While others fish with craft for great opinion,
I with great truth catch mere simplicity;
Whilst some with cunning gild their copper crowns,
With truth and plainness I do wear mine bare.
Fear not my truth; the moral of my wit
Is- plain, and true, there's all the reach of it.
Enter ENEAS, PARIS, ANTENOR, DEIPHOBUS,
and DIOMEdes.

Welcome, sir Diomed! here is the lady,
Which for Antenor we deliver you :
At the port, lord, I'll give her to thy hand;
And, by the way, possess 7 thee what she is.
Entreat her fair; and, by my soul, fair Greek,
If e'er thou stand at mercy of my sword,
Name Cressid, and thy life shall be as safe
As Priam is in Ilion.

Dio.

Fair lady Cressid,

So please you, save the thanks this prince expects:
The lustre in your eye, heaven in your cheek,
Pleads your fair usage; and to Diomed
You shall be mistress, and command him wholly.
Tro. Grecian, thou dost not use me courteously.
To shame the zeal of my petition to thee,
In praising her: I tell thee, lord of Greece,
She is as far high-soaring o'er thy praises,
As thou unworthy to be called her servant.

I charge thee, use her well, even for my charge;
For, by the dreadful Pluto, if thou dost not,
Though the great bulk Achilles be thy guard,
I'll cut thy throat.

Dio. O, be not mov'd, prince Troilus: Let me be privileg'd by my place, and message, To be a speaker free; when I am hence, I'll answer to my will: And know you, lord, I'll nothing do on charge; To her own worth She shall be priz'd; but that you say -be't so, I'll speak it in my spirit and honour, - no.

Tro. Come, to the port. - I'll tell thee, Diomed, This brave shall oft make thee to hide thy head. Lady, give me your hand; and, as we walk, To our own selves bend we our needful talk. [Exeunt TROILUS, CRESSIDA, and DIOMED. [Trumpet heard.

Par. Hark! Hector's trumpet. Ene. How have we spent this morning! The prince must think me tardy and remiss, That swore to ride before him to the field.

Agam. Is not yon Diomed, with Calchas' daughter? Ulyss. 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait : He rises on the toe that spirit of his In aspiration lifts him from the earth.

Enter DIOMED, with CRESSIDA.
Agam. Is this the lady Cressid?

Dio.
Even she.
Agam. Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet
lady.

Nest. Our general doth salute you with a kiss.
Ulyss. Yet is the kindness but particular;

'Twere better, she were kiss'd in general.

Nest. And very courtly counsel: I'll begin. · So much for Nestor.

Achil. I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady:

Achilles bids you welcome.

Cres. I am your debtor.

Dio. Lady, a word; - I'll bring you to your father. [DIOMED leads out CRESSIDA. Nest. A woman of quick sense. Ulyss. Fye, fye upon her! There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint and motive 9 of her body. O, these encounterers, so glib of tongue, That give a coasting welcome ere it comes, And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader! set them down For sluttish spoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game. [Trumpet within. All. The Trojans' trumpet. Agam. Yonder comes the troop.

Enter HECTOR, armed; ENEAS, TROILUS, and other Trojans, with Attendants.

Ene. Hail, all the state of Greece! what shall

be done

him.

Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek This blended knight, half Trojan, and half Greek.

Re-enter DIOMED.

Agam. Here is sir Diomed: - Go, gentle knight, Stand by our Ajax: as you and lord Æneas Consent upon the order of their fight, So be it; either to the uttermost,

Or else a breath: the combatants being kin,
Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
[AJAX and HECTOR enter the Lists.

Ulyss. They are oppos'd already.
Agam. What Trojan is that same that looks so
heavy?

Ulyss. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word;
Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue;
Not soon provok'd, nor, being provok'd, soon calm'd:
His heart and hand both open, and both free;
For what he has, he gives; what thinks, he shows;
Yet gives he not, till judgment guide his bounty,
Nor dignifies an impair 2 thought with breath:
Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;

For Hector, in his blaze of wrath, subscribes 3
To tender objects; but he, in heat of action,
Is more vindicative than jealous love:
They call him Troilus; and on him erect
A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.
Thus says Æneas: one that knows the youth
Even to his inches, and, with private soul,
Did in great Ilion thus translate 4 him to me.
[Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight.
Agam. They are in action.
Nest. Now, Ajax, hold thine own!
Hector, thou sleep'st;

Tro. Awake thee!

Agam. His blows are well dispos'd :—there, Ajax!
Dio. You must no more. [Trumpets cease.
Ene.
Princes, enough, so please you.
Ajar. I am not warm yet, let us fight again.
Dio. As Hector pleases.

Hect.

Why, then, will I no more: Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son, A cousin-german to great Priam's seed; The obligation of our blood forbids

A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:

Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so,
That thou couldst say This hand is Grecian all,
And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg

All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister 6
Bounds-in my father's; by Jove multipotent,
Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member
Wherein my sword had not impressure made
Of our rank feud: But the just gods gainsay,
That any drop thou borrow'st from thy mother,
My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
Be drain'd! Let me embrace thee, Ajax :
By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;
Hector would have them fall upon him thus:
Cousin, all honour to thee!

Hect. Not Neoptolemus so mirable

Cries, This is he,) could promise to himself
A thought of added honour torn from Hector.
Ene. There is expectance here from both the sides,
What further you will do.
We'll answer it;

Hect.

The issue is embracement: - Ajax, farewell.

Ajar. If I might in entreaties find success, (As seld? I have the chance,) I would desire My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Dio. 'Tis Agamemnon's wish: and great Achilles Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector.

Hect. Æneas, call my brother Troilus to me:
And signify this loving interview
To the expecters of our Trojan part;
Desire them home. — Give me thy hand, my cousin;
I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.

Ajar. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.
Hect. The worthiest of them tell me name by

name;

But for Achilles, my own searching eyes
Shall find him by his large and portly size.

Agam. Worthy of arms, as welcome as to one That would be rid of such an enemy;

But that's no welcome: Understand more clear,
What's past, and what's to come, is strew'd with husks
And formless ruin of oblivion;

But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing
Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hec. thank thee, most imperious 8 Agamemnon.
Agam. My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less t
[TO TROILUS
Men. Let me confirm my princely brother'
greeting;

you.

You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.
Hect. Whom must we answer?
Men.
The noble Menelaus.
Hect. O you, my lord? by Mars his gauntlet,
thanks!

Mock not, that I affect the untraded oath ;
Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove:
She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Men. Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly

theme.

Hect. O pardon; I offend.

Nest. I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny, make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youth: and I have seen

thee,

As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
Despising many forfeits and subduements,
When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' the air,
Not letting it decline on the declin'd;
That I have said to some my standers-by,
Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!
And I have seen thee pause, and take thy breath,
When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
Like an Olympian wrestling: This have I seen;
But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel,
I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
And once fought with him: he was a soldier good;
But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
Never like thee: Let an old man embrace thee;
And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
Ene. 'Tis the old Nestor.

Hect. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,

1 Breathing, exercise.

2 Unsuitable to his character.

3 Yields, gives way. Right.

Achil. I am Achilles. Hect. Stand fair, I pray thee: let me look on thee. Achil. Behold thy fill. Hect. Nay, I have done already. Achil. Thou art too brief; I will the second time, As I would buy thec, view thee limb by limb.

Hect. O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er;
But there's more in me than thou understand'st.
Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?
Achil. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his
body

Shall I destroy him? whether there, there, or there?
That I may give the local wound a name;
And make distinct the very breach whereout
Hector's great spirit flew: Answer me, heavens !
Hect. It would discredit the bless'd gods, proud

man,

To answer such a question: Stand again: Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly,

-

There in the full convive we: afterwards,
As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall
Concur together, severally entreat him. -
Beat loud the tabourines, let the trumpets blow,
That this great soldier may his welcome know.
[Exeunt all but TROILUS and ULYSSES.
Tro. My lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
In what place of the field doth Calchas keep,

Ulyss. At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus:
There Diomed doth feast with him to-night;
Who neither looks upon the heaven, nor earth,
But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
On the fair Cressid.

Tro. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much, After we part from Agamemnon's tent, To bring me thither?

Ulyss. You shall command me, sir. As gentle tell me, of what honour was This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there That wails her absence?

Tro. O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars, A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord? She was belov'd, she lov'd; she is, and doth : But, still, sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.

[Exeunt.

Enter THERSITES.