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    Troilus and Cressida
    Troilus and Cressida
    Troilus and Cressida
    Ebook265 pages2 hours

    Troilus and Cressida

    By William Shakespeare

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A tragedy of jealousy and betrayal as well as a satire of the consequences of greed and lust, this drama unfolds amid the violent desperation of the Trojan War. After seven years of bloodshed, few illusions remain about the glory of war. The fate of two young lovers ― Troilus, a Trojan prince, and Cressida, the fickle daughter of a traitorous priest ― is intertwined with the exploits of Ulysses, Achilles, and other immortal figures of classical mythology.
    Based in part on Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Shakespeare's work offers a darker and more cynical vision than its predecessor. Comic, tragic, and ironic by turns, the drama shifts between the intimacy of the central romance to the broader perspective of the armies' pointless skirmishes. Frequently regarded as the most modern of Shakespeare's dramas, the play debunks heroic ideals and delivers a powerful statement about the futility of war.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateAug 14, 2015
    ISBN9780486790091
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare (1564-1616) es uno de los más grandes autores de todos los tiempos. Dramaturgo, actor y poeta, escribió casi cuarenta obras de teatro agrupadas generalmente según tres categorías: tragedias, comedias y obras históricas. Piezas como Romeo y Julieta, El mercader de Venecia, Hamlet, El rey Lear, Antonio y Cleopatra y Macbeth, por nombrar algunas de ellas, son aún a día de hoy estudiadas y representadas en todo el mundo. Su obra poética incluye, entre otros, tres poemas narrativos y ciento cincuenta y cuatro sonetos.

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    3.5/5

    9 ratings13 reviews

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    • 1/5
      I just didn't get this one. I tried print and audio and ended up going back to print to read the whole thing, but I still couldn't tell you much of anything that I read. I know my eyes moved across the page, but for some reason the words just refused to sink in. Possibly part of the problem is that I detest Ancient Greek history. I've never enjoyed it. However, I really liked Margaret George's novel Helen of Troy, so I thought I'd be okay here. I wasn't. I know it was a cultural norm both in Shakespeare's time and it seems to still be a norm today, but women being treated as property is a theme that angers me. The way Cressida was treated makes my blood boil, and I didn't see anything in her behavior that justified the label of "whore". Again, I obviously missed the message of the play. I didn't like any of the characters. I found no humor in the story. But, I finished, so I can check another of Shakespeare's plays off my to-read list.
    • 5/5
      Blissful scholarly edition of this play. For new readers, I'd recommend the Penguin or the Oxford, but the Arden really is number one for professionals and scholars.
    • 2/5
      You know what I just don't get this play. Apparently a lot of people don't get it and it's labeled one of the "problem plays", but you know what, Timon of Athens was one of those too and that play made perfect sense to me. But this one.. just seems like a bunch of random shit that happens. Looking at the wikipedia writeup (which is not really the best source for this kind of information) I see it suggested that the joke is that a variety of conventionally epic tragedies are set up, and then subverted by either not resolving themselves or resolving themselves in the sort of petty venal way they'd happen in real life. In retrospect I can kind of sort of see that but it's not funny to me. Also the structure/pacing is really bizarre. Practically nothing happens in the first four acts and then the fifth act has like a dozen scenes and takes up a third of the page count.
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorites of Shakespeare's work. It's been a LONG time since I've read it, so I plan to reread it at some point.
    • 3/5
      I didn't think that Shakespeare, one of my favorite authors, was even capable of writing a bad play. However, this one is far from perfect, especially when compared to his other works."Troilus and Cressida" is about a young man, Troilus, and his lover, Cressida. It is set during the Trojan War, and among other characters are the recognizable Achilles, Hector, Helen, and others.However, the main character's love story never seems very convincing. Troilus is constantly praising his beloved highly, while another character does his best to convince him of her low morals. And, the characters are never together all that often. Most of their supposed "romance" is via them talking or thinking about each other in separate scenes. The character of Cressida is not very built up at all. It takes a few scenes for her to enter the story, and once she does, virtually nothing about her is revealed. One catches fleeting glimpses of a feisty nature, but other than this, all we seem to really know of Cressida is that she is beautiful (as proclaimed by Troilus over and over). Shakespeare even goes so far as to say that her beauty rivals that of Helen's. I kept waiting for Shakespeare to focus a bit more on his female character, yet he never did. As a result, the love story here is not a very convincing one.Another thing that I disliked about this play was how much dialogue there was. About half the book was simply talking - and not about anything interesting, unless you love hearing about endless politics, battle strategies, and so on. These things can be interesting, but in this Renaissance play, they seemed oddly out of place. I couldn't resist skimming over them slightly, wondering where Troilus has gone to. These endless talks are not involved with the book's plot in any major way, save that the Trojan War is its setting, of course. They also seem to lead nowhere, and are simply dry and dull. I had never before seen Shakespeare write such dreadfully tedious scenes.And besides the endless talking, I disliked the ending, in which Cressida is caught being unfaithful by Troilus. After that, she simply disappears altogether! She is not brought back into the story again for the entire book, besides when a letter arrives from her. All in all, I disliked this one - something I was sure I would never say about a Shakespeare play.
    • 4/5
      This is a cynical version of incidents in the Trojan war. An over-romantic Troilus thinks he is in love with Cressida. (She has the part of a life time.) She is young, sexy, flirtatious and aware of her need to make our for herself while the time is ripe. She is traded to the Greeks for a warrior and immediately starts flirting. Troilus is devasted by this when he sees her behavior. The other incident is Achilles' murder of Hector. It is ugly.
    • 4/5
      This is the last text, chronologically, in the class I read it for, but it was the easiest to get hold of. I actually read a version with no notes or glosses, so it'll probably be interesting to go through an annotated version. Obviously I was aware of the story on the Trojan War -- unavoidable when you take Classics for GCSE and A Level -- but I didn't know much about this one.

      People are right to categorise this as a 'problem play'. It generally doesn't work to try and put things into hard and fast categories -- just look at the problems with Anglo-Saxon elegies/lyric poems -- but it can be useful. But this one defies all the categories: comedy? Tragedy? History...? None of that seems quite right.

      It's Shakespeare, though, so it's bound to be worth reading. I'm looking forward to meeting Shakespeare's sources, and getting to know them better. (I am generally against studying Shakespeare and Chaucer, in my own work, as I feel they're... overdone. Maybe even over stressed, though it's hard to overestimate Shakespeare's impact. Still, I'm very excited about this module.)
    • 3/5
      I've read all of Shakespeare's tragedies and "Troilus and Cressida" is definitely my least favorite by far. Set during the seventh year of the Trojan War, the play sprinkles a little bit of everything from romance to battle, but mostly focuses on people taunting each other. Much of action happens off-stage in the fifth act, as the actors dash on stage to mutter a few taunts and then leap off to fight with their swords. (As written anyway... I've never seen it performed.)

      Overall, I felt that Shakespeare took a story told so well in "The Iliad" (with the addition of a couple of star-crossed lovers) and made it boring. It didn't help that there seemed to be no motivation for Cressida's quick betrayal. Anyway, there are loads of Shakespeare's plays that feature similar set ups that are much better than this.
    • 5/5
      “She is a pearl, whose price hath launch'd above a thousand ships.”

      The story of the Trojan War and the beautiful Helen is well-known, but this Shakespearean tragedy about it is not. Troilus and Cressida is the story of two young Trojans caught in the midst of a nation at war. Despite being surrounded by the problems of others they find themselves falling in love. Troilus is the brother of the infamous warrior Hector and the lovesick Paris who ran away with the married Helen, incurring the wrath of the Greeks.

      The entire play is filled with passionate declarations of both love and war. The Greeks, like King Agamemnon and the hotheaded Ajax, are itching for a fight. Ajax doesn’t realize until too late that he is only a pawn in the hands of the generals. The Trojans on the other hand aren’t sure how they want to respond. Paris wants to defend Helen’s honor, but his older brother Hector has to decide if she is worth the fall of an entire nation. From his opening scene he has an impossible task. He knows the right thing to do in theory, but the obligations of honor and family loyalty prevent him from doing it.
      The play is full to the brim with remarkable supporting characters. From the tragic Cassandra, whose prophetic wails go unheeded to Pandarus, Cressida’s uncle the meddling matchmaker.

      I was surprised to find one of the most poignant wooing scenes I’ve ever come across in a play. Usually the man takes the lead in these scenes, but in this one a guarded Cressida finally reveals how much she cares for Troilus. She been attempting to play hard to get, but she can’t hide her feelings any more. She gushes then quickly chides herself, finally begging him to kiss her so she’ll stop talking.

      “And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man;
      Or that we women had men's privilege
      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,
      Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws
      My very soul of counsel: Stop my mouth.”

      This is a tricky play though because there are so many different plots. There’s the romance between Troilus and Cressida and another one between Paris and Helen. There’s the central story of war between nations. In the midst of all of this the title characters often feel secondary, which can make it hard to become invested in their relationship.

      The title may be Troilus and Cressida, but that’s really a misnomer. While their romance is sweet, it’s truly the story of the Trojan War and the dicey decisions that warriors must face in battle. What is a single life worth? For Achilles, his love for one man is enough to make him fight or to stay his hand. For the love of his brothers Hector is willing to pick up his sword. The tragedy of war is that it’s a cyclical game; one death always leads to the desire for vengeance from the other side. Grief and bloodshed fuel only more of the same and this play is a poignant reminder of that.

      BOTTOM LINE: A powerful story of the destructive force of war intertwined with a doomed love story. Bard enthusiasts must read it.  
    • 4/5
      A landmark for me. In this “Year of Reading All the Shakespeare,” this play, the twenty-first in the list, is the first one that I'd never read before and really enjoyed. To me, Titus Andronicus was a pointless gorefest, Two Gentlemen of Verona was just dumb, and King Edward III was simply incoherent, but this – well, it's not great – not a Hamlet or Macbeth or Richard II – but it's very good.

      While I'm quite familiar with the Iliad, the story of Troilus and Cressida was new to me. Aside from knowing that they were famous “sundered lovers,” I came to their story pretty much cold. So now I'm curious about Chaucer's take on their tale.

      Shakespeare keeps to tradition with some characters – Hector is noble, Ulysses is crafty, Nestor is … verbose – but several “regulars” lose the sheen they generally have and are merely (if fairly plausibly) thugs (or, in Helen's case, a “floozy”). Achilles in particular, comes off dreadfully. Thersites, though, who I didn't even remember from the Iliad, is transformed from “nonentity” in Homer to a vividly realized dynamo of evil in Shakespeare's play. His equal opportunity hatred for everyone and everything – Greek or Trojan, male or female – is almost overwhelming in its intensity. Pandarus, another character from the Iliad I'd completely forgotten about, is also memorable in Shakespeare's telling, though in his case it is his sheer creepiness that makes him stand out. Marjorie Garber, in her brilliant Shakespeare After All, points out Pandarus's similarities to Juliet's nurse (in Romeo and Juliet), but, while the nurse is certainly foolish and shows an unwholesome enthusiasm for her young charge's deflowering, her prurience is nothing next to that of Cressida's uncle. Pandarus's eagerness to put his niece and the Trojan prince in bed together and his salacious comments in regard to their activities there are impressively icky. Cressida, unattractive though she is (except physically, I suppose) is at least interesting. A practical girl, with no illusions about her status as an object to be sold. The frequent comparisons between Helen and Cressida, so similar in appearance that the only difference is said to be that Cressida's hair is a shade darker, highlight the hypocrisies of their varying treatments. As Troilus says in the meeting over whether to return Helen and thus end the war...
      ”Were it not glory that we more affected
      Than the performance of our heaving spleens,
      I would not wish a drop of Trojan blood
      Spent more in her defense. But, worthy Hector,
      She is a theme of honor and renown,
      A spur to valiant and magnanimous deeds,
      Whose present courage may beat down our foes,
      And fame in time to come canonize us”

      Cressida, however, is traded to the Greeks in return for a captured Trojan leader without a second thought (we are spared the scene where Paris prances around Priam's palace teasing Troilus with a rousing rendition of “Mom and Dad and everyone love me best!). Poor Troilus. He gets marquee status, but his character is distinctly lacking in pizazz. The play's “Ken doll,” he gets the girl, only to immediately lose her to a more powerful, more interesting man. Oh well. Their long term prospects weren't promising anyway.

      Along with reading the Folger Shakespeare Library edition, which has reasonable size print and fine notes, I listened to the Arkangel recording of this play, which is very well done. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      Shakespeare's brutal and brilliant deconstruction of the Iliad is one of the most enjoyable surprises I've had in reading. Achilles is a brute and a fraud. Ajax is a chivalrous dunce. Agamemnon is a cipher. Menelaus is just a cuckold. Ulysses and Nestor are puppeteers whose main military virtue is their ability to manipulate the two strongmen. Thersites isn't a troublemaker but the most bitter of Shakespeare's jesters, tolerated by the powerful Grecians instead of beaten. Hector on the other hand is even nobler than he was in the Iliad and is murdered in the most cowardly way imaginable.

      Nothing is more surprising that the characters of the star crossed lovers, whose story ends with the woman changing her heart with her fortune and her enraged former lover consigning her to blazes and becoming a cruel killing machine. The play thus ends not with the tragic deaths of the lovers but with Cressida's pandering uncle complaining about the physical ailments his career has caused him.


      Did I say that Shakespeare was deconstructing Homer? On second thought, Shakespeare was deconstructing Shakespeare.
    • 4/5
      ** spoiler alert **

      This is a pretty good play. It doesn't fit the usual categories, being filled with comic scenes and speeches but following with an abrupt bleak ending. I found the dialogue throughout to be entertaining and clever, and the spoof of the Iliad very funny. The eponymous love affair is satirical. Troilus is a narcissistic and wordy brat, and Cressida a rather winning girl who can't say no. The love affair is at best a subplot to the Iliad satire, and it's most entertaining character the go-between Pandarus, who remarks that his name will be inherited by all panders to follow. Most of the main Iliad characters are presented satirically. All ends in a lengthy battle with many short scenes of individual combat, ending with the death of Hector in a rather unheroic attack by Achilles and his Myrmidons. Then a final comic soliloquy by Pandarus. If you like bawdy Shakespeare there is a lot of it here, including a large stock of gay humor in the Greek camp.
    • 3/5
      This is one of Shakespeare's problem plays, meaning it doesn't fit neatly into the category of tragedy or comedy, but occupies its own hybrid niche. "Black comedy" or "scathing satire" would probably be a fairly apt description for this outing. It's actually a lot of fun to read, especially if you like humor flavored with a heavy dose of cynicism.

      The "romantic" leads of the play's title, Troilus and Cressida, are no Romeo and Juliet. Not even by a long shot. Troilus is a superficial lad, concerned only with glory and momentary pleasures, and his love for Cressida lasts only about as long as her maidenhood. Cressida is just as fickle as her lover, swiftly shifting her physical affections to the enemy camp when she gets traded for ransom.

      This play is very anachronistic. It's not the sort of tale that resides in the ancient dusty battles of Greek times; it's very much a product of Shakespeare's era. This is what makes it such an interesting read for me. It reflects the rapidly changing world of a burgeoning global market, a place where chaos, hypocrisy, and corruption were rife. There are numerous references in the play to venereal disease, especially the notorious pox (syphilis), which was just beginning its lengthy reign in Europe.

      I do love it when Shakespeare gets gross, and he obliges his disgusting side with unapologetic alacrity here. "Thou crusty botch of nature", "thou sarsenet flap for a sore eye", and so on.. Shakespeare is a demigod when it comes to heinous insults, and Troilus and Cressida is brimful of humdingers.

      I also love Shakespeare plays for the treasure-trove of words, some of which should still be in use instead of being consigned to obscurity.
      Two words from this play that caught my fancy:

      Oppugnancy - meaning opposition. I like its bouncy character, like a rubber ball on the tongue.

      Gloze - a verb meaning to comment, make excuses for, or to use ingratiating language.

    Book preview

    Troilus and Cressida - William Shakespeare

    Troilus and Cressida

    William Shakespeare

    DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

    Mineola, New York

    DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

    GENERAL EDITOR: MARY CAROLYN WALDREP

    EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: ALISON DAURIO

    Copyright

    Copyright © 2015 by Dover Publications, Inc.

    All rights reserved.

    Theatrical Rights

    This Dover Thrift Edition may be used in its entirety, in adaptation, or in any other way for theatrical productions, professional and amateur, in the United States, without fee, permission, or acknowledgment. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.)

    Bibliographical Note

    This Dover edition, first published in 2015, contains the unabridged text of Troilus and Cressida as published in Volume XVI of The Caxton Edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Caxton Publishing Company, London, n.d. The introductory Note was prepared specially for this edition, and the explanatory footnotes from the Caxton edition have been revised.

    International Standard Book Number

    eISBN-13: 978-0-486-79009-1

    Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

    79698101 2015

    www.doverpublications.com

    Note

    W

    ILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

    (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Although much of his early life remains sketchy, it is known that he moved to London around 1589 to earn his way as an actor and playwright. He joined an acting company known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594, a decision that finally enabled him to share in the financial success of his plays. Only eighteen of his thirty-seven plays were published during his lifetime and these were usually sold directly to theater companies and printed in quartos, or single-play editions, without his approval.

    Written around 1602, Troilus and Cressida puts two young lovers in the midst of the Trojan War. Finding the fate of their relationship intertwined with Ulysses, Achilles, Agamemnon, Priam, and other figures from The Iliad, they must cope with infidelity, jealousy, betrayal, lust, and greed.

    DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

    P

    RIAM,

    king of Troy.

    M

    ARGARELON,

    a bastard son of Priam.

    C

    ALCHAS,

    a Trojan priest, taking part with the Greeks.

    P

    ANDARUS,

    uncle to Cressida.

    A

    GAMEMNON,

    the Grecian general.

    M

    ENELAUS,

    his brother.

    T

    HERSITES,

    a deformed and scurrilous Grecian.

    A

    LEXANDER,

    servant to Cressida.

    Servant to Troilus.

    Servant to Paris.

    Servant to Diomedes.

    H

    ELEN,

    wife to Menelaus.

    A

    NDROMACHE,

    wife to Hector.

    C

    ASSANDRA,

    daughter to Priam; a prophetess.

    C

    RESSIDA,

    daughter to Calchas.

    Trojan and Greek Soldiers, and Attendants.

    S

    CENE:

    Troy, and the Grecian camp

    PROLOGUE

    In Troy there lies the scene. From isles of Greece

    The princes orgulous, their high blood chafed, [2]

    Have to the port of Athens sent their ships,

    Fraught with the ministers and instruments

    Of cruel war: sixty and nine, that wore

    Their crownets regal, from the Athenian bay [6]

    Put forth toward Phrygia, and their vow is made

    To ransack Troy, within whose strong immures [8]

    The ravish’d Helen, Menelaus’ queen,

    With wanton Paris sleeps; and that’s the quarrel. [10]

    To Tenedos they come;

    And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge

    Their warlike fraughtage: now on Dardan plains [13]

    The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch

    Their brave pavilions: Priam’s six-gated city,

    Dardan, and Timbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien,

    And Antenorides, with massy staples,

    And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts, [18]

    Sperr up the sons of Troy. [19]

    Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, [20]

    On one and other side, Trojan and Greek,

    Sets all on hazard: and hither am I come [22]

    A prologue arm’d, but not in confidence

    Of author’s pen or actor’s voice, but suited

    In like conditions as our argument,

    To tell you, fair beholders, that our play

    Leaps o’er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils, [27]

    Beginning in the middle; starting thence away

    To what may be digested in a play.

    Like, or find fault; do as your pleasures are: [30]

    Now good or bad, ’t is but the chance of war.

    2 orgulous] proud, haughty.

    6 crownets] coronets.

    8 immures] fortified walls.

    13 fraughtage] freightage, cargo.

    18 corresponsive and fulfilling] close fitting and well fastening.

    19 Sperr up] To sperr, i.e., bar, the gate was a common Elizabethan expression.

    22 Sets all on hazard] Exposes everything to risks of battle.

    27 vaunt] vanguard.

    Contents

    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

    Scene I. The Grecian Camp

    Scene II. Troy. A Room in Priam’s Palace

    Scene III. The Grecian Camp. Before The Tent of Achilles

    Act III

    Scene I. Troy. A Room in Priam’s Palace

    Scene II. An Orchard to Pandarus’ House

    Scene III. The Grecian Camp

    Act IV

    Scene I. Troy. A Street

    Scene II. Court of Pandarus’ House

    Scene III. Before Pandarus’ House

    Scene IV. A Room in Pandarus’ House

    Scene V. The Grecian Camp. Lists Set Out

    Act V

    Scene I. The Grecian Camp. Before Achilles’ Tent

    Scene II. The Same. Before Calchas’ Tent

    Scene III. Troy. Before Priam’s Palace

    Scene IV. The Field Between Troy and the Grecian Camp

    Scene VI. Another Part of the Field

    Scene VII. Another Part of the Field

    Scene VIII. Another Part of the Field

    Scene IX. Another Part of the Field

    Scene X. Another Part of the Field

    ACT I.

    SCENE I. Troy. Before Priam’s Palace.

    Enter P

    ANDARUS

    and T

    ROILUS

    Troilus. Call here my varlet; [1]

    I’ll unarm again:

    Why should I war without the walls of Troy,

    That find such cruel battle here within?

    Each Trojan that is master of his heart,

    Let him to field; Troilus, alas, hath none!

    P

    AN.

    Will this gear ne’er be mended? [7]

    T

    RO.

    The Greeks are strong and skilful to their strength, [8]

    Fierce to their skill and to their fierceness valiant,

    But I am weaker than a woman’s tear, [10]

    Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance, [11]

    Less valiant than the virgin in the night,

    And skilless as unpractised infancy.

    P

    AN.

    Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I’ll not meddle nor make no farther. He that will have a cake out of [15] the wheat must needs tarry the grinding.

    T

    RO.

    Have I not tarried?

    P

    AN.

    Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting. [18]

    T

    RO.

    Have I not tarried?

    P

    AN.

    Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening. [20]

    T

    RO.

    Still have I tarried.

    P

    AN.

    Ay, to the leavening; but here’s yet in the word hereafter,after," the kneading, the making of the cake, the heating of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.

    T

    RO.

    Patience herself, what goddess e’er she be,

    Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do. [27]

    At Priam’s royal table do I sit;

    And when fair Cressid comes into my thoughts,—

    So, traitor!—When she comes!—When is she thence? [30]

    P

    AN.

    Well, she looked yesternight fairer than ever I saw her look, or any woman else.

    T

    RO.

    I was about to tell thee:—when my heart,

    As wedged with a sigh, would rive in twain,

    Lest Hector or my father should perceive me,

    I have, as when the sun doth light a storm,

    Buried this sigh in wrinkle of a smile:

    But sorrow, that is couch’d in seeming gladness,

    Is like that mirth fate turns to sudden sadness.

    P

    AN.

    An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen’s— [40] well, go to—there were no more comparison between the women: but, for my part, she is my kinswoman; I would not, as they term it, praise her: but I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did. I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra’s wit, but—

    T

    RO.

    O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,—

    When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown’d,

    Reply not in how many fathoms deep

    They lie indrench’d. I tell thee, I am mad

    In Cressid’s love: thou answer’st she is fair;

    Pour’st in the open ulcer of my heart [50]

    Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice,

    Handlest in thy discourse, O, that her hand, [52]

    In whose comparison all whites are ink

    Writing their own reproach, to whose soft seizure [54]

    The cygnet’s down is harsh, and spirit of sense

    Hard as the palm of ploughman: this thou tell’st me, [56]

    As true thou tell’st me, when I say I love her;

    But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm,

    Thou lay’st in every gash that love hath given me

    The knife that made it. [60]

    P

    AN.

    I speak no more than truth.

    T

    RO.

    Thou dost not speak so much.

    P

    AN.

    Faith, I’ll not meddle in ’t. Let her be as she is: if she be fair, ’t is the better for her; an she be not, she has the mends in [64] her own hands.

    TRO. Good Pandarus, how now, Pandarus!

    P

    AN.

    I have had my labour for my travail; ill-thought on of her, and ill-thought on of you: gone between and between, but [68] small thanks for my labour.

    T

    RO.

    What, art thou angry, Pandarus? what, with me? [70]

    P

    AN.

    Because she’s kin to me, therefore she’s not so fair as Helen: an she were not kin to me, she would be as fair on Friday [72] as Helen is on Sunday. But what care I? I care not an she were a black-a-moor; ’t is all one to me.

    T

    RO.

    Say I she is not fair?

    P

    AN.

    I do not care whether you do or no. She’s a fool to stay behind her father; let her to the Greeks; and so I’ll tell her the [77] next time I see her: for my part, I’ll meddle nor make no more i’ the matter.

    T

    RO.

    Pandarus,— [80]

    P

    AN.

    Not I.

    T

    RO.

    Sweet Pandarus,—

    P

    AN.

    Pray you, speak no more to me: I will leave all as I found it, and there an end. [ Exit. An alarum.

    T

    RO.

    Peace, you ungracious clamours! peace, rude sounds!

    Fools on both sides! Helen must needs be fair,

    When with your blood you daily paint her thus.

    I cannot fight upon this argument;

    It is too starved a subject for my sword.

    But Pandarus—O gods, how do you plague me! [90]

    I cannot come to Cressid but by Pandar;

    And he’s as tetchy to be woo’d to woo [92]

    As she is stubborn-chaste against all suit.

    Tell me, Apollo, for thy Daphne’s love, [94]

    What Cressid is, what Pandar, and what we.

    Her bed is India; there she lies, a pearl:

    Between our Ilium and where she resides, [97]

    Let it be call’d the wild and wandering flood,

    Ourself the merchant, and this sailing Pandar

    Our doubtful hope, our convoy and our bark. [100]

    Alarum. Enter ÆNEAS

    ÆNE. How now, Prince Troilus! wherefore not afield?

    T

    RO.

    Because not there: this woman’s answer sorts, [102]

    For womanish it is to be from thence.

    What news, Æneas, from the field to-day?

    ÆNE. That Paris is returned home, and hurt.

    T

    RO.

    By whom, Æneas?

    ÆNE. Troilus, by Menelaus.

    T

    RO.

    Let Paris bleed: ’t is but a scar to scorn; [107]

    Paris is gored with Menelaus’ horn. [ Alarum. [108]

    ÆNE. Hark, what good sport is out of town to-day!

    T

    RO.

    Better at home, if would I might were may. [110]

    But to the sport abroad: are you bound thither?

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