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. Pr'ythee, 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.

Page. Answer not, I am gone.

[Exit Page. Apem. Even so thou out-run'st grace. Fool, I will go with you to lord Timon's. Fool. Will you leave me there? Apem. If Timon stay at home.

three usurers?

-You three serve

All Serv. Ay; 'would they served us!
Apem. So would I,

hangman served thief.

as good a trick as ever

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:

Var. Serv. Thou art not altogether a fool. Fool. Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackest. Apem. That answer might have become Ape

mantus.

All Serv. Aside, aside; here comes lord Timon.

Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS.

Apem. Come, with me, fool, come.

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

[Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool. Flav. 'Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you

anon.

[Exeunt Serv. 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 expence,

As I had leave of means?

Flav.

You would not hear me.

Go to:

At many leisures I propos'd.

Tim.

Perchance, some single vantages you took,.
When my indisposition put you back;

And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus to excuse yourself.

Flav.
O my good lord!
At many times I brought in my accounts,

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.

Let all my

Tim. 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?

6A certain sum.

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?

Tim.

You tell me true.

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 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.

Pr'ythee, 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 Timon's?

Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?

Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise, The breath is gone whereof this praise is made: Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers, These flies are couch'd.

Tim.

Come, sermon me no further: No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack,

To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

Flav.

Assurance bless your thoughts!

7 The apartments allotted to culinary offices, &c.

Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd",

That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends: You shall perceive, how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
Within there, ho!- Flaminius! Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants.
Serv. My lord, my lord,-

Tim. I will despatch you severally. You, to lord Lucius,—

To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his
Honour to-day;-You, to Sempronius;
Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say,
That my occasions have found time to use them
Toward a supply of money: let the request

Be fifty talents.

lord.

Flam.
As have said, my
you
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,

8 Dignified, made respectable.

But yet they could have wish'd — they know not

but

Something hath been amiss

May catch a wrench would all were well — 'tis

pity

9

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

Tim.

You gods, reward them!I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly; These old fellows Have their ingratitude in them hereditary: Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it seldom flows; 'Tis lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind; And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.Go to Ventidius, -[To a Serv.] 'Pr'ythee, [To FLAVIUS,] be not sad,

2

Thou art true, and honest; ingeniously I speak, No blame belongs to thee:- [To Serv.] Ventidius 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 free3 itself, it thinks all others so. [Exeunt.

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

2 For ingenuously.