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He

Enter FLAVIUS in a cloak, muffled.

Lut. Serv. Ha! is not that his fteward muffled fo?
goes away in a cloud: call him, call him.
Tit. Do you hear, fir?

1. Var. Serv. By your leave, fir,—

Flav. What do you ask of me, my friend?
Tit. We wait for certain money here, fir.

Flav. Ay, if money were as certain as your waiting, "Twere fure enough.

Why then preferr'd you not your fums and bills,
When your false masters eat of my lord's meat?
Then they could fmile, and fawn upon his debts,
And take down the interest into their gluttonous maws;
You do yourselves but wrong, to flir me up;
Let me pafs quietly:

Believe't, my lord and I have made an end;
I have no more to reckon, he to spend.

Luc. Serv. Ay, but this answer will not ferve.

Flav. If 'twill not ferve, 'tis not fo base as you; you serve knaves.

For

[Exit. 1.Var. Serv. How! what does his cashier'd worship mutter?

2. Var. Serv. No matter what; revenge enough. Who can speak has no houfe to put his head in? great buildings.

he's poor, and that's broader than he that fuch may rail 'gainst

Enter SERVILIUS.

Tit. O, here's Servilius; now we shall know Some answer.

Ser. If I might befeech you, gentlemen,

To repair fome other hour, I fhould

Derive much from it: for, take it on my foul,

My lord leans wond'roufly to difcontent.

5 Enter Servilius.] It may be obferved that Shakspeare has unskilfully filled his Greek story with Roman names. JoHNSON.

VOL. VIII.

F

His

His comfortable temper has forfook him;

He is much out of health, and keeps his chamber.
Lue. Serv. Many do keep their chambers, are not fick s
And, if it be fo far beyond his health,

Methinks, he fhould the fooner pay his debts,

And make a clear way to the gods.

Ser. Good gods!

6

Tit. We cannot take this for answer, fir.

Flam. [Within.] Servilius, help!-my lord! my lord!

Enter TIMON, in a rage; FLAMINIUS following Tim. What, are my doors oppos'd against my paffage Have I been ever free, and muft my houfe

Be my retentive enemy, my gaol?

The place, which I have feafted, does it now,
Like all mankind, fhew me an iron heart?

Luc. Serv. Put in now, Titus.

Tit. My lord, here is my bill.

Luc. Serv. Here's mine.

Hor. Serv. And mine, my lord".

Both. Var. Serv. And ours, my lord.

Phi, All our bills.

Tim. Knock me down with 'em?, cleave me to the girdle.

Luc. Serv. Alas! my lord,

6 Hor. Serv. And mine, my lord.] In the old copy this speech is given to Varro. I have given it to the fervant of Hortenfius, (who would naturally prefer his claim among the reft,) because to the following speech ia the old copy is prefixed, a.Var. which from the words spoken [And ours, my lord.] meant, I conceive, the two fervants of Varro. In the modern editions this latter fpeech is given to Caphis, who is not upon. the ftage. MALONE.

1 Knock me down with 'em,] Timon quibbles. They prefent their written bills; he catches at the word, alludes to the bills, or battleaxes, which the ancient foldiery carried, and were still used by the watch in Shakspeare's time. See the fcene between Dogberry, &c. in Much ado about Nothing. Again, in Heywood's If you know not me you know nobody, 1633, Second Part, Sir John Gresham fays to his creditors: "Friends, you cannot beat me down with your bills." Again, in Decker's Guls Hornbook, 1609: "they durit not frike dorun their customers with large bills." STEEVENS.

Tim. Cut my heart in fums.

Tit. Mine, fifty talents.

Tim. Tell out my blood.

Luc. Serv. Five thousand crowns, my lord.
Tim. Five thousand drops pays that.-

What yours?-and yours?

1. Var. Serv. My lord,

2. Var. Serv. My lord,

Tim. Tear me, take me, and the gods fall upon you!

[Exit. Hor. 'Faith, I perceive, our mafters may throw their caps at their money; these debts may well be call'd defperate ones, for a madman owes 'em. [Exeunt.

Re-enter TIMON, and FLAVIUS.

Tim. They have e'en put my breath from me, the flaves; Creditors!-devils.

Flav. My dear lord,

Tim. What if it should be fo?

Flav. My lord,

Tim. I'll have it fo:-My fteward!

Flav. Here, my lord.

Tim. So fitly? Go, bid all my friends again,

Lucius, Lucullus, and Sempronius;

Ullorxa, all; I'll once more feast the rafcals.

Fla. O my lord,

You only fpeak from your diftracted foul;
There is not fo much left, to furnish out

A moderate table.

Tim. Be it not in thy care; go,

I charge thee, invite them all let in the tide
Of knaves once more; my cook and I'll provide.

SCENE V.

The fame. The Senate-Houfe.

[Exeunt.

The Senate fitting. Enter ALCIBIADES, attended.

1. Sen. My lord, you have my voice to't; the fault's

bloody;

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'Tis neceffary, he should die:

Nothing emboldens fin fo much as mercy.

2. Sen. Moft true; the law fhall bruife him.

Alc. Honour, health, and compaflion to the fenate! 1. Sen. Now, captain?

Alc. I am an humble fuitor to your virtues; For pity is the virtue of the law,

And none but tyrants use it cruelly.

It pleases time, and fortune, to lie heavy
Upon a friend of mine, who, in hot blood,
Hath ftept into the law, which is past depth
To thofe that, without heed, do plunge into it.
He is a man, fetting his fate afide ',

Of comely virtues :

Nor did he foil the fact with cowardice;

(An honour in him, which buys out his fault) But, with a noble fury, and fair fpirit, Seeing his reputation touch'd to death,

He did oppofe his foe:

And with fuch fober and unnoted paffion
He did behave his anger, ere 'twas spent 2,
As if he had but prov'd an argument.

1. Sen.

8 -fball bruife him.] The old copy reads-shall bruife 'em. The fame mistake has happened often in thefe plays. In a fubfequent line in this scene we have in the old copy-with bim, instead ofwith 'em. For the correction, which is fully juftified by the context, I am anfwerable. MALONE.

9 He is a man, &c.] I have printed thefe lines after the original copy, except that, for an bonour, it is there, and bonour. All the latter editions deviate unwarrantably from the original, and give the lines thus:

He is a man, fetting bis fault afide,

Of virtuous bonour, which buys out his fault;

Nor did be foil, &c. JOHNSON.

This licentious alteration of the text, with a thousand others of the fame kind, was made by Mr. Pope. MALONE.

Ifetting bis fate afide,] i. c. putting this action of his, which was pre-determined by fate, out of the queftion. STEEVENS. 2 And with fuch fober and unnoted paffion

He did behave bis anger, ere 'twas spent, &c.] Unnoted, according to Dr. Warburton, means common, bounded. "Unnoted paffion,"

I believe,

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1. Sen. You undergo too ftrict a paradox 3, Striving to make an ugly deed look fair:

Your words have took fuch pains, as if they labour'd
To bring man-flaughter into form, and fet quarrelling
Upon the head of valour; which, indeed,

Is valour misbegot, and came into the world
When fects and factions were newly born:
He's truly valiant, that can wifely suffer

The worst that man can breathe ; and make his wrongs
His outfides; to wear them like his raiment, carelefly;
And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart,

To bring it into danger.

If wrongs be evils, and enforce us kill,
What folly 'tis, to hazard life for ill?
Alc. My lord,-

I believe, means a paffion operating inwardly, but not accompanied
with any external or boisterous appearances; fo regulated and subdued,
that no fpectator could note, or obferve, its operation.

The old copy reads-He did behoove, &c. which does not afford any
very clear meaning. Bebave, which Dr. Warburton interprets, mas
zage, was introduced by Mr. Rowe, I doubt the text is not yet right.
Our author fo very frequently converts nouns into verbs, that I have
fometimes thought he might have written-" He did bebalve his an-
geri. e. fupprefs it. So, Milton:

66 - yet put he not forth all his strength,
But check'd it mid-way." MALONE.

I would rather read:

and unnoted paffion

He did bebave, ere was bis anger spent.

Unnoted paffion means, I believe, an uncommon command of his paffion, fuch a one as has not hitherto been obferved. Behave bis anger may, however, be right. In Sir W. Davenant's play of the Juft Italian, 1630, bebave is used in as fingular a manner :

Again:

"How well my ftars bebave their influence."

You an Italian, fir, and thus

"Behave the knowledge of difgrace!"

In both these instances, to bebave is to manage. STEEVENS.
You undergo too ftriét a paradox,] You undertake a paradox too
bard. JOHNSON.

that man can breathe;] i. e. can utter. So afterwards :
"You breathe in vain." MALONE.

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