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Which was not half so beautiful and kind;
You have added worth unto't, and lively lustre,
And entertain'd me with mine own device;
I am to thank you for it.

1 Lady. My lord, you take us even at the best 20. Apem. 'Faith, for the worst is filthy; and would not hold taking, I doubt me.

Tim. Ladies, there is an idle banquet 21

Attends you: Please you to dispose yourselves.
All Lad. Most thankfully, my lord.

Tim. Flavius,

Flav. My lord.

[Exeunt CUPID, and Ladies.

Tim.
Flav. Yes, my lord.-More jewels yet!
There is no crossing him in his humour;

The little casket bring me hither.

[Aside.

Else I should tell him,-Well,-i'faith, I should, When all's spent, he'd be cross'd 22 then, an he could.

'Tis pity, bounty had not eyes behind;

That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind 23. [Exit, and returns with the casket.

1 Lord. Where be our men?

Serv.

2 Lord. Our horses.

Tim.

Here, my lord, in readiness.

O, my friends,

I have one word to say to you: Look, my good lord,

you think

20 i. e.' you have conceived the fairest of us,' or favourably of our performance, and make the best of it.' 21 So in Romeo and Juliet:

"We have a foolish trifling supper towards.'

22 An equivoque is here intended, in which cross'd means have his hand crossed with money, or have money in his possession, and to be cross'd or thwarted. So in As You Like It, 'Yet I should bear no cross, if I did bear you.' Many coins being marked with a cross on the reverse. See vol. ii. p. 318, note 3.

23'Tis pity bounty [i. e. profusion] has not eyes behind [to see the miseries that follow it]. That man might not become wretched for his nobleness of soul.'

I must entreat you honour me so much,

As to advance 24 this jewel; accept and wear it,
Kind my lord.

1 Lord. I am so far already in your gifts,-
All. So are we all.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. My lord, there are certain nobles of the

senate

Newly alighted, and come to visit
Tim. They are fairly welcome.
Flav.

you.

I beseech your honour, Vouchsafe me a word; it does concern you near. Tim. Near? why then another time I'll hear thee: I pr'ythee, let us be provided 25

To show them entertainment.

Flav.

I scarce know how.

[Aside.

Enter another Servant.

2 Serv. May it please your honour, the Lord Lucius,

Out of his free love, hath presented to you

Four milk-white horses, trapp'd in silver.

Tim. I shall accept them fairly: let the presents

Enter a third Servant.

Be worthily entertain'd.-How now, what news? 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.

24 i. e. prefer it, raise it to honour by wearing it. The Jeweller says to Timon in the preceding scene, You mend the jewel by wearing it.'

-

25 Steevens, to complete the measure, proposes to read :'I pr'ythee, let us be provided straight.'

Tim. I'll hunt with him; And let them be re

ceiv'd,

Not without fair reward.

Flav. [Aside.]

What will this come to?

He commands us to provide, and give

Great gifts, and all out of an empty coffer.
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.

Tim.

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[Exit.

You do yourselves

Much wrong, you bate too much of your own

merits :

Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.

2 Lord. With more than common thanks I will receive it.

3 Lord. O, he is the very soul of bounty! Tim. And now I remember, 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 call on you.
true.

I'll tell you All Lords.

None so welcome.

Tim. I take all and your several visitations

So kind to heart, 'tis not enough to give;
Methinks, I could deal 26 kingdoms to my friends,
And ne'er be weary.-Alcibiades,

Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich,

It comes in charity to thee: for all thy living
Is 'mongst the dead: and all the lands thou hast
Lie in a pitch'd field.

Alcib.

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

And so

Am I to you.

2 Lord.

So infinitely endeared,

The best of happiness,

Tim. All to you.-Lights, more lights. 1 Lord.

Honour, and fortunes, keep with you, Lord Timon!

Tim. Ready for his friends.

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES, Lords, &c. What a coil's here!

Арет. Serving of becks 28, and jutting out of bums! I doubt whether their legs 29 be worth the sums That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs: Methinks, false hearts should never have sound legs. Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on court'sies. Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen, I'd be good to thee.

Apem. No, I'll nothing: for, if I should be brib'd

26 i. e. could dispense them on every side with an ungrudging distribution.

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27 That is, all good wishes to you,' or 'all happiness attend you.'

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28 A beck is a nod or salutation with the head. Steevens says that beck has four distinct significations,' but they will resolve themselves into two. Beck, a rivulet, or little river; and beck a motion or sign with the head; signa capitis voluntatem ostendens. This last may be either a nod of salutation, of assent or dissent, or finally of command.

29 He plays upon the word leg, as it signifies a limb, and a bow or act of obeisance.

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too, there would be none left to rail upon thee; and then thou would'st sin the faster. Thou givest so long, Timon, I fear me, thou wilt give away thyself in paper 30 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 musick.

[Exit. Apem. So;-thou❜lt not hear me now,-thou shalt not then, I'll lock thy heaven 31 from thee. O, that men's ears should be

To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

[Exit.

ACT II.

SCENE I. Athens. 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

He owes nine thousand; besides my former sum,
Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion
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:

30 Warburton explained this be ruined by his securities entered into.' Dr. Farmer would read proper, i. e. I suppose, in propria persona. Steevens supports this reading by a quotation from Roy's Satire on Cardinal Wolsey :

their order

Is to have nothing in proper,

But to use all thynges in commune.'

31 By his heaven he means good advice; the only thing by which he could be saved.

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