| In Troy
there lies the scene. From isles of |
|
| Greece |
|
| The princes
orgulous, their high blood chaf'd, |
|
| Have to
the port of Athens sent their ships, |
|
| Fraught
with the ministers and instruments |
4 |
| Of cruel
war: sixty and nine, that wore |
|
| Their crownets
regal, from the Athenian bay |
|
| Put forth
toward Phrygia; and their vow is |
|
| made |
|
| To ransack
Troy, within whose strong im- |
|
| mures |
8 |
| The ravish'd
Helen, Menelaus' queen, |
|
| With wanton
Paris sleeps; and that's the |
|
| quarrel.
|
|
| To Tenedos
they come, |
|
| And the
deep-drawing barks do there disgorge |
|
| Their war-like
fraughtage: now on Dardan |
|
| plains |
13 |
| The fresh
and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch |
|
| Their brave
pavilions : Priam's six-gated city, |
|
| Cardan,
and Tymbria, Ilias, Chetas, Trojan, |
|
| And Antenorides,
with massy staples |
17 |
| And corresponsive
and fulfilling bolts, |
|
| Sperr up
the sons of Troy. |
|
| Now expectation,
tickling skittish spirits, |
20 |
| On one and
other side, Trojan and Greek, |
|
| Sets all
on hazard. And hither am I come |
|
| A prologue
arm'd, but not in confidence |
|
| Of author's
pen or actor's voice, but suited |
24 |
| In like
conditions as our argument, |
|
| To tell
you, fair beholders, that our play |
|
| Leaps o'er
the vaunt and firstlings of those |
|
| broils, |
|
| Beginning
in the middle; starting thence away |
|
| To what
may be digested in a play. |
29 |
| Like or
find fault; do as your pleasures are: |
|
| Now good
or bad, 'tis but the chance of war. |
|
