TROILUS You know now your hostages: your uncle’s word

  and my firm faith.

  PANDARUS Nay, I’ll give my word for her too: our kindred,

  though they be long ere they are wooed, they are constant

  being won. They are burrs98, I can tell you: they’ll stick where

  they are thrown99.

  CRESSIDA Boldness100 comes to me now, and brings me heart.

  Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day

  For many weary months.

  TROILUS Why was my Cressid then so hard to win?

  CRESSIDA Hard to seem won: but I was won, my lord,

  With the first glance that ever — pardon me —

  If I confess much, you will play the tyrant106.

  I love you now, but not, till now, so much

  But I might master it108; in faith, I lie:

  My thoughts were like unbridled109 children grown

  Too headstrong for their mother. See, we fools!

  Why have I blabbed? Who shall be true to us,

  When we are so unsecret to ourselves?

  But, though I loved you well, I wooed you not,

  And yet, good faith, I wished myself a man,

  Or that we women had men’s privilege115

  Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue,

  For in this rapture I shall surely speak

  The thing I shall repent. See, see, your silence,

  Cunning119 in dumbness, from my weakness draws

  My soul of counsel120 from me. Stop my mouth.

  TROILUS And shall121, albeit sweet music issues thence.

  Kisses her

  PANDARUS Pretty, i’faith.

  CRESSIDA My lord, I do beseech you pardon me:

  ’Twas not my purpose, thus to beg a kiss.

  I am ashamed. O heavens, what have I done?

  For this time126 will I take my leave, my lord.

  TROILUS Your leave, sweet Cressid?

  PANDARUS Leave? An you take leave till tomorrow morning—

  CRESSIDA Pray you content you129.

  TROILUS What offends you, lady?

  CRESSIDA Sir, mine own company.

  TROILUS You cannot shun yourself.

  CRESSIDA Let me go and try:

  I have a kind of self resides with you,

  But an unkind135 self, that itself will leave

  To be another’s fool136. Where is my wit?

  I would be gone: I speak I know not what.

  TROILUS Well know they what they speak that speaks so wisely138.

  CRESSIDA Perchance139, my lord, I show more craft than love,

  And fell so roundly140 to a large confession

  To angle for your thoughts: but you are wise141,

  Or else you love not, for to be wise and love

  Exceeds man’s might: that143 dwells with gods above.

  TROILUS O, that I thought it could be in a woman —

  As, if it can, I will presume145 in you —

  To feed for aye146 her lamp and flames of love,

  To keep her constancy in plight147 and youth,

  Outliving beauty’s outward148, with a mind

  That doth renew swifter149 than blood decays!

  Or that persuasion could but thus convince me

  That my integrity and truth to you

  Might be affronted152 with the match and weight

  Of such a winnowed153 purity in love,

  How were I154 then uplifted! But, alas,

  I am as true as truth’s simplicity155

  And simpler than the infancy of truth156.

  CRESSIDA In that I’ll war with you.

  TROILUS O virtuous fight,

  When right with right wars who shall be most right!

  True swains160 in love shall in the world to come

  Approve161 their truths by Troilus: when their rhymes,

  Full of protest162, of oath and big compare,

  Wants163 similes, truth tired with iteration,

  As true as steel, as plantage164 to the moon,

  As sun to day, as turtle165 to her mate,

  As iron to adamant166, as earth to th’centre,

  Yet, after all comparisons167 of truth,

  As truth’s authentic168 author to be cited,

  ‘As true as Troilus’ shall crown up169 the verse,

  And sanctify the numbers170.

  CRESSIDA Prophet may you be!

  If I be false172, or swerve a hair from truth,

  When time is old and hath forgot itself,

  When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy,

  And blind oblivion swallowed cities up,

  And mighty states characterless176 are grated

  To dusty nothing, yet let memory,

  From false to false, among false maids in love,

  Upbraid my falsehood! When they’ve said ‘As false

  As air, as water, as wind, as sandy earth,

  As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer’s calf,

  Pard182 to the hind, or stepdame to her son’,

  ‘Yea’, let them say, to stick the heart183 of falsehood,

  ‘As false as Cressid.’

  PANDARUS Go to, a bargain made: seal it185, seal it, I’ll be the

  witness. Here I hold your hand, here my cousin’s. If ever you

  prove false one to another, since I have taken such pains to

  bring you together, let all pitiful goers-between be called to

  the world’s end after my name: call them all panders; let all

  constant men be Troiluses, all false women Cressids, and all

  brokers-between panders! Say, ‘Amen.’

  TROILUS Amen.

  CRESSIDA Amen.

  PANDARUS Amen. Whereupon I will show you a chamber with

  a bed, which bed, because195 it shall not speak of your pretty

  encounters196, press it to death. Away! And Cupid grant all

  tongue-tied maidens197 here Bed, chamber and pander to

  provide this gear198!

  Exeunt

  [Act 3 Scene 3]

  running scene 8

  Location: the Greek camp

  Enter Ulysses, Diomedes, Nestor, Agamemnon, Menelaus and Calchas. Flourish

  CALCHAS Now, princes, for the service I have done you,

  Th’advantage2 of the time prompts me aloud

  To call for recompense. Appear it3 to your mind

  That through the sight4 I bear in things to come,

  I have abandoned Troy, left my possession5,

  Incurred a traitor’s name, exposed myself,

  From7 certain and possessed conveniences,

  To doubtful fortunes, sequest’ring8 from me all

  That time, acquaintance, custom and condition9

  Made tame10 and most familiar to my nature,

  And here, to do you service, am become

  As12 new into the world, strange, unacquainted.

  I do beseech you, as in way of taste13,

  To give me now a little benefit

  Out of those many registered in promise15,

  Which, you say, live to come16 in my behalf.

  AGAMEMNON What wouldst thou of us, Trojan? Make demand.

  CALCHAS You have a Trojan prisoner, called Antenor,

  Yesterday took19: Troy holds him very dear.

  Oft have you — often have you thanks therefore20 —

  Desired my Cressid in right great exchange21,

  Whom Troy hath still denied. But this Antenor,

  I know is such a wrest23 in their affairs

  That their negotiations all must slack24,

  Wanting his manage25, and they will almost

  Give us a prince of blood26, a son of Priam,

  In change of27 him: let him be sent, great princes,

  And he shall buy my daughter, and her presence

  Shall quite strike off29 all service I have done,

  In most accepted pain30.

  AGAMEMNON Let Diomedes bear him31,

  And bring us Cressid hither: Calchas shall have

  What he requests of us. Good Diomed,

  Furnish you fairly34 for this interchange.

  Withal35 bring word if Hector will tomorrow

  Be answered in36 his challenge: Ajax is ready.

  DIOMEDES This shall I undertake, and ’tis a burden

  Which I am proud to bear.

  Exit [Diomedes with Calchas]

  Enter Achilles and Patroclus in their tent

  ULYSSES Achilles stands i’th’entrance of his tent;

  Please it40 our general to pass strangely by him,

  As if he were forgot, and, princes all,

  Lay negligent and loose42 regard upon him;

  I will come last. ’Tis like43 he’ll question me

  Why such unplausive44 eyes are bent, why turned on him.

  If so, I have derision medicinable45

  To use between your strangeness and his pride,

  Which his own will shall have desire to drink;

  It may do good: pride hath no other glass48

  To show itself but pride, for supple knees

  Feed arrogance and are the proud man’s fees49.

  AGAMEMNON We’ll execute your purpose51, and put on

  A form52 of strangeness as we pass along:

  So do each lord, and either greet him not

  Or else disdainfully, which shall shake54 him more

  Than if not looked on. I will lead the way.

  ACHILLES What, comes the general to speak with me?

  You know my mind: I’ll fight no more gainst Troy.

  AGAMEMNON What says Achilles? Would he aught58 with us?

  NESTOR Would you, my lord, aught with the general?

  ACHILLES No.

  NESTOR Nothing, my lord.

  AGAMEMNON The better62.

  [Exeunt Agamemnon and Nestor]

  ACHILLES Good day, good day.

  To Menelaus

  MENELAUS How do you? How do you?

  [Exit]

  ACHILLES What, does the cuckold scorn me?

  AJAX How now, Patroclus?

  ACHILLES Good morrow, Ajax.

  AJAX Ha?

  ACHILLES Good morrow.

  AJAX Ay, and good next day too.

  Exit

  ACHILLES What mean these fellows? Know71 they not Achilles?

  PATROCLUS They pass by strangely: they were used72 to bend

  To send their smiles before them to Achilles,

  To come as humbly as they used to creep

  To holy altars.

  ACHILLES What, am I poor76 of late?

  ’Tis certain, greatness, once fall’n out with fortune,

  Must fall out with men too: what the declined78 is

  He shall as soon read in the eyes of others

  As feel in his own fall, for men, like butterflies,

  Show not their mealy81 wings but to the summer,

  And not a man, for being simply man,

  Hath any honour, but honoured for those honours

  That are without him83, as84 place, riches and favour,

  Prizes of accident85 as oft as merit,

  Which when they86 fall, as being slippery standers,

  The love87 that leaned on them as slippery too,

  Doth one pluck down another and together

  Die in the fall. But ’tis not so with me;

  Fortune and I are friends: I do enjoy

  At ample point91 all that I did possess,

  Save92 these men’s looks, who do, methinks, find out

  Something not worth in me such rich beholding93

  As they have often given. Here is Ulysses:

  I’ll interrupt his reading.— How now Ulysses?

  ULYSSES Now, great Thetis’ son!

  ACHILLES What are you reading?

  ULYSSES A strange fellow here

  Writes me99 that man, how dearly ever parted,

  How much in having, or without or in100,

  Cannot make boast to have that which he hath,

  Nor feels not what he owes102, but by reflection,

  As when his virtues shining upon others

  Heat them and they retort104 that heat again

  To the first giver.

  ACHILLES This is not strange, Ulysses.

  The beauty that is borne here in the face

  The bearer knows not, but108 commends itself

  Not going from itself, but eye to eye opposed

  Salutes each other with each other’s form109.

  For speculation111 turns not to itself

  Till it hath travelled112 and is mirrored there

  Where it may see itself. This is not strange113 at all.

  ULYSSES I do not strain it at the position114 —

  It is familiar — but at the author’s drift115,

  Who in his circumstance116 expressly proves

  That no man is the lord of anything —

  Though in and of him there is much consisting118 —

  Till he communicate his parts119 to others,

  Nor doth he of himself know them for aught120

  Till he behold them formed in th’applause

  Where they are extended121, who122, like an arch, reverb’rate

  The voice123 again, or, like a gate of steel

  Fronting124 the sun, receives and renders back

  His figure125 and his heat. I was much wrapt in this,

  And apprehended126 here immediately

  The unknown127 Ajax.

  Heavens, what a man is there! A very horse128,

  That has he knows not what129. Nature, what things there are

  Most abject in regard and dear in use130!

  What things again131 most dear in the esteem

  And poor in worth! Now shall we see tomorrow —

  An act that very chance doth throw upon him —

  Ajax renowned! O heavens, what some men do,

  While some men leave to do135!

  How some men creep in skittish fortune’s hall136,

  Whiles others play the idiots137 in her eyes!

  How one man eats into another’s pride138,

  While pride is fasting in his wantonness139!

  To see these Grecian lords! Why, even already

  They clap the lubber141 Ajax on the shoulder,

  As if his foot were on brave Hector’s breast

  And great Troy shrinking143.

  ACHILLES I do believe it, for they passed by me

  As misers do by beggars, neither gave to me

  Good word nor look. What, are my deeds forgot?

  ULYSSES Time hath, my lord, a wallet147 at his back,

  Wherein he puts alms for oblivion148,

  A great-sized monster of ingratitudes:

  Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devoured

  As fast as they are made, forgot as soon

  As done: perseverance, dear my lord,

  Keeps honour bright: to have done153 is to hang

  Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail154

  In monumental mock’ry155. Take the instant way,

  For honour travels in a strait156 so narrow

  Where one but goes abreast157. Keep then the path,

  For emulation158 hath a thousand sons

  That one by one pursue: if you give way,

  Or hedge aside160 from the direct forthright,

  Like to an entered161 tide they all rush by

  And leave you hindmost162,

  Or like a gallant horse fall’n in first rank163,

  Lie there for pavement to the abject rear164,

  O’er-run and trampled on: then what they do in present,

  Though less than yours in past, must o’ertop yours,

  For time is like a fashionable host

  That slightly168 shakes his parting guest by th’hand,

  And with his arms outstretched as he would fly169,

  Grasps in170 the comer. The welcome ever smiles,

  And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek

  Remuneration172 for the thing it was.

  For beauty, wit,

  High birth, vigour of bone174, desert in service,

  Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all

  To envious and calumniating176 time.

  One touch of nature177 makes the whole world kin,

  That all with one consent178 praise new-born gawds,

  Though they are made and moulded of things past,

  And give to dust that is a little gilt180

  More laud181 than gilt o’er-dusted.

  The present eye praises the present object182.

  Then marvel not, thou great and complete183 man,

  That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax;

  Since things in motion begin to catch the eye

  Than what not stirs. The cry went out on thee186,

  And still it might, and yet it may again,

  If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive

  And case189 thy reputation in thy tent;

  Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late190,

  Made emulous missions191 ’mongst the gods themselves

  And drave192 great Mars to faction.

  ACHILLES Of this my privacy

  I have strong reasons.

  ULYSSES But gainst your privacy

  The reasons are more potent and heroical:

  ’Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love

  With one of Priam’s daughters198.

  ACHILLES Ha? Known?

  ULYSSES Is that a wonder?

  The providence201 that’s in a watchful state

  Knows almost every grain of Pluto202’s gold,

  Finds bottom in th’uncomprehensive deeps203,

  Keeps place204 with thought, and almost, like the gods,

  Do thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles205.

  There is a mystery206 — with whom relation

  Durst never meddle — in the soul of state207;

  Which hath an operation208 more divine

  Than breath or pen can give expressure209 to:

  All the commerce210 that you have had with Troy

  As perfectly is ours as yours211, my lord,

  And better would it fit212 Achilles much

  To throw down Hector than Polyxena213.

  But it must grieve young Pyrrhus214 now at home,

  When fame shall in our island sound her trump215,

  And all the Greekish girls216 shall tripping sing,

  ‘Great Hector’s sister did Achilles win,

  But our great Ajax bravely beat down him218.’

  Farewell, my lord: I as your lover219 speak;

  The fool slides o’er the ice that you should break220.

  [Exit]

  PATROCLUS To this effect, Achilles, have I moved221 you:

  A woman impudent222 and mannish grown

  Is not more loathed than an effeminate man

  In time of action. I stand condemned for this;