SCENE changes to the Field between Troy and the Camp.

Ther.

N

Aarm. Enter Therfites.

WOW they are clapper-clawing one another,, I'll go look on that diffembling abominable varlet, Diomede, has got that fame fcurvy, doating, foolish young knave's fleeve of Troy, there, in his helm: I would fain fee them meet; that, that fame young Trojan afs, that loves the whore there, might fend that Greekifh whore-masterly villain, with the fleeve, back to the diffembling luxurious drab, of a fleeveless Errant, (49) O'th' other fide, the policy of thofe crafty fneering rafcals, that ftale old moufe-eaten dry cheefe Neftor, and that fame dog-fox Ulyffes, is not prov'd worth a black-berry.They fet me up in policy that mungril 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 barbarifm, and policy grows inte an ill opinion.

Enter Diomede and Troilus.

Soft-here comes fleeve, and t'other.

Troi. Fly not; for shouldft thou take the river Styx, I would fwim after.

Dio. Thou doft mifcall retire :

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

Have at thee!

[They go off, fighting.. Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian; now for thy whore, Trojan: now the fleeve, now the fleeve, now the fleeve!

(49) O'th' other fide, the policy of thofe crafty fwearing rafcals, &c.] But in what fenfe are Neftor and Ulyffes accus'd of being fwearing rafcals? What, or to whom, did they fwear? I am pofitive, I have ree ftor'd the true reading. They had collogued with Ajax, and tr`m'd him up with infincere praises, only in order to have ftir'd Achilles's emulation. In this, they were true fneerers; betraying the first, ta gain their ends on the latter by that artifice.

Enter

Enter Hector.

Het. What art thou, Greek! art thou for Hector's match? Art thou of blood and honour?

Ther. No, no: I am a rafcal; a fcurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hect. I do believe thee-live.

[Exit.,

Ther. God o' 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 fwallowed one another. I would laugh at that miracle-yet, in a fort, letchery eats itfelf: I'll feek them. [Exit.

Enter Diomede and Servant.

Dio. Go, go, my fervant, take thou Troilus' horfe,
Prefent the fair fteed to my lady Creffit:

Fellow, commend my fervice to her beauty:
Tell her, I have chaftis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

Serv. I go, my Lord.

Enter Agamemnon.

Aga. Renew, renew: the fierce Polydamas
Hath beat down Menon: bastard Margarelon
Hath Dorcus prifoner,

And ftands Coloffus-wife, waving his beam
Upon the pafhed coarfes of the Kings,
Epistropus and Odius. Polyxenus is flain;
Amphimachus and Thoas deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en or flain, and Palamedes

Sore hurt and bruis'd; the dreadful Sagittary (50)

(50) The dreadful Sagittary

Appals

Appals our numbers.] Mr. Pope will have it that by Sagittary is meant Teucer, becaufe of his fkill in archery. Were we to take this interpretation for granted, we might expect that upon this line in Othello,

Lead to the Sagittary the raifed fearch,

Mr. Pepe fhould tell us, this meant to the fign of Teucer's head: tho', indeed, it means only that fign, which the Poet, in his Comedy of Errors, calls by an equivalent name the Centaur. Befides, when Teucer is not once mention'd by name throughout the whole play, would

Sbakefa

Appals our numbers: haste we, Diomede,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.

Enter Neftor.

Neft. Go bear Patroclus' body to Achilles,
And bid the fnail-pac'd Ajax arm for fhame,
There are a thousand Heciors in the field:
Now, here he fights on Galathe his horse,
And there lacks work; anon, he's there a-foot,
And there they fly or die, like scaled shoals
Before the belching whale: then is he yonder,.
And there the ftrawy Greeks, ripe for his edge,
Fall down before him, like the mower's fwath;
Here, there, and ev'ry where, he leaves and takes ;
Dexterity fo obeying appetite,

cer.

Shakespeare decypher him by fo dark and precarious a defcription? I dare be pofitive, he had no thought of that archer here. To confefs the truth, this paffage contains a piece of private hiftory, which, perhaps, Mr. Fope never met with, unless he confulted the old chronicle containing the three deftructions of Troy, printed by Caxton in 1471, and Wynken de Werde in 1503: from which book our Poet has borrow'd more circumftances of this play, than from Lollius or ChauI fhall tranfcribe a fhort quotation from thence, which will fully explain Shakespeare's meaning in this paffage. "Beyonde the royalme "of Amafonne came an auncyent kynge, wyfe and dyfcreete, named "Epyftrophus, and brought a M. knyghtes, and a mervayllouse beste "that was call'd Sagittarye, that behynde the myddes was an horse, "and to fore a man: this befte was heery lyke an horfe, and had "his eyen rede as a cole, and fhotte well with a bowe: this befte "made the Grekes fore aferde, and flewe many of them with his bowe.’ This directly answers to what our Poet fays;

-The dreadful Sagittary

Appals our numbers.

That our Author traded with the above quoted book, is demonftrable from certain circumftances, which he could pick up no where elfe, and which he has thought fit to tranfplant into his play: viz. The making Neoptolemus a diftin&t hero from Pyrrbus, who was afterwards fo call'd; the corruption in the names of the fix gates of Troy; Galathe, the name of Hector's horfe; the baftard Margarelon; Diomede getting one of Creffid's gloves; Achilies abfenting from battle on account of his love for Polyxena, and the meffages of queen Hecuba to him; his taking Hector at a difadvantage, when he killed him; &c.

That

T

That what he will, he does; and does so much,
That proof is call'd impoffibility.

Enter Ulyffes.

Uly. Oh, courage, courage, Princes; great Achilles Is arming, weeping, curfing, vowing vengeance; Patroclus wounds have rouz'd his drowsy blood, Together with his mangled Myrmidons,

That nofelefs, handlefs, hackt and chipt, come to him,
Crying on Hector. Ajax hath loft a friend,
And foams at mouth; and he is arm'd, and at it,
Roaring for Troilus, who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastick execution;

Engaging and redeeming of himself,

With fuch a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck in very spite of cunning

Bade him win all.

Come, come, thou boy-killer, fhew me thy face:
Know, what it is to meet Achilles angry.

Hector, where's Hector? I will none but Hector. [Exit.

Re-enter Ajax.

Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, fhew thy head! Re-enter Diomede.

Dio. Troilus, I fay, where's Troilus?

Ajax. What would'st thou ?

Din. I would correct him.

Ajax. Were I the general, thou should't have my office, Ere that correction: Troilus, I fay, what! Troilus?

Enter

Enter Troilus."

Toi. Oh, traitor Diomede! turn thy falfe face, thou traitor,

And pay thy life, thou oweft me for my horfe.

Dio. Ha, art thou there?

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: fland, Diomede,

Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon..

Troi. Come both, you cogging Greeks, have at you both. [Exeunt, fighting.

Enter Hector.

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

Achil. Now do I see thee; have at thee, Hector.
Hect. Paufe, if thou wilt.

Achil. I do difdain thy courtefy, proud Trojan.

Be happy that my arms are out of use,

My reft and negligence befriend thee now,
But thou anon fhalt hear of me again :
Till when, go feek thy fortune.

Hect. Fare thee well;

I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee. How now, my brother?
Enter Troilus.

Troi. Ajax hath ta'en Eneas; fhall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heav'n,
He fhall not carry him: I'll be taken too,
Or bring him off: Fate, hear me what I fay;
I reck not, though thon end my life to-day.

Enter one in armour.

[Fights

[Exit.

He. Stand, ftand, thou Greek, thou art a goodly mark: No? wilt thou not? I like thy armour well,

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

But I'll be mafter of it; wilt thou not, beast, abide?
Why then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.

[Exit.

Enter