1 Lord. Might we but have that happiness, my, lord, that you would once use our hearts, whereby we might express some part of our zeals, we should think ourselves for ever perfect.

Tim. O, no doubt, my good friends, but the gods themselves have provided that I shall have much help from you: How had you been my friends else? why have you that charitable title from thousands, did you not chiefly belong to my heart? I have told more of you to myself, than you can with modesty speak in your own behalf; and thus far I confirm you. O, you gods, think I, what need we have any friends, if we should never have need of them? they were the most needless creatures living, should we ne'er have use for them; and would most resemble sweet instruments hung up in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves. Why, I have often wished myself poorer, that I might come nearer to you. We are born to do benefits: and what better or properer can we call our own, than the riches of our friends? O, what a precious comfort 'tis, to have so many, like brothers, commanding one another's fortunes! O joy, e'en made away ere it can be born! Mine eyes cannot hold out water, methinks: to forget their faults, I drink to you.

Apem. Thou weepest to make them drink, Timon. 2 Lord. Joy had the like conception in our eyes. 3 Lord. I promise you, my lord, you mov'd me much.

Apem. Much ! 9

Tim. What means that trump?

Enter a Servant.

[Tucket sounded. How now?

Would one day stamp upon me: It has been done;
Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
The Lords rise from Table with much adoring of
TIMON; and to show their Loves, each singles out
an Amazon, and all dance, Men with Women, a
lofty Strain or two to the Hautboys, and cease.
Tim. You have done our pleasures much grace,
fair ladies,

Set a fair fashion on our entertainment,
Which was not half so beautiful and kind;
You have added worth unto't, and lively lustre,
And entertain'd me with mine own device;
I am to thank you for it.

1 Lady. My lord, you take us even at the best.
Tim. Ladies, there is an idle banquet
Attends you: Please you to dispose yourselves.
All Lad. Most thankfully, my lord.

Tim. Flavius, Flav. My lord. Tim.

[Exeunt CUPID, and Ladies,

The little casket bring me hither. Flav. Yes, my lord. - More jewels yet! There is no crossing him in his humour; [Aside. Else I should tell him,-Well,-i'faith, I should, When all's spent, he'd be cross'd1 then, an he could. 'Tis pity, bounty had not eyes behind; That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind. ? [Exit, and returns with the Casket.

1 Lord. Where be our men? Serv.

2 Lord. Our horses. Tim. To say to you:

Here, my lord, in readiness.

O my friends, I have one word Look you, my good lord, I must

Tim. Ladies? what are their wills?

Serv. There comes with them a forerunner, my lord, which bears that office, to signify their pleasures. Tim. I pray, let them be admitted.

Advance this jewel;

Accept, and wear it, kind my lord.

1 Lord. I am so far already in your gifts, All. So are we all.

Enter a Servant.

Flav. [Aside.]

He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
And all out of an empty coffer.

Nor will he know his purse; or yield me this,
To show him what a beggar his heart is,
Being of no power to make his wishes good;
His promises fly so beyond his state,
That what he speaks is all in debt, he owes
For every word; he is so kind, that he now
Pays interest for't; his land's put to their books.
Well, 'would I were gently put out of office,
Before I were forc'd out!

Happier is he that has no friend to feed,
Than such as do even enemies exceed.

I bleed inwardly for my lord.
Tim.

[Exit.

You do yourselves Much wrong, you bate too much of your own merits: Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.

2 Lord. With more than common thanks I will receive it.

3 Lord. O, he is the very soul of bounty! Tim. And now I remember me, my lord, you gave Good words the other day of a bay courser I rode on it is yours, because you lik'd it.

2 Lord. I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, in

Ay, defiled land, my lord. 1 Lord. We are so virtuously bound, Tim.

Am I to you.

2 Lord.

And so

So infinitely endear'd,

The best of happiness,

Tim. All to you.4— Lights, more lights.

1 Lord.

Honour, and fortunes, keep with you, lord Timon! Tim. Ready for his friends.

Apem.

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES, Lords, &c. What a coil's here! I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs: Methinks, false hearts should never have sound legs. Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on court'sies. Tim. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen, I'd be good to thee.

Apem.
No, I'll nothing: for,
If I should be brib'd too, there would be none left
To rail upon thee; and then thou wouldst sin the
faster.

Thou giv'st so long, Timon, I fear me, thou
Wilt give away thyself in paper shortly:
What needs these feasts, pomps, and vain glories?
Tim.

An you begin to rail on society once,
I am sworn, not to give regard to you.
Farewell; and come with better musick.
Арет.

Nay,

[Erit.

So;

Thou'lt not hear me now, - thou shalt not then, I'll

lock

Thy heaven from thee. O, that men's ears should be To counsel deaf, but not to flattery! [Exit.

SCENE I. - 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 twenty more
Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me, straight,
And able horses: No porter 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!

Plays in the right hand, thus: - but tell him, sirralı,
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.

Sen. I go, sir?- take the bonds along with you, And have the dates in compt.

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. 'Tis 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; Were it all yours to give it in a breath, How quickly were it gone?

You tell me true.

Tim. Flav. If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood, Call me before the exactest auditors,

And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices 7 have been oppress'd

With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,
And set mine eyes at flow.

Tim.

Pry'thee, no more.

Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have slaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's? What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is lord

That my occasions have found time to use them
Toward a supply of money: let the request
Be fifty talents.
Flam.

As you have said, my lord.

Flav. Lord Lucius, and lord Lucullus? humph! [Aside. Tim. Go you, sir, [To another Serv.] to the senators,

(Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deserv'd this hearing,) bid 'em send o' the instant A thousand talents to me.

Flav.

I have been bold, (For that I knew it the most general way,) To them to use your signet, and your name; But they do shake their heads, and I am here No richer in return. Tim. Is't true? can it be? Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry you are honourable,

But yet they could have wish'd — they know notbut

Something hath been amiss — a noble nature
May catch a wrench - would all were well — 'tis
pity-

And so, intending 9 other serious matters,
After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps, and cold-moving nods,
They froze me into silence.

lately

Buried his father; by whose death, he's stepp'd
Into a great estate: when he was poor,
Imprison'd, and in scarcity of friends,

I clear'd him with five talents; Greet him from me;
Bid him suppose, some good necessity
Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd
With those five talents: :- that had,[To FLAV.]

give it these fellows
To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think,
That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink.
Flav. I would, I could not think it; that thought

is bounty's foe;

Being free 3 itself, it thinks all others so. [Exeunt.

Intending had anciently the same meaning as attending. A half-cap is a cap slightly moved, not put off. 2 For ingenuously. 3 Liberal, not parsimonious.

Serv. Here's my Lucul. [Aside.] One of lord Timon's men? a gift, I warrant. Why this hits right; I dreamt of a silver bason and ewer to-night. Flaminius, honest Flaminius; you are very respectively welcome, sir. Fill me some wine. [Exit Servant.] And how does that honourable, complete, free-hearted gentleman of Athens, thy very bountiful good lord and master?

Lucul. La, la, la, la, nothing doubting, says he? alas, good lord! a noble gentleman 'tis, if he would not keep so good a house. Many a time and often I have din'd with him, and told him on't; and come again to supper to him, of purpose to have him spend less and yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning by my coming. Every man has his fault, and honesty is his; I have told him on't, but I could never get him from it.

Re-enter Servant with Wine.

Serv. Please your lordship, here is the wine. Lucul. Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise.

Here's to thee.

Flam. Your lordship speaks your pleasure. Lucul. I have observed thee always for a towardly prompt spirit, give thee thy due, — and one that knows what belongs to reason; and canst use the time well, if the time use thee well: good parts in thee. Get you gone, sirrah. - [To the Servant, who goes out.] - Draw nearer honest Flaminius. Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman: but thou art wise; and thou knowest well enough, although thou comest to me, that this is no time to lend noney; especially upon bare friendship, without security. Here's three solidares for thee; good boy, wink at me, and say, thou sawest me not. Fare thee well.

Flam. Is't possible, the world should so much differ;

And we alive, that liv'd? Fly, damned baseness, To him that worships thee.

[Throwing the Money away. Lucul. Ha! Now I see thou art a fool, and fit for thy master. [Erit LUCULLUS. Flam. May these add to the number that may scald thee!

Thou discase of a friend, and not himself!

Has friendship such a faint and milky heart,
It turns in less than two nights? O, you gods,
I feel my master's passion! This slave
Unto his honour, 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 is sick to death, let not that part of

Enter LUCIUS, with three Strangers. Luc. Who, the lord Timon? he is my very good friend, and an honourable gentleman.

1 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 rumours ; now lord Timon's happy hours are done and past, and his estate shrinks from him.

Luc. Fye, no, do not believe it: he cannot want for money.

2 Stran. But believe you this, my lord, that not long ago, one of his men, was with the lord Lucullus, to borrow so many talents; nay, urged extremely for't, and show'd what necessity belong'd to't, and yet was denied.

Luc. How?

2 Stran. I tell you, denied, my lord.

Luc. What a strange case was that? now, before the gods, I am asham'd on't. Denied that honourable man? there was very little honour show'd in't. For my own part, I must needs confess, I have received some small kindnesses from him, as money, plate, jewels, and such like 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 honour. - My honoured lord. — [To LUCIS Luc. Servilius! your are kindly met, sir. Fare thee well:. - Commend me to thy honourable-virtuous lord, my very exquisite friend.

Ser. May it please your honour, my lord hath sent

Luc. Ha! what has he sent? I am so much endeared to that lord; he's ever sending: How shall I thank him, thinkest thou? And what has he sent now?

Ser. He 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 6 Suffering.