PRIAM,
           King of Troy

    His sons:

   HECTOR

   TROILUS

   PARIS

   DEIPHOBUS

   HELENUS

    MARGARELON,
           a bastard son of Priam

    Trojan commanders:

   AENEAS

   ANTENOR

    CALCHAS,
           a Trojan priest,
         taking part with the Greeks

    PANDARUS,
           uncle to Cressida

    AGAMEMNON,
           the Greek general

    MENELAUS,
           his brother

    Greek commanders:

   ACHILLES

   AJAX

   ULYSSES

   NESTOR

   DIOMEDES

   PATROCLUS

    THERSITES,
           a deformed and scurrilous Greek

    ALEXANDER,
           servant to Cressida

    SERVANT to Troilus

    SERVANT to Paris

    SERVANT to Diomedes

    HELEN,
           wife to Menelaus

    ANDROMACHE,
           wife to Hector

    CASSANDRA,
           daughter to Priam,
         a prophetess

    CRESSIDA,
           daughter to Calchas

    Trojan and Greek Soldiers,
           and Attendants

   SCENE:

    Troy and the Greek camp
         before it TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
 
  PROLOGUE

    In Troy,
           there lies the scene.

    From isles
           of Greece The princes orgillous,
         their high blood chaf'd,
         Have to the port
               of Athens
              sent their ships Fraught
                   with the ministers
                       and instruments Of cruel war.

    Sixty and nine
         that wore Their crownets regal
               from th' Athenian bay
              Put forth toward Phrygia;
        and their vow
            is made To ransack Troy,
           within whose strong
            immures 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
           The fresh
         and yet unbruised Greeks
          do pitch Their brave pavilions:
        Priam's six-gated city,
           Dardan,
         and Tymbria,
           Helias,
         Chetas,
           Troien,
         And Antenorides,
           with massy staples
               And corresponsive and
              fulfilling bolts,
         Sperr up
               the sons of Troy.

    Now expectation,
           tickling skittish spirits
               On one and other side,
         Troyan 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 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.

    Like or find fault;
        do as your pleasures are;
           Now good or bad,
         'tis but
               the chance of war.

 
  ACT I. SCENE 1. Troy. Before
       PRIAM'S palace

    Enter TROILUS armed,
           and PANDARUS

    TROILUS.

    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 Troyan
         that is master
               of his heart,
           Let him to field;
        Troilus,
           alas,
         hath none!