Pursue we him on knees; for I have dream'd
Of bloody turbulence, and this whole night
Hath nothing been but shapes and forms of slaughter.
Cas. O, it is true.

Hect.

Ho! bid my trumpet sound! Cas. No notes of sally, for the heavens, sweet

brother.

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.

4

Cas. It is the purpose, that makes strong the vow: But vows, to every purpose, must not hold: Unarm, 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, youth,

I am to-day i'the vein of chivalry:

3

· peevish —] i. e. foolish.

4 It is the purpose,] The mad prophetess speaks here with all the coolness and judgment of a skilful casuist. "The essence of a lawful vow, is a lawful purpose, and the vow of which the end is wrong, must not be regarded as cogent." JOHNSON.

dear man] Valuable man.

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.

Hect. What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me
for it.

Tro. When many times the captive Grecians fall, Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,

You bid them rise, and live."

Hect. O, 'tis fair play.

Tro.

Fool's play, by heaven, Hector.

Hect. How now? how now? Tro. 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!

For the love of all the gods,

Tro.

Hector, then 'tis wars.

Hect. Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day.
Tro. Who should withhold me?

Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars
Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;
Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,

Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;

Which better fits a lion,] The traditions and stories of the darker ages abounded with examples of the lion's generosity. Upon the supposition that these acts of clemency were true, Troilus reasons not improperly, that to spare against reason, by mere instinct of pity, became rather a generous beast than a wise man. 7 You bid them rise, and live.] Shakspeare seems not to have studied the Homeric character of Hector, whose disposition was by no means inclined to clemency.

8

with fiery truncheon -] We have here but a modern Mars. Antiquity acknowledges no such ensign of command as a truncheon. The spirit of the passage, however, is such as might atone for a greater impropriety.

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.

Pri.

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.

Hect.

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.

You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
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:
you bear me, get you in.

Upon the love

[Exit ANDROMACHE. Tro. This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl

Makes all these bodements.

Cas.

O farewell, dear Hector.

Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale!

9 — shame respect ;] i. e. disgrace the respect I owe you, by acting in opposition to your commands.

VOL. VI.

Оо

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 anticks, 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. [Exit. 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.

AS TROILUS is going out, enter, from the other side, PANDARUS.

Pan. Do you hear, my lord? do you hear?

Tro. What now?

Pan. Here's a letter from yon' poor girl.

Tro. Let me read.

Pan. A whoreson ptisick, a whoreson rascally ptisick 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?

- cursed,] i. e. under the influence of a malediction, such as mischievous beings have been supposed to pronounce upon those who had offended them. STEEVENS.

the heart;

Tro. Words, words, mere words, no matter from [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-caten 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.

2

2- to proclaim barbarism,] To set up the authority of ignorance, to declare that they will be governed by policy no longer.