SCENE IV.-Between Troy and the Grecian Camp.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter THERSITES.

That dis

THER. Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. sembling 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, of a sleeveless errand. O'the other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals, that stale old mouse-eaten 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.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

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

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 15;

Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid:

17

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 17,
And there lacks work; anon, he 's there afoot,
And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls a
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 everywhere, he leaves and takes;
Dexterity so obeying appetite

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, • Sculls-shoals of fish.

We have the word in Milton ('Paradise Lost,' book vii.):-
"Fish, that with their fins and shining scales

Glide under the green wave, in sculls that oft
Bank the mid sea."

b Strawy. This beautiful epithet is found in the quarto; the folio has straying.

AJAX. Were I the general, thou shouldst 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?

AJAX. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed.

Dro. He is my prize. I will not look upon.
TRO. Come both you cogging Greeks; have at you both.

Enter HECTOR.

HECT. Yea, Troilus? O well fought, my youngest brother!

[Exeunt.

[Exeunt fighting.

Enter ACHILLES.

ACHIL. Now do I see thee:-Ha!-Have at thee, Hector.

HECT. Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:-
No? wilt thou not?-I like thy armour well;

--

[Exit.

[Exit.

I'll frush it, and unlock the rivets all,

But I'll be master of it:-Wilt thou not, beast, abide?
Why then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII.-The same.

Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons.

ACHIL. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;
Mark what I say.-Attend me where I wheel:
Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath;
And when I have the bloody Hector found,
Empale him with your weapons round about;

In fellest manner execute your arms.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:—
It is decreed Hector the great must die.

a Frush-break to pieces.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VIII.-The same.

Enter MENELAUS and PARIS fighting: then THERSITES.

THER. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it: Now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-henned sparrow! loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game :-'ware horns, ho! [Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS.

Enter MARGARELON.

MAR. Turn, slave, and fight.

THER. What art thou?

MAR. A bastard son of Priam's.

THER. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in everything illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel 's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment: Farewell, bastard. MAR. The devil take thee, coward!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX.-Another Part of the Field.

Enter HECTOR.

HECT. Most putrified core, so fair without,

Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.

Now is my day's work done: I'll take good breath:
Rest, sword 18 thou hast thy fill of blood and death!

[Puts off his helmet, and hangs his shield behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons.

ACHIL. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;
How ugly night comes breathing at his heels:
Even with the vail and darkinga of the sun,
To close the day up, Hector's life is done.
HECT. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek.
ACHIL. Strike, fellows, strike 19; this is the man I seek.
So, Ilion, fall thou; now, Troy, sink down;
Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.-
On, Myrmidons; and cry you all amain,

Darking-so the folio; the common reading is dark'ning.

[HECTOR falls.