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520

Methinks thou art more honest now than wise;
For, by oppressing and betraying me,
Thou mightst have sooner got another service:
For many so arrive at second masters,

Upon their first lord's neck. But tell me

true

For I must ever doubt, though ne'er so sure-
Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous,

If not a usuring kindness and as rich men deal
gifts,

Expecting in return twenty for one?

Flav. No, my most worthy master; in whose breast Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late: You should have fear'd false times when you

did feast:

530

Suspect still comes where an estate is least. That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love,

Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind,

Care of your food and living; and, believe it,
My most honor'd lord,

For any benefit that points to me,

Either in hope or present, I'ld exchange
For this one wish, that you had power and
wealth

To requite me by making rich yourself.

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Tim. Look thee, 'tis so! Thou singly honest man,
Here, take: the gods, out of my misery,
Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and

happy;

But thus condition'd: thou shalt build from

men,

Hate all, curse all, show charity to none,
But let the famish'd flesh slide from the bone
Ere thou relieve the beggar: give to dogs
What thou deniest to men; let prisons swal-
low 'em,

Debts wither 'em to nothing: be men like blasted
woods,

their false bloods!

And may diseases lick up
And so farewell, and thrive.

Flav.

O, let me stay

And comfort you, my master.

Tim.

If thou hatest curses Stay not: fly, whilst thou art blest and free: 551 Ne'er see thou man, and let me ne'er see thee.

[Exeunt severally.

ACT FIFTH

SCENE I

The woods. Before Timon's cave.

Enter Poet and Painter; Timon watching them from his cave.

Pain. As I took note of the place, it cannot be far where he abides.

Poet. What's to be thought of him? does the rumor hold for true, that he's so full of gold?

Pain. Certain: Alcibiades reports it; Phrynia and Timandra had gold of him: he likewise enriched poor straggling soldiers with great quantity; 'tis said he gave unto his steward a mighty sum.

Poet. Then this breaking of his has been but a try for his friends.

Pain. Nothing else: you shall see him a palm in

10

"Enter Poet and Painter"; the Poet and Painter were within view when Apemantus parted from Timon; they must therefore be supposed to have been wandering about the woods in search of Timon's cave, and to have heard in the interim the particulars of Timon's bounty to the thieves and the steward. But, as Malone observes, Shakespeare was not attentive to these minute particulars, and if he and the audience knew these circumstances, he would not scruple to attribute the knowledge to persons who perhaps had not yet an opportunity of acquiring it.-H. N. H.

Athens again, and flourish with the highest. Therefore 'tis not amiss we tender our loves to him in this supposed distress of his: it will show honestly in us, and is very likely to load our purposes with what they travail for, if it be a just and true report that goes of his having. Poet. What have you now to present unto him? Pain. Nothing at this time but my visitation:

20

only I will promise him an excellent piece. Poet. I must serve him so too, tell him of an intent that's coming toward him. Pain. Good as the best. Promising is the very air o' the time: it opens the eyes of expectation: performance is ever the duller for his act; and, but in the plainer and simpler kind of people, the deed of saying is quite out of 30 use. To promise is most courtly and fashionable: performance is a kind of will or testament which argues a great sickness in his judgment that makes it.

[Timon comes from his cave, behind.

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34. "Timon comes ."; modern editions until Collier's make the entrance of Timon at the beginning of the act. Of course Timon, though still out of sight, has overheard the foregoing dialogue between the Poet and the Painter. It is also to be noted, that Timon continues unseen by the other speakers, and that what he says in this part of the scene is to be understood as spoken aside. As for what is said by Apemantus in the preceding scene,-"Yonder comes a poet and a painter," it is to be supposed that these latter, though then seen by Timon and Apemantus, did not see them. The original has no division of the acts; and the awkwardness of beginning Act v. as in modern editions was noted by Johnson; but no one has been able to hit upon a better place for the opening of it.-H. N. H.

Tim. [Aside] Excellent workman! thou canst not paint a man so bad as is thyself. Poet. I am thinking what I shall say I have provided for him: it must be a personating of himself; a satire against the softness of prosperity, with a discovery of the infinite 40 flatteries that follow youth and opulency. Tim. [Aside] Must thou needs stand for a villain in thine own work? wilt thou whip thine own faults in other men? Do so, I have gold for thee.

Poet. Nay, let's seek him:

Then do we sin against our own estate, When we may profit meet, and come too late. Pain. True;

When the day serves, before black-corner'd night,

Find what thou want'st by free and offer'd

light. Come.

51

39. "a satire"; the subject of this projected satire was Timon's case, not his person.-H. N. H.

50. "black-corner'd"; i. e. "hiding things in dark corners"; Hanmer, “black-corneted"; Warburton conj. "black-cornette"; Farmer conj. MS. "black-coroned"; Mason conj. "black-crowned"; Jackson conj. “dark-horned”; Singer conj. “black-curtain'd,” etc.—I. G.

"Many conjectures have been offered about this passage, which appears to me a corruption of the text. Some have proposed to read black-coned, alluding to the conical form of the earth's shadow; others black-crown'd, and black-cover'd. It appears to me that it should be black-curtain'd. We have 'the blanket of the dark' in Macbeth, 'night's black mantle' in the Third Part of King Henry VI, and in the First Part of the same drama 'night is fled, whose pitchy mantle overveil'd the earth.' I cannot think with Steevens that 'Night as obscure as a dark corner is meant" (Singer).— H. N. H.

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