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Ha, you gods! why this? Why this,
Why, this

you gods?| [sides; Will lug your priests and servants from your Pluck stout men's pillows from below their This yellow slave

[heads: 5
Will Knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd;|
Make the hoar leprosy ador'd; place thieves,
And give them tule, knee, and approbation,
With senators on the bench; this is it,
That makes the wappen'd' widow wed again; 10
She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices
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
Do thy right nature.―[March afar off]-Ha!
a drum-Thou'rt quick',

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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. 20
Enter Alcibiades, with drum and fife, in warlike
manner, and Phrynia and Tymandra.
Alcib. What art thou there? speak. [heart,
Tim. A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw thy 25
For shewing me again the eyes of man!

Alcib. 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.

Alcib. I know thee well;

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use thee;

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,

To the tub-fast", and the diet.
Tyman. Hang thee, monster!

Ale. 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
30 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

But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange.
Tim. I know thee too; and more, than that 135]
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 4c

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Alcib. 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?
Alcib. Ay, Timon, and have cause.

Tim. The gods confound them all in thy con-
quest; and

Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd!
Alcib. 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;
Be as a planetary plague, when Jove

i. e. men who have strength yet remaining to struggle with their distemper. This alludes to an old custom of drawing away the pillow from under the heads of men in their last agonies, to make their departure the easier. Waped or wappen'd, according to Warburton, signifies both sorrowful and terrified, either for the loss of a good husband, or by the treatment of a bad. But gold, he says, can overcome both her affection and her fears. That is, to the wedding day, called by the poet, satirically, April day, or fool's day.-The April day, however, does not relate to the widow, but to the other diseased female, who is represented as the outcast of an hospital. She it is whom gold em balms and spices to the April day again: i. e. gold restores her to all the freshness and sweetness of youth. Lie in the earth where nature laid thee. 6 "Thou hast life and motion in thee. This alludes to the method of cure for venereal complaints (explained in note, p. 90), the unction for which was sometimes continued for thirty-seven days, and during this time there was necessarily an extraordinary abstinence required. Hence the term of the tub-fast. The diet was likewise a customary term for the regimen prescribed in these cases,

Will

Act 4, Scene 3.}

TIMON OF ATHENS.

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,

Heis an usurer: Strike methe 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,

That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes,
Are not within the leaf of pity writ,

Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not thebabe,
Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust' their

mercy;

Think it a bastard, whom the oracle

Phr. and Tym. Well, more gold;-What the Believe't, that we'll do any thing for gold. Tim. Consumptions sow

In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shi
And marr men's spurring. Crack the lawye
voice,

That he may never more false title plead,
Nor sound his quillets shrilly: hoar the flamer
That scolds against the quality of flesh,
10And not believes himself: down with the no
Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away
Of him, that his particular to foresee",
Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-p
ruffians bald;

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Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear her And to make whores,a bawd. Hold up, you sluts, 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 you,――spare your oaths,

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I'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: Yet may your pains, six
months,
[roofs
Be quite contrary: make false hair, and thatch
Your poor thin roofs with burthens of the dead,-45
Some that were hang'd, no matter:
Wearthem, betray with them, and whore on still:
Paint 'till a horse may mire upon your face;
A pox of wrinkles!

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Timon. More whore, more mischief first
have given you earnest.

Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athe
Farewell, Timon;

If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again.

Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee mor
Alcib. I never did thee harm.

Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me.
Alcib. Call'st thou that harm?

Tim. Men daily find it.

Get thee away, and take thy beagles with the
Alcib. We but offend him.-Strike.

[Drum beats. Exeunt Alcibia Phrynia, and Tymandra. Tim. [Digging.] That nature, being sick

man's unkindness,

Should yet be hungry!-Common mother, t 40 Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite brea Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is p Engenders the black toad, and adder blue, The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd wor With all the abhorred births below crisp hea Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth sh Yield him, who all thy human sons doth ha From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor roo Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb,

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1i. e. draw forth. 2 An allusion to the tale of Edipus. Perhaps objects is here used cincially for abjects. That is, enough to make awhore leave whoring, and a bard leave making wh i. e. I will trust to your inclinations. Dr. Warburton comments on this thus: passage is obscure, partly from the ambiguity of the word pains, and partly from the generality of the ex sion. The meaning is this: He had said before, Follow constantly your trade of debauchery; th (says he) for six months in the year. Let the other six be employed in quite contrary pains and la namely, in the severe discipline necessary for the repair of those disorders that your debaucheries sion, in order to fit you anew to the trade; and thus let the whole year be spent in these diff occupations. On this account he goes on, and says, Make false hair, &c.—Mr. Steevens however ceives the meaning to be only this: "Yet for half the year at least, may you suffer such punishmen inflicted on harlots in houses of correction." "Quillets are subtilties. i. e. give the flamen the leprosy. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he lea

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Cwood In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for

Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!
Go great with tygers, dragons, wolves, and bears;
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
Hath to the marbled mansion all above
Never presented!—O, a root,—Dear thanks!
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorice 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. Why this spade? thisplace?
This slave-like habit? and these looks of care?

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The sweet degrees that this brief world affords
To such as may the passive drugs of it
Freelycommand, thouwouldsthaveplung'd thyself

Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft ; 20 In general riot; melted down thy youth

Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot
That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods,
By putting on the cunning of a carper 1.
Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive
By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee, 25
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 ;
Thougav'stthineears,liketapsters, thatbidwelcome
To knaves, and all approachers: "Tis most just, 30
That thou turn rascal; hadst thou wealth again,
Rascals should hav't. Do not assume mylikeness.
Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself.
Apem. Thou hast cast away thyself, being like
thyself:

In different beds of lust; and never learn'd
The icy precepts of respect, but follow'd
The sugar'd game before thee. But myself,
Who had the world as my confectionary; [men
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts of
At duty, more than I could frame employment,
(That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves
Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush
Fell from their boughs, and left me open, bare
For every storm that blows) to bear this,
That never knew but better, is some burthen:
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time
Hath made thee hard in 't. Why should'st thou

hate men?

35 They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given?
If thou wilt curse, thy father, 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,
Thou hadst been a knave, and flatterer.
Apem. Art thou proud yet?
Tim. Ay, that I am not thee.
Apem. 1, that I was no prodigal.
Tim. I, that I am one now:

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 moist trees,
That have out-liv'd the eagle, page thy heels,
Andskip when thou point'st out? will thecoldbrook, 40
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 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. Why?

Tim. Thou flatter'st misery.

Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff.
Tim. Why dost thou seek me out?

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Apem. Tovex thee.

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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 mendmycompany, take awaythyself. 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,

The cunning of a carper means the insidious arts of a critic. 2 That is, Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content.

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3 By his breath is probably meant his sentence. Alluding to the word Cynic, of which sect Apemantus was. From intancy.-Swath is the dress of a new-born child. Respect, according to Mr. Steevens, means the qu'en dira't-on? the regard of Athens, that strongest restraint on licentiousness: the icy precepts, i e. that cool hot blood.

Tell

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, ra-
ther, where I eat it.

to me, thou might'st have hit upon it here commonwealth of Athens is become a for beasts.

Tim. How has the ass broke the wall, tha 5 art out of the city?

Tim. 'Would poison were obedient, and knew 10 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 15 thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume,they mock'd thee 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. Ay, though it look like thee.

Apem. Yonder comes a poet, and a pai The plague of company light upon thee! fear to catch it, and give way: When I not what else to do, I'll see thee again.

Tim. When there is nothing living but thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beg dog, than Apemantus.

Apem. Thou art the cap' of all the fools all
Tim.'Would thou wert cleanenoughto spit
A plague on thee!

Apem. Thou art too bad to curse.
Tim. All villains, that do stand by thee, are
Apem. There is noleprosy, but whatthouspe
Tim. If I name thee.-

20I'll beat thee, but I should infect my hand
Apem. I would my tongue could rot them
Tim. Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!
Choler does kill me, that thou art alive;
swoon to see thee.

Apem. An thou hadst hated medlars sooner, thou shouldst have lov'd thyself better now. What man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was be-25 lov'd after his means?

Tim. Who, without those means thou talk'st of, didst thou ever know belov'd?

Apem. Myself.

Tim. I understand thee; thou had'st some means 30 to keep a dog.

Apem. What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers?

Tim. Women nearest; but nien, men are the things themselves. What wouldst thou do with 35 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.

I

Apem. 'Would thou wouldst burst!
Tim. Away,

Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry, I shall los
A stone by thee.
Apem. Beast!
Tim. Slave!
Apem. Toad!

Tim. Rogue, rogue, rogue!

[Apemantus retreats backward, as g

I am sick of this false world; and will love no
But even the meer necessities upon it.
Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave
Lie where the light foam of the sea may bea
Thy grave-stone daily make thine epitaph,
That death in me at others' lives may laugh
400 thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce
[Looking on the

Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain too! 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 45 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 50 the 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 wert 55 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 couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast? And what a beast art thou already, and seest not 60 thy loss in transformation ?

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking|

:

'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defi
Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd,and delicate wo
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow
That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,
That solder'st close inpossibilities,

And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with ev

tongue,

To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts
Think, thy slave man rebels; and by that vi
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 60
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. Longlive so, and so die !—I am qui
[Exit Apema

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 fallingfrom 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 covetous'y 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.

All. We arenot thieves, but men that much do

want.

5

Here's gold:Go suckthes
Till the high fever seeth
And so 'scape hanging: t
His antidotes are poison,
More than you rob: take w
Do villainy, do, since you
10 Like workmen: I'll exam
The sun 's a thief, and with
Robs the vast sea: the mo
And her pale fire she snat
The sea's a thief, whose li
15The moon into salt tears 3
That feeds and breeds by
From general excrement:
The laws, your curb and wh
Have uncheck'd theft. Lov
20 Rob one another. There's n
All that you meet are thiev
Break open shops; nothing
But thieves do lose it: Ste
I give you; and gold confo
Amen.

25

[meat.
Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of
Why shouldyou want? Behold, 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? 30
Thief. We cannot live on grass, on berries, wa-

As beasts, and birds, and fishes.

[ter,

Tim. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds,

and fishes;

3 Thief. He has almost profession, by persuading n 1 Thief. 'Tis in the malic thus advises us; not to ha mystery.

2 Thief. I'll believe him over my trade.

1 Thief. Let us first se There is no time so miserab

You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con1,35 true.

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To con thanks is a very common expression among our old dramatic writers. Mr. Tollett comments on this passage thus: "The moon is the governess of the be resolved by the surges of the sea.' This seems incontestible, and therefore an a appears to be necessary. I propose to read :—whose liquid surge resolves the main i resolves the main land, or the continent, into sea. In Bacon, and also in Shakspeare's sc. 1. main occurs in this signification. Earth melting to sea is not an uncommo "Melt carth to sea, sea flow to air." I might add, that in Chaucer, mone, which traces of the old reading, seems to mean the globe of the earth, or a map of it, from the world; but I think main is the true reading here, and might easily be mistaken transcriber, or a careless printer, who might have in their thoughts the moon, whi a preceding line." * Rarely, for fitly; not for seldom. 5 We should read will is, "Let me rather woo or caress those that would mischief, that profess to mean those that really do me mischief under false professions of kindness."

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