Enter APEMANTUS. More man? plague, plague! Apem. I was directed hither. Men report Be thou a flatterer now, and feek to thrive (28) 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 haft only affected to affume, and to seem the creature thou art not by nature, but by the force and compulfion of poverty. We must therefore restore; -Shame not thefe weeds. Apemantus in feveral other paffages of the scene reproaches him with his change of garb; -Why this fpade? this place? This flave-like habit? -Do not affume my likeness." If thou didst put this four cold habit on To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou Mr Warburton. To knaves, and all approachers: 'tis most just So long a madman, now a fool. What, thinkeft thou Candied with ice, cawdle thy morning tafte Of wreakful Heaven, whofe bare unhoused trunks Answer mere nature; bid them flatter thee; 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 flattereft mifery. Apem. I flatter not; but fay thou art a caitiff. Tim. Why dost thou feek me out? Apem. To vex thee. Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Doft please thyfelf in't? (29) (29) Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Doji p'cafe thyfelf in't? Apem. Ay. Tim. What! a knave too?] Mr Warburton propofes a correction here, which, though it oppofes the reading of all the printed copies, has great juftnefs and propriety in it. Ile would read; What! and know't too? VOL. X. Apem. Ay, Tim. What! a knave too? Apem. If thou didst put this four cold habit on To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou Doft it enforcedly: thou'dft courtier be, Wert thou not beggar. Willing mifery Out-lives in certain pomp; is crowned before: The one is filling ftill, never compleat ;' The other at high wish: best states contentless, Have a distracted and moft wretched being: Worfe than the worst, content. Thou fhouldft defire to die, being miferable. Tim. Not by his breath that is more miserable. Thou art a flave, whom Fortune's tender arm With favour never clafped, but bred a dog. Hadst thou, like us, from our firft fwath proceeded Through fweet degrees that this brief world affords, To fuch as may the paffive drugs of it [felf Freely command; thou wouldst have plunged thy- The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, the hearts of men The reafoning 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 abfard. The correction quite removes the abfurdity, and gives this fenfible rebuke: What! doft thou pleafe thyfelf in vexing me, and at the fame time know it to be, the office of a villain or fool? That never knew but better, is fome burden. Thy nature did commence in fufferance, time They never flattered thee. What hast thou given? Apem. Art thou proud yet? Thus would I eat it. up in thee, gone-- Get thee [Eating a root. Apem. Here, I will mend thy fealt. Tim. First mend my company, take away thy felf. (30) Apem. So I fhall mend my own, by the lack of thine. Tim. 'Tis not well mended fo, it is but botched; 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, so I have. Apem. Here is no ufe for gold. (30), First mend thy company, Thus the old copies; but common fenfe and the whole tenor of the context warrant that it fhould be-my company.-I obferve, Mr Rowe, in his octavo edition of our Poet, has likewife made this correction. Tim. The best and trueft: For here it fleeps, and does no hired harm. Where feedeft thou o' days, Apemantus? Apem. Where my ftomach finds meat; or rather where I eat it. Tim. Would poison were obedient, and knew my mind! Apem. Where wouldst thou fend it? Tim. To fauce thy dithes. Apem. The middle of humanity thou never knewelt, but the extremity of both ends. When thou waft in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much. curiofity; in thy rags thou knoweft none, but art defpifed for the contrary. There's a medlar for thee, eat it. Tim. On what I hate I feed not. Tim. Ay, though it look like thee. Apem. An th' hadft hated medlers fooner, thou fhouldft have loved thyfelf better now. What man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means? Tim. Who, without thofe means thou talkest of, didit thou ever know beloved? Apem. Myfelf. Tim. I understand thee, thou hadft some means to keep a dog. Apem. What things in the world canft thou nearest compare to thy flatterers? Tim. Women neareft; but men, men are the things themfelves. 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. |