Tim.

You do yourselves Much wrong, you bate too much of your own merits: Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.

2 Lord. With more than common thanks I will receive it.

3 Lord. O, he is the very soul of bounty! Tim. And now I remember me, my lord, you gave Good words the other day of a bay courser I rode on it is yours, because you liked it.

2 Lord. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, in that.

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

Tim. All to you.-Lights, more lights. 1 Lord. The best of happiness, Honor, and fortunes, keep with you, lord Timon! Tim. Ready for his friends.

Apem.

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES, Lords, &c. What a coil's here! Serving of becks, and jutting out of bums! I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs: Methinks, false hearts should never have sound legs. Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on court'sies. Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen, I'd be good to thee. Арет.

No, I'll nothing: for,
If I should be brib'd too, there would be none left
To rail upon thee; and then thou wouldst sin the
faster.

Thou giv'st so long, Timon, I fear me, thou
Wilt give away thyself in paper shortly:
What need these feasts, pomps, and vain glories?
Tim.

An you begin to rail on society once,

I am sworn, not to give regard to you.
Farewell; and come with better music.
Apem.

Nay,

[Exit. So

Thou'lt not hear me now,-thou shalt not then, I'll lock

Thy heaven from thee. O, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

[Exit.

SCENE I.-A Room in a Senator's House.

Enter a Senator, with Papers in his Hand. Sen. And late, five thousand to Varro; and to Isidore

He owes nine thousand; beside my former sum,
Which makes it five-and-twenty. Still in motion
Of raging waste? It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog,
And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold:
If I would sell my horse, and buy twenty more
Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me, straight,
And able horses: No porter at his gate;
But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can found his state in safety. Caphis, ho!
Caphis, I say!

Caph.

Enter CAPHIS.

Here, sir; What is your pleasure? Sen. Get on your cloak, and haste you to lord Timon;

Impórtune him for my monies: be not ceased'
With slight denial; nor then silenced, when-
Commend me to your master-and the cap
Plays in the right hand thus:-but tell him, sirrah,
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past,
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love, and honor him;
But must not break my back, to heal his finger.
Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be toss'd and turn'd to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspéct,

A visage of demand; for, I do fear,

3 Stopped.

SCENE II.--A Hall in Timon's House. Enter FLAVIUS, with many Bills in his Hand. Flav. No care, no stop! so senseless of expense, That he will neither know how to maintain it, Nor cease his flow of riot: Takes no account How things go from him; nor resumes no care Of what is to continue: Never mind Was to be so unwise, to be so kind. What shall be done? He will not hear, till feel: I must be round with him now he comes from hunting.

Fye, fye, fye, fye!

I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;
[Exeunt ALCIBIADES and Lords.
I'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 date-broke bonds,
And the detention of long-since-due debts,
Against my honor?
Flav.
Please you, gentlemen,
The time is unagreeable to this business:
Your importunacy cease, till after dinner;
That I may make his lordship understand
Wherefore you are not paid.

Tim.

See them well entertain'd.

Flav.

Do so, my friends:

[Exit TIMON. I pray, draw near. [Exit FLAVIUS. Enter APEMANTUS and a Fool.

Caph. Stay, stay; here comes the fool with Ape-
mantus; let's have some sport with 'em.
Var. Serv. Hang him, he'll abuse us.
Isid. Serv. A plague upon him, dog!
Var. Serv. How dost, fool?

Apem. Dost dialogue with thy shadow?
Var. I speak not to thee.

Apem. No; 'tis to thyself,-Come away. [To the Fool. Isid. Serv. [To VAR. Serv.] There's the fool hangs on your back already.

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

Caph. Where's the fool now?

Apem. He last asked the question.-Poor rogues, and usurers' men! bawds between gold and want! All Serv. What are we, Apemantus? Apem. Asses.

All Serv. Why?

Fool. I think, no usurer but has a fool to his servant: My mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house merrily, and go away sadly: The reason of this?

Var. Serv. I could render one.

Apem. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster, and a knave; which notwithstanding thou shalt be no less esteemed.

Var. Serv. What is a whoremaster, fool? Fool. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. "Tis a spirit: sometime, it appears like a lord; sometime, like a lawyer; sometime, like a philosopher, with two stones more than his artificial one: He is very often like a knight; and, generally in all shapes, that man goes up and down in, from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit walks in.

Var. Serv. Thou art not altogether a fool. Fool. Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackest.

Apem. That answer might have become Ape

When, for some trifling present, you have bid me
Return so much,' I have shook my head, and wept;
Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more close: I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight checks; when I have
Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate,
And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord,
Though you hear now, (too late!) yet now's a time,
The greatest of your having lacks a half
To pay your present debts.

Tim.
Let all my land be sold.
Flav. "Tis all engaged, some forfeited and gone;
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of present dues: the future comes apace:
What shall 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 word; Were it all yours to give it in a breath, How quickly were it gone!

You tell me true.

Tim.
Flav. If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood,
Call me before the exactest auditors,

And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been oppress'd
With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,
And set mine eyes at flow.
Tim.

Pr'ythee, no more.

Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord!

How many prodigal bits have slaves, and peasants,
This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?
What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is lord
Timon's?

Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?
Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made:
Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers,
These flies are couch'd.
Tim.
Come, sermon me no farther:
No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart:
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack,

To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

Flav.

Assurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd,"

That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends: You shall perceive how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
Within there, ho!-Flaminius, Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants.
Serv. My lord, my lord,—

And so, intending' other serious matters,
After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods,
They froze me into silence.
Tim.

You gods, reward them!-
I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly; These old fellows
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:
Their blood is caked, 'tis cold, it seldom flows;
"Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind;
And nature, as it grows again toward earth,
Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.-
Go to Ventidius,-[To a Serv.] 'Pr'ythee,-[To
FLAVIUS.] be not sad,

3

Thou art true, and honest; ingeniously I speak, No blame belongs to thee: [To Serv.] Ventidius lately

Buried his father; by whose death, he's stepp'd
Into a great estate: when he was poor,
Imprison'd, and in scarcity of friends,

I clear'd him with five talents; Greet him from me;
Bid him suppose, some good necessity
Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd
With those five talents: that had,-[To FLAV.]

give it these fellows

SCENE I-A Room in Lucullus's House. FLAMINIUS waiting. Enter a Servant to him. Serv. I have told my lord of you; he is coming down to you.

Flam. I thank you, sir.

Enter LUCULLUS.

Serv. Here's my lord.

Lucul. [Aside.] One of lord Timon's men? a gift, I warrant. Why this hits right; I dreamt of a silver basin and ewer to-night. Flaminius, honest Flaminius; you are very respectively welcome, sir.-Fill me some wine.-[Exit Servant.] And how does that honorable, complete, free-hearted gentleman of Athens, thy very bountiful good lord and master?

Flam. His health is well, sir.

Lucul. I am right glad that his health is well, sir. And what hast thou there, under thy cloak, pretty

Flaminius?

Flam. 'Faith, nothing but an empty box, sir; which, in my lord's behalf, I come to entreat your honor to supply: who, having great and instant occasion to use fifty talents, hath sent to your lordship to furnish him; nothing doubting your present

assistance therein.

Lucul. La, la, la, la,-nothing doubting, says he? alas, good lord! a noble gentleman 'tis, if he would not keep so good a house. Many a time and often I have dined with him, and told him on't; and come again to supper to him, of purpose to have him spend less; and yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning by my coming. Every man has his fault, and honesty is his; I have told him on't, but I could never get him from it.

6

Re-enter Servant, with Wine.

Serv. Please your lordship, here is the wine. Lucul. Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise. Here's to thee.

Flam. Your lordship speaks your pleasure.

Lucul. I have observed thee always for a towardly prompt spirit,-give thee thy due,-and one that knows what belongs to reason; and canst use the time well, if the time use thee well: good parts in thee. Get you gone, sirrah.-[To the Servant, who goes out.]-Draw nearer, honest Flaminius. Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman: but thou art wise; and thou knowest well enough, although thou comest to me, that this is no time to lend money; especially upon bare friendship, without security. Here's three solidares for thee; good boy, wink at me, and say, thou sawest me not. Fare

thee well.

Flam. Is't possible, the world should so much differ;

And we alive, that liv'd? Fly, damned baseness, To him that worships thee.

[Throwing the Money away. Lucul. Ha! Now I see thou art a fool, and fit for thy master. [Exit LUCULLUS. Flam. May these add to the number that may scald thee!

Let molten coin be thy damnation,
Thou disease of a friend, and not himself!
Has friendship such a faint and milky heart,
It turns in less than two nights? O, you gods,
For respectfully. • Honesty here means liberality.

I feel my master's passion! This slave
Unto his honor, has my lord's meat in him:
Why should it thrive, and turn to nutriment,
When he is turn'd to poison?

O, may diseases only work upon't!

And when he is sick to death, let not that part of

nature

Which my lord paid for, be of any power
To expel sickness, but prolong his hour! [Exit.
SCENE II-A public Place.

Enter Lucius, with three Strangers. Luc. Who, the lord Timon? he is my very good friend, and an honorable gentleman.

1 Stran. We know him for no less, though we are but strangers to him. But I can tell you one thing, my lord, and which I hear from common rumors; now lord Timon's happy hours are done and past, and his estate shrinks from him.

Luc. Fye, no, do not believe it: he cannot want for money.

2 Stran. But believe you this, my lord, that not long ago, one of his men was with the lord Lucullus, to borrow so many talents; nay, urged extremely for't, and show'd what necessity belong'd to't, and yet was denied.

Luc. How?

2 Stran. I tell you, denied, my lord.

Luc. What a strange case was that? now, before the gods, I'm ashamed on't. Denied that honorable man? there was very little honor show'd in't. For my own part, I must needs confess, I have received some small kindnesses from him, as money, plate, jewels, and such like trifles, nothing comparing to his; yet, had he mistook him, and sent to me, I should ne'er have denied his occasion so many talents.

Enter SERVILIUS.

Ser. See, by good hap, yonder's my lord; I have sweat to see his honor.-My honored lord,

[To LUCIUS.

Luc. Servilius! you are kindly met, sir. Fare thee well:-Commend me to thy honorable-virtuous lord, my very exquisite friend.

Ser. May it please your honor, my lord hath sent

Luc. Ha! what has he sent? I am so much endeared to that lord; he's ever sending: How shall I thank him, thinkest thou? And what has he sent now?

Ser. He has only sent his present occasion now, my lord; requesting your lordship to supply his instant use with so many talents.

Luc. I know, his lordship is but merry with me;
He cannot want fifty-five hundred talents.
Ser. But in the mean time he wants less, my lord.
If his occasion were not virtuous,
I should not urge it half so faithfully.

Luc. Dost thou speak seriously, Servilius?
Ser. Upon my soul, 'tis true, sir.

Luc. What a wicked beast was I, to disfurnish myself against such a good time, when I might have shown myself honorable! how unluckily it happened, that I should purchase the day before for a little part, and undo a great deal of honor!Servilius, now, before the gods, I am not able to * Suffering.