Aga.
What would you 'fore our tent?

Æne.
Is this great Agamemnon's tent, I pray you?

Aga.
Even this.

Æne.
May one, that is a Herald and a Prince,
Do a fair message to his kingly ears?

Aga.
With surety stronger than Achilles' arm,
'Fore all the Greekish heads, which with one voice
Call Agamemnon Head and General.

Æne.
Fair leave, and large security. How may
A stranger to those most imperial looks
Know them from eyes of other mortals?

Aga.
How?

Æne.
I ask, that I might waken Reverence,
And bid the cheek be ready with a blush
Modest as morning, when she coldly eyes
The youthful Phœbus:
Which is that God in office, guiding men?
Which is the high and mighty Agamemnon?

Aga.
This Trojan scorns us, or the men of Troy
Are ceremonious courtiers.

Æne.
Courtiers as free, as debonair, unarm'd,
As bending Angels; that's their fame in peace:
But when they would seem soldiers, they have galls,
Good arms, strong joints, true swords; and, (Jove's Accord,)
Nothing so full of heart. But peace, Æneas;
Peace, Trojan; lay thy finger on thy lips;
The worthiness of praise distains his worth,
If he, that's prais'd, himself bring the praise forth:
What the repining enemy commends,
That breath Fame blows, that praise sole pure transcends.

Aga.
Sir, you of Troy, call you yourself Æneas?

Æne.
Ay, Greek, that is my name.

Aga.
What's your affair, I pray you?

Æne.
Sir, pardon; 'tis for Agamemnon's ears.

Aga.
He hears nought privately that comes from Troy.

Æne.
Nor I from Troy come not to whisper him;
I bring a trumpet to awake his Ear,
To set his sense on the attentive bent,
And then to speak.

Aga.
Speak frankly as the wind,
It is not Agamemnon's sleeping hour;
That thou shalt know, Trojan, he is awake,
He tells thee so himself.

Æne.
Trumpet, blow loud:
Send thy brass voice thro' all these lazy tents;
And every Greek of mettle, let him know
What Troy means fairly, shall be spoke aloud. [The trumpets sound.
We have, great Agamemnon, here in Troy
A Prince call'd Hector (Priam is his father)
Who in this dull and long-continu'd truce
Is rusty grown; he bad me take a trumpet,
And to this purpose speak: Kings, Princes, Lords,
If there be one amongst the fair'st of Greece,
That holds his honour higher than his ease,
That seeks his praise more than he fears his peril,
That knows his valour and knows not his fear,
That loves his mistress ^{4 note}more than in confession,
(With truant vows to her own lips, he loves,)
And dare avow her beauty and her worth
In other arms than hers: to him this Challenge.
Hector, in view of Trojans and of Greeks,
Shall make it good, (or do his best to do it)
He hath a lady, wiser, fairer, truer,
Than ever Greek did compass in his arms;
And will to morrow with his trumpet call

Midway between your tents and walls of Troy,
To rouze a Grecian that is true in love.
If any come, Hector shall honour him:
If none, he'll say in Troy when he retires,
The Grecian Dames are sun-burn'd, and not worth
The splinter of a lance;—even so much.

Aga.
This shall be told our lovers, lord Æneas.
If none of them have soul in such a kind,
We've left them all at home: but we are soldiers;
And may that soldier a meer recreant prove,
That means not, hath not, or is not in love!
If then one is, or hath, or means to be,
That one meets Hector; if none else, I'm he.

Nest.
Tell him of Nestor; one, that was a man
When Hector's Grandsire suckt; he is old now,
But if there be not in our Grecian Host
One noble man that hath one spark of fire,
To answer for his love: tell him from me,
I'll hide my silver beard in a gold beaver
^{5 note}And in my vantbrace put this wither'd brawn;
And, meeting him, will tell him, that my lady
Was fairer than his grandam, and as chaste
As may be in the world: his youth in flood,
I'll pawn this truth with my three drops of blood.

Æne.
Now heav'ns forbid such scarcity of youth!

Ulyss.
Amen.

Aga.
Fair lord Æneas, let me touch your hand:
To our Pavilion shall I lead you first:
Achilles shall have word of this intent,
So shall each lord of Greece from tent to tent:
Your self shall feast with us before you go,
And find the welcome of a noble foe. [Exeunt.

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