SCENE VI.

Another Part of the Field.

Enter AJAX.

Ajax. Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy

head!

Enter DIOMedes.

Dio. Troilus, I say! where's Troilus ?

Ajax.

Dio. I would correct him.

What would'st thou ?

Ajax. Were I the general, thou should'st have my office.

Ere that correction :-Troilus, I say! what, Troilus!

Enter TROILUS.

Tro. O traitor Diomed!-turn thy false face, thou traitor,

And pay thy life thou ow'st me for my horse!
Dio. Ha! art thou there?

Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, Diomed. Dio. He is my prize, I will not look upon.

Tro. Come both, you cogging Greeks; have at you both. [Exeunt, fighting.

I will not look upon.] That is, (as we should now speak)

I will not be a looker-on.

9 — you cogging Greeks;] This epithet has no particular propriety in this place, but the author had heard of Gracia mendex. JOHNSON.

Surely the epithet had propriety, in respect of Diomedes at least, who had defrauded him of his mistress. Troilus bestows it on both, unius ob culpam. A fradulent man, as I am told, is still called, in the North, a gainful Greek. Cicero bears witness to this

Enter НЕСТов.

Hect. Yea, Troilus? O, well fought, my youngest brother!

Enter ACHilles.

Achil. Now do I see thee: Ha! Have at thee,
Hector.

Hect. Pause, if thou wilt.

Achil. I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Trojan. Be happy, that my arms are out of use: My rest and negligence befriend thee now, But thou anon shalt hear of me again; Till when, go seek thy fortune.

Hect.

Exit.

Fare thee well:

I would have been much more a fresher man,
Had I expected thee.-How now, my brother?

Re-enter TROILUS.

Tro. Ajax hath ta'en Æneas; Shall it be?
No, by the flame of yonder glorious heaven,
He shall not carry him;1 I'll be taken too,
Or bring him off:-Fate, hear me what I say!
I reck not though I end my life to-day.

Enter one in sumptuous Armour.

[Exit.

Hect. Stand, stand, thou Greek; thou art a goodly mark:

No? wilt thou not?-I like thy armour well;

I'll frush it, and unlock the rivets all,

character of the ancient Greeks: "Testimoniorum religionem & fidem nunquam ista natio coluit."

Again: "Græcorum ingenia ad fallendum parata sunt.”

carry him;] i. e. prevail over him.

I'll frush it,] The word frush I never found elsewhere, nor understand it. Sir T. Hanmer explains it, to break or bruise.

JOHNSON.

But I'll be master of it:-Wilt thou not, beast,

abide?

Why then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

The same.

Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons.

Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons; Mark what I say.-Attend me where I wheel: Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath; And when I have the bloody Hector found, Empale him with your weapons round about; In fellest manner execute your arms.

3

Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:-
It is decreed-Hector the great must die. [Exeunt.

SCENE VIII.

The same.

Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting: then THERSITES.

Ther. The cuckold, and the cuckold-maker are at it: Now, bull! now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-henned sparrow! 'loo, Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game:-'ware horns, ho!

[Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS.

3

execute your arms.] To execute their arms is to employ them; to put them to use.

Enter MARGARELON.

Mar. Turn, slave, and fight.

Ther. What art thou?

Mar. A bastard son of Priam's.

Ther. I am a bastard too; I love bastards: I am a bastard begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in every thing illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment: Farewell, bastard.

Mar. The devil take thee, coward!

SCENE IX.

Another Part of the Field.

Enter HECTOR.

[Exeunt.

Hect. Most putrified core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath: Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death! [Puts off his Helmet, and hangs his Shield behind him.

Enter ACHILLES and Myrmidons.

Achil. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set; How ugly night comes breathing at his heels: Even with the vail and dark'ning of the sun, To close the day up, Hector's life is done.

Hect. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage, Greek. Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I [HECTOR falls.

seek.

So, Ilion, fall thou next; now, Troy, sink down; Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.

On, Myrmidons; and cry you all amain,
Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.

[A Retreat sounded.

Hark! a retreat upon our Grecian part.

Myr. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my

lord.

Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the

earth,

And, stickler like, the armies separates.

My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would have fed, Pleas'd with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.

Sheaths his sword.

Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;

Along the field I will the Trojan trail.

SCENE X.

The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, Nestor, DIOMEDES, and Others, marching. Shouts within.

Agam. Hark! hark! what shout is that?

Nest.

[Within.]

Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles!

Peace, drums.

Achilles!

Dio. The bruit is-Hector's slain, and by Achilles. Ajax. If it be so, yet bragless let it be;

Great Hector was as good a man as he.

Agam. March patiently along:-Let one be sent To pray Achilles see us at our tent.

* And, stickler-like,] Sticklers are arbitrators, judges, or, as called in some places, sidesmen. At every wrestling in Cornwall, before the games begin, a certain number of sticklers are chosen, who regulate the proceedings, and determine every dispute. Stickler (stic-kle-er) is immediately from the verb stickle, to interfere, to take part with, to busy one's self in any matter.