SCENE III.
The woods.
Enter Timon.
Tim.
7 note
O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth
Rotten humidity; below 8 notethy sister's orb
Infect the air! Twinn'd brothers of one womb,—
Whose procreation, residence, and birth,
Scarce is dividant,—touch them with several fortunes;
The greater scorns the lesser: 9 note
Not nature,
-- 402 --
To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune,
But by contempt of nature.
1 note
Raise me this beggar, and denude that lord;
The senator shall bear contempt hereditary,
The beggar native honour.
-- 403 --
2 note
It is the pastor lards the brother's sides,
The want that makes him leave. Who dares, who dares,
-- 404 --
In purity of manhood stand upright,
And say, This man's a flatterer? if one be,
So are they all; 3 notefor every grize of fortune
Is smooth'd by that below: the learned pate
Ducks to the golden fool: All is oblique;
There's nothing level in our cursed natures,
But direct villainy. Therefore, be abhorr'd
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men!
His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang mankind 4 note
!—Earth, yield me roots!
[Digging the earth.
Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate
With thy most operant poison! What is here?
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods,
I am no 5 noteidle votarist: Roots, you clear heavens6 note
!
Thus much of this, will make black, white; foul, fair;
Wrong, right; base, noble; old, young; coward, valiant.
-- 405 --
Ha, you gods! why this? What this, you gods? 7 note
Why this
Will lug your priests and servants from your sides;
8 notePluck stout men's pillows from below their heads:
This yellow slave
Will knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd;
Make the hoar leprosy9 note ador'd; place thieves,
And give them title, knee, and approbation,
With senators on the bench: this is it,
1 note
That makes the wappen'd widow wed again; 9Q0987
-- 406 --
She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices
2 note
To the April day again. Come, damned earth,
Thou common whore of mankind, that put'st odds
Among the rout of nations, I will make thee
-- 407 --
3 noteDo thy right nature.—[March afar off.]—Ha! a drum?—4 noteThou'rt quick,
But yet I'll bury thee: Thou'lt go, strong thief,
When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand:—
Nay, stay thou out for earnest.
[Keeping some gold.
Enter Alcibiades, with drum and fife, in warlike manner, and Phrynia and Tymandra.
Alc.
What art thou there? speak.
Tim.
A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw thy heart,
For shewing me again the eyes of man!
Alc.
What is thy name? Is man so hateful to thee,
That art thyself a man?
Tim.
I am misanthropos, and hate mankind.
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something.
Alc.
I know thee well;
But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange.
Tim.
I know thee too; and more, than that I know thee,
I not desire to know. Follow thy drum;
With man's blood paint the ground, gules, gules:
Religious canons, civil laws are cruel;
Then what should war be? This fell whore of thine
Hath in her more destruction than thy sword,
For all her cherubin look.
Phry.
Thy lips rot off!
Tym.
5 note
I will not kiss thee; then the rot returns
-- 408 --
To thine own lips again.
Alc.
How came the noble Timon to this change?
Tim.
As the moon does, by wanting light to give:
But then renew I could not, like the moon;
There were no suns to borrow of.
Alc.
Noble Timon,
What friendship may I do thee?
Tim.
None, but to
Maintain my opinion.
Alc.
What is it, Timon?
Tim.
Promise me friendship, but perform none: If
6 note
Thou wilt not promise, the gods plague thee, for
Thou art a man! if thou dost perform, confound thee,
For thou art a man!
Alc.
I have heard in some sort of thy miseries.
Tim.
Thou saw'st them, when I had prosperity.
Alc.
I see them now; then was a blessed time.
Tim.
As thine is now, held with a brace of harlots.
Tyman.
Is this the Athenian minion, whom the world
Voic'd so regardfully?
Tim.
Art thou Tymandra?
Tyman.
Yes.
Tim.
7 note
Be a whore still! they love thee not, that use thee;
-- 409 --
Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust.
Make use of thy salt hours: season the slaves
For tubs, and baths; bring down rose-cheeked youth 9Q0988
1 note
To the tub-fast, and the diet.
-- 410 --
Tyman.
Hang thee, monster!
Alc.
Pardon him, sweet Tymandra; for his wits
Are drown'd and lost in his calamities.—
I have but little gold of late, brave Timon,
The want whereof doth daily make revolt
In my penurious band: I have heard, and griev'd,
How cursed Athens, mindless of thy worth,
Forgetting thy great deeds, when neighbour states,
But for thy sword and fortune, trod upon them,—
Tim.
I pr'ythee, beat thy drum, and get thee gone.
Alc.
I am thy friend, and pity thee, dear Timon.
Tim.
How dost thou pity him, whom thou dost trouble?
I had rather be alone.
Alc.
Why, fare thee well:
Here is some gold for thee.
Tim.
Keep it, I cannot eat it.
Alc.
When I have laid proud Athens on a heap,—
Tim.
Warr'st thou 'gainst Athens?
Alc.
Ay, Timon, and have cause.
Tim.
The gods confound them all in thy conquest; and
Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd!
Alc.
Why me, Timon?
Tim.
That, by killing of villains, thou wast born
To conquer my country.
Put up thy gold; Go on,—here's gold,—go on;
2 note
Be as a planetary plague, when Jove
-- 411 --
Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison
In the sick air: Let not thy sword skip one:
Pity not honour'd age for his white beard,
He is an usurer: Strike me the counterfeit matron,
It is her habit only that is honest,
Herself's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek
Make soft thy trenchant sword; for those milk-paps,
3 note
That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes,
-- 412 --
Are not within the leaf of pity writ,
Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not the babe,
Whose dimpled smiles from fools 4 noteexhaust their mercy;
Think it a 5 notebastard, whom the oracle
Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut,
And mince it sans remorse: Swear against objects6 note
;
Put armour on thine ears, and on thine eyes;
Whose proof, nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes,
Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding,
Shall pierce a jot. There's gold to pay thy soldiers:
Make large confusion; and, thy fury spent,
Confounded be thyself! Speak not, be gone.
Alc.
Hast thou gold yet? I'll take the gold thou giv'st me,
Not all thy counsel.
Tim.
Dost thou, or dost thou not, heaven's curse upon thee!
Phr. and Tym.
Give us some gold, good Timon:
Hast thou more?
Tim.
Enough to make a whore forswear her trade,
7 note
And to make whores, a bawd. Hold up, you sluts,
-- 413 --
Your aprons mountant: You are not oathable,—
Although, I know, you'll swear, terribly swear,
Into strong shudders, and to heavenly agues,
The immortal gods that hear you8 note
,—spare your oaths,
9 noteI'll trust to your conditions: Be whores still;
And he whose pious breath seeks to convert you,
Be strong in whore, allure him, burn him up;
Let your close fire predominate his smoke,
And be no turn-coats: 1 note
Yet may your pains, six months,
-- 414 --
Be quite contrary: And thatch your poor thin roofs2 note
With burdens of the dead;—some that were hang'd,
-- 415 --
No matter:—wear them, betray with them: whore still;
Paint 'till a horse may mire upon your face,
A pox of wrinkles!
Phr. and Tym.
Well, more gold;—What then?—
Believe't, that we'll do any thing for gold.
Tim.
Consumptions sow
In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins,
And marr 3 note
men's spurring. Crack the lawyer's voice,
That he may never more false title plead,
Nor sound his quillets shrilly4 note: hoar the flamen5 note
,
That scolds against the quality of flesh,
And not believes himself: down with the nose,
Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away
Of him, 6 note
that his particular to foresee,
-- 416 --
Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate ruffians bald;
And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war
Derive some pain from you: Plague all;
That your activity may defeat and quell
The source of all erection.—There's more gold:—
Do you damn others, and let this damn you,
And ditches grave you all7 note
!
Phr. and Tym.
More counsel, with more money, bounteous Timon.
Tim.
More whore, more mischief first; I have given you earnest.
Alc.
Strike up the drum towards Athens. Farewel, Timon;
-- 417 --
If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again.
Tim.
If I hope well, I'll never see thee more.
Alc.
I never did thee harm.
Tim.
Yes, thou spok'st well of me. 9Q0989
Alc.
Call'st thou that harm?
Tim.
Men daily find it.
Get thee away, and take thy beagles with thee.
Alc.
We but offend him.—Strike.
[Drum beats. Exeunt Alcibiades, Phrynia, and Tymandra.
Tim. [Digging.]
That nature, being sick of man's unkindness,
Should yet be hungry!—Common mother, thou
1 note
Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast,
Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle,
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puft,
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,
The gilded newt, and 2 noteeyeless venom'd worm,
With all the abhorred births 3 note
below crisp heaven
-- 418 --
Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine;
Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate,
From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor root!
Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb4 note
,
5 note
Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!
Go great with tigers, dragons, wolves and bears;
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
Hath to the marbled mansion all above6 note
Never presented!—O, a root,—Dear thanks!
7 note
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;
-- 419 --
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts,
And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind,
That from it all consideration slips!
Enter Apemantus.
More man? Plague! plague!
Apem.
I was directed hither: Men report,
Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use them.
Tim.
'Tis then, because thou dost not keep a dog
Whom I would imitate: Consumption catch thee!
Apem.
This is in thee a nature but affected;
A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung
From change of fortune. 9Q0990 Why this spade? this place?
This slave-like habit? and these looks of care?
Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft;
Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot
That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods,
By putting on 8 note
the cunning of a carper.
-- 420 --
Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive
By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee,
And let his very breath, whom thou'lt observe,
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain,
And call it excellent: Thou wast told thus;
Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that bid welcome,
To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis most just,
That thou turn rascal; hadst thou wealth again,
Rascals should have't. Do not assume my likeness.
Tim.
Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself.
Apem.
Thou hast cast away thyself, being like thyself;
A madman so long, now a fool; What, think'st
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,
Will put thy shirt on warm? Will these 9 note
moist trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle1 note, page thy heels,
And skip when thou point'st out? will the cold brook,
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste
To cure thy o'er-night's surfeit? Call the creatures,—
Whose naked natures live in all the spight
Of wreakful heaven; whose bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,
Answer meer nature2 note
,—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.
-- 421 --
Apem.
Why?
Tim.
Thou flatter'st misery.
Apem.
I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff.
Tim.
Why dost thou seek me out?
Apem.
To vex thee.
3 note
Tim.
Always a villain's office, or a fool's.
Dost please thyself in't?
Apem.
Ay.
Tim.
What! a knave too?
Apem.
If thou didst put this sour cold habit on
To castigate thy pride, 'twere well: but thou
Dost it enforcedly; thou'dst courtier be again,
Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery
Out-lives incertain pomp, 4 noteis crown'd before:
-- 422 --
The one is filling still, never compleat;
The other, at high wish: Best state, contentless,
Hath a distracted and most wretched being,
Worse than the worst, content5 note
.
Thou should'st desire to die, being miserable.
Tim.
Not 6 note
by his breath, that is more miserable.
Thou art a slave, whom fortune's tender arm
With favour never clasp'd; 9Q0991 7 notebut bred a dog.
8 note
Hadst thou, like us, from our 9 note
first swath, proceeded
-- 423 --
The sweet degrees1 note that this brief world affords
To such as may the passive drugs of it
Freely command, thou wouldst have plung'd thyself
In general riot; melted down thy youth
In different beds of lust; and never learn'd
The icy 2 note
precepts of respect, but follow'd
The sugar'd game before thee. 3 note
But myself,
Who had the world as my confectionary;
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts of men
-- 424 --
At duty, more than I could frame employment,
(That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves
Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush4 note
Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare
For every storm that blows) I to bear this,
That never knew but better, is some burden:
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time
Hath made thee hard in't. Why should'st thou hate men?
They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given?
If thou wilt curse,—thy father, 5 note
that poor rag,
Must be thy subject; who in spight, put stuff
To some she beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone!—
If thou hadst not been born the worst of men,
6 note
Thou hadst been a knave, and flatterer.
-- 425 --
Apem.
Art thou proud yet?
Tim.
Ay, that I am not thee.
Apem.
I, that I was no prodigal.
Tim.
I, that I am one now:
Were all the wealth I have, shut up in thee,
I'd give thee leave to hang it. Get thee gone.—
That the whole life of Athens were in this!
Thus would I eat it.
[Eating a root.
Apem.
Here; I will mend thy feast.
[Offering him something.
Tim.
First mend my company, take away thyself7 note.
Apem.
So I shall mend my 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 wouldst thou have to Athens?
Tim.
Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt,
Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have.
Apem.
Here is no use for gold.
Tim.
The best, and truest:
For here it sleeps, and does no hired harm.
Apem.
Where ly'st o'nights, Timon?
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 wouldst thou send it?
Tim.
To sauce thy dishes.
-- 426 --
Apem.
The middle of humanity thou never knewest,
but the extremity of both ends: When thou wast in
thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mock'd thee 8 note
for too
much curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but
art despis'd for the contrary. There's a medlar for
thee, eat it.
Tim.
On what I hate, I feed not.
Apem.
Dost hate a medlar?
Tim.
9 note
Ay, though it look like thee,
Apem.
An thou hadst hated medlers sooner, thou
shouldst have lov'd thyself better now. What man
didst thou ever know unthrift, that was belov'd after
his means?
Tim.
Who, without those means thou talk'st of,
didst thou ever know beloved?
Apem.
Myself.
Tim.
I understand thee; thou had'st some means to
keep a dog.
-- 427 --
Apem.
What things in the world canst thou nearest
compare to thy flatterers?
Tim.
Women nearest; but men, men are the
things themselves. What wouldst thou do with the
world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?
Apem.
Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men.
Tim.
Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confusion
of men, and remain a beast with the beasts?
Apem.
Ay, Timon.
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 accus'd by the
ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment
thee; and still thou liv'dst but as a breakfast to the
wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would
afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for
thy dinner: wert thou the1 note
unicorn, pride and wrath
would confound thee, and make thine own self the
conquest of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou wouldst
be kill'd by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst
be seiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou
wert2 note
german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred
were jurors on thy life; all thy safety were remotion3 note
;
and thy defence, absence. What beast couldst
-- 428 --
thou be, that were not subject to a beast? and what a
beast art thou already, and seest not thy loss in transformation?
Apem.
If thou couldst 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.
Apem.
4 note
Thou art the cap of all the fools alive.
Tim.
'Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon.
5 note
A plague on thee!
Apem.
Thou art too bad to curse.
Tim.
All villains, that do stand by thee, are pure.
Apem.
There is no leprosy, but what thou speak'st.
Tim.
If I name thee.—
I'll beat thee,—but I should infect my hands.
Apem.
I would my tongue could rot them off!
Tim.
Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!
Choler does kill me, that thou art alive;
I swoon to see thee.
Apem.
'Would thou wouldst burst!
Tim.
Away.
-- 429 --
Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry, I shall lose
A stone by thee.
Apem.
Beast!
Tim.
Slave!
Apem.
Toad!
Tim.
Rogue, rogue, rogue!
[Apemantus retreats backward, as going.
I am sick of this false world; and will love nought
But even the meer necessities upon it.
Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave;
Lie where the light foam of the sea may beat
Thy grave-stone daily: make thine epitaph,
That death in me at others' lives may laugh.
O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce
[Looking on the gold.
6 note
'Twixt natural son and fire! thou bright defiler
Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer,
7 note
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow
That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,
That solder'st close impossibilities,
And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with every tongue,
To every purpose! O thou touch8 note of hearts!
Think, thy slave man rebels; and by thy virtue
-- 430 --
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts
May have the world in empire!
Apem.
'Would 'twere so;—
But not 'till I am dead!—I'll say, thou hast gold:
Thou wilt be throng'd to shortly.
Tim.
Throng'd to?
Apem.
Ay.
Tim.
Thy back, I pr'ythee.
Apem.
Live, and love thy misery!
Tim.
Long live so, and so die!—I am quit.
[Exit Apemantus.
1 noteMore things like men?—Eat, Timon, and abhor
them.
Enter Thieves2 note.
1 Thief.
Where should he have this gold? It is
some poor fragment, some slender ort of his remainder:
The meer want of gold, and the falling-from
of his friends, drove him into this melancholy.
2 Thief.
It is nois'd, he hath a mass of treasure.
3 Thief.
Let us make the assay upon him; if he
care not for't, he will supply us easily; If he covetously
reserve it, how shall's get it?
2 Thief.
True; for he bears it not about him,
'tis hid.
1 Thief.
Is not this he?
All.
Where?
2 Thief.
'Tis his description.
3 Thief.
He; I know him.
All.
Save thee, Timon.
Tim.
Now, thieves?
All.
Soldiers, not thieves.
Tim.
Both too; and women's sons.
-- 431 --
All.
We are not thieves, but men that much do want.
Tim.
Your greatest want is, 3 note
you want much of meat.
Why should you want? Behold4 note
, the earth hath roots;
Within this mile break forth an hundred springs:
The oaks bear mast, the briars scarlet hips;
The bounteous huswife, nature, on each bush
Lays her full mess before you. Want? why want?
1 Thief.
We cannot live on grass, on berries, water,
As beasts, and birds, and fishes.
Tim.
Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;
-- 432 --
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con5 note
That you are thieves profest; that you work not
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft
6 noteIn limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here's gold: Go, suck the subtle blood o' the grape,
'Till the high fever seeth your blood to froth,
And so 'scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
More than you rob: 7 note
take wealth and lives together;
Do villainy, do, since you profess to do't, 9Q0992
Like workmen: I'll example you with thievery.
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun;
8 note
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
-- 433 --
The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture1 note stolen
-- 434 --
From general excrement: each thing's a thief;
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
-- 435 --
Have uncheck'd theft. Love not yourselves; away;
Rob one another. There's more gold: Cut throats;
All that you meet are thieves: To Athens, go,
Break open shops; nothing can you steal,
But thieves do lose it: Steal not less, for this
I give you; and gold confound you howsoever!
Amen.
[Exit.
3 Thief.
He has almost charm'd me from my profession,
by persuading me to it.
1 Thief.
2 note
'Tis in the malice of mankind, that he
thus advises us; not to have us thrive in our mystery.
2 Thief.
I'll believe him as an enemy, and give
over my trade.
1 Thief.
3 noteLet us first see peace in Athens: There
is no time so miserable, but a man may be true.
[Exeunt.
-- 436 --
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].
