Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy; And set mine eyes at flow. Tim. Pr'ythee, no more. Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have slaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's ?8 What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is lord Ti mon's? Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon? Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise, Tim. Come, sermon me no further: No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.9 7 — a wasteful cock,] i. e. a cockloft, a garret. And a wasteful · cock, signifies a garret lying in waste, neglected, put to no use. Hanmer. Sir Thomas Hanmer's explanation is received by Dr. Warburton, yet I think them both apparently mistaken. A wasteful cock is a cock or pipe with a turning stopple running to waste. In this sense, both the terms have their usual meaning; but I know not that cock is ever used for cockloft, or wasteful for lying in waste, or that lying in waste is at all a phrase. Johnson.. Whatever be the meaning of the present passage, it is certain, that lying in waste is still a very common phrase. Farmer. A wasteful cock is what we now call a waste pipe; a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cisterns, and other reservoirs, by carrying off their superfluous water. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceasing prodigality in the mind of the Steward, while its remoteness from the scenes of luxury within the house, was favourable to meditation. Collins. The reader will have a perfect notion of the method taken by Mr Pope in his edition, when he is informed that, for wasteful cock, that editor reads-lonely room. Malone. 8 Who is not Timon's 2] I suppose we ought to read, for the sake of measure: 9 No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.] Every reader must rejoice in this circumstance of comfort which presents itself to Timon, who, although beggar'd through want of prudence, consoles himself with reflection that his ruin was not brought on by the pursuit of guilty pleasures. Steevens. Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack, And try the argument1 of hearts by borrowing, Flav. Assurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd, 3 That I account them blessings; for by these Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. Tim. I will despatch you severally.-You, to lord Lucius, To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his 1 And try the argument-] The licentiousness of our author forces us often upon far-fetched expositions. Arguments may mean contents, as the arguments of a book; or evidences and proofs. Johnson. The matter contained in a poem or play was in our author's time commonly thus denominated. The contents of his Rape of Lucrece, which he certainly published himself, he calls The Argument. Hence undoubtedly his use of the word. If I would, says Timon, by borrowing, try of what men's hearts are composed, what they have in them, &c. The old copy reads-argument; not, as Dr. Johnson supposed-arguments Malone So, in Hamlet: "Have you heard the argument? Is there no offence in it?" Many more instances to the same purpose might be subjoined. Steevens. 2 As I can bid thee speak.] Thus the old copy; but it being clear from the overloaded measure that these words are a play-house interpolation, I would not hesitate to omit them. They are understood, though not expressed. Steevens. 3 crown'd,] i. e. dignified, adorned, made respectable. So, in King Henry VIII: "And yet no day without a deed to crown it." Steevens. Within there, bo!] Ho, was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. The frequency of Shakspeare's use of this interjection, needs no examples. Steevens. 5— Flaminius!] The old copy has-Flavius. The correction was made by Mr. Rowe. The error probably arose from Fla. only heing set down in the MS. Malone. Honour to-day;-You, to Sempronius; Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say, Be fifty talents. As you have said, my lord. [Aside. Tim. Go you, sir, [to another Serv.] to the senators,” (Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deserv'd this hearing,) bid 'em send o' the instant A thousand talents to me. Flav. I have been bold, Tim. Is 't true? can it be? Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall,9 want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry-you are honourable,-But yet they could have wish'd-they know not-but1 Something hath been amissa noble nature May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis pityAnd so, intending other serious matters, 6 3 lord Lucullus?] As the Steward is repeating the words of Timon, I have not scrupled to supply the title lord, which is wanting in the old copy, though necessary to the metre. Steevens. 7 Go you, sir, to the senators,] To complete the line, we might read, as in the first scene of this play: 8 the senators of Athens. Steevens. - I knew it the most general way,] General is not speedy, but compendious, the way to try many at a time. Johnson. 9 1 at fall,] i. e. at an ebb. Steevens. but-] was supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete Steevens. the verse. 2 intending] is regarding, turning their notice to other things. Johnson. To intend and to attend had anciently the same meaning. So, inThe Spanish Curate of Beaumont and Fletcher: "Good sir, intend this business." See Vol. II, p. 357, n. 4. Steevens. So, in Wits, Fits, and Fancies, &c. 1595: After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions, 3 Tim. You gods, reward them!- Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy."- be not sad, Thou art too true, and honest; ingeniously I speak, No blame belongs to thee:-[to Serv.] Ventidius lately Buried his father; by whose death, he 's stepp'd "Tell this man that I am going to dinner to my lord maior, and that I cannot now intend his tittle-tattle." Again, in Pasquil's Night-Cap, a poem, 1623: 3 4 "For we have many secret ways to spend, "Which are not fit our husbands should intend." Malone. and these hard fractions,] Flavius, by fractions, means broken hints, interrupted sentences, abrupt remarks. Johnson. half-caps,] A half-cap is a cap slightly moved, not put off. Johnson. cold-moving nods,] By cold-moving I do not understand with Mr. Theobald. chilling or cold-producing nods, but a slight motion of the head, without any warmth or cordiality. 5 Cold-moving is the same as coldly-moving. So-perpetual sober gods, for perpetually sober; lazy-pacing clouds,—loving-jealous— Aattering sweet, &c. Such distant and uncourteous salutations are properly termed cold-moving, as proceeding from a cold and unfriendly disposition. Malone. 6 Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:] Hereditary, for by natural constitution. But some distempers of natural constitution being called hereditary, he calls their ingratitude so. Warburton. And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.] The same thought occurs in The Wife for a Month, by Beaumont and Fletcher: "Beside, the fair soul 's old too, it grows covetous, "Which shows all honour is departed from us, "And we are earth again." · pariterque senescere mentem. Lucret. I. Steevens. 8- - ingeniously — Ingenious was anciently used instead of ingenuous. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: "A course of learning and ingenious studies." Reed. Into a great estate: when he was poor, I clear'd him with five talents: Greet him from me; Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd With those five talents:—that had,-[to FLAV.] give it these fellows To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think, Being free itself, it thinks all others so. [Exeunt. ACT III.....SCENE I. The same. A Room in Lucullus's House. FLAMINIUS waiting. Enter a Servant to him. Serv. I have told my lord of you, he is coming down to you. 9 Bid him suppose, some good necessity Touches his friend. Good, as it may afford Ventidius an opportunity of exercising his bounty, and relieving his friend, in return for his former kindness:-or, some honest necessity, not the consequence of a villainous and ignoble bounty. I rather think this latter is the meaning. Malone. So afterwards: "If his occasion were not virtuous, "I should not urge it half so faithfully." Steevens. 1 I would, I could not think it; &c] I concur in opinion with some former editors, that the words-think it, should be omitted. Every reader will mentally insert them from the speech of Timon, though they are not expressed in that of Flavius. The laws of metre, in my judgment, should supersede the authority of the players, who appear in many instances to have taken a designed ellipsis for an error of omission, to the repeated injury of our author's versification I would read: I would, I could not: That thought's bounty's foe 2-free-] is liberal, not parsimonious. Johnson. Steevens. |