SCENE I. Troy. Priam's palace. Troilus and Cressida  Shakespeare homepage  |  Troiles and Cressida  | Act 3, Scene 1 

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 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. 

 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. 

 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. 



 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? 

 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? 

 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, 

 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? 

 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! 



 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. 

 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 

 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. 

 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, 

 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,-- 

 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, 

 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? 

 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. 

 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. 

 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, 

 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 

 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. 

 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! 

 For, O, love's bow 

 Shoots buck and doe: 

 The shaft confounds, 

 Not that it wounds, 

 But tickles still the sore. 

 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! 

 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 

 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? 

 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. 

 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. 

 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, 

 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 

 Gives us more palm in beauty than we have, 

 Yea, overshines ourself. 

 PARIS  Sweet, above thought I love thee. 



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