Pol. Well be with you, gentlemen![858]
Ham. Hark you, Guildenstern; and you too: at each[859]
ear a hearer: that great baby you see there is not yet out[860]
of his swaddling clouts.[861] 365
Ros. Happily he's the second time come to them; for[862]
they say an old man is twice a child.
Ham. I will prophesy he comes to tell me of the[863]
players; mark it. You say right, sir: o'Monday morning;[864]
'twas so, indeed.[865] 370
Pol. My lord, I have news to tell you.
Ham. My lord, I have news to tell you. When Roscius[866]
was an actor in Rome,—[867]
Pol. The actors are come hither, my lord.
Ham. Buz, buz! 375
Pol. Upon my honour,—[868]
Ham. Then came each actor on his ass,—[869]
Pol. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy,
comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,[870]
tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral,[870][871] 380
scene individable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too[872]
heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the[873][874][875]
liberty these are the only men.[873][875]
Ham. O Jephthah, judge of Israel, what a treasure[876][877]
hadst thou! 385
Pol. What a treasure had he, my lord?[878]
Ham. Why,[879]
'One fair daughter, and no more,[879]
The which he loved passing well.'[879]
Pol. [Aside] Still on my daughter.[880] 390
Ham. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah?
Pol. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have a daughter[881][882]
that I love passing well.[881]
Ham. Nay, that follows not.[881]
Pol. What follows, then, my lord? 395
Ham. Why,[883]
'As by lot, God wot,'[883]
and then, you know,[884]
'It came to pass, as most like it was,'—[884]
the first row of the pious chanson will show you more;[885] 400
for look, where my abridgement comes.[886]
You are welcome, masters; welcome, all. I am glad to see[887]
thee well. Welcome, good friends. O, my old friend! Why[888][889]
thy face is valanced since I saw thee last; comest thou to[889][890]
beard me in Denmark? What, my young lady and mistress! 405
By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than[891]
when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray[892]
God, your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not
cracked within the ring. Masters, you are all welcome.
We'll e'en to 't like French falconers, fly at any thing we[893] 410
see: we'll have a speech straight: come, give us a taste of
your quality; come, a passionate speech.
Ham. I heard thee speak me a speech once, but it was
never acted; or, if it was, not above once; for the play, I remember,415
pleased not the million; 'twas caviare to the general:[896]
but it was—as I received it, and others, whose judgements[897]
in such matters cried in the top of mine—an excellent play,
well digested in the scenes, set down with as much modesty
as cunning. I remember, one said there were no sallets in[898] 420
the lines to make the matter savoury, nor no matter in the
phrase that might indict the author of affection; but called[899]
it an honest method, as wholesome as sweet, and by very[900]
much more handsome than fine. One speech in it I chiefly[900][901]
loved: 'twas Æneas' tale to Dido; and thereabout of it especially,[902] 425
where he speaks of Priam's slaughter: if it live in[903]
your memory, begin at this line; let me see, let me see;
'The rugged Pyrrhus, like th' Hyrcanian beast,'—[904]
It is not so: it begins with 'Pyrrhus.'[905]
'The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, 430
Black as his purpose, did the night resemble[906]
When he lay couched in the ominous horse,[907]
Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd[908]
With heraldry more dismal: head to foot[909]
Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd[910] 435
With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons,
Baked and impasted with the parching streets,[911]
That lend a tyrannous and a damned light[912][913]
To their lord's murder: roasted in wrath and fire,[913][914]
And thus o'er-sized with coagulate gore,[915] 440
With eyes like carbuncles, the hellish Pyrrhus[916]
Old grandsire Priam seeks.'
So, proceed you.[917]
Pol 'Fore God, my lord, well spoken, with good accent
and good discretion. 445
First Play. 'Anon he finds him[894]
Striking too short at Greeks; his antique sword,[918]
Rebellious to his arm, lies where it falls,[919]
Repugnant to command: unequal match'd,[920]
Pyrrhus at Priam drives; in rage strikes wide; 450
But with the whiff and wind of his fell sword
The unnerved father falls. Then senseless Ilium,[921]
Seeming to feel this blow, with flaming top[922]
Stoops to his base, and with a hideous crash[923]
Takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear: for, lo! his sword,[924] 455
Which was declining on the milky head
Of reverend Priam, seem'd i' the air to stick:[925]
So, as a painted tyrant, Pyrrhus stood.[926]
And like a neutral to his will and matter,[927][928]
Did nothing.[928] 460
But as we often see, against some storm,
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still,[929]
The bold winds speechless and the orb below[930]
As hush as death, anon the dreadful thunder
Doth rend the region, so after Pyrrhus' pause[924][931] 465
Aroused vengeance sets him new a-work;[932]
And never did the Cyclops' hammers fall[933]
On Mars's armour, forged for proof eterne,[934]
With less remorse than Pyrrhus' bleeding sword[924]
Now falls on Priam. 470
Out, out, thou strumpet, Fortune! All you gods,[935]
In general synod take away her power,
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,[936]
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven
As low as to the fiends!' 475
Pol. This is too long.[937]
Ham. It shall to the barber's, with your beard. Prithee,[938]
say on: he's for a jig or a tale of bawdry, or he sleeps:
say on: come to Hecuba.
First Play. 'But who, O, who had seen the mobled queen—'[939][940][941] 480
Pol. That's good; 'mobled queen' is good.[943]
First Play. 'Run barefoot up and down, threatening the flames[944]
With bisson rheum; a clout upon that head[945]
Where late the diadem stood; and for a robe, 485
About her lank and all o'er-teemed loins,
A blanket, in the alarm of fear caught up:[946]
Who this had seen, with tongue in venom steep'd
'Gainst Fortune's state would treason have pronounced:[947]
But if the gods themselves did see her then, 490
When she saw Pyrrhus make malicious sport
In mincing with his sword her husband's limbs,[948]
The instant burst of clamour that she made,
Unless things mortal move them not at all,[949]
Would have made milch the burning eyes of heaven[950] 495
And passion in the gods.'[951]
Pol. Look, whether he has not turned his colour and[952]
has tears in's eyes. Prithee, no more.[953]
Ham. 'Tis well; I'll have thee speak out the rest of this[954]
soon. Good my lord, will you see the players well bestowed?[955] 500
Do you hear, let them be well used, for they are the abstract[956]
and brief chronicles of the time: after your death you were
better have a bad epitaph than their ill report while you live.[957]
Pol. My lord, I will use them according to their desert.[958]
Ham. God's bodykins, man, much better: use every[959] 505
man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping? Use[958][960]
them after your own honour and dignity: the less they deserve,
the more merit is in your bounty. Take them in.
Pol. Come, sirs.
Ham. Follow him, friends: we'll hear a play to-morrow. 510