| ACT III SCENE I | Troy. Priam's palace. | |
| [Enter a Servant and PANDARUS] |
| PANDARUS | Friend, you! pray you, a word: do not you follow |
| the young Lord Paris? |
| Servant | Ay, sir, when he goes before me. |
| PANDARUS | You depend upon him, I mean? |
| Servant | Sir, I do depend upon the lord. | 5 |
| PANDARUS | You depend upon a noble gentleman; I must needs |
| praise him. |
| Servant | The lord be praised! |
| PANDARUS | You know me, do you not? |
| Servant | Faith, sir, superficially. | 10 |
| PANDARUS | Friend, know me better; I am the Lord Pandarus. |
| Servant | I hope I shall know your honour better. |
| PANDARUS | I do desire it. |
| Servant | You are in the state of grace. |
| PANDARUS | Grace! not so, friend: honour and lordship are my titles. | 15 |
[Music within] |
| What music is this? |
| Servant | I do but partly know, sir: it is music in parts. |
| PANDARUS | Know you the musicians? |
| Servant | Wholly, sir. |
| PANDARUS | Who play they to? | 20 |
| Servant | To the hearers, sir. |
| PANDARUS | At whose pleasure, friend |
| Servant | At mine, sir, and theirs that love music. |
| PANDARUS | Command, I mean, friend. |
| Servant | Who shall I command, sir? | 25 |
| PANDARUS | Friend, we understand not one another: I am too |
| courtly and thou art too cunning. At whose request |
| do these men play? |
| Servant | That's to 't indeed, sir: marry, sir, at the request |
| of Paris my lord, who's there in person; with him, | 30 |
| the mortal Venus, the heart-blood of beauty, love's |
| invisible soul,-- |
| PANDARUS | Who, my cousin Cressida? |
| Servant | No, sir, Helen: could you not find out that by her |
| attributes? | 35 |
| PANDARUS | It should seem, fellow, that thou hast not seen the |
| Lady Cressida. I come to speak with Paris from the |
| Prince Troilus: I will make a complimental assault |
| upon him, for my business seethes. |
| Servant | Sodden business! there's a stewed phrase indeed! | 40 |
| [Enter PARIS and HELEN, attended] |
| PANDARUS | Fair be to you, my lord, and to all this fair |
| company! fair desires, in all fair measure, |
| fairly guide them! especially to you, fair queen! |
| fair thoughts be your fair pillow! |
| HELEN | Dear lord, you are full of fair words. | 45 |
| PANDARUS | You speak your fair pleasure, sweet queen. Fair |
| prince, here is good broken music. |
| PARIS | You have broke it, cousin: and, by my life, you |
| shall make it whole again; you shall piece it out |
| with a piece of your performance. Nell, he is full | 50 |
| of harmony. |
| PANDARUS | Truly, lady, no. |
| HELEN | O, sir,-- |
| PANDARUS | Rude, in sooth; in good sooth, very rude. |
| PARIS | Well said, my lord! well, you say so in fits. | 55 |
| PANDARUS | I have business to my lord, dear queen. My lord, |
| will you vouchsafe me a word? |
| HELEN | Nay, this shall not hedge us out: we'll hear you |
| sing, certainly. |
| PANDARUS | Well, sweet queen. you are pleasant with me. But, | 60 |
| marry, thus, my lord: my dear lord and most esteemed |
| friend, your brother Troilus,-- |
| HELEN | My Lord Pandarus; honey-sweet lord,-- |
| PANDARUS | Go to, sweet queen, to go:--commends himself most |
| affectionately to you,-- | 65 |
| HELEN | You shall not bob us out of our melody: if you do, |
| our melancholy upon your head! |
| PANDARUS | Sweet queen, sweet queen! that's a sweet queen, i' faith. |
| HELEN | And to make a sweet lady sad is a sour offence. |
| PANDARUS | Nay, that shall not serve your turn; that shall not, | 70 |
| in truth, la. Nay, I care not for such words; no, |
| no. And, my lord, he desires you, that if the king |
| call for him at supper, you will make his excuse. |
| HELEN | My Lord Pandarus,-- |
| PANDARUS | What says my sweet queen, my very very sweet queen? | 75 |
| PARIS | What exploit's in hand? where sups he to-night? |
| HELEN | Nay, but, my lord,-- |
| PANDARUS | What says my sweet queen? My cousin will fall out |
| with you. You must not know where he sups. |
| PARIS | I'll lay my life, with my disposer Cressida. | 80 |
| PANDARUS | No, no, no such matter; you are wide: come, your |
| disposer is sick. |
| PARIS | Well, I'll make excuse. |
| PANDARUS | Ay, good my lord. Why should you say Cressida? no, |
| your poor disposer's sick. | 85 |
| PARIS | I spy. |
| PANDARUS | You spy! what do you spy? Come, give me an |
| instrument. Now, sweet queen. |
| HELEN | Why, this is kindly done. |
| PANDARUS | My niece is horribly in love with a thing you have, | 90 |
| sweet queen. |
| HELEN | She shall have it, my lord, if it be not my lord Paris. |
| PANDARUS | He! no, she'll none of him; they two are twain. |
| HELEN | Falling in, after falling out, may make them three. |
| PANDARUS | Come, come, I'll hear no more of this; I'll sing | 95 |
| you a song now. |
| HELEN | Ay, ay, prithee now. By my troth, sweet lord, thou |
| hast a fine forehead. |
| PANDARUS | Ay, you may, you may. |
| HELEN | Let thy song be love: this love will undo us all. | 100 |
| O Cupid, Cupid, Cupid! |
| PANDARUS | Love! ay, that it shall, i' faith. |
| PARIS | Ay, good now, love, love, nothing but love. |
| PANDARUS | In good troth, it begins so. |
[Sings] |
| Love, love, nothing but love, still more! | 105 |
| For, O, love's bow |
| Shoots buck and doe: |
| The shaft confounds, |
| Not that it wounds, |
| But tickles still the sore. | 110 |
| These lovers cry Oh! oh! they die! |
| Yet that which seems the wound to kill, |
| Doth turn oh! oh! to ha! ha! he! |
| So dying love lives still: |
| Oh! oh! a while, but ha! ha! ha! | 115 |
| Oh! oh! groans out for ha! ha! ha! |
| Heigh-ho! |
| HELEN | In love, i' faith, to the very tip of the nose. |
| PARIS | He eats nothing but doves, love, and that breeds hot |
| blood, and hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot | 120 |
| thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love. |
| PANDARUS | Is this the generation of love? hot blood, hot |
| thoughts, and hot deeds? Why, they are vipers: |
| is love a generation of vipers? Sweet lord, who's |
| a-field to-day? | 125 |
| PARIS | Hector, Deiphobus, Helenus, Antenor, and all the |
| gallantry of Troy: I would fain have armed to-day, |
| but my Nell would not have it so. How chance my |
| brother Troilus went not? |
| HELEN | He hangs the lip at something: you know all, Lord Pandarus. | 130 |
| PANDARUS | Not I, honey-sweet queen. I long to hear how they |
| sped to-day. You'll remember your brother's excuse? |
| PARIS | To a hair. |
| PANDARUS | Farewell, sweet queen. |
| HELEN | Commend me to your niece. | 135 |
| PANDARUS | I will, sweet queen. |
| [Exit] |
| [A retreat sounded] |
| PARIS | They're come from field: let us to Priam's hall, |
| To greet the warriors. Sweet Helen, I must woo you |
| To help unarm our Hector: his stubborn buckles, |
| With these your white enchanting fingers touch'd, | 140 |
| Shall more obey than to the edge of steel |
| Or force of Greekish sinews; you shall do more |
| Than all the island kings,--disarm great Hector. |
| HELEN | 'Twill make us proud to be his servant, Paris; |
| Yea, what he shall receive of us in duty | 145 |
| Gives us more palm in beauty than we have, |
| Yea, overshines ourself. |
| PARIS | Sweet, above thought I love thee. |
| [Exeunt] |
Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida: Scenes and Commentary