ACT II.

SCENE I.-Athens. A Room in a Senator's House.

Enter a Senator with papers in his hand.

*

SEN. And late, five thousand ;-to Varro and to Isidore
He owes nine thousand ;-besides my former sum,
Which makes it five and twenty.-Still in motion
Of raging waste! It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog,
And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold:
If I would sell my horse, and buy tena more
Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me straight,
Tenable horses: no portere at his gate;
But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can found† his state in safety. Caphis, ho!
Caphis, I say!

САРН.

Enter CAPHIS.

Here, sir; what is your pleasure?

SEN. Get on your cloak, and haste you to lord Timon;
Impórtune him for my monies; be not ceas'd

With slight denial; nor then silenc'd, when-
Commend me to your master-and the cap

Plays in the right hand, thus:-but tell him, sirrah,‡
My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn

Out of mine own; his days and times are past,

And my reliances on his fracted dates

Have smit my credit: I love and honour him;
But must not break my back to heal his finger:
Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be toss'd and turn'd to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspéct,

A visage of demand; for, I do fear,
When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,

Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
CAPH. I go, sir.

(*) Old text, moe.

(†) Old text, sound.

(+) First folio omits, sirrah.

C

Ten-] This is Pope's emendation, the old text having "twenty."
Ten-1 So Theobald. The old text reads-" And able horses.'

No porter-] From what follows we may suspect the original had "no grim porter."

VOL. IV.

SCENE II.-The Same. A Hall in Timon's House.

Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand.

FLAV. No care, no stop! so senseless of expense
That he will neither know how to maintain it,
Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account
How things go from him; nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue; never mind

Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.

What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel:

I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.
Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of ISIDORE and VARRO.
САРН.
Good even, Varro: what,

You come for money?

VAR. SERV.

Is 't not your business too?

CAPH. It is ;-and yours too, Isidore?
ISID. SERV.

CAPH. Would we were all discharg'd!

VAR. SERV.

CAPH. Here comes the lord.

It is so.

I fear it.

Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, Lords, &c.

TIM. So soon as dinner's done, we'll forth again, My Alcibiades. With me? what is your will? CAPH. My lord, here is a note of certain dues. TIM. Dues! whence are you?

САРН.

TIM. Go to my steward.

Of Athens here, my lord.

The repetition of "I go, sir," was, in all probability, an error of the copyist or compositor.

b And have the dates in compt.] Theobald's amendment of the old text, which reads—

"And have the dates in. Come."

e Nor resumes no care, &c.] The old text reads "nor resume no care," &c., for which Mr. Collier's annotator, with much plausibility, substitutes,-“no reserves, no care," &c., according to Mr. Collier's last edition of Shakespeare; or, "no reserve; no care," &c., if we are to believe his monovolume edition, and the supplemental volume of "Notes and Emendations," &c.

d Good even, Varro:] The old stage direction is, "Enter Caphis, Isidore, and Varro;" the two latter, though addressed by their masters' names, it is clear, from what follows, are only servants.

CAPH. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off,
To the succession of new days, this month:
My master is awak'd by great occasion,
To call upon his own; and humbly prays you,
That with your other noble parts you'll suit,
In giving him his right.

TIM.
Mine honest friend,
I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.

CAPH. Nay, good my lord,-
TIM.
Contain thyself, good friend.
VAR. SERV. One Varro's servant, my good lord,-
ISID. SERV.

He humbly prays your speedy payment,—

From Isidore;

CAPH. If you did know, my lord, my master's wants,—

VAR. SERV. 'T was due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks and past. ISID. SERV. Your steward puts me off, my lord, and I

Am sent expressly to your lordship.

TIM.

Give me breath :

I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;
I'll wait upon you instantly.

Come hither: pray you,

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES and Lords.

How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd
With clamorous demands of date-broke* bonds,
And the detention of long-since-due debts,

Against my honour?

FLAV.
Please you, gentlemen,
The time is unagreeable to this business:
Your importunacy cease till after dinner;
That I may make his lordship understand
Wherefore you are not paid.

TIM.

See them well entertained.

FLAV.

[TO FLAVIUS.

Do so, my friends :

Pray, draw near.

[Exit TIMON. [Exit FLAVIUS.

Enter APEMANTUS and Fool.

CAPH. Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus; let's have

some sport with 'em.

VAR. SERV. Hang him, he'll abuse us.

VAR. SERV. How dost, fool?

ISID. SERV. A plague upon him, dog!

APEM. Dost dialogue with thy shadow?

VAR. SERV. I speak not to thee.

APEM. No; 't is to thyself.-Come away.

[To the Fool.

ISID. SERV. [TO VAR. SERV.] There's the fool hangs on your back

already.

APEM. No, thou stand'st single, thou art not on him yet.

CAPH. Where's the fool now?

APEM. He last asked the question.-Poor rogues, and usurers' men! bawds between gold and want!

(*) Old text, debt, broken.

ALL SERV. What are we, Apemantus?

APEM. Asses.

ALL SERV. Why?

APEM. That you ask me what you are, and do not know yourselves. -Speak to 'em, fool.

are.

FOOL. How do you, gentlemen?

ALL SERV. Grainercies, good fool: how does your mistress?

FOOL. She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens as you Would we could see you at Corinth!

APEM. Good! gramercy.

FOOL. Look you, here comes my mistress'* page.

Enter Page.

PAGE. [To the Fool.] Why, how now, captain! what do you in this wise company? How dost thou, Apemantus?

APEM. Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee profitably.

PAGE. Prythee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of these letters; I know not which is which.

APEM. Canst not read?

PAGE. No.

APEM. There will little learning die, then, that day thou art hanged. This is to lord Timon; this to Alcibiades. Go; thou wast born a bastard, and thou 'lt die a bawd.

PAGE. Thou wast whelped a dog, and thou shalt famish a dog's death. Answer not, I am gone. [Exit Page. APEM. E'en so thou out-runn'st grace. Fool, I will go with you to lord Timon's.

FOOL. Will you leave me there?

APEM. If Timon stay at home.-You three serve three usurers? ALL SERV. Ay; would they served us!

APEM. So would I,-as good a trick as ever hangman served thief. FOOL. Are you three usurers' men?

ALL SERV. Ay, fool.

FOOL. I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant: my mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house merrily, and go away sadly: The reason of this? VAR. SERV. I could render one.

APEM. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster and a knave; which, notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteemed. VAR. SERV. What is a whoremaster, fool?

FOOL. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. T is a spirit: sometime, it appears like a lord; sometime, like a lawyer; sometime, like a philosopher, with two stones more than his artificial one: he is very often like a knight; and, generally, in all shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit walks in.

VAR. SERV. Thou art not altogether a fool.

(*) Old text, Masters.

(†) First folio, moe.

FOOL. Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackest.

APEM. That answer might have become Apemantus.

ALL SERV. Aside, aside; here comes lord Timon.
APEM. Come with me, fool, come.

FOOL. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman; sometime, the philosopher. [Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool.

Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS.

FLAV. Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you anon.

[Exeunt Servants.

TIM. You make me marvel: wherefore, ere this time,
Had you not fully laid my state before me,
That I might so have rated my expense,

As I had leave of means.

FLAV.

You would not hear me;

At many leisures I propos'd.*
TIM.
Go to:
Perchance some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back;
And that unaptness made your minister,a
Thus to excuse yourself.

FLAV.

O my good lord!

At many times I brought in my accounts,b
Laid them before you, you would throw them off,
And say, you found† them in mine honesty.
When, for some trifling present, you have bid me
Return so much, I have shook my head and wept;
Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more close: I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight checks, when I have
Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate,

And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd‡ lord,
Though you hear now, too late! yet now's a time,
The greatest of your having lacks a half

To pay your present debts."

TIM.
Let all my land be sold.
FLAV. "T is all engag'd, some forfeited and gone;
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth

Of present dues: the future comes apace:
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning!

TIM. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.
FLAV. O my good lord, the world is but a word:

(*) First folio, propose. (T) First folio, sound. (+) First folio omits, dear.

And that unaptness made your minister,-] That unaptness became, or was made, &c.

b At many times I brought in my accounts,-] The import is, "At many times when I brought in my accounts," &c.

Return so much-] As Malone observes, he does not mean so great a sum, but a certain sum, as it might happen to be.