this girl; and what one thing, what another, that I shall leave you one o'these days: And I have a rheum in mine eyes too; and such an ache in my bones, that, unless a man were curs'd, I cannot tell what to think on't.-What says she there?

Tro. 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.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter Thersites.

Ther. Now they are clapper-clawing one anther; 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, on 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 prov'd worth a blackberry:-They set me in policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that

up,

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. Soft! here come sleeve, and t'other.

Enter Diomed, Troilus following.

Tro. 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 Diomed, fighting.

Enter Hector.

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

Art thou of blood, and honour?

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

Hect. 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, they have swallow'd 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 Diomed, and a 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 chastis'd the amorous Trojan,
And am her knight by proof.

Serv.

I go, my lord.

[Exit Servant.

Enter Agamemnon.

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

And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
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 bruis'd: the dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers; haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.

Enter Nestor.

Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles; And bid the snail-pac'd 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
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.

Ulyss. O, courage, courage, princes! great Achilles

Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance: Patroclus' wounds have rous'd 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,
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 such a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

Achil.

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.

Ajar. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy

head!

Enter Diomed.

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

Ajax.

Dio. I would correct him.

What would'st thou?

Ajax. Were I the general, thou should'st have my office,

Ere that correction:-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!

Enter Troilus.

Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face, thou traitor,

And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse!

Dio. Ha! art thou there?

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed. Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon.