That is to meane, Hector and Troilus,
That certainly though that I should dey,
They ben as void of vices, dare I sey,
As any men that liven under Sunne,

Hir might is wide yknow, and what they conne.
,Of Hector needeth it no more for to tell,
In all this world there n'is a better knight
Than he, that is of worthinesse the well,
And he well more vertue hath than might,
This knoweth many a wise and worthy knight:
And the same prise of Troilus I sey,
God helpe me so, I know not suche twey."

"By God," (quod she) of Hector that is sooth,
And f Troilus the same thing trow I:
For dredelesse, men telleth that he dooth
In armes day by day so worthely,
And beareth him here at home so gently
To every wight, that all prise hath he

Of hem that me were levest praised be.“

Now here, now there, he hunted hem so fast,
There nas but Greekes blood, and Troilus,
Now him he hurt, and him all doun he cast,
Aye where he went it was arraied thus:
He was hir death, and shield and life for us,
That as the day ther durst him none withstond,
While that he held his bloody swerd in hond.

Thereto he is the friendliest man

Of great estate, that ever I saw my live:
And where him list, best fellowship can

To such as him thinketh able for to thrive."

Die Scherze und Spässe des Pandarus in seinem Gespräch mit Cressida (A. 4, Sc. 2) haben ebenfalls ihr Vorbild bei Chaucer:

Pandare a morow, which that commen was

Unto his nece, gan her faire to grete,

And saied, "All this night so rained it alas,

That all my drede is, that ye, nece swete,"
Have little leiser had to slepe and mete:

| With that she gan her face for to wrie,
With the shete, and woxe for shame all redde,
And Pandarus gan under for to prie,
And saied,,Nece, if that I shall been dedde,
Have here a sword, and smiteth of my hedde:

Al this night" (quod he) „hath rain so do me wake, With that his arme all sodainly he thrist

That some of us I trowe hir heddes ake,“

And nere he came and said, "How stant it now
This merie morow, nece, how can ye fare?"
Creseide answerde, „Never the bet for you,
Foxe that ye been, God yeve your herte care,
God helpe me so, ye caused all this fare,
Trowe I," (quod she) „for all your wordes white,
O who so seth you, knoweth you full lite."

Under her necke, and at the last her kist.

I passe all that, which chargeth naught to say,
What, God forgave his death, and she also
Foryave: and with her uncle gan to play,
For other cause was there none than so:
But of this thing right to the effect to go,
Whan time was, home to her house she went,
And Pandarus hath fully his entent.

Der Rede des Kalchas (A. 3, Sc. 3) entspricht bei Chaucer Folgendes:
Than said he thus, „ Lo, lordes mine I was
Troyan, as it is knowen out of drede,
And if that you remember, I am Calcas,
That alderfirst yave comfort to your nede,
And tolde well howe that you should spede,
For dredelesse through you shall in a stound
Ben Troy ybrent, and beaten doun to ground.

And in what forme, or in what manner wise
This toun to shend, and all your lust atcheve,
Ye have ere this well herde me devise:
This know ye my lordes, as I leve,

And for the Greekes weren me so leve,

I came my selfe in my proper persone

To teach in this how you was best to done.

„Having unto my treasour, ne my rent,
Right no regard in respect of your ease,
Thus all my good I left, and to you went,
Wening in this you lordes for to please,
But all that losse ne doth me no disease,
I vouchsafe, as wisely have I joy,
For you to lese all that I have in Troy.

"

Save of a doughter that I left, alas,
Sleeping at home, whan out of Troy I stert,
O sterne, O cruell father that I was,

How might I have in that so hard an herte?
Alas, that I ne had brought her in my shert,
For sorow of which I wol nat live to morow,
But if ye lordes rew upon my sorow.

Hier ein Bruchstück aus dem Abschiede des Troilus und der Cressida (A. 4, Sc. 4), wie ihn Chaucer hat:

And over all this I pray you," (quod she tho)

My owne hertes soothfast suffisaunce,
Sith I am thine all hole withouten mo,

That while that I am absent, no pleasaunce
Of other, do me fro your remembraunce:
For 1 am ever agast, for why? men rede,
That love is thing aye full of busie drede.

For in this world there liveth lady none,
If that ye were untrue, as God defend,
That so betrayed were, or wo begon,
As I, that all trouthe in you entend:
And doubtlesse, if that iche other wend,

To quite him well, that so well can deserve:
And while that God my wit will me conserve
I shall so done, so true I have you found,
That aie honour to meward shall rebound.
For trusteth well, that your estate royall,
Ne vain delite, nor onely worthinesse
Of you in werre or turnay marciall,
Ne pompe, array, nobley, or eke richesse:
Ne made me to rue on your distresse,
But moral vertue, grounded upon trouth,
That was the cause I first had on you routh.

Den Schluss der Citate aus Chaucer mögen hier einige Verse aus der Werbung des Diomedes um die Creseide bilden.

But in effect, and shortly for to say,
This Diomede all freshly new againe

Gan preasen son, and fast her mercy pray,
And after this, the soothe for to saine,
Her glove he toke, of which he was full faine,
And finally, whan it was woxen eve,
And all was well, he rose and tooke his leve.
The bright Venus folowed and aie taught
The way there brode Phebus doune alight,
And Cithera her chare horse over raught,
To whirle out of the Lion, if she might,
And Signifer his candles sheweth bright,
Whan that Creseide unto her bed went,
Within her fathers faire bright tent.
Retourning in her soule aye up and doun
The wordes of this suddaine Diomede,
His great estate, and perill of the toun,
And that she was alone, and had nede
Of friendes help, and thus began to brede
The cause why, the soothe for to tell,
She tooke fully purpose for to dwell.
The morow came, and ghostly for to speke,
This Diomede is come unto Creseide,
And shortly, least that ye my tale breke,
So well he for himselfe spake and seide,
That all her sighes sore doune he leide,
And finally, the soothe for tho saine,
He refte her the great of all her paine.

And after this, the story telleth us,
That she him yave the faire bay stede,
The which she ones wan of Troilus,
And eke a brooch (and that was little nede)
That Troilus' was, she yave this Diomede,
And eke the bet from sorow him to releve,
She made him weare a pencell of her sleve.
I find eke in stories elsewhere,
Whan through the body hurt was Diomede
Of Troilus, tho wept she many a tere,
Whan that she saw his wide woundes blede,
And that she tooke to kepen him god hede,
And for to healen him of his smart,

Men saine, I n'ot, that she yave him her herte.

"

But truely the storie telleth us,
There made never woman more wo
Than she, whan that she falsed Troilus,
She said Alas, for now is clene ago
My name in trouth of love for evermo,
For I have falsed one the gentillest
That ever was, and one the worthiest.
,,Alas, of me unto the worldes end
Shall neither been ywritten or ysong
No good worde, for these bokes woll me shend:
Yrolled shall I been on many a tong,

Throughout the world my bell shall be rong,
And women most woll hate me of all,
Alas, that such a caas me should fall.

Wenn Shakspere nun auch für die eigentliche Geschichte des Troilus und der Cressida Chaucer's episches Gedicht zum Grunde legte, so entlehnte er die Kämpfe und Berathungen der Trojaner und Griechen und die dazu gehörigen Figuren, von denen sich bei Chaucer kaum eine Andentung findet, zwei andern englischen Behandlungen der trojanischen Sagen, einer in Versen von Lydgate, dessen Troye Boke hauptsächlich auf die lateinische Geschichte Troja's von Guido von Colonna gegründet war, und einer prosaischen von Caxton, der seine Recuyles or Destruction of Troy aus dem Französischen des Raoul le Fèvre übersetzte. Namentlich das letztere Werk hat unserm Dichter die meisten historischen Details zu den nicht das Liebespaar selbst betreffenden Theilen seines Dramas gegeben.

Einige Proben aus Caxton mit Verweisung auf die entsprechenden Stellen bei Shakspere mögen zeigen, inwiefern dieser jenen benutzt hat. So vgl. zu A. 2, Sc. 2, wo Troilus seinem Bruder Helenus Feigheit vorwirft, die Stelle bei Caxton: Then arose up on his feet Troylus the youngest son of King Pryamus, and began to speak in this manner: O noblemen and hardy, how be ye abashed for the words of this cowardly priest here? If Helenus be afraid, let him go into the temple and sing the divine service; and let the other take revenge of their injurious wrongs by strength and force of arms. All they that heerd Troylus thus speak allowed him, saying that he had very well spoken. And thus they finished their parliament and

went to dinner.

Zu A. 3, Sc. 3, wo Achill den Hektor unbewaffnet bei sich zu sehen wünscht: The truce during, Hector went on a day unto the tents of the Greeks, and Achilles beheld him gladly, for as much as he had never seen him unarmed. And at the request of Achilles, Hector went into his tent; and as they spake together of many things, Achilles said to Hector, I have great pleasure to see thee unarmed, forasmuch as I have never seen thee before.

Zu A. 4, Sc. 5, die Anrede des Hektor an Ajax nach dem Zweikampfe: As they were fighting, they spake and talked together, and thereby Hector knew that he was his cousin-german, son of his aunt: and then Hector, for courtesy, embraced him in his arms, and made great cheer, and offered to him to do all his pleasure, if he desired anything of him, and prayed him that he would come to Troy with him for to see his lineage of his mother's side. · But he prayed Hector, requesting that, if he loved him so much as he said, that he would for his sake, and at his instance, cease the battle for that day, and that the Troyans should leave the Greeks in peace. The unhappy Hector accorded unto him his request, and blew a horn, and made all his people to withdraw into the city.

Zu A. 5, Sc. 3: Andromeda saw that night a marvellous vision, and her seemed if Hector went that day to the battle he should be slain. And she, that had great fear and dread of her husband, weeping, said to him, praying that he would not go to the battle that day: whereof Hector blamed his wife, saying that she should not believe nor give faith to dreams, and would not abide nor tarry therefore. When it was in the morning, Andromeda went to the King Priamus, and to the queen, and told to them the verity of her vision; and prayed them with all her heart that they would do so much at her request as to dissuade Hector, that he should not in any wise that day go to the battle, etc. It happened that day was fair and clear, and the Troyans armed them, and Troylus issued first into the battle; after him Eneas. And the King Priamus sent to Hector that he should keep him well that day from going to battle. Wherefore Hector was angry, and said to his wife many reproachful words, as that he knew well that this commandment came by her request; yet, notwithstanding the forbidding, he armed him. At this instant came

the Queen Hecuba, and the Queen Helen, and the sisters of Hector, and they humbled themselves and kneeled down presently before his feet, and prayed and desired him with weeping tears that he would do off his harness, and unarm him, and come with them into the hall: but never would he do it for their prayers, but descended from the palace thus armed as he was, and took his horse, and would have gone to battle. But at the request of Andromeda the King Priamus came running anon, and took him by the bridle, and said to him so many things of one and other, that he made him to return, but in no wise he would be made to unarm him.

Zu dem Anfang von A. 5, Sc. 5: And of the party of the Troyans came the King Ademon that jousted against Menelaus, and smote him, and hurt him in the face: and he and Troylus took him, and had led him away, if Diomedes had not come the sooner with a great company of knights, and fought with Troylus at his coming, and smote him down, and took his horse, and sent it to Briseyda, and did cause to say to her by his servant that it was Troylus's horse, her love, and that he had conquered him by his promise, and prayed her from thenceforth that she would hold him for her love.

Den im Verlauf derselben Scene erwähnten Sagittary beschreibt Lydgate in seinem Troye Boke so:

And with him Guido saith that he had
A wonder archer of sight mervaylous,
Of form and shape in manner monstrous:
For like mine auctour as 1 rehearse can,
Fro the navel upward he was man,
And lower down like a horse yshaped:
And thilke part that after man was maked
Of skin was black and rough as any bear,
Cover'd with hair fro cold him for to wear.

Passing foul and horrible of sight,

Whose eyes twain were sparkling as bright
As is a furnace with his red leven,

Or the lightning that falleth from the heaven;
Dreadful of look, and red as fire of cheer,
And, as I read, he was a good archer;
And with his bow both at even and morrow
Upon Greeks he wrought much sorrow.

Einzelne andere Umstände, welche Shakspere nicht in den erwähnten Quellen fand, bot ihm Chapman's Uebersetzung des Homer, wo er u. A. auch die Figur des Thersites, in allgemeinen Umrissen wenigstens, entdeckte.

Ob ausser den angegebenen Quellen Shakspere auch Dramen benutzt hat, die vor dem seinigen denselben Stoff auf die Bühne gebracht hatten, muss zweifelhaft bleiben, da nur die blosse Notiz von solchen sich erhalten hat. Nach dem Tagebuche des Schauspieldirectors Henslowe arbeiteten die Dichter Dekker und Chettle im Jahre 1599 an einem Troilus and Cressida, das wahrscheinlich die Truppe des Grafen von Nottingham bald nachher aufgeführt hat. Ein anderes gleichnamiges Drama hatte die Shakspere'sche Schauspielertruppe im Jahre 1603 anfgeführt, das auch durch den Druck veröffentlicht werden sollte, wie aus folgendem Vermerk in den Buchhändlerregistern erhellt: 7. Febr. 1602-3. Mr. Roberts. The booke of Troilus and Cressida, as yt is acted by my Lo. Chamber-lens men. - Dass Shakspere selbst dieses Drama geschrieben oder später für sein uns erhaltenes in irgend ein er Weise benutzt haben sollte, ist eine blosse Vermuthung, die weder durch äussere noch durch innere Gründe unterstützt wird.

1) Das Personenverzeichniss fügte zuerst Rowe in seiner Ausgabe (1709) hinzu. 2) Der Prolog fehlt in den Qs. und rührt nach Sprache und Inhalt auch schwerlich von Sh. her, sondern von Jemandem, der das Sh.'sche Drama offenbar für eine regelrechte Tragödie aus der Geschichte des trojanischen Krieges hielt oder ausgab. 3) Orgillous in der Fol. Das Wort kommt sonst bei Sh. nicht vor; es ist übermüthig, ungestüm. In Froissart's Chronik heisst es von einem Flusse: which was fell and orgulous at certain times. 4) their bezieht sich auf das vorhergehende the princes. 5) immures = Einschliessung von Mauern; ein Sh.'sches Wort, wie es scheint, das nur an dieser Stelle vorkommt, nach dem Verbum to immure gebildet. 6) Dass Helena mit Paris in Troja sich geborgen hat, ist der Klagepunkt, die Ursache des Kampfes. 7) Die Fol. hat Barke. 8) Die Namen der sechs Thore Troja's stehen als Apposition zu dem aus six-gated zu supplirenden six gates. Es finden sich diese Namen in Lydgate's Troye Boke, wo sie in der alten Ausgabe von 1513 folgendermassen heissen: Dardanydes, Tymbria, Helyas, Cetheas, Trojana, Anthonydes. Aus dem Helias der Fol. haben die Hgg. Ilias, und aus Antenonidus mit mehr Recht Antenorides gemacht, denn so heisst dieses Thor auch in Caxton's Destruction. Troyan ist überall die Lesart der Qs. und Fol. für Trojan. 9) Nach Theobald's plausibler Emendation der alten Lesart stirre up. Die sechs Thore Troja's denn diese selbst sind bei der Licenz der Construction als Subject zu fassen sperren mit ihren Krampen und entsprechenden, eng anschliessenden Riegeln die Söhne Troja's ein. to sperr findet sich in zeitgenössischen Schriftstellern; so in Warner's Albion's England (1602): When chased home into his holds, there sperred up in gates. 10) Der Schauspieler erklärt, weshalb er den Prolog, der gewöhnlich in schwarzer Tracht gesprochen wurde, hier in kriegerischer Rüstung vortrage. Es geschehe das nicht in trotziger Zuversicht, sondern in Uebereinstimmung mit dem Stoffe (argument) des Dramas. 11) vaunt, veraltet für van = vorderer Theil, hier zeitlich zu verstehen. 12) firstlings = Erstlinge, Erstgeburten. So in Macbeth (A. 4, Sc. 1) The very firstlings of my heart shall be || The firstlings of my hand.

To what may be digested 13 in a play.
Like, or find fault; do as your pleasures are:
Now good, or bad, 't is but the chance of war.

ACT I.

SCENE I.

Troy. Before PRIAM's Palace.

Enter TROILUS armed, and PANDARUS.

Tro. Call here my varlet,' I 'll unarm again:
Why should I war without the walls of Troy,
That find such cruel battle here within??
Each Trojan that is master of his heart,
Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none.
Pan. Will this gear ne'er be mended?3

Tro. The Greeks are strong, and skilful to their
strength,

Fierce to their skill, and to their fierceness valiant;"
But I am weaker than a woman's tear,
Tamer than sleep, fonder than ignorance,
Less valiant than the virgin in the night,
And skilless as unpractis'd infancy.

Pan. Well, I have told you enough of this: for my part, I'll not meddle nor make no further. He that will have a cake out of the wheat, must needs tarry the grinding.

Tro. Have I not tarried?

5

Pan. Ay, the grinding; but you must tarry the bolting.
Tro. Have I not tarried?

Pan. Ay, the bolting; but you must tarry the leavening.
Tro. Still have I tarried.

Pan. Ay, to the leavening; but here 's yet in the
word' hereafter, the kneading, the making of the cake,
the heating of the oven, and the baking; nay, you must
stay the cooling too, or you may chance to burn your lips.
Tro. Patience herself, what goddess e'er she be,
Doth lesser blench at sufferance than I do.
At Priam's royal table do I sit;

=

Pan. An her hair were not somewhat darker than Helen's, (well, go to,) 13 there were no more comparison between the women; but, for my part, she is my kinswoman: I would not, as they term it, praise her; 14 but I would somebody had heard her talk yesterday, as I did: I will not dispraise your sister Cassandra's wit, but

-

Tro. O Pandarus! I tell thee, Pandarus,
When I do tell thee, there my hopes lie drown'd,
Reply not in how many fathoms deep
They lie indrench'd. I tell thee, I am mad
In Cressid's love: thou answer'st, she is fair;
Pour'st in the open ulcer of my heart
Her eyes, her hair, her cheek, her gait, her voice;
Handlest in thy discourse, O! that her hand, 15
In whose comparison all whites are ink,
Writing their own reproach; 16 to whose soft seizure
The cygnet's down is harsh, and spirit of sense
Hard als the palm of ploughman: 17 this thou tell'st me,
As true thou tell'st me, when I say I love her;
But, saying thus, instead of oil and balm,
Thou lay'st in every gash that love hath given me
The knife that made it.

Pan. I speak no more than truth.
Tro. Thou dost not speak so much.

Pan. 'Faith, I'll not meddle in 't. Let her be as she
is: if she be fair, 't is the better for her; an she be not,
she has the mends in her own hands. 18
Tro. Good Pandarus! How now, Pandarus?

=

=

hier in mei

Die

13) to digest gebraucht Sh. auch sonst von scenischer Behandlung eines Stoffes. So in K. Henry V. (A. 2, Choras) digest the abuse of di tance, und in Hamlet (A. 2, Sc. 2) an excellent play, well digested in the scenes. 1) varlet Knappe. 2) here within findet seine Erklärung in der folgenden Zeile, also nem Herzen, jedoch mit dem Nebensinne: hier in der Stadt. 3) this gear dieses Zeug, ist hier die Liebesnoth des Troilus. So in K. Henry VI. Second Part (A. 3, Sc. 1) But I will remedy this gear ere long. In einem Interlude, King Darius (1565), fand Steevens ganz wie hier: Will not yet this gear be amended, Nor your sinful acts corrected? Es scheint sprichwörtlich gebraucht zu sein. 4) to ist hier in addition to. 5) So die Fol.; in den Qs. fehlt needs. 6) scil. tarried to the leavening = gewartet auf das Säuren. In den vorhergehenden Reden war to tarry als transitives Verbum mit dem Accusativ construirt. 7) d. h. in dem Worte tarry steckt hinterher noch das Kneten u. s. w. Die Cambridge Edd. halten hereafter für das Wort und schreiben dasselbe in the word „hereafter". 8) So die Fol.; die Qs. lassen of aus; ebenso fehlt in ihnen to vor burn in der folgenden Zeile. 9) to blench = zurückfahren, zurückzucken vor Etwas. Troilus übertrifft an ruhiger Resignation selbst die Göttin der Geduld. 10) Qs. und Fol. lesen So, traitor, then she comes, when she is thence. Emendationen rühren von Rowe her. 11) d. h. mich in meinem Liebesgrame. 12) storm ist von Rowe für den offenbaren Druckfehler der alten Ausgg. scorn gesetzt. 13) Die Parenthese weist einen Einwand zurück, den Troilus machen will. 14) So die Qs.; die Fol. hat praise it. 15) Dasselbe Wortspiel hat Sh. in Titus Andronicus (A. 3, Sc. 2) O! handle not the theme, to talk of hands. 16) Alles Weisse ist im Vergleich mit Cressida's Hand so schwarz, dass es als Tinte dienen kann, um seine eigene Schmach oder Hässlichkeit zu verzeichnen. 17) Gegen die sanfte Berührung der Hand Cressida's gehalten, ist die Flaumfeder des jungen Schwans rauh und der feinste vergeistigte Sinn nach dem Zusammenhange bier der Tastsinn unempfindlich wie die Hand des Ackersmannes. Beachtenswerth ist Hanmer's Conjectur to th' spirit of sense. - A. 3, Sc. 3 wird das Auge that most pure spirit of sense genannt. 18) d. h. sie kann durch Toilettenkünste ihrer Schönheit aufhelfen. Steevens nachweist, ist das eine sprichwörtliche Redensart, entsprechend jener andern: she may make the best of a bad bargain. Er citirt dazu aus Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy: and if men will be jealous in such cases, the mends is in their own hands - they must thank themselves. 19) Für seine Mühe (travail)

Wie