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Apem. No; I eat not lords.

Tim. An thou should'st, thou'dst anger ladies. Apem. O! they eat lords; so they come by great bellies.

Tim. That's a lascivious apprehension.

Apem. So thou apprehend'st it. Take it for thy labour. Tim. How dost thou like this jewel, Apemantus ?

Apem. Not so well as plain-dealing, which will not cost a man a doit.

9

Tim. What dost thou think 'tis worth?

Apem. Not worth my thinking.-How now, poet! Poet. How now, philosopher!

Apem. Thou liest.

Poet. Art not one?

Apem. Yes.

Poet. Then, I lie not.

Apem. Art not a poet?

Poet. Yes.

Apem. Then, thou liest: look in thy last work, where thou hast feign'd him a worthy fellow.

Poet. That's not feign'd; he is so.

Apem. Yes, he is worthy of thee, and to pay thee for thy labour: he that loves to be flattered is worthy o' the flatterer. Heavens, that I were a lord!

Tim. What would'st do then, Apemantus?

Apem. Even as Apemantus does now, hate a lord with my heart.

Tim. What, thyself?

Apem. Ay.

Tim. Wherefore?

Apem. That I had no angry wit to be a lord'.-Art not thou a merchant?

9

Mer. Ay, Apemantus.

which will not cOST-] The two earliest folios, 1623 and 1632, read cast for "cost," to which it was altered in the third folio, 1664.

10 That I had no angry wit to be a lord.] The meaning is obscure, but it seems to be, that Apemantus would hate himself for being a lord, because he had no angry wit, if he wished to be a lord. Heath would read, "That I VOL. VI. L 1

Apem. Traffic confound thee, if the gods will not! Mer. If traffic do it, the gods do it.

Apem. Traffic's thy god; and thy god confound thee!

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'Tis Alcibiades, and

Tim. What trumpet's that?

Serv. Some twenty horse, all of companionship. Tim. Pray, entertain them; give them guide to us.[Exeunt some Attendants. You must needs dine with me.-Go not you hence, Till I have thank'd you; and when dinner's done1 Show me this piece.—I am joyful of your sights.

Enter ALCIBIADES, with his Company.

Most welcome, sir!

Apem.

So, so, there.

Aches contract and starve your supple joints'!—

That there should be small love 'mongst these sweet

knaves,

And all this courtesy! The strain of man's bred out Into baboon and monkey.

Alcib. Sir, you have sav'd my longing, and I feed

Most hungerly on your sight.

Tim.

Right welcome, sir:

Ere we depart, we'll share a bounteous time

In different pleasures. Pray you, let us in.

[Exeunt all but APEMANTUS.

Enter Two Lords.

1 Lord. What time o' day is't, Apemantus?

had so wrong'd my wit to be a lord ;" and Monck Mason, more plausibly, "That I had an angry wish to be a lord." No change is absolutely necessary, and we adhere to the text as it stands in all the folios.

1

AND when dinner's done] "And," wanting in the first folio, is derived from the second.

2 Aches contract and starve your supple joints !] The word "Aches” is here, as in Act v. sc. 2, and in "The Tempest," Act i. sc. 2, obviously to be pronounced as a dissyllable. See Coleridge's Lit. Rem. Vol. ii. p. 146.

Apem. Time to be honest.

1 Lord. That time serves still.

Apem. The most accursed thou, that still omit'st it. 2 Lord. Thou art going to lord Timon's feast.

Apem. Ay; to see meat fill knaves, and wine heat fools.

2 Lord. Fare thee well; fare thee well.

Apem. Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice. 2 Lord. Why, Apemantus?

Apem. Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give thee none.

1 Lord. Hang thyself.

Apem. No, I will do nothing at thy bidding: make thy requests to thy friend.

2 Lord. Away, unpeaceable dog! or I'll spurn thee hence.

Apem. I will fly, like a dog, the heels of the ass.

[Exit.

1 Lord. He's opposite to humanity. Come, shall we in,

And taste lord Timon's bounty? he outgoes

The very heart of kindness.

2 Lord. He pours it out; Plutus, the god of gold, Is but his steward: no meed', but he repays Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him,

But breeds the giver a return exceeding

All use of quittance.

1 Lord.

That ever govern'd man.

3

The noblest mind he carries,

2 Lord. Long may he live in fortunes! Shall we

in?

1 Lord. I'll keep you company.

[Exeunt.

no MEED,] i. e. no desert. See Vol. v. pp. 251 and 317, for similar use of the word, which generally signifies reward. In this respect Shakespeare was not peculiar : it was the language of his time, as many instances would establish. T. Heywood, in his "Silver Age," 1613, employs to meed as to deserve, of which we do not recollect any other example:

"And yet thy body meeds a better grave."

SCENE II.

The Same. A Room of State in TIMON'S House.

Hautboys playing loud Music. A great banquet served in; FLAVIUS and others attending: then, enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, LUCIUS, LUCULLUS, SEMPRONIUS, and other Athenian Senators, with VENTIDIUS, whom TIMON redeemed from prison, and Attendants: then comes, dropping after all, APEMANTUS, discontentedly, like himself.

Ven. Most honour'd Timon, it hath pleas'd the gods to remember

My father's age, and call him to long peace.
He is gone happy, and has left me rich:
Then, as in grateful virtue I am bound

To your free heart, I do return those talents,
Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help
I deriv'd liberty.

Tim.

O! by no means,

Honest Ventidius: you mistake my love.

I gave it freely ever; and there's none

Can truly say, he gives, if he receives:

If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
To imitate them: faults that are rich are fair.
Ven. A noble spirit!

Tim.

Nay, my lords,

Ceremony was but devis'd at first,

To set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes,

Recanting goodness, sorry ere 'tis shown;

But where there is true friendship, there needs none. Pray, sit more welcome are ye to my fortunes,

Than my fortunes to me.

[They sit.

1 Lord. My lord, we always have confess'd it.

Apem. Ho, ho, confess'd it? hang'd it, have you not?

Tim. O, Apemantus!-you are welcome.

Apem. No, you shall not make me welcome:

I come to have thee thrust me out of doors.

Tim. Fie! thou'rt a churl: you have got a humour there

Does not become a man, 'tis much to blame.

They say, my lords, ira furor brevis est,
But yond' man is ever angry*.

Go, let him have a table by himself;
For he does neither affect company,
Nor is he fit for't, indeed.

Apem. Let me stay at thine apperil', Timon:
I come to observe; I give thee warning on't.

Tim. I take no heed of thee; thou art an Athenian, therefore, welcome. I myself would have no power; pr'ythee, let my meat make thee silent.

Apem. I scorn thy meat; 'twould choke me, for I should ne'er flatter thee.-O you gods! what a number of men eat Timon, and he sees them not! It grieves me, to see so many dip their meat in one man's blood; and all the madness is, he cheers them up too. I wonder, men dare trust themselves with men : Methinks, they should invite them without knives; Good for their meat, and safer for their lives.

There's much example for't; the fellow, that sits next him now, parts bread with him, and pledges the breath of him in a divided draught, is the readiest man to kill him: it has been proved. If I were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals;

But yond' man is EVER angry.] "Very angry" in the folio. Rowe made the change, which seems necessary.

5 at thine APPERIL,] This word occurs in the same sense three times in Ben Jonson. See his Works, by Gifford, vol. v. p. 137 ; vi. p. 117 and 159. It also is met with in "The Case is Altered," which, though printed in 1609, Ben Jonson did not include in the folio of his Works. "Apperil" is also used by Middleton, in his "Michaelmas Term," 1607. edit. Dyce, vol. i. p. 427.

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