without cause, and merry against the hair :* He hath the joints of every thing; but every thing so out of joint, that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use; or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.

Cres. But how should this man, that makes me smile, make Hector angry?

Alex. They say, he yesterday coped Hector in the battle, and struck him down; the disdain and shame whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and waking.

Enter PANDARUS.

Cres. Who comes here?

Alex. Madam, your uncle Pandarus.
Cres. Hector's a gallant man.

Alex. As may be in the world, lady.
Pan. What's that? what's that?

Cres. Good morrow, uncle Pandarus.

Pun. Good morrow, cousin Cressid: What do you talk of?-Good morrow, Alexander.

a brown favour, (for so 'tis, I must confess,)— Not brown neither.

Cres. No, but brown.

Pan. 'Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown.

Cres. To say the truth, true and not true.
Pun. She prais'd his complexion above Paris.
Cres. 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.

Pun. I swear to you, I think, Helen loves him better than Paris.

Pan. What were you talking of, when I came? Was Hector armed, and gone, ere ye came to Ilium? Helen was not up, was she?

Cres. Hector was gone; but Helen was not up. Pan. E'en so; Hector was stirring early. Cres. That were we talking of, and of his anger.

Pan. Was he angry?

Cres. So he says here.

Pun. True, he was so; I know the cause too; he'll lay about him to-day, I can tell them that: and there is Troilus will not come far behind him; let them take heed of Troilus; I can tell them that too.

Cres. What, is he angry too?

Pan. Who, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of the two.

Cres. O, Jupiter! there's no comparison. Pan. What, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man if you see him?

Cres. Ay; if ever I saw him before, and knew him.

Pan. Well, I say, Troilus is Troilus. Cres. Then you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is not Hector.

Pan. No, nor Hector is not Troilus, in some degrees.

Cres. 'Tis just to each of them; he is himself. Pan. Himself? Alas, poor Troilus! I would, he were,

Cres. So he is.

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 ?t

Pun. But, to prove to you that Helen loves him; she came, and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin,

Cres. Juno have mercy!-How came it cloven?

Pun. Why, you know, 'tis dimpled: I think, his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia.

Cres. O, he smiles valiantly.

Pan. Does he not?

Cres. O 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.

Pan. And Cassandra laughed.

Cres. But there was a 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.

Cres. So I do.

Pan. I'll be sworn, 'tis true; he will weep you, an 'tweret a man born in April.

Cres. And I'll spring up in his tears, an 'twere a nettle against May.

[A Retreat sounded. Pan. Hark, they are coming from the field: Shall we stand up here, and see them, as they pass toward Ilium? good niece, do; sweet niece Cressida.

Cres. At your pleasure.

Pun. Here, here, here's an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I'll tell you them all by their names, as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest.

ENEAS passes over the stage.

Cres. Speak not so loud.

Pan. That's Eneas; Is not that a brave man? he's one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you; But mark Troilus; you shall see

anon.

Pan. Swords? any thing, he cares not: an the devil come to him, it's all one: By god's lid, it does one's heart good:-Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris: look ye yonder, niece; Is't not a gallant man too, is't not?Why, this is brave now.-Who said, he came hurt home to-day? he's not hurt: why this will do Helen's heart good now. Ha! 'would I could see Troilus now!-you shall see Troilus anon.

Went beyond bounds.
+ As if 'twerc.
A term in the game at cards called Noddy,

Cres. Who's that?

HELENUS passes over.

Pun. That's Helenus,-I marvel, where Troilus is:-That's Helenus;-I think he went not forth to-day-That's Helenus. Cres. Can Helenus fight, uncle?

Pan. Helenus? no;-yes, he'll fight indifferent well:-I marvel, where Troilus is!Hark ;-do you not hear the people cry, Troilus?-Helenus is a priest.

Cres. What sneaking fellow comes yonder?
TROILUS passes over.

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 ;-O brave Troilus ?-look well upon him, niece; look you, how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hack'd than Hector's; And how he looks, and how he goes!-O admirable youth! he ne'er saw three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way; had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice.

admirable man! Paris?-Paris is dirt to him; and I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot.

Forces pass over the stage.
Cres. Here come more.

Pan. Asses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! porridge after meat! I could live and die i'the eyes of Troilus. Ne'er look, ne'er look; the eagles are gone; crows and daws, crows and daws! I had rather be such a man as Troilus, than Agamemnon and all Greece.

Cres. There is among the Greeks, Achilles; a better man than Troilus.

Pan. Achilles? a drayman, a porter, a very camel.

Cres. Well, well.

Pan. Well, well?-Why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man?

Cres. Ay, a minced man: and then to be baked with no datet in the pye,-for then the man's date is out.

Pan. You are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie.

Cres. Upon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend ali 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: if I cannot ward what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it swell past hiding, and then it is past watching.

Pan. You are such another!

Enter TROILUS' Boy.

Boy. Sir, my lord would instantly speak with you.

* Helmet.

+ Dates were an ingredient in ancient pastry of almost every kind. + Guard.

Pan. Where?

Boy. At your own house; there he unarms him.

Pun. Good boy, tell him I come: [Exit Boy.] I doubt, he be hurt.-Fare ye well, good niece.

Cres. Adieu, uncle.

Pan. I'll be with you, niece, by and by."
Cres. To bring, uncle,-

Pan. Ay, a token from Troilus.
Cres. By the same token you are a bawd.-
[Exit PANDARUS.
Words, vows, griefs, tears, and love's full sa-
He offers in another's enterprize: [crifice,
But more in Troilus thousand fold I see
Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be;
Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:
Things won are done, joy's soul lies in the do-
ing:

That she belov'd knows nought, that knows not this,

Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is: That she was never yet, that ever knew

Love got so sweet, as when desire did sue: Therefore this maxim out of love I teach,Achievement is command; ungain'd beseech: Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear,

Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear. [Exit.

SCENE III.-The Grecian Camp.-Before
Agamemnon's Tent.

Trumpets. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR,
ULYSSES, MENELAUS, and others.
Agam. Princes,

What grief hath set the jaundice on your

cheeks?

The ample proposition, that hope makes
In all designs begun on earth below,
Fails in the promis'd largeness: checks and

disasters

Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd; As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap, Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain Tortive and errant from his course of growth. Nor, princes, is it matter new to us,

That we come short of our suppose so far, That, after seven years' siege, yet Troy walls

stand;

Sith every action that hath gone before,
Whereof we have record, trial did draw
Bias and thwart, not answering the ain,
And that unbodied figure of the thought
That gav't surmised shape. Why then, you
princes,

Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works;
And think them shames, which are, indeed,

nought else

But the protractive trials of great Jove,
To find persistive constancy in men?
The fineness of which metal is not found
In fortune's love: for then, the bold and
coward,

The wise and fool, the artist and unread,
The hard and soft, seem all affin'd‡ and kin:
But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mass, or matter, by itself
Lies, rich in virtue, and unmingled.
Nest. With due observance of thy godlike

seat,

Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply

Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance Lies the true proof of men: The sea being smooth,

How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
Upon her patient breast, making their way
With those of nobler bulk.

But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
The gentle Thetis,* and, anon, behold
The strong ribb'd bark through liquid moun-
tains cut,

Bounding between the two moist elements, Like Perseus' horse: Where's then the saucy boat,

Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now
Co-rival'd greatness? either to harbour fled,
Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so
Doth valour's show, and valour's worth, divide,
In storms of fortune: For, in her ray and
brightness,

The herd hath more annoyance by the brize,t
Than by the tiger: but when the splitting wind
Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,
And flies fled under shade, Why, then, the

thing of courage,

[thize, As rous'd with rage, with rage doth sympaAnd with an accent turn'd in self-same key, Returns to chiding fortune.

Ulyss. Agamemnon,

[Greece, Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit, In whom the tempers and the minds of all Should be shut up,-hear what Ulysses speaks. Besides the applause and approbation The which,-most mighty for thy place and [To AGAMEMNON. And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out I give to both your speeches,-which were life,[TO NESTOR.

sway,

such,

As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece Should hold up high in brass; and such again, As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver, [tree Should with a bond of air (strong as the axleOn which heaven rides,) knit all the Greekish [both,

ears

To his experienc'd tongue, yet let it please Thou great, and wise,-to hear Ulysses speak.

Agam. Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect

That matter needless, of importless burden,
Divide thy lips; than we are confident,
When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws,
We shall hear music, wit, and oracle.

Ulyss. Troy, yet upon his basis had been down, [master, And the great Hector's sword had fack'd a

But for these instances.

The speciality of rules hath been neglected: And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow fac

tions.

When that the general is not like the hive,
To whom the foragers shall all repair,
What honey is expected? Degree being viz-
arded,||

The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre,

Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order:
And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol,
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
* The daughter of Neptune.
+ The gad fly that stings cattle.
Rights of authority. || Masked.

1 Expectation. Constancy.

Amidst the other; whose med'cinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts, like the commandment of a king,
Sans check, to good and bad: But when the
planets,

In evil mixture, to disorder wander, [tiny?
What plagues, and what portents? what mu-
What raging of the sea? shaking of earth?
Commotion in the winds? frights, changes,
horrors,

Divert and crack, rend and deracinatet
The unity and married calm of states

And, like a strutting player,-whose conceit
Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
"Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffold-

age,

Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested+ seeming He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks, "Tis like a chime a mending; with terms unsquar'd,+ [dropp'd, Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff, The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,

shak'd,

Which is the ladder of all high designs,

The enterprize is sick! How could communities,

Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods; in cities, Peaceful commérce from dividables shores, The primogenitive and due of birth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentic place? Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows! each thing

meets

In mere oppugnancy: The bounded waters
Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores,
And make a sop of all this solid globe:
Strength should be lord of imbecility,
And the rude son should strike his father dead:
Force should be right; or, rather, right and

Then every thing includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, a universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with will and power,
Must make perforce a universal prey,
And, last, eat up himself. Great Agamem-
This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
Follows the choking.

[non,

And this neglection of degree it is,
That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose
It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd
By him one step below; he, by the next;
That next, by him beneath: so every step,
Exampled by the first pace that is sick
Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation:
And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her
strength.

Nest. Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd

The fever whereof all our power¶ is sick.
Agam. The nature of the sickness found,
What is the remedy?
[Ulysses,
Ulyss. The great Achilles,-whom opinion

plause;

Cries-Excellent!-'tis Agamemnon just.--
Now play me Nestor;-hem, and stroke thy
As he, being dress'd to some oration. [beard,
That's done ;-as near as the extremest ends
Of parallels; as like as Vulcan and his wife.
Yet good Achilles still cries, Excellent!
'Tis Nestor right! Now play him me, Patroclus,
Arming to answer in a night alarm.

And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age
Must be the scene of mirth; to cough, and spit,
And with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget,
Shake in and out the rivet:-and at this sport,
Sir Valour dies; cries, O!-enough, Patro-
clus;-

Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all
In pleasure of my spleen. And in this fashion,
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exact,
Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,
Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,
Success, or loss, what is, or is not, serves
As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.

Nest. And in the imitation of these twain
(Whom, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns
With an imperial voice,) many are infect.
Ajax is grown self-will'd; and bears his head
In such a reign, in full as proud a place
As broad Achilles: keeps his tent like him;
Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of
Bold as an oracle: and sets Thersites [war,
(A slave, whose gall coins slanders like a mint,)
To match us in comparisons with dirt;
To weaken and discredit our exposure,
How rank soever rounded in with danger.

Ulyss. They tax our policy, and call it cow. ardice;

Count wisdom as no member of the war;
Forestall prescience, and esteem no act
But that of hand: the still and mental parts,--
That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
When fitness calls them on; and know, by

Divided. II Absolute.

Army, force.

**In modern language, takes us off.

++ Supreme.