We'll answer it;

Hect.
The issue is embracement:-Ajax, farewell.
Ajax. If I might in entreaties find success,
(As seld' I have the chance,) I would desire
My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish, and great Achilles
Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector.
Hect. Eneas, call my brother Troilus to me:
And signify this loving interview

To the expecters of our Trojan part;

Desire them home.-Give me thy hand, my cousin ;
I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.

Ajax. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here. Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by name;

But for Achilles, my own searching eyes

Shall find him by his large and portly size.

Agam. Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one

That would be rid of such an enemy;

But that's no welcome: Understand more clear,

What's past, and what's to come, is strew'd with husks.
And formless ruin of oblivion;

But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hect. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
Agam. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to you.
[TO TROILUS.

6

Men. Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting;

You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.

Hect. Whom must we answer?

Men.

The noble Menelaus.

Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks!

most imperious —] Imperious and imperial had formerly

the same signification.

Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath';
Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove:
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.

Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.
Hect. O, pardon; I offend.

Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,
Labouring for destiny, make cruel way

Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen thee,
As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,

When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'the air,
Not letting it decline on the declin'd";
That I have said to some my standers-by
Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!

And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen ;
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—

7

8

the untraded oath ;] A singular oath not in common use. the declin'd;] The declin'd is the fallen.

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,
Yon 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;
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.

Nay, I have done already. Achil. 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

1 And quoted joint by joint.] To quote is to observe.

Shall I destroy him? whether there, 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 bless'd gods, proud man,
To answer such a question: Stand again:
Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly,

As to prenominate in nice conjecture,

Where thou wilt hit me dead?

A chil.

I tell thee, yea.

Hect. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,
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,
Or may I never-

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 him3.

Hect. I pray you, let us see you in the field;
We have had pelting wars, since you refus'd
The Grecians' cause.
Achil

2

Dost thou entreat me, Hector?

that stithied Mars his helm,] A stith is an anvil, and from hence the verb stithied is formed.

Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.] Ajax treats Achilles with contempt, and means to insinuate that he was afraid of fighting with Hector. You may every day (says he) have enough of Hector, if you choose it; but I believe the whole state of Greece will scarcely prevail on you to engage with him."

pelting wars,] i. e. petty, inconsiderable ones.

To-morrow, do I meet thee, fell as death;

To-night, all friends.

Hect.

Thy hand upon that match. Agam. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent; 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.
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 upon the heaven, nor 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,

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

A mock is due.

such as boasting show their scars,

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. [Exeunt.

convive-] To convive is to feast.

• Beat loud the tabourines,] Tabourines are small drums.