He Enter FLAVIUS in a cloak, muffled. Lut. Serv. Ha! is not that his fteward muffled fo? 1. Var. Serv. By your leave, fir,— Flav. What do you ask of me, my friend? Flav. Ay, if money were as certain as your waiting, "Twere fure enough. Why then preferr'd you not your fums and bills, Believe't, my lord and I have made an end; 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. 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, 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. 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; A moderate table. Tim. Be it not in thy care; go, I charge thee, invite them all let in the tide 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; '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 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 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, 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 Is valour misbegot, and came into the world The worst that man can breathe ; and make his wrongs To bring it into danger. If wrongs be evils, and enforce us kill, I believe, means a paffion operating inwardly, but not accompanied The old copy reads-He did behoove, &c. which does not afford any 66 - yet put he not forth all his strength, 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. that man can breathe;] i. e. can utter. So afterwards : |