Timon of Athens

No reference to The Life of Timon of Athens is known to have survived from the years before its inclusion as the fourth of the tragedies in the First Folio of 1623. It is even questionable whether it would have been included in the Folio at all, had not need arisen to fill, at short notice, a gap in the sequence between Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, created by the removal of Troilus and Cressida from that position after printing of it had started.

This is only the first of a succession of questions surrounding Timon. Others are: When was it written? Is it all by Shakespeare? Is it finished? Was it acted in Shakespeare’s time? Orthodox arguments for dating would place it either around 1604–5, on the basis of linguistic and thematic links with King Lear, of which Coleridge described it as the ‘stillborn twin’, or about 1606–7, as a companion piece to the Plutarchan tragedies on Shakespeare’s ‘tragic frontier’, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus, but dates as late as 1613 have also been seriously proposed. Shakespeare’s sole authorship was much questioned in the later nineteenth century, at a time of general doubt and undisciplined speculation about dramatic authorship. Work on the plays of Thomas Middleton since the 1960s and Middleton’s marginal connection with Macbeth are currently leading to more substantial claims for Middleton as co-author of Timon (where his hand is most confidently identified in 1.2, 3.1–6, and in sections of 4.2 and 4.3, including those involving the steward Flavius). Act 1, scene 2 and the third act of Timon are close in tone and technique to the satirical comedies Middleton wrote for the boys’ companies in the early years of James I. The unfinished nature of Timon is variously defined, either on the evidence of such internal loose ends as confusion of names and the inconsistent epitaphs for Timon, or in terms of lack of development of some areas of the action, notably the role of Alcibiades in the first three acts. Ever since Thomas Shadwell wrote his own version of the subject in 1678, stagings of Timon have tended to entail major or minor reshaping and supplementation of the Folio text.

The story of ‘critic Timon’, as Shakespeare calls him in Love’s Labour’s Lost, is not the likeliest of tragic subjects. In 1605 Ben Jonson’s treatment of the social and economic manifestations of greed took the form of a dark comedy in Volpone. Timon of Athens combines anecdotes about Timon from Plutarch’s life of Mark Antony and more substantial matter from his life of Alcibiades (parallel to that of Coriolanus) with the satirical tradition originating in Lucian’s dialogue, Timon the Man-hater, (as represented in English by the Inns of Court comedy of Timon (c. 1602)). Shakespeare is alone and innovative in laying equal emphasis on the two phases of Timon’s career – as Lord Timon, the prodigal bankrupt, and as Timon misanthropos, the naked hermit ironically in command of a new store of gold. Timon begins as a mordant social satire and ends as a philosophical and political tragedy of pessimism. Like the character, described by the cynic philosopher Apemantus as lacking experience of ‘the middle of humanity’, the play itself seems to divide into two balancing and antithetical halves and to lack the expected enrichment of significance that might have arisen from more sustained development of human relationships. Even Timon’s own awareness shows no signs of cumulative development and his death, from unexplained causes, is presented merely as his final negation of human value.

The Arden text is based on the 1623 First Folio.

LIST OF ROLES

TIMON of Athens
	flattering lords
VENTIDIUS	one of Timon’s false friends
ALCIBIADES	an Athenian captain
APEMANTUS	a churlish philosopher
STEWARD	to Timon
	servants to Timon
	several servants to usurers
SERVANTS	to Varro, Isidore and Lucius, usurers and Timon’s creditors
POET, PAINTER, JEWELLER, MERCHANT
HOSTILIUS and two other STRANGERS
OLD ATHENIAN
PAGE
FOOL
	mistress to Alcibiades
Lords, Senators, Soldiers, Bandits and Attendants Cupid and the Amazons in the Masque

Timon of Athens

1.1 Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant at several doors.

POET     Good day, sir.
PAINTER     I am glad y’are well.
POET     I have not seen you long; how goes the world?
PAINTER     It wears, sir, as it grows.
POET     Ay, that’s well known.
But what particular rarity, what strange,
Which manifold record not matches? See,	5
Magic of bounty, all these spirits thy power
Hath conjur’d to attend! I know the merchant.
PAINTER     I know them both: th’other’s a jeweller.
MERCHANT     O, ’tis a worthy lord.
JEWELLER     Nay, that’s most fix’d.
MERCHANT
A most incomparable man, breath’d, as it were,	10
To an untirable and continuate goodness.
He passes.
JEWELLER     I have a jewel here –
MERCHANT
O pray, let’s see’t. For the Lord Timon, sir?
JEWELLER     If he will touch the estimate. But for that –
POET [aside to Painter]
When we for recompense have prais’d the vild,	15
It stains the glory in that happy verse
Which aptly sings the good.
MERCHANT     [looking at the jewel] ’Tis a good form.
JEWELLER     And rich. Here is a water, look ye.
PAINTER
You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication
To the great lord.
POET     A thing slipp’d idly from me.	20
Our poesy is as a gum which oozes
From whence ’tis nourish’d; the fire i’th’ flint
Shows not till it be struck: our gentle flame
Provokes itself, and like the current flies
Each bound it chases. What have you there?	25
PAINTER     A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?
POET     Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.
Let’s see your piece.
PAINTER     ’Tis a good piece.
POET     So ’tis; this comes off well and excellent.
PAINTER     Indifferent.
POET     Admirable. How this grace	30
Speaks his own standing! What a mental power
This eye shoots forth! How big imagination
Moves in this lip! To th’ dumbness of the gesture
One might interpret.
PAINTER     It is a pretty mocking of the life.	35
Here is a touch: is’t good?
POET     I will say of it,
It tutors nature; artificial strife
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.
Enter certain senators, who go in to Timon.
PAINTER     How this lord is followed!
POET     The senators of Athens, happy men.	40
PAINTER     Look, moe!
POET
You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.
I have in this rough work shap’d out a man,
Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug
With amplest entertainment. My free drift	45
Halts 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.	50
PAINTER     How shall I understand you?
POET     I will unbolt to you.
You see how all conditions, how all minds,
As well of glib and slipp’ry creatures as
Of grave and austere quality, tender down	55
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 flatterer
To Apemantus, that few things loves better	60
Than to abhor himself – even he drops down
The knee before him, and returns in peace
Most rich in Timon’s nod.
PAINTER     I saw them speak together.
POET     Sir,
I have upon a high and pleasant hill	65
Feign’d Fortune to be thron’d. The base o’th’ mount
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,	70
One do I personate of Lord Timon’s frame,
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her,
Whose present grace to present slaves and servants
Translates his rivals.
PAINTER     ’Tis conceiv’d to scope.
This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,	75
With one man beckon’d from the rest below,
Bowing his head against the steepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well express’d
In our condition.
POET     Nay, sir, but hear me on: –
All those which were his fellows but of late,	80
Some better than his value, on the moment
Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,
Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him
Drink the free air.
PAINTER     Ay marry, what of these?	85
POET     When Fortune in her shift and change of mood
Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants
Which labour’d after him to the mountain’s top
Even on their knees and hands, let him sit down,
Not one accompanying his declining foot.	90
PAINTER     ’Tis common.
A thousand moral paintings I can show
That shall demonstrate these quick blows of
Fortune’s
More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well
To show Lord Timon that mean eyes have seen	95
The foot above the head.
Trumpets sound. Enter LORD TIMON, addressing himself courteously to every suitor; a Messenger from Ventidius, talking with him; LUCILIUS and other servants.
TIMON     Imprison’d is he, say you?
MESSENGER     Ay, my good lord. Five talents is his debt;
His means most short, his creditors most strait.
Your honourable letter he desires	100
To those have shut him up, which failing
Periods his comfort.
TIMON     Noble Ventidius. Well,
I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he must need me. I do know him
A gentleman that well deserves a help,	105
Which he shall have: I’ll pay the debt, and free him.
MESSENGER     Your lordship ever binds him.
TIMON     Commend me to him; I will send his ransom;
And being enfranchis’d, bid him come to me.
’Tis not enough to help the feeble up,	110
But to support him after. Fare you well.
MESSENGER     All happiness to your honour!     Exit.
Enter an Old Athenian.
OLD     ATHENIAN Lord Timon, hear me speak.
TIMON     Freely, good father.
OLD     ATHENIAN Thou hast a servant nam’d Lucilius.
TIMON     I have so. What of him?	115
OLD     ATHENIAN
Most noble Timon, call the man before thee.
TIMON     Attends he here or no? Lucilius!
LUCILIUS     Here, at your lordship’s service.
OLD ATHENIAN
This fellow here, Lord Timon, this thy creature,
By night frequents my house. I am a man	120
That from my first have been inclin’d to thrift,
And my estate deserves an heir more rais’d
Than one which holds a trencher.
TIMON     Well; what further?
OLD ATHENIAN     One only daughter have I, no kin else,
On whom I may confer what I have got.	125
The maid is fair, o’th’ youngest for a bride,
And I have bred her at my dearest cost
In qualities of the best. This man of thine
Attempts her love. I prithee, noble lord,
Join with me to forbid him her resort;	130
Myself have spoke in vain.
TIMON     The man is honest.
OLD ATHENIAN     Therefore he will be, Timon.
His honesty rewards him in itself;
It must not bear my daughter.
TIMON     Does she love him?
OLD ATHENIAN     She is young and apt:	135
Our own precedent passions do instruct us
What levity’s in youth.
TIMON     [to Lucilius] Love you the maid?
LUCILIUS     Ay, my good lord, and she accepts of it.
OLD ATHENIAN
If in her marriage my consent be missing,
I call the gods to witness, I will choose	140
Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,
And dispossess her all.
TIMON     How shall she be endow’d
If she be mated with an equal husband?
OLD ATHENIAN
Three talents on the present; in future, all.
TIMON
This gentleman of mine hath serv’d me long.	145
To build his fortune I will strain a little,
For ’tis a bond in men. Give him thy daughter;
What you bestow, in him I’ll counterpoise,
And make him weigh with her.
OLD ATHENIAN     Most noble lord,
Pawn me to this your honour, she is his.	150
TIMON     My hand to thee; mine honour on my promise.
LUCILIUS     Humbly I thank your lordship. Never may
That state or fortune fall into my keeping
Which is not owed to you.     Exit.
POET
Vouchsafe my labour, and long live your lordship!	155
TIMON     I thank you; you shall hear from me anon.
Go not away. What have you there, my friend?
PAINTER     A piece of painting, which I do beseech
Your lordship to accept.
TIMON     Painting is welcome.
The painting is almost the natural man:	160
For since dishonour traffics with man’s nature,
He is but out-side; these pencill’d figures are
Even such as they give out. I like your work,
And you shall find I like it. Wait attendance
Till you hear further from me.
PAINTER     The gods preserve ye!	165
TIMON     Well fare you, gentleman. Give me your hand;
We must needs dine together. Sir, your jewel
Hath suffer’d under praise.
JEWELLER     What, my lord, dispraise?
TIMON     A mere satiety of commendations.
If I should pay you for’t as ’tis extoll’d,	170
It would unclew me quite.
JEWELLER     My lord, ’tis rated
As those which sell would give; but you well know,
Things of like value, differing in the owners,
Are prized by their masters. Believe’t, dear lord,
You mend the jewel by the wearing it.
TIMON     Well mock’d.	175
Enter APEMANTUS.
MERCHANT
No, my good lord; he speaks the common tongue,
Which all men speak with him.
TIMON     Look who comes here: will you be chid?
JEWELLER     We’ll bear, with your lordship.
MERCHANT     He’ll spare none.
TIMON     Good morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus.	180
APEMANTUS
Till I be gentle, stay thou for thy good morrow,
When thou art Timon’s dog, and these knaves
honest.
TIMON
Why dost thou call them knaves, thou know’st them
not?
APEMANTUS     Are they not Athenians?
TIMON     Yes.	185
APEMANTUS     Then I repent not.
JEWELLER     You know me, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS     Thou know’st I do, I call’d thee by thy
name.
TIMON     Thou art proud, Apemantus.	190
APEMANTUS     Of nothing so much as that I am not like
Timon.
TIMON     Whither art going?
APEMANTUS     To knock out an honest Athenian’s brains.
TIMON     That’s a deed thou’lt die for.	195
APEMANTUS     Right, if doing nothing be death by th’ law.
TIMON     How lik’st thou this picture, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS     The best, for the innocence.
TIMON     Wrought he not well that painted it?
APEMANTUS     He wrought better that made the painter,	200
and yet he’s but a filthy piece of work.
PAINTER     Y’are a dog.
APEMANTUS     Thy mother’s of my generation. What’s
she, if I be a dog?
TIMON     Wilt dine with me, Apemantus?	205
APEMANTUS     No; I eat not lords.
TIMON     And thou shouldst, thou’dst anger ladies.
APEMANTUS     O they eat lords; so they come by great
bellies.
TIMON     That’s a lascivious apprehension.	210
APEMANTUS     So thou apprehend’st it; take it for thy
labour.
TIMON     How dost thou like this jewel, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS     Not so well as plain-dealing, which will
not cast a man a doit.	215
TIMON     What dost thou think ’tis worth?
APEMANTUS     Not worth my thinking. How now Poet?
POET     How now Philosopher?
APEMANTUS     Thou liest.
POET     Art not one?	220
APEMANTUS     Yes.
POET     Then I lie not.
APEMANTUS     Art not a poet?
POET     Yes.
APEMANTUS     Then thou liest. Look in thy last work,	225
where thou hast feign’d him a worthy fellow.
POET     That’s not feign’d, he is so.
APEMANTUS     Yes, he is worthy of thee, and to pay thee
for thy labour. He that loves to be flattered is worthy
o’th’ flatterer. Heavens, that I were a lord!	230
TIMON     What wouldst do then, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS     E’en as Apemantus does now: hate a lord
with my heart.
TIMON     What, thyself?
APEMANTUS     Ay.	235
TIMON     Wherefore?
APEMANTUS     That I had no angry wit to be a lord. Art
not thou a merchant?
MERCHANT     Ay, Apemantus.
APEMANTUS     Traffic confound thee, if the gods will not!	240
MERCHANT     If traffic do it, the gods do it.
APEMANTUS     Traffic’s thy god, and thy god confound thee!
Trumpet sounds. Enter a Messenger.
TIMON     What trumpet’s that?
MESSENGER     ’Tis Alcibiades, and some twenty horse,	245
All of companionship.
TIMON     Pray entertain them, give them guide to us.
Exeunt some attendants.
You must needs dine with me. Go not you hence
Till I have thank’d you. When dinner’s done
Show me this piece. I am joyful of your sights.	250
Enter ALCIBIADES, and attendants.
Most welcome, sir!
APEMANTUS     So, so, there!
Aches contract and starve your supple joints!
That there should be small love amongst these sweet knaves,
And all this courtesy! The strain of man’s bred out
Into baboon and monkey.	255
ALCIBIADES     Sir, you have sav’d my longing, and I feed
Most hungerly on your sight.
TIMON     Right welcome, sir.
Ere we depart, we’ll share a bounteous time
In different pleasures. Pray you, let us in.
Exeunt all but Apemantus.
Enter two Lords.
1 LORD What time o’ day is’t, Apemantus?	260
APEMANTUS     Time to be honest.
1 LORD That time serves still.
APEMANTUS     The most accursed thou that still omitt’st it.
2 LORD Thou art going to Lord Timon’s feast?	265
APEMANTUS     Ay, to see meat fill knaves and wine heat fools.
2 LORD Fare thee well, fare thee well.
APEMANTUS     Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice.
2 LORD Why, Apemantus?	270
APEMANTUS     Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I
mean to give thee none.
1 LORD Hang thyself!
APEMANTUS     No, I will do nothing at thy bidding. Make
thy requests to thy friend.	275
2 LORD Away, unpeaceable dog, or I’ll spurn thee hence!
APEMANTUS     I will fly, like a dog, the heels o’th’ ass.
Exit.
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.	280
2 LORD He pours it out. Plutus the god of gold
Is but his steward. No meed but he repays
Seven-fold above itself: no gift to him
But breeds the giver a return exceeding
All use of quittance.
1 LORD The noblest mind he carries	285
That ever govern’d man.
2 LORD Long may he live in fortunes. Shall we in?
I’ll keep you company.     Exeunt.

1.2 Hautboys playing loud music. A great banquet serv’d in; and then enter LORD TIMON, Athenian lords and senators; VENTIDIUS which Timon redeem’d from prison; LUCULLUS and ALCIBIADES. Steward and others in attendance. Then comes, dropping after all, APEMANTUS, discontentedly, like himself.

VENTIDIUS     Most honoured Timon,
It hath pleas’d the gods to remember my father’s age,
And call him to long peace.
He is gone happy, and has left me rich.
Then as in grateful virtue I am bound	5
To your free heart, I do return those talents,
Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help
I deriv’d liberty.
TIMON     O by no means,
Honest Ventidius. You mistake my love;
I gave it freely ever, and there’s none	10
Can truly say he gives, if he receives.
If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
To imitate them; faults that are rich are fair.
VENTIDIUS     A noble spirit!
TIMON
Nay, my lords, ceremony was but devis’d at first	15
To set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes,
Recanting goodness, sorry ere ’tis shown;
But where there is true friendship, there needs none.
Pray, sit; more welcome are ye to my fortunes
Than my fortunes to me.	20
1 LORD My lord, we always have confess’d it.
APEMANTUS
Ho, ho, confess’d it? Hang’d it, have you not?
TIMON     O Apemantus, you are welcome.
APEMANTUS     No, you shall not make me welcome:
I come to have thee thrust me out of doors.	25
TIMON     Fie, th’art a churl, y’have got a humour there
Does not become a man; ’tis much to blame.
They say, my lords, Ira furor brevis est,
But yond man is very angry.
Go, let him have a table by himself,	30
For he does neither affect company,
Nor is he fit for’t, indeed.
APEMANTUS     Let me stay at thine apperil, Timon;
I come to observe: I give thee warning on’t.
TIMON     I take no heed of thee; th’art an Athenian, there-	35
fore welcome. I myself would have no power; prithee
let my meat make thee silent.
APEMANTUS     I scorn thy meat; ’twould choke me, for I
should ne’er flatter thee. O you gods! What a number
of men eats Timon, and he sees ’em not! It grieves me	40
to see so many dip their meat in one man’s blood; and
all the madness is, he cheers them up too. I wonder
men dare trust themselves with men. Methinks they
should invite them without knives: Good for their
meat, and safer for their lives. There’s much example	45
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. ’T’as been
proved. If I were a huge man, I should fear to drink at
meals,	50
Lest they should spy my windpipe’s dangerous notes,
Great men should drink with harness on their
throats.
TIMON     My lord, in heart; and let the health go round.
2 LORD Let it flow this way, my good lord.
APEMANTUS     Flow this way? A brave fellow. He keeps	55
his tides well. Those healths will make thee and thy
state look ill, Timon.
Here’s that which is too weak to be a sinner,
Honest water, which ne’er left man i’th’ mire.
This and my food are equals, there’s no odds;	60
Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods.
Apemantus’ Grace.
Immortal gods, I crave no pelf;
I pray for no man but myself.
Grant I may never prove so fond,	65
To trust man on his oath or bond;
Or a harlot for her weeping,
Or a dog that seems a-sleeping,
Or a keeper with my freedom,
Or my friends, if I should need ’em.	70
Amen. So fall to’t:
Rich men sin, and I eat root.
[Eats and drinks.]
Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus.
TIMON     Captain Alcibiades, your heart’s in the field
now.	75
ALCIBIADES     My heart is ever at your service, my lord.
TIMON     You had rather be at a breakfast of enemies than
a dinner of friends.
ALCIBIADES     So they were bleeding new, my lord, there’s
no meat like ’em; I could wish my best friend at such	80
a feast.
APEMANTUS     Would all those flatterers were thine
enemies then, that then thou mightst kill ’em – and
bid me to ’em.
1 LORD Might we but have that happiness, my lord,	85
that you would once use our hearts, whereby we
might express some part of our zeals, we should
think ourselves for ever perfect.
TIMON     O no doubt, my good friends, but the gods
themselves have provided that I shall have much help	90
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 own behalf; and thus far I confirm you. O you	95
gods, think I, what need we have any friends, if we
should ne’er have need of ’em? They were the most
needless creatures living should we ne’er have use for
’em, and would most resemble sweet instruments
hung up in cases, that keeps their sounds to	100
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 ’tis to have so many like brothers	105
commanding one another’s fortunes. O joy’s e’en
made away ere’t can be born! Mine eyes cannot hold
out water, methinks. To forget their faults, I drink to
you.
APEMANTUS     Thou weep’st to make them drink,	110
Timon.
2 LORD Joy had the like conception in our eyes, And at
that instant like a babe sprung up.
APEMANTUS
Ho, ho: I laugh to think that babe a bastard.
3 LORD I promise you, my lord, you mov’d me much.	115
APEMANTUS     Much. [Tucket sounded.]
TIMON     What means that trump? How now?
Enter Servant.
SERVANT     Please you, my lord, there are certain ladies
most desirous of admittance.
TIMON     Ladies? What are their wills?
SERVANT     There comes with them a forerunner, my lord,	120
which bears that office to signify their pleasures.
TIMON     I pray let them be admitted.
Enter CUPID.
CUPID     Hail to thee, worthy Timon, and to all that of his
bounties taste! The five best senses acknowledge thee
their patron, and come freely to gratulate thy	125
plenteous bosom.
There, taste, touch, all, pleas’d from thy table rise;
They only now come but to feast thine eyes.
TIMON
They’re welcome all; let ’em have kind admittance.
Music, make their welcome!     Exit Cupid.	130
LUCULLUS     You see, my lord, how ample y’are belov’d.
Music. Re-enter CUPID, with a masque of ladies as Amazons, with lutes in their hands, dancing and playing.
APEMANTUS     Hoy-day!
What a sweep of vanity comes this way.
They dance? They are madwomen.
Like madness is the glory of this life,	135
As this pomp shows to a little oil and root.
We make ourselves fools, to disport ourselves,
And spend our flatteries to drink those men
Upon whose age we void it up again
With poisonous spite and envy.	140
Who lives that’s not depraved or depraves?
Who dies that bears not one spurn to their graves
Of their friends’ gift?
I should fear those that dance before me now
Would one day stamp upon me. ’T’as been done.	145
Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
The Lords rise from table, with much adoring of Timon,
and to show their loves each single out an Amazon, and
all dance, men with women, a lofty strain or two to the
hautboys, and cease.
TIMON
You have done our pleasures much grace, fair ladies,
Set a fair fashion on our entertainment,
Which was not half so beautiful and kind;
You have added worth unto’t and lustre,	150
And entertain’d me with mine own device.
I am to thank you for’t.
1 LADY My lord, you take us even at the best.
APEMANTUS     Faith, for the worst is filthy; and would
not hold taking, I doubt me.	155
TIMON     Ladies, there is an idle banquet attends you;
Please you to dispose yourselves.
ALL LADIES     Most thankfully, my lord.
Exeunt Cupid and Ladies.
TIMON     Flavius!
STEWARD     My lord?
TIMON     The little casket bring me hither.
STEWARD     Yes, my lord. [aside] More jewels yet!	160
There is no crossing him in’s humour,
Else I should tell him well, i’faith, I should,
When all’s spent, he’d be cross’d then, and he could.
’Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind,
That man might ne’er be wretched for his mind.	165
Exit.
1 LORD Where be our men?
SERVANT     Here, my lord, in readiness.
2 LORD Our horses!
Re-enter Steward, with the casket.
TIMON     O my friends, I have one word
To say to you: look you, my good lord,
I must entreat you honour me so much	170
As to advance this jewel; accept it and wear it,
Kind my lord.
1 LORD I am so far already in your gifts –
ALL     So are we all.
Enter a Servant.
SERVANT     My lord, there are certain nobles of the senate	175
newly alighted, and come to visit you.
TIMON     They are fairly welcome.     Exit Servant.
STEWARD     I beseech your honour, vouchsafe me a word;
it does concern you near.
TIMON     Near? Why, then, another time I’ll hear thee. I	180
prithee, let’s be provided to show them entertainment.
STEWARD     [aside] I scarce know how.
Enter another Servant.
2 SERVANT
May it please your honour, Lord Lucius,
Out of his free love, hath presented to you
Four milk-white horses, trapp’d in silver.	185
TIMON     I shall accept them fairly. Let the presents
Be worthily entertain’d.     Exit Servant.
Enter a third Servant.
How now? What news?
3 SERVANT
Please you, my lord, that honourable gentleman Lord
Lucullus entreats your company tomorrow, to hunt
with him, and has sent your honour two brace of	190
greyhounds.
TIMON     I’ll hunt with him; and let them be receiv’d,
Not without fair reward.
STEWARD     [aside] What will this come to?
He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
And all out of an empty coffer;	195
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 ev’ry
word:	200
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 that do e’en enemies exceed.	205
I bleed inwardly for my lord.     Exit.
TIMON     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	210
it.
3 LORD O he’s the very soul of bounty.
TIMON     And now I remember, my lord, you gave good
words the other day of a bay courser I rode on. ’Tis
yours, because you lik’d it.	215
3 LORD O I beseech you pardon me, my lord, in that.
TIMON
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 tell you true. I’ll call to you.	220
ALL LORDS     O none so welcome.
TIMON     I take all and your several visitations
So kind to heart, ’tis not enough to give:
Methinks I could deal kingdoms to my friends,
And ne’er be weary. Alcibiades,	225
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.
ALCIBIADES     Ay, defil’d land, my lord.	230
1 LORD We are so virtuously bound –
TIMON     And so am I to you.
2 LORD So infinitely endear’d –
TIMON     All to you. Lights, more lights!
1 LORD The best of happiness, honour and fortunes,	235
Keep with you, Lord Timon!
TIMON     Ready for his friends.
Exeunt all but Timon, Apemantus.
APEMANTUS     What a coil’s here,
Serving of becks and jutting-out of bums!
I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums
That are given for ’em. Friendship’s full of dregs;	240
Methinks false hearts should never have sound legs.
Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on curtsies.
TIMON     Now Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen,
I would be good to thee.
APEMANTUS     No, I’ll nothing; for if I should be brib’d	245
too, there would be none left to rail upon thee, and
then thou wouldst sin the faster. Thou giv’st so long,
Timon, I fear me thou wilt give away thyself in paper
shortly. What needs these feasts, pomps, and
vainglories?	250
TIMON     Nay, and you begin to rail on society once, I am
sworn not to give regard to you. Farewell, and come
with better music.	Exit.
APEMANTUS     So. Thou wilt not hear me now; thou shalt
not then. I’ll lock thy heaven from thee.	255
O that men’s ears should be
To counsel deaf, but not to flattery.     Exit.

2.1     Enter a Senator.

SENATOR
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	5
And give it Timon – why, the dog coins gold;
If I would sell my horse and buy twenty moe
Better than he – why, give my horse to Timon;
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me straight
And able horses. No porter at his gate,	10
But rather one that smiles and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can sound his state in safety. Caphis, ho!
Caphis, I say!
Enter CAPHIS.
CAPHIS     Here, sir, what is your pleasure?
SENATOR
Get on your cloak, and haste you to Lord Timon;	15
Importune him for my moneys; be not ceas’d
With slight denial, nor then silenc’d when
‘Commend me to your master’ and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus – but tell him,
My uses cry to me; I must serve my turn	20
Out of mine own; his days and times are past,
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit. I love and honour him,
But must not break my back to heal his finger.
Immediate are my needs, and my relief	25
Must not be toss’d and turn’d to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone;
Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand: for I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,	30
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
CAPHIS     I go, sir.
SENATOR     Ay, go sir! Take the bonds along with you,
And have the dates in. Come.
CAPHIS     I will, sir.
SENATOR     Go. Exeunt.	35

2.2     Enter Steward, with many bills in his hand.

STEWARD     No care, no stop; so senseless of expense,
That he will neither know how to maintain it,
Nor cease his flow of riot. Takes no accompt
How things go from him, nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue. Never mind	5
Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.
What shall be done? He will not hear, till feel.
I must be round with him, now he comes from
hunting.
Fie, fie, fie, fie!
Enter CAPHIS and the Servants of Isidore and Varro.
CAPHIS     Good even, Varro; what, you come for money?	10
VARRO’S SERVANT Is’t not your business too?
CAPHIS     It is; and yours too, Isidore?
ISIDORE’S SERVANT It is so.
CAPHIS     Would we were all discharg’d!
VARRO’S SERVANT I fear it.	15
CAPHIS     Here comes the lord.
Enter TIMON and his train, and ALCIBIADES.
TIMON     So soon as dinner’s done, we’ll forth again,
My Alcibiades.
[to Caphis] With me? What is your will?
CAPHIS     My lord, here is a note of certain dues.
TIMON     Dues? Whence are you?
CAPHIS     Of Athens here, my lord.	20
TIMON     Go to my steward.
CAPHIS     Please it your lordship, he hath put me off
To the succession of new days this month.
My master is awak’d by great occasion
To call upon his own, and humbly prays you	25
That with your other noble parts you’ll suit,
In giving him his right.
TIMON     Mine honest friend,
I prithee but repair to me next morning.
CAPHIS     Nay, good my lord –
TIMON     Contain thyself, good friend.
VARRO’S SERVANT One Varro’s servant, my good lord –	30
ISIDORE’S SERVANT From Isidore; he humbly prays your
speedy payment.
CAPHIS     If you did know, my lord, my master’s wants –
VARRO’S SERVANT ’Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six
weeks and past.	35
ISIDORE’S SERVANT Your steward puts me off, my lord,
and I am sent expressly to your lordship.
TIMON
Give me breath.
I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;
I’ll wait upon you instantly.
Exeunt Alcibiades and Lords.
[to Steward] Come hither. Pray you,	40
How goes the world, that I am thus encounter’d
With clamorous demands of debt, broken bonds,
And the detention of long since due debts
Against my honour?
STEWARD     [to Caphis and other Servants]
Please you, gentlemen,
The time is unagreeable to this business.	45
Your importunacy cease till after dinner,
That I may make his lordship understand
Wherefore you are not paid.
TIMON     Do so, my friends.
See them well entertain’d.     Exit.
STEWARD     Pray draw near.     Exit.
Enter APEMANTUS and Fool.
CAPHIS     Stay, stay; here comes the fool with Apemantus:	50
let’s ha’ some sport with ’em.
VARRO’S SERVANT Hang him, he’ll abuse us!
ISIDORE’S SERVANT A plague upon him, dog!
VARRO’S SERVANT How dost, fool?
APEMANTUS     Dost dialogue with thy shadow?	55
VARRO’S SERVANT I speak not to thee.
APEMANTUS     No, ’tis to thyself. [to the Fool] Come
away.
ISIDORE’S SERVANT [to Varro’s Servant] There’s the fool
hangs on your back already.	60
APEMANTUS     No, thou stand’st single; th’art not on him
yet.
CAPHIS     Where’s the fool now?
APEMANTUS     He last ask’d the question. Poor rogues,
and usurers’ men, bawds between gold and want!	65
ALL     SERVANTS What are we, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS     Asses.
ALL SERVANTS     Why?
APEMANTUS     That you ask me what you are, and do not
know yourselves. Speak to ’em, fool.	70
FOOL     How do you, gentlemen?
ALL SERVANTS     Gramercies, good fool. How does your
mistress?
FOOL     She’s e’en setting on water to scald such chickens
as you are. Would we could see you at Corinth!	75
APEMANTUS     Good! Gramercy.
Enter Page.
FOOL     Look you, here comes my master’s page.
PAGE     [to the Fool] Why, how now, captain? What do
you in this wise company? How dost thou,
Apemantus?	80
APEMANTUS     Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I
might answer thee profitably.
PAGE     Prithee, Apemantus, read me the superscription
of these letters: I know not which is which.
APEMANTUS     Canst not read?	85
PAGE     No.
APEMANTUS     There will little learning die then that day
thou art hang’d. This is to Lord Timon; this to
Alcibiades. Go, thou wast born a bastard, and thou’lt
die a bawd.	90
PAGE     Thou wast whelp’d a dog, and thou shalt famish a
dog’s death. Answer not; I am gone. Exit.
APEMANTUS     E’en so thou outrun’st grace. Fool, I will
go with you to Lord Timon’s.
FOOL     Will you leave me there?	95
APEMANTUS     If Timon stay at home. You three serve
three usurers?
ALL SERVANTS     Ay; would they serv’d us.
APEMANTUS     So would I – as good a trick as ever
hangman serv’d thief.	100
FOOL     Are you three usurers’ men?
ALL SERVANTS     Ay, fool.
FOOL     I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant; my
mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come
to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and go	105
away merry; but they enter my master’s house merrily,
and go away sadly. The reason of this?
VARRO’S SERVANT I could render one.
APEMANTUS     Do it then, that we may account thee a
whoremaster and a knave; which notwithstanding,	110
thou shalt be no less esteemed.
VARRO’S SERVANT What is a whoremaster, fool?
FOOL     A fool in good clothes, and something like thee.
’Tis a spirit; sometime ’t appears like a lord, sometime
like a lawyer, sometime like a philosopher, with two	115
stones moe than’s artificial one. He is very often like a
knight; and generally in all shapes that man goes up
and down in, from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit
walks in.
VARRO’S SERVANT Thou art not altogether a fool.	120
FOOL     Nor thou altogether a wise man. As much foolery
as I have, so much wit thou lack’st.
APEMANTUS     That answer might have become Apemantus.
ALL SERVANTS     Aside, aside; here comes Lord Timon.
Re-enter TIMON and Steward.
APEMANTUS     Come with me, fool, come.	125
FOOL     I do not always follow lover, elder brother and
woman; sometime the philosopher.
STEWARD
Pray you, walk near: I’ll speak with you anon.
Exeunt Apemantus, Fool and Servants.
TIMON
You make me marvel wherefore ere this time
Had you not fully laid my state before me,	130
That I might so have rated my expense
As I had leave of means.
STEWARD     You would not hear me.
At many leisures I propos’d –
TIMON     Go to.
Perchance some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back,	135
And that unaptness made your minister
Thus to excuse yourself.
STEWARD     O my good lord,
At many times I brought in my accompts,
Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
And say you found them in mine honesty.	140
When for some trifling present you have bid me
Return so much, I have shook my head and wept:
Yea, ’gainst th’authority of manners, pray’d you
To hold your hand more close. I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight checks, when I have	145
Prompted you in the ebb of your estate
And your great flow of debts. My lov’d lord,
Though you hear now, too late, yet now’s a time:
The greatest of your having lacks a half
To pay your present debts.
TIMON     Let all my land be sold.	150
STEWARD     ’Tis all engag’d, some forfeited and gone,
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of present dues. The future comes apace.
What shall defend the interim, and at length
How goes our reck’ning?	155
TIMON     To Lacedaemon did my land extend.
STEWARD     O my good lord, the world is but a word:
Were it all yours, to give it in a breath,
How quickly were it gone!
TIMON     You tell me true.
STEWARD     If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood,	160
Call me before th’exactest auditors,
And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been oppress’d
With riotous feeders, when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine, when every room	165
Hath blaz’d with lights and bray’d with minstrelsy,
I have retir’d me to a wasteful cock
And set mine eyes at flow.
TIMON     Prithee no more.
STEWARD     Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord!
How many prodigal bits have slaves and peasants	170
This night englutted! Who is not Timon’s?
What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is Lord
Timon’s,
Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?
Ah, when the means are gone that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made.	175
Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter show’rs,
These flies are couch’d.
TIMON     Come, sermon me no further.
No villainous bounty yet hath pass’d my heart;
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.
Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience
lack,	180
To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart.
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the arguments of hearts by borrowing,
Men and men’s fortunes could I frankly use
As I can bid thee speak.
STEWARD     Assurance bless your thoughts.	185
TIMON
And in some sort these wants of mine are crown’d,
That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends. You shall perceive how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
Within there! Flaminius! Servilius!	190
Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS and another Servant.
ALL SERVANTS     My lord, my lord.
TIMON     I will dispatch you severally: [to Servilius] you
to Lord Lucius; [to Flaminius] to Lord Lucullus you
(I hunted with his honour to-day); [to Third Servant]
you, to Sempronius. Commend me to their loves;	195
and I am proud, say, that my occasions have found
time to use ’em toward a supply of money. Let the
request be fifty talents.
FLAMINIUS     As you have said, my lord.
Exeunt Servants.
STEWARD     [aside] Lord Lucius and Lucullus? Humh!	200
TIMON     [to Steward] Go you, sir, to the senators,
Of whom, even to the state’s best health, I have
Deserv’d this hearing: bid ’em send o’th’ instant
A thousand talents to me.
STEWARD     I have been bold,
For that I knew it the most general way,	205
To them to use your signet and your name;
But they do shake their heads, and I am here
No richer in return.
TIMON     Is’t true? can’t be?
STEWARD     They answer in a joint and corporate voice
That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot	210
Do what they would, are sorry; you are honourable,
But yet they could have wish’d – they know not;
Something hath been amiss – a noble nature
May catch a wrench – would all were well – ’tis pity –
And so, intending other serious matters,	215
After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods,
They froze me into silence.
TIMON     You gods reward them!
Prithee, man, look cheerly. These old fellows
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary;	220
Their blood is cak’d, ’tis cold, it seldom flows;
’Tis lack of kindly warmth they are not kind;
And nature, as it grows again toward earth,
Is fashion’d for the journey, dull and heavy.
Go to Ventidius. Prithee, be not sad,	225
Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak,
No blame belongs to thee. Ventidius lately
Buried his father, by whose death he’s stepp’d
Into a great estate. When he was poor,
Imprison’d, and in scarcity of friends,	230
I clear’d him with five talents. Greet him from me,
Bid him suppose some good necessity
Touches his friend, which craves to be remember’d
With those five talents. That had, give’t these fellows
To whom ’tis instant due. Ne’er speak or think	235
That Timon’s fortunes ’mong his friends can sink.
STEWARD     I would I could not think it.
That thought is bounty’s foe;
Being free itself, it thinks all others so.     Exeunt.

3.1 FLAMINIUS waiting to speak with Lucullus from his master. Enter a Servant to him.

SERVANT     I have told my lord of you; he is coming down
to you.
FLAMINIUS     I thank you, sir.
Enter LUCULLUS.
SERVANT     Here’s my lord.
LUCULLUS     [aside] One of Lord Timon’s men? A gift, I	5
warrant. Why, this hits right: I dreamt of a silver basin
and ewer to-night. – Flaminius, honest Flaminius, you
are very respectively welcome, sir. Fill me some
wine. [Exit Servant.]
And how does that honourable, complete, free-	10
hearted gentleman of Athens, thy very bountiful good
lord and master?
FLAMINIUS     His health is well, sir.
LUCULLUS     I am right glad that his health is well, sir.
And what hast thou there under thy cloak, pretty	15
Flaminius?
FLAMINIUS     Faith, nothing but an empty box, sir, which,
in my lord’s behalf, I come to entreat your honour to
supply; who, having great and instant occasion to
use fifty talents, hath sent to your lordship to furnish	20
him, nothing doubting your present assistance
therein.
LUCULLUS     La, la, la, la: ‘nothing doubting’, says he?
Alas, good lord; a noble gentleman ’tis, if he would not
keep so good a house. Many a time and often I ha’	25
din’d with him, and told him on’t, and come again to
supper to him of purpose to have him spend less; and
yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning by
my coming. Every man has his fault, and honesty is
his. I ha’told him on’t, but I could ne’er get him	30
from’t.
Re-enter Servant, with wine.
SERVANT     Please your lordship, here is the wine.
LUCULLUS     Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise.
Here’s to thee.
FLAMINIUS     Your lordship speaks your pleasure.	35
LUCULLUS     I have observed thee always for a towardly
prompt spirit, give thee thy due, and one that knows
what belongs to reason; and canst use the time well, if
the time use thee well. Good parts in thee. [to the
Servant] Get you gone, sirrah.     [Exit Servant.]	40
Draw nearer, honest Flaminius. Thy lord’s a bountiful
gentleman: but thou art wise, and thou know’st well
enough, although thou com’st to me, that this is no
time to lend money, especially upon bare friendship,
without security. Here’s three solidares for thee; good	45
boy, wink at me, and say thou saw’st me not. Fare thee
well.
FLAMINIUS
Is’t possible the world should so much differ,
And we alive that lived? Fly, damned baseness,
To him that worships thee!	50
[throwing the money back at Lucullus]
LUCULLUS
Ha? Now I see thou art a fool, and fit for thy master.
Exit.
FLAMINIUS
May these add to the number that may scald thee!
Let molten coin be thy damnation,
Thou disease of a friend, and not himself!
Has friendship such a faint and milky heart	55
It turns in less than two nights? O you gods!
I feel my master’s passion. This slave unto his
honour
Has my lord’s meat in him:
Why should it thrive and turn to nutriment
When he is turn’d to poison?	60
O may diseases only work upon’t,
And when he’s sick to death, let not that part of
nature
Which my lord paid for, be of any power
To expel sickness, but prolong his hour!          Exit.

3.2 Enter LUCIUS, with HOSTILIUS and two other Strangers.

LUCIUS     Who, the Lord Timon? He is my very good
friend and an honourable gentleman.
1 STRANGER We know him for no less, though we are
but strangers to him. But I can tell you one thing, my
lord, and which I hear from common rumours: now	5
Lord Timon’s happy hours are done and past, and his
estate shrinks from him.
LUCIUS     Fie, no, do not believe it; he cannot want for
money.
HOSTILIUS     But believe you this, my lord, that not long	10
ago, one of his men was with the Lord Lucullus, to
borrow so many talents, nay, urg’d extremely for’t, and
showed what necessity belong’d to’t, and yet was
denied.
LUCIUS     How?	15
HOSTILIUS     I tell you, denied, my lord.
LUCIUS     What a strange case was that! Now before the
gods, I am asham’d on’t. Denied that honourable man?
There was very little honour show’d in’t. For my own
part, I must needs confess I have received some small	20
kindnesses from him, as money, plate, jewels, and such
like trifles – nothing comparing to his; yet had he
mistook him, and sent to me, I should ne’er have
denied his occasion so many talents.
Enter SERVILIUS.
SERVILIUS     See, by good hap, yonder’s my lord; I have	25
sweat to see his honour. My honour’d lord!
LUCIUS     Servilius? You are kindly met, sir. Fare thee
well; commend me to thy honourable virtuous lord,
my very exquisite friend.
SERVILIUS     May it please your honour, my lord hath	30
sent –
LUCIUS     Ha? What has he sent? I am so much endeared
to that lord; he’s ever sending. How shall I thank him,
think’st thou? And what has he sent now?
SERVILIUS     H’as only sent his present occasion now, my	35
lord: requesting your lordship to supply his instant
use with so many talents.
LUCIUS     I know his lordship is but merry with me,
He cannot want fifty – five hundred talents.
SERVILIUS
But in the meantime he wants less, my lord.	40
If his occasion were not virtuous,
I should not urge it half so faithfully.
LUCIUS
Dost thou speak seriously, Servilius?
SERVILIUS
Upon my soul, ’tis true, sir.
LUCIUS     What a wicked beast was I to disfurnish myself	45
against such a good time, when I might ha’shown
myself honourable! How unluckily it happen’d, that I
should purchase the day before for a little part, and
undo a great deal of honour! Servilius, now before
the gods, I am not able to do (the more beast, I say!)	50
– I was sending to use Lord Timon myself, these
gentlemen can witness; but I would not, for the
wealth of Athens, I had done’t now. Commend me
bountifully to his good lordship; and I hope his
honour will conceive the fairest of me, because I have	55
no power to be kind. And tell him this from me: I
count it one of my greatest afflictions, say, that I
cannot pleasure such an honourable gentleman. Good
Servilius, will you befriend me so far as to use mine
own words to him?	60
SERVILIUS     Yes, sir, I shall.     Exit.
LUCIUS     [calling out after him] I’ll look you out a good
turn, Servilius.
[to the others] True, as you said, Timon is shrunk
indeed;
And he that’s once denied will hardly speed.     Exit.	65
1 STRANGER Do you observe this, Hostilius?
HOSTILIUS     Ay, too well.
1 STRANGER     Why, this is the world’s soul,
And just of the same piece
Is every flatterer’s sport. Who can call him his friend
That dips in the same dish? For in my knowing	70
Timon has been this lord’s father,
And kept his credit with his purse;
Supported his estate; nay, Timon’s money
Has paid his men their wages. He ne’er drinks
But Timon’s silver treads upon his lip;	75
And yet – O see the monstrousness of man,
When he looks out in an ungrateful shape! –
He does deny him, in respect of his,
What charitable men afford to beggars.
2 STRANGER Religion groans at it.
1 STRANGER For mine own part,	80
I never tasted Timon in my life,
Nor came any of his bounties over me,
To mark me for his friend. Yet I protest,
For his right noble mind, illustrious virtue,
And honourable carriage,	85
Had his necessity made use of me,
I would have put my wealth into donation,
And the best half should have return’d to him,
So much I love his heart. But I perceive
Men must learn now with pity to dispense,	90
For policy sits above conscience.     Exeunt.

3.3 Enter Timon’s third Servant with SEMPRONIUS, another of Timon’s friends.

SEMPRONIUS     Must he needs trouble me in’t? Humh!
’Bove all others?
He might have tried Lord Lucius, or Lucullus;
And now Ventidius is wealthy too,
Whom he redeem’d from prison. All these	5
Owes their estates unto him.
3 SERVANT           My lord,
They have all been touch’d and found base metal,
For they have all denied him.
SEMPRONIUS     How? Have they denied him?
Has Ventidius and Lucullus denied him?	10
And does he send to me? Three? Humh?
It shows but little love or judgment in him.
Must I be his last refuge? His friends, like physicians,
Thrive, give him over; must I take th’ cure upon me?
H’as much disgrac’d me in’t; I’m angry at him	15
That might have known my place. I see no sense for’t
But his occasions might have wooed me first:
For, in my conscience, I was the first man
That e’er received gift from him.
And does he think so backwardly of me now,	20
That I’ll requite it last? No:
So it may prove an argument of laughter
To th’ rest, and ’mongst lords I be thought a fool.
I’d rather than the worth of thrice the sum,
H’ad sent to me first, but for my mind’s sake;	25
I’d such a courage to do him good. But now return,
And with their faint reply this answer join:
Who bates mine honour shall not know my coin.
Exit.
3 SERVANT Excellent: your lordship’s a goodly villain.
The devil knew not what he did when he made man	30
politic; he crossed himself by’t: and I cannot think but
in the end the villainies of man will set him clear. How
fairly this lord strives to appear foul! Takes virtuous
copies to be wicked, like those that under hot ardent
zeal would set whole realms on fire: of such a nature is	35
his politic love.
This was my lord’s best hope; now all are fled
Save only the gods. Now his friends are dead,
Doors that were ne’er acquainted with their wards
Many a bounteous year, must be employ’d	40
Now to guard sure their master.
And this is all a liberal course allows:
Who cannot keep his wealth must keep his house.
	Exit.

3.4 Enter VARRO’S two Servants, meeting other servants of Timon’s creditors, to wait for his coming out. Then enter Lucius’ Servant; then TITUS and HORTENSIUS.

VARRO’S 1 SERVANT
Well met; good morrow, Titus and Hortensius.
TITUS     The like to you, kind Varro.
HORTENSIUS     Lucius!
What, do we meet together?
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Ay, and I think
One business does command us all; for mine
Is money.
TITUS     So is theirs and ours.	5
Enter PHILOTUS.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT And, sir, Philotus too!
PHILOTUS     Good day at once.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Welcome, good brother.
What do you think the hour?
PHILOTUS     Labouring for nine.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT So much?
PHILOTUS     Is not my lord seen yet?
LUCIUS’ SERVANT     Not yet.
PHILOTUS
I wonder on’t; he was wont to shine at seven.	10
LUCIUS’ SERVANT
Ay, but the days are wax’d shorter with him:
You must consider that a prodigal course
Is like the sun’s,
But not, like his, recoverable. I fear
’Tis deepest winter in Lord Timon’s purse;	15
That is, one may reach deep enough, and yet
Find little.
PHILOTUS     I am of your fear, for that.
TITUS
I’ll show you how t’observe a strange event.
Your lord sends now for money?
HORTENSIUS     Most true, he does.
TITUS     And he wears jewels now of Timon’s gift,	20
For which I wait for money.
HORTENSIUS     It is against my heart.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Mark how strange it shows,
Timon in this should pay more than he owes:
And e’en as if your lord should wear rich jewels,
And send for money for ’em.	25
HORTENSIUS
I’m weary of this charge, the gods can witness;
I know my lord hath spent of Timon’s wealth,
And now ingratitude makes it worse than stealth.
VARRO’S 1 SERVANT
Yes, mine’s three thousand crowns;
What’s yours?
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Five thousand mine.	30
VARRO’S 1 SERVANT
’Tis much deep: and it should seem by th’ sum,
Your master’s confidence was above mine,
Else, surely, his had equall’d.
Enter FLAMINIUS.
TITUS     One of Lord Timon’s men.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Flaminius? Sir, a word. Pray is my	35
lord ready to come forth?
FLAMINIUS     No, indeed he is not.
TITUS     We attend his lordship; pray signify so much.
FLAMINIUS     I need not tell him that; he knows you are
too diligent. Exit.	40
Enter Steward in a cloak, muffled.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT
Ha, is not that his steward muffled so?
He goes away in a cloud: call him, call him.
TITUS     Do you hear, sir?
VARRO’S 2 SERVANT By your leave, sir –
STEWARD     What do ye ask of me, my friend?	45
TITUS     We wait for certain money here, sir.
STEWARD     Ay,
If money were as certain as your waiting,
’Twere sure enough.
Why then preferr’d you not your sums and bills
When your false masters eat of my lord’s meat?	50
Then they could smile, and fawn upon his debts,
And take down th’int’rest into their glutt’nous
maws.
You do yourselves but wrong, to stir me up;
Let me pass quietly.
Believe’t, my lord and I have made an end;	55
I have no more to reckon, he to spend.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Ay, but this answer will not serve.
STEWARD     If ’twill not serve, ’tis not so base as you,
For you serve knaves.     Exit.
VARRO’S 1 SERVANT How? What does his cashier’d	60
worship mutter?
VARRO’S 2 SERVANT No matter what; he’s poor, and
that’s revenge enough. Who can speak broader than he
that has no house to put his head in? Such may rail
against great buildings.	65
Enter SERVILIUS.
TITUS     O, here’s Servilius; now we shall know some
answer.
SERVILIUS     If I might beseech you, gentlemen, to repair
some other hour, I should derive much from’t; for,
take’t of my soul, my lord leans wondrously to	70
discontent. His comfortable temper has forsook him,
he’s much out of health, and keeps his chamber.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT
Many do keep their chambers are not sick;
And if it be so far beyond his health,
Methinks he should the sooner pay his debts,	75
And make a clear way to the gods.
SERVILIUS     Good gods!
TITUS     We cannot take this for answer, sir.
FLAMINIUS     [within] Servilius, help! My lord, my lord!
Enter TIMON, in a rage.
TIMON
What, are my doors oppos’d against my passage?
Have I been ever free, and must my house	80
Be my retentive enemy, my gaol?
The place which I have feasted, does it now,
Like all mankind, show me an iron heart?
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Put in now, Titus.
TITUS     My lord, here is my bill.	85
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Here’s mine.
HORTENSIUS     And mine, my lord.
1, 2 VARRO’S SERVANTS And ours, my lord.
PHILOTUS     All our bills.
TIMON     Knock me down with ’em: cleave me to the
girdle.	90
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Alas, my lord –
TIMON     Cut my heart in sums.
TITUS     Mine, fifty talents.
TIMON     Tell out my blood.
LUCIUS’ SERVANT Five thousand crowns, my lord.	95
TIMON
Five thousand drops pays that. What yours? And yours?
VARRO’S 1 SERVANT My lord –
VARRO’S 2 SERVANT My lord –
TIMON     Tear me, take me, and the gods fall upon you!
Exit.
HORTENSIUS     Faith, I perceive our masters may throw	100
their caps at their money; these debts may well be
call’d desperate ones, for a madman owes ’em.
Exeunt.
Re-enter TIMON and Steward.
TIMON
They have e’en put my breath from me, the slaves.
Creditors? Devils!
STEWARD     My dear lord –
TIMON     What if it should be so?
STEWARD     My lord –	105
TIMON     I’ll have it so. My steward?
STEWARD     Here, my lord.
TIMON     So fitly? Go, bid all my friends again,
Lucius, Lucullus and Sempronius: all.
I’ll once more feast the rascals.
STEWARD     O my lord,
You only speak from your distracted soul;	110
There’s not so much left to furnish out
A moderate table.
TIMON     Be it not in thy care.
Go, I charge thee, invite them all, let in the tide
Of knaves once more; my cook and I’ll provide.
Exeunt.