3 Sen. I do conceive.

Tim. Each man to his stool, with that spur as he would to the lip of his mistress: your diet shall be in all places alike. Make not a city feast of it, to let the meat cool ere we can agree upon the first place: Sit, sit. The gods require our thanks.

5

You great benefactors, sprinkle our society with thankfulness. For your own gifts, make yourselves prais'd: but reserve still to give, lest your deities be despis'd. Lend to each man enough, that one need not 10 lend to another; for, were your godheads to borrow of men, men would forsake the gods. Make the meat be beloved, more than the man that gives it. Let no assembly of twenty be without a score of villains: If there sit twelve women at the table, let a dozen of 15 them be as they are.-The rest of your fees', O gods, -the senators of Athens, together with the common lag of people, what is amiss in them, you gods, make suitable for destruction. For these my present friends,- —as they are to me nothing, so in no-20 thing bless them, and to nothing are they welcome. Uncover, dogs, and lap.

[The dishes uncovered, are full of warm water. Some speak. What does his lordship mean? Some other. I know not.

Tim. May you a better feast never behold, You knot of mouth-friends! smoke and lukewarm water

Your reeking villainy. Live loath'd, and long,
Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears,
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends,time's flies',
Cap and knee slaves, vapours, and minute-jacks *!
Of man and beast, the infinite malady'
Crust you quite o'er!-What, dost thou go?
Soft, take thy physic first,-thou too,—and thou:
[Throws the dishes at them.
Stay, I will lend thee money, borrow none.—
What, all in motion? Henceforth be no feast,
Whereat a villain's not a welcome guest.
Burn house; sink Athens; henceforth hated be
Of Timon, man, and all humanity!
Re-enter the Senators.

[Exit.

Is your perfection. This is Timon's last;
Who stuck and spangled you with flatteries,
Washes it off, and sprinkles in your faces
[Throwing water in their faces.

25

SCENE I.

Without the Walls of Athens.

Enter Timon.

LET me look back upon thee, O thou wall,
That girdlest-in
Dive in the

30

ACT

2 Sen. Did you see my cap?

3 Sen. Here 'tis.

4 Sen. Here lies my gown.

1 Sen. Let's make no stay.

2 Sen. Lord Timon's mad.

T IV.

earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons,turn incontinent;
Obedience fail in children! slaves, and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench, 50
And minister in their steads! to general filths
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 brothel! son of sixteen,
Pluck the lin'd crutch from thy old limping sire, 60 Take thou that too, with multiplying banns!

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,
45 Degrees, observances, customs, and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
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 liberty
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,
55 Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop
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 detestable town!

3 Sen. I feel't upon my bones.

4 Sen. One day he gives us diamonds, next day

stones.

[Exeunt.

3 i. e.

Dr. Warburton thinks we should read foes. 2 i. e. the highest of your excellence. flies of a season. 4 A minute-jack is what was called formerly a Jack of the clock-house; an image whose office was the same as one of those at St. Dunstan's church in Flect-street.-See note ', p. 658. i. e. every kind of disease incident to man and beast.

Timon will to the woods; where he shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound (hear me you, 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.

[Exit.

SCENE II.

Timon's House.

Enter Flavius, with two or three Servants. 1 Serv. Hear you, master steward, where is our master?

say

Are we undone? cast off? nothing remaining?
Flav. Alack, my fellows, what should I
to you?
Let me be recorded by the righteous gods,
I am as poor as you.

5

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 blood2,
When man's worst sin is, he does too much good!
Who then dares to be half so kind again?
For bounty, that makes gods, does still mar men.
My dearest lord,--blest to be most accurs'd,
Rich, only to be wretched ;-thy great fortunes
10 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 enquire him out:
15 I'll ever serve his mind with my best will;
Whilst I have gold, I'll be his steward still

[Exit.

20

1 Serc. 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 Sero. As we do turn our backs
From our companion, thrown into his grave;
So his familiars from his buried fortunes
Slink all away; leave their false vows with him,
Like empty purses pick'd: and his poor self,
A dedicated beggar to the air,
With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty,
Walks, like contempt, alone.-
More of our

fellows.

Tim. O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth

3

25 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-

Enter other Servants.

Flav. All broken implements of a ruin'd house. 35
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.

SCENE III.

The Woods.
Enter Timo.

tunes:

30 The greater scorns the lesser; Not nature, [tune,
To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great for
But by contempt of nature'.

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

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 45

say,
As 'twere a knell unto our master's fortunes,
We have seen better days.' Let each take some;
[Giving them money.
Nay, put out all your hands. Not one word more:50
Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor.
[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?

It is the pastor lards the brother's sides,
The want that makes him leave'. Who dares,
who dares,

In purity of manhood stand upright,
40 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 villainy. Therefore, be abhorr'd
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men!
His semb'able, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang' mankind!-Earth, yield me
[Digging the earth.
Who secks for better of thee, sauce his palate
With thy most operant poison! What is here?
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious, gold? No,
gods,

roots!

I am no idle votarist: Roots, you clear heavens'! 55 Thus much of this, will make black, white; foul," fair; [valiant. Wrong, right; base, noble; old, young; coward,

2

Fierce is here used for hasty, precipitate. Strange, unusual blood may mean, strange unusual disposition. That is, the moon's, this sublunary world. Dr. Johnson explains this passage thus: "Brother, when his fortune is enlarged, will scorn brother; for this is the general depravity of human nature, which, besieged as it is by misery, admonished as it is of want and imperfection, when elecated by fortune, will despise beings of nature like its own.". That is, It is the pastour that greases or flatters the rich brother, and will grease him on till want make him leave.

6 Grize tor

Y

step or degree. 1i. e. seize, gripe. * i. e. no insincere or inconstant supplicant. Gold will not serve me instead of roots. This may mean either ye cloudless skies, or ye dei ies exempt from 3 G 2

Ila

guilt.

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

you gods?
[sides;
from your

Will lug your priests and servants
Pluck stout men's pillows from below their
This vellow slave
[heads: 5
Will Knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd;|
Make the hoar leprosy ador'd; place thieves,
And give them tule, 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!
a drum-Thou 'rt quick',

15

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

Alcib. What art thou there? speak.

[heart,

Tim. A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw thy 25 For shewing me again the eyes of man!

Alcib. What is thy name? Is man so hateful to thee, That art thyself a man?

Tim. I am misanthropos, and hate mankind.
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something.
Alcib. I know thee well;

Tim. None, but to
Maintain my opinion.

Alcib. What is it, Timon?

thine

Ilath in her more destruction than thy sword,
For all her cherubin took.

Alcib. Noble Timon,

What friendship may I do thee?

[if

Tim. Promise me friendship, but perform none: Thou wilt not promise, the gods plague thee, for Thou art a man! if thou dost perform, confound thee,

For thou art a man!

Alcib. I have heard in some sort of thy miseries.
Tim. Thou saw'st them, when I had prosperity.
Alcib. I see them now; then was a blessed time.
Tim. As thine is now, held with a brace of
harlots.
[world
Tyman. Is this the Athenian minion, whom the
Voic'd so regardfully?

Tim. Art thou Tymandra?
Tymun. Yes.

10

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

I not desire 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 4c

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.
Tyman. Hang thee, monster!

Ale. Pardon him, sweet Tymandra; 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
30 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

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

Phry. Thy lips rot off!

Tim. I will not kiss thee; then the rot returns 45 To thine own lips again.

Alc. How came the noble Timon to this change:
Tim. As the moon does, by wanting light to
give;

But then renew I could not, like the moon;.
There were no suns to borrow of.

gone.

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

trouble?

I had rather be alone.

Alcib. Why, fare thee well:

Here is some gold for thee.

Tim. Keep it, I cannot cat ́it.

Alc. 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 in thy con-
quest; and

Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd!
Alcib. Why me, Timon?

50

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

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

2

i. e. men who have strength yet remaining to struggle with their distemper. This alludes to an old custom of drawing away the pillow from under the heads of men in their last agonies, to make their departure the easier. Waped or wappen'd, according to Warburton, signifies both sorrowful and terrified, either for the loss of a good husband, or by the treatment of a bad. But gold, he says, can overcome both her affection and her fears. 'That is, to the wedding day, called by the poet, satirically, April day, or fool's day.-The April day, however, does not relate to the widow, but to the other diseased female, who is represented as the outcast of an hospital. She it is whom gold embalms and spices to the April day again: i. e. gold restores her to all the freshness and sweetness of youth. Lie in the earth where nature laid thee. 6 "Thou hast life and motion in thee. This alludes to the method of cure for venereal complaints (explained in note, p. 90), the unction for which was sometimes continued for thirty-seven days, and during this time there was necessarily an extraordinary abstinence required. Hence the term of the tub-fast. The diet was likewise a customary term for the regimen prescribed in these cases,

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,
Heis 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 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 thebabe,
Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust' their

Phr. and Tym. Well, more gold;-What then? Believe't, that we'll do any thing for gold.

Tim. Consumptions sow

In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins, And marr men's spurring. Crack the lawyer's voice,

7

That he may never more false title plead,
Nor sound his quillets shrilly: hoar the flamen,
That scolds against the quality of flesh,

10 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;

mercy;
Think it a bastard, whom the oracle
Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut 2, 15
And mince it sans remorse: Swear against objects';
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, 20
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.
Alcib. Hast thou gold yet? I'll take the gold
thou giv'st me,
Not all thy counsel.

25

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

Phr. and Tyn. Give us some gold, goodTimon:
Hast thou more?
[trade, 30

Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear her
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,

35

4

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,
[roofs
Be quite contrary: make false hair, and thatch
Your poor thin roofs with burthens of the dead,-45
Some that were hang'd, no matter:
Wearthem, betray with them, and whore on still:
Paint 'till a horse may mire upon your face;
A pox of wrinkles!

And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war
Derive some pain from you: Plague all;
That your activity may defeat and quell
The source of all erection.-There's inore gold:--
Do you damn others, and let this damn you,
And ditches grave 10 you all!

Phr. and Tym. More counsel, with more money,

bounteous Timon.

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

Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens.
Farewell, Timon;
If 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.

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

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

Should yet be hungry!—Common mother, thou
40 Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast",
Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle,
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puft;
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,
The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm
With all the abhorred births below crisp 3 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,

12

13

2 An allusion to the tale of Edipus. 1i. e. draw forth. Perhaps objects is here used provincially for abjects. That is, enough to make a whore leave whoring, and a bard leave making whores. i. e. I will trust to your inclinations. Dr. Warburton comments on this passage thus: "This is obscure, partly from the ambiguity of the word pains, and partly from the generality of the expres sion. The meaning is this: He had said before, Follow constantly your trade of debauchery; that is, (says he) for six months in the year. Let the other six be employed in quite contrary pains and labour, namely, in the severe discipline necessary for the repair of those disorders that your debaucheries occasion, 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 says, Make false hair, &c.—Mr. Steevens however conceives the meaning to be only this: "Yet for half the year at least, may you suffer such punishment as is inflicted on harlots in houses of correction." Quillets are subtilties. i. e. give the flamen the hoary leprosy. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right scent of public good. In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for some of the hounds to smell from the general weal, and foresee their own particular. Shakspeare, who seems to have been a skilful sportsman, and has alluded often to falconry, perhaps alludes here to hunting. To grave is to entoinb. Whose infinite breast means whose boundless surface. 12 The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind worm. i. e. curled, bent, hollow.

7

9

3 G3

Let

3

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 mansion all above
Never presented!—O, a root,-Dear thanks!
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;|
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorice draughts,
And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind,
That from it all consideration slips!
Enter Apemantus.
More man? Plague! plague!

Tim. Not by his breath', that is more miserable,
Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm
With favour never clasp'd; but bred a dog
Hadst thou, like us, from our first swath pro-

15

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;
A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung
From change of fortune. Why this spade? thisplace?
This slave-like habit? and these looks of care?
Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft; 20 In general riot; melted down thy youth

Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot
That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods,
By putting on the cunning of a carper1.
Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive
By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee, 25
And let his very breath, whom thou 'It observe,
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain,
And call it excellent; Thou wast told thus ;
Thougav'stthineears,liketapsters,thatbidwelcome
To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis most just, 30
That thou turn rascal; hadst thou wealth again,
Rascals should hav't. Do not assume mylikeness.

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 moist trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle, page thy heels,
Andskip when thou point'st out? will thecoldbrook, 40
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 spight

Tim. What! a knave too?

5

Apem. If thou didst put this sour cold habit on
To castigate thy pride, 'twere well: but thou
Dost it enforcedly; thou'dst courtier be again,
Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery
Out-lives incertain pomp, is crown'd before:
The one is filling still, never complete ;
The other, at high wish: Best state, contentless,
Hath a distracted and most wretched being,
10 Worse than the worst, content 2.

Thou should'st desire to die, being miserable.

Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff.
Tim. Why dost thou seek me out?
Apem. To vex thee.

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

Apem. Ay.

ceeded

The sweet degrees that this brief world affords
To such as may the passive drugs of it
Freelycommand, thouwouldsthaveplung'd thyself

35 They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given?
If thou wilt curse,thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy subject; who, in spight, put stuff
To some she beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone!-
If thou hadst not been born the worst of men,
Thou hadst been a knave, and flatterer.
Apem. Art thou proud yet?
Tim. Ay, that I am not thee.
Apem. 1, that I was no prodigal.
Tim. 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.-
That the whole life of Athens were in this!
Thus would I eat it.

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

1451

Answer 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.
Apem. Why?

56)

Tim. Thou flatter'st misery.

In different beds of lust; and never learn'd
The icy precepts of respect, but follow'd
The sugar'd game before thee. But myself,
Who had the world as my confectionary; [men
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts of
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 burthen:
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time
Hath made thee hard in 't. Why should'st thou
hate men?

[Eating a root, Apem. Here; I will mend thy feast. [Offering him something. Tim. First mendmycompany, take awaythyself. Apem. So I shall mend my own, by the lack of thine.

55

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

Apem. What wouldst thou have to Athens?
Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt,

'The cunning of a carper means the insidious arts of a critic. 2 That is, Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content.

3 By his breath

4

is probably meant his sentence. Alluding to the word Cynic, of which sect Apemantus was. From intancy.-Swath is the dress of a new-born child. Respect, according to Mr. Steevens,

.

means the qu'en dira't-on? the regard of Athens, that strongest restraint on licentiousness: the icy precepts, i e. that cool hot blood.

Tell