Title: Trolius And Cressida
Book: Act III.
Author: Shakespeare, William
Date: 1602

Scene I. Troy. Priam's Palace.

Enter Pandarus and a Servant.

Pan. Friend! you! pray you, a word: do not you follow the young Lord
Paris!

Serv. Ay, sir, when he goes before me.

Pan. You depend upon him, I mean!

Serv. Sir, I do depend upon the Lord.

Pan. You depend upon a noble gentleman; I must needs praise him.

Serv. The Lord be praised!

Pan. You know me, do you not!

Serv. Faith, sir, superficially

Pan. Friend, know me better. I am the Lord Pandarus.

Serv. I hope I shall know your honour better.

Pan. I do desire it.

Serv. You are in the state of grace.

Pan. Grace! not so, friend; honour and lordship are my titles.
[Music within.
What music is this?

Serv. I do but partly know, sir: it is music in parts.

Pan. Know you the musicians?

Serv. Wholly, sir.

Pan. Who play they to!

Serv. To the hearers, sir.

Pan. At whose pleasure, friend!

Serv. At mine, sir, and theirs that love music.

Pan. Command, I mean, friend.

Serv. Who shall I command, sir?

Pan. Friend, we understand not one another:
I am too courtly, and thou art too cunning.
At whose request do these men play!

Serv. That's to 't, indeed, sir. Marry, sir, at the request of Paris my
lord, who's there in person; with him the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of
beauty, love's invisible soul, -

Pan. Who, my cousin Cressida!

Serv. No. sir, Helen: could you not find out that by her attributes!

Pan. It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the Lady Cressida. I
come to speak with Paris from the Prince Troilus: I will make a complimental
assault upon him, for my business seethes.

Serv. Sodden business: there's a stewed phrase, indeed.

Enter Paris and Helen, attended.

Pan. Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair company! I fair
desires, in all fair measure, fairly guide them! especially to you, fair
queen! fair thoughts be your fair pillow!

Helen. Dear lord, you are full of fair words.

Pan. You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen.

Fair prince, here is good broken music.

Par. You have broke it, cousin; and, by my life, you shall make it whole
again: you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance. Nell, he is
full of harmony.

Pan. Truly, lady, no.

Helen. O, sir!

Pan. Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude.

Pan. Well said, my lord! Well, you say so in fits.

Pan. I have business to my lord, dear queen.
My lord, will you vouchsafe me a word!

Helen. Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you sing, certainly.

Pan. Well, sweet queen, you are pleasant with me. But, marry, thus, my
lord: my dear lord and most esteemed friend, your brother Troilus, -

Helen. My Lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord, -

Pan. Go to, sweet queen, go to: - commends himself most affectionately to
you-

Helen. You shall not bob us out of our melody: if you do, our melancholy
upon your head!

Pan. Sweet queen, sweet queen! that's a sweet queen, i' faith.

Helen. And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence.

Pan. Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall it not, in truth,
la! Nay, I care not for such words; no, no. And, my lord, he desires you that
if the king call for him at supper, you will make his excuse.

Helen. My Lord Pandarus, -

Pan. What says my sweet queen, my very very sweet queen?

Par. What exploit's in hand? where sups he to-night? Helen. Nay, but, may
lord, -

Pan. What says my sweet queen? My cousin will fall out with you. You must
not know where he sups.

Par. I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cressida.

Pan. No, no, no such matter; you are wide.
Come, your disposer is sick.

Par. Well, I'll make excuse.

Pan. Ay, good my lord. Why should you say Cressida? no, your poor
disposer's sick.

Par. I spy.

Pan. You spy! what do you spy? Come, give me an instrument. Now, sweet
queen.

Helen. Why, this is kindly done.

Pan. My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have, sweet queen.

Helen. She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my Lord Paris.

Pan. He! no, she'll none of him; they two are twain.

Helen. Falling in, after falling out, may make them three.

Pan. Come, come, I'll hear no more of this. I'll sing you a song now.

Helen. Ay, ay, prithee now. By my troth, sweet lord, thou hast a fine
forehead.

Pan. Ay, you may, you may.

Helen. Let thy song be love: this love will undo us all. O Cupid, Cupid,
Cupid!

Pan. Love! ay, that it shall, i' faith.

Par. Ay, good now, love, love, nothing but love.

Pan. In good troth, it begins so.
[Sings.
Love, love, nothing but love, still more!
For, O! love's bow
Shoots buck and doe:
The shaft confounds,
Not that it wounds,
But tickles still the sore.
These lovers cry O! O! they die!
Yet that which seems the wound to kill,
Doth turn O! O! to ha! ha! ha!
So dying love lives still:
O! O! a while, but ha! ha! ha!
O! O! groans out for ha! ha! ha!
Heigh-ho!

Helen. In love, i' faith, to the very tip of the nose.

Par. He eats nothing but doves, love; and that breeds hot blood, and hot
blood begets hot thoughts, and hot thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is
love.

Pan. Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot thoughts, and hot
deeds? Why, they are vipers: is love a generation of vipers? Sweet lord, who's
a-field to-day?

Par. Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all the gallantry of Troy:
I would fain have armed to-day, but my Nell would not have it so. How chance
my brother Troilus went not?

Helen. He hangs the lip at something: you know all, Lord Pandarus.

Pan. Not I, honey-sweet queen. I long to hear how they sped to-day.
You'll remember your brother's excuse?

Par. To a hair.

Pan. Farewell, sweet queen.

Helen. Commend me to your niece.

Pan. I will, sweet queen.
[Exit.
[A retreat sounded.

Par. They're come from field: let us to Priam's hall
To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woo you
To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles,
With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd,
Shall more obey than to the edge of steel
Or force of Greekish sinews; you shall do more
Than all the island kings, - disarm great Hector.

Helen. 'T will make us proud to be his servant, Paris;
Yes, what he shall receive of us in duty
Gives us more palm in beauty than we have,
Yes, overshines ourself.

Par. Sweet, above thought I love thee.
[Exeunt.

Scene II. The Same. Pandarus' Orchard.

Enter Pandarus and Troilus' Boy, meeting.

Pan. How now! where's thy master? at my cousin Cressida's?

Boy. No, sir; he stays for you to conduct him thither.

Enter Troilus.

Pan. O! here he comes. How now, how now!

Tro. Sirrah, walk off.
[Exit Boy.

Pan. Have you seen my cousin?

Tro. No, Pandarus: I stalk about her door,
Like a strange soul upon the Stygian banks
Staying for waftage. O! be thou my Charon,
And give me swift transportance to those fields
Where I may wallow in the lily-beds
Proposed for the deserver. O gentle Pandarus!
From Cupid's shoulder pluck his painted wings,
And fly with me to Cressid.

Pan. Walk here i' the orchard. I'll bring her straight.
[Exit.

Tro. I am giddy, expectation whirls me round.
The imaginary relish is so sweet
That it enchants my sense. What will it be
When that the watery palate tastes indeed
Love's thrice repured nectar? death, I fear me,
Swooming destruction, or some joy too fine,
Too subtle-potent, tuned too sharp in sweetness
For the capacity of my ruder powers:
I fear it much; and I do fear besides
That I shall lose distinction in my joys;
As doth a battle, when they charge on heaps
The enemy flying.

Re-enter Pandarus.

Pan. She's making her ready; she'll come straight: you must be witty now.
She does so blush, and fetches her wind so short, as if she were frayed with
a sprite: I'll fetch her. It is the prettiest villain: she fetches her breath
so short as a new-ta'en sparrow.
[Exit.

Tro. Even such a passion doth embrace my bosom:
My heart beats thicker than a feverous pulse;
And all my powers do their bestowing lose,
Like vassalage at unawares encountering
The eye of majesty.

Re-enter Pandarus with Cressida.

Pan. Come come, what need you blush? shame's a baby. Here she is now:
swear the oaths now to her that you have sworn to me. What! are you gone
again? you must be watched ere you be made tame, must you? Come your ways,
come your ways; an you draw backward, we'll put you i' the fills. Why do you
not speak to her? Come, draw this curtain, and let's see your picture. Alas
the day! how loth you are to offend daylight; an 't were dark, you'd close
sooner. So, so; rub on and kiss the mistress. How now! a kiss in fee-farm!
build there, carpenter; the air is sweet. Nay, you shall fight your hearts out
ere I part you. The falcon as the tercel, for all the ducks i' the river: go
to, go to.

Tro. You have bereft me of all words, lady.

Pan. Words pay no debts, give her deeds; but she'll bereave you o' the
deeds too if she call your activity in question. What! billing again? Here's
'In witness whereof the parties interchangeably'-Come in, come in: I'll go
get a fire.
[Exit.

Cres. Will you walk in, my lord?

Tro. O Cressida! how often have I wished me thus.

Cres. Wished, my lord! The gods grant, - O my lord!

Tro. What should they grant? what makes this pretty abruption? What too
curious dreg espies my sweet lady in the fountain of our love?

Cres. More dregs than water, if my fears have eyes.

Tro. Fears make devils of cherubins; they never see truly.

Cres. Blind fear, that seeing reason leads, finds safer footing than
blind reason stumbling without fear: to fear the worst oft cures the worse.

Tro. O! let my lady apprehend no fear: in all Cupid's pageant there is
presented no monster.

Cres. Nor nothing monstrous neither?

Tro. Nothing but our undertakings; when we vow to weep seas, live in
fire, eat rocks, tame tigers; thinking it harder for our mistress to devise
imposition enough than for us to undergo any difficulty imposed. This is the
monstruosity in love, lady, that the will is infinite, and the execution
confined; that the desire is boundless, and the act a slave to limit.

Cres. They say all lovers swear more performance than they are able, and
yet reserve an ability that they never perform; vowing more than the
perfection of ten and discharging less than the tenth part of one. They that
have the voice of lions and the act of hares, are they not monsters?

Tro. Are there such? such are not we. Praise us as we are tasted, allow
us as we prove; our head shall go bare till merit crown it. No perfection in
reversion shall have a praise in present: we will not name desert before his
birth, and, being born, his addition shall be humble. Few words to fair faith:
Troilus shall be such to Cressid, as what envy can say worst shall be a mock
for his truth; and what truth can speak truest not truer than Troilus.

Cres. Will you walk in, my lord?

Re-enter Pandarus.

Pan. What! blushing still? have you not done talking yet?

Cres. Well, uncle, what folly I commit I dedicate to you.

Pan. I thank you for that: if my lord get a boy of you, you'll give him
me. Be true to my lord: if he flinch, chide me for it.

Tro. You know now your hostages; your uncle's word, and my firm faith.

Pan. Nay, I'll give my word for her too. Our kindred, though they be long
ere they are wooed, they are constant being won: they are burrs, I can tell
you; they'll stick where they are thrown.

Cres. Boldness comes to me now, and brings me heart.

Prince Troilus, I have loved you night and day
For many weary months.

Tro. Why was my Cressid then so hard to win?

Cres. Hard to seem won; but I was won, my lord,
With the first glance that ever-pardon me-
If I confess much you will play the tyrant.
I love you now; but not, till now, so much
But I might master it: in faith, I lie;
My thoughts were like unbridled children, grown
Too headstrong for their mother. See, we fools!
Why have I blabb'd? who shall be true to us
When we are so unsecret to ourselves?
But, though I loved you well, I woo'd you not;
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.

Tro. And shall, albeit sweet music issues thence.

Pan. Pretty, i' faith.

Cres. My lord, I do beseech you, pardon me;
'T was not my purpose thus to beg a kiss:
I am ashamed: O heavens! what have I done?
For this time will I take my leave, my lord.

Tro. Your leave, sweet Cressid!

Pan. Leave! an you take leave till to-morrow morning, -

Cres. Pray you, content you.

Tro. What offends you, lady?

Cres. Sir, mine own company.

Tro. You cannot shun yourself.

Cres. Let me go and try.
I have a kind of self resides with you;
But an unkind self, that itself will leave,
To be another's fool. Where is my wit?
I would be gone. I speak I know not what.

Tro. Well know they what they speak that speak so wisely.

Cres. Perchance, my lord, I show more craft than love,
And fell so roundly to a large confession,
To angle for your thoughts: but you are wise,
Or else you love not, for to be wise and love
Exceeds man's might; that dwells with gods above.

Tro. O! that I thought it could be in a woman,
As if it can I will presume in you,
To feed for aye her lamp and flames of love;
To keep her constancy in plight and youth,
Outliving beauty's outward, with a mind
That doth renew swifter than blood decays:
Or that persuasion could but thus convince me,
That my integrity and truth to you
Might be affronted with the match and weight
Of such a winnow'd purity in love;
How were I then uplifted I but, alas!
I am as true as truth's simplicity,
And simpler than the infancy of truth.

Cres. In that I'll war with you.

Tro. O virtuous fight!
When right with right wars who shall be most right.
True swains in love shall in the world to come
Approve their truths by Troilus: when their rhymes,
Full of protest, of oath, and big compare,
Want similes, truth tired with iteration,
As true as steel, as plantage to the moon,
As sun to day, as turtle to her mate,
As iron to adamant, as earth to the centre,
Yet, after all comparisons of truth,
As truth's authentic author to be cited,
'As true as Troilus' shall crown up the verse
And sanctify the numbers.

Cres. Prophet may you be!
If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth,
When time is old and hath forgot itself,
When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy,
And blind oblivion swallow'd cities up,
And mighty states characterless are grated
To dusty nothing, yet let memory,
From false to false, among false maids in love,
Upbraid my falsehood! when they've said ' as false
As air, as water, wind, or sandy earth,
As fox to lamb, as wolf to heifer's calf,
Pard to the hind, or stepdame to her son,'
Yea, let them say, to stick the heart of falsehood,
'As false as Cressid.'

Pan. Go to, a bargain made: seal it, seal it: I'll be the witness. Here I
hold your hand, here my cousin's. If ever you prove false one to another,
since I have taken such pains to bring you together, let all pitiful
goers-between be called to the world's end after my name: call them all
Pandars; let all constant men be Troiluses, all false women Cressids, and all
brokers-between Pandars! say, amen.

Tro. Amen.

Cres. Amen.

Pan. Amen. Whereupon I will show you a chamber with a bed;
which bed, because it shall not speak of your pretty encounters,
press it to death: away!
And Cupid grant all tongue-tied maidens here
Bed, chamber, Pandar to provide this gear!
[Exeunt.