The Complete Works of William Shakespeare · William Shakespeare
SCENE VIII. Another part of the plain.
Enter Hector. HECTOR. Most putrified core so fair without, Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life. Now is my day’s work done; I’ll take my breath: Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death! [_Disarms_.] Enter Achilles and Myrmidons. ACHILLES. Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set, How ugly night comes breathing at his heels; Even with the vail and dark’ning of the sun, To close the day up, Hector’s life is done. HECTOR. I am unarm’d; forego this vantage, Greek. ACHILLES. Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek. [_Hector falls_.] So, Ilion, fall thou next! Now, Troy, sink down; Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone. On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain ‘Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.’ [_A retreat sounded_.] Hark! a retire upon our Grecian part. MYRMIDON. The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord. ACHILLES. The dragon wing of night o’erspreads the earth And, stickler-like, the armies separates. My half-supp’d sword, that frankly would have fed, Pleas’d with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed. [_Sheathes his sword_.] Come, tie his body to my horse’s tail; Along the field I will the Trojan trail. [_Exeunt_.] Sound retreat. Shout. Enter Agamemnon, Ajax, Menelaus, Nestor, Diomedes and the rest, marching. AGAMEMNON. Hark! hark! what shout is this? NESTOR. Peace, drums! SOLDIERS. [_Within_.] Achilles! Achilles! Hector’s slain. Achilles! DIOMEDES. The bruit is, Hector’s slain, and by Achilles. AJAX. If it be so, yet bragless let it be; Great Hector was as good a man as he. AGAMEMNON. March patiently along. Let one be sent To pray Achilles see us at our tent. If in his death the gods have us befriended; Great Troy is ours, and our sharp wars are ended. [_Exeunt_.]
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