Enter NESTOR. Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles; Enter ULYSSES. Ulyss. Oh! courage, courage, princes! great Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance: Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend, Roaring for Troilus; who hath done to-day With such a careless force, and forceless care, Enter TROILUS. 127 Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turu thy false face And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse! Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Dio- Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon. Tro. Come both, you cogging + Greeks; have [Exeunt, fighting. at you both. Enter HECTOR. Hect. Yea, Troilus? Oh! well fought my youngest brother! Enter ACHILLES. Achil. Now do I see thee: Ha!-Have at thee, Hector. Hect. Pause, if thou wilt. Achil. I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Tro jan. Be happy, that my arms are out of use: Hect. Fare thee well: [Exit. I would have been much more a fresher man, Re-enter TROILUS. Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas; Shall it be? No? wilt thou not?-I like thy armour well; [Exeunt. Why, then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide. SCENE VII.-The same. Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons. midons; Mark what I say.-Attend me where I wheel: breath; And when I have the bloody Hector found, SCENE VIII.-The same. Enter MENAELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then Ther. The cuckold, and the cuckold-maker are it: New, buil! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo ! now my double-henned sparrow ! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game :-'ware horns, ho! Come, come, thou boy-queller, § show thy face; Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy head! Enter DIOMEDES. [Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS. Enter MARGARELON. Mar. Turn, slave, and fight. Mar. A bastard son of Priam's. 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 Lying. • Not be a looken-on. * Prevail over. § Care. Burst. Employ. SCENE IX.-Another part of the field. Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, [Puts of 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: Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek. [HECTOR falls. 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 retreat 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. Pleas'd with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.— SCENE X.-The same. Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESmarching. TOR, DIOMEDES, Shouts within. and others Enter TROILUS. Tro. Hector is slain. Tro. He's dead; and at the murderer's horse's tail, [field.In beastly sort, dragg'd through the shameful 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! Ene. My lord, you do discomfort all the host. Tro. You understand me not, that tell ne 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, I'll through and through you !-And thou greatsiz'd 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 thoughts.Strike a free march to Troy !-with comfort go: 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 TROILUS. Pan. A goodly med'cine 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 Why should our endeavour be so requited! loved, and the peformance so loathed? what verse for it? what instance for it ?-Let me see: 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, 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, bequeath you my diseases. [Exit. • Ever. + Pitched. + Ignominy. Ever. Canvas hangings for rooms painted with emblems and mottos. TIMON OF ATHENS. LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE. THIS play, which contains many perplexed, obscure, and corrupt passages, was written about the year 1610, and was probably suggested by a passage in Plutarch's Life of Antony, wherein the latter professes to imitate the conduct of Timon, by retiring to the woods, and inveighing against the ingratitude of his friends. The finding of hidden gold, (see Act IV.) was an incident borrowed from a MS. play, apparently transcribed about the year 1600, and at one time in the possession of Mr. Strutt the antiquary. A building yet remains near Athens, called Timon's Tower. Phrynia, one of the courtezans whom Timon reviles so outrageously, was that exquisitely beautiful Phrine, who, when the Athenian Judges were about to condemn her for enormous offences, by the sight of her bosom disarmed the court of its severity, and secured her life from the sentence of the law. Alcibiades, known as a hero who, to the principles of a debauchee added the sagacity of a statesman, the intrepidity of a general, and the humanity of a philosopher, is reduced to comparative insignificance in the present production. I's relative merits, as to action and construction, are succinctly pointed out by Johnson. He describes it as "a domestic tragedy, which strongly fastens on the attention of the reader. In the plan there is not much art; but the incidents are natural, and the characters various and exact. The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against the ostentatious liberality, which scatters bounty, but confers no benefits, and buys flattery but not friendship." the world? Pain. It wears, Sir, as it grows. Jew. Nay, that's most fix'd. To an untirable and continuate goodness. Mer. O pray let's see't: For the lord Timon Jew. If he would touch the estimate: But, for that- Poet. When we for recompense have prais'd the vile, It stains the glory in that happy verse [Looking at the Jewel. Jew. And rich: here is a water, look you. Pain. You are rapt, Sir, in some work, some dedication |