Without perdition, and loss assume all reason.
Without revolt; this is, and is not, Cressid!
Within my soul there doth conduce a fight
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate
Divides more wider than the sky and earth;
And yet the spacious breadth of this division
Admits no orifice for a point, as subtle
As Ariachne'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, dissolv'd, and loos'd;
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

Inflam'd with Venus: never did young man fancy
With so eternal and so fix'd a soul.

Hark, Greek: As much as I do Cressid love,
So much by weight hate I her Diomed:

That sleeve is mine that he'll bear in his helm ;
Were it a casque compos'd by Vulcan's skill,
My sword should bite it: not the dreadful spout
Which shipmen do the hurricano call,
Constring'd in mass by the almighty sun,
Shall dizzy with more clamour Neptune's ear
In his descent, than shall my prompted sword

Falling on Diomed.

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 ENEAS.

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, adieu :

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.

[Exeunt TROILUS, Ther. 'Would I could meet that rogue like a raven; I would bode, I would bode.

ENEAS, and ULYSSES. Diomed! I would croak 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 them!

SCENE III.-Troy. Before Priam's Palace.

Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE.

And. When was my lord so much ungently temper'd, To stop his ears against admonishment?

Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.

Hect. You train me to offend you; get you gone :
By all the everlasting gods, I'll go.

And. My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.
Hect. No more, I say.

[Exit.

Cas.

Enter CASSANDRA.

Where is my brother Hector?

And. Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in intent.
Consort with me in loud and dear petition,
Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd

Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night

Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter.
Cas. O, it is true.

Hect.

Ho! bid my trumpet sound!

Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet brother.
Hect. Begone, I say: the gods have heard me swear.
The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows;

Cas.

They are polluted offerings more abhorr'd

Than spotted livers in the sacrifice.

And. O! be persuaded: Do not count it holy

To hurt by being just: it is as lawful,

For we would give much, to count 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 :

Unarm, sweet Hector.

Hect.

Hold you still, I say ;

Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate :
Life every man holds dear; but the brave man
Holds honour far more precious dear than life.-

Enter TROILUS.

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 harness, 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.

VOL. III.

I

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 mothers; And when we have our armours buckled on, The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords, Spur them to ruthful 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,
Oppos'd to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM.

Cas. 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 :

Thy wife hath dream'd; thy mother hath had visions;
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself

Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt,

To tell thee that this day is ominous :
Therefore, come back.

Hect.
Eneas is a-field;
And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear

This morning to them.

Pri.

Ay, but thou shalt not go.

Hect. 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.

[Exit ANDROMACHE

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

O farewell, dear Hector.

Cas.
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 dolour forth!
Behold distraction, frenzy, and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,

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

Cas. Farewell.-Yet, soft.-Hector, I take my leave:
Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.

Hect. You are amaz'd, my liege, at her exclaim:

[Exit.

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,

I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.

As TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, 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 tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick so troubles 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 mine 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 edifies another with her deeds.

Pan. Why! but hear you.

Tro. Hence, brother lackey! ignomy and shame

Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name.

[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 varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his helm:

I would fain see them meet; that that same young Trojan ass, that loves the whore there, might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand. O' the other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals,-- that stale old mouse-eaten 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 barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here come sleeve and t' other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,

I would swim after.

Dio.

Thou dost miscall retire :

I do not fly; but advantageous care

Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:

Have at thee!

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian !-now for thy whore, Trojan ! -now the sleeve, now the sleeve!

[Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting.

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. What art thou, Greek, art thou for Hector's match? Art thou of blood and honour?

Ther. No, no :-I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hect. I do believe thee;-live.

[Exit.

Ther. God-a-mercy that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck for frighting me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think they have swallowed one another: I would laugh at that miracle. Yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek them.

SCENE V.-The same.

Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant.

Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse!
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

[Exit.

Serv.

I go, my lord.

[Exit Servant.

Enter AGAMEMNON.

Agam. Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamus Hath beat down Menon bastard Margarelon

Hath Doreus prisoner ;

:

And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,