Act 5 — Scene IV. The field between Troy and the Grecian camp.
Reading edition
Alarums. Excursions. Enter Thersites.[2330]
Ther. 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[2331][2332] Troy there in his helm: I would fain see them meet; that[2332] that same young Trojan ass, that loves the whore there, 5 might send that Greekish whoremasterly villain, with the sleeve, back to the dissembling luxurious drab, of a sleeveless errand. O' the t'other side, the policy of those crafty[2333] swearing rascals, that stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese,[2334] Nestor, and that same dog-fox, Ulysses, is not proved worth[2335] 10 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[2336] barbarism, and policy grows into an ill opinion. 15
Enter Diomedes and Troilus.[2337]
Soft! here comes sleeve, and t'other.[2338] Tro. Fly not; for shouldst thou take the river Styx,[2339] I would swim after.[2339] Dio. Thou dost miscall retire: I do not fly; but advantageous care Withdrew me from the odds of multitude:[2340] 20 Have at thee![2340] Ther. Hold thy whore, Grecian! Now for thy whore, Trojan! Now the sleeve, now the sleeve!
[Exeunt Troilus and Diomedes, fighting.[2341]
Enter Hector.
Hect. What art thou, Greek? art thou for Hector's match?[2342] Art thou of blood and honour? 25 Ther. No, no: I am a rascal; a scurvy railing knave;[2343] a very filthy rogue.[2343] Hect. I do believe thee. Live. [Exit.[2344] Ther. God-a-mercy, that thou wilt believe me; but a plague break thy neck for frighting me! What's become of[2345] 30 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.