Or bring him off: Fate, hear me what I fay; Hect. Stand, ftand, thou Greek, thou art a good- No? wilt thou not? I like thy armour well, I'll fruth it, and unlock the rivets all, But I'll be mafter of it; wilt thou not, beaft, abide? Why then, fly on, I'll hunt thee for thy hide. [Exit. Enter ACHILLES with Myrmidons. Achil. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons. Mark what I fay, attend me where I wheel; Strike not a ftroke, but keep yourselves in breath; And when I have the bloody Hector found, Impale him with your weapons round about: In felleft manner execute your arms. Follow me, Sirs, and my proceeding eye: It is decreed---Hector the great muft die. [Exeunt. Enter THERSITES, MENELAUS, and PAR IS. Ther. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it: now bull, now dog; 'loo, Paris, 'loo; now, my double-hen'd fparrow; 'loo, Paris, 'loo; the bull has the game: : 'ware horns, ho. [Exeunt Paris and Menelaus, Enter Baftard. Baft. Turn, flave, and fight. Ther. What art thou? Baft. A baftard fon of Priam's. 1 Ther. I am a baftard too, I love baftards. I am a baftard begot, baftard inftructed, bastard in mind, baftard in valour, in every thing il legitimate: one bear will not bite another, (51) and wherefore fhould one baftard take heed, the quarrel's most ominous to us: if the fon of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts judgment: farewel, baftard. Baft. The devil take thee, coward. 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 my breath: Rest, fword, thou haft thy fill of blood and death. Enter ACHILLES and his Myrmidons. Achil. Look, Hector, how the fun begins to fet; How ugly Night comes breathing at his heels: Ev'n with the veil and darkning of the fun, To close the day up, Hector's life is done. [They fall upon Hector, and kill him. Hect. I am unarmed, forego this vantage, Greek. Achil. Strike, fellows, ftrike, this is the man I feek. So, Ilion, fall thou next. Now, Troy, fink down: Here lyes thy heart, thy finews and thy bone. On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain, › Achilles hath the mighty Hector flain. Hark! a retreat upon our Grecian part. [Lord. Myr. The Trojan trumpets found the like, my Achil. The dragon-wing of night o'erspreads the earth; And, ftickler-like, the armies feparates. (52) (51) One bear will not bite another,] So Juvenal fays more feriously; favis inter fe convenit urfis. (52) And, tickler-like, the armies feporate.] So Mr Pope in both his editions; by which means the comparison stands thus;The armies feparate of themfelves, as ticklers feparate others. But, with that editor's permiffion, we must My half-fup'd fword, that frankly would have fed, [Sound Retreat. [Exeunt. Shout. Enter AGAMEMNON, AJAX, MENELAUS, NESTOR, Aga. Hark, hark, what fhout is that? Sol. Achilles! Achilles! Hector's flain! Achilles ! Aga. March patiently along: let one be fent To pray Achilles fee us at our tent. If in his death the Gods have us befriended, Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [Exeunt. Enter ENEAS, PARIS, ANTENOR and DEIPHOBUS. Ene. Stand, ho! yet we are mafters of the field; Never go home, here ftarve we out the night. call back the reading of the better copies, and then the fenfe will be this; Night, flikler-like, puts an end to the engagement, and separates the armies. I am apt to think Mr Pope did not know the word, or the office of the perfon intended by it. The French call thefe gentry moyenneurs, arbitres, perfonnes interpofees. In this very play, Diomede and Æneas are ficklers to Ajax and Hector in their combat, feconds to fee fair play, and arbitrate the duel. The word was familiar both to Ben Johnson and Beaumont and Fletcher: Who is drawn hither by report of your cartels, advanced in court, to prove his fortune with your prizer, fo he may have fair play fhewn him, and the liberty to chufe Cynthia's Revels. Lop. He keeps his fury fill, and may do mischief. Mil. He fhall be hanged fift; we'll be ficklers there, boys. Spanile Carate his Auckler. Enter TROILUS. Troi. Hector is flain. All. Hector! -the Gods forbid ! [tail Troi. He's dead, and at the murderer's horse's In beaitly fort dragged through the shameful field. Frown on, you Heav'ns, effect your rage with speed; Sit, Gods, upon your thrones, and fmile at Troy ! I fáy, at once, let your brief plagues be mercy, And linger not our fure destructions on. Enc. My Lord, you do discomfort all the host. Troi. You understand me not, that tell me fo: I do not speak of flight, of fear, of death, But dare all imminence, that Gods and men Addrefs their dangers in. Hector is gone! Who fhall tell Priam fo, or Hecuba? Let him that will a fcrietch-howl ay be called, Go into Troy, and fay there, Hector's dead: That is a word will Priam turn to stone; Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives; Cold ftatues of the youth; and, in a word, Scare Troy out of itself. But march away, Hector is dead; there is no more to fay. Stay yet, you vile abominable tents, Thus proudly pight upon our Phrygian plains: Enter PANDAR US. Pan. B hear you, hear you? Troi. Hence, brothel-lacquey; ignominy, fhame [Strikes him. Pursue thy life, and live ay with thy name! [Exeunt. Pan. A goodly medicine for my aking bones! Oh world! world! world! thus is the poor agent defpifed. Oh, traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you fet at work, and how how ill requited! why fhould our endeavour be fo loved, and the performance fo loathed? what verse for it? what inftance for it?-let me fee Full merrily the humble bee doth fing, 'Till he hath loft his honey and his iting; But being once fubdued in armed tail, Sweet honey and fweet notes together fail. Good traders in the flefh, fet this in your painted cloths------ As many as be here of Pandar's hall, Your eyes half out, weep out at Pandar's fall; Though not for me, yet for your aking bones. END OF VOLUME ELEVENTH. |