1 Lord. You fee, my lord, how ample you are belov'd.

Mufick. Re-enter Cupid, with a mafque of Ladies as Amazons, with lutes in their hands, dancing and playing.

Apem. Heyday! what a fweep of vanity comes
this way!

They dance! they are mad women.
Like madness is the glory of this life,

Tim. The little casket bring me hither.
Flav. Yes, my lord.—More jewels yet!
There is no croffing him in his humour; [Afide.
Elfe I fhould tell him,-Well,-i'faith, I should,
When all's fpent, he'd be crofs'd then, an he could.
10Tis pity, bounty had not eyes behind 4;
That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind.
[Exit, and returns with the caflet.

5

20

25

Vouchfafe me a word; it does concern you near.

Tim. Near? why then another time I'll hear I pr'ythee, let us be provided

30 To fhew them entertainment.

Flav. [Afide.] I fcarce know how.

Enter another Servant.

[thee:

2 Serv. May it please your honour, lord Lucius Out of his free love, hath prefented to you

35 Four milk-white horses, trapt in silver.

As this pomp fhews to a little oil, and root.
We make ourselves fools, to difport ourselves;
And spend our flatteries, to drink those men,
Upon whofe age we void it up again, [not
With poisonous fpite, and envy. Who lives, that's]
Depraved, or depraves? who dies, that bears
Not one spurn to their graves of their friends' gift?
I should fear, thofe that dance before me now,
Would one day stamp upon me: It has been done;
Men fhut their doors against a setting fun.
The Lords rife from table, with much adering of
Timon; and to fhew their loves, each fingles out
an Amazon, and all dance, men with women; 40
a lofty ftrain or two to the bautboys, and cease.
Tim. You have done our pleatures much grace,
fair ladies,

Set a fair fashion on our entertainment,
Which was not half fo beautiful and kind;
You have added worth unto 't, and lively luftre,
And entertain'd me with mine own device;
I am to thank you for it.

1451

Tim. I shall accept them fairly: let the presents Be worthily entertain'd.-How now? what news? Enter a third Servant.

3 Serv. Please you, my lord, that honourable gentleman, lord Lucullus, entreats your company to-morrow to hunt with him; and has fent your honour two brace of greyhounds.

Tim. I'll hunt with him; And let them be re-
Not without fair reward.
[ceiv'd,
Flav. [Afide.] What will this come to?
He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
And all out of an empty coffer.-

Nor will he know his purfe; or yield me this,
To fhew him what a beggar his heart is,
Being of no power to make his wishes good:
His promifes fly so beyond his state,
That what he speaks is all in debt, he owes
For every word; he is fo kind, that he now

When

The meaning is, according to Dr. Johníon, "The glory of this life is very near to madness, as may be made appear from this pomp, exhibited in a place where a philofopher is feeding on oil and roots. we fee by example how few are the neceffaries of life, we learn what madnefs there is in fo much fu perfluity." 2 i. e. you have feen the best we can do. 3 The poet does not mean here, that he would be cross'd in humour, but that he would have his hand cross'd with money, if he could. He is playing on the word, and alluding to our old filver penny, ufed before K. Edward the Firft's time, which had a crofs on the reverfe with a creafe, that it might be more eafily broke into halves and quar ters, half-pence and farthings. From this penny, and other pieces, was our common expreffion derived, not a piece of money. 4 To fee the miferies that are following her. 6 i. e. to prefer it; to raife it to honour by wearing it.

I have not a cross about me; i. e. > i. e. for his nobleness of foul.

Pays

2 Lord. With more than common thanks I will 10 Serving of becks 2, and jutting out of bums! receive it.

3 Lord. O, he is the very foul of bounty! Tim. And now I remember, my lord, you gave Good words the other day of a bay courfer I rode on it is yours, because you lik'd it. 2 Lord. O, I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, In that.

Tim. You may take my word, my lord; I know,

no man

Can juftly praise, but what he does affect:
I weigh my friend's affection with mine own;
I tell you true. I'll call on you.

All Lords. O, none fo welcome.

Tim. I take all and your several vifitations
So kind to heart, 'tis not enough to give;
Methinks, I could deal kingdoms to my friends,
And ne'er be weary.-Alcibiades,

Thou art a foldier, therefore feldom rich,

It comes in charity to thee: for all thy living
Is 'mongst the dead; and all the lands thou haft
Lie in a pitch'd field.

Alc. In defiled land, my lord.

15

20

I doubt, whether their legs 3 be worth the fums
That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs:
Methinks, falfe hearts should never have found legs.
Thus honeft fools lay out their wealth on court'fies.
Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not fullen,
I would be good to thee.

Apem. No, I'll nothing: for,

If I thould be brib'd too, there would be none left To rail upon thee; and then thou would'st fin the faster.

Thou giv'ft fo long, Timon, I fear me, thou

Wilt give away thyself in paper shortly:

What need thefe feafts, pomps, and vain-glories?

Tim. Nay,

Sen.

AND

Enter a Senator.

ACT II.
Т

ND late, five thousand to Varro; and
to Ifidore,

He owes nine thoufand;-befides my former fum,
Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion
Of raging wafte? It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, fteal but a beggar's dog,
And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold:
If I would fell my horfe, and buy twenty more
Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
Afk nothing, give it him, it foals me, straight,
And able horses: No porter at his gate 7;
But rather one that smiles, and ftill invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason

140 Can found his state in safety 3.-Caphis, ho! Caphis, I fay!

45

Importune him for my monies; be not ceas'd
With flight denial; nor then filenc'd, when-
Commend me to your mafter-and the cap [rah,
Plays in the right hand, thus :-but tell him, fir-
50 My ufes cry to me, I must serve my turn

Out of mine own; his days and times are past,
And my reliance on his fracted dates
Has fmit my credit: I love, and honour him;
But must not break my back, to heal his finger:
55 Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be toft and turn'd to me in words,

4 i.e. be

i. c. all good wishes, or all happiness to you. 2 To ferve a beck, according to Johnson, is to offer a falutation: Mr. Steevens believes it in this place to mean, to pay a courtly obedience to a nod. 3 Our author plays upon the word leg, as it fignifies a limb and a bow or act of obeisance. ruined by his fecurities entered into. 5 i. e. the pleasure of being flattered. my horfe to Timon, it immediately foals, and not only produces more, but able horses. author here alludes to that fernness which was in his days the general characteristic of a porter. Reafon cannot find his fortune to have any fafe or folid foundation. 9 i. e. stopp'd.

6 i. e. If I give 7 Our

8 i. e.

But

I do befeech you, good my lords, keep on;
[Exeunt Alcibiades, &c.
10I'll wait upon you instantly.--Come hither,pray you.
[To Flavius.

How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd
With clamorous demands of broken bonds,
And the detention of long-since-due debts,
15 Againft my honour?

Flav. Please you, gentlemen,

The time is unagreeable to this business:
Your importunacy cease, 'till after dinner;
That I may make his lordship understand
20 Wherefore you are not paid.

Tim. Do fo, my friends: See them well enter-
tain'd.
Flav. Pray draw near.

[Exit Timon. [Exit Flavius.

Enter Apemantus, and a Fool.

Enter Caphis, with the fervants of Ifidore and Varro. 25 Caph. Stay, ftay, here comes

Fye, fye, fye, fye!

Caph. Good even4, Varro: What,

You come for money?

Enter Timon, Alcibiades, &c.

35

Apemantus ;

Let's have some sport with 'em.
Var. Hang him, he'll abufe us.
Ifid. A plague upon him, dog!
Var. How doft, fool?

the fool with

Ifid. [To Var.] There's the fool hangs on your back already.

Tim. So foon as dinner's done, we'll forth again, My Alcibiades. With me? What is your will? [They prefent their bills.

Caph. My lord, here is a note of certain dues.
Tim. Dues? Whence are you?
Capb. Of Athens here, my lord.
Tim. Go to my steward.

Caph. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off
To the fucceffion of new days this month:
My mafter is awak'd by great occafion,

To call upon his own; and humbly prays you,
That with your other noble parts you'll fuit,
In giving him his right.

Tim. Mine honeft friend,

I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.
Caph. Nay, good my lord,-

Tim. Contain thyfelf, good friend.

Var. One Varro's fervant, my good lord,-
Ifid. From Ifidore;

He humbly prays your speedy payment,

40

Apem. No, thou stand'st single, thou art not on him yet.

Caph. Where's the fool now?

Apem. He last afk'd the question. Poor rogues,
and ufurers' men! bawds between gold and want!
All. What are we, Apemantus?
Apem. Affes.

All. Why?

A gull is a bird as remarkable for the poverty of its feathers, as a phoenix is fuppofed to be for the richness of its plumage. 2 Which is here ufed for who, and refers to Timon. 3 Warburton fupplies the fenfe of this paffage thus: Never mind was [made] to be fo unavife, [in order] to be fo kind. i. e. Nature, in order to make a profufe mind, never before endowed any man with fo large a fhare of folly. 4 Gord even, or, as it is fometimes lefs accurately written, Good den, was the ufual falutation from non, the moment that Good morrow became improper. 5 The old name for a certain difeafe was the brenning, and a sense of fealding is one of its first fymptoms. bawdy-houfe, probably from the diffolutenefs of that ancient Greek city.

• A cant name for a

Page

Page. Thou waft whelp'd a dog; and thou 15 fhalt famish, a dog's death. Answer not, I am

Flav. You would not hear me,
At many leifures I propos'd.
Tim. Go to:

Perchance, fome fingle vantages you took
When my indifpofition put you back;
And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus to excufe yourself.

Flav. O my good lord!

At many times I brought in my accounts,
Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
And fay, you found them in mine honesty.
When, for fome trifling prefent, you have bid me
20 Return fo much, I have shook my head, and wept;
Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more clofe: I did endure
Not feldom, nor no flight checks; when I have
Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate,

25 And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord,
Though you hear now, yet now's too late a time;
The greatest of your having lacks a half
To pay your prefent debts.

Fool. I think, no ufurer but has a fool to his fervant: My mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your mafters, they 30 approach fadly, and go away merry; but they enter my master's house merrily, and go away fadly: The reason of this?

Var. I could render one.

Apem. Do it then, that we may account thee a 35 whore-mafter, and a knave; which notwithstanding, thou shalt be no lefs efteemed.

Var. What is a whore-mafter, fool?

Fool. A fool in good clothes, and fomething like thee. 'Tis a fpirit: fometime, it appears like 40 a lord; fometime, like a lawyer; fometime, like a philofopher, with two ftones more than's artificial one: He is very often like a knight; and, generally, in all shapes, that man goes up and down in, from fourfcore to thirteen, this fpirit 45 walks in.

Var. Thou art not altogether a fool.

Fool. Nor thou altogether a wife man; as much foolery as I have, fo much wit thou lack'st. Apem. That answer might have become Ape-150

mantus.

All. Afide, afide; here comes lord Timon.
Re-enter Timon, and Flavius.
Apem. Come with me, fool, come.

Fool. I do not always follow lover, elder bro-155 ther, and woman; fometime, the philofopher.

1

Tim. Let all my land be fold.

Flav. 'Tis all engag'd, fome forfeited and gone;
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of prefent dues: the future comes apace :
What fhall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning?

Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.
Flav. O my good lord, the world is but a word2;
Were it all yours, to give it in a breath,
How quickly were it gone?

Tim. You tell me true.

Flav. If you fufpect my husbandry, or falfhood,
Call me before the exacteft auditors,
And fet me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been opprest
With riotous feeders 3; when our vaults have wept
With drunken fpilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelfy;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock 4,
And fet mine eyes at flow.

[lord!

Tim. Pr'ythee, no more.
Flav. Heavens, have I faid, the bounty of this
How many prodigal bits have flaves, and peasants,
This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?
What heart, head, fword, force, means, but is lord

Timon's?

Great Timon's, noble, worthy, royal Timon's?
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,

2 The

offices of a houfe. It appears, that 4 A wasteful cock is what we now

Meaning the celebrated philofopher's ftone, which was in thofe times much talked of. meaning is, As the world itfelf may be comprised in a word, you might give it away in a breath. 3 Feeders are fervants, whofe low debaucheries are practifed in the what we now call offices, were anciently called boufes of office. call a waste pipe; a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cifterns and other refervoirs, by carrying off their fuperfluous water. This circumftance ferved to keep the idea of Timon's unceafing prodigality in the mind of the fteward, while its remotenefs from the fcenes of luxury within the houfe, was favourable to meditation.

The

ACT

Lucullus's Houfe in Athens.

Flaminius waiting. Enter a Servant to him.
HAVE told my lord of you, he is

I coming down to you.

Flam. I thank you, fir.

Enter Lucullus.

Serv. Here's my lord.

↑ Lucul. [Afide.] One of lord Timon's men? a gift, I warrant. Why, this hits right; I dreamt of a filver bafon and ewer to-night. Flaminius,

1 Argument may here be put for contents, as the arguments of a book; or for evidences and proofs. 2 i. e. compendious way. 3 To intend and to attend had anciently the fame meaning. 4 Fractions here mean broken hints, interrupted fentences, abrupt remarks. 5 A balf-cap is a cap flightly moved, not put off.

i. e. liberal. 7 i. e. respectfully.