Die Unterhaltung des Pandarus mit seiner Nichte (A. 1, Sc. 3.) findet sich bei Chaucer vorgebildet, wie aus folgendem Bruchstück hervorgeht:

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:

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:"
With that his arme all sodainly he thrist
Under her necke, and at the last her kist.

I passe all that, which chargeth naught to say,
What, God foryave 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 Calchas (A. 3, Sc. 3.) entspricht bei Chaucer Folgendes:

"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.
Abschiede des Troilus und der Cressida

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.
Hier ein Bruchstück aus dem
(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 I 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,
I nere but dead, and ere ye cause find,
For Goddes love, so beth ye nat unkind."
To this answered Troilus and seide,
„Now God to whom there n'is no cause ywrie,
Me glad, as wis I never unto Creseide,
Sith thilke day I saw her first with eye,
Was false, ne never shall till that I die,
At short wordes, well ye may me leve,
I can no more, it shall be found at preve."
„Graunt mercy, good herte mine, ywis“ (quod she)
,,And blisful Venus let me never sterve,
Er I may stonde of pleasaunce in degre,
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.
„Eke gentle herte, and manhood that ye had,
And that ye had (as me thought) in dispite
Every thing that sowned in to bad,
As rudenesse, and peoplish appetite
And that your reason bridled your delite,
This made aboven every creature,

That I was yours, and shall while I may
dure.

,,And this may length of yeres nat fordo,
Ne remuablest fortune deface,

But Jupiter, that of his might may do
The sorowfull to be glad, so yeve us grace,
Er nightes tenne to meten in this place,
So that it may your herte and mine suffise,
And fareth now well, for time is that ye rise."

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 Crescide,
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,
Her 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 Andeutung 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 Sh. mögen zeigen, in wiefern 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

If He

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? lenus 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. 2, Sc. 3. wo Achill den Hector 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 Hector 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 secmed 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, sayiny 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 I 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 Sh. 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 Sh. 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 aufgeführt, 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. Chamberlens men. Dass Sh. selbst dieses Drama geschrieben oder später für sein uns erhaltenes in irgend einer Weise benutzt haben sollte, ist eine blosse Vermuthung, die weder durch äussere noch durch innere Gründe unterstützt wird.