The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated)
Page 678
Who's going to stop me?
Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars
ordering me to retreat with his fiery staff;
not Priam or Hecuba on their knees,
their eyes sore with tears;
nor you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,
poised to stop me, will block my way,
except by killing me.
Re-enter CASSANDRA, with PRIAM
CASSANDRA.
Lay hold upon him, Priam, hold him fast;
He is thy crutch; now if thou lose thy stay,
Thou on him leaning, and all Troy on thee,
Fall all together.
Get hold of him, Priam, hold him fast;
he is your crutch; now if you let go of your support,
leaning on him, with all Troy leaning on you,
you will all fall down together.
PRIAM.
Come, Hector, come, go back.
Thy wife hath dreamt; thy mother hath had visions;
Cassandra doth foresee; and I myself
Am like a prophet suddenly enrapt
To tell thee that this day is ominous.
Therefore, come back.
Come, Hector, go back.
Your wife has dreamt, your mother has had visions,
Cassandra has predicted, and I myself
am like a prophet suddenly overcome with foresight,
telling you that this day is dangerous.
So, come back inside.
HECTOR.
Aeneas is a-field;
And I do stand engag'd to many Greeks,
Even in the faith of valour, to appear
This morning to them.
Aeneas is on the battlefield;
and I have a commitment to many Greeks,
having pledged my valour, to appear
to them this morning.
PRIAM.
Ay, but thou shalt not go.
Yes, but you shan't go.
HECTOR.
I must not break my faith.
You know me dutiful; therefore, dear sir,
Let me not shame respect; but give me leave
To take that course by your consent and voice
Which you do here forbid me, royal Priam.
I must not break my promise.
You know that I am obedient; therefore, dear sir,
don't make me disrespect you; give me permission
with your agreement and words to do the thing
which you are forbidding me, royal Priam.
CASSANDRA.
O Priam, yield not to him!
O Priam, don't give in to him!
ANDROMACHE.
Do not, dear father.
Do not, dear father.
HECTOR.
Andromache, I am offended with you.
Upon the love you bear me, get you in.
Andromache, I'm angry with you.
By the love you have for me, go inside.
Exit ANDROMACHE
TROILUS.
This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
Makes all these bodements.
This foolish, dreaming, superstitious girl
makes all these predictions.
CASSANDRA.
O, farewell, dear Hector!
Look how thou diest. Look how thy eye turns pale.
Look how thy wounds do bleed at many vents.
Hark how Troy roars; how Hecuba cries out;
How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth;
Behold distraction, frenzy, and amazement,
Like witless antics, one another meet,
And all cry, Hector! Hector's dead! O Hector!
Oh, farewell, dear Hector!
Look how you're dying. Look how your eye turns pale.
Look how your wounds bleed from many cuts.
Hear how Troy is roaring; how Hecuba is crying;
how poor Andromache screams out her sorrows;
see how madness, frenzy and bewilderment
meet each other like witless clowns,
and all are crying, ‘Hector! Hector is dead! Oh, Hector!’
TROILUS.
Away, away!
Go away!
CASSANDRA.
Farewell!-yet, soft! Hector, I take my leave.
Thou dost thyself and all our Troy deceive.
Exit
Farewell! But, a moment! Hector, I am going.
You are deceiving yourself and betraying all of Troy.
HECTOR.
You are amaz'd, my liege, at her exclaim.
Go in, and cheer the town; we'll forth, and fight,
Do deeds worth praise and tell you them at night.
You are perplexed, my lord, at her outburst.
Go inside, and rally the town; we'll go out, and fight,
do praiseworthy deeds and we'll tell you about them at night.
PRIAM.
Farewell. The gods with safety stand about thee!
Farewell. May the gods protect you!
Exeunt severally PRIAM and HECTOR.
Alarums
TROILUS.
They are at it, hark! Proud Diomed, believe,
I come to lose my arm or win my sleeve.
They have begun, listen! Proud Diomedes, believe me,
I shall lose my arm or win back my cuff.
Enter PANDARUS
PANDARUS.
Do you hear, my lord? Do you hear?
Have you heard, my lord? Have you heard?
TROILUS.
What now?
What now?
PANDARUS.
Here's a letter come from yond poor girl.
Here's a letter come from the poor girl out there.
TROILUS.
Let me read.
Let me read it.
PANDARUS.
A whoreson tisick, a whoreson rascally tisick so troubles
me, and the foolish fortune of this girl, and what one thing,
what another, that I shall leave you one o' th's days; and I have
a rheum in mine eyes too, and such an ache in my bones that
unless a man were curs'd I cannot tell what to think on't. What
says she there?
A bitching cough, a bitching rascally cough is giving me
so much trouble, along with the unlucky fortunes of this girl, what with one thing
and another I shall be leaving you one of these days; and I have
water in my eyes too, and such an ache in my bones that
unless I was suffering from a curse I don't know what could have caused it.
What does she say there?
TROILUS.
Words, words, mere words, no matter from the heart;
Th' effect doth operate another way.
[Tearing the letter]
Go, wind, to wind! Here turn and change together.
My love with words and errors still she feeds,
But edifies another with her deeds. Exeunt severally
Words, words, just words, nothing heartfelt;
things are quite different in practice.
[Tearing the letter]
Empty words into the air! There you can mix up as you please.
She is still feeding my love with words and deceit,
but in practice she's with someone else.
Enter THERSITES. Excursions
THERSITES.
Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his helm. I would fain see them meet, that that same young Troyan ass that loves the whore there might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain with the sleeve back to the dissembling luxurious drab of a sleeve-less errand. A th' t'other side, the policy of those crafty swearing rascals-that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese, Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses -is not prov'd worth a blackberry. They set me up, in policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax, against that dog of as bad a kind
, Achilles; and now is the cur, Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm to-day; whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion.
Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following
Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.
Now they are bashing away at each other;
I'll go and watch. That horrible deceitful scoundrel,
Diomedes, has the cuff of that foolish indulgent stupid
young knave of Troy in his helmet. I would love to see
them meet, and see that same young Trojan ass that loves
that whore send that pimping Greek villain
who has the sleeve back to his lying lecherous
whore without it. On the other side, the cunning plan
of those crafty swearing rascals–that stale old mouse
eaten dry cheese, Nestor, and that dog fox,
Ulysses–has been proved to be not worth a damn.
For their own crafty purposes they set that mongrel Ajax
against that equally bad dog, Achilles. And now the dog Ajax is prouder
than the dog Achilles, and won't go to battle today,
and because of this the Greeks begin to embrace barbarism,
and the plans are all falling apart.
Hush! Here comes the one with the cuff, and the other.
TROILUS.
Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx
I would swim after.
Don't run; if you should jump into the river Styx
I would swim after you.
DIOMEDES.
Thou dost miscall retire.
I do not fly; but advantageous care
Withdrew me from the odds of multitude.
Have at thee.
You are misdescribing my tactical retreat.
I was not running; in order to get a better advantage
I drew back in the face of greater numbers.
Take that.
THERSITES.
Hold thy whore, Grecian; now for thy whore,
Troyan-now the sleeve, now the sleeve!
Fight for your whore, Greek; now for your whore,
Trojan–now for the cuff, the cuff!
Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES fighting
Enter HECTOR
HECTOR.
What art thou, Greek? Art thou for Hector's match?
Art thou of blood and honour?
Who are you, Greek? Are you a match for Hector?
Do you have rank and honour?
THERSITES.
No, no-I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very
filthy rogue.
No, no–I am a rascal; a filthy whining knave; a very
dirty rogue.
HECTOR.
I do believe thee. Live.
Exit
I believe you. Live.
THERSITES.
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.
Exit
Thank God, that you believed me; but I hope
you break your neck for frightening me! What's become of those lustful
rogues? I think they have swallowed each other up. I would laugh at
that miracle. But, in a way, lechery consumes itself. I'll look for them.
Enter DIOMEDES and A SERVANT
DIOMEDES.
Go, go, my servant, take thou Troilus' horse;
Present the fair steed to my lady Cressid.
Fellow, commend my service to her beauty;
Tell her I have chastis'd the amorous Troyan,
And am her knight by proof.
Go, go, my servant, take Troilus' horse;
give it to my lady Cressida.
Fellow, tell her I am the servant of her beauty;
tell her I have beaten the amorous Trojan,
and have proved that I am her knight.
SERVANT.
I go, my lord.
Exit
I'm going, my lord.
Enter AGAMEMNON
AGAMEMNON.
Renew, renew! The fierce Polydamus
Hath beat down Menon; bastard Margarelon
Hath Doreus prisoner,
And stands colossus-wise, waving his beam,
Upon the pashed corses of the kings
Epistrophus and Cedius. Polixenes is slain;
Amphimacus and Thoas deadly hurt;
Patroclus ta'en, or slain; and Palamedes
Sore hurt and bruis'd. The dreadful Sagittary
Appals our numbers. Haste we, Diomed,
To reinforcement, or we perish all.
Regroup, regroup! The fierce Polydamus
has beaten down Menon; bastard Margarelon
is holding Doreous prisoner;
and is standing like a colossus, waving his spear,
over the battered corpses of the Kings
Epistrophus and Cedius.Polixenes is slain;
Amphimacus and Thoas are mortally wounded;
Patroclus is captured or slain; and Palamedes
is desperately wounded.The dreadful Centaur
is terrifying our forces. Let's hurry, Diomedes,
to bring up reinforcements, or we shall all die.
Enter NESTOR
NESTOR.
Go, bear Patroclus' body to Achilles,
And bid the snail-pac'd Ajax arm for shame.
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 everywhere, he leaves and takes;
Dexterity so obeying appetite
That what he will he does, and does so much
That proof is call'd impossibility.
Go, carry Patroclus' body to Achilles,
and tell the sluggardly Ajax to be ashamed and arm himself.
There seem to be a thousand Hectors on the field;
now here his fighting on Galathe his horse,
then doesn't have enough to do; so soon he's there on foot,
and their they flee or die like schools of fish
fleeing from a whale; then he’s over there,
and there the Greeks are like grass, ready to be mown,
and they fall down before him like scythed wheat.
Here, there and everywhere he chops and slices,
his skill so matching his desire
that he does exactly what he wants, and what he does
seems almost impossible.
Enter ULYSSES
ULYSSES.
O, courage, courage, courage, Princes! Great
Achilles Is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance.
Patroclus' wounds have rous'd his drowsy blood,
Together with his mangled Myrmidons,
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.
Oh, courage, courage, courage, Princes! Great
Achilles is arming, weeping, cursing, vowing vengeance.
Patroclus' wounds have awoken his lazy passion,
together with his bastard Myrmidons,
who, noseless, handless, hacked and chopped,
come to
him, crying out against Hector. Ajax has lost a friend
and foams at the mouth, and he is armed and fighting,
roaring for Troilus; he today has committed
incredible angry slaughter,
throwing himself in and then freeing himself
with such cool use of strength and effortless defence
it seemed that luck, in spite of the skill of his enemies,
had told him he would win everything.
Enter AJAX
AJAX.
Troilus! thou coward Troilus!
Exit
Troilus! You coward Troilus!
DIOMEDES.
Ay, there, there.
Yes, there, there.
NESTOR.
So, so, we draw together.
Exit
So, so, we all come together.
Enter ACHILLES
ACHILLES.
Where is this Hector?
Come, come, thou boy-queller, show thy face;
Know what it is to meet Achilles angry.
Hector! where's Hector? I will none but Hector.
Exeunt
Where is this Hector?
Come, come, you child killer, show your face;
learn what it is to fight Achilles when he is angry.
Hector! Where's Hector? I will fight nobody but Hector.
Enter AJAX
AJAX.
Troilus, thou coward Troilus, show thy head.
Troilus, you coward Troilus, show your face.
Enter DIOMEDES
DIOMEDES.