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Scene III.

TIMON OF ATHENS.

Re-enter the Lords, with other Lords and Senators. | SCENE II.-Athens. A room in Timon's house.

1 Lord. How now, my lords?

2 Lord. Know you the quality of lord Timon's fury?

3 Lord. Pish! did you see my cap?

4 Lord. I have lost my gown.

3 Lord. He's but a mad lord, and nought but humour sways him. He gave me a jewel the other day, and now he has beat it out of my hat:-Did you see my jewel?

4 Lord. Did you see my cap? 2 Lord. Here 'tis.

4 Lord. Here lies my gown. 1 Lord, Let's make no stay. 2 Lord. Lord Timon's mad. 3 Lord.

I feel't upon my bones. 4 Lord. One day he gives us diamonds, next [Exeunt. day stones.

ACT IV.

SCENE I-Without the walls of Athens. En-
ter Timon.

Tim. Let me look back upon thee, O thou wall,
That girdlest in those wolves! Dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent;
Obedience fail in children! slaves, and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench,
And minister in their steads! to general filths1
Convert o'the instant, green virginity!

Do't in your parents' eyes! bankrupts, hold fast;
Rather than render back, out with your knives,
And cut your trusters' throats! bound servants,

steal!

Large handed robbers your grave masters are,
And pill by law! maid, to thy master's bed;
Thy mistress is o'the brothrel! son of sixteen,
Pluck the lin'd crutch from the old limping sire,
With it beat out his brains! piety, and fear,
Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,
Domestic awe, night-rest and neighbourhood,
Instruction, manners, mysteries, and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries, 2
And yet confusion live!-Plagues, incident to men,
Your potent and infectious fevers heap

On Athens, ripe for stroke! thou cold sciatica,
Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt
As lamely as their manners! lust and liberty3
Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth;
That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive,
And drown themselves in riot! itches, blains,
Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their cróp
Be general leprosy! breath infect breath;
That their society, as their friendship, may
Be merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from thee,
But nakedness, thou détestable town!
Take thou that too, with multiplying banns !4
Timon will to the woods; where he shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound (hear me, ye good gods all,)
The Athenians both within and out that wall!
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low!
Amen.

(1) Common sewers.

[Exit.

(2) i. e. Contrarieties, whose nature it is to waste or destroy each other.

(3) For libertinism. (4) Accumulated curses.

VOL. II.

Enter Flavius, with two or three Servants.

1 Serv. Hear you, master steward, where's our
master?

Are we undone? cast off? nothing remaining?
Flav. Alack, my fellows, what should I say to
you?

I

Let me be recorded by the righteous gods,
am as poor as you.

1 Serv.

Such a house broke!
So noble a master fallen! All gone! and not
One friend, to take his fortune by the arm,
And go along with him!

2 Serv.

As we do turn our backs
From our companion, thrown into his grave;
So his familiars to his buried fortunes
Slink all away; leave their false vows with him,
Like empty purses pick'd: and his poor self,
dedicated beggar to the air,

With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty,
Walks, like contempt, alone,-More of our fellows.
Enter other Servants.

Flav. All broken implements of a ruin'd house.
3 Serv. Yet do our hearts wear Timon's livery
That see I by our faces; we are fellows still,
Serving alike in sorrow: Leak'd is our bark';
And we, poor mates, stand on the dying deck,
Hearing the surges threat: we must all part

Into this sea of air.

Flav.

Good fellows all,
The latest of my wealth I'll share amongst you.
Wherever we shall meet, for Timon's sake,
Let's yet be fellows; let's shake our heads, and say,
As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes,
[Giving them money.
We have seen better days. Let each take some;
Not one word more:
parting poor.

Nay, put out all your hands.
Thus part we rich in sorrow,

[Exeunt Servants.

O, the fierce wretchedness that glory brings us!
Who would not wish to be from wealth exempt,
Since riches point to misery and contempt?
Who'd be so mock'd with glory? or to live
But in a dream of friendship?

To have his pomp, and all what state compounds,
But only painted, like his varnish'd friends?
Poor honest lord, brought low by his own heart;
Undone by goodness! Strange, unusual blood,
When man's worst sin is, he does too much good!
Who then dares to be half so kind again?
For bounty, that make gods, does still mar men.
My dearest lord,-bless'd, to be most accurs'd,
Rich, only to be wretched;-thy great fortunes
Are made thy chief afflictions. Alas, kind lord!
He's flung in rage from this ungrateful seat
Of monstrous friends: nor has he with him to
Supply his life, or that which can command it.
I'll follow, and inquire him out:
I'll serve his mind with my best will;
Whilst I have gold, I'll be his steward still. [Exit.

SCENE III.-The woods. Enter Timon.
Tim. O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth
Rotten humidity; below thy sister's orb
Infect the air! Twinn'd brothers of one womb,-
Whose procreation, residence, and birth,
Scarce is dividant,-touch them with several for-
tunes;

(5) Hasty, precipitate.
(6) Propensity, disposition.

(7) i. e. The moon's, this sublunary world.

20

The greater scorns the lesser: Not nature,

To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune,
But by contempt of nature.

Raise me this beggar, and denude that lord;
The senator shall bear contempt hereditary,

The beggar native honour.

It is the pasture lards the brother's sides,

The want that makes him lean. Who dares, who dares,

In purity of manhood stand upright,

And say, This man's a flatterer ? if one be,
So are they all; for every grize of fortune
Is smooth'd by that below: the learned pate,
Ducks to the golden fool; All is oblique ;
There's nothing level in our cursed natures,
But direct villany. Therefore, be abhorr'd
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men!
His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang1 mankind!—Earth, yield me roots!
[Digging.

Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate
With thy most operant posion! What is here?
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods,
I am no idle votarist. Roots, you clear heavens !
Thus much of this, will make black, white; foul, fair;
Wrong, right; base, noble; old, young; coward,

valiant.

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

Why this

Will lug your priests and servants from your sides;
Pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads:
This yellow slave

Will knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd;
Make the hoar leprosy ador'd; place thieves,
And give them title, knee, and approbation,
With senators on the bench: this is it,
That makes the wappen'd' widow wed again;
She, whom the spital house, and ulcerous sores
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices
To the April day again. Come, damned earth,
Thou common whore of mankind, that put'st odds
Among the rout of nations, I will make thee
Do thy right nature.-[March afar off]-Ha!
drum?-Thou'rt quick,
But yet I'll bury thee: Thou'lt go, strong thief,
When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand :-
Nay, stay thou out for earnest.

a

[Keeping some gold. Enter Alcibiades, with drum and fife, in warlike manner; Phrynia and Timandra.

Alcib.

Speak.

thy heart,

What art thou there?

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Tim. Be a whore still! they love thee not, that use thee;

Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust. Make use of thy salt hours: season the slaves For tubs, and baths; bring down rose-cheeked youth To the tub-fast, and the diet.

Timan.
Hang thee, monster!
Alcib. Pardon him, sweet Timandra; for his wits
Are drown'd and lost in his calamities.-

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

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Tim. How dost thou pity him, whom thou dost trouble?

Tim. A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw I had rather be alone.

For showing me again the eyes of man!

Alcib. What is thy name? Is man so hateful to

thee,

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Alcib.

Why, fare thee well:

Here's some gold for thee.

Tim.

Keep't, I cannot eat it.

Alcib. When I have laid proud Athens on a

heap,

Tim. Warr'st thou 'gainst Athens?

Alcib.

Ay, Timon, and have cause.

Tim. The gods confound them all i'thy conquest;

and

Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd!

Alcib.

Tim. That,

Why me, Timon?

By killing villains, thou wast born to conquer
My country.

Put up thy gold; Go on,-here's gold,-go on;

(5) i. e. Gold restores her to all the sweetness Gold and freshness of youth.

(6) Alluding to the cure of the lues venerea, then in practice.

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Be as a planetary plague, when Jove
Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison
In the sick air: Let not thy sword skip one:
Pity not honour'd age for his white beard,
He's an usurer: Strike me the counterfeit matron;
It is her habit only that is honest,

Herself's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek

Make soft thy trenchant' sword; for those milkpaps,

The source of all erection.-There's more gold:-
Do you damn others, and let this damn you,
And ditches grave you all!

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

Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not the babe,
Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their

mercy;

2

Think it a bastard, whom the oracle

Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut,
And mince it sans rimorse: Swear against ob-
jects ;'

Put armour on thine ears, and on thine eyes;
Whose proof, nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes,
Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding,
Shall pierce a jot. There's gold to pay thy soldiers:
Make large confusion; and, thy fury spent,
Confounded be thyself! Speak not, be gone.

Phr. & Timan. More counsel with more money,
bounteous Timon.

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

Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens. Fare-
well, Timon:

I thrive well, I'll visit thee again.

Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more,
Alcib. I never did thee harm.

Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me.
Alcib.
Call'st thou that harm!
Tim. Men daily find it such.
And take thy beagles with thee.
Alcib.

Strike.

Get thee away,

We but offend him.

[Drum beats. Exeunt Alcibiades, Phrygia, and Timandra.

.

Tim. That nature, being sick of man's unkind

ness,

Should yet be hungry!-Common mother, thou,

(Digging.

Alcib. Hast thou gold yet? I'll take the gold Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast,"

thou giv'st me,

Not all thy counsel.

Tim. Dost thou, or dost thou not, heaven's curse
upon thee!

Phr. & Timan. Give us some gold, good Timon:
Hast thou more?

Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear her
trade,

And to make whores, a bawd. Hold up, you sluts,
Your aprons mountant: You are not oathable,-
Although, I know, you'll swear, terribly swear,
Into strong shudders, and to heavenly agues,
The immortal gods that hear you,-spare your
oaths,

I'll trust to your conditions; Be whores still;
And he whose pious breath seeks 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, six
months,

Be quite contrary: And thatch your poor thin roofs
With burdens of the dead ;-some that were hang'd.
No matter:-wear them, betray with them: whore

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Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle,
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puff'd,
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,
The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm,
With all the abhorred births below crisp1 heaven
Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine;
Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate,
From forth thy plenteous bosom one poor root!
Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb,
Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!
Go great with tigers, dragons, wolves, and bears;
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
Hath to the marbled mansion all above
Never presented!-0, a root,-Dear thanks!
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts,
And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind,
That from it all consideration slips!
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 dost not keep a dog
Whom I would imitate: Consumption catch thee!
Apem. This is in thee a nature but affected;
poor unmanly melancholy, sprung
From change of fortune. Why this spade? this

Phr. & Timan. Well, more gold;-What then?-A Believ't, that we'll do any thing for gold.

Tim. Consumptions sow

In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins,
And mar men's spurring. Crack the lawyer's voice,
That he may never more false title plead,
Nor sound his quillets shrilly: hoar the flamen,
That scolds against the quality of flesh,
And not believes himself: down with the nose,
Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away
Of him, that his particular to foresee,
Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate
ruffians bald;

And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war
Derive some pain from you: Plague all;
That your activity may defeat and quell

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place?

This slave-like habit? and these looks of care?
Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft;
Hug their diseas'd perfumes," and have forgot
Shame not these woods,
That ever Timon was.
By putting on the cunning of a carper.12
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 observe,
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain,
And call it excellent: Thou wast told thus ;
Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that did wel-

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(8) Boundless surface.

(9) The serpent called the blind-worm.
(10) Bent.

(11) i, e. Their diseased perfumed mistresses.
(12) i. e. Shame not these woods by finding fault.

Rascals should have't. Do not assume my likeness. Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself. Apem. Thou hast cast away thyself, being like thyself;

A madman so long, now a fool: What, think'st That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, Will put thy shirt on warm? Will these moss'd trees,

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I, that I am one now;

Were all the wealth I have, shut up in thee, I'd give thee leave to hang it. Get thee gone.— And skip when thou point'st out? Will the cold That the whole life of Athens were in this!

That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels,

brook,

Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste,

To cure thy o'er-night's surfeit? call the creatures,Whose naked natures live in all the spite

Of wreakful heaven; whose bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,

Answer mere nature,-bid them flatter thee;
O! thou shalt find-

Tim.

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A fool of thee: Depart. now than e'er I did.

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At duty, more than I could frame employment;
That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves
Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush
Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare
For every storm that blows;-I, to bear this,
That never knew but better, is some burden:
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time
Hath made thee hard in't. Why should'st thou
hate men?

They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given?
If thou wilt curse,-thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy subject; who, in spite, put stuff
To some she beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone!-

(1) i. e. Arrives sooner at the completion of its wishes.

(2) By his voice, sentence. (3) From infancy.

Thus would I eat it.

Apem.

[Eating a rool. Here; I will mend thy feast. [Offering him something. Tim. First mend my company, take away thyself. Apem. So I shall mend mine own, by the lack

of thine.

Tim. 'Tis not well mended so, it is but botch'd; If not, I would it were.

Apem. What would'st thou have to Athens? Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt, Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have. Apem. Here is no use for gold.

Tim.

The best, and truest: For here it sleeps, and does no hired harm. Apem. Where li'st o'nights, Timon?

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

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

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

pem. Where would'st thou send it?

Tim. To sauce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends: When thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but art despised for the contrary. There's a medlar for thee, eat it.

Tim. On what I hate, I feed not.
Apem. Dost hate a medlar.

Tim. Ay, though it look like thee.

Apem. An thou hadst hated meddlers sooner, thou should'st have loved thyself better now. What man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was be loved after his means?

Tim. Who, without those means thou talkest of didst thou ever know beloved. Apem. Myself.

Tim. I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a dog.

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

Tim. Women nearest; but men, men are the things themselves. What would'st thou do with the word, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?

Ape.ive it the beasts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Voald'st thou have thyself fall in the con fusion of men, and remain a beast with the beasts? Apem. Ay, Timon.

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 suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accused by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee: and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee,

(4) The cold admonitions of cautious prudence. (5) For too much finical delicacy.

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

Live, and love thy misery.

and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury:| wert thou a bear, thou would'st be killed by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou would'st be seized by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert More things like men?-Eat, Timon, and abhor

them.

Enter Thieves.

german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy safety were remotion; and thy defence, absence. What beast could'st thou be, that wert not subject to a beast? 1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is and what a beast art thou already, that seest not some poor fragment, some slender ort of his rethy loss in transformation?

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking to me, thou might'st have hit upon it here: The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

Tim. How has the ass broke the wall, that thou art out of the city.

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 else to do, I'll see 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 cap2 of all the fools alive.
Tim. 'Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon.
Apem. A plague on thee, thou art too bad to

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'Would thou would'st burst! Away, Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry, I shall lose [Throws a stone at him.

A stone by thee!

Beast!

Slave!

Apem Tim. Apem. Toad! Tim. Rogue, rogue, rogue! [Apemantus retreats backward, as going. I am sick of this false world; and will love nought But even the mere necessities upon it. Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave; Lie where the light foam of the sea may beat Thy grave-stone daily: make thine epitaph, That death in me at others' lives may laugh. O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce

[Looking on the gold. Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars! Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer, Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god, That solder'st close impossibilities,

And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with every tongue,

To every purpose! O thou touch of heart!
Think, thy slave man rebels; and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts
May have the world in empire!
Apem.
'Would 'twere so:-
But not till I am dead!-I'll say, thou hast gold:
Thou wilt be throng'd to shortly.

Tim.

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Throng'd to?

Ay.

(1) Remoteness, the being placed at a distance

mainder; The mere want of gold, and the fallingfrom of his friends, drove him into this melancholy. 2 Thief. It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure. 3 Thief. Let us make the assay upon him; if he care not for't, he will supply us easily; If he covetously reserve it, how shall's get it?

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

1 Thief. Is not this he? Thieves. Where?

2 Thief. 'Tis his description.
3 Thief. He; I know him.
Thieves. Save thee, Timon.
Tim. Now, thieves.

Thieves. Soldiers, not thieves.
Tim. Both too; and women's sons.

Thieves. We are not thieves, but men that much

do want.

Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of

meat.

Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath

roots;

Within this mile break forth a hundred springs: The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips; The bounteous housewife, nature, on each bush Lays her full mess before you. Want? why want? i Thief. We cannot live on grass, on 'berries, water,

As beasts, and birds, and fishes.

Tim. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;

You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con,
That you are thieves profess'd; that you work not
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft
In limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here's gold: Go, suck the subtle blood of the grape,
Till the high fever seeth your blood to froth,
And so 'scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
More than you rob: take wealth and lives together;
Do villany, do, since you profess to do't,
Like workmen. I'll example you with thievery :
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun:
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: 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;
Rob one another. There's more gold: Cut throats;
All that you meet are thieves: To Athens, go,
Break open shops; nothing can you steal,
But thieves do lose it: Steal not less, for this
I give you, and gold confound you howsoever.
Amen.
[Timon retires to his cave.
3 Thief. He has almost charmed me from my
profession, by persuading me to it.

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

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