But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel,
I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
And once fought with him: he was a soldier good;
But, by great Mars the captain of us all,

Never like thee. Let an old man embrace thee;
And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.

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.

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 ;

For yonder walls, that pertly front your town,
Yond 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;

195 still, always. Cf. 1. 292. (R) 217 his, its. (R) 212 favour, face. (R)

200

210

220

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. —
Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee:

I have with exact view perus'd thee, Hector,
And quoted joint by joint.

Hect.

Achil. I am Achilles.

Is this Achilles ?

Hect. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee. Achil. Behold thy fill.

Hect.
Achil.

Nay, I have done already.

Thou art too brief: I will the second time,

As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.

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, or there, or there? That I may give the local wound a name,

And make distinct the very breach, whereout
Hector's great spirit flew. Answer me, Heavens !
Hect. It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,
To answer such a question. Stand again:

Think'st thou to catch my life so

life so pleasantly,

As to prenominate in nice conjecture,
Where thou wilt hit me dead?

Achil.

Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,

232 quoted, noted. Cf. Two Gentlemen of Verona, II. iv. 18. (R)

230

240

249 nice, exact. (R)

I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well,
For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
I'll kill thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.—
You, wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag:
His insolence draws folly from my lips;

But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words,
I never

Or

may

Ajax.

:

Do not chafe thee, cousin
And you, Achilles, let these threats alone,
Till accident, or purpose, bring you to 't:
You may have 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.

Thy hand upon that match.

260

Agam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent; 270 There in the full convive we afterwards,

As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall
Concur together, severally entreat him.—

Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow,
That this great soldier may his welcome know.

[Exeunt all but TROILUS and ULYSSES.

254 stithied, forged. (R) 262 have. The first folio accidentally omits have. (R) 263 state, welfare. (R)

264 odd, i. e. at odds. (R)

236 pelting, i. e. little, insignificant. (w)

271 convive [i. e. feast]. we. The folio misprints you. (w)

278 severally entreat, separately entertain. (R)

274 The quarto reads To taste your bounties, let the trumpets blowe. (w)

Tro. 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;
Who neither looks on heaven, nor on earth,

But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view

On the fair Cressid.

Tro. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much, After we part from Agamemnon's tent,

280

To bring me thither?

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?

Tro. O, sir! to such as boasting shew their scars,
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.

290

ACT FIVE.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.The Grecian Camp. Before ACHILLES' Tent.

Enter ACHILLES and PATROCLUS.

ACHILLES

CHILLES.

I'll heat his blood with Greekish wine

to-night,

Which with my scimitar I'll cool to-morrow.

Patroclus, let us feast him to the height.

Patr. Here comes Thersites.

Achil.

Enter THERSITES.

How now, thou core of envy!

Thou crusty batch of nature, what's the news?

nature's baking" (Herford). (R)

Ther. Why, thou picture of what thou seemest, and idol of idiot-worshippers, here's a letter for thee.

Achil. From whence, fragment?

Ther. Why, thou full dish of fool, from Troy.
Patr. Who keeps the tent now?

Ther. The surgeon's box, or the patient's wound. 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.

Patr. Male varlet, you rogue! what's that?

10

Ther. Why, his masculine whore. Now the rotten diseases of the South, the guts-griping, ruptures, catarrhs, loads o' gravel i' th' back, lethargies, cold palsies, raw eyes, dirt-rotten livers, wheezing lungs, 20 bladders full of imposthume, sciaticas, lime-kilns i' th' palm, incurable bone-ache, and the rivell'd fee-simple of the tetter, take and take again such preposterous discoveries!

Patr. Why, thou damnable box of envy, thou, what mean'st thou to curse thus ?

Deigh

6 picture... seemest. ton paraphrases, "fool in looks, fool in reality." (R)

10-11 In the first of these lines Deighton sees an appeal to Thersites equivalent to " You see that Achilles can no longer be taunted with keeping his tent; " yet might not Patroclus be saying to Achilles something equivalent to" After this letter there'll be no getting you to keep your tent "? In this case Thersites' speech in l. 11 would be an interruption, not a reply which rather tends to support Deighton's interpretation.

There is a plain pun on tent similar to that in II. ii. 16. (R)

19-24 [So the quarto.] The folio has merely, cold palsies, and the like, take and take again. (w)

20 dirt-rotten, very foul (probably).

21 imposthume, purulent matter. lime-kilns, gouty lumps, or, as Deighton thinks, burning pains. (R)

22 rivell'd, wrinkled. (R)

28 preposterous. The epithet may well be applied to such a creature as Thersites says Patroclus is believed to be.