Chapter: ACT V. SCENE 7.
Another part of the plain

Enter ACHILLES, with Myrmidons

  ACHILLES. Come here about me, you my Myrmidons;
    Mark what I say. Attend me where I wheel;
    Strike not a stroke, but keep yourselves in breath;
    And when I have the bloody Hector found,
    Empale him with your weapons round about;
    In fellest manner execute your arms.
    Follow me, sirs, and my proceedings eye.
    It is decreed Hector the great must die.
Exeunt

      Enter MENELAUS and PARIS, fighting; then THERSITES

  THERSITES. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it. Now, bull!
    now, dog! 'Loo, Paris, 'loo! now my double-horn'd Spartan! 'loo,
    Paris, 'loo! The bull has the game. Ware horns, ho!
                        Exeunt PARIS and MENELAUS

                      Enter MARGARELON

  MARGARELON. Turn, slave, and fight.
  THERSITES. What art thou?
  MARGARELON. A bastard son of Priam's.
  THERSITES. I am a bastard too; I love bastards. I am a bastard
    begot, bastard instructed, bastard in mind, bastard in valour, in
    everything illegitimate. One bear will not bite another, and
    wherefore should one bastard? Take heed, the quarrel's most
    ominous to us: if the son of a whore fight for a whore, he tempts
    judgment. Farewell, bastard.
      Exit
  MARGARELON. The devil take thee, coward!
Exit

 Enter Achilles with Myrmidons. Achilles tells his Myrmidons to listen to what he has to say. He tells them to follow him when he moved in an arc, not to strike at all but preserve their breath, and when he had found Hector, to surround and close him in with their weapons, and quickly carry out the operation. He tells them to follow him and watch his actions: It is decreed Hector the great must die he says and exits. Menelaus and Paris enter fighting. Then Thersites enters. The cuckold and the cuckold-maker are at it says Thersites, as crude as ever. He sees the combat as a bull baiting and shouts encouragement. Paris and Menelaus exit Margarelon enters and commands Thersites to fight. Thersites asks him who he is and Margarelon introduces himself as A bastard son of Priams. With a stroke of comic genius, Thersites manages to connect their status as bastards to forge a kinship bond between them, and so escapes eminent death. The non-plused Margarelon can only say, The devil take thee, coward.

