Poet. What's to be thought of him? Does the rumour hold for true, that he is so full of gold? : Pain. Certain Alcibiades reports it; Phrynia and Timandra had gold of him: he likewise enriched poor straggling soldiers with great quantity: 'Tis said, he gave unto his steward a mighty sum. Poet. Then this breaking of his has been but a try for his friends. Pain. Nothing else: you shall see him a palm in Athens again, and flourish5 with the highest. Therefore, 'tis not amiss, we tender our loves to him, in this Painter in another: but it must be remembered, that in the original edition this play it not divided into separate Acts, so that the present distribution is arbitrary, and may be changed if any convenience can be gained, or impropriety obviated by alteration. Johnson. In the immediately preceding scene, Flavius, Timon's steward, has a conference with his master, and receives gold from him. Between this and the present scene, a single minute cannot be supposed to pass; and yet the Painter tells his companion:-'Tis said he gave his steward a mighty sum.-Where was it said? Why in Athens, whence, it must therefore seem, they are but newly come. Here then should be fixed the commencement of the fifth Act, in order to allow time for Flavius to return to the city, and for rumour to publish his adventure with Timon. But how are we in this case to account for Apemantus's announcing the approach of the Poet and Painter in the last scene of the preceding Act, and before the Thieves appear? It is possible, that when this play was abridged for representation, all between this passage, and the entrance of the Poet and Painter, may have been omitted by the players, and these words put into the mouth of Apemantus to introduce them; and that when it was published at large, the interpolation was unnoticed. Or, if we allow the Poet and Painter to see Apemantus, it may be conjectured that they did not think his presence necessary at their interview with Timon, and had therefore returned back into the city. Ritson. I am afraid, many of the difficulties which the commentators on our author have employed their abilities to remove, arise from the negligence of Shakspeare himself, who appears to have been less attentive to the connection of his scenes, than a less hasty writer may be supposed to have been. On the present occasion I have changed the beginning of the Act. It is but justice to observe, that the same regulation has already been adopted by Mr. Capell. Reed — a palm and flourish &c.] This allusion is scriptural, and occurs in Psalm xcii. 11: "The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree." Steevens. supposed distress of his: it will show honestly in us; pufe and is very likely to load our" purposes"with what "they" we travel for, if it be a just and true report that goes of his having. Port. What have you now to present unto him? Pain. Nothing at this time but my visitation: only I will promise him an excellent piece. Poet. I must serve him so too; tell him of an intent that's coming toward him. Pain. Good as the best. Promising is the very air o' the time: it opens the eyes of expectation: performance is ever the duller for his act; and, but in the plainer and simpler kind of people, the deed of saying is quite out of use. To promise is most courtly and fashionable: performance is a kind of will, or testament, which argues a great sickness in his judgment that makes it. Tim. Excellent workman! Thou canst not paint a man so bad as is thyself. Poet. I am thinking, what I shall say I have provided for him: It must be a personating of himself:7 a satire against the softness of prosperity; with a discovery of the infinite flatteries, that follow youth and opulency. Tim. Must thou needs stand for a villain in thine own work? Wilt thou whip thine own faults in other men? Do So, I have gold for thee. Poet. Nay, let's seek him: Then do we sin against our own estate, When we may profit meet, and come too late. 6 the deed of saying is quite out of use.] The doing of that which we have said we would do, the accomplishment and performance of our promise, is, except among the lower classes of mankind, quite out of use. So, in King Lear: 46 In my true heart "I find she names my very deed of love." Again, more appositely, in Hamlet: "As he, in his peculiar act and force, "May give his saying deed." Mr. Pope rejected the words of saying, and the four following editors adopted his licentious regulation. Malone. I claim the merit of having restored the old reading. Steevens. 7 It must be a personating of himself:] Personating, for representing simply. For the subject of this projected satire was Timon's case, not his person. Warburton. When the day serves, before black-corner'd night," Tim. I'll meet you at the turn. What a god's gold, That he is worshipp'd in a baser temple, Than where swine feed! 'Tis thou that rigg'st the bark, and plough'st the foam; -Settlest admired reverence in a slave: To thee be worship! and thy saints for aye Be crown'd with plagues, that thee alone obey! 'Fit I do meet them.1 Poet. Hail, worthy Timon! Pain. [Advancing. Our late noble master. Tim. Have I once liv'd to see two honest men? Having often of your open bounty tasted, Hearing you were retir'd, your friends fall'n off, Whose star-like nobleness gave life and influence With any size of words. Tim. Let it go naked, men may see 't the better: 8 When the day serves, &c.] Theobald with some probability assigns these two lines to the Poet. Malone. 9—before black-corner'd night,] An anonymous correspondent sent me this observation: As the shadow of the earth's body, which is round, must be necessarily conical over the hemisphere which is opposite to the sun, should we not read blackconed? See Paradise Lost, Book IV." To this observation I might add a sentence from Philemon Holland's translation of Pliny's Natural History, B. II: "Neither is the night any thing else but the shade of the earth. Now the figure of this shadow resembleth a pyramis pointed forward, or a top turned upside down." I believe, nevertheless, that Shakspeare, by this expression, meant only, Night which is as obscure as a dark corner. In Measure for Measure, Lucio calls the Duke, "a duke of dark corners." Mr. M. Mason proposes to read-"black-crown'd night;" another correspondent, "black-cover'd night." Steevens. 1'Fit I do meet them.] For the sake of harmony in this hemis tich, I have supplied the auxiliary verb. Steevens. You, that are honest, by being what you are, Pain. He, and myself, Have travell'd in the great shower of your gifts, Tim. Ay, you are honest men. Pain. We are hither come to offer you our service. Tim. Most honest men! Why, how shall I requite you? Can you cat roots, and drink cold water? no. Both. What we can do, we 'll do, to do you service. Tim. You are honest men: You have heard that I have gold; I am sure, you have: speak truth: you are honest men. Pain. So it is said, my noble lord: but therefore Came not my friend, nor I. Tim. Good honest men:-Thou draw'st a counterfeit2 Best in all Athens: thou art, indeed, the best; Thou counterfeit'st most lively. Pain. So, so, my lord. Tim. Even so, sir, as I say :-And, for thy fiction, [To the Poet. Marry, 'tis not monstrous in you; neither wish I, Both. To make it known to us. Tim. Beseech your honour, You'll take it ill. Will you, indeed? Both. Most thankfully, my lord. Tim. Both. Doubt it not, worthy lord. Tim. There 's ne'er a one of you but trusts a knave, That mightily deceives you. Do we, my lord? Both. 2a counterfeit -] It has been already observed, that a portrait was so called in our author's time: 66 What find I here? "Fair Fortia's counterfeit Merchant of Venice. Steevens. Know his gross patchery, love him, feed him, Pain. I know none such, my lord. Poet. Nor I.4 Tim. Look you, I love you well; I'll give you gold, Rid me these villains from your companies: Hang them, or stab them, drown them in a draught,5 Confound them by some course, and come to me, I'll give you gold enough. Both. Name them, my lord, let's know them. Tim. You that way, and you this, but two in com pany:6 3 a made-up villain.] That is, a villain that adopts qualities and characters not properly belonging to him; a hypocrite. Johnson. A made-up villain, may mean a complete, a finished villain. M. Mason. 4 Nor I.] As it may be supposed (perhaps I am repeating a remark already made on a similar occasion) that our author designed his Poet's address to be not less respectful than that of his Painter, he might originally have finished this defective verse, by writing: 5 Nor I, my lord. Steevens. in a draught,] That is, in the jakes. Johnson. So, in Holinshed, Vol. II, p. 735: “— he was then sitting on a draught." Steevens. - 6 but two in company:] This is an imperfect sentence, and is to be supplied thus, But two in company spoils all. Warburton. This passage is obscure. I think the meaning is this: but two in company, that is, stand apart, let only two be together; for even when each stands single there are two, he himself and a villain. Johnson. This passage may receive some illustration from another in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "My master is a kind of knave; but that 's all one, if he be but one knave." The sense is, each man is a double villain, i. e. a villain with more than a single share of guilt. See Dr. Farmer's note on the third Act of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, &c. Again, in Promos and Cassandra, 1578: "Go, and a knave with thee." Again, in The Storye of King Darius, 1565, an interlude : 66 if you needs will go away, "Take two knaves with you by my faye." There is a thought not unlike this in The Scornful Lady of Beaumont and Fletcher:-"Take to your chamber when you please, there goes a black one with you, lady." Steevens. |