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I'll give you something else.

Dio. I will have this; Whose was it?
Cres.

Dio. Come, tell me whose it was.

"Tis no matter.

Cres. 'Twas one's that loved me better than you

will.

But, now you have it, take it.

Dio.

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 is not;

I will not keep my word.

Dio.

Why then, farewell;

Thou never shalt mock Diomed again,

Cres. You shall not go:-One cannot speak a

word,

[blocks in formation]

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?

Cres.

Do come:-I shall be plagu'd.

Dio.

the hour?

Ay, come:-O Jove!

Farewell till then.

[Exit DIOMEDES.

Cres. Good night. I pr'ythee, come.

Troilus, farewell! one eye yet looks on thee;

But with my heart the other eye

doth see.

9 By all Diana's waiting-women yonder,] i. e. the stars which

she points to.

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,

Unless she said, My mind is now turn'd whore.
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?

Ulyss.

I cannot conjure, Trojan.1

Tro. She was not sure.
Ulyss.

Most sure she was.

Tro. Why, my negation hath no taste of madness. Ulyss. Nor mine, my lord: Cressid was here but

now.

Tro. Let it not be believ'd for womanhood!" Think, we had mothers; do not give advantage To stubborn criticks-apt, without a theme, For depravation,-to square the general sex By Cressid's rule: rather think this not Cressid.

I cannot conjure, Trojan.] That is, I cannot raise spirits in the form of Cressida.

2

for womanhood!] i. e. for the sake of womanhood.

3 To stubborn criticks-] Critick has here, probably, the signification of Cynick.

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
Of this strange nature, that a thing inseparate
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,

If there be rule in unity itself,] If it be true that one individual cannot be two distinct persons.

5

where reason can revolt

Without perdition, and loss assume all reason

Without revolt;] The words loss and perdition are used in their common sense, but they mean the loss or perdition of reason. — a thing inseparate-] i. e. the plighted troth of lovers. Troilus considers it inseparable, or at least that it ought never to be broken.

7-knot, five-finger-tied,] A knot tied by giving her hand to Diomed.

The fragments, scraps, the bits, and greasy reliques Of her o'er-eaten faith, are bound to Diomed.

8

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.

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.

Ther. He'll tickle it for his concupy.9

Tro. O Cressid! O false Cressid! false, false, false, Let all untruths stand by thy stained name,

And they'll seem glorious.

Ulyss.

O, contain yourself;

Your passion draws ears hither.

Enter ENEAS.

Ene. I have been seeking you this hour, my lord: Hector, by this, is arming hin in Troy;

Ajax, your guard, stays to conduct you home. Tro. Have with you, prince :-My courteous lord, adieu :

8

May worthy Troilus-] Can Troilus really feel, on this occasion, half of what he utters? A question suitable to the calm Ulysses. JOHNSON.

concupy.] A cant word, formed by our author from

concupiscence.

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.

[Exeunt TROILUS, ÆNEAS, 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 intelligence 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.

SCENE III.

Troy. Before Priam's Palace..

Enter HECTOR and ANDROMACHE.

And. When was my lord so much ungently temper'd,

To stop his ears against admonishment?

Unarm, unarm, and do not fight to-day.

Hect. You train me to offend you; get you in: By all the everlasting gods, I'll go.

And. My dreams will, sure, prove ominous to the day.

Hect. No more, I say.

Cas.

Enter CASSANDRA.

Where is my brother Hector? And. Here, sister; arm'd, and bloody in intent: Consort with me in loud and dear petition,*

and wear a castle on thy head!] i. e. defend thy head with armour of more than common security.

2

dear petition,] Dear, on this occasion, seems to mean important, consequential.

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