Thieves, Senators, Poet, Painter, Jeweller, and Merchant; with Servants and Attendants.

SCENE, Athens; and the Wood not far from it.

SCENE I

Athens.

A Hall in Timon's House.

Jew. If he will touch the estimate': But, for that

Poet. When we for recompencehave prais'd the vile, It stains the glory in that happy verse

Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, and Merchant, at 5 Which aptly sings the good.

several doors.

Poet. GOOD day, sir.

Pain. I am glad you are well.

Poet. I have not seen you long: How goes the

world?

10

Mer. 'Tis a good form. [Looking on the jewel.
Jew. And rich: here is a water, look you.
Pain. You are rapt, sir, in some work, some
To the great lord.
[dedication

Poet. A thing slipt idly from me.
Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes

From whence 'tis nourished: The fire i' the flint

Shews not, 'till it be struck; our gentle flame

Provokes itself, and, like the current, flies

15 Each bound it chases.

Mer. A most incomparable man; breath'd', as 20 To an untirable and continuate goodness:

He passes'.

Jew. I have a jewel here.

[sir?

Mer. O, pray, let's see't: For the lord Timon,

4

Pain. A picture, sir.

forth?

What have you there?

When comes your book

Poet. Upon the heels of my presentment, sir. Let's see your piece.

Pain. 'Tis a good piece.

Poet. So'tis: this comes off' well and excellent.
Pain. Indifferent.

Poet. Admirable ! How this grace

Speaks his own standing"! what a mental power

• Breathed is inured by constant practice; so trained as not to be wearied. To breathe a horse is to exercise him for the course. 2i. e. he exceeds, goes beyond common bounds. 3 i. e. come up to the price. We must here suppose the poet busy in reading his own work; and that these three lines are the introduction of the poem addressed to Timon, which he afterwards gives the painter an account of. i. e. according to Dr. Johnson, The figure rises well from the canvas. C'est bien relevé. That is, How the graceful attitude of this figure proclaims that it stands firm on its centre, or gives evidence in favour of its own fixture. 3F 2

6

This

Poet. Nay, sir, but hear me on: All those which were his fellows but of late, (Some better than his value) on the moment Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance, 5 Rain sacrificial whisp'rings in his ear", Make sacred even his stirrop, and through him Drink the free air 12.

10

Pain. How this lord is follow'd!
Poet. The senators of Athens;-Happy men!
Pain. Look, more!
[of visitors.
Post. You see this confluence, this great flood.
I have, in this rough work, shap'd out a man,
Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug 15
With amplest entertainment: My free drift
Hlalts not particularly, but moves itself
In a wide sea of wax: no levell'd malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold;
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no tract behind.

5

Pain. Ay, marry, what of these?

[mood,

Poet. When Fortune, in her shift and change of
Spurns down her late belov'd, all his dependants,
Which labour'd after him to the mountain's top,
Even on their knees and hands, let him slip down,
Not one accompanying his declining foot.
Pain. 'Tis common:

A thousand moral paintings I can shew, [tune
That shall demonstrate these quick blows of for
More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well,
To shew lord Timon, that mean eyes 13 have seen
The foot above the head.

20 Trumpets sound. Enter Timon, addressing him-
self courteously to every suitor.

Tim. Imprison'd is he, say you? [Toa Messenger. Mes. Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt; His means most short, his creditors most strait: 25 Your honourable letter he desires

Pain. How shall I understand you?
Poet. I'll unbolt to you.
You see, how all conditions, how all minds,
(As well of glib and slippery creatures, as
Of grave and austere quality) tender down
Their services to lord Timon: his large fortune,
Upon his good and gracious nature hanging,
Subdues and properties to his love and tendance
All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-fac'd flat-30
terer"

To Apemantus, that few things loves better
Than to abhor himself; even he drops down
The knee before him, and returns in peace
Most rich in Timon's nod.

Pain. I saw them speak together.

To those have shut him up; which failing him,
Periods his comfort.

Tim. Noble Ventidius! Well;

[him

I am not of that feather, to shake off
My friend when he must need me. I do know
A gentleman, that well deserves a help, [him.
Which he shall have: I'll pay the debt, and free

Mes. Your lordship ever binds him. [som;
Tim. Commend me to him: I will send his ran-
35 And, being enfranchis'd, bid him come to me:-
'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after.-Fare you well.
Mes. All happiness to your honour 14! [Exit.
Enter an old Athenian.

40

Poet. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill
Feign'dFortune to be thron'd: Thebaseo'themount
Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures,
That labour on the bosom of this sphere
To propagate their states: amongst them all,
Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fix'd,
One do I personate of Timon's frame,
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her;
Whose present grace to present slaves and servants 45
Translates his rivals.

Pain. 'Tis conceiv'd to scope?.

This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,|
With one man beckon'd from the rest below,
Bowing his head against the steepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well express'
In our condition.

50 By night frequents my house. I am a man That from my first have been inclin❜d to thrift; And my estate deserves an heir more rais'd,

1 Strife is either the contest or act with nature.

5

6

9

2

i. e. My design does not stop at any single character. 3 Anciently they wrote upon waxen tables with an iron style. 4 i. e. I'll open, fr explain. Slippery is smooth, unresisting. Meaning, the flatterer who shows in his own look, as by reflection, the looks of his patron. i. e. cover'd with ranks of all kinds of men. • i. e. to advance or improve their various conditions of life. i. e. 'Tis properly imagin'd. 10 Condition for art. "That is, calumniate those whom Timon hated or envied, or whose vices were opposite to his own.-1 his offering up, to the person flattered, the murdered reputation of others, Shakspeare, with the utmost beauty of thought and expression, calls sacrificial whisp'rings; alluding to the victims offered up to idols. 12 That is, catch his breath in affected fondness. 1 i. e. inferior spectators. 14 The common address to a lord in our author's time, was your honour, which was indifferently used with your lordship,

Than

Tim. A mere satiety of commendations.
If I should pay you for 't, as 'tis extoll'd,
It would unclew me quite '.

Jew. My lord, 'tis rated

5 As those, which sell, would give: But you

[hand; 55

Dr. Warburton explains this passage thus: "If the man be honest, my lord, for that reason he will be so in this; and not endeavour at the injustice of gaining my daughter without my consent." 2 or due. 'To unclew, is to unwind a ball of thread:-To unclew a man, is to draw out the whole mass of his fortunes. This alludes to the proverb: "Plain dealing is a jewel; but they that use it, die beggars."

Apem. No, I will do nothing at thy bidding: make thy requests to thy friend.

2 Lord. Away, unpeaceable dog, or I'll spurn 10 thee hence.

Apem. I will fly, like a dog, the heels of the ass. 1 Lord. He's opposite to humanity. Come, shall we in, And taste lord Timon's bounty? he out-goes The very heart of kindness.

2 Lord. He pours it out; Plutus, the god of gold, Is but his steward: no meed, but he repays Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him, But breeds the giver a return exceeding 20 All use of quittance'.

50

55

1 Lord. The noblest mind he carries, That ever govern'd man.

160!

The meaning may be, I should hate myself for patiently enduring to be a lord. 2 or lineage of man's worn down into a monkey. 3 i. e. part. 4 Meed in this place seems to mean desert. i. e. all the customary returns made in discharge of obligations.

Tim. O, Apemantus!-you are welcome. Apem. No; you shall not make me welcome: I come to have thee thrust me out of doors.

Tim. Fye, thou art a churl; you have got a
humour there

Does not become a man, 'tis much to blame :-
They say, my lords, ira furor brevis est,
But yonder man is ever angry.—
Go, let him have a table by himself;
For he does neither affect company,
Nor is he fit for it, indeed.

5

10

Apem. Let me stay at thine own peril, Timon;
I come to observe; I give thee warning on't.
Tim. I take no heed of thee; thou art an
Athenian,
[power1 15
Therefore welcome: I myself would have no
I pr'ythee, let my meat make thee silent.

Apem. Iscorn thy meat; 'twould choak me,
for I should

Ne'er flatter thee.-O you gods! what a number 20
Of men eat Timon, and he sees them not!
It grieves me, to see so many dip their meat
In one man's blood: and all the madness is,
He cheers them up too2.

30

I wonder, men dare trust themselves with men: 25
Methinks,they should invite them without knives;
Good for their meat, and safer for their lives.
There's much example for 't; the fellow, that
Sits next him now, parts bread with him, pledges
The breath of him in a divided draught,
Is the readiest man to kill him: it has been prov'd.
If I were a huge man, I should fear to drink at
meals;
[notes:
Lest they should spy my wind-pipe's dangerous
Great men should drink with harness on their 35
throats.

Tim. My lord, in heart'; and let the health
go round.

2 Lord. Let it flow this way, my good lord. Apem. Flow this way!

Apem. 'Would all those flatterers were thine enemies then; that thou might'st kill 'em, and bid me to 'em.

1 Lord. Might we but have that happiness, my lord, that you would once use our hearts, whereby we might express some part of our zcals, we should think ourselves for ever perfect 4.

Tim. O, no doubt, my good friends, but the gods themselves have provided that I shall have much help from you: How had you been my friends else? why have you that charitable title from thousands, did not you chiefly belong to my heart? I have told more of you to myself, than you can with modesty speak in your behalf; and thus far I confirm you. O, you gods, think I, what need we have any friends, it we should never have need of them? they were the most needless creatures living, should we ne'er have use for them and would most resemble sweet instruments hung up in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves. Why, I have often wish'd myself poorer, that I might come nearer to you. We are born to do benefits: and what better or properer can we call our own, than the riches of our friends? O, what a precious comfort 'ts, to have 40 so many, like brothers, commanding one another's fortunes! O joy, e'en made away ere it can be born! Mine eyes cannot hold water, methinks: to forget their faults, I drink to you.

A brave fellow! he keeps his tides well. Timon,
Those healths will make thee, and thy state, look ill.
Here's that, which is too weak to be a sinner,
Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire:
This, and my food, are equals: there's no odds. 45
Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods.

'Timon's meaning seems to be: I myself would have no power to make thee silent, but I wish thou would'st let my meat make thee silent. Timon, like a polite landlord, disclaims all power over the meanest or most troublesome of his guests. 2 The allusion, says Dr. Johnson, is to a pack of hounds trained to pursuit by being gratified with the blood of an animal which they kill, and the wonder is, that the animal on which they are feeding cheers them to the chace. That is, my lord's health with sincerity. * That is, arrived at the perfection of happiness. ' i. e. that dear, endearing title. That is, Why are you distinguished from thousands by that title of endearment, was there not a particular connexion and intercourse of tenderness between you and me ? 'i. e. I fix your characters firmly in my own mind. To look for babies in the eyes of another, is no uncommon expression. Enter

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