Текст книги "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition"

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TIMON OF ATHENS

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AND THOMAS MIDDLETON

WE know no more of Timon of Athens than we can deduce from the text printed in the 1623 Folio. Some episodes, such as the emblematic opening dialogue featuring a Poet and a Painter, are elegantly finished, but the play has more unpolished dialogue and loose ends of plot than usual: for example, the episode (3.6) in which Alcibiades pleads for a soldier’s life is only tenuously related to the main structure; and the final stretch of action seems imperfectly worked out. Various theories of collaboration and revision have been advanced to explain the play’s peculiarities. During the 1970s and 1980s strong linguistic and other evidence was adduced in support of the belief that it is a product of collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton, a dramatist born in 1580 and educated at Queen’s College, Oxford, who was writing for the stage by 1602 and was to develop into a great playwright. The major passages for which Middleton seems to have taken prime responsibility are Act 1. Scene 2; all of Act 3 except for parts of Scene 7; and the closing episode (4.3.460-537) of Act 4. The theory of collaboration explains some features of the text—Middleton’s verse, for example, was less regular than Shakespeare’s. There is no record of early performance; the play is conjecturally assigned to 1605-6.

The story of Timon was well known and had been told in an anonymous play which seems to have been acted at one of the Inns of Court in 1602 or 1603. The classical sources of Timon’s story are a brief, anecdotal passage in Plutarch’s Life of Mark Antony, and a Greek dialogue by Lucian, who wrote during the second century AD, the former was certainly known to the authors of Timon of Athens; the latter influences them directly or indirectly. Plutarch records two epitaphs, one written by Timon himself, which recur, conflated as one epitaph, almost word for word in the play. In Lucian, as in the play, Timon is a misanthrope because his friends flattered and sponged on him in prosperity but abandoned him in poverty. The first part of the play dramatizes this process; in the second part, as in Lucian, Timon finds gold and suddenly becomes attractive again to his old friends.

Timon of Athens is an exceptionally schematic play falling into two sharply contrasting parts, the second a kind of mirror image of the first. Many of the characters are presented two-dimensionally, as if the dramatists were more concerned with the play’s pattern of ideas than with psychological realism. The overall tone is harsh and bitter; there are passages of magnificent invective along with brilliant satire, but there is also tenderness in the portrayal of Timon’s servants, especially his ‘one honest man’, Flavius. In the play’s comparatively rare performances some adaptation has usually been found necessary; but the exceptionally long role of Timon offers great opportunities to an actor who can convey his vulnerability as well as his virulence, especially in the strange music of the closing scenes which suggests in him a vision beyond the ordinary.

THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY

The Life of Timon of Athens

1.1 Enter Poet ⌈at one door⌉, Painter carrying a picture [at another door], [followed by] Jeweller, Merchant, and Mercer, at several doors

POET

Good day, sir.

PAINTER I am glad you’re 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,

Magic of bounty, all these spirits thy power

Hath conjured to attend.

⌈Merchant and Jeweller meet. Mercer passes over

the stage, and exits⌉

I know the merchant.

PAINTER

I know them both. Th’other’s a jeweller.

MERCHANT (to Jeweller)

O, ’tis a worthy lord!

JEWELLER Nay, that’s most fixed.

MERCHANT

A most incomparable man, breathed, as it were,

To an untirable and continuate goodness.

He passes.

JEWELLER (showing a jewel) 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 (to himself)

‘When we for recompense have praised the vile,

It stains the glory in that happy verse

Which aptly sings the good.’

MERCHANT (to Jeweller) ’Tis a good form.

JEWELLER

And rich. Here is a water, look ye.

PAINTER (to Poet)

You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication

To the great lord.

POET A thing slipped idly from me.

Our poesy is as a gum which oozes

From whence ‘tis nourished. The fire i’th’ flint

Shows not till it be struck; our gentle flame

Provokes itself, and like the current flies

Each bound it chafes. What have you there?

PAINTER

A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?

POET

Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.

Let’s see your piece.

PAINTER (showing the picture) ’Tis a good piece.

POET

So ’tis. This comes off well and excellent.

PAINTER

Indifferent.

POET Admirable. How this grace

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.

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

PAINTER How this lord is followed!

POET

The senators of Athens. Happy man!

PAINTER Look, more.

⌈The Senators pass over the stage, and exeunt]

POET

You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.

I have in this rough work shaped out a man

Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug

With amplest entertainment. My free drift

Halts not particularly, but moves itself

In a wide sea of tax. No levelled malice

Infects one comma in the course I hold,

But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,

Leaving no tract behind.

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

Their service 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-faced flatterer

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.

PAINTER I saw them speak together.

POET

Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill

Feigned Fortune to be throned. The base o’th’ mount

Is ranked 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 fixed

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 conceived to scope.

This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,

With one man beckoned from the rest below,

Bowing his head against the steepy mount

To climb his happiness, would be well expressed

In our condition.

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,

Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,

Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him

Drink the free air.

PAINTER Ay, marry, what of these?

POET

When Fortune in her shift and change of mood

Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,

Which laboured after him to the mountain’s top

Even on their knees and hands, let him fall down,

Not one accompanying his declining foot.

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

The foot above the head.

Trumpets sound. Enter Timon [wearing a rich

jewell, with a Messenger from Ventidius; Lucilius

⌈and other Servants] attending. Timon addresses

himself courteously to every suitor, then speaks to

the Messenger

TIMON Imprisoned 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

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,

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 enfranchised, bid him come to me.

’Tis not enough to help the feeble up,

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 named Lucilius.

TIMON I have so. What of him?

OLD ATHENIAN

Most noble Timon, call the man before thee.

TIMON

Attends he here or no? Lucilius!

LUCILIUS (coming forward) 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

That from my first have been inclined to thrift,

And my estate deserves an heir more raised

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.

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.

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.

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

Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,

And dispossess her all.

TIMON How shall she be endowed

If she be mated with an equal husband?

OLD ATHENIAN

Three talents on the present; in future, all.

TIMON

This gentleman of mine hath served me long.

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.

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.

Exeunt Lucilius and Old Athenian

POET (presenting a poem to Timon)

Vouchsafe my labour, and long live your lordship!

TIMON

I thank you. You shall hear from me anon.

Go not away. (To Painter) 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;

For since dishonour traffics with man’s nature,

He is but outside; these pencilled 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!

TIMON

Well fare you, gentleman. Give me your hand.

We must needs dine together. (To Jeweller) Sir, your jewel

Hath suffered under praise.

JEWELLER What, my lord, dispraise?

TIMON

A mere satiety of commendations.

If I should pay you for’t as ’tis extolled

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 mocked.

MERCHANT

No, my good lord, he speaks the common tongue

Which all men speak with him.

Enter Apemantus

TIMON Look who comes here.

Will you be chid?

JEWELLER We will bear, with your lordship.

MERCHANT He’ll spare none.

TIMON

Good morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus.

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.

APEMANTUS Then I repent not.

JEWELLER You know me, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS

Thou know’st I do. I called thee by thy name.

TIMON Thou art proud, Apemantus!

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’It die for.

APEMANTUS Right, if doing nothing be death by th’ law.

TIMON

How likest 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, and yet he’s but a filthy piece of work.

PAINTER You’re a dog.

APEMANTUS Thy mother’s of my generation. What’s she, if I be a dog?

TIMON Wilt dine with me, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS No, I eat not lords.

TIMON An thou shouldst, thou’dst anger ladies.

APEMANTUS O, they eat lords. So they come by great bellies.

TIMON

That’s a lascivious apprehension.

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 cost a man a doit.

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?

APEMANTUS Yes.

POET Then I lie not.

APEMANTUS Art not a poet?

POET Yes.

APEMANTUS Then thou liest. Look in thy last work, where thou hast feigned him a worthy fellow.

POET That’s not feigned, 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!

TIMON What wouldst do then, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS E’en as Apemantus does now: hate a lord with my heart.

TIMON What, thyself?

APEMANTUS Ay.

TIMON Wherefore?

APEMANTUS That I had no augury but to be a lord.-Art not thou a merchant?

MERCHANT Ay, Apemantus.

APEMANTUS

Traffic confound thee, if the gods will not!

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

All of companionship.

TIMON (to Servants)

Pray entertain them. Give them guide to us.

[Exit one or more Servants]

[To Jeweller] You must needs dine with me.

[To Poet] Go not you hence

Till I have thanked you. [To Painter] When dinner’s done

Show me this piece. [To all] I am joyful of your sights.

Enter Alcibiades with [his horsemen]

Most welcome, sir!

APEMANTUS [aside] So, so, there.

Aches contract and starve your supple joints!

That there should be small love ’mongst these sweet

knaves,

And all this courtesy! The strain of man’s bred out

Into baboon and monkey.

ALCIBIADES (to Timon)

Sir, you have saved my longing, and I feed

Most hungrily 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

FIRST LORD

What time o’ day is’t, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS

Time to be honest.

FIRST LORD That time serves still.

APEMANTUS

The most accursed thou, that still omitt’st it.

SECOND LORD

Thou art going to Lord Timon’s feast?

APEMANTUS

Ay, to see meat fill knaves, and wine heat fools.

SECOND LORD Fare thee well, fare thee well.

APEMANTUS

Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice.

SECOND LORD Why, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give thee none.

FIRST LORD Hang thyself

APEMANTUS No, I will do nothing at thy bidding. Make thy requests to thy friend.

SECOND LORD Away, unpeaceable dog, or I’ll spurn thee hence.

APEMANTUS I will fly, like a dog, the heels o’th’ ass.

Exit

FIRST LORD

He’s opposite to humanity. Come, shall we in,

And taste Lord Timon’s bounty? He outgoes

The very heart of kindness.

SECOND 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

All use of quittance.

FIRST LORD The noblest mind he carries

That ever governed man.

SECOND LORD

Long may he live in fortunes! Shall we in?

⌈FIRST LORD⌉ I’ll keep you company. Exeunt

1.2 Hautboys playing loud music. A great banquet served in, ⌈Flavius and Servants attending⌉; and then enter Timon, Alcibiades, the Senators, the Athenian Lords, and Ventidius which Timon redeemed from prison. Then comes, dropping after all, Apemantus, discontentedly, like himself

VENTIDIUS

Most honoured Timon, it hath pleased 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

To your free heart, I do return those talents,

Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help

I derived liberty.

TIMON O, by no means,

Honest Ventidius. You mistake my love.

I gave it freely ever, and there’s none

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!

⌈The Lords stand with ceremony⌉

TIMON Nay, my lords,

Ceremony was but devised at first

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.

⌈They sit⌉

FIRST LORD

My lord, we always have confessed it.

APEMANTUS

Ho, ho, confessed it? Hanged 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.

TIMON

Fie, thou‘rt a churl. Ye’ve got a humour there

Does not become a man; ’tis much to blame.

They say, my lords, Ira furor brevis est,

But yon man is ever angry.

Go, let him have a table by himself,

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; thou’rt an Athenian,

Therefore 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 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 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, Lest they should spy my windpipe’s dangerous notes. Great men should drink with harness on their throats.

TIMON (drinking to a Lord)

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

SECOND LORD

Let it flow this way, my good lord.

APEMANTUS ‘Flow this way’? A brave fellow; he keeps 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.

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

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.

Amen. So fall to’t.

Rich men sin, and I eat root.

⌈He eats⌉

Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus.

TIMON Captain Alcibiades, your heart’s in the field now.

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.

ALCISIADES So they were bleeding new, my lord; there’s no meat like ’em. I could wish my best friend at such a feast.

APEMANTUS

Would all those flatterers were thine enemies then,

That thou mightst kill ‘em and bid me to ’em.

FIRST LORD (to Timon) Might we but have that happiness, my lord, 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 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 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 themselves.’ Why, I have often wished 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 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, Timon.

SECOND LORD (to Timon)

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.

THIRD LORD (to Timon)

I promise you, my lord, you moved me much.

APEMANTUS Much!

A tucket sounds within

TIMON What means that trump?

Enter a Servant

How now?

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, which bears that office to signify their pleasures.

TIMON I pray let them be admitted.

Enter one as 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 plenteous bosom. Th’ear,

Taste, touch, smell, all, pleased 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

⌈FIRST LORD⌉

You see, my lord, how ample you’re beloved.

Music. Enter a masque of Ladies as Amazons, with lutes in their hands, dancing and playing

APEMANTUS

Hey-day, what a sweep of vanity comes this way!

They dance? They are madwomen.

Like madness is the glory of this life

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.

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.

Men shut their doors against a setting sun.

The Lords rise from table with much adoring of

Timon; and to show their loves each singles 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,

And entertained me with mine own device.

I am to thank you for’t.

FIRST ⌈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.

TIMON

Ladies, there is an idle banquet ’tends you.

Please you to dispose yourselves.

ALL LADIES Most thankfully, my lord. Exeunt Ladies

TIMON Flavius.

FLAVIUS My lord.

TIMON The little casket bring me hither.

FLAVIUS Yes, my lord. (Aside) More jewels yet?

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 crossed then, an he could.

’Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind,

That man might ne’er be wretched for his mind. Exit

FIRST LORD Where be our men?

SERVANT Here, my lord, in readiness.

SECOND LORD Our horses. ⌈Exit Servant⌉

Enter Flavius with the casket. He gives it to Timon, ⌈and exits⌉

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

As to advance this jewel. Accept and wear it,

Kind my lord.

FIRST LORD

I am so far already in your gifts.

ALL LORDS So are we all.

Timon gives them jewels.

Enter a Servant

FIRST SERVANT My lord, there are certain nobles of the senate newly alighted and come to visit you.

TIMON They are fairly welcome. Exit Servant

Enter Flavius

FLAVIUS I beseech your honour, vouchsafe me a word; it does concern you near.

TIMON

Near? Why then, another time I’ll hear thee.

I prithee, let’s be provided to show them entertainment.

FLAVIUS I scarce know how.

Enter a Second Servant

SECOND SERVANT

May it please your honour, Lord Lucius

Out of his free love hath presented to you

Four milk-white horses trapped in silver.

TIMON

I shall accept them fairly. Let the presents

Be worthily entertained.

Exit Servant

Enter a Third Servant

How now, what news?

THIRD 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 greyhounds.

TIMON

I’ll hunt with him, and let them be received

Not without fair reward. Exit Servant

FLAVIUS (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 forced out.

Happier is he that has no friend to feed

Than such that do e’en enemies exceed.

I bleed inwardly for my lord. Exit

TIMON (to the Lords) You do yourselves

Much wrong, you bate too much of your own merits.

(To Second Lord) Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.

SECOND LORD

With more than common thanks I will receive it.

THIRD LORD

O, he’s the very soul of bounty!

TIMON (to First Lord) And now I remember, my lord, you gave good words the other day of a bay courser I rode on. ’Tis yours, because you liked it.

FIRST 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 friends’ affection with mine own.

I’ll tell you true, I’ll call to you.

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,

Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich.

⌈Giving a present⌉ It comes in charity to thee, for all

thy living

Is ’mongst the dead, and all the lands thou hast

Lie in a pitched field.

ALCIBIADES Ay, defiled land, my lord.

FIRST LORD We are so virtuously bound—

TIMON And so am I to you.

SECOND LORD So infinitely endeared—

TIMON All to you. Lights, more lights!

FIRST LORD

The best of happiness, honour, and fortunes

Keep with you, Lord Timon.

TIMON Ready for his friends.

Exeunt all but Timon and 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.

Methinks false hearts should never have sound legs.

Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on curtseys.

TIMON

Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen

I would be good to thee.

APEMANTUS No, I’ll nothing; for if I should be bribed 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?

TIMON Nay, an 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. O, that men’s ears

should be

To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

Exit