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comest to me, that this is no time to lend money, especially upon bare friendship, without security. Here's three solidares for thee: good boy, wink at me, and thou saw'st me not. Fare thee well. Flam. Is 't possible the world should so much differ,

say

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And we alive that lived? Fly, damned base

ness,

To him that worships thee!

[Throwing back the money.

Lucul. Ha! now I see thou art a fool, and fit

for thy master.

[Exit.

Flam. 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, 60
It turns in less than two nights? O you gods,
I feel my master's passion! this slave,

49. "solidares"; Steevens says, "I believe this coin is from the mint of the Poet." We are not to look for the name of a Greek coin here; but he probably formed it from solidari, or soldi, a small coin. -H. N. H.

53. "And we alive that lived"; i. e. in so short a time.-I. G. 58. "Let molten coin be thy damnation"; cp. the old ballad, "The Dead Man's Song":

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"And ladles full of melted gold

Were poured down their throats."-I. G.

One of the punishments invented for the covetous and avaricious in hell of old was, to have melted gold poured down their throats. In the old Shepherd's Calendar Lazarus declares himself to have seen covetous men and women in hell dipped in caldrons of molten metal.-H. N. H.

62-63. "slave, Unto his honor"; Steevens' reading; Ff., "Slave unto his honor"; Pope, "slave Unto this hour"; Collier MS., "slave

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Unto his honor, has my lord's meat in him:
Why should it thrive and turn to nutriment,
When he is turn'd to poison?

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.

SCENE II

A public place.

Enter Lucius, with three Strangers. Luc. Who, the Lord Timon? he is my very good friend, and an honorable gentleman. First Stran. 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 rumors: now Lord Timon's happy hours are done and past, and his estate shrinks from him.

Luc. Fie, no, do not believe it; he cannot want

for money.

Sec. Stran. But believe you this, my lord, that

10

unto his humor"; Staunton, "slave Unto dishonor"; but the words are probably spoken ironically.-I. G.

Lucullus, it is insinuated, is a slave who had been honored by admission to Timon's feasts.-C. H. H.

69. "prolong his hour"; that is, prolong his hour of suffering. Thus Timon in a future passage says, "Live loath'd and long!" And in Coriolanus, Menenius says to the Volscian sentinel, "Be that you are, long, and your misery increase with your age."-H. N. H.

7

not long ago one of his men was with the
Lord Lucullus to borrow so many talents;
nay, urged extremely for 't, and showed
what necessity belonged to 't, and yet was
denied.

Luc. How!

Sec. Stran. I tell you, denied, my lord. Luc. What a strange case was that! now, before the gods, I am ashamed on 't. Denied that 20 honorable man! there was very little honor showed in 't. For my own part, I must needs confess, I have received some small kindnesses from him, as money, plate, jewels, and suchlike 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.

Ser. See, by good hap, yonder 's my lord; I have sweat to see his honor. My honored 30 lord!

Luc. Servilius! you are kindly met, sir. Fare thee well: commend me to thy honorable virtuous lord, my very exquisite friend.

13. "so many"; changed by Theobald to "fifty"; so, too, in line 43; but the figures are very doubtful, and "fifty-five hundred talents," in 1. 45, is obviously a mere exaggeration.-I. G.

A common colloquial phrase for an indefinite number: the stranger apparently did not know the exact sum; and yet some editors have arbitrarily substituted "fifty talents."-H. N. H.

26. "mistook him,” etc., i. e. "made the mistake and applied to me"; Hanmer, "o'erlooked"; Warburton, “mislook'd"; Johnson conj. "not mistook."-I. G.

Ser. May it please your honor, my lord hath

sent

Luc. Ha! what has he sent? I am so much en-
deared to that lord; he 's ever sending: how
shall I thank him, think'st thou? And
what has he sent now?
Ser. Has only sent his present occasion now,
my lord; requesting your lordship to supply
his instant use with so many talents.

Luc. I know his lordship is but merry with me;
He cannot want fifty five hundred talents.
Ser. But in the mean time he wants less, my lord.
If his occasion were not virtuous,

I should not urge it half so faithfully. Luc. Dost thou speak seriously, Servilius? Ser. Upon my soul, 'tis true, sir.

Luc. What a wicked beast was I to disfurnish myself against such a good time, when I might ha' shown myself honorable! how unluckily it happened, that I should purchase the day before for a little part, and undo a great deal of honor! Servilius, now, before the gods, I am not able to do the more

beast, I say:-I was sending to use Lord

40

50

43. "so many"; such is again the reading the old copy supplies; some modern editors have here again substituted "fifty talents." But this was the phraseology of the Poet's age.—H. N. H.

55. "for a little part"; Theobald, "for a little dirt"; Hanmer, “a little dirt"; Heath conj. "for a little profit"; Johnson conj. "for a little park"; Mason conj. "for a little port"; Jackson conj. “for a little part"; Bailey conj. “for a little sport"; Kinnear conj. “for a little pomp." Steevens explains the passage thus:-"By purchasing what brought me little honor, I have lost the more honorable opportunity of supplying the wants of my friend.”—I. G.

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 honor will conceive the fairest of me, because I have 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 honorable gentleman. Good Servilius, will you befriend me so far as to use mine own words to him? Ser. Yes, sir, I shall.

70

Luc. I'll look you out a good turn, Servilius.
[Exit Servilius.

True, as you said, Timon is shrunk indeed;
And he that's once denied will hardly speed.

[Exit.

First Stran. Do you observe this, Hostilius?
Sec. Stran.
Aye, too well.
First Stran. Why, this is the world's soul; and just
of the same piece

Is

every flatterer's spirit. Who can call him His friend that dips in the same dish? for, in My knowing, Timon has been this lord's father, And kept his credit with his purse;

80

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;
And yet-O, see the monstrousness of man
When he looks out in an ungrateful shape!-

76. "spirit," Theobald's correction of Ff., "sport"; Collier MS., “port.”—I. G.

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