To the conflicting elements expos'd, Answer mere nature,—bid them flatter thee; O! thou shalt find Tim. A fool of thee: Depart. Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did. Tim. I hate thee worse. Apem. Tim. Why? Thou flatter'st misery. Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff. To vex thee. Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Dost please thyself in't? A pem. Tim. Ay. What! a knave too? Apem. If thou didst put this sour-cold habit on The other, at high wish: Best state, contentless, Thou should'st desire to die, being miserable. 7 What! a knave too?] Timon had just called Apemantus fool, in consequence of what he had known of him by former acquaintance; but when Apemantus tells him that he comes to ver him, Timon determines that to ver is either the office of a villain or a fool; that to vex by design is villainy, to vex without design is folly. He then properly asks Apemantus whether he takes delight in vexing, and when he answers, yes, Timon replies,— What! a knave too? I before only knew thee to be a fool; but now I find thee likewise a knave. JOHNSON. 8 is crown'd before:] Arrives sooner at high wish; that is, at the completion of its wishes. JOHNSON. 9 Worse than the worst, content.] Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content. JOHNSON. Tim. Not by his breath', that is more miserable. Hadst thou, like us, from our first swath, proceeded Freely command, thou would'st have plung'd thyself The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts of men, 1 by his breath,] By his breath means in our author's language, by his voice or speech, and so in fact by his sentence. Shakspeare frequently uses the word in this sense. It has been twice used in this play. 2 Hadst thou, like us,] There is in this speech a sullen haughtiness, and malignant dignity, suitable at once to the lord and the man-hater. The impatience with which he bears to have his luxury reproached by one that never had luxury within his reach, is natural and graceful. JOHNSON. 3 -first swath,] From infancy. new-born child. 4 passive drugs of it —] or drudges. 5 precepts of respect,] Swath is the dress of a The icy precepts of respect" mean the cold admonitions of cautious prudence, that deliberately weighs the consequences of every action. 6 than I could frame employment ;] i. e. frame employment for. Shakspeare frequently writes thus. They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given ? I, that I am one now; Were all the wealth I have, shut up in thee, Thus would I eat it. Apem. [Eating a Root. Here; I will mend thy feast. [Offering him something. Tim. First mend my company, take away thyself. Apem. So I shall mend mine own, by the lack of thine. Tim. 'Tis not well mended so, it is but botch'd; If not, I would it were. Apem. What would'st thou have to Athens ? Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt, Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have. The best, and truest : Tim. 7 Thou hadst been a knave, and flatterer.] Dryden has quoted two verses of Virgil to show how well he could have written satires. Shakspeare has here given a specimen of the same power by a line bitter beyond all bitterness, in which Timon tells Apemantus, that he had not virtue enough for the vices which he condemns. I have heard Mr. Burke commend the subtilty of discrimination with which Shakspeare distinguishes the present character of Timon from that of Apemantus, whom to vulgar eyes he would now resemble. JOHNSON. Tim. Under that's above me. Where feed'st thou o'days, Apemantus? Apem. Where my stomach finds meat; or, rather, where I eat it. Tim. 'Would poison were obedient, and knew my mind! Apem. Where would'st thou send it? Tim. To sauce thy dishes. Apem. The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends: When thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but art despised 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 thou hadst hated medlers sooner, thou should'st have loved thyself better now. What man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means? Tim. Who, without those means thou talkest of, didst thou ever know beloved? Apem. Myself. Tim. I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a dog. Apem. What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers? Tim. Women nearest; but men, men are the things themselves. What would'st thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power? Apem. Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Would'st thou have thyself fall in the confusion of men, and remain a beast with the beasts? Apem. Ay, Timon. 8 delicacy. for too much curiosity;] i. e. for too much finical Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accused by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee; and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou should'st hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou would'st be killed by the horse: wert thou a horse, thou would'st be seized by the leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy safety were remotion'; and thy defence, absence. What beast could'st thou be, that were not subject to a beast? and what a beast art thou already, that seest not thy loss in transformation? Apem. If thou could'st please me with speaking to me, thou might'st have hit upon it here: The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts. Tim. How has the ass 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 else to do, I'll see thee again. Tim. When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beggar's dog, than Apemantus. 9 : the unicorn, &c.] The account given of the unicorn is this that he and the lion being enemies by nature, as soon as the lion sees the unicorn he betakes himself to a tree: the unicorn in his fury, and with all the swiftness of his course, running at him, sticks his horn fast in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him. 1 were remotion;] i. e. removal from place to place; or perhaps, remoteness. |