Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have.
Apem. Here is no ufe for gold.
Tim. The best, and trueft:

For here it fleeps, and does no hired harm.
Apem. Where ly'ft o' nights, Timon?

Tim. Under that's above me.
Where feed'ft thou o' days, Apemantus?

Apem. Where my stomach finds meat; or, rather, where I eat it.

to me, thou might'ft have hit upon it here: The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beafts,

Tim. How has the afs broke the wall, that thou 5 art out of the city?

Tim. 'Would poison were obedient, and knew 10 my mind!

Apem. Where wouldst thou fend it?

Tim. To fauce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never

Apem. Yonder comes a poet, and a painter: The plague of company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it, and give way: When I know not what elfe to do, I'll fee thee again.

Tim. When there is nothing living but thee, thou fhalt be welcome. I had rather be a beggar's dog, than Apemantus.

Apem. Thou art the cap 3 of all the fools alive.
Tim. 'Would thou wert clean enough to fpit upon.

Apem. Thou art too bad to curfe.

Tim. All villains, that do ftand by thee, are pure.
Apem. There is no leprofy, but what thou speak ft.
Tim. If I name thee.-

knewest, but the extremity of both ends: When 15 A plague on thee!
thou waft in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mock'd
thee for too much curiofity'; in thy rags thou
knoweft none, but art defpis'd for the contrary.
There's a medlar for thee, eat it.
Tim. On what I hate, I feed not.
Apem. Doft hate a medlar?

Tim. Ay, though it look like thee.

20 I'll beat thee,-but I should infect my hands.
Apem. I would my tongue could rot them off!
Tim. Away, thou iffue of a mangy dog!
Choler does kill me, that thou art alive;
I fwoon to fee thee.

Apem. An thou hadst hated medlars fooner, thou shouldst have lov'd thyfelf better now. What| man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was be- 25

lov'd after his means?

Tim. Who, without thofe means thou talk'st| of, didst thou ever know belov'd?

Apem. Myfelf.

Tim. I understand thee; thou had'ft fome means 30 to keep a dog.

Apem. What things in the world canft thou nearest compare to thy flatterers?

Tim. Women neareft; but men, men are the things themselves. What wouldst thou do with 35 the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?

Apem. Give it the beafts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confufion of men, and remain a beast with the beafts? Apem. Ay, Timon.

Apem. 'Would thou wouldst burst!
Tim. Away.

Thou tedious rogue! I am forry, I shall lofe
A ftone by thee.

Apem. Beaft!

Tim. Slave!

Apem. Toad!

Tim. Rogue, rogue, rogue!

[Apemantus retreats backward, as going.
I am fick of this falfe world; and will love nought
But even the meer neceffities upon it.
Then, Timon, prefently prepare thy grave;
Lie where the light foam of the fea may beat
Thy grave-stone daily: make thine epitaph,
That death in me at others' lives may laugh.
400 thou fweet king-killer, and dear divorce

Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee: if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would fufpect thee, when, peradventure, thou 45 wert accus'd by the afs: if thou wert the afs, thy dulnefs would torment thee; and still thou liv'dft but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou fhouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thon 50 the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own felf the conqueft of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be kill'd by the horfe: wert thou a horfe, thou would be feiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert 55 german to the lion, and the fpots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life all thy fafety were remotion 2; and thy defence, abfence. What beaft couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast?| and what a beaft art thou already, and feeft not thy 60 lofs in transformation?

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking

[Looking on the gold.

Twixt natural fon and fire! thou bright defiler
Of Hymen's pureft bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer,
Whofe blush doth thaw the confecrated fnow
That lies on Dian's lap! thou vifible god,
That folder'ft close impoflibilities,

And mak`ft them kifs! that speak'ft with every

tongue,

To every purpose! O thou touch 4 of hearts!
Think, thy flave man rebels; and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beafts
May have the world in empire!

Apem. 'Would 'twere fo;-
But not 'till I am dead!—I'll say, thou haft gold:
Thou wilt be throng'd to fhortly.
Tim. Throng'd to?

Apem. Ay.

Tim. Thy back, I pr'ythee.
Apem. Live, and love thy mifery!

Tim. Long live fo, and fo die !-I am quit.
[Exit Apemantus.

i. e. for too much finical delicacy. i. e. removal from place to place.

principal.

4 Touch for touchftene.

3 i. e. the top, the

3G 4

More

More things like men?-Eat, Timon, and abhor them.

Enter Thieves.

1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is fome poor fragment, fome flender ort of his remainder: The meer want of gold, and the fallingfrom of his friends, drove him into this melancholy.

2 Thief. It is nois'd, he hath a mass of treasure.

3 Thief. Let us make the assay upon him; if he ro Like workmen : I'll example you with thievery. care not for't, he will fupply us eafily; If he covetoufly referve it, how fhall's get it?

The fun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vaft fea: the moon's an arrant thief,

And her pale fire she snatches from the fun;
The fea's a thief, whofe liquid furge refolves
15 The moon into falt tears 3; the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture ftolen
From general excrement: each thing's a thief;
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft. Love not yourselves; away;
20 Rob one another. There's more gold: Cut throats;
All that you meet are thieves: To Athens, go,
Break open fhops; nothing can you steal,
But thieves do lofe it: Steal not lefs, for this
I give you; and gold confound you howsoever!
Amen.
[Exit.
3 Thief. He has almost charm'd me from my
profeffion, by perfuading me to it.

Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of 25
Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath roots;
Within this mile break forth an hundred springs:
The oaks bear maft, the briars fcarlet hips;
The bounteous hufwife, nature, on each bush
Lays her full mess before you. Want? why want?30
1 Thief. We cannot live on grafs, on berries, water,
As beafts, and birds, and fishes.
Tim. Nor on the beafts themselves, the birds,
and fishes;

You must eat men.

1 Thief. 'Tis in the malice of mankind, that he thus advifes us; not to have us thrive in our mystery.

2 Thief. I'll believe him as an enemy, and give over my trade.

1 Thief. Let us firft fee peace in Athens: There is no time fo miserable, but a man may be [Exeunt.

Yet thanks I must you con 1,|35|true.

L

The Woods, and Timon's Cave.

Enter Flavius.

Flare. YOU gods!

Is yon defpis'd and ruinous man my
lord?

Full of decay and failing? O monument
And wonder of good deeds evilly beflow'd!
What an alteration of honour has

Defperate want made!

4

What viler thing upon the earth, than friends,
45 Who can bring nobleft minds to bafeft ends!
How rarely does it meet with this time's guife,
When man was wish'd 5 to love his enemies :
Grant, I may ever love, and rather woo
Thofe that would mischief me, than those that do!
50 He has caught me in his eye: I will prefent
My honeft grief unto him; and, as my lord,

1 To con thanks is a very common expreffion among our old dramatic writers. 2 Limited, for legal. 3 Mr. Tollett comments on this paffage thus: "The man is the governefs of the floods, but cannot be refolved by the furges of the fea.' This feems inconteftible, and therefore an alteration of the text appears to be neceffary. I propofe to read :-befe liquid furge refolves the main into falt tears ;—i. e. refolves the main land or the continent into fea. In Bacon, and alfo in Shakspeare's King Lear, act III. fc. 1, main occurs in this fignification. Earth melting to fea is not an uncommon idea in our poets. "Melt earth to fea, fea flow to air." I might add, that in Chaucer, mone, which is very near to the traces of the old reading, feems to mean the globe of the earth, or a map of it, from the French, monde, the world; but I think main is the true reading here, and might easily be mistaken for moon by a hafty tranfcriber, or a careless printer, who might have in their thoughts the mon, which is mentioned in a preceding line." 4 Rarely, for fitly; not for feldom. 5 We should read cvill'd. 6 The fenfe is, "Let me rather woo or carefs thofe that would mifchief, that profefs to mean me mischief, than those that really do me mischief under falfe professions of kindness.”

1251

Methinks, thou art more honest now, than wife;
For, by oppreffing and betraying me,
Thou might'ft have fooner got another fervice:
For many fo arrive at fecond masters,
Upon their first lord's neck. But tell me true,
(For I must ever doubt, though ne'er so sure)
Is not thy kindness fubtle, covetous,
If not a ufuring kindness; and as rich men deal 45
Expecting in return twenty for one? [breaft

I Knave is here used in the compound sense of a fervant and a rascal. 2 To turn wild is to diftract. An appearance fo unexpected, fays Timon, almoft turns my favageness to distraction.

from human habitations. 4 The fenfe is, "The doing of that which we have said we would do, the accomplishment and performance of our promife, is, except among the lower claffes of mankind, quite out of ufe." 5 Perfonating for reprefenting fimply; for the fubject of this projected fatire was Timon's cafe, not his persen.

i. c. night which is as obfcure as a dark corner. A portrait was called a counterfeit in our author's time. 3 i. e. a hypocrite. 4 That is, in the jakes. 5 This paffage is obfcure. Dr. Johnson thinks the meaning is this: But tavo in company, that is, Stand apart, let only two be together; for even when each ftands fingle there are two, he himfelf and a villain. But, in the North, fignifies, wilbout.

Tim. Of none but fuch as you, and you of Ti-15
2 Sen. The fenators of Athens greet thee, Ti-
[the plague,

mon.

Tim. I thank them; and would fend them back Could I but catch it for them.

1 Sen. O, forget

What we are forry for ourselves in thee.

The fenators, with one consent of love,

Intreat thee back to Athens; who have thought
On Special dignities, which vacant lie

For thy beft ufe and wearing.

2 Sen. They confefs,

Toward thee, forgetfulness too general, grofs :
And now the publick body,-which doth feldom
Play the recanter,-feeling in itself

A lack of Timon's aid, hath sense withal
Of its own fall, reftraining aid to Timon;
And fends forth us, to make their forrowed ren-
der 2,

Together with a recompence more fruitful

But I do prize it at my love, before
The reverend'ft throat in Athens. So I leave you
To the protection of the profperous gods,
As thieves to keepers.

Flav. Stay not, all's in vain.

Tim. Why, I was writing of my epitaph,
It will be feen to-morrow; My long fickness
Of health, and living, now begins to mend,
And nothing brings me all things. Go, live still;
20 Be Alcibiades your plague, you his,
And last so long enough!

1 Sen. We speak in vain.

Tim. But yet I love my country; and am not One that rejoices in the common wreck, 25 As common bruit doth put it.

30

Than their offence can weigh down by the dram; 35
Ay, even fuch heaps and fums of love and wealth,|
As fhall to thee blot out what wrongs were theirs,
And write in thee the figures of their love,
Ever to read them thine.

Tim. You witch me in it;

140

Surprize me to the very brink of tears:
Lend me a fool's heart, and a woman's eyes,
And I'll beweep these comforts, worthy fenators.
1 Sen. Therefore, so please thee to return with
And of our Athens (thine, and ours) to take [us, 45
The captainfhip, thou shalt be met with thanks,
Allow'd 3 with abfolute power, and thy good name
Live with authority :-fo foon fhall we drive back
Of Alcibiades the approaches wild;

Who, like a boar too favage, doth root up
His country's peace.

2 Sen. And thakes his threat'ning sword

Against the walls of Athens.

1 Sen. Therefore, Timon,

50

I Sen. That's well spoke.

Tim. Commend me to my loving countrymen,--1 Sen. These words become your lips as they pass through them.

[ers 2 Sen. And enter in our ears, like great triumphIn their applauding gates.

Tim. Commend me to them;

And tell them, that, to ease them of their griefs,
Their fears of hoftile ftrokes, their aches, loffes,
Their pangs of love, with other incident throes
That nature's fragil veffel doth sustain
In life's uncertain voyage, I will some kindness
do them :---

I'll teach them to prevent wild Alcibiades' wrath.
2 Sen. I like this well, he will return again.
Tim. I have a tree, which grows here in my
close,

That mine own ufe invites me to cut down,
And fhortly must I fell it: Tell my friends,
Tell Athens, in the sequence of degree 5,
From high to low throughout, that whoso please
To ftop affliction, let him take his hafte,
Come hither, ere my tree hath felt the axe,
And hang himfelf:---I pray you, do my greeting.
Flav. Trouble him no further, thus you ftill
fhall find him.

Tim. Come not to me again: but fay to Athens,
Timon hath made his everlasting manfion
Upon the beached verge of the salt flood,

Tim. Well, fir, I will; therefore I will, fir; 55 Which once a day with his emboffed froth 6

Thus,

If Alcibiades kill my countrymen,

Let Alcibiades know this of Timon,

[Athens,

That---Timon cares not. But if he fack fair

The turbulent furge fhall cover; thither come,
And let my grave-ftone be your oracle.---
Lips, let four words go by, and language end:
What is amifs, plague and infection mend!

The Athenians bad fenfe, that is, felt the danger of their crun fall, by the arms of Alcibiades. ? Render is confefion. 3 Allowed is licensed, privileged, uncontrolled. 4 A whittle is still in the midland counties the common name for a pocket clafp knife, fuch as children ufe. 5 i. e. from higheft 6 We have before obferved, that when a deer was run hard, and foamed at the mouth,

to lowest.

he was faid to be emboss`d.