William Shakespeare Troilus And Cressida Act I Scene Ii

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• William Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, Act I, Scene II

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Scene IIThe Same. A streetEnter Cressida and AlexanderCressidaWho were those went by?AlexanderQueen Hecuba and Helen.CressidaAnd whither go they?AlexanderUp to the eastern tower, Whose height commands as subject all the vale, To see the battle. Hector, whose patience Is, as a virtue, fix’d, to-day was moved: He chid Andromache and struck his armourer, And, like as there were husbandry in war, Before the sun rose he was harness’d light, And to the field goes he; where every flower Did, as a prophet, weep what it foresaw In Hector’s wrath.CressidaWhat was his cause of anger?AlexanderThe noise goes, this: there is among the Greeks A lord of Trojan blood, nephew to Hector; They call him Ajax.CressidaGood; and what of him?AlexanderThey say he is a very man per se, And stands alone.CressidaSo do all men, unless they are drunk, sick, or have no legs.AlexanderThis man, lady, hath robbed many beasts of their particular additions; he is as valiant as the lion, churlish as the bear, slow as the elephant: a man into whom nature hath so crowded humours that his valour is crushed into folly, his folly sauced with discretion: there is no man hath a virtue that he hath not a glimpse of, nor any man an attaint but he carries some stain of it: he is melancholy without cause, and merry against the hair: he hath the joints of every thing, but everything so out of joint that he is a gouty Briareus, many hands and no use, or purblind Argus, all eyes and no sight.CressidaBut how should this man, that makes me smile, make Hector angry?AlexanderThey say he yesterday coped Hector in the battle and struck him down, the disdain and shame whereof hath ever since kept Hector fasting and waking.CressidaWho comes here?AlexanderMadam, your uncle Pandarus.Enter PandarusCressidaHector’s a gallant man.AlexanderAs may be in the world, lady.PandarusWhat’s that? what’s that?CressidaGood morrow, uncle Pandarus.PandarusGood morrow, cousin Cressid: what do you talk of? Good morrow, Alexander. How do you, cousin? When were you at Ilium?CressidaThis morning, uncle.PandarusWhat were you talking of when I came? Was Hector armed and gone ere ye came to Ilium? Helen was not up, was she?CressidaHector was gone, but Helen was not up.PandarusEven so: Hector was stirring early.CressidaThat were we talking of, and of his anger.PandarusWas he angry?CressidaSo he says here.PandarusTrue, he was so: I know the cause too: he’ll lay about him to-day, I can tell them that: and there’s Troilus will not come far behind him: let them take heed of Troilus, I can tell them that too.CressidaWhat, is he angry too?PandarusWho, Troilus? Troilus is the better man of the two.CressidaO Jupiter! there’s no comparison.PandarusWhat, not between Troilus and Hector? Do you know a man if you see him?CressidaAy, if I ever saw him before and knew him.PandarusWell, I say Troilus is Troilus.CressidaThen you say as I say; for, I am sure, he is not Hector.PandarusNo, nor Hector is not Troilus in some degrees.Cressida’Tis just to each of them; he is himself.PandarusHimself! Alas, poor Troilus! I would he were.CressidaSo he is.PandarusCondition, I had gone barefoot to India.CressidaHe is not Hector.PandarusHimself! no, he’s not himself: would a’ were himself! Well, the gods are above; time must friend or end: well, Troilus, well: I would my heart were in her body. No, Hector is not a better man than Troilus.CressidaExcuse me.PandarusHe is elder.CressidaPardon me, pardon me.PandarusTh’ other’s not come to’t; you shall tell me another tale, when th’ other’s come to’t. Hector shall not have his wit this year.CressidaHe shall not need it, if he have his own.PandarusNor his qualities.CressidaNo matter.PandarusNor his beauty.Cressida’Twould not become him; his own’s better.PandarusYou have no judgment, niece: Helen herself swore th’ other day, that Troilus, for a brown favour—for so ’tis, I must confess,— not brown neither,—CressidaNo, but brown.Pandarus’Faith, to say truth, brown and not brown.CressidaTo say the truth, true and not true.PandarusShe praised his complexion above Paris.CressidaWhy, Paris hath colour enough.PandarusSo he has.CressidaThen Troilus should have too much: if she praised him above, his complexion is higher than his; he having colour enough, and the other higher, is too flaming a praise for a good complexion. I had as lief Helen’s golden tongue had commended Troilus for a copper nose.PandarusI swear to you. I think Helen loves him better than Paris.CressidaThen she’s a merry Greek indeed.PandarusNay, I am sure she does. She came to him th’ other day into the compassed window,—and, you know, he has not past three or four hairs on his chin,—CressidaIndeed, a tapster’s arithmetic may soon bring his particulars therein to a total.PandarusWhy, he is very young: and yet will he, within three pound, lift as much as his brother Hector.CressidaIs he so young a man and so old a lifter?PandarusBut to prove to you that Helen loves him: she came and puts me her white hand to his cloven chin—CressidaJuno have mercy! how came it cloven?PandarusWhy, you know ’tis dimpled: I think his smiling becomes him better than any man in all Phrygia.CressidaO, he smiles valiantly.PandarusDoes he not?CressidaO yes, an ’twere a cloud in autumn.PandarusWhy, go to, then: but to prove to you that Helen loves Troilus,—CressidaTroilus will stand to the proof, if you’ll prove it so.PandarusTroilus! why, he esteems her no more than I esteem an addle egg.CressidaIf you love an addle egg as well as you love an idle head, you would eat chickens i’ the shell.PandarusI cannot choose but laugh, to think how she tickled his chin: indeed, she has a marvellous white hand, I must needs confess,—CressidaWithout the rack.PandarusAnd she takes upon her to spy a white hair on his chin.CressidaAlas, poor chin! many a wart is richer.PandarusBut there was such laughing! Queen Hecuba laughed that her eyes ran o’er.CressidaWith mill-stones.PandarusAnd Cassandra laughed.CressidaBut there was more temperate fire under the pot of her eyes: did her eyes run o’er too?PandarusAnd Hector laughed.CressidaAt what was all this laughing?PandarusMarry, at the white hair that Helen spied on Troilus’ chin.CressidaAn’t had been a green hair, I should have laughed too.PandarusThey laughed not so much at the hair as at his pretty answer.CressidaWhat was his answer?PandarusQuoth she, ‘Here’s but two and fifty hairs on your chin, and one of them is white.CressidaThis is her question.PandarusThat’s true; make no question of that. ‘Two and fifty hairs’ quoth he, ‘and one white: that white hair is my father, and all the rest are his sons.’ ‘Jupiter!’ quoth she, ‘which of these hairs is Paris, my husband? ‘The forked one,’ quoth he, ‘pluck’t out, and give it him.’ But there was such laughing! and Helen so blushed, an Paris so chafed, and all the rest so laughed, that it passed.CressidaSo let it now; for it has been while going by.PandarusWell, cousin. I told you a thing yesterday; think on’t.CressidaSo I do.PandarusI’ll be sworn ’tis true; he will weep you, an ’twere a man born in April.CressidaAnd I’ll spring up in his tears, an ’twere a nettle against May.A retreat soundedPandarusHark! they are coming from the field: shall we stand up here, and see them as they pass toward Ilium? good niece, do, sweet niece Cressida.CressidaAt your pleasure.PandarusHere, here, here’s an excellent place; here we may see most bravely: I’ll tell you them all by their names as they pass by; but mark Troilus above the rest.CressidaSpeak not so loud.Aeneas passesPandarusThat’s AEneas: is not that a brave man? he’s one of the flowers of Troy, I can tell you: but mark Troilus; you shall see anon.Antenor passesCressidaWho’s that?PandarusThat’s Antenor: he has a shrewd wit, I can tell you; and he’s a man good enough, he’s one o’ the soundest judgments in whosoever, and a proper man of person. When comes Troilus? I’ll show you Troilus anon: if he see me, you shall see him nod at me.CressidaWill he give you the nod?PandarusYou shall see.CressidaIf he do, the rich shall have more.Hector passesPandarusThat’s Hector, that, that, look you, that; there’s a fellow! Go thy way, Hector! There’s a brave man, niece. O brave Hector! Look how he looks! there’s a countenance! is’t not a brave man?CressidaO, a brave man!PandarusIs a’ not? it does a man’s heart good. Look you what hacks are on his helmet! look you yonder, do you see? look you there: there’s no jesting; there’s laying on, take’t off who will, as they say: there be hacks!CressidaBe those with swords?PandarusSwords! any thing, he cares not; an the devil come to him, it’s all one: by God’s lid, it does one’s heart good. Yonder comes Paris, yonder comes Paris.Paris passesLook ye yonder, niece; is’t not a gallant man too, is’t not? Why, this is brave now. Who said he came hurt home to-day? he’s not hurt: why, this will do Helen’s heart good now, ha! Would I could see Troilus now! You shall see Troilus anon.Helenus passesCressidaWho’s that?PandarusThat’s Helenus. I marvel where Troilus is. That’s Helenus. I think he went not forth to-day. That’s Helenus.CressidaCan Helenus fight, uncle?PandarusHelenus? no. Yes, he’ll fight indifferent well. I marvel where Troilus is. Hark! do you not hear the people cry ‘Troilus’? Helenus is a priest.CressidaWhat sneaking fellow comes yonder?Troilus passesPandarusWhere? yonder? that’s Deiphobus. ‘Tis Troilus! there’s a man, niece! Hem! Brave Troilus! the prince of chivalry!CressidaPeace, for shame, peace!PandarusMark him; note him. O brave Troilus! Look well upon him, niece: look you how his sword is bloodied, and his helm more hacked than Hector’s, and how he looks, and how he goes! O admirable youth! he ne’er saw three and twenty. Go thy way, Troilus, go thy way! Had I a sister were a grace, or a daughter a goddess, he should take his choice. O admirable man! Paris? Paris is dirt to him; and, I warrant, Helen, to change, would give an eye to boot.CressidaHere come more.Forces passPandarusAsses, fools, dolts! chaff and bran, chaff and bran! porridge after meat! I could live and die i’ the eyes of Troilus. Ne’er look, ne’er look: the eagles are gone: crows and daws, crows and daws! I had rather be such a man as Troilus than Agamemnon and all Greece.CressidaThere is among the Greeks Achilles, a better man than Troilus.PandarusAchilles! a drayman, a porter, a very camel.CressidaWell, well.Pandarus’Well, well!’ why, have you any discretion? have you any eyes? Do you know what a man is? Is not birth, beauty, good shape, discourse, manhood, learning, gentleness, virtue, youth, liberality, and such like, the spice and salt that season a man?CressidaAy, a minced man: and then to be baked with no date in the pie, for then the man’s date’s out.PandarusYou are such a woman! one knows not at what ward you lie.CressidaUpon my back, to defend my belly; upon my wit, to defend my wiles; upon my secrecy, to defend mine honesty; my mask, to defend my beauty; and you, to defend all these: and at all these wards I lie, at a thousand watches.PandarusSay one of your watches.CressidaNay, I’ll watch you for that; and that’s one of the chiefest of them too: if I cannot ward what I would not have hit, I can watch you for telling how I took the blow; unless it swell past hiding, and then it’s past watching.PandarusYou are such another!Enter Troilus’s BoyBoySir, my lord would instantly speak with you.PandarusWhere?BoyAt your own house; there he unarms him.PandarusGood boy, tell him I come.Exit boyI doubt he be hurt. Fare ye well, good niece.CressidaAdieu, uncle.PandarusI’ll be with you, niece, by and by.CressidaTo bring, uncle?PandarusAy, a token from Troilus.CressidaBy the same token, you are a bawd.Exit PandarusWords, vows, gifts, tears, and love’s full sacrifice, He offers in another’s enterprise; But more in Troilus thousand fold I see Than in the glass of Pandar’s praise may be; Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing: Things won are done; joy’s soul lies in the doing. That she beloved knows nought that knows not this: Men prize the thing ungain’d more than it is: That she was never yet that ever knew Love got so sweet as when desire did sue. Therefore this maxim out of love I teach: Achievement is command; ungain’d, beseech: Then though my heart’s content firm love doth bear, Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.Exeunt

William Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, Act I

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William Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene II

• William Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene II

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• Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses
• Current Events This Week: January 2023
• African Americans by the Numbers
• Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
• The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales