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Troilus and Cressida: Act IV, Scene 5

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Troilus and Cressida
Act IV, Scene 5

The Grecian camp.

Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Agamemnon: They are in action.
Nestor: Now, Ajax, hold thine own!

From: Cassell's Illustrated Shakespeare

Charles Cowden Clarke, Mary Cowden Clarke, 1866

  1. Enter Ajax armed, Achilles, Patroclus, Agamemnon, Menelaus,
  2. Ulysses, Nestor, Greek Trumpeter, etc.

Agamemnon

1 - 6
  1. Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
  2. Anticipating time. With starting courage,
  3. Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,
  4. Thou dreadful Ajax, that the appalled air
  5. May pierce the head of the great combatant,
  6. And hale him hither.

Ajax

7 - 12
  1.                      Thou, trumpet, there’s my purse.
  2. Now crack thy lungs, and split thy brazen pipe.
  3. Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek
  4. Outswell the colic of puff’d Aquilon;
  5. Come, stretch thy chest, and let thy eyes spout blood;
  6. Thou blowest for Hector.
  1. Trumpet sounds.

Ulysses

13
  1. No trumpet answers.

Achilles

14
  1.                     ’Tis but early days.
  1. Enter Diomedes and Cressida.

Agamemnon

15
  1. Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas’ daughter?

Ulysses

16 - 18
  1. ’Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait,
  2. He rises on the toe. That spirit of his
  3. In aspiration lifts him from the earth.

Agamemnon

19
  1. Is this the Lady Cressid?

Diomedes

20
  1.                           Even she.

Agamemnon

21
  1. Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.
  1. Kisses her.

Nestor

22
  1. Our general doth salute you with a kiss.

Ulysses

23 - 24
  1. Yet is the kindness but particular,
  2. ’Twere better she were kiss’d in general.

Nestor

25 - 26
  1. And very courtly counsel. I’ll begin.
  2. So much for Nestor.
  1. Kisses her.

Achilles

27 - 28
  1. I’ll take that winter from your lips, fair lady;
  2. Achilles bids you welcome.
  1. Kisses her.

Menelaus

29
  1. I had good argument for kissing once.

Patroclus

30 - 32
  1. But that’s no argument for kissing now,
  2. For thus popp’d Paris in his hardiment,
  3. And parted thus you and your argument.
  1. Kisses her.

Ulysses

33 - 34
  1. O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns,
  2. For which we lose our heads to gild his horns!

Patroclus

35 - 36
  1. The first was Menelaus’ kiss, this, mine;
  2. Patroclus kisses you.
  1. Kisses her again.

Menelaus

37
  1.                       O, this is trim!

Patroclus

38
  1. Paris and I kiss evermore for him.

Menelaus

39
  1. I’ll have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave.

Cressida

40
  1. In kissing, do you render or receive?

Patroclus

41
  1. Both take and give.

Cressida

42 - 44
  1.                     I’ll make my match to live,
  2. The kiss you take is better than you give;
  3. Therefore no kiss.

Menelaus

45
  1. I’ll give you boot, I’ll give you three for one.

Cressida

46
  1. You are an odd man, give even or give none.

Menelaus

47
  1. An odd man, lady? Every man is odd.

Cressida

48 - 49
  1. No, Paris is not, for you know ’tis true
  2. That you are odd, and he is even with you.

Menelaus

50
  1. You fillip me a’ th’ head.

Cressida

51
  1.                            No, I’ll be sworn.

Ulysses

52 - 53
  1. It were no match, your nail against his horn.
  2. May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?

Cressida

54
  1. You may.

Ulysses

55
  1.          I do desire it.

Cressida

56
  1.                 Why, beg then.

Ulysses

57 - 58
  1. Why then for Venus’ sake, give me a kiss
  2. When Helen is a maid again and his.

Cressida

59
  1. I am your debtor, claim it when ’tis due.

Ulysses

60
  1. Never’s my day, and then a kiss of you.

Diomedes

61
  1. Lady, a word. I’ll bring you to your father.
  1. Exit with Cressida.

Nestor

62
  1. A woman of quick sense.

Ulysses

63 - 72
  1.                         Fie, fie upon her!
  2. There’s language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
  3. Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
  4. At every joint and motive of her body.
  5. O, these encounterers, so glib of tongue,
  6. That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
  7. And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
  8. To every ticklish reader! Set them down
  9. For sluttish spoils of opportunity,
  10. And daughters of the game.
  1. Flourish.

All

73
  1. The Troyans’ trumpet.
  1. Enter all of Troy: Hector armed, Paris, Aeneas, Helenus,
  2. Troilus, and Attendants.

Agamemnon

74
  1.                       Yonder comes the troop.

Aeneas

75 - 81
  1. Hail, all the state of Greece! What shall be done
  2. To him that victory commands? Or do you purpose
  3. A victor shall be known? Will you the knights
  4. Shall to the edge of all extremity
  5. Pursue each other, or shall they be divided
  6. By any voice or order of the field?
  7. Hector bade ask.

Agamemnon

82
  1.                  Which way would Hector have it?

Aeneas

83
  1. He cares not, he’ll obey conditions.

Agamemnon

84
  1. ’Tis done like Hector.

Achilles

85 - 87
  1.                        But securely done,
  2. A little proudly, and great deal misprising
  3. The knight oppos’d.

Aeneas

88 - 89
  1.                     If not Achilles, sir,
  2. What is your name?

Achilles

90
  1.                    If not Achilles, nothing.

Aeneas

91 - 100
  1. Therefore Achilles, but what e’er, know this:
  2. In the extremity of great and little,
  3. Valor and pride excel themselves in Hector,
  4. The one almost as infinite as all,
  5. The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,
  6. And that which looks like pride is courtesy.
  7. This Ajax is half made of Hector’s blood,
  8. In love whereof, half Hector stays at home;
  9. Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek
  10. This blended knight, half Troyan and half Greek.

Achilles

101
  1. A maiden battle then? O, I perceive you.
  1. Enter Diomedes.

Agamemnon

102 - 107
  1. Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight,
  2. Stand by our Ajax. As you and Lord Aeneas
  3. Consent upon the order of their fight,
  4. So be it, either to the uttermost,
  5. Or else a breath. The combatants being kin
  6. Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
  1. Ajax and Hector enter the lists.

Ulysses

108
  1. They are oppos’d already.

Agamemnon

109
  1. What Troyan is that same that looks so heavy?

Ulysses

110 - 126
  1. The youngest son of Priam, a true knight,
  2. Not yet mature, yet matchless, firm of word,
  3. Speaking in deeds, and deedless in his tongue,
  4. Not soon provok’d, nor being provok’d soon calm’d;
  5. His heart and hand both open and both free,
  6. For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows,
  7. Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
  8. Nor dignifies an impare thought with breath;
  9. Manly as Hector, but more dangerous,
  10. For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes
  11. To tender objects, but he in heat of action
  12. Is more vindicative than jealous love.
  13. They call him Troilus, and on him erect
  14. A second hope, as fairly built as Hector.
  15. Thus says Aeneas, one that knows the youth
  16. Even to his inches, and with private soul
  17. Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
  1. Alarum. Hector and Ajax fight.

Agamemnon

127
  1. They are in action.

Nestor

128
  1. Now, Ajax, hold thine own!

Troilus

129 - 130
  1.                            Hector, thou sleep’st,
  2. Awake thee!

Agamemnon

131
  1. His blows are well dispos’d. There, Ajax!
  1. Trumpets cease.

Diomedes

132
  1. You must no more.

Aeneas

133
  1.                   Princes, enough, so please you.

Ajax

134
  1. I am not warm yet, let us fight again.

Diomedes

135
  1. As Hector pleases.

Hector

136 - 155
  1.                    Why then will I no more.
  2. Thou art, great lord, my father’s sister’s son,
  3. A cousin-german to great Priam’s seed;
  4. The obligation of our blood forbids
  5. A gory emulation ’twixt us twain.
  6. Were thy commixtion Greek and Troyan so
  7. That thou couldst say, “This hand is Grecian all,
  8. And this is Troyan; the sinews of this leg
  9. All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother’s blood
  10. Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
  11. Bounds in my father’s”: by Jove multipotent,
  12. Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member
  13. Wherein my sword had not impressure made
  14. Of our rank feud; but the just gods gainsay
  15. That any drop thou borrow’dst from thy mother,
  16. My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
  17. Be drained! Let me embrace thee, Ajax.
  18. By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms!
  19. Hector would have them fall upon him thus.
  20. Cousin, all honor to thee!

Ajax

156 - 159
  1.                            I thank thee, Hector.
  2. Thou art too gentle and too free a man.
  3. I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence
  4. A great addition earned in thy death.

Hector

160 - 163
  1. Not Neoptolemus so mirable,
  2. On whose bright crest Fame with her loud’st Oyes
  3. Cries, “This is he,” could promise to himself
  4. A thought of added honor torn from Hector.

Aeneas

164 - 165
  1. There is expectance here from both the sides,
  2. What further you will do.

Hector

166 - 167
  1.                           We’ll answer it:
  2. The issue is embracement. Ajax, farewell.

Ajax

168 - 170
  1. If I might in entreaties find success,
  2. As seld I have the chance, I would desire
  3. My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.

Diomedes

171 - 172
  1. ’Tis Agamemnon’s wish, and great Achilles
  2. Doth long to see unarm’d the valiant Hector.

Hector

173 - 177
  1. Aeneas, call my brother Troilus to me,
  2. And signify this loving interview
  3. To the expecters of our Troyan part;
  4. Desire them home. Give me thy hand, my cousin.
  5. I will go eat with thee and see your knights.
  1. Agamemnon and the rest come forward.

Ajax

178
  1. Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.

Hector

179 - 181
  1. The worthiest of them tell me name by name;
  2. But for Achilles, my own searching eyes
  3. Shall find him by his large and portly size.

Agamemnon

182 - 190
  1. Worthy all arms! As welcome as to one
  2. That would be rid of such an enemy.
  3. But that’s no welcome. Understand more clear,
  4. What’s past and what’s to come is strew’d with husks
  5. And formless ruin of oblivion;
  6. But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
  7. Strain’d purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
  8. Bids thee, with most divine integrity,
  9. From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.

Hector

191
  1. I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.

Agamemnon

192
  1. To Troilus.
  2. My well-fam’d lord of Troy, no less to you.

Menelaus

193 - 194
  1. Let me confirm my princely brother’s greeting:
  2. You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.

Hector

195
  1. Who must we answer?

Aeneas

196
  1.                     The noble Menelaus.

Hector

197 - 200
  1. O, you, my lord? By Mars his gauntlet, thanks!
  2. Mock not that I affect th’ untraded oath,
  3. Your quondam wife swears still by Venus’ glove.
  4. She’s well, but bade me not commend her to you.

Menelaus

201
  1. Name her not now, sir, she’s a deadly theme.

Hector

202
  1. O, pardon, I offend.

Nestor

203 - 220
  1. I have, thou gallant Troyan, seen thee oft,
  2. Laboring for destiny, make cruel way
  3. Through ranks of Greekish youth, and I have seen thee,
  4. As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
  5. Despising many forfeits and subduements,
  6. When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i’ th’ air,
  7. Not letting it decline on the declined,
  8. That I have said to some my standers-by
  9. “Lo Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!”
  10. And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,
  11. When that a ring of Greeks have hemm’d thee in,
  12. Like an Olympian wrestling. This have I seen,
  13. But this thy countenance, still lock’d in steel,
  14. I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
  15. And once fought with him. He was a soldier good,
  16. But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
  17. Never like thee. O, let an old man embrace thee,
  18. And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.

Aeneas

221
  1. ’Tis the old Nestor.

Hector

222 - 224
  1. Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
  2. That hast so long walk’d hand in hand with time.
  3. Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.

Nestor

225 - 226
  1. I would my arms could match thee in contention,
  2. As they contend with thee in courtesy.

Hector

227
  1. I would they could.

Nestor

228 - 230
  1. Ha!
  2. By this white beard, I’d fight with thee tomorrow.
  3. Well, welcome, welcome!—I have seen the time.

Ulysses

231 - 232
  1. I wonder now how yonder city stands
  2. When we have here her base and pillar by us.

Hector

233 - 236
  1. I know your favor, Lord Ulysses, well.
  2. Ah, sir, there’s many a Greek and Troyan dead
  3. Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
  4. In Ilion, on your Greekish embassy.

Ulysses

237 - 241
  1. Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue.
  2. My prophecy is but half his journey yet,
  3. For yonder walls that pertly front your town,
  4. Yon towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,
  5. Must kiss their own feet.

Hector

242 - 247
  1.                           I must not believe you.
  2. There they stand yet, and modestly I think
  3. The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
  4. A drop of Grecian blood. The end crowns all,
  5. And that old common arbitrator, Time,
  6. Will one day end it.

Ulysses

248 - 251
  1.                      So to him we leave it.
  2. Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome!
  3. After the general, I beseech you next
  4. To feast with me and see me at my tent.

Achilles

252 - 255
  1. I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou!
  2. Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;
  3. I have with exact view perus’d thee, Hector,
  4. And quoted joint by joint.

Hector

256
  1.                            Is this Achilles?

Achilles

257
  1. I am Achilles.

Hector

258
  1. Stand fair, I pray thee, let me look on thee.

Achilles

259
  1. Behold thy fill.

Hector

260
  1.                  Nay, I have done already.

Achilles

261 - 262
  1. Thou art too brief. I will the second time,
  2. As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.

Hector

263 - 265
  1. O, like a book of sport thou’lt read me o’er;
  2. But there’s more in me than thou understand’st.
  3. Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?

Achilles

266 - 270
  1. Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body
  2. Shall I destroy him—whether there, or there, or there?—
  3. That I may give the local wound a name,
  4. And make distinct the very breach whereout
  5. Hector’s great spirit flew. Answer me, heavens!

Hector

271 - 275
  1. It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,
  2. To answer such a question. Stand again.
  3. Think’st thou to catch my life so pleasantly
  4. As to prenominate in nice conjecture
  5. Where thou wilt hit me dead?

Achilles

276
  1.                              I tell thee, yea.

Hector

277 - 285
  1. Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,
  2. I’d not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well,
  3. For I’ll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there,
  4. But by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
  5. I’ll kill thee every where, yea, o’er and o’er.
  6. You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag.
  7. His insolence draws folly from my lips,
  8. But I’ll endeavor deeds to match these words,
  9. Or may I never—

Ajax

286 - 291
  1.                 Do not chafe thee, cousin,
  2. And you, Achilles, let these threats alone,
  3. Till accident or purpose bring you to’t.
  4. You may have every day enough of Hector,
  5. If you have stomach. The general state, I fear,
  6. Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.

Hector

292 - 294
  1. I pray you let us see you in the field;
  2. We have had pelting wars since you refus’d
  3. The Grecians’ cause.

Achilles

295 - 297
  1.                      Dost thou entreat me, Hector?
  2. Tomorrow do I meet thee, fell as death;
  3. Tonight all friends.

Hector

298
  1.                      Thy hand upon that match.

Agamemnon

299 - 304
  1. First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;
  2. There in the full convive we. Afterwards,
  3. As Hector’s leisure and your bounties shall
  4. Concur together, severally entreat him.
  5. Beat loud the taborins, let the trumpets blow,
  6. That this great soldier may his welcome know.
  1. Exeunt all but Troilus and Ulysses.

Troilus

305 - 306
  1. My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
  2. In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?

Ulysses

307 - 311
  1. At Menelaus’ tent, most princely Troilus.
  2. There Diomed doth feast with him tonight,
  3. Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth,
  4. But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
  5. On the fair Cressid.

Troilus

312 - 314
  1. Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
  2. After we part from Agamemnon’s tent,
  3. To bring me thither?

Ulysses

315 - 318
  1.                      You shall command me, sir.
  2. But gentle tell me, of what honor was
  3. This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there
  4. That wails her absence?

Troilus

319 - 322
  1. O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars
  2. A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord?
  3. She was belov’d, she lov’d; she is, and doth:
  4. But still sweet love is food for fortune’s tooth.
  1. Exeunt.
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