The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare, from the Text of Johnson and Stevens [sic].

Enter HECTOR.

Hect. What art thon, Greek? art thou for Art thou of blood, and honour? [Hector's match? Ther. No, no:-I am a raseal; a scurvy railing knave; a very filthy rogue. Hect. I do believe thee;-live. [Exit. Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck, for frighting me! What's become of the wenching rogues? I think they have swallowed one another : I would laugh at that miracle. Yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek them."

SCENE V. The same.

[Exit.

Enter NESTOR.

Nest. Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles ; And bid the snail paced Ajax arm for shaine. There is a thousand Hectors in the field: Now here he fights on Galathe his horse, And there lacks work; anon, he's there afoot, And there they fly, or die, like scaled sculls Before the belching whale; then is he yonder, And there the strawy Greeks, ripe for his edge, Fall down before him, like the mower's swath: Here, there, and every where, he leaves, and Dexterity so obeying appetite, [takes; That what he will, he does; and does so much, That proof is call'd impossibility, Enter ULYSSES.

Ulyss. O, courage, courage, princes! great
Achilles
[geance;
Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing ven-
Patroclus' wounds have roused his drowsy
Together with his mangled Myrmidons, [blood,
That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd,
come to him,

Crying on Hector. Ajax hath lost a friend,
And foams at mouth, and he is arm'd and at it,
Roaring for Troilus; who hath done to-day
Mad and fantastic execution;
Engaging and redeeming of himself,
With such a careless force, and forceless care,
As if that luck, in very spite of cunning,
Bade him win all.

• Lance. Not be a looker-on.

Enter DIOMEDES.

Dio. Troilus, I say! where's Troilus? Ajax. What wouldst thou? Dio. I would correct him. Ajax. Were I the general, thou shouldst have my office, [Troilus! Ere that correction:-Troilus, I say! what, Enter TROILUS.

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

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

[med. Ajax. I'll fight with him alone: stand, DioDio. He is my prize, I will not look upon. Tre. Come both, you cogging ¶ Greeks; ve at you both. [Exeunt, fighting. Enter HECTOR.

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

Enter ACHILLES.

Achil. Now do I see thee: Ha!-Have at Hect. Pause, if thou wilt. [thee, Hector. Achil. I do disdain thy courtesy, proud Be happy, that my arms are out of use: [Trojan. My rest and negligence befriend thee now, But thou anon shalt hear of me again; Till when, go seek thy fortune.

[Exit. Hect. 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; 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![ Exit. Enter one in sumptuous Armour. 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,
But I'll be master of it :-Wilt thou not, beast,
Fabide?

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

Bruised, crushed.

Shoal of fish.

Lying.

Prevail over.

§ Killer. ++ Care. #Burst.

Mark what I say.-Attend me where I wheel: | Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in Along the field, I will the Trojan trail.
breath;

And when I have the bloody Hector found,
Empale him with your weapons round about;
In fellest manner execute your arms.
Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye:
It is decreed-Hector the great must die.

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

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? heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment. Farewell, bastard.

Take

Mar. The devil take thee, coward! [Exeunt. SCENE IX. Another part of the Field. Enter HECTOR.

Hect. Most putrefied core, so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus th cost thy life. Now is my day's work none; I'll take good breath: 'death! Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and [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 [Greek.
Hec. I am unarm'd; forego this vantage+,
Achil. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the
man I seek.
[HECTOR falls.
So Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink
down;

SCENE X. The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS,
NESTOR, DIOMEDES, and Others, march
ing. Shouts within.

Agam. Hark! hark! what shout is that?
Nest.
Peace, drums.
Achilles! Hector's slain! Achilles!
[Within.]
Achilles!

Dio. The bruit is-Hector's slain, and by

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

[so:

Tro. You understand me not, that tell me
I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death;
But dare all imminence, that gods and men,
Address their dangers in. Hector is gone!
Who shall tell Priam so, or Hecuba?
Let him, that will a screech-owl aye¶ be call'd,
Go in to Troy, and say there-Hector's dead:
There is a word will Priam turn to stone;
Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,
Cold statues of the youth; and, in a word,
Scare Troy out of itself. But, march, away:
bone.Hector is dead; there is no more to say.
Stay yet;-you vile abominable tents,
Thus proudly pight ** upon our Phrygian
Let Titan rise as early as he dare, [plains,
I'll through and through you!--And thou,
great-sized coward!

Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy
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.
[the earth,
Achil. The dragon wing of night o'erspreads
And, stickler like, the armies separates.
My half-supp'd sword, that frankly would
have fed,

Pleased with this dainty bit, thus goes to bed.
[Sheathes his sword.

• Employ. Fattening.

No space of earth shall sunder our two hates;
I'll haunt thee like a wicked conscience stil.,
That mouldeth goblins swift as frenzy thoughts.
Strike a free march to Troy !-with comfor
go:

+ Take not this advantage.
Noise, rumour.

Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe. [Exeunt ÆNEAS and Trojans.

† An arbitrator at athletic games. *** Pitched, fixed.

¶ Ever.

AS TROILUS is going out, enter from the
other side, PANDARUS
Pan. But hear you, hear you! [shame
Tro. Hence, broker lackey! ignomy and
Pursue thy life, and live aye+ with thy name!
[Exit TROILUS.
Pan. A goodly med'cine for my aching
bones!-O world! world! world! thus is the
poor agent despised! O traitors and bawds,
how earnestly are you set a work, and how ill
requited! Why should our endeavour be so
loved, and the performance so loathed? what

verse for it? what instance for it?-Let me
see:-.

Full merrily the humble-bee doth sing,
Till he hath lost his honey, and his sting:

* Ignominy.

And being once subdued in armed tail,
Sweet honey and sweet note together fail.
Good traders in the flesh, set this in your
painted cloths 1.

As many as be here of pander's hall,
Your eyes, half out, weep out at Pandar's fall:
or, if you cannot weep, yet give some groans,
Though not for me, yet for your aching bones.
Brethren, and sisters, of the hold-door trade,
Some two months hence my will shall here be
made:
It should be now, but that my fear is this,-
Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:
Till then I'll sweat, and seek about for eases;
Aud, at that time, bequeath you my diseases.
[Eart,

+ Ever.

Canvass hangings for rooms, painted with emblems and mottos.

This play is more correctly written than most of Shakspeare's compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views or elevation of his fancy is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with great exactness. His vicious cha racters disgust, but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned. The comic characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners, than nature; but they are copiously filled and powerfully impressed. Shakspeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old -book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his version of Homer.-JOHNSON.

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors]

FLAVIUS, steward to Timon.

VENTIDIUS, one ofTimon's false friends.

Two Servants of Varro, and the Servant of
Isidore. Two of Timon's Creditors.
Cupid and Maskers. Three Strangers.
Poet, Painter, Jeweller, and Merchant.
An old Athenian. A Page. A Fool.

PHRYNIA, TIMANDRA,

mistresses to Alcibiades.

FLAMINIUS, LUCILIUS, SERVILIUS, Timon's Other Lords, Senators, Officers, Soldiers,

servants.

CAPHIS, PHILOTUS, TITUS, LUCIUS, HOR.

TENSIUS, servants to Timon's Cre-Scene,
ditors.

Thieves, and Attendants.

-Athens; and the Woods ad

joining.

ACT I.

Poet.

SCENE I. Athens. A Hall in Timon's

House.

A thing slipp'd idly from me. Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes [flint Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant, and From wherce 'tis nourished. The fire 'the

Others, at several Doors.

Poet. Good day, sir.

Pain. I am glad you are well. Poet. I have not seen you long; how goes Pain. It wears, sir, as it grows. [the world? Poet. Ay, that's well known: But what particular rarity? what strange, Which manifold record not matches? See, Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power Hath conjured to attend. I know the mer[ler. Pain. I know them both; t'other's a jewelMer. O, 'tig a worthy lord! Jew. Nay, that's most fix'd. Mer. A most incomparable man; breathed*, as it were,

chant.

To an untirable and continuate t goodness:
He passes t

Jew. I have a jewel here.
Mer. O, pray, let's see't: For the lord
Timon, sir?
[for that-

Jew. If he will touch the estimate; but, Poet. When we for recompense have praised the vile,

Shows not, till it be struck; our gentle flame Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies Each bound it chafes. What have you there! Pain. A picture, sir..-And when comes your book forth?

Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment ý, Let's see your piece. Pain. Poet. So 'tis: this comes off well and exPain. Indifferent. [cellent. Poet. Admirable: How this grace Speaks his own standing! what a mental power

This eye shoots forth! how big imagination Moves in this lip! to the dumbness of the ges One might interpret.

[ture Pain. It is a pretty mocking of the life. Here is a touch; is't good?

Poet.

I'll say of it,
It tutor's nature: artificial strife ||
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.

Enter certain Senators, and pass over.
Pain. How this lord's follow'd!
Poet. The senators of Athens :-Happy
Pain. Look more!
[men!

Poet. You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have, in this rough work, shaped out a man, Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug

It stains the glory in that happy verse
Which aptly sings the good.
Mer.
"Tis a good form.
[Looking at the Jewel.
Jew. And rich: here is a water, look you.
Pain. You are rapt, sir, in some work, some
To the great lord.
[dedication
* Inured by constant practice.
ti. e., Exceeds, goes beyond common bounds.
presented to Timon.

With amplest entertainment: My free drift] Halts not particularly¶, but moves itself

+ For continual.

As soon as my book has been

i. e., The contest of art with nature.
My design does not stop at any particular character.

In a wide sea of wax: no levell'd malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold:
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no tract behind.

Pain. How shall I understand you?
Poet.
I'll unbolt to you.
You see how all conditions, how all minds
(As well of glib and slippery creatures, as
Of grave and austere quality) tender down
Their services to lord Timon: his large fortune,
2' Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,
Subdues and properties to his love and tend-
ance
[flatterer +
All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-faced
To Apemantus, that few things loves better
Than to abhor himself; even he drops down
The knee before him, and returns in peace
Most rich in Timon's nod.

ཝུ;

Pain.
I saw them speak together.
Poet. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant

[mount

hill,
Feign'd Fortune to be throned: The base o'the
Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures,
That labour on the bosom of this sphere
To propagate their states: amongst them all,
Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd,
One do I persouate of lord Timon's frame, [her:
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to
Whose present grace to present slaves and
Translates his rivals.
[servants

Pain.
'Tis conceived to scope.
This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, ine-
thinks,

With one man beckon'd from the rest below,
Bowing his head against the steepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well ex-
In our condition."
[press'd

Poet.
Nay, sir, but hear me on:
All those which were his fellows put of late,
(Some better than his value,) on the moment
Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tepd-
Rain sacrificial whisperings § in his ear, [ance,
Make sacred even his stirrup, and through
Drink the free air.
[him
Pain.
Ay, marry, what of these?
Poet. When Fortune, in her shift and
change of mood,
Lants,
Spurns down her late beloved, all his depend-
Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top,
Even on their knees and hands, let him slip
down,

Not one accompanying his declining foot.
Pain. Tis common:

A thousand moral paintings I can show [tune
That shall demonstrate these quick blows of for-
More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well,
To show lord Timon, that mean eyes ¶ have
The foot above the head.
[seen
Trumpets sound. Enter TIMON, attended;
the Servant of VENTIDIUS talking with
him.

Tim.

Imprison'd is he, say you? Ven. Serv. Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt;

To those have shut him up; which failing to
Periods his comfort.

Tim.

Noble Ventidius! Well; I am not of that feather, to shake off [him My friend when he must need me. I do know A gentleman, that well deserves a help, Which he shall have: I'll pay the debt, and free him.

Ven. Serv. Your lordship ever binds him.
Tim. Commend me to him: I will send his
ransome;

And, being enfranchised, bid him come to me:
'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after.-Fare you well.
Ven. Serv. All happiness to your honour!
[Exit.

Enter an old Athenian.

Old Ath. Lord Timon, hear me speak.
Tim.
Freely, good father.
Old Ath. Thou hast a servant named Luci-
Tim. I have so: What of him? [lius.
Old Ath. Most noble Timon, call the man
before thee.

Tim. Attends he here, or no?-Lucilius!
Enter LUCILIUS.

Luc. Here, at your lordship's service.
Old Ath. This fellow here, lord Timon, this
thy creature,

By 'ht frequents my house. I am a man
That from my first have been inclined to thrift;
And my estate deserves a heir more raised,
Than one which holds a trencher.

Tim.
Well; what further?
Old Ath. One only daughter have I, no
kin else,

On whom I may confer what I have got;
The maid is fair, o' the youngest for a bride,
And I have bred her at my dearest cost,
In qualities of the best. This man of thine
Attempts her love: I pr'ythee, noble lord,
Join with me to forbid him her resort;
Myself have spoke in vain.
Tim.
The man is honest.
Old Ath. Therefore he will be, Timon:
His honesty rewards him in itself,
It must not bear my daughter.
Tim.

Does she love him?
Old Ath. She is young and apt:
Our own precedent passions do instruct us
What levity's in youth.

Tim. [TO LUCILIUS.] Love you the maid?
Luc. Ay, my good lord, and she accepts of
[missing,

it.

Old Ath. If in her marriage my consent be
I call the gods to witness, I will choose
Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,
And dispossess her all.
Tim.
How shall she be endowed,
If she be mated with an equal husband?
Old Ath. Three talents, on the present; in
future, all.

• Open, explain. + One who shows by reflection the looks of his patron.
To advance their conditions of life. Whisperings of officious servility.
Ti.e., Inferior spectators.

Inhale.

« Previous Continue »

Books