TPTT The History of Troilus and Cressida: ACT I
Introduction
PROLOGUE
ACT I
SCENE I. Troy. Before Priam's palace.
SCENE II. The Same. A street.
SCENE III. The Grecian camp. Before Agamemnon's tent.
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
Feedback
  Search:   
for:

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More
SCENE III. The Grecian camp. Before Agamemnon's tent.
Sennet. Enter AGAMEMNON, NESTOR, ULYSSES, MENELAUS, and others
AGAMEMNON
      Princes,
      What grief hath set the jaundice on your cheeks?
      The ample proposition that hope makes
      In all designs begun on earth below
5     Fails in the promised largeness: cheques and disasters
      Grow in the veins of actions highest rear'd,
      As knots, by the conflux of meeting sap,
      Infect the sound pine and divert his grain
      Tortive and errant from his course of growth.
10    Nor, princes, is it matter new to us
      That we come short of our suppose so far
      That after seven years' siege yet Troy walls stand;
      Sith every action that hath gone before,
      Whereof we have record, trial did draw
15    Bias and thwart, not answering the aim,
      And that unbodied figure of the thought
      That gave't surmised shape. Why then, you princes,
      Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works,
      And call them shames? which are indeed nought else
20    But the protractive trials of great Jove
      To find persistive constancy in men:
      The fineness of which metal is not found
      In fortune's love; for then the bold and coward,
      The wise and fool, the artist and unread,
25    The hard and soft seem all affined and kin:
      But, in the wind and tempest of her frown,
      Distinction, with a broad and powerful fan,
      Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
      And what hath mass or matter, by itself
30    Lies rich in virtue and unmingled.
NESTOR
      With due observance of thy godlike seat,
      Great Agamemnon, Nestor shall apply
      Thy latest words. In the reproof of chance
      Lies the true proof of men: the sea being smooth,
35    How many shallow bauble boats dare sail
      Upon her patient breast, making their way
      With those of nobler bulk!
      But let the ruffian Boreas once enrage
      The gentle Thetis, and anon behold
40    The strong-ribb'd bark through liquid mountains cut,
      Bounding between the two moist elements,
      Like Perseus' horse: where's then the saucy boat
      Whose weak untimber'd sides but even now
      Co-rivall'd greatness? Either to harbour fled,
45    Or made a toast for Neptune. Even so
      Doth valour's show and valour's worth divide
      In storms of fortune; for in her ray and brightness
      The herd hath more annoyance by the breeze
      Than by the tiger; but when the splitting wind
50    Makes flexible the knees of knotted oaks,
      And flies fled under shade, why, then the thing of courage
      As roused with rage with rage doth sympathize,
      And with an accent tuned in selfsame key
      Retorts to chiding fortune.
ULYSSES
55    Agamemnon,
      Thou great commander, nerve and bone of Greece,
      Heart of our numbers, soul and only spirit.
      In whom the tempers and the minds of all
      Should be shut up, hear what Ulysses speaks.
60    Besides the applause and approbation To which,

To AGAMEMNON

      most mighty for thy place and sway,

To NESTOR

      And thou most reverend for thy stretch'd-out life
      I give to both your speeches, which were such
      As Agamemnon and the hand of Greece
65    Should hold up high in brass, and such again
      As venerable Nestor, hatch'd in silver,
      Should with a bond of air, strong as the axle-tree
      On which heaven rides, knit all the Greekish ears
      To his experienced tongue, yet let it please both,
70    Thou great, and wise, to hear Ulysses speak.
AGAMEMNON
      Speak, prince of Ithaca; and be't of less expect
      That matter needless, of importless burden,
      Divide thy lips, than we are confident,
      When rank Thersites opes his mastic jaws,
75    We shall hear music, wit and oracle.
ULYSSES
      Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,
      And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master,
      But for these instances.
      The specialty of rule hath been neglected:
80    And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand
      Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow factions.
      When that the general is not like the hive
      To whom the foragers shall all repair,
      What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded,
85    The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.
      The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre
      Observe degree, priority and place,
      Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
      Office and custom, in all line of order;
90    And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
      In noble eminence enthroned and sphered
      Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye
      Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
      And posts, like the commandment of a king,
95    Sans cheque to good and bad: but when the planets
      In evil mixture to disorder wander,
      What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!
      What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!
      Commotion in the winds! frights, changes, horrors,
100   Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
      The unity and married calm of states
      Quite from their fixure! O, when degree is shaked,
      Which is the ladder to all high designs,
      Then enterprise is sick! How could communities,
105   Degrees in schools and brotherhoods in cities,
      Peaceful commerce from dividable shores,
      The primogenitive and due of birth,
      Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,
      But by degree, stand in authentic place?
110   Take but degree away, untune that string,
      And, hark, what discord follows! each thing meets
      In mere oppugnancy: the bounded waters
      Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores
      And make a sop of all this solid globe:
115   Strength should be lord of imbecility,
      And the rude son should strike his father dead:
      Force should be right; or rather, right and wrong,
      Between whose endless jar justice resides,
      Should lose their names, and so should justice too.
120   Then every thing includes itself in power,
      Power into will, will into appetite;
      And appetite, an universal wolf,
      So doubly seconded with will and power,
      Must make perforce an universal prey,
125   And last eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
      This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
      Follows the choking.
      And this neglection of degree it is
      That by a pace goes backward, with a purpose
130   It hath to climb. The general's disdain'd
      By him one step below, he by the next,
      That next by him beneath; so every step,
      Exampled by the first pace that is sick
      Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
135   Of pale and bloodless emulation:
      And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot,
      Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
      Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
NESTOR
      Most wisely hath Ulysses here discover'd
140   The fever whereof all our power is sick.
AGAMEMNON
      The nature of the sickness found, Ulysses,
      What is the remedy?
ULYSSES
      The great Achilles, whom opinion crowns
      The sinew and the forehand of our host,
145   Having his ear full of his airy fame,
      Grows dainty of his worth, and in his tent
      Lies mocking our designs: with him Patroclus
      Upon a lazy bed the livelong day
      Breaks scurril jests;
150   And with ridiculous and awkward action,
      Which, slanderer, he imitation calls,
      He pageants us. Sometime, great Agamemnon,
      Thy topless deputation he puts on,
      And, like a strutting player, whose conceit
155   Lies in his hamstring, and doth think it rich
      To hear the wooden dialogue and sound
      'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage,--
      Such to-be-pitied and o'er-wrested seeming
      He acts thy greatness in: and when he speaks,
160   'Tis like a chime a-mending; with terms unsquared,
      Which, from the tongue of roaring Typhon dropp'd
      Would seem hyperboles. At this fusty stuff
      The large Achilles, on his press'd bed lolling,
      From his deep chest laughs out a loud applause;
165   Cries 'Excellent! 'tis Agamemnon just.
      Now play me Nestor; hem, and stroke thy beard,
      As he being drest to some oration.'
      That's done, as near as the extremest ends
      Of parallels, as like as Vulcan and his wife:
170   Yet god Achilles still cries 'Excellent!
      'Tis Nestor right. Now play him me, Patroclus,
      Arming to answer in a night alarm.'
      And then, forsooth, the faint defects of age
      Must be the scene of mirth; to cough and spit,
175   And, with a palsy-fumbling on his gorget,
      Shake in and out the rivet: and at this sport
      Sir Valour dies; cries 'O, enough, Patroclus;
      Or give me ribs of steel! I shall split all
      In pleasure of my spleen.' And in this fashion,
180   All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
      Severals and generals of grace exact,
      Achievements, plots, orders, preventions,
      Excitements to the field, or speech for truce,
      Success or loss, what is or is not, serves
185   As stuff for these two to make paradoxes.
NESTOR
      And in the imitation of these twain--
      Who, as Ulysses says, opinion crowns
      With an imperial voice--many are infect.
      Ajax is grown self-will'd, and bears his head
190   In such a rein, in full as proud a place
      As broad Achilles; keeps his tent like him;
      Makes factious feasts; rails on our state of war,
      Bold as an oracle, and sets Thersites,
      A slave whose gall coins slanders like a mint,
195   To match us in comparisons with dirt,
      To weaken and discredit our exposure,
      How rank soever rounded in with danger.
ULYSSES
      They tax our policy, and call it cowardice,
      Count wisdom as no member of the war,
200   Forestall prescience, and esteem no act
      But that of hand: the still and mental parts,
      That do contrive how many hands shall strike,
      When fitness calls them on, and know by measure
      Of their observant toil the enemies' weight,--
205   Why, this hath not a finger's dignity:
      They call this bed-work, mappery, closet-war;
      So that the ram that batters down the wall,
      For the great swing and rudeness of his poise,
      They place before his hand that made the engine,
210   Or those that with the fineness of their souls
      By reason guide his execution.
NESTOR
      Let this be granted, and Achilles' horse
      Makes many Thetis' sons.
A tucket
AGAMEMNON
      What trumpet? look, Menelaus.
MENELAUS
215   From Troy.
Enter AENEAS
AGAMEMNON
      What would you 'fore our tent?
AENEAS
      Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?
AGAMEMNON
      Even this.
AENEAS
      May one, that is a herald and a prince,
220   Do a fair message to his kingly ears?
AGAMEMNON
      With surety stronger than Achilles' arm
      'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice
      Call Agamemnon head and general.
AENEAS
      Fair leave and large security. How may
225   A stranger to those most imperial looks
      Know them from eyes of other mortals?
AGAMEMNON
      How!
AENEAS
      Ay;
      I ask, that I might waken reverence,
230   And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
      Modest as morning when she coldly eyes
      The youthful Phoebus:
      Which is that god in office, guiding men?
      Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?
AGAMEMNON
235   This Trojan scorns us; or the men of Troy
      Are ceremonious courtiers.
AENEAS
      Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,
      As bending angels; that's their fame in peace:
      But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls,
240   Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and,
      Jove's accord,
      Nothing so full of heart. But peace, AEneas,
      Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips!
      The worthiness of praise distains his worth,
245   If that the praised himself bring the praise forth:
      But what the repining enemy commends,
      That breath fame blows; that praise, sole sure,
      transcends.
AGAMEMNON
      Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself AEneas?
AENEAS
250   Ay, Greek, that is my name.
AGAMEMNON
      What's your affair I pray you?
AENEAS
      Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.
AGAMEMNON
      He hears naught privately that comes from Troy.
AENEAS
      Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him:
255   I bring a trumpet to awake his ear,
      To set his sense on the attentive bent,
      And then to speak.
AGAMEMNON
      Speak frankly as the wind;
      It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour:
260   That thou shalt know. Trojan, he is awake,
      He tells thee so himself.
AENEAS
      Trumpet, blow loud,
      Send thy brass voice through all these lazy tents;
      And every Greek of mettle, let him know,
265   What Troy means fairly shall be spoke aloud.

Trumpet sounds

      We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
      A prince call'd Hector,--Priam is his father,--
      Who in this dull and long-continued truce
      Is rusty grown: he bade me take a trumpet,
270   And to this purpose speak. Kings, princes, lords!
      If there be one among the fair'st of Greece
      That holds his honour higher than his ease,
      That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril,
      That knows his valour, and knows not his fear,
275   That loves his mistress more than in confession,
      With truant vows to her own lips he loves,
      And dare avow her beauty and her worth
      In other arms than hers,--to him this challenge.
      Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
280   Shall make it good, or do his best to do it,
      He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer,
      Than ever Greek did compass in his arms,
      And will to-morrow with his trumpet call
      Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,
285   To rouse a Grecian that is true in love:
      If any come, Hector shall honour him;
      If none, he'll say in Troy when he retires,
      The Grecian dames are sunburnt and not worth
      The splinter of a lance. Even so much.
AGAMEMNON
290   This shall be told our lovers, Lord AEneas;
      If none of them have soul in such a kind,
      We left them all at home: but we are soldiers;
      And may that soldier a mere recreant prove,
      That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
295   If then one is, or hath, or means to be,
      That one meets Hector; if none else, I am he.
NESTOR
      Tell him of Nestor, one that was a man
      When Hector's grandsire suck'd: he is old now;
      But if there be not in our Grecian host
300   One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
      To answer for his love, tell him from me
      I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
      And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn,
      And meeting him will tell him that my lady
305   Was fairer than his grandam and as chaste
      As may be in the world: his youth in flood,
      I'll prove this truth with my three drops of blood.
AENEAS
      Now heavens forbid such scarcity of youth!
ULYSSES
      Amen.
AGAMEMNON
310   Fair Lord AEneas, let me touch your hand;
      To our pavilion shall I lead you, sir.
      Achilles shall have word of this intent;
      So shall each lord of Greece, from tent to tent:
      Yourself shall feast with us before you go
315   And find the welcome of a noble foe.
Exeunt all but ULYSSES and NESTOR
ULYSSES
      Nestor!
NESTOR
      What says Ulysses?
ULYSSES
      I have a young conception in my brain;
      Be you my time to bring it to some shape.
NESTOR
320   What is't?
ULYSSES
      This 'tis:
      Blunt wedges rive hard knots: the seeded pride
      That hath to this maturity blown up
      In rank Achilles must or now be cropp'd,
325   Or, shedding, breed a nursery of like evil,
      To overbulk us all.
NESTOR
      Well, and how?
ULYSSES
      This challenge that the gallant Hector sends,
      However it is spread in general name,
330   Relates in purpose only to Achilles.
NESTOR
      The purpose is perspicuous even as substance,
      Whose grossness little characters sum up:
      And, in the publication, make no strain,
      But that Achilles, were his brain as barren
335   As banks of Libya,--though, Apollo knows,
      'Tis dry enough,--will, with great speed of judgment,
      Ay, with celerity, find Hector's purpose
      Pointing on him.
ULYSSES
      And wake him to the answer, think you?
NESTOR
340   Yes, 'tis most meet: whom may you else oppose,
      That can from Hector bring his honour off,
      If not Achilles? Though't be a sportful combat,
      Yet in the trial much opinion dwells;
      For here the Trojans taste our dear'st repute
345   With their finest palate: and trust to me, Ulysses,
      Our imputation shall be oddly poised
      In this wild action; for the success,
      Although particular, shall give a scantling
      Of good or bad unto the general;
350   And in such indexes, although small pricks
      To their subsequent volumes, there is seen
      The baby figure of the giant mass
      Of things to come at large. It is supposed
      He that meets Hector issues from our choice
355   And choice, being mutual act of all our souls,
      Makes merit her election, and doth boil,
      As 'twere from us all, a man distill'd
      Out of our virtues; who miscarrying,
      What heart receives from hence the conquering part,
360   To steel a strong opinion to themselves?
      Which entertain'd, limbs are his instruments,
      In no less working than are swords and bows
      Directive by the limbs.
ULYSSES
      Give pardon to my speech:
365   Therefore 'tis meet Achilles meet not Hector.
      Let us, like merchants, show our foulest wares,
      And think, perchance, they'll sell; if not,
      The lustre of the better yet to show,
      Shall show the better. Do not consent
370   That ever Hector and Achilles meet;
      For both our honour and our shame in this
      Are dogg'd with two strange followers.
NESTOR
      I see them not with my old eyes: what are they?
ULYSSES
      What glory our Achilles shares from Hector,
375   Were he not proud, we all should share with him:
      But he already is too insolent;
      And we were better parch in Afric sun
      Than in the pride and salt scorn of his eyes,
      Should he 'scape Hector fair: if he were foil'd,
380   Why then, we did our main opinion crush
      In taint of our best man. No, make a lottery;
      And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw
      The sort to fight with Hector: among ourselves
      Give him allowance for the better man;
385   For that will physic the great Myrmidon
      Who broils in loud applause, and make him fall
      His crest that prouder than blue Iris bends.
      If the dull brainless Ajax come safe off,
      We'll dress him up in voices: if he fail,
390   Yet go we under our opinion still
      That we have better men. But, hit or miss,
      Our project's life this shape of sense assumes:
      Ajax employ'd plucks down Achilles' plumes.
NESTOR
      Ulysses,
395   Now I begin to relish thy advice;
      And I will give a taste of it forthwith
      To Agamemnon: go we to him straight.
      Two curs shall tame each other: pride alone
      Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone.
Exeunt
Return to top of page ... or ... Go to next scene