Consort with me in loud and dear petition, Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd 10 Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night

Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,

Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears; Nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn, Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way, But by my ruin.

Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM.

60

slaughter.

Cas. O, 'tis true.
Heft.
Ho! bid my trumpet sound!
Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet
brother.

Hect. Be gone, I say: the gods have heard

me swear.

But vows to every purpose must not hold: Unarm, sweet Hector.

say;

Helt. Hold you still, I 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 today?

And. Cassandra, call my father to persuade. 30 [Exit Cassandra.

Heft. 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.
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.

Heft. What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me for it.

Tro. When many times the captive Grecian falls,

Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise, and live.

Hect. O, 'tis fair play.
Tro.

40

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.
Het. 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;

50

Eneas is a-field; And I do stand engaged to many Greeks, Even in the faith of valour, to appear This morning to them.

Pri.

71

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. Hect. Andromache, I am offended with you: Upon the love you bear me, get you in.

[Exit Andromache. Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl Makes all these bodements.

Cas. O, farewell, dear Hector! Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale!

81

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;

The effect doth operate another way.

109

[Tearing the letter. Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together. My love with words and errors still she feeds; But edifies another with her deeds.

[Exeunt severally. SCENE IV. Plains 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 t'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 comes sleeve, and t'other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following. Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,

I would swim after.

20

Nest.

Enter NESTOR.

ΙΟ

20

Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles;
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field:
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon he's there afoot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled sculls
And there the strawy Grecks, ripe for his edge,
Before the belching whale; then is he yonder,
Fall down before him, like the mower's swath:
Here, there, and every where, he leaves and takes,
Dexterity so obeying appetite

That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is call'd impossibility.

Enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles

30

Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance:
Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come
to him,

Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution,

Engaging and redeeming of himself

With such a careless force and forceless care
Bade him win all.
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,

Dio.

Enter AJAX.

40

Ajax. Troilus! thou coward Troilus! [Exit.
Ay, there, there.
Nest. So, so, we draw together.
Enter ACHILLES.

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgement: farewell, bastard. [Exit.

Mar. The devil take thee, coward! [Exit. SCENE VIII. Another part of the plains. Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrefied core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.

SCENE VII. Another part of the plains.

Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons. Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;

Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel: Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath:

And when I have the bloody Hector found,
Empale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your aims.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:
It is decreed Hector the great must die. [Exeunt.
Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then
THERSITES.

Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. Now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-henned sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game: ware horns, ho!

[Exeunt Paris and Menelaus.

· breath:

Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death. [Puts off his helmet and hangs his shield behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons. Achil. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to

set;

How ugly night comes breathing at his heels:
Even with the vail and darking of the sun,
To close the day up, Hector's life is done.
Hect. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage,
Greek.

Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek. [Hector falls. 10 So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down! Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone. On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain, 'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.'

[A retreat sounded. Hark! a retire upon our Grecian part. Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.

Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,

And, stickler-like, the armies separates.
My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have
fed,

Pleased with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed. 20
[Sheathes his sword.
Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail. [Exeunt.

SCENE IX. Another part of the plains.
Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR,
Shouts
DIOMEDES, and others, marching.
within.

Agam. Hark! hark! what shout is that?
Nest. Peace, drums!

[Within] Achilles! Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles !

Dio. The bruit is, Hector's slain, and by Achilles.

Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be; Great Hector was a man as good as he. Agam. March patiently along: let one be sent To pray Achilles see us at our tent.

If in his death the gods have us befriended, 9 Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [Exeunt, marching.

SCENE X. Another part of the plains.

Enter ENEAS and Trojans.

Ene. Stand, ho! yet are we masters of the field:

Never go home; here starve we out the night. Enter TROILUS.

Tro. Hector is slain. All.

Hector! the gods forbid ! Tro. He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail,

In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful field.

Frown on, you heavens, effect your rage with speed!

Sit, gods, upon your thrones, and smile at Troy ! I say, at once let your brief plagues be mercy, And linger not our sure destructions on!

9

Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host.
Tro. You understand me not that tell me so:
I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death,
But dare all imminence that gods and men
Address their dangers in. Hector is gone:
Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba?

Let him that will a screech-owl aye be call'd,
Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead:
There is a word will Priam turn to stone;
Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,
Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away:
Hector is dead; there is no more to say.
Stay yet. You vile abominable tents,
Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains,
Let Titan rise as early as he dare.

20

I'll through and through you! and, thou greatsized coward,

No space of earth shall sunder our two hates:
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience still,
That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy's thoughts.
Strike a free march to Troy! with comfort go: 30
Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.

[Exeunt Eneas and Trojans.

AS TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, PANDARUS.

Pan. But hear you, hear you!

Tro. Hence, broker-lackey! ignomy and shame Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name! [Exit. Pan. A goodly medicine for my aching bones! O world! world! world! thus is the poor agent despised! O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set a-work, and how ill requited! why should our endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed? what verse for it? what instance for it? Let me see:

41

Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing, Till he hath lost his honey and his sting; And being once subdued in armed tail, Sweet honey and sweet notes together fail. Good traders in the flesh, set this in your painted cloths.

As many as be here of pander's hall,

Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall;
Or if you cannot weep, yet give some groans, 50
Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.
Brethren and sisters of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be
made:

It should be now, but that my fear is this,
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:
Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases,
And at that time bequeathe you my diseases.

[Exit.

SCENE I. Rome. A street.

Enter a company of mutinous Citizens, with Staves, clubs, and other weapons.

First Cit. Before we proceed any further, hear me speak.

Two Volscian Guards.

VOLUMNIA, mother to Coriolanus.
VIRGILIA, wife to Coriolanus.
VALERIA, friend to Virgilia.

Gentlewoman, attending on Virgilia.

Roman and Volscian Senators, Patricians, Ædiles, Lictors, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, Servants to Aufidius, and other Attendants.

SCENE: Rome and the neighbourhood; Corioli and the neighbourhood; Antium.

partly proud; which he is, even to the altitude of his virtue.

4I

Sec. Cit. What he cannot help in his nature, you account a vice in him. You must in no way say he is covetous.

All. Speak, speak.

All. Resolved, resolved.

First Cit. First, you know Caius Marcius is

chief enemy to the people.

All. We know't, we know't.

II

First Cit. Let us kill him, and we'll have corn at our own price. Is't a verdict? All. No more talking on't; let it be done : away, away!

Sec. Cit. One word, good citizens.

First Cit. We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good. What authority surfeits on would relieve us: if they would yield us but the superfluity, while it were wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely; but they think we are too dear: the leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an inventory to particularize their abundance; our sufferance is a gain to them. Let us revenge this with our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.

Sec. Cit. Would you proceed especially against Caius Marcius?

29

All. Against him first: he's a very dog to the commonalty. Sec. Cit. Consider you what services he has done for his country? First Cit. Very well; and could be content to give him good report for't, but that he pays himself with being proud.

Sec. Cit. Nay, but speak not maliciously. First Cit. I say unto you, what he hath done famously, he did it to that end: though soft-conscienced men can be content to say it was for his country, he did it to please his mother, and to be

All. Come, come.

First Cit. Soft! who comes here?

Enter MENENIUS AGRIPPA.

50

you.

First Cit. Our business is not unknown to the senate; they have had inkling this fortnight what we intend to do, which now we'll show 'em in deeds. They say poor suitors have strong breaths: they shall know we have strong arms too. Men. Why, masters, my good friends, mine honest neighbours,

Will you undo yourselves?

First Cit. We cannot, sir, we are undone already.

Men. I tell you, friends, most charitable care Have the patricians of you. For your wants, Your suffering in this dearth, you may as well 60 Strike at the heaven with your staves as lift them Against the Roman state, whose course will on The way it takes, cracking ten thousand curbs Of more strong link asunder than can ever Appear in your impediment. For the dearth, The gods, not the patricians, make it, and Your knees to them, not arms, must help. Alack, You are transported by calamity Thither where more attends

you,

and you slander