Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
|
Flourish. Enter Ulysses, Diomedes, Nestor,
Agamemnon, Calchas, Menelaus, and Ajax. CALCHAS
Now, princes, for the service I have done you,
Th’ advantage of the time prompts me aloud
To call for recompense. Appear it to your mind
That, through the sight I bear in things to come,
I have abandoned Troy, left my possessions, 5
Incurred a traitor’s name, exposed myself,
From certain and possessed conveniences,
To doubtful fortunes, sequest’ring from me all
That time, acquaintance, custom, and condition
Made tame and most familiar to my nature, 10
And here, to do you service, am become
As new into the world, strange, unacquainted.
I do beseech you, as in way of taste,
To give me now a little benefit
Out of those many regist’red in promise, 15
Which you say live to come in my behalf. AGAMEMNON
What wouldst thou of us, Trojan, make demand? CALCHAS
You have a Trojan prisoner called Antenor
Yesterday took. Troy holds him very dear.
Oft have you—often have you thanks therefor— 20
Desired my Cressid in right great exchange,
Whom Troy hath still denied; but this Antenor,
I know, is such a wrest in their affairs
That their negotiations all must slack,
Wanting his manage; and they will almost 25
Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam,
In change of him. Let him be sent, great princes,
And he shall buy my daughter; and her presence
Shall quite strike off all service I have done
In most accepted pain. 30 AGAMEMNON
Let Diomedes bear him,
And bring us Cressid hither. Calchas shall have
What he requests of us. Good Diomed,
Furnish you fairly for this interchange.
Withal, bring word if Hector will tomorrow 35
Be answered in his challenge. Ajax is ready. DIOMEDES
This shall I undertake, and ’tis a burden
Which I am proud to bear. He exits with Calchas. | Over at the Greek camp, Cressida's dad Calchas reminds everyone that he risked a lot when he betrayed the Trojans and came over to their side. In return, he wants them to "exchange" one of their Trojan prisoners (a guy named Antenor) for Cressida so he can have a father-daughter reunion. (Ugh, parents, right?) Sure, Agamemnon says. He sends Diomedes off to make the trade. Calchas follows him. |
Achilles and Patroclus stand in their tent. ULYSSES
Achilles stands i’ th’ entrance of his tent.
Please it our General pass strangely by him 40
As if he were forgot, and, princes all,
Lay negligent and loose regard upon him.
I will come last. ’Tis like he’ll question me
Why such unplausive eyes are bent, why turned on
him. 45
If so, I have derision medicinable
To use between your strangeness and his pride,
Which his own will shall have desire to drink.
It may do good; pride hath no other glass
To show itself but pride, for supple knees 50
Feed arrogance and are the proud man’s fees. AGAMEMNON
We’ll execute your purpose and put on
A form of strangeness as we pass along;
So do each lord, and either greet him not
Or else disdainfully, which shall shake him more 55
Than if not looked on. I will lead the way. They pass before Achilles and Patroclus. Ulysses
remains in place, reading. ACHILLES
What, comes the General to speak with me?
You know my mind: I’ll fight no more ’gainst Troy. AGAMEMNON, to Nestor
What says Achilles? Would he aught with us? NESTOR, to Achilles
Would you, my lord, aught with the General? 60 ACHILLES
No. NESTOR
Nothing, my lord. AGAMEMNON
The better. Agamemnon and Nestor exit. ACHILLES, to Menelaus
Good day, good day. MENELAUS
How do you? How do you? 65 He exits. ACHILLES
What, does the cuckold scorn me? AJAX
How now, Patroclus? ACHILLES
Good morrow, Ajax. AJAX
Ha? ACHILLES
Good morrow. 70 AJAX
Ay, and good next day too. He exits. ACHILLES
What mean these fellows? Know they not Achilles? PATROCLUS
They pass by strangely. They were used to bend,
To send their smiles before them to Achilles,
To come as humbly as they use to creep 75
To holy altars. ACHILLES
What, am I poor of late?
’Tis certain, greatness, once fall’n out with Fortune,
Must fall out with men too. What the declined is
He shall as soon read in the eyes of others 80
As feel in his own fall, for men, like butterflies,
Show not their mealy wings but to the summer,
And not a man, for being simply man,
Hath any honor, but honor for those honors
That are without him—as place, riches, and favor, 85
Prizes of accident as oft as merit,
Which, when they fall, as being slippery slanders,
The love that leaned on them, as slippery too,
Doth one pluck down another and together
Die in the fall. But ’tis not so with me. 90
Fortune and I are friends. I do enjoy,
At ample point, all that I did possess,
Save these men’s looks, who do, methinks, find out
Something not worth in me such rich beholding
As they have often given. Here is Ulysses. 95
I’ll interrupt his reading.—How now, Ulysses? ULYSSES
Now, great Thetis’ son— ACHILLES What are you reading? | Achilles and Patroclus poke their heads out of their tent. Ulysses tells everyone to walk by the tent and totally ignore Achilles so the guy will think they don't value him anymore. In other words, they're going to play hard to get. Hm, sensing a theme here. Agamemnon, Nestor, Menelaus, and Ajax all blow past the tent, barely acknowledging that Achilles exists. Achilles gets all paranoid. It doesn't help when Ulysses strolls by the tent all nonchalantly and acts like he's reading a book. You know, while walking. Like you do. Achilles takes the bait and asks him what the book is about. |
ULYSSES
A strange fellow here
Writes me that man, how dearly ever parted, 100
How much in having, or without or in,
Cannot make boast to have that which he hath,
Nor feels not what he owes, but by reflection;
As when his virtues, shining upon others,
Heat them, and they retort that heat again 105
To the first giver. ACHILLES
This is not strange, Ulysses.
The beauty that is borne here in the face
The bearer knows not, but commends itself
To others’ eyes; nor doth the eye itself, 110
That most pure spirit of sense, behold itself,
Not going from itself, but eye to eye opposed
Salutes each other with each other’s form.
For speculation turns not to itself
Till it hath traveled and is mirrored there 115
Where it may see itself. This is not strange at all. ULYSSES
I do not strain at the position—
It is familiar—but at the author’s drift,
Who in his circumstance expressly proves
That no man is the lord of anything— 120
Though in and of him there be much consisting—
Till he communicate his parts to others;
Nor doth he of himself know them for aught
Till he behold them formed in the applause
Where they’re extended; who, like an arch, reverb’rate 125
The voice again or, like a gate of steel
Fronting the sun, receives and renders back
His figure and his heat. I was much rapt in this
And apprehended here immediately
Th’ unknown Ajax. Heavens, what a man is there! 130
A very horse, that has he knows not what!
Nature, what things there are
Most abject in regard, and dear in use,
What things again most dear in the esteem
And poor in worth! Now shall we see tomorrow— 135
An act that very chance doth throw upon him—
Ajax renowned. O, heavens, what some men do
While some men leave to do!
How some men creep in skittish Fortune’s hall,
Whiles others play the idiots in her eyes! 140
How one man eats into another’s pride,
While pride is fasting in his wantonness!
To see these Grecian lords—why, even already
They clap the lubber Ajax on the shoulder
As if his foot were on brave Hector’s breast 145
And great Troy shrieking. ACHILLES
I do believe it, for they passed by me
As misers do by beggars, neither gave to me
Good word nor look. What, are my deeds forgot? ULYSSES
Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back 150
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion,
A great-sized monster of ingratitudes.
Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devoured
As fast as they are made, forgot as soon
As done. Perseverance, dear my lord, 155
Keeps honor bright. To have done is to hang
Quite out of fashion like a rusty mail
In monumental mock’ry. Take the instant way,
For honor travels in a strait so narrow
Where one but goes abreast. Keep, then, the path, 160
For Emulation hath a thousand sons
That one by one pursue. If you give way
Or turn aside from the direct forthright,
Like to an entered tide they all rush by
And leave you hindmost; 165
Or, like a gallant horse fall’n in first rank,
Lie there for pavement to the abject rear,
O’errun and trampled on. Then what they do in
present,
Though less than yours in past, must o’ertop yours; 170
For Time is like a fashionable host
That slightly shakes his parting guest by th’ hand
And, with his arms outstretched as he would fly,
Grasps in the comer. Welcome ever smiles,
And Farewell goes out sighing. Let not virtue seek 175
Remuneration for the thing it was,
For beauty, wit,
High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service,
Love, friendship, charity are subjects all
To envious and calumniating Time. 180
One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,
That all, with one consent, praise newborn gauds,
Though they are made and molded of things past,
And give to dust that is a little gilt
More laud than gilt o’erdusted. 185
The present eye praises the present object.
Then marvel not, thou great and complete man,
That all the Greeks begin to worship Ajax,
Since things in motion sooner catch the eye
Than what stirs not. The cry went once on thee, 190
And still it might, and yet it may again,
If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive
And case thy reputation in thy tent,
Whose glorious deeds but in these fields of late
Made emulous missions ’mongst the gods themselves 195
And drave great Mars to faction. ACHILLESOf this my privacy,
I have strong reasons. | Ulysses says it's about how a man is only as good as his reputation. If a man doesn't have a lot of friends and admirers to give him props, he's totally worthless. Then he says that everyone's talking about how brave Ajax is for daring to take on Hector in the upcoming battle. Naturally, Achilles is jealous and wants to know if everyone's forgotten about all of his brave deeds. Ulysses tells him he's only as good as his last battle, which, by the way, nobody can remember anymore because it's been so long since Achilles bothered to come out of his tent and fight. Achilles is all "Hey, I've got my reasons. And they're none of your business." |
ULYSSES
But ’gainst your privacy
The reasons are more potent and heroical. 200
’Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love
With one of Priam’s daughters. ACHILLES
Ha? Known? ULYSSES Is that a wonder?
The providence that’s in a watchful state 205
Knows almost every grain of Pluto’s gold,
Finds bottom in the uncomprehensive deep,
Keeps place with thought and almost, like the gods,
Do thoughts unveil in their dumb cradles.
There is a mystery—with whom relation 210
Durst never meddle—in the soul of state,
Which hath an operation more divine
Than breath or pen can give expressure to.
All the commerce that you have had with Troy
As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord; 215
And better would it fit Achilles much
To throw down Hector than Polyxena.
But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home
When Fame shall in our islands sound her trump,
And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing 220
“Great Hector’s sister did Achilles win,
But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.”
Farewell, my lord. I as your lover speak.
The fool slides o’er the ice that you should break. He exits. | Ulysses says that everyone knows Achilles is more interested in sex than battle, and that he's got the hots for a girl named Polyxena. Ulysses goes on to say that it would be better if Achilles wanted to "throw down" Hector on the battlefield instead of wanting to "throw down" Polyxena on his bed. (In other words, Achilles has promised Polyxena that he won't fight in the war. But, we have to ask, is this really why he stays in his tent all day with Patroclus?) Next, Ulysses warns Achilles that all the little Greek girls are going to tease his son about his dad, who spent all his time chasing Hector's sister, while brave Ajax defeated Hector. |
PATROCLUS
To this effect, Achilles, have I moved you. 225
A woman impudent and mannish grown
Is not more loathed than an effeminate man
In time of action. I stand condemned for this.
They think my little stomach to the war,
And your great love to me, restrains you thus. 230
Sweet, rouse yourself, and the weak wanton Cupid
Shall from your neck unloose his amorous fold
And, like a dewdrop from the lion’s mane,
Be shook to air. ACHILLES
Shall Ajax fight with Hector? 235 PATROCLUS
Ay, and perhaps receive much honor by him. ACHILLES
I see my reputation is at stake;
My fame is shrewdly gored. PATROCLUS O, then, beware!
Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves. 240
Omission to do what is necessary
Seals a commission to a blank of danger,
And danger, like an ague, subtly taints
Even then when they sit idly in the sun. ACHILLES
Go call Thersites hither, sweet Patroclus. 245
I’ll send the fool to Ajax and desire him
T’ invite the Trojan lords after the combat
To see us here unarmed. I have a woman’s longing,
An appetite that I am sick withal,
To see great Hector in his weeds of peace, 250
To talk with him, and to behold his visage,
Even to my full of view. Enter Thersites. A labor saved. | Patroclus then blames himself for Achilles not wanting to fight. He urges his BFF to get back on the battlefield and prove to everyone that he's not an effeminate wimp. Achilles wonders aloud if Ajax is really going to fight with Hector and worries that his rep as a noble warrior is at stake. He decides to invite Ajax and the Trojan lords (especially Hector) to his tent after the combat. |
THERSITES
A wonder! ACHILLES What? 255 THERSITES Ajax goes up and down the field, asking for
himself. ACHILLES How so? THERSITES
He must fight singly tomorrow with Hector
and is so prophetically proud of an heroical cudgeling 260
that he raves in saying nothing. ACHILLES
How can that be? THERSITES Why, he stalks up and down like a peacock—
a stride and a stand; ruminates like an hostess
that hath no arithmetic but her brain to set 265
down her reckoning; bites his lip with a politic regard,
as who should say “There were wit in this
head an ’twould out”—and so there is, but it lies
as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not
show without knocking. The man’s undone forever, 270
for if Hector break not his neck i’ th’ combat,
he’ll break ’t himself in vainglory. He knows not
me. I said “Good morrow, Ajax,” and he replies
“Thanks, Agamemnon.” What think you of this
man that takes me for the General? He’s grown a 275
very land-fish, languageless, a monster. A plague of
opinion! A man may wear it on both sides, like a
leather jerkin. ACHILLES Thou must be my ambassador to him,
Thersites. 280 THERSITES
Who, I? Why, he’ll answer nobody. He professes
not answering; speaking is for beggars; he
wears his tongue in ’s arms. I will put on his presence.
Let Patroclus make his demands to me. You
shall see the pageant of Ajax. 285 ACHILLES
To him, Patroclus. Tell him I humbly desire
the valiant Ajax to invite the most valorous Hector
to come unarmed to my tent, and to procure safe-conduct
for his person of the magnanimous and
most illustrious, six-or-seven-times-honored captain 290
general of the Grecian army, Agamemnon,
et cetera. Do this. PATROCLUS, to Thersites, who is playing Ajax Jove
bless great Ajax. THERSITES
Hum! 295 PATROCLUS
I come from the worthy Achilles— THERSITES
Ha? PATROCLUS Who most humbly desires you to invite
Hector to his tent— THERSITES Hum! 300 PATROCLUS
And to procure safe-conduct from
Agamemnon. THERSITES
Agamemnon? PATROCLUS
Ay, my lord. THERSITES
Ha! 305 PATROCLUS
What say you to ’t? THERSITES
God b’ wi’ you, with all my heart. PATROCLUS Your answer, sir. THERSITES
If tomorrow be a fair day, by eleven of the
clock it will go one way or other. Howsoever, he 310
shall pay for me ere he has me. PATROCLUS Your answer, sir. THERSITES Fare you well with all my heart. He pretends to exit. ACHILLES
Why, but he is not in this tune, is he? THERSITES No, but he’s out of tune thus. What music 315
will be in him when Hector has knocked out his
brains I know not. But I am sure none, unless the
fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on. ACHILLES Come, thou shalt bear a letter to him
straight. 320 THERSITES Let me bear another to his horse, for that’s
the more capable creature. ACHILLES
My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred,
And I myself see not the bottom of it. Achilles and Patroclus exit. THERSITES
Would the fountain of your mind were clear 325
again, that I might water an ass at it. I had rather
be a tick in a sheep than such a valiant ignorance. He exits. | Thersites shows up and does his best impression of Ajax strutting around like a proud "peacock." Finally, Achilles can't take it anymore. He asks Thersites to deliver a message to the guy. Achilles is totally worried, guys. |