Troilus and Cressida

Diomedes brings Antenor to Troy, where he is met by Paris and Aeneas. Though the meeting seems cordial, the men insinuate that things will be very different on the battlefield. Paris calls Diomedes’s veiled threat that he’d rather see Aeneas dead “the most despiteful’st gentle greeting” (4.1.78).

Paris asks Aeneas to go to Calchas’s house and bring back Cressida. Troilus may be there as well, and will protest the trade. Aeneas agrees that Troilus would prefer to let Troy go to the Greeks rather than part with Cressida. Paris says Troilus will have to succumb, since tough decisions are the reality of war. Aeneas leaves. 

Paris asks Diomedes who deserves Helen more: him or Menelaus. Repeatedly referring to Helen as a “whore” (4.1.79), Diomedes declares that the lecherous Paris and foolish Menelaus deserve her equally. When Paris protests that Diomedes is being unfair to his countrywoman, Diomedes states that he is being truthful, since so many Greeks and Trojans have died for Helen.

It is morning and Troilus is taking his leave from Cressida. Cressida wonders if Troilus has grown tired of her, but he tells her the only reason he is leaving is because the workday has begun.