bones, that, unless a man were cursed, I cannot tell what to think on 't.-What says she there?

Troi. Words, words, mere words; no matter from

the heart:

[tearing the letter.

The effect doth operate another way:

Go, wind, to wind; there turn and change together. My love with words and errors still she feeds;

But edifies another with her deeds.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE IV.

Between Troy and the Grecian camp.

Alarums. Excursions. Enter THERSITES.

Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one another, I'll go look on. That dissembling, 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.1 Soft! here comes sleeve, and t' other.

Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.

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

I would swim after.

Dio.

Thou dost miscall retire :

I do not fly; but advantageous care
Withdrew me from the odds of multitude.

Have at thee!

Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian!-now for thy whore, Trojan !-now the sleeve, now the sleeve! [Exeunt Troilus and Diomedes, fighting.

Enter HECTOR.

Hec. What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's match?

Art thou of blood and honor.?

Ther. No, no:-I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hec. 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,

i. e. begin to set up the authority of ignorance, and to declare that they will be governed no longer by policy.

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 servant.

Dio. Go, go, my servant; take thou Troilus' horse :

Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her, I have chastised the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

Ser.

I go, my lord.

[Exit Servant.

Enter AGAMEMNON.

Aga. Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamus
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner,

And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,1
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius: Polixenes is slain;
Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en or slain; and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruised: the dreadful Sagittary

1 Lance.

* Bruised, crushed.

Appals our numbers. Haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.

Enter NESTOR.

Nes. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles,
And bid the snail-paced Ajax arm for shame.
There is a thousand Hectors in the field.
Now here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon, he 's there afoot,
And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls 1
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 every where, 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.

2

Ulys. O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance : Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy blood, Together with his mangled Myrmidons,

That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him,

Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend,

Like dispersed shoals of fish.

2 A swath is a line of grass cut down by the mower at a stroke.

SHAK.

X.

K

And foams at mouth; and he is arm'd, and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution;

Engaging and redeeming of himself,

With such a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

Enter AJAX.

Ajax. Troilus! thou coward Troilus!
Dio.

Nes. So, so, we draw together.

[Exit.

Ay, there, there.

Ach.

Enter ACHILLES.

Where is this Hector?

Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;

Know what it is to meet Achilles angry.

Hector! where's Hector? I will none but Hector.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Another part of the field.

Enter AJAX.

Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy

head!

Enter DIOMedes.

Dio. Troilus, I say! where 's Troilus?

Ajax.

What wouldst thou?