Tim. Consumptions sow In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins, Nor sound his quillets shrilly7: hoar the flamen, And not believes himself: down with the nose, 9 8 Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate ruffians bald; And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war Phr. & Timan. More counsel with more money, bounteous Timon. Tim. More whore, more mischief first; I have given you earnest. Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens. Farewell, Timon; If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again. Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more. Alcib. I never did thee harm. Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me. Alcib. Call'st thou that harm? 7 Nor sound his quillets shrilly:] Quillets are subtilties. hoar the flamen,] This may mean,-Give the flamen the hoary leprosy. 9 that his particular to foresee,] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right scent of publick good. And ditches grave you all!] To grave is to entomb. The word is now obsolete, though sometimes used by Shakspeare and his contemporary authors. Tim. Men daily find it such. Get thee away, And take thy beagles with thee. Alcib. Strike. We but offend him [Drum beats. Exeunt ALCIBIADES, PHRYNIA, and TIMANDra. Tim. That nature, being sick of man's unkindness, Should yet be hungry! - Common mother, thou, [Digging. 4 3 2 Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast, 3 5 2 Whose infinite breast-] means whose boundless surface. · eyeless venom'd worm,] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind-worm, and the Latins, cœcilia. 4 below crisp heaven —] i. e. curled, bent, hollow. 5 Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plow-torn leas;] The sense is this: O nature! cease to produce men, ensear thy womb; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them: dry up thy marrows, on which they fatten with unctuous morsels, thy vines, which give them liquorish draughts, and thy plow-torn leas, Enter APEMANTUS. More man? Plague! plague! Apem. I was directed hither: Men report, From change of fortune. Why this spade? this place? Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft; That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods, By putting on the cunning of a carper. 6 Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive And skip when thou point'st out? Will the cold brook, To cure thy o'er-night's surfeit? call the creatures,— Whose naked natures live in all the spite Of wreakful heaven; whose bare unhoused trunks, the cunning of a carper.] i. e. the insidious art of a critick. To the conflicting elements expos'd, O! thou shalt find Tim. A fool of thee: Depart. Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did. Tim. I hate thee worse. Арет. Tim. Why? Thou flatter'st misery. Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff. Apem. To vex thee. Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Dost please thyself in't? Арет. Tim. Ay. What! a knave too?7 Apem. If thou didst put this sour-cold habit on The other, at high wish: Best state, contentless, worst, content. 9 Thou should'st desire to die, being miserable. 7 What! a knave too?] Timon had just called Apemantus fool, in consequence of what he had known of him by former acquaintance; but when Apemantus tells him that he comes to vex him, Timon determines that to vex is either the office of a villain or a fool; that to vex by design is villainy, to ver without design is folly. He then properly asks Apemantus whether he takes delight in vering, and when he answers, yes, Timon replies,- What! a knave too? I before only knew thee to be a fool, but now I find thee likewise a knave. JOHNSON. 8 is crown'd before:] Arrives sooner at high wish; that is, at the completion of its wishes. JOHNSON. 9 Worse than the worst, content.] Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content. JOHNSON. Tim. Not by his breath', that is more miserable. Hadst thou, like us 2, from our first swath ", proceeded Freely command, thou would'st have plung'd thyself The sugar'd game before thee. Who had the world as my confectionary; The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts of men That never knew but better, is some burden: Hath made thee hard in't. Why should'st thou hate men? by his breath,] By his breath means in our author's language, by his voice or speech, and so in fact by his sentence. Shakspeare frequently uses the word in this sense. It has been twice used in this play. 2 Hadst thou, like us,] There is in this speech a sullen haughtiness, and malignant dignity, suitable at once to the lord and the manhater. The impatience with which he bears to have his luxury reproached by one that never had luxury within his reach, is natural and graceful. JOHNSON. 3 - first swath,] From infancy. Swath is the dress of a newborn child. 4 — passive drugs of it-] or drudges. 5 precepts of respect,] "The icy precepts of respect" mean the cold admonitions of cautious prudence, that deliberately weighs the consequences of every action. 6 than I could frame employment ;] i. e. frame employment for. Shakspeare frequently writes thus. |