And morfels unctious, greafes his pure mind,
That from it all confideration flips.

Enter Apemantus.

More man? plague! plague!

Apem. I was directed hither. Men report,
Thou doft affect my manners, and doft use them.
Tim. 'Tis then, because thou doft not keep a dog
Whom I would imitate; confumption catch thee!
Apem. This is in thee a nature but affected,
A poor unmanly melancholy, fprung

From change of fortune. Why this fpade? this place?
This flave-like habit, and these looks of care?
Thy flatt'rers yet wear filk, drink wine, lie foft;
Hug their difeas'd perfumes, and have forgot
That ever Timon was. Shame not thefe weeds, (22)}
By putting on the cunning of a carper.

Be thou a flatt'rer now, and feek to thrive
By That which has undone thee; hinge thy knee,
And let his very breath, whom thou'lt obferve,
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious ftrain,
And call it excellent. Thou waft told thus :
Thou gav'ft thine ears, like tapfters, that bid welcome
To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis moft juft
That thou turn rascal: hadft thou wealth again,
Rafcals fhould have't. Do not affume my likeness.
Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away my self.
Apem. Thou'ft caft away thy felf, being like thy felf,
So long a mad man, now a fool. What, think'st thou,
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,

(22) Shame not thefe Woods.] But how did Timon any more fhame the Woods by affuming the Character of a Cynick, than Apemantus did? The Poet certainly meant to make Apemantus fay, Don't difgrace this Garb, which thou hast only affected to affume; and to feem the Creature thou art not by Nature, but by the Force and Compulfion of Poverty. muft therefore restore,

Shame not thefe Weeds.

We

Apemantus, in several other Paffages of the Scene, reproaches him with his Change of Garb.

Will put thy fhirt on warm? will these moift trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle, page thy heels,
And skip when thou point'ft out? will the cold brook,
Candied with ice, cawdle thy morning tafte
To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit? Call the creatures,
Whose naked natures live in all the fpight

Of wreakful heav'n, whose bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,

Answer meer nature; bid them flatter thee;

Oh! thou fhalt find

Tim. A fool of thee; depart.

Apem. I love thee better now, than e'er I did.
Tim. I hate thee worse.

Apem. Why?

Tim. Thou flatt'rest misery.

Apem. I flatter not; but fay, thou art a caytiff.
Tim. Why doft thou feek me out?

Apem. To vex thee.

Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Do'ft please thy felf in't? (23)

Apem. Ay..

Tim. What! a knave too?

Apem. If thou didst put this fowre cold habit on

To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou
Doft it enforcedly: thou'dft Courtier be,

(23) Tim. Always a Villain's Office or a Fool's.

Do'ft pleafe thy felf in't?

Apem. Ay.

Tim. What a knave too?] Mr. Warburton proposes a Correction here, which, tho' it opposes the Reading of all the printed Copies, has great Justness and Propriety in it. He would read;

What! and know't too?

The Reasoning of the Text, as it ftands in the Books, is, in fome fort, concluding backward: or rather making a Knave's and Villain's Office different: which, furely, is abfurd. The Correction quite removes the Abfurdity, and gives this fenfible Rebuke. "What! Do'st thou please thy felf in vexing me, " and at the fame time know it to be the Office of a Villain or Feel?"

Wert

Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery
Out-lives incertain pomp; is crown'd before:
The one is filling ftill, never compleat;

The other, at high wifh: Beft ftates, contentless,
Have a diftracted and moft wretched being;
Worfe than the worft, content.

Thou shouldft defire to die, being miserable.
Tim. Not by his breath, that is more miferable.
Thou art a flave, whom fortune's tender arm
With favour never clafpt; but bred a dog.
Hadft thou, like us, from our firft fwath proceeded
Through sweet degrees that this brief world affords,
To fuch, as may the paffive drugs of it

Freely command; thou wouldst have plung'd thy felf
In general riot, melted down thy youth
In different beds of luft, and never learn'd
The icy precepts of refpect, but followed
The fugar'd game before thee. But my felf,
Who had the world as my confectionary,
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, the hearts of men
At duty, more than I could frame employments;
That numberless upon me ftuck, as leaves
Do on the oak; have with one winter's brush
Fall'n from their boughs, and left me open, bare
For every storm that blows. I to bear this,
That never knew but better, is fome burthen.
Thy nature did commence in fuff'rance, time
Hath made thee hard in't. Why shouldft thou hate men ?
They never flatter'd thee. What hast thou given?
If thou wilt curfe, thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy fubject; who in fpight put ftuff
To fome fhe-beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone
If thou hadst not been born the worlt of men,
Thou hadst been knave and flatterer.

Apem. Art thou proud yet?

Tim. Ay, that I am not thee.
Apem. I, that I was no prodigal.
Tim. I, that I am one now.

Were all the wealth I have, fhut up in thee,

gone

I'd give thee leave to hang it. Get thee
That the whole life of Athens were in this!
Thus would I eat it.

Apem. Here, I will mend thy feast.

[Eating a root.

Tim. Firft mend my company, take away thy felf.
Apem. So I fhall mend my own, by th' lack of thine.
Tim. 'Tis not well mended fo, it is but botcht;
If not, I would it were.

Apem. What wouldst thou have to Athens?
Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind; if thou wilt,
Tell them there, I have gold; look, fo I have.
Apem. Here is no ufe for gold.

Tim. The best and trueft:

For here it fleeps, and does no hired harm.
Apem. Where ly'ft o'nights, Timon?
Tim. Under that's above me.

Where feed'st thou o'days, Apemantus?

Apem. Where my ftomach finds meat; or rather, where I eat it.

Tim. 'Would poifon were obedient, and knew my mind!

Apem. Where would'st thou fend it ?

Tim. To fawce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never kneweft, but the extremity of both ends. When thou waft in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mockt thee for too much curiofity; in thy rags thou knoweft none, but art defpis'd for the contrary. There's a medlar for thee,

eat it.

Tim. On what I hate I feed not.
Apem. Doft hate a medlar ?

Tim. Ay, though it look like thee.

Apem. An th' hadft hated medlers fooner, thou fhouldft have loved thy felf better now. What man didft thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means?

Tim. Who, without thofe means thou talk'ft of, didst thou ever know beloved?

Apem. My felf.

Tim. I understand thee, thou hadft fome means to keep a dog.

Apem.

Apem. What things in the world canft thou nearest compare to thy flatterers?

Tim. Women nearest; but men, men, are the things themselves. What wouldst thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?

Apem. Give it the beafts, to be rid of the men.

Tim. Wouldst thou have thy self fall in the confufion of men, or remain a beast with the beasts?

Apem, Ay, Timon.

Tim. A beaftly ambition, which the Gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert a lion, the fox would beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would fufpect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accus'd by the afs; if thou wert the afs, thy dulnefs would torment thee; and ftill thou liv'dft but as a breakfast to the wolf. If thou wert the wolf, thy greedinefs would afflict thee; and oft thou fhouldft hazard thy life for thy dinner. Wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own felf the conqueft of thy fury. Wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be kill'd by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be feiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the fpots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life. All thy fafety were remotion, and thy defence absence. What beaft, couldst thou be, that were not fubject to a beast ? and what a beast art thou already, and feeft not thy loss in transformation !

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking to me,' thou might'ft have hit upon it here. The Commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

Tim. How has the afs broke the wall, that thou art out of the City ?

Apem. Yonder comes a Poet, and a Painter. The Plague of Company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it, and give way. When I know not what elfe to do, I'll fee thee again.

Tim. When there is nothing living but thee, thou fhalt be welcome.

I had rather be a Beggar's dog, than Apemantus.
VO L. VI.

H

Apem.