Cres. Ay; if ever I saw him before, and knew him. Cres. Then you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is not Hector. Cres. 'Tis just to each of them; he is himself. Pan. Himself? Alas, poor Troilus! I would, he were,- Pan. 'Condition, I had gone barefoot to India. Cres. He is not Hector. Pan. Himself? no, he's not himself.-'Would 'a were himself! Well, the gods are above; Time must friend, or end: Well, Troilus, well,-I would my heart were in her body! No, Hector is not a better man than Troilus. Cres. Excuse me. Pan. He is elder. Cres. Pardon me, pardon me. Pan. The other's not come to't; you shall tell me another tale, when the other's come to't. Hector shall not have his wit this year. Cres. He shall not need it, if he have his own. Pan. Nor his qualities ; Cres. No matter. Pan. Nor his beauty. Cres. Twould not become him, his own's better. Pan. You have no judgment, niece: Helen herself swore the other day, that Troilus, for a brown favour (for so 'tis, I must confess),-Not brown neither. Cres. No, but brown. Pan. 'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. Cres. To say the truth, true and not true. Pan. She praised his complexion above Paris. Cres. Why, Paris hath colour enough. Pan. So he has. Cres. Then, Troilus should have too much: if she praised him above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour enough, and 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. Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total. 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 a lifter?+ Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him;-she came, and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin,Cres. Juno have mercy!-How came it cloven ? Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think, his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia. Cres. O, he smiles valiantly. Pan. Does he not ? Cres. O yes, an 'twere a cloud 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 i' 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 laughed, that her eyes ran o'er. Cres. With mill-stones.* Pan. And Cassandra laughed. Cres. But there was a more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes;-Did her eyes run o'er too? Pan. And Hector laughed. Cres. At what was all this laughing? Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin. Cres. An't had been a green hair, I should have laughed too. Pan. They laughed not so much at the hair, as at his pretty answer. 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. 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 forked one, quoth he; pluck it out and give it him. But, there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, and Paris so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed.+ Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great while going by. Pan. Well, cousin, I told you a thing yesterday; 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. Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May. [A retreat sounded. 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. * A proverbial saying. † Went beyond bounds. t As if 'twere. 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. HECTOR passes over. 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 countenance: 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? Pan. Swords? anything, 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. PARIS passes over. Pan. 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 hurt: why this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon. Cres. Who's that? HELENUS passes over. Pan. That's Helenus,-I marvel, where Troilus is:-That's Helenus;-I think he went not forth to-day :-That's Helenus. Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle? Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent well :-I marvel, where Troilus is !-Hark ;-do you not hear the people cry, Troilus ?-Helenus is a priest. Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? TROILUS passes over. Pan. Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus: 'Tis Troilus! there's a man, niece!-Hem!-Brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry! Cres. Peace, for shame, peace! Pan. Mark him; note him;-O brave Troilus !-look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hack'd than Hector'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. Pan. Well, well ?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, 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 in the pye,-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! Enter TROILUS' Boy. Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. Pan. Where? Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. Pan. Good boy, tell him I come: [Exit Box.] I doubt, he be hurt.-Fare ye well, good niece. Cres. Adieu, uncle. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by. * Guard. Cres. To bring, uncle. Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. Cres. By the same token you are a bawd.— [Exit PANDARUS. Words, vows, griefs, tears, and love's full sacrifice, But more in Troilus thousand fold I see Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be; Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the doing: That she beloved knows nought, that knows not this,- Achieved, men us command; ungain'd, beseech:* Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear, [Exit. SCENE III.-The Grecian Camp. Before Agamem non's Tent. Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR, ULYSSES, Agam. Princes, What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? In all designs begun on earth below, Fails in the promised largeness: checks and disasters Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd; As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain Tortive and errant from his course of growth. Nor, princes, is it matter new to us, That we come short of our suppose so far, That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand; That gave't surmised shape. Why then, you princes, Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works; And think them shames, which are, indeed, nought else To find persistive constancy in men? The fineness of which metal is not found In fortune's love for then, the bold and coward, *I. e. a woman once possessed is under command; but not gained, is still besought. Capacity. |