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quest; and

60

Enter ALCIBIADES, with drum and fife, in war

Forgetting thy great deeds, when neighbour

states, like manner; PHRYNIA and TIMANDRA.

But for thy sword and fortune, trod upon them,Alcib.

What art thou there? speak. Tim. I prithee, beat thy drum, and get thee Tim. A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw gone. thy heart,

Alcib. I am thy friend, and pity thee, dear For showing me again the eyes of man!

Timon. Alcib. What is thy name? Is man so hateful Tim. How dost thou pity him whom thou to thee

dost trouble ? That art thyself a man ?

I had rather be alone. Tim. I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind. Alcib.

Why, fare thee well : For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog, Here is some gold for thee. That I might love thee something.

Tim.

Keep it, I cannot eat it. Alcib.

I know thee well ; Alcib. When I have laid proud Athens ou a But in thy fortunes am unlearn d and strange. heap, Tim. I know thee too ; and more than that I Tim, Warr'st thou 'gainst Athens ! know thee

Alcib.

Ay, Timon, and have cause, I not desire to know. Follow thy drum ;

Tim. The gods confound them all in thy conWith man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules ; Religious canons, civil laws are cruel ;

Thee after, when thou hast conquer d ! Then what should war be? This fell whore of Alcib.

Why me, Timon ! thine

T'im. That by killing of villains thou wast Hath in her more destruction than thy sword,

born to conquer For all her cherubim look.

My country. Phry.

Thy lips rot off ! Put up thy gold: go on,-here's gold,-go on; Tim. I will not kiss thee; then the rot returns Be as a planetary plague, when Jove To thine own lips again.

Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison Alcib. How came the noble Timon to this in the sick air : let not thy sword skip one. change?

Pity not honour'd age for his white beard ; Tim. As the moon does, by wanting light to He is an usurer. Strike me the counterfeit give :

matron ; But then renew I could not like the moon ; It is her habit only that is honest, There were no suns to borrow of.

Herself 's a bawd. Let not the virgin's cheek Alcib. Noble Timon, what friendship may I Make soft thy trenchant sword; for those

do thee? Tim. None, but to maintain my opinion. 70 That through the window-bars bore at men's Alcib. What is it, Timon ?

eyes, Tim. Promise me friendship, but perform Are not within the leaf of pity writ, none: if thou wilt not promise, the gods plague But set them down horrible traitors. Spare thee, for thou art a man! if thou dost perform, not the babe, confound thee, for thou art a man !

Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their Alcib. I have heard in some sort of thy mercy ; miseries,

Think it a bastard, whom the oracle Tim. Thou saw'st them, when I had pros- Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut, perity.

And mince it sans remorse. Swear against Alcib. I see them now; then was a blessed objects; time.

Put armour on thine ears and on thine eyes, T'im. As thine is now, held with a brace of Whose proof, nor yells of mothers, maids, vor harlots.

babes, Timan. Is this the Athenian minion whom Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding, the world

Shall pierce a jot. There's gold to pay thy Voic'd so regardfully ?

soldiers : Tim.

Art thou Timandra ? Make large confusion ; and, thy fury spent, Timan.

Yes. Confounded be thyself! Speak not, be gone. Tim. Be a whore still; they love thee not Alcib. Hast thou gold yet? I'll take the gold that use thee;

thou giv'st me, Give them diseases, leaving with thee their Not all thy counsel. lust.

Tim. Dost thou, or dost thou not, heaven's Make use of thy salt hours ; season the slaves curse upon thee! For tubs and baths ; bring down rose-cheeked Phr., T'iman. Give us some gold, good Timon: youth

hast thou more? To the tub-fast and the diet.

Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear ber Timan.

Hang thee, monster ! tiade, Alcib. Pardon him, sweet Timandra, for his And to make whores a bawd. Hold up, you wits

sluts, Are drown'd and lost in his calamities.

Your aprons mountant : you are not oathable, I have but little gold of late, brave Timon, Although, I know, you 'll swear, terribly swear The want whereof doth daily make revolt 90 Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues In my penurious band : I have heard and griev'd The immortal gods that hear you, spare your How cursed Athens, mindless of thy worth,

oaths,

milk-paps,

80

190

leas;

200

160

210

I'll trust to your conditions : be whores still ; Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
And he whose pious breath seeks to convert you, Hath to the marbled mansion all above
Be strong in whore, allure him, burn him up; 140 Never presented! 0! a root ; dear thanks :
Let your close fire predominate bis smoke, Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn
And be no turncoats: yet may your pains, six
months,

Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts Be quite contrary: and thatch your poor thin And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind, roofs

That from it all consideration slips ! With burdens of the dead; some that were

Enter APEMANTUS. hang'd, No matter; wear them, betray with them : More man! Plague! plague ! wbore still;

Apem. I was directed hither : men report Paint till a horse may mire upon your face : Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use A pox of wrinkles !

them. Phr., Timan. Well, more gold. What then ? Tim. "Tis then because thou dost not keep a Believe't, that we'll do any thing for gold.

dog Tim. Consumptions sow

150 Whom I would imitate: consumption catch In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp thee! shins,

Apem. This is in thee a nature but infected ; And mar men's spurring. Crack the lawyer's A poor unmanly melancholy sprung voice,

From change of fortune. Why this spade ? That he may never more false title plead,

this place? Nor sound his quillets shrilly : hoar the flamen, This slave-like habit ? and these looks of care ? That scolds against the quality of flesh, Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft, And not believes himself : down with the nose, Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods Of him that, his particular to foresee,

By putting on the cunning of a carper. Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate Be thou a tlatterer now, and seek to thrive ruffians bald ;

By that which has undone thee: hinge thy And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war

knee, Derive some pain from you: plague all,

And let his very breath, whom thou 'It observe, That your activity may defeat and quell Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain, The source of all erection. There's more gold; And call it excellent. Thou wast told thus; Do you damn others, and let this damn you, Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters that bid And ditches grave you all!

welcome, Phr., T'iman. More counsel with more money. To knaves and all approachers: 'tis most just bounteous Timon.

That thou turn rascal ; hadst thou wealth again, Tim. More whore, more mischief first ; I have Rascals should have't. Do not assume my like

given you earnest. Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens ! Tim. Were I like thee I'd throw away myself. Farewell, Timon:

Apem. Thou hast cast away thyself, being If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again.

like thyself; Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more. A madman so long, now a fool. What ! think'st Alcib. I never did thee harm.

That the bleak air, thy boisterons chamberlain, Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me.

Will put thy shirt on warm ? will these moss'd Alcib.

Call'st thou that harm ? trees, Tim. Men daily find it. Get thee away, and That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels take

And skip when thou point'st out? will the cold Thy beagles with thee.

brook, Alcib.

We but offend him. Strike! Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste Drun beats. Exeunt ALCIBIADES, PHRYNIA, To cure thy o'er-night's surfeit ?

Call the and TIMANDRA. creatures T'im. That nature, being sick of man's unkind. Whose naked natures live in all the spite

Of wreakful heaven, whose bare unboused Should yet be hungry! Common mother, thou, trunks,

Digging. To the conflicting elements expos'd, Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast, Answer mere nature; bid them flatter thee; 230 Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle, 0! thou shalt findWhereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is Tim.

A fool of thee. Depart. puff’d,

Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did. Engenders the black toad and adder blue,

Tim. I hate thee worse. The gilded newt and ereless venom'd worm, Anem.

Why? With all the abhorred births below crisp heaven Tim.

Thou flatter'st miserv. Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine; Apem. I flatter not, but say thou art a caitiff. Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate, Tim. Why dost thou seek me out? From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor root! Apem.

To vex thee. Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb,

Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Let it no more bring out ingrateful man ! Dost please thyself in 't ? Go great with tigers, dragons, wolves, and Арет.

Ay. bears;

Tim.

What! a knave too ?

ness.

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222

ness,

180

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
Outlives incertain pomp, is crown'd before;
The one is filling still, never complete ;
The other, at high wish: best state, content-

241

less,

Hath a distracted and most wretched being,
Worse than the worst, content.

Thou should'st desire to die, being miserable.

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, proceeded

250

The sweet degrees that this brief world affords
To such as may the passive drudges of it
Freely command, thou would'st have plung'd
thyself

In general riot; melted down thy youth
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,
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes and hearts

of men

260

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 burden:
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time
Hath made thee hard in 't. Why should'st thou
hate men?

I, that I was

They never flatter'd thee: what hast thou given?
If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag, 270
Must be thy subject, who in spite 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.
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! 280
Thus would I eat it.
Eating a root.
Apem.
Here; I will mend thy feast.
Tim. First mend my company, take away
thyself.
Apem. So I shall mend mine own, by the lack
of thine.

Tim. "Tis not well mended so, it is but botch'd;

If not, I would it were.

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

Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have.
Apem. Here is no use for gold.
Tim.
The best and truest;
For here it sleeps, and does no hired harm.
Apem. Where liest o' nights, Timon?
Tim.
Under that 's above me.
Where feed'st thou o' days, Apemantus?

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Apem. Where my stomach finds meat; or, rather, where I eat it.

Tim. Would poison were obedient and knew my mind!

Apem. Where would'st thou send it?
Tim. To sauce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never
knewest, but the extremity of both ends. When
thou wast in thy gilt and thy perfume, they
mocked thee for too much curiosity; in thy
rags thou knowest none, but art despised for the
contrary. There's a medlar for thee; eat it.
Tim. On what I hate I feed not.
Apem. Dost hate a medlar?

Tim. Ay, though it look like thee.

Apem. An thou hadst hated meddlers sooner, thou should'st have loved thyself better now, What man didst thou ever know unthrift that was beloved after his means?

Tim. Who, without those means thou talkest of, didst thou ever know beloved?

Apem. Myself.

Tim. I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a dog.

Apem. What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers?

Tim. Women nearest; but men, men are the things themselves. What would'st thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?

Apem. Give it the beasts, to be rid of the

men.

Tim. Would'st thou have thyself fall in the confusion of men, and remain a beast with the beasts?

Apem. Ay, Timon.

Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee t' attain to. If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when perad venture thou wert accused by the ass; if thot wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, 1 and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf; if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou should'st hazard thy life for thy dinner; wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury; wert thou a bear, thou would'st be killed by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou would'st be seized by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life; all thy safety were remotion, and thy defence absence. What beast could'st thou be that were not subject to a beast? and what a beast art thou already, that seest not thy loss in transfer

mation!

Apem. If thou could'st please me with speak ing to me, thou might'st have hit upon it here: the commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

Tim. How has the ass broke the wall, that thou art out of the city?

Apem. Yonder comes a poet and a painter: the plague of company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it, and give way. When I know not what else to do, I'll see thee again. Tim. When there is nothing living but thee,

Enter FLAVIUS.

Flav. O you gods!

Is yond despis'd and ruinous man my lord?
Full of decay and failing? O monument
And wonder of good deeds evilly bestow'd!
What an alteration of honour
Has desperate want made!

What viler thing upon the earth than friends
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends!
How rarely does it meet with this time's guise,
When man was wish'd to love his enemies!
Grant I may ever love, and rather woo
Those that would mischief me than those that Here, take: the gods out of my misery

man,

Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and happy;
But thus condition'd: thou shalt build from men;
Hate all, curse all, show charity to none,
But let the famish'd flesh slide from the bone,
Ere thou relieve the beggar; give to dogs
What thou deny'st to men; let prisons swallow
'em,

do!

He has caught me in his eye: I will present
My honest grief unto him; and, as my lord, 480
Still serve him with my life. My dearest

master!

470

TIMON comes forward.
Tim. Away! what art thou?
Flav.
Have you forgot me, sir?
Tim. Why dost ask that? I have forgot all

men;

Then, if thou grant'st thou 'rt a man, I have forgot thee.

Flav. An honest poor servant of yours.
Tim.
Then I know thee not:
I never had honest man about me; ay, all
I kept were knaves, to serve in meat to villains.
Flav. The gods are witness,

Ne'er did poor steward wear a truer grief
For his undone lord than mine eyes for you. 490
Tim. What! dost thou weep? Come nearer.
Then I love thee,

Because thou art a woman, and disclaim'st
Flinty mankind; whose eyes do never give,
But thorough lust and laughter. Pity's sleeping:
Strange times, that weep with laughing, not
with weeping!

Flav. I beg of you to know me, good my lord, To accept my grief and whilst this poor wealth lasts

To entertain me as your steward still.

Tim. Had I a steward

So true, so just, and now so comfortable?
It almost turns my dangerous nature mild.
Let me behold thy face. Surely, this man
Was born of woman.

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You should have fear'd false times when you
did feast;

Suspect still comes where an estate is least.
That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love,
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind,
Care of your food and living; and, believe it,
My most honour'd lord,

For any benefit that points to me,
Either in hope, or present. I'd exchange
For this one wish, that you had power and wealth
To requite me by making rich yourself.
Tim. Look thee, 'tis so. Thou singly honest

Forgive my general and exceptless rashness,
You perpetual-sober gods! I do proclaim
One honest man, mistake me not, but one;
No more, I pray, and he's a steward.
How fain would I have hated all mankind!
And thou redeem'st thyself: but all, save thee,
I fell with curses.
Methinks thou art more honest now than wise;
For, by oppressing and betraying me,
Thou might'st have sooner got another service:
For many so arrive at second masters

510

Expecting in return twenty for one?

Flav. No, my most worthy master; in whose breast Doubt and suspect, alas! are plac'd too late.

520

Debts wither 'em to nothing; be men like blasted woods,

500

And may diseases lick up their false bloods!
And so farewell and thrive.

O let me stay

Flav.
And comfort you, my master.
Tim.

If thou hatest Curses, stay not; fly, whilst thou art bless'd and free:

Ne'er see thou man, and let me ne'er see thee.
Exeunt severally.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-The Woods. Before TIMON'S Care.
Enter Poet and Painter.

Pain. As I took note of the place, it cannot be far where he abides.

Poet. What's to be thought of him? Does the rumour hold for true that he's 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.

Pain. Nothing else; you shall see him a palm in Athens again, and flourish with the highest. Therefore 'tis not amiss we tender our loves to him, in this supposed distress of his: it will show honestly in us, and is very likely to load our purposes with what they travel for, if it be a just and true report that goes of his having. Poet. 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.

Upon their first lord's neck. But tell me true,
For I must ever doubt. though ne'er so sure,
Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous,

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

gifts,

If not a usuring kindness, and as rich men deal 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.

Poet. Then this breaking of his has been but a try for his friends.

II

2