When, for some trifling present, you have bid me And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord, To pay your present debts. Tim. Let all my land be sold. Flav. 'Tis all engag'd, some forfeited and gone; And what remains will hardly stop the mouth 8 Return so much,] He does not mean so great a sum, but a certain sum, as it might happen to be. Our author frequently uses this kind of expression. See a note on the words-" with so many talents," in the second scene of the next act. Malone. 9 - My dear-lov'd lord,] Thus the second folio. The first omits the epithet-dear, and consequently vitiates the measure. Steevens. 1 Though you hear now, (too late) yet now's a time,] i. e. Though it be now too late to retrieve your former fortunes, yet it is not too late to prevent by the assistance of your friends, your future miseries. Had the Oxford editor understood the sense, he would not have altered the text to, Though you hear me now, yet now's too late a time. Warburton. I think Sir Thomas Hanmer right, and have received his emendation Johnson. The old reading is not properly explained by Dr. Warburton. Though I tell you this (says Flavius) at too late a period, perhaps, for the information to be of any service to you, yet late as it is, it is necessary that you should be acquainted with it." It is evident, that the steward had very little hope of assistance from his master's friends. Ritson. Though you now at last listen to my remonstrances, yet now your affairs are in such a state that the whole of your remaining fortune will scarce pay half your debts. You are therefore wise too late. Malone. 2 The greatest of your having lacks a half To pay your present debts. Tim. Let all my lands be sold ] The redundancy of measure in this passage persuades me that it stood originally thus: Your greatest having lacks a half to pay Your present debts. Tim. Let all my land be sold. Steevens Of present dues: the future comes apace: Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend. Flav. O my good lord, the world is but a word;4 Were it all yours to give it in a breath, How quickly were it gone? Tim. You tell me true. Flav. If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood, And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me, 3 and at length How goes our reckoning?] This Steward talks very wildly. The Lord indeed might have asked, what a Lord seldom knows : How goes our reckoning? But the Steward was too well satisfied in that matter. I would read therefore: Hold good our reckoning? Warburton. It is common enough, and the commentator knows it is common to propose, interrogatively, that of which neither the speaker nor the hearer has any doubt. The present reading may therefore stand. Johnson. How will you be able to subsist in the time intervening between the payment of the present demands (which your whole substance will hardly satisfy) and the claim of future dues, for which you have no fund whatsoever; and finally on the settlement of all accounts in what a wretched plight will you be? Malone. 40 my good lord, the world is but a word;] The meaning is, as the world itself may be comprised in a word, you might give it away in a breath. Warburton 5 our offices --] i. e. the apartments allotted to culinary pur poses, the reception of domesticks, &c. Thus, in Macbeth: "Sent forth great largess to your offices." Would Duncan have sent largess to any but servants? See Vol. VII, p. 78, n. 3. It appears that what we now call offices, were anciently called houses of office. So, in Chaucer's Clerkes Tale, v. 8140, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition: "Houses of office stuffed with plentee "Ther mayst thou see of deinteous vittaile." Steevens. 6 With riotous feeders;] Feeders are servants, whose low debaucheries are practised in the offices of a house. See a note on Antony and Cleopatra, Act III, se. xi: ", -one who looks on feeders." Steevens. Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy; And set mine eyes at flow. Tim. Pr'ythee, no more. Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have slaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's? What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is lord Timon's? Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon? Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise, The breath is gone whereof this praise is made: Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers, These flies are couch'd. Tim. Come, sermon me no further: No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.9 7 — a wasteful cock,] i. e. a cockloft, a garret. And a wasteful cock, signifies a garret lying in waste, neglected, put to no use. Hanmer. Sir Thomas Hanmer's explanation is received by Dr. Warburton, yet I think them both apparently mistaken. A wasteful cock is a cock or pipe with a turning stopple running to waste. In this sense, both the terms have their usual meaning; but I know not that cock is ever used for cockloft, or wasteful for lying in waste, or that lying in waste is at all a phrase. Johnson. Whatever be the meaning of the present passage, it is certain, that lying in waste is still a very common phrase. Farmer. A wasteful cock is what we now call a waste pipe; a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cisterns, and other reservoirs, by carrying off their superfluous water. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceasing prodigality in the mind of the Steward, while its remoteness from the scenes of luxury within the house, was favourable to meditation Collins. The reader will have a perfect notion of the method taken by Mr. Pope in his edition, when he is informed that, for wasteful cock, that editor reads-lonely room. Malone. 8 Who is not Timon's?] I suppose we ought to read, for the sake of measure: Who is not lord Timon's? Steevens. 9 No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.] Every reader must rejoice in this circumstance of comfort which presents itself to Timon, who, although beggar'd through want of prudence, consoles himself with reflection that his ruin was not brought on by the pursuit of guilty pleasures. Steevens. Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack, Flav. Assurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd, 3 That I account them blessings; for by these Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. Tim. I will despatch you severally.-You, to lord Lucius, To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his 1 And try the argument-] The licentiousness of our author forces us often upon far-fetched expositions. Arguments may mean contents, as the arguments of a book; or evidences and proofs. Johnson. The matter contained in a poem or play was in our author's time commonly thus denominated. The contents of his Rape of Lucrece, which he certainly published himself, he calls The Argument. Hence undoubtedly his use of the word. If I would, says Timon, by borrowing, try of what men's hearts are composed, what they have in them, &c. The old copy reads-argument; not, as Dr. Johnson supposed-arguments. Malone. So, in Hamlet: "Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in it?" Many more instances to the same purpose might be subjoined. Steevens. 2 As I can bid thee speak.] Thus the old copy; but it being clear from the overloaded measure that these words are a play-house interpolation, I would not hesitate to omit them. They are understood, though not expressed. Steevens. 3 - crown'd,] i. e. dignified, adorned, made respectable. So, in King Henry VIII: "And yet no day without a deed to crown it." Steevens. 4 Within there, ho!] Ho, was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. The frequency of Shakspeare's use of this interjection, needs no examples. Steevens. 5 Flaminius!] The old copy has-Flavius. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The error probably arose from Fla. only heing set down in the MS. Malone. Honour to-day;-You, to Sempronius; Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say, Be fifty talents. As you have said, my lord. Flav. Lord Lucius, and lord Lucullus? humph! Aside. Tim. Go you, sir, [to another Serv.] to the senators," (Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deserv'd this hearing,) bid 'em send o' the instant A thousand talents to me. Flav. I have been bold, Tim. Is 't true? can it be? Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall,9 want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry-you are honourable,— But yet they could have wish'd-they know not-but1 Something hath been amiss—a noble nature May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis pity— And so, intending other serious matters, 6 2 lord Lucullus?] As the Steward is repeating the words of Timon, I have not scrupled to supply the title lord, which is wanting in the old copy, though necessary to the metre. Steevens. 1 Go you, sir, to the senators,] To complete the line, we might read, as in the first scene of this play: 8 - the senators of Athens. Steevens. I knew it the most general way,] General is not speedy, but compendious, the way to try many at a time. Johnson. 9 at fall,] i. e. at an ebb. Steevens. I but was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verse. Steevens. 2 intending] is regarding, turning their notice to other things. Johnson. To intend and to attend had anciently the same meaning. So, in The Spanish Curate of Beaumont and Fletcher: "Good sir, intend this business." See Vol. II, p. 357, n. 4. Steevens. |