Enter SERVILIUS.

Ser. See, by good hap, yonder's my lord; I have sweat to see his honour.-My honoured lord,

[To LUCIUS.

Luc. Servilius! you are kindly met, sir. Fare thee well:-Commend me to thy honourable-virtuous lord, my very exquisite friend.

Ser. May it please your honour, my lord hath

sent

Luc. Ha! what has he sent? I am so much endeared to that lord; he's ever sending: How shall I thank him, thinkest thou? And what has he sent now?

Ser. He has only sent his present occasion now, my lord; requesting your lordship to supply his instant use with so many talents *.

Luc. I know, his lordship is but merry with me; He cannot want fifty-five hundred talents.

Ser. But in the mean time he wants less, my lord. If his occasion were not virtuous5,

I should not urge it half so faithfully.

Luc. Dost thou speak seriously, Servilius?
Ser. Upon my soul, 'tis true, sir.

Luc. What a wicked beast was I, to disfurnish myself against such a good time, when I might have shown myself honourable! how unluckily it happened, that I should purchase the day before for a little part, and undo a great deal of honourб!

4 Such is again the reading the old copy supplies; some modern editors have here again substituted fifty talents.' But this was the phraseology of the poet's age. In Julius Cæsar Lucilius says to his adversary:—

There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight.'

5 If he did not want it for a good use.'

6 i. e. by purchasing what brought me but little honour, I have lost the more honourable opportunity of supplying the wants of my friend.'

-Servilius, now before the gods, I am not able to do't; the more beast, I say :—I was sending to use Lord Timon myself, these gentlemen can witness; but I would not, for the wealth of Athens, I had done it now. Commend me bountifully to his good lordship and I hope, his honour will conceive the fairest of me, because I have no power to be kind: And tell him this from me, I count it one of my greatest afflictions, say, that I cannot pleasure such an honourable gentleman. Good Servilius, will you befriend me so far, as to use mine own words to him?

Ser. Yes, sir, I shall.

Luc. I will look you out a good turn, Servilius.[Exit SERVILIUS. True, as you said, Timon is shrunk, indeed; And he, that's once denied, will hardly speed. [Exit LUCIUS. 1 Stran. Do you observe this, Hostilius? 2 Stran. Ay, too well.

1 Stran. Why this

Is the world's soul; and just of the same piece
Is every flatterer's spirit. Who can call him
His friend, that dips in the same dish? for, in
My knowing, Timon has been this lord's father,
And kept his credit with his purse;

Supported his estate; nay, Timon's money
Has paid his men their wages: He ne'er drinks,
But Timon's silver treads upon his lip;

And yet (O, see the monstrousness of man
When he looks out in an ungrateful shape!)

7 The old copy reads:

'Is every flatterer's sport.'

The emendation is Theobald's. I think with Malone that this speech was never intended for verse, though printed as such in the folio.

He does deny him, in respect of his3, What charitable men afford to beggars. 3 Stran. Religion groans at it.

1 Stran.

I never tasted. Timon in my life,

For mine own part,

Nor came any of his bounties over me,
To mark me for his friend; yet, I protest,
For his right noble mind, illustrious virtue,
And honourable carriage,

Had his necessity made use of me,

I would have put my wealth into donation9,
And the best half should have return'd to him,
So much I love his heart: But, I perceive,
Men must learn now with pity to dispense:
For policy sits above conscience.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

The same. A Room in Sempronius's House.

Enter SEMPRONIUS, and a Servant of Timon's. Sem. Must he needs trouble me in't? Humph! 'Bove all others?

He might have tried Lord Lucius, or Lucullus;
And now Ventidius is wealthy too,

Whom he redeem'd from prison: All these
Owe their estates unto him.

Serv.

O my lord,

8 i. e. 'in respect of his fortune.' What Lucius denies to Timon is in proportion to his fortune less than the usual alms given by good men to beggars.

9 The commentators have made difficulties about this passage, of which the meaning appears to be- Had he applied to me, I would have put my wealth into the form of a gift, and have sent him the best half of it.' The Stranger could not mean that he would have treated his wealth as a present originally received from Timon,' because he expressly declares that he never tasted his bounties.

They have all been touch'd1, and found base metal;

1

for

They have all denied him.

Sem. How! have they denied him? Has Ventidius and Lucullus denied him? And does he send to me? Three? humph!It shows but little love or judgment in him. Must I be his last refuge? His friends, like physicians,

Thrive3, give him over; Must I take the cure upon

me ?

He has much disgrac'd me in't; I am angry at him, That might have known my place: I see no sense for't,

But his occasions might have woo'd me first;

1 Alluding to the trial of metals by the touchstone. Thus in King Richard III.:

'O Buckingham, now do I play the touch,

To try if thou be current gold indeed.'

2 This speech appears to be mutilated, and therefore unmetrical; the first part of it may perhaps bear modifying thus:

Ventidius, and Lucius, and Lucullus,

Have denied him, and does he send to me?

Three? humph!

It shows,' &c.

'I can only point out metrical dilapidations, which I profess myself unable to repair,' says Steevens.

3 Johnson proposes to read:

Thrice, give him over;'

but says, 'perhaps the old reading is the true;' which Steevens illustrates by the following passage in Webster's Dutchess of Malfy

Physicians thus,

With their hands full of money, use to give o'er
Their patients.'

The passage will then mean, 'His friends, like physicians, thrive by his bounty and fees, and either relinquish and forsake him, or give up his case as desperate.' It is remarked by Malone that Webster has frequently imitated Shakspeare, and that this passage may be an imitation of that in the text.

For, in my conscience, I was the first man
That e'er received gift from him:

And does he think so backwardly of me now,
That I'll requite it last? No: So it may prove
An argument of laughter to the rest,

And I amongst the lords be thought a fool.
I had rather than the worth of thrice the sum,
He had sent to me first, but for my mind's sake;
I had such a courage to do him good. But now
return,

And with their faint reply this answer join;
Who bates mine honour, shall not know my coin.

[Exit.

Serv. Excellent! Your lordship's a goodly villain. The devil knew not what he did, when he made man politick; he crossed himself by't: and I cannot think, but, in the end, the villanies of man will set him clear. How fairly this lord strives to appear foul! takes virtuous copies to be wicked; like those that, under hot ardent zeal, would set whole realms on fire 5.

Of such a nature is his politick love.

4 I take the sense of this passage to be, The devil knew not what he did when he made man politick (i. e. crafty, or full of cunning shifts); he thwarted himself by so doing, overreached himself: and I cannot think but in the end the villanies of man will (make the devil appear in comparison innocent) set him clear, and that they will change places; man becoming the tempter, not the tempted. So in Cymbeline, Posthumus says: It is I

That all the abhorred things o'the earth amend,
By being worse than they.'

And in Lear:

'Those wicked creatures yet do look well favour'd,
When others are more wicked.'

5 Warburton thinks that this is levelled at the Puritans. Sempronius, like them, takes a virtuous semblance to be wicked, pretending that warm affection and generous jealousy of friend- · ship, that is affronted if any other be applied to before it.'.