and potatoe finger, tickles these together! Fry, Unless she said, My mind is now turn'd whore. lechery, fry!
Dio. But will you then?
Cres. In faith, I will, la: never trust me else. Dio. Give me some token for the surety of it.
Cres. I'll fetch you one.
Ulyss. You have sworn patience. Tro.
Fear me not, my lord; I will not be myself, nor have cognition Of what I feel; I am all patience.
No matter, now I have't again. I will not meet with you to-morrow night: I pr'ythee, Diomed, visit me no more. Ther. Now she sharpens ;-Well said, whetstone. Dio. I shall have it.
Cres. O, all you gods!-O pretty pretty pledge! Thy master now lies thinking in his bed Of thee, and me; and sighs, and takes my glove, And gives memorial dainty kisses to it, As I kiss thee.-Nay, do not snatch it from me; He, that takes that, must take my heart withal.
Dio. I had your heart before, this follows it. Tro. I did swear patience.
Cres. You shall not have it, Diomed; 'faith you I'll give you something else. [shall not;
Dio. I will have this; Whose was it? Cres.
Dio. Come, tell me whose it was.
Ulyss. All's done, my lord. Tro. Ulyss.
It is. Why stay we then? Tro. To make a recordation to my soul Of every syllable that here was spoke. But, if I tell how these two did co-act, Shall I not lie in publishing a truth? Sith yet there is a credence in my heart, An esperance so obstinately strong, That doth invert the attest of eyes and ears; As if those organs had deceptious functions, Created only to calumniate. Was Cressid here?
Tro. Let it not be believ'd for womanhood! Think, we had mothers; do not give advantage To stubborn critics-apt, without a theme, For depravation,-to square the general sex By Cressid's rule: rather think this not Cressid. Ulyss. What hath she done, prince, that can soil our mothers?
Tro. Nothing at all, unless that this were she. Ther. Will he swagger himself out on's own eyes? Tro. This she? no, this is Diomed's Cressida : If beauty have a soul, this is not she; If souls guide vows, if vows be sanctimony, If sanctimony be the gods' delight, If there be rule in unity itself, This was not she. O madness of discourse, That cause sets up with and against itself! Bi-fold authority! where reason can revolt Without perdition, and loss assume all reason Without revolt; this is, and is not, Cressid! Within my soul there doth commence a fight
Cres. 'Twas one's that loved me better than you will. Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate But, now you have it, take it.
Whose was it? Cres. By all Diana's waiting-women, yonder, And by herself, I will not tell you whose.
Dio. To-morrow will I wear it on my helm ; And grieve his spirit, that dares not challenge it. Tro. Wert thou the devil, and wor'st it on thy horn, It should be challeng'd.
Cres. Well, well, 'tis done, 'tis past ;-And yet it I will not keep my word. [is not; Dio. Why then, farewell; Thou never shalt mock Diomed again. Cres. You shall not go :-One cannot speak a word, But it straight starts you. Dio. I do not like this fooling. Ther. Nor I, by Pluto: but that that likes not you, pleases me best
Dio. What, shall I come? the hour? Cres.
Do come :---I shall be plagu'd.
Farewell till then. Cres. Good night. I pr'ythee, come
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 is Arachne'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.
Ay, come :-O Jove! | 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 on 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.
[Exit DIOMEDES. Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee; But with my heart the other eye doth see. Ah! poor our sex! this fault in us I find, The error of our eye directs our mind: What error leads, must err; O then conclude, Minds, sway'd by eyes, are full of turpitude
[Exit CRESSIDA. Ther. A proof of strength she could not publish more,
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,
Hect. What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me
And they'll seem glorious. Ulys. O, contain yourself; Your passion draws ears hither. Enter ENEAS.
Ene. I have been seeking you this hour, my Hector, by this, is arming him in Troy; Ajax, your guard, stays to conduct you home.
Tro. Have with you, prince:-My courteous lord,
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.
For the love of all the gods, Let's leave the hermit pity with our mother; 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. Fye, savage, fye!
[Exeunt TROILUS, ENEAS, and ULYSSES. Ther. 'Would, I could meet that rogue Diomed! I would croak like a raven; I would bode, I would bode. Patroclus will give me any thing for the in-Nor fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars telligence 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. [Exit.
Tro. Hector, then 'tis wars. Hect. Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day. Tro. Who should withhold me?
Ho! bid my trumpet sound!
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.
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.
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. But thou shalt not go. Hect. I must not break my faith.
Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet bro-You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
Hect. Begone, I say: the gods have heard me swear. Cas. The gods are deaf to hot and peevish vows; 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 use 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: Unarmı, sweet Hector.
Hect. Hold you still, I say; Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate: Life every man holds dear; but the dear 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, I am to-day i' the vein of chivalry: [youth, 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.
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.
[Erit ANDROMACHE. Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.
O farewell, dear Hector. 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 dolours forth! Behold, destruction, 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: 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.
Pan. Here's a letter from yon' poor girl. Tro. Let me read.
Pan. A whoreson ptisic, a whoreson rascally ptisic 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. [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, on 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.
Agam. Renew, renew! the fierce Polydamus Hath Doreus prisoner; Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam, Upon the pashed corses of the kings Epistrophus and Cedius: Polixenes is slain; Patroclus ta'en, or slain; and Palamedes Amphimacus, and Thoas, deadly hurt; Sore hurt and bruis'd: the dreadful Sagittary Appals our numbers; haste we, Diomed, To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Nest. 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 Before the belching whale; then he is yonder, And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge, 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.
Ulyss. O courage, courage, princes! great Achilles Is arining, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance; Patroclus' wounds have rous'd his drowsy blood, Together with his mangled Myrmidons, That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend, [him, 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, Tro. Fly not; for, shouldst thou take the river Styx, As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Thou dost miscall retire:
Ajar. Troilus, thou coward Troilus! Dio. Nest. So, so, we draw together. Enter ACHILLes.
Where is this Hector? Come, come, thou boy-queller, shew thy face; Know what it is to meet Achilles angry. Hector! where's Hector? I will none but Hector. [Exeunt.
SCENE VI.-Another Part of the Field.
Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, shew thy head Enter DIOMEDES.
Dio. Troilus, I say! where's Troilus? Ajax. What would'st thou ? Dio. I would correct him. [office Ajax. Were I the general, thou should'st have my Ere that correction :-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!
Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face. thou traitor,
SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Field. Enter HECTOR.
Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day's work done: I'll take good 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 dark'ning 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.
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 And, stickler-like, the armies separate. [earth, My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed, Pleas'd with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.- [Sheathes his sword. Come, tie his body to my horse's tail: Along the field I will the Trojan trail. [Exeunt.
SCENE XI.-Another Part of the Field.
Enter NEAS 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, Ïet 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 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,
[coward! I'll through and through you! And thou, great-siz'd 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 ÆNEAS 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.
THIS play is more correctly written than most of Shakspeare's compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with great exactness. His vicious characters disgust but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned. The comic characters
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 requited! Why should our endeavour be so loved, and the performance 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.
seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than nature; but they are copiously filled and powerfully impressed. Shakspeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his version of Homer.-JOHNSON.
TIMON OF ATHENS.
THERE is no edition of this play previous to that of 1623. The date of its production rests on mere conjecture. Malone supposes it to have been written in 1610, and Mr. Chalmers in 1601, or 1602.
The subject is from Plutarch's Life of Antony, which Shakspeare might have read in North's translation. The passage respecting Timon is as follows:-" Antonius forsook the citie and companie of his friends, saying, that he would lead li mon's life, because he had the like wrong offered him that was offered unto Timon; and for the unthankfulness of those he had done good unto, and whom he tooke to be his friendes, he was angry with all men, and would trust no man.'
There is an old MS. play on the same subject, which was for; merly in the possession of Mr. Strutt the engraver, and which, according to Steevens, was written or transcribed in 1600. Though evidently the work of a scholar, it is a most wretched production; but as it contains a faithful steward, and a mock banqueting scene, the critics have imagined that Shakspeare must have seen the MS. before he commenced his own work upon the subject. It is perhaps rather unfair. on such uncertain grounds, to accuse Shakspeare as the plagiarist, and acquit the unknown author.-lhe circumstance of Timon's becoming possessed of great sums of gold is taken from Lucian.
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