Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

Tro. Fly not; for, shouldst thou take the river Styx,

I would swim after.

Dio.

Thou dost miscall retire:

I do not fly; but advantageous care
Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:
Have at thee!

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian!-now for thy whore, Trojan !-now the sleeve, now the sleeve! [Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES, fighting.

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. What art thou, Greek, art thou for Hector's match?

Art thou of blood, and honour?

Ther. No, no:—I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hect. I do believe thee;-live. [Exit. Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; But a plague break thy neck, for frighting me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think, they have swallowed one another: I would laugh at that miracle. Yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek them. [Exit.

SCENE V.

The same.

Enter DIOMEDES and a Servant.

Dio. Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse; Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid: Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;

Tell her, I have chastis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

Serv.

I go, my lord.

[Exit Servant.

Enter AGAMEMNON.

Agam. Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamus
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner;

And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,'
Upon the pashed' corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polixenes is slain;
Amphimachus, and Thoas, deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en, or slain; and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruis'd: the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers; haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.

Enter NESTOR.

5

Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles; And bid the snail-pac'd 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 is he 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,

3 waving his beam,] i. e. his lance like a weaver's beam, as Goliath's spear is described.

+

pashed-] i. e. bruised, crushed.

scaled sculls -] Sculls are great numbers of fishes swimming together. Scaled means here dispersed, put to flight. the mower's swath:] Swath is the quantity of grass cut down by a single stroke of the mower's scythe.

6

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 Is arming, 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 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 fantastick execution;
Engaging and redeeming of himself,

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

Come, come, thou boy-queller,' show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry.

Hector

where's Hector? I will none but Hector.
[Exeunt.

7 boy-queller,] i. e. murderer of a boy.

SCENE VI.

Another Part of the Field.

Enter AJAX.

Ajar. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy

head!

Enter DIOMedes.

Dio. Troilus, I say! where's Troilus?

Ajax.

Dio. I would correct him.

What would'st thou ?

Ajax. Were I the general, thou should'st have my office

Ere that correction:-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!

Enter TROILUS.

Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face, thou traitor,

And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse!
Dio. Ha! art thou there?

8

8

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed. Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon. Tro. Come both, you cogging Greeks; have at you both. [Exeunt, fighting.

I will not look upon.] That is, (as we should now speak) I will not be a looker-on.

9- you cogging Greeks;] This epithet has no particular propriety in this place, but the author had heard of Gracia mendex. JOHNSON.

Surely the epithet had propriety, in respect of Diomedes at least, who had defrauded him of his mistress. Troilus bestows it on both, unius ob culpam. A fraudulent man, as I am told, is still called, in the North, a gainful Greek. Cicero bears witness

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Yea, Troilus? O, 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 Trojan. Be happy, that my arms are out of use:

My rest and negligence befriend thee now,
But thou anon shalt hear of me again;
Till when, go seek thy fortune.

Hect.

[Exit.

Fare thee well:

I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee.-How now, my brother?

Re-enter TROILUS.

Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas; Shall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,
He shall not carry him;' I'll be taken too,
Or bring him off:-Fate, hear me what I say!
I reck not though I end my life to-day.

Enter one in sumptuous Armour.

[Exit.

Hect. Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:

No? wilt thou not ?-I like thy armour well;
I'll frush it, and unlock the rivets all,

to this character of the ancient Greeks: "Testimoniorum religionem & fidem nunquam ista natio coluit."

1

Again: "Græcorum ingenia ad fallendum parata sunt.”

carry him :] i. e. prevail over him.

I'll frush it,] The word frush I never found elsewhere, nor understand it. Sir T. Hanmer explains it, to break or bruise.

JOHNSON.