Pan. Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown. Gres. To say the truth, true and not true. Pan. She praised his complexion above Paris.25 Gres. Why, Paris hath colour enough. Pan. So he has. Cres. Then Troilus should have too much if she praised him above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour enough, and the other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good complexion. I had as lief Helen's golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose. : Pan. I swear to you, I think Helen loves him better than Paris. Cres. Then she's a merry Greek 26 indeed. Pan. Nay, I am sure she does. She came to him th' other day into the compassed window,27– and, you know, he has not past three or four hairs on his chin, Cres. Indeed, a tapster's arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total. Pan. Why, he is very young and yet will he, within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector. Cres. Is he so young a man, and so old a lifter ?28 Pan. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him, she came, and puts me her white hand 29 to his cloven chin,— 24. Shall not have his wit this year. The Folio and Quartos print 'will' instead of "wit" here. Rowe's correction. 25. She praised his complexion above Paris. 'That of' is elliptically understood before "Paris." For an instance of similar construction, see Note 25, Act ii., "Winter's Tale." 26. A merry Greek. That "Greek" was used as a term for one who played gamesome tricks, or indulged in frolicsome jokes, we have before explained in Note 4, Act iv., "Twelfth Night.” 27. Compassed window. This means a circular, bay, or bow window. See Note 81, Act iv., "Taming of the Shrew." 28. Lifter. This was an old cant term for a thief, and it still exists in the form of 'shop-lifter.' 29. She came, and puts me her white hand. This sentence affords an instance of Shakespeare's mode of occasionally following a verb in the past tense by one in the present tense, when the speaker is narrating an incident (see Note 88, Act v., "Henry VIII."); and also of his using "me" in the idiomatic manner pointed out in Note 88, Act iv., "Henry V." 30. He smiles valiantly. It has been conjectured that "valiantly" here should be 'daintily;' but were we to change Cres. Juno have mercy! how came it cloven? Pan. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia. Cres. Oh, he smiles valiantly.30 Pan. Does he not? Cres. Oh, yes, an 'twere a cloud in autumn. Pan. Why, go to, then :-but to prove to you that Helen loves Troilus, Cres. Troilus will stand to the proof, if you'll prove it so. Pan. Troilus! why, he esteems her no more than I esteem an addle egg. Cres. If you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i' the shell. Pan. I cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled his chin ;—indeed, she has a marvellous white hand, I must needs confess,Cres. Without the rack. Pan. And she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin. Cres. Alas! poor chin! many a wart is richer. Pan. But there was such laughing !-Queen Hecuba laughed, that her eyes ran o'er,— Cres. With mill-stones.31 Cres. But there was more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes :—did her eyes run o'er too? Pan. And Hector laughed. Cres. At what was all this laughing? Pan. Marry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus' chin. Cres. An't had been a green hair, I should have laughed too. Pan. They laughed not so much at the hair as at his pretty answer. Cres. What was his answer? Pan. Quoth she, "Here's but one and fifty hairs on your chin, and one of them is white." Cres. This is her question. Pan. That's true; make no question of that. Shakespeare's word, we should lose the ingenious play upon it that appears to us to be intended. Cressida uses the expression "he smiles valiantly," wishing her uncle to take it in the sense of 'he smiles bravely, finely, beautifully:' and when Pandarus does so, turns upon him with a retort that shows she means it to imply he smiles menacingly, frowningly,' as threatening bad weather or ill humour. 31. With mill-stones. See Note 85, Act i., "Richard III." 32. One and fifty hairs. The old copies print here, and in Pandarus's next speech, 'two and fifty hairs,' instead of " one and fifty hairs;" but inasmuch as he quotes Paris's answer, which says, "That white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons," and as the number of Priam's sons, according to accepted tradition., amounted to fifty, we have adopted Theobald's correction, 64 one and fifty hairs," in the belief that it was likely to be what Shakespeare wrote. If it were not for those words, "all the rest," we might have supposed that "two and fifty" had been here used, as in the following passages, to express an indefinite number:-"As many diseases as two and fifty horses," Taming of the Shrew," Act i., sc. 2; "If there 33 66 "One and fifty hairs," quoth he, "and one white : that white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons." "Jupiter!" quoth she, "which of these hairs is Paris my husband ?" "The forked one," 33 quoth he; " pluck 't out, and give it him." But there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, and Paris so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed.34 a brave man, niece.-Oh, brave Hector!-Look how he looks! there's a countenance! is 't not a brave man ? Cres. Oh, a brave man! Pan. Is 'a not? it does a man's heart good:look you what hacks are on his helmet! look you yonder, do you see? look you there: there's no jesting; there's laying on, take't off who will, as Cres. So let it now; for it has been a great they say: there be hacks! while going by. Pan. Well, cousin, I told you a thing yesterday; think on 't. Cres. So I do. Cres. Be those with swords? Pan. Swords! anything, he cares not; an the devil come to him, it's all one: 'slid, it does one's heart good.-Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Pan. I'll be sworn 'tis true; he will weep you,35 Paris: look ye yonder, niece; is 't not a gallant an 'twere a man born in April. Pan. That's Eneas: is not that a brave man ? man too, is 't not? — Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent he's one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you: but well.-I marvel where Troilus is.-Hark! do you mark Troilus; you shall see anon. not hear the people cry "Troilus ?"-Helenus is a priest. ANTENOR passes. Cres. Who's that? Pan. That's Antenor: he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and he's a man good enough: he's one o' the soundest judgments in Troy, whosoever,36 and a proper man of person.- When comes Troilus?—I'll show you Troilus anon: if he see me, you shall see him nod at me. Cres. Will he give you the nod ? 37 Pan. You shall see. Cres. If he do, the rich shall have more. HECTOR passes. Pan. That's Hector, that, that, look you, that; there's a fellow!-Go thy way, Hector !-There's were not two or three and fifty upon poor old Jack," "First Part 36. He's one o' the soundest judgments in Troy, whosoever. Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder? TROILUS passes. Pan. Where? yonder? that's Deiphobus :-'tis Troilus! there's a man, niece!-Hem!-Brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry! Cres. Peace, for shame, peace! Pan. Mark him; note him:-Oh, brave Troilus! -look well upon him, niece; look you how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hacked than Hector's; and how he looks, and how he goes !— Oh, admirable youth! he ne'er saw three-andtwenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way!— Had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice. Oh, admirable 'Whosoever' is here used elliptically for 'whosoever the other man of good judgment may be.' The word is seldom employed by Shakespeare at all, as he, in common with many of his contemporaries, occasionally used 'who' for whosoever.' See Note 32, Act iii., and Note 77, Act iv., "Second Part Henry VI." 37. Will he give you the nod? To "give the nod" was a term used in a game of cards called 'Noddy;' which name signifies a simpleton. The usual joking link between nodding to a person and calling him by inference a noddy, is seen in the passage referred to in Note 10, Act i., "Two Gentlemen of Verona ;" and that giving a nod was also reckoned synonymous with non-payment or giving nothing, is deducible from both that passage and the present. Cres. Ay, a minced man: and then to be baked with no date in the pie,39-for then the man's date 's out. Pan. You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie.40 Cres. Upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a thousand watches. Pan. Say one of your watches. Cres. Nay, I'll watch you for that; and that's one of the chiefest of them too. Pan. You are such another! Enter TROILUS' Boy. [Exit. Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus. Cres. Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice, He offers in another's enterprise : But more in Troilus thousand fold I see Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be ; Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is : [Exeunt. SCENE III.-The Grecian Camp. Before AGAMEMNON'S Tent. Sennet. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR, ULYSSES, MENELAUS, and others. Agam. Princes, What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks? Fails in the promis'd largeness: checks and disasters Nor, princes, is it matter new to us, That we come short of our suppose 45 so far, Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you. That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls stand; Pan. Where? Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him. I doubt he be hurt.—Fare ye well, good niece. Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by-and-by. 38. To boot. An idiomatic expression, equivalent to 'into the bargain.' See Notes 48, Act iv., and 44, Act v., 46 Richard III." 39. No date in the pie. It was formerly customary to put dates into many kinds of pastry. 40. At what ward you lie. 'What position of defence you will take.' See Note 93, Act ii., "First Part Henry IV." 41. To bring, uncle. "I'll be with you to bring" was an idiomatic expression in use formerly, of which there are several examples to be found in old dramatic writers, and which seems to have been equivalent to the more modern phrases, 'I'll bring as good as I get,' 'I'll be even with you.' 42. That she. Here used for that special woman.' See Note 32, Act ii., "Henry V." 43. Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech. This line has been altered to 'Achiev'd men us command,' and to 'Achiev'd men still command;' but we think that the line as it stands, though Sith every action that hath gone before, Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works;46 peculiar in construction, may be interpreted to mean, 'Our hearts once gained, arc commanded: ungained, are besought.' 44 Tortive. Twisted; Latin, tortus. We have a form of the word, now used, in 'tortuous.' 45. Suppose. Here used for that which we supposed possible,' 'that which we imagined we might effect.' See Note 8, Act v., "Taming of the Shrew." 46. With cheeks abash'd behold our works. "Works" here has been suspected of error, and has been changed to 'wrecks' and 'mocks.' But Shakespeare elsewhere uses "works" for 'acts,' 'deeds,' 'proceedings,' 'doings;' and here "works" is intended to express 'what we have done,' while the preceding argument gives to be inferred 'the inadequate amount of what we have done,' 'the insufficiency and unsuccessfulness of what we have done,' which need not cause shame, being but a trial of our constancy sent by Jove. And call them shames, which are, indeed, naught As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympathise, else But the protractive trials of great Jove To find persistive constancy in men? In fortune's love; for then the bold and coward, Nest. With due observance of thy godlike seat, Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth, But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage cut, 48. Apply. Here used for 'apply to additional instances,' 'demonstrate by farther illustration.' 49. The ruffian Boreas once enrage the gentle Thetis. "Boreas" is the name of the north wind, as blowing from the Hyperborean mountains; and "Thetis," who was one of the seagoddesses, is here poetically named as an impersonation of the sea. 50. Like Perseus' horse. See Note 111, Act ii., "Henry V." 51. The brize. The gad-fly. 52. And flies filed under shade. "Fled" is here used by a grammatical licence of elliptical expression for 'have fled.' See Note 4, Act V., "Second Part Henry VI." 53. The thing of courage. The tiger; which is said to rage and roar violently in windy and stormy weather. ༔ 54. Returns to chiding fortune. The Folio prints 'retyres,' and the Quartos print retires,' here, instead of "returns ;' which is Pope's correction. Various other substitutions have been proposed, as 'replies,' 'retorts,' 'recries,' 'revies,' and 're-chides,' of which we prefer the last; but we adopt Pope's word, because it consists with the one used by Shakespeare in a passage of marked similarity "He'll call you to so hot an answer of it, mock 55. Hatch'd in silver. This is a figurative manner of calling And with an accent tun'd in selfsame key, Returns to chiding fortune.54 Agamemnon, Ulyss. In whom the tempers and the minds of all The which,-[To AGAM.] most mighty for thy place and sway,— [TO NEST.] And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life,— I give to both your speeches,-which were such That matter needless, of importless burden, Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down, And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master But for these instances. The specialty of rule hath been neglected: Nestor silver-hair'd;' for "to hatch in silver" was the technical term for inlaying the fine silver lines which formed an ornamental design upon the hilts of swords, handles of daggers, and stocks of pistols; and the lines of the graver upon a plate of metal are still called 'hatchings.' French, haché, engraved. In "Love in a Maze," 1632, is found the same figurative expression, similarly applied :-"Thy hair is fine as gold, thy chin is hatch'd with silver." 56. Expect. Here "expect" is used for expectation, as elsewhere in Shakespeare we find "suspect" for 'suspicion,' "affects" for 'affections,' &c.; and the whole speech, though peculiar in construction, bears the meaning-Speak, Prince of Ithaca, and the rather that there is less expectation of hearing needless and purposeless matter from you than confidence of hearing Thersites speak sweetly, wittily, or wisely.' This appears to us to be one of those sentences where Shakespeare gives the effect of antithesis, instead of an actual antithesis (see Note 187, Act iv, "Winter's Tale "); and this effect serves elegantly to veil the compliment paid to the person addressed. The anticipation of hearing eloquence from Thersites is small indeed, but the expectation of hearing futility from Ulysses is still smaller. 57. Mastiff jaws. The Folio prints this masticke iawes.' Rowe made the correction, which we adopt, believing 'masticke' to have been a misprint for "mastiff :" unless, indeed, 'masticke' be by possibility a word coined by Shakespeare from the Italian masticare, to chew, as an epithet for Thersites' jaws that should involve the sense of 'biting.' |