Act 4, Scene 5

The Grecian camp. Lists set out

[Enter AJAX, armed; AGAMEMNON, ACHILLES, PATROCLUS, MENELAUS, ULYSSES, NESTOR, and others.]
Agamemnon
2416 Here art thou in appointment fresh and fair,
2417 Anticipating time with starting courage.
2418 Give with thy trumpet a loud note to Troy,
2419 Thou dreadful Ajax, that the appalled air
2420 May pierce the head of the great combatant,
2421 And hale him hither.
Ajax
2422 Thou, trumpet, there's my purse.
2423 Now crack thy lungs and split thy brazen pipe;
2424 Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek
2425 Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon.
2426 Come, stretch thy chest, and let thy eyes spout blood:
2427 Thou blowest for Hector.
[Trumpet sounds.]
Ulysses
2428 No trumpet answers.
Achilles
2429 'Tis but early days.
[Enter DIOMEDES, with CRESSIDA.]
Agamemnon
2430 Is not yond Diomed, with Calchas' daughter?
Ulysses
2431 'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait:
2432 He rises on the toe. That spirit of his
2433 In aspiration lifts him from the earth.
[Enter DIOMEDES with CRESSIDA.]
Agamemnon
2434 Is this the lady Cressid?
Diomedes
2435 Even she.
Agamemnon
2436 Most dearly welcome to the Greeks, sweet lady.
Nestor
2437 Our general doth salute you with a kiss.
Ulysses
2438 Yet is the kindness but particular;
2439 'Twere better she were kiss'd in general.
Nestor
2440 And very courtly counsel: I'll begin.
2441 So much for Nestor.
Achilles
2442 I'll take that winter from your lips, fair lady.
2443 Achilles bids you welcome.
Menelaus
2444 I had good argument for kissing once.
Patroclus
2445 But that's no argument for kissing now;
2446 For thus popp'd Paris in his hardiment,
2447 And parted thus you and your argument.
Ulysses
2448 O deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns!
2449 For which we lose our heads to gild his horns.
Patroclus
2450 The first was Menelaus' kiss; this, mine:
2451 Patroclus kisses you.
Menelaus
2452 O, this is trim!
Patroclus
2453 Paris and I kiss evermore for him.
Menelaus
2454 I'll have my kiss, sir. Lady, by your leave.
Cressida
2455 In kissing, do you render or receive?
Patroclus
2456 Both take and give.
Cressida
2457 I'll make my match to live,
2458 The kiss you take is better than you give;
2459 Therefore no kiss.
Menelaus
2460 I'll give you boot; I'll give you three for one.
Cressida
2461 You are an odd man; give even or give none.
Menelaus
2462 An odd man, lady! Every man is odd.
Cressida
2463 No, Paris is not; for you know 'tis true
2464 That you are odd, and he is even with you.
Menelaus
2465 You fillip me o' the head.
Cressida
2466 No, I'll be sworn.
Ulysses
2467 It were no match, your nail against his horn.
2468 May I, sweet lady, beg a kiss of you?
Cressida
2469 You may.
Ulysses
2470 I do desire it.
Cressida
2471 Why, beg then.
Ulysses
2472 Why then, for Venus' sake give me a kiss
2473 When Helen is a maid again, and his.
Cressida
2474 I am your debtor; claim it when 'tis due.
Ulysses
2475 Never's my day, and then a kiss of you.
Diomedes
2476 Lady, a word. I'll bring you to your father.
[Exit with CRESSIDA.]
Nestor
2477 A woman of quick sense.
Ulysses
2478 Fie, fie upon her!
2479 There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip,
2480 Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out
2481 At every joint and motive of her body.
2482 O! these encounterers so glib of tongue
2483 That give a coasting welcome ere it comes,
2484 And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts
2485 To every tickling reader! Set them down
2486 For sluttish spoils of opportunity,
2487 And daughters of the game.
[Trumpet within.]
All
2488 The Trojans' trumpet.
Agamemnon
2489 Yonder comes the troop.
[Enter HECTOR, armed; AENEAS, TROILUS, PARIS, HELENUS, and other Trojans, with attendants.]
Aeneas
2490 Hail, all you state of Greece! What shall be done
2491 To him that victory commands? Or do you purpose
2492 A victor shall be known? Will you the knights
2493 Shall to the edge of all extremity
2494 Pursue each other, or shall be divided
2495 By any voice or order of the field?
2496 Hector bade ask.
Agamemnon
2497 Which way would Hector have it?
Aeneas
2498 He cares not; he'll obey conditions.
Achilles
2499 'Tis done like Hector; but securely done,
2500 A little proudly, and great deal misprising
2501 The knight oppos'd.
Aeneas
2502 If not Achilles, sir,
2503 What is your name?
Achilles
2504 If not Achilles, nothing.
Aeneas
2505 Therefore Achilles. But whate'er, know this:
2506 In the extremity of great and little
2507 Valour and pride excel themselves in Hector;
2508 The one almost as infinite as all,
2509 The other blank as nothing. Weigh him well,
2510 And that which looks like pride is courtesy.
2511 This Ajax is half made of Hector's blood;
2512 In love whereof half Hector stays at home;
2513 Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek
2514 This blended knight, half Trojan and half Greek.
Achilles
2515 A maiden battle then? O! I perceive you.
[Re-enter DIOMEDES.]
Agamemnon
2516 Here is Sir Diomed. Go, gentle knight,
2517 Stand by our Ajax. As you and Lord Aeneas
2518 Consent upon the order of their fight,
2519 So be it; either to the uttermost,
2520 Or else a breath. The combatants being kin
2521 Half stints their strife before their strokes begin.
[AJAX and HECTOR enter the lists.]
Ulysses
2522 They are oppos'd already.
Agamemnon
2523 What Trojan is that same that looks so heavy?
Ulysses
2524 The youngest son of Priam, a true knight;
2525 Not yet mature, yet matchless; firm of word;
2526 Speaking in deeds and deedless in his tongue;
2527 Not soon provok'd, nor being provok'd soon calm'd;
2528 His heart and hand both open and both free;
2529 For what he has he gives, what thinks he shows,
2530 Yet gives he not till judgment guide his bounty,
2531 Nor dignifies an impure thought with breath;
2532 Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
2533 For Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes
2534 To tender objects, but he in heat of action
2535 Is more vindicative than jealous love.
2536 They call him Troilus, and on him erect
2537 A second hope as fairly built as Hector.
2538 Thus says Aeneas, one that knows the youth
2539 Even to his inches, and, with private soul,
2540 Did in great Ilion thus translate him to me.
[Alarum. HECTOR and AJAX fight.]
Agamemnon
2541 They are in action.
Nestor
2542 Now, Ajax, hold thine own!
Troilus
2543 Hector, thou sleep'st;
2544 Awake thee!
Agamemnon
2545 His blows are well dispos'd. There, Ajax!
Diomedes
2546 You must no more.
[Trumpets cease.]
Aeneas
2547 Princes, enough, so please you.
Ajax
2548 I am not warm yet; let us fight again.
Diomedes
2549 As Hector pleases.
Hector
2550 Why, then will I no more.
2551 Thou art, great lord, my father's sister's son,
2552 A cousin-german to great Priam's seed;
2553 The obligation of our blood forbids
2554 A gory emulation 'twixt us twain:
2555 Were thy commixtion Greek and Trojan so
2556 That thou could'st say 'This hand is Grecian all,
2557 And this is Trojan; the sinews of this leg
2558 All Greek, and this all Troy; my mother's blood
2559 Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
2560 Bounds in my father's; by Jove multipotent,
2561 Thou shouldst not bear from me a Greekish member
2562 Wherein my sword had not impressure made
2563 Of our rank feud; but the just gods gainsay
2564 That any drop thou borrow'dst from thy mother,
2565 My sacred aunt, should by my mortal sword
2566 Be drained! Let me embrace thee, Ajax.
2567 By him that thunders, thou hast lusty arms;
2568 Hector would have them fall upon him thus.
2569 Cousin, all honour to thee!
Ajax
2570 I thank thee, Hector.
2571 Thou art too gentle and too free a man.
2572 I came to kill thee, cousin, and bear hence
2573 A great addition earned in thy death.
Hector
2574 Not Neoptolemus so mirable,
2575 On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st Oyes
2576 Cries 'This is he!' could promise to himself
2577 A thought of added honour torn from Hector.
Aeneas
2578 There is expectance here from both the sides
2579 What further you will do.
Hector
2580 We'll answer it:
2581 The issue is embracement. Ajax, farewell.
Ajax
2582 If I might in entreaties find success,
2583 As seld' I have the chance, I would desire
2584 My famous cousin to our Grecian tents.
Diomedes
2585 'Tis Agamemnon's wish; and great Achilles
2586 Doth long to see unarm'd the valiant Hector.
Hector
2587 Aeneas, call my brother Troilus to me,
2588 And signify this loving interview
2589 To the expecters of our Trojan part;
2590 Desire them home. Give me thy hand, my cousin;
2591 I will go eat with thee, and see your knights.
[AGAMEMNON and the rest of the Greeks come forward.]
Ajax
2592 Great Agamemnon comes to meet us here.
Hector
2593 The worthiest of them tell me name by name;
2594 But for Achilles, my own searching eyes
2595 Shall find him by his large and portly size.
Agamemnon
2596 Worthy of arms! as welcome as to one
2597 That would be rid of such an enemy.
2598 But that's no welcome. Understand more clear,
2599 What's past and what's to come is strew'd with husks
2600 And formless ruin of oblivion;
2601 But in this extant moment, faith and troth,
2602 Strain'd purely from all hollow bias-drawing,
2603 Bids thee with most divine integrity,
2604 From heart of very heart, great Hector, welcome.
Hector
2605 I thank thee, most imperious Agamemnon.
[To Troilus]
Agamemnon
2606 My well-fam'd lord of Troy, no less to you.
Menelaus
2607 Let me confirm my princely brother's greeting.
2608 You brace of warlike brothers, welcome hither.
Hector
2609 Who must we answer?
Aeneas
2610 The noble Menelaus.
Hector
2611 O you, my lord? By Mars his gauntlet, thanks!
2612 Mock not that I affect the untraded oath;
2613 Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove.
2614 She's well, but bade me not commend her to you.
Menelaus
2615 Name her not now, sir; she's a deadly theme.
Hector
2616 O, pardon; I offend.
Nestor
2617 I have, thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft,
2618 Labouring for destiny, make cruel way
2619 Through ranks of Greekish youth; and I have seen thee,
2620 As hot as Perseus, spur thy Phrygian steed,
2621 Despising many forfeits and subduements,
2622 When thou hast hung thy advanced sword i' th' air,
2623 Not letting it decline on the declined;
2624 That I have said to some my standers-by
2625 'Lo, Jupiter is yonder, dealing life!'
2626 And I have seen thee pause and take thy breath,
2627 When that a ring of Greeks have hemm'd thee in,
2628 Like an Olympian wrestling. This have I seen;
2629 But this thy countenance, still lock'd in steel,
2630 I never saw till now. I knew thy grandsire,
2631 And once fought with him. He was a soldier good,
2632 But, by great Mars, the captain of us all,
2633 Never like thee. O, let an old man embrace thee;
2634 And, worthy warrior, welcome to our tents.
Aeneas
2635 'Tis the old Nestor.
Hector
2636 Let me embrace thee, good old chronicle,
2637 That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time.
2638 Most reverend Nestor, I am glad to clasp thee.
Nestor
2639 I would my arms could match thee in contention
2640 As they contend with thee in courtesy.
Hector
2641 I would they could.
Nestor
2642 Ha!
2643 By this white beard, I'd fight with thee to-morrow.
2644 Well, welcome, welcome! I have seen the time.
Ulysses
2645 I wonder now how yonder city stands,
2646 When we have here her base and pillar by us.
Hector
2647 I know your favour, Lord Ulysses, well.
2648 Ah, sir, there's many a Greek and Trojan dead,
2649 Since first I saw yourself and Diomed
2650 In Ilion on your Greekish embassy.
Ulysses
2651 Sir, I foretold you then what would ensue.
2652 My prophecy is but half his journey yet;
2653 For yonder walls, that pertly front your town,
2654 Yond towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds,
2655 Must kiss their own feet.
Hector
2656 I must not believe you.
2657 There they stand yet; and modestly I think
2658 The fall of every Phrygian stone will cost
2659 A drop of Grecian blood. The end crowns all;
2660 And that old common arbitrator, Time,
2661 Will one day end it.
Ulysses
2662 So to him we leave it.
2663 Most gentle and most valiant Hector, welcome.
2664 After the General, I beseech you next
2665 To feast with me and see me at my tent.
Achilles
2666 I shall forestall thee, Lord Ulysses, thou!
2667 Now, Hector, I have fed mine eyes on thee;
2668 I have with exact view perus'd thee, Hector,
2669 And quoted joint by joint.
Hector
2670 Is this Achilles?
Achilles
2671 I am Achilles.
Hector
2672 Stand fair, I pray thee; let me look on thee.
Achilles
2673 Behold thy fill.
Hector
2674 Nay, I have done already.
Achilles
2675 Thou art too brief. I will the second time,
2676 As I would buy thee, view thee limb by limb.
Hector
2677 O, like a book of sport thou'lt read me o'er;
2678 But there's more in me than thou understand'st.
2679 Why dost thou so oppress me with thine eye?
Achilles
2680 Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body
2681 Shall I destroy him? Whether there, or there, or there?
2682 That I may give the local wound a name,
2683 And make distinct the very breach whereout
2684 Hector's great spirit flew. Answer me, heavens.
Hector
2685 It would discredit the blest gods, proud man,
2686 To answer such a question. Stand again.
2687 Think'st thou to catch my life so pleasantly
2688 As to prenominate in nice conjecture
2689 Where thou wilt hit me dead?
Achilles
2690 I tell thee yea.
Hector
2691 Wert thou an oracle to tell me so,
2692 I'd not believe thee. Henceforth guard thee well;
2693 For I'll not kill thee there, nor there, nor there;
2694 But, by the forge that stithied Mars his helm,
2695 I'll kill thee everywhere, yea, o'er and o'er.
2696 You wisest Grecians, pardon me this brag.
2697 His insolence draws folly from my lips;
2698 But I'll endeavour deeds to match these words,
2699 Or may I never—
Ajax
2700 Do not chafe thee, cousin;
2701 And you, Achilles, let these threats alone
2702 Till accident or purpose bring you to't.
2703 You may have every day enough of Hector,
2704 If you have stomach. The general state, I fear,
2705 Can scarce entreat you to be odd with him.
Hector
2706 I pray you let us see you in the field;
2707 We have had pelting wars since you refus'd
2708 The Grecians' cause.
Achilles
2709 Dost thou entreat me, Hector?
2710 To-morrow do I meet thee, fell as death;
2711 To-night all friends.
Hector
2712 Thy hand upon that match.
Agamemnon
2713 First, all you peers of Greece, go to my tent;
2714 There in the full convive we; afterwards,
2715 As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall
2716 Concur together, severally entreat him.
2717 Beat loud the tambourines, let the trumpets blow,
2718 That this great soldier may his welcome know.
[Exeunt all but TROILUS and ULYSSES.]
Troilus
2719 My Lord Ulysses, tell me, I beseech you,
2720 In what place of the field doth Calchas keep?
Ulysses
2721 At Menelaus' tent, most princely Troilus.
2722 There Diomed doth feast with him to-night,
2723 Who neither looks upon the heaven nor earth,
2724 But gives all gaze and bent of amorous view
2725 On the fair Cressid.
Troilus
2726 Shall I, sweet lord, be bound to you so much,
2727 After we part from Agamemnon's tent,
2728 To bring me thither?
Ulysses
2729 You shall command me, sir.
2730 As gentle tell me of what honour was
2731 This Cressida in Troy? Had she no lover there
2732 That wails her absence?
Troilus
2733 O, sir, to such as boasting show their scars
2734 A mock is due. Will you walk on, my lord?
2735 She was belov'd, she lov'd; she is, and doth;
2736 But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth.
[Exeunt.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 2416archaic vocab
“appointment fresh and fair, Anticipating time with starting courage”
'In appointment' means fully armed and equipped for combat. 'Anticipating time with starting courage' means Ajax is up and ready before the hour appointed for the fight, his spirit leaping ahead of the clock.
TLN 2424classical allusion
“sphered bias cheek Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon”
Aquilon is the Latin name for the north wind (Greek Boreas), associated with violent cold blasts. Ajax orders the trumpeter to puff out his round 'sphered' cheeks — swollen like a sphere — until they bulge larger than the bellyful of wind that makes the north wind howl with pain ('colic').
TLN 2446wordplay
“popp'd Paris in his hardiment, And parted thus you and your argument”
Patroclus mocks Menelaus: 'argument' means both 'reason to kiss' and 'the wife' — Helen, the 'argument' (subject and cause) of the whole war. Paris 'popp'd' in (arrived with a kiss) with his 'hardiment' (boldness), and by taking Helen took away Menelaus's right to kiss her. The war's cause is reduced to a stolen kiss.
classical The Judgement of Paris
TLN 2448wordplay
“deadly gall, and theme of all our scorns! For which we lose our heads to gild his horns”
Ulysses calls Helen 'deadly gall' (bitter poison) and 'theme of all our scorns.' Then: 'horns' are the conventional Elizabethan sign of a cuckold — a man whose wife has been unfaithful. The Greeks are literally losing their heads (dying) in order to 'gild' (decorate, or restore honour to) Menelaus's cuckold's horns — a savagely ironic image of the war's absurdity.
TLN 2460archaic vocab
“give you boot; I'll give you three for one”
'Boot' here means a supplement thrown in to make an unequal exchange fair — what we would call 'make up the difference.' Menelaus is offering to add something extra to sweeten the deal: three kisses for one from Cressida.
TLN 2462wordplay
“odd man, lady! Every man is odd”
Cressida plays on two meanings of 'odd': (1) strange, peculiar; (2) without a matching partner — a number that cannot be paired. Every man is odd (alone, without a partner) because Paris has taken his partner Helen. Menelaus is 'odd' in both senses while Paris is 'even with him' — matched with Helen, and quits with Menelaus in that he owes him nothing.
TLN 2472classical allusion
“for Venus' sake give me a kiss When Helen is a maid again, and his”
Ulysses swears by Venus, the goddess of love, and then sets a deliberately impossible condition: he will take his kiss when Helen is once again a virgin ('maid') and Menelaus's ('his'). Since Helen has been Menelaus's unfaithful wife for years and is now living with Paris, that day will never come. It is an ironic refusal disguised as a polite deferral.
classical The Judgement of Parisclassical Helen of Troy
TLN 2479historical topical
“language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, Nay, her foot speaks; her wanton spirits look out At every joint and motive of her body”
Ulysses describes Cressida's body as a text that can be read by any man — every movement ('motive') of every limb signals sexual availability. 'Wanton' means lascivious; 'motive' means a part that moves (a joint, a limb). The speech presents the woman's body as inherently legible and therefore culpable, without questioning the men who 'read' it.
historical Cressida and the 'false woman' traditionhistorical A woman's honour: chastity and the double standard
TLN 2484archaic vocab
“wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts To every tickling reader! Set them down For sluttish spoils of opportunity”
'Tables' were small books or tablets on which notes were kept — Hamlet carries 'his tables' to record the Ghost's words. To 'unclasp the tables of their thoughts' means to open the book of the mind to any passer-by. 'Sluttish' here means slovenly and unchaste — 'daughters of the game' means prostitutes. Ulysses is condemning a whole type of woman, not just Cressida.
historical Cressida and the 'false woman' tradition
TLN 2511historical topical
“Ajax is half made of Hector's blood; In love whereof half Hector stays at home; Half heart, half hand, half Hector comes to seek This blended knight”
Ajax and Hector are cousins: Ajax's mother Hesione was Priam's sister, making him part Trojan by blood. Aeneas explains this to the Greeks as the reason Hector will fight gently — he faces a kinsman. The fourfold repetition of 'half' mocks the absurdity of the situation: two fighters who share blood, fighting in a war their blood-tie makes pointless.
classical The Greek and Trojan heroes
TLN 2515archaic vocab
“A maiden battle then?”
A 'maiden battle' is a combat in which no blood is shed — the fighters go through the motions without actually trying to hurt each other, like a tournament exhibition rather than a real fight. Achilles understands what Aeneas has told him: Hector will not fight seriously against a blood-relative, so the duel will be a polite non-event.
TLN 2524historical topical
“youngest son of Priam, a true knight; Not yet mature, yet matchless”
Ulysses is describing Troilus to Agamemnon, who does not recognise him. The portrait is a formal character-sketch in the classical tradition: Ulysses catalogues Troilus's virtues methodically — firmness, open-handedness, controlled wrath — and attributes the description to Aeneas ('thus says Aeneas'). The irony is that the audience already knows this idealised Troilus is about to watch his love transferred to Diomedes.
classical The Greek and Trojan heroes
TLN 2533archaic vocab
“Hector in his blaze of wrath subscribes To tender objects, but he in heat of action Is more vindicative than jealous love”
'Subscribes to tender objects' means Hector yields to, or gives way before, things that move pity — a fallen or begging enemy, a weakened opponent. By contrast Troilus in the heat of action is more 'vindicative' (vengeful, relentless) even than a jealous lover. The comparison implies Troilus is the more dangerous fighter once he starts.
TLN 2551archaic vocab
“my father's sister's son, A cousin-german to great Priam's seed; The obligation of our blood forbids A gory emulation”
'Cousin-german' means first cousin — the child of one's parent's sibling (from French 'cousin germain,' meaning cousin of the same blood). 'Gory emulation' means a bloody contest of rivalry. Hector explains that the kinship bond between himself and Ajax (Ajax's mother Hesione was Priam's sister) prevents him from fighting to the death.
TLN 2560classical allusion
“by Jove multipotent”
Hector swears by Jove (Jupiter), king of the gods and the most powerful deity of the classical pantheon. 'Multipotent' means all-powerful or all-commanding — a rare adjective meaning 'powerful in many ways.' It is an emphatic, heroic oath appropriate to a warrior-prince.
TLN 2574classical allusion
“Not Neoptolemus so mirable, On whose bright crest Fame with her loud'st Oyes Cries 'This is he!'”
Neoptolemus was the son of Achilles, the greatest warrior of the next generation, whose fame was still unsurpassed. Hector says even Neoptolemus — 'so mirable' (so wonderful, from Latin mirabilis) — could not have expected to add to his honour by killing Hector. 'Oyes' is the herald's cry 'Oyez!' ('Hear ye!') — so Fame herself acts as a herald proclaiming Neoptolemus the greatest.
classical The fall of Troy: Pyrrhus and Priam
TLN 2599rhetorical device
“what's past and what's to come is strew'd with husks And formless ruin of oblivion”
Agamemnon says that past and future alike are scattered with 'husks' — the empty, worthless shells of what once mattered — and dissolved into the 'formless ruin of oblivion.' He is contrasting those obliterated realities with 'this extant moment' (the present instant of meeting), where honest feeling can be expressed. The image acknowledges that time destroys all things: a deeply appropriate sentiment in a play about a war everyone knows Troy will lose.
TLN 2611classical allusion
“by Mars his gauntlet, thanks! Mock not that I affect the untraded oath; Your quondam wife swears still by Venus' glove”
Hector swears 'by Mars his gauntlet' (the armoured glove of the god of war) and asks Menelaus not to mock him for preferring an unusual ('untraded' — not worn smooth by common use) oath. He then pointedly notes that Menelaus's 'quondam' (former) wife — Helen — still swears by Venus's glove. Helen, now Paris's lover, invokes the goddess of love; Hector invokes the god of war. The contrast is acid.
TLN 2617historical topical
“thou gallant Trojan, seen thee oft, Labouring for destiny, make cruel way Through ranks of Greekish youth”
'Labouring for destiny' means doing fate's work — killing men who are fated to die. It is a warrior's euphemism: Hector does not murder; he is destiny's agent. The phrase casts heroic slaughter in the most exalted possible light, which is exactly what Nestor, the play's great speaker of old-man's-compliment, intends.
classical The Greek and Trojan heroes
TLN 2636rhetorical device
“good old chronicle, That hast so long walk'd hand in hand with time”
Hector calls Nestor a 'good old chronicle' — a living history book or record of events. A chronicle was a kind of historical account arranged by time. The personification is apt: Nestor is the oldest living warrior, famous for his memories, who in Homer stretches back three generations and has seen everything.
historical The matter of Troy and its tangled sources
TLN 2645historical topical
“wonder now how yonder city stands, When we have here her base and pillar by us”
Ulysses marvels that Troy can still stand when Hector — its 'base and pillar,' its foundation and supporting column — is right here in the Greek camp. It is a backhanded threat: if Hector dies, Troy falls. The architectural metaphor is precise and ominous, since the audience knows Troy will indeed fall after Hector's death.
classical The fall of Troy: Pyrrhus and Priam
TLN 2654archaic vocab
“towers, whose wanton tops do buss the clouds, Must kiss their own feet”
'Buss' means to kiss, especially in a brisk or smacking way — used affectionately or indelicately. Troy's towers are so tall their 'wanton' (playfully excessive, unrestrained) tops seem to kiss the clouds. When they fall they will 'kiss their own feet' — crash to the ground. Ulysses's prophecy of Troy's fall is cast as the city's towers bowing to kiss the earth they once ignored.
TLN 2659rhetorical device
“The end crowns all; And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it”
'The end crowns all' was a familiar proverb meaning that the outcome of an action is the true judge of its worth — nothing can be assessed until it is finished. Hector then calls Time 'that old common arbitrator' (an arbitrator was a judge chosen to settle disputes) — time will eventually decide the war. The double irony: Hector is already marked for death, and he himself will not live to see the ending he trusts in.
TLN 2668archaic vocab
“with exact view perus'd thee, Hector, And quoted joint by joint”
'Quoted' here means noted, marked, or itemised — from the same root as 'quoting' a passage, but here meaning to mark or annotate each part of a body. Achilles has been scanning Hector like a surveyor or a buyer inspecting livestock, 'quoting' each joint (limb or body part) for later destruction. The clinical menace is intentional.
classical Achilles, Patroclus, and the wrath of Achilles
TLN 2680historical topical
“Tell me, you heavens, in which part of his body Shall I destroy him?”
Achilles asks the gods to tell him where on Hector's body he will strike the killing blow — as if rehearsing the murder out loud in Hector's presence. The speech deflates any heroic image of Achilles: he is not a warrior confident of honest combat but a man already planning a killing by assigning a 'local wound' and imagining 'the breach whereout Hector's great spirit flew.' It is closer to execution-planning than to epic single combat.
classical Achilles, Patroclus, and the wrath of Achilles
TLN 2694classical allusion
“by the forge that stithied Mars his helm, I'll kill thee everywhere”
Hector swears by the forge that 'stithied' (hammered out, shaped at the anvil) the war-god Mars's helmet. The reference is to Vulcan, the divine blacksmith, whose fire-and-hammer forge made the arms of the gods. 'Stithy' is an archaic word for a smithy or anvil; 'stithied' means forged or fashioned at the stithy.
classical Vulcan's forge and the Cyclopes
TLN 2707archaic vocab
“pelting wars since you refus'd The Grecians' cause”
'Pelting' here means petty, paltry, or insignificant — not 'pelting' as in throwing missiles. Hector tells Achilles that while Achilles has been sulking in his tent, the fighting has been only small-scale and inconsequential. The word acknowledges Achilles's outsized importance to the Greek war effort, even as Hector delivers the compliment as a taunt.
classical Achilles, Patroclus, and the wrath of Achilles
TLN 2714archaic vocab
“in the full convive we; afterwards, As Hector's leisure and your bounties shall Concur together, severally entreat him”
'Convive' is used as a verb meaning 'to feast together' (from Latin convivere, to live or eat together). Agamemnon calls the whole company to feast, then says each Greek leader should separately ('severally') make his own invitation to Hector for after the feast. The plan is to separate Hector from Aeneas and keep the Trojan champion in the camp as long as possible.
TLN 2735historical topical
“She was belov'd, she lov'd; she is, and doth; But still sweet love is food for fortune's tooth”
Troilus defends Cressida briefly to Ulysses ('she was loved, she loved; she is, and does still') then closes with a proverb: 'sweet love is food for fortune's tooth' — everything tender gets gnawed away by fortune's randomness and cruelty. It is a stoic acceptance of loss, though the rhymed couplet gives it a bitter, epigrammatic sting.
classical Fortune and her wheel