Hect.
The blew mists rise from off the nether grounds,
And the Sun mounts apace: to arms, to arms:
I am resolv'd to put to th' utmost proof
The fate of Troy this day.

Andro. aside.
Oh, wretched woman, oh!

Hect.
Methought I heard you sigh, Andromache!

Andro.
Did you my Lord?

Hect.
Did you my Lord? you answer indirectly,
Just when I sayd that I wou'd put our fate
Upon th'extreamest proof, you fetch'd a groan;
And, as you check'd your self, for what you did
You stifl'd it, and stopt. Come you are sad.

Andro.
The Gods forbid.

Hect.
What should the Gods forbid?

Andro.
That I shou'd give you cause of just offence.

Hect.
You say well: but you look not cheerfully.
I mean this day to waste the stock of war,
And lay it prodigally out in blows:
Come gird my sword, and smile upon me, love;
Like victory come flying to my arms;
And give me earnest of desir'd successe.

Andro.
The Gods protect you; and restore you to me.

Hect.
What, grown a Coward! thou wert us'd, Andromache,
To give my courage, courage: thou woudst cry
Go Hector; day grow's old, and part of Fame
Is ravish'd from thee, by thy sloathfull stay.

Andro. aside.
What shall I do, to seem the same I was!
Come let me gird thy fortune to thy side:
And conquest sit as close, and sure as this. [She goes to gird his Sword; and it falls.]
Now mercy, Heaven! the Gods avert this omen!

Hect.
A foolish omen! take it up again;
And mend thy errour.

Andro.
I cannot: for my hand obeys me not.
But as in slumbers, when we sain wou'd run
From our imagin'd fears, our idle feet
Grow to the ground, our struggling voice dyes inward,
So now, when wou'd force my self to cheat you
My saltring tongue can give no glad presage;
Alas, I am no more Andromache.

Hect.
Why then thy former Soul is flown to me:
For I, me thinks, am lifted into ayr:
As if my mind, mastring my mortal part
Wou'd bear my exalted body to the Gods.
Last night I dreamt Jove sate on Ida's top
And beckning with his hand divine from far,
He pointed to a quire of Demi-gods,
Bacchus, and Hercules, and all the rest
Who free from humane toils had gain'd the pitch
Of blest eternity: lo there he sayd;
Lo there's a place for Hector.

Andro.
Be to thy Enemies this boding dream!

Hect.
Why it portends me honour and renoun.

Andro.
Such honour, as the Brave gain after death.
For I have dreamt all night of horrid slaughters,
Of trampling horses, and of Charriot wheels
Wading in blood up to their Axeltrees.
Of fiery Demons gliding down the Skyes,
And Ilium brighten'd with a midnight blaze;
O therefore, if thou lov'st me, go not forth.

Hect.
Go to thy bed again; and there dream better.
Ho bid my Trumpet Sound.

Andro.
No notes of sally for the Heaven's sweet sake.
Tis not for nothing when my Spirits droop:
This is a day when thy ill Starrs are strong
When they have driv'n thy helpless genius down
The steep of Heaven to some obscure retreat.

Hect.
No more; ev'n as thou lov st my fame no more:
My honour stands ingag'd to meet Achilles:
What will the Grecians think; or what will he,
Or what will Troy; or what wilt thou thy self
When once this ague fit of fear is ore;
If I should lose my honour for a dream.

Andro.
Your Enemies too well your courage know,
And Heaven abhorrs the forsiet of rash vows
Like spotted livers in a Sacrifice.
I cannot; O I dare not let you go:
For when you leave me, my presaging minde
Says, I shall never, never see you more.

Hect.
Thou excellently good, but oh too soft,
Let me not scape the danger of this day,
But I have struggling in my manly Soul
To see those modest tears, asham'd to fall,
And witness any part of woman in thee!
And now I fear, lest thou should'st think it fear,

If thus disswaded, I refuse to fight,
And stay inglorious in thy arms at home.

Andro.
Oh cou'd I have that thought I shou'd not love thee;
Thy Soul is proof to all things but to kindness.
And therefore t'was that I forbore to tell thee
How mad Cassandra, full of prophecy
Ran round the streets, and like a Bacchanal
Cry'd hold him Priam, 'tis an ominous day,
Let him not go; for Hector is no more.

Hect.
Our life is short but to extend that span
To vast Eternity is virtues work.
Therefore to thee, aad not to fear of fate
Which once must come to all, give I this day
But see thou move no more the like request:
For rest assur'd that to regain this hour
To morrow will I tempt a double danger:
Mean time, let Destiny attend thy leisure.
I reckon this one day a blank of of life. Enter Troilus.

Troil.
Where are you Brother? now in honour's name,
What do you mean to be thus long nnarm'd?
Th' imbattel'd Souldiers throug about the gates:
The Matrons to the turrets tops ascend
Holding their helplesse children in their arms,
To make you early known to their young eyes,
And Hector is the universal shout.

Hect.
Bid all unarm, I will not fight to day.

Troil.
Employ some coward to bear back this news,
And let the children hoot him for his pains;
By all the gods and by my just revenge,
This Sun shall shine the last for them or us:
These noisy streets or yonder ecchoing plains
Shall be to morrow silent as the grave.

Andro.
O Brother do not urge a brothers fate,
But let this rack of heav'n and earth rowl o're,
And when the storm is past put out to sea.

Troil.
Oh now I know from whence his change proceeds,
Some frantick Augur has observ'd the skyes;
Some victim wants a heart, or crow flys wrong;
By heav'n 'twas never well since sawcy Priests
Grew to be Masters of the listning herd;
And into Miters cleft the Regal Crown.
Then as the Earth were scanty for their pow'r,
They drew the pomp of Heav'n to wait on them;
Shall I go publish Hector dares not fight

Because a mad-man dreamt he talk'd with Jove?
What cou'd the God see in a brain-sick Priest
That he should sooner talk to him then me?

Hect.
You know my name's not liable to fear.

Troil.
Yes, to the worst of fear, to superstition.
But whether that or fondnesse of a wife,
(The more unpardonable ill) has seiz'd you,
Know this, the Grecians think you fear Achilles,
And that Polixena has beg'd your life.

Hect.
How! that my life is beg'd, and by my sister?

Troil.
Ulysses so inform'd me at our parting,
With a malicious and disdainfull smile:
'Tis true, he said not in broad words you fear'd,
But in well-manner'd terms 'twas so agreed
Achilles shou'd avoid to meet with Hector.

Hect.
He thinks my Sisters treason, my petition,
That largely vaunting in my heat of bloud
More then I cou'd, it seems, or durst perform,
I sought evasion.

Troil.
And in private pray'd.

Hect.
O yes, Polixena, to beg my life.

Andro.
He cannot think so, do not urge him thus.

Hect.
Not urge me! then thou think'st I need his urging
By all the Gods shou'd Jove himself descend,
And tell me Hector thou deserv'st not life
But take it as a boon; I wou'd not live.
But that a Mortal man, and he of all men
Shou'd think my life were in his power to give,
I will not rest, till prostrate on the ground
I make him Athiest-like, implore his breath
Of me and not of Heaven.

Troil.
Then you'l refuse no more to fight.

Hect.
Refuse! I'le not be hinder'd, Brother.
I'le through and through 'em, ev'n their hindmost ranks.
Till I have found that large siz'd boasting fool
Who dare presume my life is in his gift.

Andro.
Farewell, farewell: 'tis vain to strive with fate:
Cassandra's raging God inspires my breast,
With truths that must be told and not believ'd.
Look how he dyes! look how his eye turns pale!
Look how his blood bursts out at many vents!
Hark how Troy roars, how Hecuba crys out
And widow'd I fill all the streets with screams!
Behold distraction, frenzy and amazement,

Like Antiques meet, and tumble upon heaps!
And all cry Hector; Hectors dead! Oh Hector! [Exit Andromache.

Hect.
What sport will be when we return at Evening,
To laugh her out of count'nance for her dreams!

Troil.
I have not quench'd my eyes with dewy sleep this Night;
But fiery fumes mount upward to my brains,
And when I breathe, methinks my nostrills hiss!
I shall turn Basilisk! and with my sight
Do my hands work, on Diomede this day.

Hect.
To Arms, to Arms, the vantguards are ingag'd:
Let us not leave one Man to guard the Walls,
Both Old and young, the coward and the brave,
Be Summond all, our utmost fate to try;
And as one body move, whose Soul am I. [Exeunt.

Next section