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Into our city with thy banners spread :
By decimation and a tithed death,

If thy revenges hunger for that food

Which nature loaths, take thou the deftin'd tenth; And by the hazard of the spotted die,

Let die the fpotted.

1 Sen. All have not offended:

For those that were, it is not fquare, to take
On thofe that are, revenge.

Crimes, like to lands,
Are not inherited. Then, dear countryman,
Bring in thy ranks, but leave without thy rage:
Spare thy Athenian cradle, and those kin,
Which in the blufter of thy wrath must fall
With thofe that have offended.

Like a fhepherd,

Approach the fold, and cull the infected forth,
But kill not altogether.

2 Sen. What thou wilt,

Thou rather shalt enforce it with thy fmile,
Than hew to't with thy fword.

1 Sen. Set but thy foot

cefs must mean this or nothing. O brave editors! They had heard it faid, that too much wit in fome cafes might be dangerous, and why not an abfolute want of it? But had they the skill or courage to remove one perplexing comma, the eafy and genuine fenfe would immediately arife. Shame in excess (i. e. extremity "of shame) that they wanted cunning (i. e. that they were not "wife enough not to banish you) hath broke their hearts."

66

THEOBALD.

I have no wish to disturb the manes of Theobald, yet think some emendation may be offered that will make the construction lefs harsh, and the fentence more ferious. I read,

Shame that they wanted, coming in excess,

Hath broke their hearts.

Shame which they had so long wanted at last coming in its utm‍st

excefs.

JOHNSON.

-not square] Not regular, not equitable.

JOHNSON.

Againft

Against our rampir'd gates, and they fhall ope,
So thou wilt fend thy gentle heart before,
To say, thou'lt enter friendly.

2 Sen. Throw thy glove,

Or any token of thine honour else,
That thou wilt use the wars as thy redress,
And not as our confufion, all thy powers
Shall make their harbour in our town, 'till we
Have feal'd thy full defire.

Alc. Then there's my glove;

9

Defcend and open your uncharged ports:
Those enemies of Timon's, and mine own,
Whom you yourselves fhall fet out for reproof,
Fall, and no more: and to atone your fears
With my more noble meaning, 'not a man
Shall pafs his quarter, or offend the stream
Of regular juftice in your city's bounds,
But fhall be remedied to publick laws
At heaviest answer.

Both. 'Tis moft nobly spoken.

Alc. Defcend, and keep your words.

Enter a Soldier.

Sol. My noble general, Timon is dead;
Entomb'd upon the very
very hem o' the fea:

And on his grave-ftone this infculpture; which
With wax I brought away, whose soft impreffion
Interpreteth for my poor ignorance.

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Shall pass his quarter,"

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JOHNSON.

Not a foldier fhall quit his ftation, or be let loose upon you; and,

if any commits violence, he fhall anfwer it regularly to the law.

JOHNSON.

[Alcibiades reads the epitaph.]

Here lies a wretched corfe, of wretched foul bereft: Seek not my name: a plague confume you wicked caitiffs left! 2

Here lie I Timon, who alive all living men did hate, Pass by, and curfe thy fill; but pass, and ftay not bere tby gait.

These well express in thee thy latter spirits:

Tho' thou abhor'dft in us our human griefs, Scorn'dft' our brain's flow, and those our droplets, which

From niggard nature fall; yet rich conceit

2-caitiffs left!] This epitaph is found in fir Tho. North's tranflation of Plutarch, with the difference of one word only, viz. wretches instead of caitiffs.

3

STEEVENS.

-our brain's flow,-] Hanmer and Dr. Warburton read, -brine's flow,"

Our brain's flow is our tears; but we may read our brine's flow, our falt tears.

4

Either will ferve.

-yet

rich conceit

Taught thee to make vaft Neptune weep for aye
On thy low grave, on faults forgiven. Dead
Is noble Timon, of whose memory

Hereafter more..

JOHNSON.

All the editors, in their learning and fagacity, have fuffered an unaccountable abfurdity to pass them in this paffage. Why was Neptune to weep on Timon's faults forgiven? Or, indeed, what faults had Timon committed, except against his own fortune and happy fituation in life? But the corruption of the text lies only in the bad pointing, which I have difengaged and restored to the true meaning. Alcibiades's whole fpeech, as the editors might have obferved is in breaks, betwixt his reflections on Timon's death and his addreffes to the Athenian fenators: and as foon as he has commented on the place of Timon's grave, he bids the fenate fet forward; tells 'em, he has forgiven their faults; and promises to use them with mercy. THEOBALD.

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Taught thee to make vaft Neptune weep for aye
On thy low grave.-On :-Faults forgiven.Dead
Is noble Timon, of whofe memory

Hereafter more.-Bring me into your city,
And I will use the olive with my fword:

Make war breed peace; make peace ftint war; make

each

Prescribe to other, as each other's leach.

-Let our drums ftrike.

5-On:-Faults forgiven.-] I would read,

-One fault's forgiven.

[Exeunt.

Intimating, perhaps, that though he could forgive their fault of himself, he could not so easily forgive their ingratitude to Timon.

T. T.

THE play of Timon is a domeftic tragedy, and therefore ftrongly faftens on the attention of the reader. In the plan there is not much art, but the incidents are natural, and the characters various and exact. The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against that oftentatious liberality, which fcatters bounty, but confers no benefits, and buys flattery, but not friendship.

In this tragedy are many paffages perplexed, obfcure, and probably corrupt, which I have endeavoured to rectify, or explain, with due diligence; but having only one copy, cannot promise myself that my endeavours fhall be much applauded. JOHNSON.

This play was altered by Shadwell, and brought upon the stage in 1678. In the modeft title-page he calls it Timon of Athens, or the Man-bater, as it is acted at the Duke's Theatre, made into a play.

STEEVENS.

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