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Ha, you gods! why this? What this, you gods?
Why this

Will lug your priests and fervants from your fides;
Pluck ftout men's pillows from below their heads':
This yellow flave

Will knit and break religions; blefs the accurs'd;
Make the hoar leprofy ador'd; place thieves,
And give them title, knee, and approbation,
With fenators on the bench; this is it,
That makes the wappen'd2 widow wed again;
She, whom the fpital-house and ulcerous fores
Would caft the gorge at, this embalms and spices
To the April day again 3. Come, damned earth,
Thou common whore of mankind, that put'ft odds
Among the rout of nations, I will make thee
Do thy right nature 4.-[ March afar off.]-Ha!
a drum? Thou'rt quick 5,

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But yet I'll bury thee: Thou'lt go, strong thief,
When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand :-
Nay, stay thou out for earneft. [Keeping fome gold. 20
Enter Alcibiades, with drum and fife, in warlike man-
ner, and Phrynia and Tymandra.

[heart,

Alc. What art thou there? fpeak.
Tim. A beaft, as thou art. The canker gnaw thy 25
For fhewing me again the eyes of man!

Alc. What is thy name? Is man fo hateful to
thee,

That art thyfelf a man?

Tim. I am mifanthropos, and hate mankind. For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog, That I might love thee fomething.

Alc. I know thee well;

Tim. Art thou Tymandra?

Tyman. Yes.

Tim. Be a whore ftill! they love thee not, tha
ufe thee;

Give them difeafes, leaving with thee their luft.
Make ufe of thy falt hours: feason the flaves
For tubs, and baths; bring down rofe-cheeked
youth

To the tub-faft", and the diet.

Tyman. Hang thee, monster!

Alc. Pardon him, fweet Tymandra; for his wits
Are drown'd and loft in his calamities.-

I have but little gold of late, brave Timon,
The want whereof doth daily make revolt
30In my penurious band: I have heard, and griev'd,
How curfed Athens, mindlefs of thy worth,
Forgetting thy great deeds, when neighbour states,
But for thy fword and fortune, trod upon them,-
Tim. I pry'thee, beat thy drum, and get thee

But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange.
Tim. I know thee too; and more, than that 135
know thee,

I not defire to know. Follow thy drum:

With man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules:
Religious canons, civil laws are cruel;

Then what should war be? This fell whore of 40

thine

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gone.

Alc. I am thy friend, and pity thee, dear Timon. Tim. How doft thou pity him, whom thou doft trouble?

I had rather be alone.

Alc. Why, fare thee well:
Here is fome gold for thee.

Tim. Keep it, I cannot eat it.

Alc. When I have laid proud Athens on a heap,
Tim. Warr'ft thou 'gainst Athens ?

Alc. Ay, Timon, and have caufe.

Tim. The gods confound them all in thy con-
queft; and

Thee after, when thou haft conquer'd!
Alc. Why me, Timon?

Tim. That, by killing of villains, thou waft born
To conquer my country.

Put up thy gold; Go on,-here's gold,-go on;
Be as a planetary plague, when Jove

i.e. men who have strength yet remaining to ftruggle with their diftemper. This alludes to an old cuftom of drawing away the pillow from under the heads of men in their laft agonies, to make their departure the easier. 2 Waped or wappen'd, according to Warburton, fignifies both forrowful and terrified, either for the lofs of a good husband, or by the treatment of a bad. But gold, he fays, can Overcome both her affection and her fears. 3 That is, to the wedding day, called by the poet, fatirically, April day, or fool's day. The April day, however, does not relate to the widow, but to the other difeafed female, who is reprefented as the outcast of an hospital. She it is whom gold embalms and Spices to the April day again: i. e. gold reftores her to all the freshness and fweetness of youth. the earth where nature laid thee. 5 Thou haft life and motion in thee. 6 This alludes to the method of cure for venereal complaints (explained in note 4, p. 90), the unction for which was fometimes continued for thirty-feven days, and during this time there was neceffarily an extraordinary ab tinence required. Hence the term of the tub-faft. The dies was likewife a customary term for the regimen prefcribed in thefe cafes.

4 Lie in

Will

Will o'er fome high-vic'd city hang his poison
In the fick air: Let not thy fword skip one :
Pity not honour'd age for his white beard,
He is an ufurer: Strike me the counterfeit matron,
It is her habit only that is honest,
Herfelf's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek
Make foft thy trenchant fword; for thofe milk-
paps,

That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes,
Are not within the leaf of pity writ,

Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not the babe,
Whofe dimpled fmiles from fools exhauft their
mercy;

Think it a baftard, whom the oracle

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[trade, 30

Tim. Enough to make a whore forfwear her
And to make whores, a bawd 4. Hold up, you fluts,
Your aprons mountant: You are not oathable,-
Although, I know, you'll fwear, terribly swear,
Into ftrong shudders, and to heavenly agues,
The immortal gods that hear you,-spare your
oaths,

I'll truft to your conditions 5: Be whores ftill;
And he whose pious breath feeks to convert you,
Be strong in whore, allure him, burn him up;
Let your close fire predominate his smoke,
And be no turn-coats: Yet may your pains 6, fix
months,
[roofs

35

10

Pbr. and Tym. More counsel, with more money, bounteous Timon.

Tim. More whore, more mischief first; I have
given you earnest.

Alc. Strike up the drum towards Athens.
Farewel, Timon;

If I thrive well, I'll vifit thee again.

Tim. If I hope well, I'll never fee thee more.
Alc. I never did thee harm.

Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me.

Alc. Call'st thou that harm?

Tim. Men daily find it.

Get thee away, and take thy beagles with thee.
Alc. We but offend him.-Strike,

[Drum beats. Exeunt Alcibiades,
Phrynia, and Tymandra.
Tim. [Digging.] That nature, being fick of man's

unkindness,

Should yet be hungry! -Common mother, thou
40 Whofe womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast 11,
Teems, and feeds all; whofe felf-fame mettle,
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puft,
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,
The gilded newt, and eyelefs venom'd worm 12,
With all the abhorred births below crisp
13 heaven
Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth fhine;
Yield him, who all thy human fons doth hate,
From forth thy plenteous bofom, one poor root!
Enfear thy fertile and conceptious womb,

Be quite contrary: And thatch your poor thin
With burdens of the dead:-fome that were 45
hang'd,
[still;

No matter:-wear them, betray with them: whore
Paint 'till a horfe may mire upon your face,
A pox of wrinkles !

i. e. draw forth. 2 An allufion to the tale of Oedipus. 3 Perhaps objects is here used provincially for abjects. 4 That is, enough to make a whore leave whoring, and a barvd leave making whores. 5 i. e. I will truft to your inclinations. 6 Dr. Warburton comments on this paffage thus: "This is obfcure, partly from the ambiguity of the word pains, and partly from the generality of the expreffion. The meaning is this: He had faid before, Follow conftantly your trade of debauchery; that is (fays he) for fix months in the year. Let the other fix be employed in quite contrary pains and labour, namely, in the fevere discipline neceffary for the repair of those disorders that your debaucheries occafion, in order to fit you anew to the trade; and thus let the whole year be spent in these different occupations. On this account he goes on, and fays, Make falfe bair, &c. Mr. Steevens however conceives the meaning to be only this: "Yet for half the year at leaft, may you suffer fuch punishment as is inflicted on barlots in boufes of correction.” 8 1 Quillers are fubtilties. i. e. give the flamen the boary leprofy. 9 To forefee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which be leaves the right fcent of public good. In hunting, when hares have crofs'd one another, it is common for fome of the hounds to fell from the general weal, and foresee their own particular. Shakspeare, who feems to have been a skilful sportsman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps alludes here to hunting. 10 To grave is to entomb. 11 Whofe infinite breaft means whose boundless furface. 12 The ferpent, which we, ⚫from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind worm. 18 i. e, curled, bent, hollow.

༢༦༣

Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!
Go great with tygers, dragons, wolves, and bears;
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
Hath to the marbled manfion all above
Never prefented !—O, a root,—Dear thanks!
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorice draughts,
And morfels unctuous, greafes his pure mind,
That from it all confideration flips!
Enter Apemantus.

More man? Plague! plague!

Apem. I was directed hither: Men report, Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use them. Tim. 'Tis then, because thou doft not keep a dog Whom I would imitate: Confumption catch thee! Apem. This is in thee a nature but affected; A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung From change of fortune. Why this spade? this place? This flave-like habit? and thefe looks of care? Thy flatterers yet wear filk, drink wine, lie foft; Hug their difeas'd perfumes, and have forgot That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods, By putting on the cunning of a carper 1. Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee, And let his very breath, whom thou'lt obferve, Blow off thy cap; praife his moft vicious ftrain, And call it excellent: Thou waft told thus ; Thou gav'ft thine ears, like tapfters,that bidwelcome To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis moft juft, That thou turn rafcal; hadft thou wealth again, Rafcals fhould have 't. Do not affume my likeness. Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself. Apem. Thou haft caft away thyself, being like thyfelf;

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The fweet degrees that this brief world affords To fuch as may the paffive drugs of it Freely command, thou wouldst have plung'd thyfelf 20In general riot; melted down thy youth

In different beds of luft; and never learn'd The icy precepts of respect 6, but follow'd The fugar'd game before thee. But myself, Who had the world as my confectionary ; 25 The mouths, the tongues, the eyes,and hearts of men At duty, more than I could frame employment, (That numberless upon me ftuck, as leaves Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare 30 For every storm that blows) I to bear this, That never knew but better, is fome burden: Thy nature did commence in fufferance, time Hath made thee hard in 't. Why should't thou

hate men?

35 They never flatter'd thee: What haft thou given
If thou wilt curfe,-thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy fubject; who, in fpight, put ftuff
To fome the beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone!-
If thou hadst not been born the worst of men,
Thou hadft been a knave, and flatterer.
Apem. Art thou proud yet?

A madman fo long, now a fool; What, think'ft
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,
Will put thy fhirt on warm? Will thefe moift trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle, page thy heels,
And skipwhen thou point' ft out? will the cold brook 40
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning tafte
To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit? Call the creatures,
Whofe naked natures live in all the fpight
Of wreakful heaven; whofe bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,

Anfwer meer nature,bid them flatter thee;
O! thou shalt find-

Tim. A fool of thee: Depart.

Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did.
Tim. I hate thee worse.

rip.m. Why?

Tim. Thou flatter'ft mifery.

Apem. I flatter not; but fay, thou art a caitift. Tim. Why doft thou feek me out?

451

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Apem. To vex thee.

55

Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Doft please thyself in 't?

Apem. Ay.

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The cunning of a carper means the infidious art of a critic. 2 That is, Beft ftates contentlefs have a wretched being, a being worfe than that of the worst ftates that are content. 3 By bis breath is probably meant bis fentence. 4 Alluding to the word Cynic, of which sect Apemantus was. From infancy. Swath is the drefs of a new-born child. 6 Respect, according to Mr. Steevens, means the qu'en dat on the regard of Athens, that strongeft reftraint on licentioufnefs: the i y precept, i, e. that tool hot blood.

Tell

Tell them there I have gold; look, fo I have.
Apem. Here is no ufe for gold.

Tim. The beft, 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 foreft 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 shalt 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 spit upon.

Apem. Thou art too bad to curfe.

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.

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.-

20I'll beat thee,-but I fhould 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 hadft hated medlars fooner,| thou shouldst have lov'd thyself 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'ft 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 canst 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 fhall 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-ftone 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 fhouldft 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 beast art thou already, and feeft not thy 60 lofs in transformation?

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking

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Tim. Throng'd to?

Арет. Ау.

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

3G 4

3 i. e. the top, the

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.

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3 Thief. Let us make the affay upon him; if he 10 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?

2 Thief. True; for he bears it not about him, 'tis hid.

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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 stolen
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 mefs before you. Want? why want? 30
1 Thief. We cannot live on grass, 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 miferable, but a man may be [Exeunt.

Yet thanks I must you con 1,135ltrue.

Flav.

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The Woods, and Timon's Cave.

Enter Flavius.

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

V.

Defperate want made!

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

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 :—whose 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 carelefs printer, who might have in their thoughts the morn, which is mentioned in a preceding line." 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 mischief, that profefs to mean me mischief, than those that really do me mischief under false professions of kindness.”

4

Still

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