Shakespeare Portal

Act 5, Scene 4

The plain between Troy and the Grecian camp

  1. [Alarums. Excursions. Enter THERSITES.]
  2. Thersites
  3. 3172 Now they are clapper-clawing one another; I'll go look
  4. 3173 on. That dissembling abominable varlet, Diomed, has got that same
  5. 3174 scurvy doting foolish young knave's sleeve of Troy there in his
  6. 3175 helm. I would fain see them meet, that that same young Trojan ass
  7. 3176 that loves the whore there might send that Greekish whoremasterly
  8. 3177 villain with the sleeve back to the dissembling luxurious drab of
  9. 3178 a sleeve-less errand. O' the other side, the policy of those
  10. 3179 crafty swearing rascals that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese,
  11. 3180 Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses, is not prov'd worth a
  12. 3181 blackberry. They set me up, in policy, that mongrel cur, Ajax,
  13. 3182 against that dog of as bad a kind, Achilles; and now is the cur,
  14. 3183 Ajax prouder than the cur Achilles, and will not arm to-day;
  15. 3184 whereupon the Grecians begin to proclaim barbarism, and policy
  16. 3185 grows into an ill opinion.
  17. [Enter DIOMEDES, TROILUS following.]
  18. Thersites
  19. 3186 Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.
  20. Troilus
  21. 3187 Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx
  22. 3188 I would swim after.
  23. Diomedes
  24. 3189 Thou dost miscall retire.
  25. 3190 I do not fly; but advantageous care
  26. 3191 Withdrew me from the odds of multitude.
  27. 3192 Have at thee.
  28. Thersites
  29. 3193 Hold thy whore, Grecian; now for thy whore,
  30. 3194 Trojan! now the sleeve, now the sleeve!
  31. [Exeunt TROILUS and DIOMEDES fighting.]
  32. [Enter HECTOR.]
  33. Hector
  34. 3195 What art thou, Greek? Art thou for Hector's match?
  35. 3196 Art thou of blood and honour?
  36. Thersites
  37. 3197 No, no I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave; a very
  38. 3198 filthy rogue.
  39. Hector
  40. 3199 I do believe thee. Live.
  41. [Exit.]
  42. Thersites
  43. 3200 God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague
  44. 3201 break thy neck for frighting me! What's become of the wenching
  45. 3202 rogues? I think they have swallowed one another. I would laugh at
  46. 3203 that miracle. Yet, in a sort, lechery eats itself. I'll seek
  47. 3204 them.
  48. [Exit.]