Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 5
The Grecian camp. Lists set out.
Agamemnon : Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
[p]Anticipating time with
starting courage.
[p]Give with thy trumpet a loud note to
Troy,
[p]Thou dreadful Ajax; that the appalled air
[p]May pierce the
head of the great combatant
[p]And hale him hither.
Ajax : Thou, trumpet, there's my purse.
[p]Now crack thy lungs, and split thy
brazen pipe:
[p]Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek
[p]Outswell
the colic of puff'd Aquilon:
[p]Come, stretch thy chest and let thy
eyes spout blood;
[p]Thou blow'st for Hector.
Ulysses : No trumpet answers.
Achilles : 'Tis but early days.
Agamemnon : Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas' daughter?
Ulysses : 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait;
[p]He rises on the toe: that
spirit of his
[p]In aspiration lifts him from the earth.
Agamemnon : Is this the Lady Cressid?
Diomedes : Even she.
Agamemnon : Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.
Nestor : Our general doth salute you with a kiss.
Ulysses : Yet is the kindness but particular;
[p]'Twere better she were kiss'd
in general.
Nestor : And very courtly counsel: I'll begin.
[p]So much for Nestor.
Achilles : I'll take what winter from your lips, fair lady:
[p]Achilles bids you
welcome.
Menelaus : I had good argument for kissing once.
Patroclus : But that's no argument for kissing now;
[p]For this popp'd Paris in
his hardiment,
[p]And parted thus you and your argument.
Ulysses : O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns!
[p]For which we lose our
heads to gild his horns.
Patroclus : The first was Menelaus' kiss; this, mine:
[p]Patroclus kisses you.
Menelaus : O, this is trim!
Patroclus : Paris and I kiss evermore for him.
Menelaus : I'll have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave.
Cressida : In kissing, do you render or receive?
Patroclus : Both take and give.
Cressida : I'll make my match to live,
[p]The kiss you take is better than you
give;
[p]Therefore no kiss.
Menelaus : I'll give you boot, I'll give you three for one.
Cressida : You're an odd man; give even or give none.
Menelaus : An odd man, lady! every man is odd.
Cressida : No, Paris is not; for you know 'tis true,
[p]That you are odd, and he
is even with you.
Menelaus : You fillip me o' the head.
Cressida : No, I'll be sworn.
Ulysses : It were no match, your nail against his horn.
[p]May I, sweet lady,
beg a kiss of you?
Cressida : You may.
Ulysses : I do desire it.
Cressida : Why, beg, then.
Ulysses : Why then for Venus' sake, give me a kiss,
[p]When Helen is a maid
again, and his.
Cressida : I am your debtor, claim it when 'tis due.
Ulysses : Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.
Diomedes : Lady, a word: I'll bring you to your father.
Nestor : A woman of quick sense.
Ulysses : Fie, fie upon her!
[p]There's language in her eye, her cheek, her
lip,
[p]Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
[p]At every
joint and motive of her body.
[p]O, these encounterers, so glib of
tongue,
[p]That give accosting welcome ere it comes,
[p]And wide
unclasp the tables of their thoughts
[p]To every ticklish reader! set
them down
[p]For sluttish spoils of opportunity
[p]And daughters of
the game.
All : The Trojans' trumpet.
Agamemnon : Yonder comes the troop.
[p][Enter HECTOR, armed; AENEAS, TROILUS, and
other]
[p]Trojans, with Attendants]
Aeneas : Hail, all you state of Greece! what shall be done
[p]To him that
victory commands? or do you purpose
[p]A victor shall be known? will
you the knights
[p]Shall to the edge of all extremity
[p]Pursue each
other, or shall be divided
[p]By any voice or order of the
field?
[p]Hector bade ask.
Agamemnon : Which way would Hector have it?
Aeneas : He cares not; he'll obey conditions.
Achilles : 'Tis done like Hector; but securely done,
[p]A little proudly, and
great deal misprizing
[p]The knight opposed.
Aeneas : If not Achilles, sir,
[p]What is your name?
Achilles : If not Achilles, nothing.
Aeneas : Therefore Achilles: but, whate'er, know this:
[p]In the extremity of
great and little,
[p]Valour and pride excel themselves in
Hector;
[p]The one almost as infinite as all,
[p]The other blank as
nothing. Weigh him well,
[p]And that which looks like pride is
courtesy.
[p]This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood:
[p]In love
whereof, half Hector stays at home;
[p]Half heart, half hand, half
Hector comes to seek
[p]This blended knight, half Trojan and half
Greek.
Achilles : A maiden battle, then? O, I perceive you.
Agamemnon : Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight,
[p]Stand by our Ajax: as you
and Lord AEneas
[p]Consent upon the order of their fight,
[p]So be it;
either to the uttermost,
[p]Or else a breath: the combatants being
kin
[p]Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
Ulysses : They are opposed already.
Agamemnon : What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?
Ulysses : The youngest son of Priam, a true knight,
[p]Not yet mature, yet
matchless, firm of word,
[p]Speaking in deeds and deedless in his
tongue;
[p]Not soon provoked nor being provoked soon calm'd:
[p]His
heart and hand both open and both free;
[p]For what he has he gives,
what thinks he shows;
[p]Yet gives he not till judgment guide his
bounty,
[p]Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath;
[p]Manly as
Hector, but more dangerous;
[p]For Hector in his blaze of wrath
subscribes
[p]To tender objects, but he in heat of action
[p]Is more
vindicative than jealous love:
[p]They call him Troilus, and on him
erect
[p]A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.
[p]Thus says
AEneas; one that knows the youth
[p]Even to his inches, and with
private soul
[p]Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
Agamemnon : They are in action.
Nestor : Now, Ajax, hold thine own!
Troilus : Hector, thou sleep'st;
[p]Awake thee!
Agamemnon : His blows are well disposed: there, Ajax!
Diomedes : You must no more.
Aeneas : Princes, enough, so please you.
Ajax : I am not warm yet; let us fight again.
Diomedes : As Hector pleases.
Hector : Why, then will I no more:
[p]Thou art, great lord, my father's
sister's son,
[p]A cousin-german to great Priam's seed;
[p]The
obligation of our blood forbids
[p]A gory emulation 'twixt us
twain:
[p]Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so
[p]That thou couldst
say 'This hand is Grecian all,
[p]And this is Trojan; the sinews of
this leg
[p]All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
[p]Runs on
the dexter cheek, and this sinister
[p]Bounds in my father's;' by Jove
multipotent,
[p]Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish
member
[p]Wherein my sword had not impressure made
[p]Of our rank
feud: but the just gods gainsay
[p]That any drop thou borrow'dst from
thy mother,
[p]My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
[p]Be
drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax:
[p]By him that thunders, thou hast
lusty arms;
[p]Hector would have them fall upon him thus:
[p]Cousin,
all honour to thee!
Ajax : I thank thee, Hector
[p]Thou art too gentle and too free a man:
[p]I
came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence
[p]A great addition earned
in thy death.
Hector : Not Neoptolemus so mirable,
[p]On whose bright crest Fame with her
loud'st Oyes
[p]Cries 'This is he,' could promise to himself
[p]A
thought of added honour torn from Hector.
Aeneas : There is expectance here from both the sides,
[p]What further you will
do.
Hector : We'll answer it;
[p]The issue is embracement: Ajax, farewell.
Ajax : If I might in entreaties find success--
[p]As seld I have the
chance--I would desire
[p]My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.
Diomedes : 'Tis Agamemnon's wish, and great Achilles
[p]Doth long to see unarm'd
the valiant Hector.
Hector : AEneas, call my brother Troilus to me,
[p]And signify this loving
interview
[p]To the expecters of our Trojan part;
[p]Desire them home.
Give me thy hand, my cousin;
[p]I will go eat with thee and see your
knights.
Ajax : Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.
Hector : The worthiest of them tell me name by name;
[p]But for Achilles, mine
own searching eyes
[p]Shall find him by his large and portly size.
Agamemnon : Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one
[p]That would be rid of such an
enemy;
[p]But that's no welcome: understand more clear,
[p]What's past
and what's to come is strew'd with husks
[p]And formless ruin of
oblivion;
[p]But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
[p]Strain'd
purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
[p]Bids thee, with most divine
integrity,
[p]From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hector : I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
Agamemnon : [To TROILUS] My well-famed lord of Troy, no
[p]less to you.
Menelaus : Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting:
[p]You brace of warlike
brothers, welcome hither.
Hector : Who must we answer?
Aeneas : The noble Menelaus.
Hector : O, you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet, thanks!
[p]Mock not, that I
affect the untraded oath;
[p]Your quondam wife swears still by Venus'
glove:
[p]She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Menelaus : Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.
Hector : O, pardon; I offend.
Nestor : I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft
[p]Labouring for destiny
make cruel way
[p]Through ranks of Greekish youth, and I have seen
thee,
[p]As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
[p]Despising many
forfeits and subduements,
[p]When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i'
the air,
[p]Not letting it decline on the declined,
[p]That I have
said to some my standers by
[p]'Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing
life!'
[p]And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,
[p]When that
a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
[p]Like an Olympian wrestling:
this have I seen;
[p]But this thy countenance, still lock'd in
steel,
[p]I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
[p]And once
fought with him: he was a soldier good;
[p]But, by great Mars, the
captain of us all,
[p]Never saw like thee. Let an old man embrace
thee;
[p]And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
Aeneas : 'Tis the old Nestor.
Hector : Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
[p]That hast so long walk'd
hand in hand with time:
[p]Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp
thee.
Nestor : I would my arms could match thee in contention,
[p]As they contend
with thee in courtesy.
Hector : I would they could.
Nestor : Ha!
[p]By this white beard, I'ld fight with thee to-morrow.
[p]Well,
welcome, welcome! I have seen the time.
Ulysses : I wonder now how yonder city stands
[p]When we have here her base and
pillar by us.
Hector : I know your favour, Lord Ulysses, well.
[p]Ah, sir, there's many a
Greek and Trojan dead,
[p]Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
[p]In
Ilion, on your Greekish embassy.
Ulysses : Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue:
[p]My prophecy is but half
his journey yet;
[p]For yonder walls, that pertly front your
town,
[p]Yond towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,
[p]Must
kiss their own feet.
Hector : I must not believe you:
[p]There they stand yet, and modestly I
think,
[p]The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
[p]A drop of
Grecian blood: the end crowns all,
[p]And that old common arbitrator,
Time,
[p]Will one day end it.
Ulysses : So to him we leave it.
[p]Most gentle and most valiant Hector,
welcome:
[p]After the general, I beseech you next
[p]To feast with me
and see me at my tent.
Achilles : I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou!
[p]Now, Hector, I have fed
mine eyes on thee;
[p]I have with exact view perused thee,
Hector,
[p]And quoted joint by joint.
Hector : Is this Achilles?
Achilles : I am Achilles.
Hector : Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee.
Achilles : Behold thy fill.
Hector : Nay, I have done already.
Achilles : Thou art too brief: I will the second time,
[p]As I would buy thee,
view thee limb by limb.
Hector : O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er;
[p]But there's more in
me than thou understand'st.
[p]Why dost thou so oppress me with thine
eye?
Achilles : Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body
[p]Shall I destroy
him? whether there, or there, or there?
[p]That I may give the local
wound a name
[p]And make distinct the very breach whereout
[p]Hector's
great spirit flew: answer me, heavens!
Hector : It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,
[p]To answer such a
question: stand again:
[p]Think'st thou to catch my life so
pleasantly
[p]As to prenominate in nice conjecture
[p]Where thou wilt
hit me dead?
Achilles : I tell thee, yea.
Hector : Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,
[p]I'd not believe thee. Henceforth
guard thee well;
[p]For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor
there;
[p]But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
[p]I'll kill
thee every where, yea, o'er and o'er.
[p]You wisest Grecians, pardon
me this brag;
[p]His insolence draws folly from my lips;
[p]But I'll
endeavour deeds to match these words,
[p]Or may I never--
Ajax : Do not chafe thee, cousin:
[p]And you, Achilles, let these threats
alone,
[p]Till accident or purpose bring you to't:
[p]You may have
every day enough of Hector
[p]If you have stomach; the general state,
I fear,
[p]Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.
Hector : I pray you, let us see you in the field:
[p]We have had pelting wars,
since you refused
[p]The Grecians' cause.
Achilles : Dost thou entreat me, Hector?
[p]To-morrow do I meet thee, fell as
death;
[p]To-night all friends.
Hector : Thy hand upon that match.
Agamemnon : First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;
[p]There in the full
convive we: afterwards,
[p]As Hector's leisure and your bounties
shall
[p]Concur together, severally entreat him.
[p]Beat loud the
tabourines, let the trumpets blow,
[p]That this great soldier may his
welcome know.
Troilus : My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
[p]In what place of the field
doth Calchas keep?
Ulysses : At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus:
[p]There Diomed doth feast
with him to-night;
[p]Who neither looks upon the heaven nor
earth,
[p]But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
[p]On the fair
Cressid.
Troilus : Shall sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
[p]After we part from
Agamemnon's tent,
[p]To bring me thither?
Ulysses : You shall command me, sir.
[p]As gentle tell me, of what honour
was
[p]This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there
[p]That wails her
absence?
Troilus : O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars
[p]A mock is due. Will
you walk on, my lord?
[p]She was beloved, she loved; she is, and
doth:
[p]But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 1
