Troilus and Cressida

charity. Cassandra

It is the purpose that makes strong the vow;
But vows to every purpose must not hold:
Unarm, sweet Hector.

Hector

Hold you still, I say;
Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:
Lie every man holds dear; but the brave man
Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.

Enter Troilus. How now, young man! mean’st thou to fight to-day? Andromache Cassandra, call my father to persuade. Exit Cassandra. Hector

No, faith, young Troilus; doff thy harness, youth;
I am to-day i’ the vein of chivalry:
Let grow thy sinews till their knots be strong,
And tempt not yet the brushes of the war.
Unarm thee, go, and doubt thou not, brave boy,
I’ll stand to-day for thee and me and Troy.

Troilus

Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,
Which better fits a lion than a man.

Hector What vice is that, good Troilus? chide me for it. Troilus

When many times the captive Grecian falls,
Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,
You bid them rise, and live.

Hector O, ’tis fair play. Troilus Fool’s play, by heaven, Hector. Hector How now! how now! Troilus

For the love of all the gods,
Let’s leave the hermit pity with our mothers,
And when we have our armours buckled on,
The venom’d vengeance ride upon our swords,
Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.

Hector Fie, savage, fie! Troilus Hector, then ’tis wars. Hector Troilus, I would not have you fight to-day. Troilus

Who should withhold me?
Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars
Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;
Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,
Their eyes o’ergalled with recourse of tears;
Not you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,
But by my ruin.

Re-enter Cassandra, with Priam. Cassandra

Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast:
He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay,
Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee,
Fall all together.

Priam

Come, Hector, come, go back:
Thy wife hath dream’d; thy mother hath had visions;
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt
To tell thee that this day is ominous:
Therefore, come back.

Hector

Aeneas is afield;
And I do stand engaged to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.

Priam Ay, but thou shalt not go. Hector

I must not break my faith.
You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
Let me not shame respect; but give me leave
To take that course by your consent and voice,
Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam.

Cassandra O Priam, yield not to him! Andromache Do not, dear father. Hector

Andromache, I am offended with you:
Upon the love you bear me, get you in. Exit Andromache.

Troilus

This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.

Cassandra

O, farewell, dear Hector!
Look, how thou diest! look, how thy eye turns pale!
Look, how thy wounds do bleed at many vents!
Hark, how Troy roars! how Hecuba cries out!
How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth!
Behold, distraction, frenzy and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,
And all cry, Hector! Hector’s dead! O Hector!

Troilus Away! away! Cassandra

Farewell: yet, soft! Hector, I take my leave:
Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive. Exit.

Hector

You are amazed, my liege, at her exclaim:
Go in and cheer the town: we’ll forth and fight,
Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night.

Priam Farewell: the gods with safety stand about thee! Exeunt severally Priam and Hector. Alarums. Troilus

They are at it, hark! Proud Diomed, believe,
I come to lose my arm, or win my sleeve.

Enter Pandarus. Pandarus Do you hear, my lord? do you hear? Troilus What now? Pandarus Here’s a letter come from yond poor girl. Troilus Let me read. Pandarus A whoreson tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick so troubles me, and the foolish fortune of 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 cursed, I cannot tell what to think on’t. What says she there? Troilus

Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart:
The effect doth operate another way. Tearing the letter.
Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together.
My love with words and errors still she feeds;
But edifies another with her deeds. Exeunt severally.

Scene IV

Plains between Troy and the Grecian camp.

	Alarums: excursions. Enter Thersites.
Thersites	Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I’ll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlets, 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 whore-masterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand. O’ the t’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 proved worthy a blackberry: they set me up, in policy, that mongrel 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 barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. Soft! here comes sleeve, and t’other.
	Enter Diomedes, Troilus following.
Troilus	Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx, I would swim after.
Diomedes	Thou dost miscall retire: I do not fly, but advantageous care Withdrew me from the odds of multitude: Have at thee!
Thersites	Hold thy whore, Grecian!⁠—now for thy whore, Trojan!⁠—now the sleeve, now the sleeve! Exeunt Troilus and Diomedes, fighting.
	Enter Hector.
Hector	What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector’s match? Art thou of blood and honour?
Thersites	No, no, I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue.
Hector	I do believe thee: live. Exit.
Thersites	God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck for frightening me! What’s become of the wenching rogues? I think they have swallowed one