must

Entreat you, honour me so much, as to

Advance this jewel;

Accept, and wear it, kind my lord.

friends,

And ne'er be weary.-Alcibiades,
Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich,
It comes in charity to thee: for all thy living

Enter a SERVANT.

Lie in a pitch'd field.

[hast

Alcib. Ay, defiled land, my lord. 1 Lord. We are so virtuously bound,Tim. And so

news?

Be worthily entertain'd.-How now, what 3 Serv. Please you, my lord, that honourable gentleman, Lord Lucullus, entreats your company to-morrow to hunt with him; and has sent your honour two brace of greyhounds.

Tim. I'll hunt with him; And let them be reNot without fair reward. [ceiv'd,

Flav. [Aside.] What will this come to?
He commands us to provide, and give great
And all out of an empty coffer.- [gifts,
Nor will he know his purse; or yield me this,
To show him what a beggar his heart is,
Being of no power to make his wishes good;
His promises fly so beyond his state,
That what he speaks is all in debt, he owes
For every word; he is so kind, that he now
Pays interest for't; his land's put to their
books.

Well, 'would I were gently put out of office,
Before I were forc'd out!
Happier is he that has no friend to feed,
Than such as do even enemies exceed.

I bleed inwardly for my lord.

[Exit.

2 Lord. So infinitely endear'd,

Tim. All to you.t-Lights, more lights.

[mon!

1 Lord. The best of happiness, Honour, and fortunes, keep with you, lord TiTim. Ready for his friends.

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES, LORDS, &c.

Apem, What a coil's here! Serving of becks, and jutting out of bums! I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of

dregs: [legs. Methinks, false hearts should never have sound Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on

court'sies.

Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sulI'd be good to thee.

[len,

Apem. No, I'll nothing: for, If I should be brib'd too, there would be none To rail upon thee: and then thou would'st sin

[left

the faster,

Thou giv'st so long, Timon, I fear me, thou Wilt give away thyself in papers shortly: What need these feasts, pomps, and vain glories?

Tim. Nay, An you begin to rail on society once, I am sworn, not to give regard to you. Farewell; and come with better music. [Exit. Apem. So;

then, I'll lock

Thou'lt not hear me now,-thou shalt not Thy heaven|| from thee. O, that men's ears should be

To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

ACT II.

[Exit

SCENE I.-The same. A Room in a
SENATOR'S House.

Enter a SENATOR, with papers in his hand.

Sen. And late, five thousand to Varro; and to Isidore [sum, He owes nine thousand; besides my former Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion

Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.

Tim. You do yourselves Much wrong, you bate too much of your own

merits :

Of raging waste? It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog,
And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold:
If I would sell my horse, and buy twenty more

Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me, straight,
And able horses: No porter at his gate;
But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can found his state in safety. Caphis, ho!
Caphis, I say!

3 Lord. O, he is the very soul of bounty! Tim. And now I remember me, my lord, you gave

Good words the other day of a bay courser I rode on: it is yours, because you lik'd it. 2 Lord. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, in that.

Tim. You may take my word, my lord; I know, no man

Can justly praise, but what he does affect:
I weigh my friend's affection with mine own;
I'll tell you true. I'll call on you.

All Lords. None so welcome.

Tim. I take all and your several visitations So kind to heart, 'tis not enough to give;

Sen. Get on your cloak, and haste you to lord
Timon;
Impórtune him for my monies; be not ceas'd*
With slight denial; nor then silenc'd, when-
Commend me to your master-and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus:-but tell him,
Sirrah,

My uses cry to ine, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past,
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love, and honour him;
But must not break my back, to heal his fin-
ger:
Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be toss'd and turn'd to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspéct,
A visage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
Caph. I go, Sir.

Sen. I go, Sir?-take the bonds along with

And have the dates in compt.

Caph. I will, Sir.

Sen. Go.

[you,

[Exeunt.

SCENE II. -The same. - A Hall in TIMON'S House.

Enter FLAVILS, with many bills in his hand. Flav. No care, no stop! so senseless of expense,

That he will neither know how to maintain it,

Nor cease his flow of riot: Takes no account
How things go from him; nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue; Never mind
Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.

What shall be done? He will not hear, till feel: I must be round with him now he comes from hunting.

Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Var. Scro. One Varro's servant, my good lord,

Isid. Serv. From Isidore; He humbly prays your speedy payment, Caph. If you did know, my lord, my master's wants,

Var. Serv. 'Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks,

And past,

Isid. Serv. Your steward puts me off, my lord;

And I am sent expressly to your lordship.
Tim. Give me breath: -

I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES and LORDS. I'll wait upon you instantly. Come hither, pray you, [TO FLAVIUS. How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd

With clamorous demands of date-broke bonds,
And the detention of long-since-due debts,
Against my honour?

Flav. Please you, gentlemen,
The time is unagreeable to this business:
Your importunacy cease, till after dinner;
That I may make his lordship understand
Wherefore you are not paid.

Tim. Do so, my friends:
See them well entertain'd.

Flav. I pray, draw near.

[Exit TIMON. [Exit FLAVIUS.

Fool. Look you, here comes my mistress' page.

Page. [To the FOOL.] Why, how now, captain? what do you in this wise company?How dost thou, Apemantus?

Apem. 'Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee profitably.

Page. Pr'ythee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of these letters; I know not which is which.

Apem. Canst not read?
Page. No.

Apem. There will little learning die then, that day thou art hanged. This is to lord a bastard, and thou'lt die a bawd.

Page. Thou wast whelped a dog; and thou shalt famish, a dog's death. Answer not, I am gone. [Exit PAGE.

Apem. Even so thou out-run'st grace. Fool, I will go with you to lord Timon's.

Fool. Will you leave me there?

Apem. If Timon stay at home. You three serve three usurers?

All Serv. Ay, 'would they served us!

have

Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate, And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord, [time, Though you hear now, (too late!) yet now's a The greatest of your having lacks a half To pay your present debts.

Tim. Let all my land be sold.

Fool. Are you three usurers' men?

All Serv. Ay, fool.

Fool. I think, no usurer but has a fool to his servant: My mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house merrily, and go away sadly: The reason of this?

Var. Serv. I could render one.

Apem. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster, and a knave; which, notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteemed.

Var. Serv. What is a whoremaster, fool? Fool. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. 'Tis a spirit: sometime, it appears like a lord : sometime, like a lawyer; sometime, like a philosopher, with two stones more than his artificial one: He is very often like a knight; and, generally in all shapes, that man goes up and down in, from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit walks in.

Var. Serv. Thou art not altogether a fool. Fool. Nor thou_altogether a wise man: as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackest.

Apem. That answer might have become Apemantus. All Serv. Aside, aside; here comes lord Ti

mon.

Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS.

Apem. Come with me, fool, come. Fool. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman; sometime, the philosopher. [Exeunt APEMANTUS and FOOL. Flav. 'Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with _you anon. [Exeunt SERV. Tim. You make me marvel: Wherefore, ere this time,

Had you not fully laid my state before me;
That I might so have rated my expense,
As I had leave of means?

Flav. You would not hear me,

At many leisures I propos'd.
Tim. Go to:

Perchance, some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back;
And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus excuse yourself.

Flav. O my good lord!

At many times I brought in my accounts, Laid them before you; you would throw them off,

And say, you found them in mine honesty. When, for some trifling present, you have bid

Of present dues: the future comes apace: What shall defend the interim? and at length How goes our reckoning?

Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.

Flav. O my good lord, the world is but a

word;*

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 false. Call me before the exactest auditors, [hood, And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,

When all our officest have been oppress'd With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept

With drunken spilth of wine; when every room Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy;

I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,‡
And set mine eyes at flow.
Tim. Pr'ythee, no more.

Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! [sants, How many prodigal bits have slaves and peaThis 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 villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.
Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the con-
science lack,

To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the arguments of hearts by borrow-

ing, Men, and men's fortunes, could I franklyse, As I can bid thee speak.

Flav. Assurance bless your thoughts!

Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine

are crown'd,||

That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends: You shall perceive, Łow
you
[friends.
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my
Within there, ho!-Flaminius! Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other
SERVANTS.

Serv. My lord, my lord,

* I. e. As the world itself may be comprised in a word you might give it away in a breath. + The apartments allotted to culinary offices, &c. ↑ A pipe with a turning stopple running to waste.

If I would, (says Timon,) by borrowing try of what men's hearts are composed, what they have in them. &e. "Dignified, made respectable.

'tis pity

And so, intendingt other serious matters, After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,‡

With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods, They froze me into silence.

Tim. You gods, reward them!I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly; These old fel

lows

Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:
'Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind;
Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it seldom flows;
And nature, as it grows again toward earth,
Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.
Go to Ventidius, To a SERV.] Pr'ythee, [To
FLAVIUS,] be not sad,

Thou art true, and honest; ingeniously || I
speak,
No blame belongs to thee:-[To SERV.] Venti-

dius lately

Buried his father; by whose death, he's stepp'd
Into a great estate: when he was poor,
Imprison'd, and in scarcity of friends,
I clear'd him with five talents; Greet him from
Bid him suppose, some good necessity [me;
Touches his friend, which craves to be re-
member'd

With those five talents:-that had, -[To FLAV.]
give it these fellows
To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or
think,
[sink.
That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can
Flav. I would, I could not think it; That
thought is bounty's foe;

Being free itself, it thinks all others so.

I. e. At an ebb.

[Exeunt.

Lucul. La, la, la, la,-nothing doubting, says he? alas, good lord! a noble gentleman 'tis, if he would not keep so good a house. Many a

him on't; and come again to supper to him, of purpose to have him spend less; and yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning by my coming. Every man has his fault, and honestyt is his; I have told him on't, but I could never get him from it.

Re-enter SERVANT, with wine.

Serv. Please your lordship, here is the wine. Lucul. Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise. Here's to thee.

Flam. Your lordship speaks your pleasure. Lucul. I have observed thee always for a towardly prompt spirit, give thee thy due,and one that knows what belongs to reason: and canst use the time well, if the time use thee well: good parts in thee. Get you gone,

Sirrah.-[To the SERVANT, who goes out.]-Draw nearer, honest Flaminius. Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman: but thou art wise; and thou knowest well enough, although thou comest to me, that this is no time to lend money; escially upon bare friendship, without security. Here's three solidares for thee; good boy, wink at me, and say thou saw'st me not. Fare thee

well.

Let molten coin be thy damnation,
Thou disease of a friend, and not himself!
Has friendship such a faint and milky heart,
It turns in less than two nights? O you gods

* For respectfully. + Honesty here means liberality.

$ I. e. And we who were alive then, alive now.

I feel my master's passion!* This slave Unto his honour, has my lord's meat in him: Why should it thrive, and turn to nutriment, When he is turn'd to poison?

(), may diseases only work upon't!

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 fair

part of nature Which my lord paid for, be of any power To expel sickness, but prolong his hour!t

[Exit.

SCENE 11.-The same. A public place. Enter Lucius, with three STRANGERS. Luc. Who, the lord Timon? he is my very good friend, and an honourable gentleman.

1 Stran. We know him for no less, though we are but strangers to him. But I can tell you one thing, my lord, and which I hear from common rumours; now lord Timon's happy hours are dones and past, and his estate shrinks from him.

Luc. Fie no, do not believe it; he cannot want for money.

2 Stran. But believe you this, my lord, that, not long ago, one of his men was with the lord Lucullus, to borrow so many talents; nay, urged extremely for't, and showed what necessity belonged to't, and yet was denied.

Luc. How?

2 Stran. I tell you, denied, my lord.

Luc. What a strange case was that? now, before the gods, I am ashamed on't. Denied that honourable man? there was very little honour showed in't. For my own part, I must needs confess, I have received some small kindnesses from him, as money, plate, jewels, and such like trifles, nothing comparing to his; yet, had he mistook him, and sent to me, I should neʼer have denied his occasion so many talents.

me;

He cannot want fifty-five hundred talents.
Ser. But in the mean time he wants less, my
If his occasion were not virtuous,||
[lord.
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 honour? - Servilius, now before the gods, I am not able to do't; the more beast, I

* Suffering; "By his bloody cross and passion." Liturgy. + I. e. His life. Acknowledge. Consumed. "If he did not want for a good use."

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, Servi lius.[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 hath been this lord's fa-
And kept his credit with his purse;
[ther,
Supported his estate; nay, Timon's money
Has paid his men their wages: He ve'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!)
He does deny him, in respect of his,
What charitable men afford to beggars.

3 Stran. Religion groans at it.

1 Stran. For mine own part,
I never tasted Timon in my life,
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 donation,*
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.
[Exeunt.

SCENE III. -The same. A Room in SEM-
PRONIUS' 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.

[three

Serv. O my lord, They have all been touch'd, and found base

metal; 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 judgement in him. Must I be his last refuge? His friends, like physicians, Thrive, give him over; Must I take the cure [him, He has much disgrac'd me in't; I am angry at That might have known my place: I see no sense for't, But his occasions might have woo'd me first; For, in my conscience, I was the first man That e'er receiv'd gift from him: