch And Antenorides, with massy staples, Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, 'Ginning in the middle; starting thence away ACT I Enter TROILUS armed, and PANDARUS. Tro. Call here my varlet, I'll unarm again: Why should I war without the walls of Troy, That find such cruel battle here within ? Each Trojan, that is master of his heart, Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none. Pan. Will this geer ¶ ne'er be mended? Tro. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their strength, [valiant; Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness But I am weaker than a woman's tear, Tamer than sleep, fonder ** than ignorance; Less valiant than the virgin in the night, And skill-less as unpractised infancy. Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I'll not meddle nor make no far ther. 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 bolting. Tro. Have I not tarried ↑ Pan. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening. Tro. Still have I tarried. Pan. Ay, to the leavening: but here's yet | n the word-hereafter, the kneading, the making of the cake, the beating of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips. Tro. Patience herself what goddess e'er she be, Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do. And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts, Pan. Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look, or any woman else. Tro. I was about to tell thee,-When my heart, len is on Sunday. But what care I? I care Pan. I do not care whether you đó or no. Tro. Sweet Pandarus, Pan. Pray you speak no more to me; 1 will leave all as I found it, and there an end. [Exit PANDARUS. An Alarum. Tro. Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, As wedged with a sigh, wonld rive in twain; rude sounds! [fair, Lest Hector or my father should perceive me, Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be I bave (as when the sun doth light a storm) When with your blood yon daily paint her Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile: [ness, I cannot fight upon this argument; [thus. But sorrow, that is couched in seeming glad It is too starved a subject for my sword. Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness. But Pandaras-O gods, how do you plague me' Pan. Au her hair were not somewhat darker cannot come to Cressid, but by Pandar; than Helen's, (well, go to,) there were, no And he's as tetchy to be woo'd to woo, more comparison between the women-But, As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit. for my part, she is my kinswoman; I wouldTell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne's love, not, as they term it, praise her-But I would What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we? somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I Her bed is India; there she lies, a pearl : did. I will not dispraise your sister Cassan- Between our flium, and where she resides, dra's wit; butLet it be call'd the wild and wandering flood; Ourself, the merchant; and this sailing Pandar, Our doubtful hope, our convoy, and our bark. Alarum. Enter ÆNEAS. Tro. O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,When 1 do tell thee, There my hopes lie drowned, Reply not in how many fathoms deep They lie indrenched. I tell thee, I am mad seizure The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love [me 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 the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in her own hands. Tro. Good Pandarus! How now, PandaTus ? Pan. I have had my labour for my travel; ill thought on of her, and ill-thought on of you: gone between and between, but small thanks for my labour. Tro. What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me? 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 Hel • Shrink. Ene. How now, prince Troilus? wherefore Tro. Because not there; This woman's an- Ene. to-day! SCENE II. The same. A Street. Queen Hecuba, and Helen. + Split. Suits. 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 elephant: 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 hairs: 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 n 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. 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. Pan. E'en so; Hector was stirring early. 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 too. Cres. What, is he angry too? mau of the two. Cres. O, Jupiter! there's no comparison. Pan. What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man if you see him? Cres. Ay; if ever I saw him before, and knew him. Cres. No, but brown. Pan. 'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. Cres. To say the truth, true and not true. Cres. Why, Paris hath colour enough. Cres. Then, Troilus should have too much : higher than his; he having colour enough, and if she praised him above, his complexion is 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. soon bring his particulars therein to a total. Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may 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 lifter ¶? Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him;-she came, and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin, — Cres. Jano have mercy!-How came cloven ? it Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia. Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. Cres. O yes, an 'twere a clond 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 '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. Pan. And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin. Cres. Alas, poor chin! many a wart is richer. Pan. But, there was such laughing;Queen Hecuba langhed, that her eyes ran o'er. Cres. With mill-stones". Pan. And Cassandra laughed. Cres. But there was a more temperate fire ander the pot of her eyes;-Did her eyes run o'er too? 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. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and see them, as they pass toward Ilium? good niece, 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. ENEAS passes over the stage. Cres. Speak not so loud. Pan. That's Eneas; 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? ANTENOR passes over. Pan. That's Antenor; he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and he's a man good enough: he's one o'the soundest judgments in Troy, whosoever, and a proper man of person :When comes Troilus!-I'll show you Troilus anon; if he see me, you shall see him nod at [me. Cres. Will he give you the nod §; Pan. You shall see. Cres. If he do, the rich shall have more. Pan. That's Hector, that, that, look you, that; There's a fellow!-Go thy way, Hector! -There's a brave man, niece.-O brave Hector!-Look, how he looks! there's a counte nance: Is't not a brave man ? Cres. O, a brave man! Pan. Is 'a not? It does a man's heart good-Look you what hacks are on his helmet? look you yonder, do you see? look you there! There's no jesting: there's laying on; take't off who will, as they say: there be hacks! Cres. Be those with swords? PARIS passes over. 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 burt: why this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! would I could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon. 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 Cres. Who's that? forked one, quoth he; pluck it out, and give it him. But, there was such laughing! and HELENUS passes over. Pan. That's Helenus,-I marvel where Helen so blushed, and Paris so chafed, and all Troilus is!--That's Helenus;-I think he went the rest so laughed, that it passed t. Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by. not forth to-day :-That's Helenus.. Pan. Well, cousin, I told you a thing yes- ferent well:-I marvel where Troilus is!- terday; think on't. Cres. So I do. Pan. I'll be sworn, 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'twere‡ a man born in April. Hark! do you not hear the people cry, Troi- Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, twere a nettle against May. • A proverbial saying. an +Went beyond bounds. + As if 'twere, Cres. Peace, for shame, peace! Pon. Mark him; note him;-0 brave TroiJus!-look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hack'd than Ilector's; And how he looks, and how he goes!-O 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. Words, vows, griefs, tears, and love's full 2 Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear. SCENE III. The Grecian Camp. Befor Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR, [cheeks! What grief hath set the jaundice on your Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd; shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentle-As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, ness, 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 date t 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! Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain Sith every action that hath gone before, Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our But the protractive trials of great Jove, coward, The wise and fool, the artist and unread, Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak But, in the wind and tempest of her frown, with you. Pan. Where? Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. Pan. Good boy, tell him I come: [Exit Boy. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by. Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan, Nest. With due observance of thy godlike 1 Guard The throne. Helmet, + Dates were an ingredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. Joined by affinity. |