mightst have hit upon it here: the commonwealth of
Athens is become a forest of beasts.
TIMON How has the ass broke the wall, that thou art out of the city?
APEMANTUS 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.
TIMON When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be
welcome. I had rather be a beggar’s dog than Apemantus.
APEMANTUS Thou art the cap of all the fools alive.
TIMON Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon!
APEMANTUS A plague on thee! thou art too bad to curse.
TIMON All villains that do stand by thee are pure.
APEMANTUS There is no leprosy but what thou speak’st.
TIMON If I name thee.
I’ll beat thee, but I should infect my hands.
APEMANTUS I would my tongue could rot them off!
TIMON Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!
Choler does kill me that thou art alive;
I swound to see thee.
APEMANTUS Would thou wouldst burst!
TIMON Away,
Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry I shall lose
A stone by thee.
Throws a stone at him
APEMANTUS Beast!
TIMON Slave!
APEMANTUS Toad!
TIMON Rogue, rogue, rogue!
I am sick of this false world, and will love nought
But even the mere necessities upon ‘t.
Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave;
Lie where the light foam the sea may beat
Thy grave-stone daily: make thine epitaph,
That death in me at others’ lives may laugh.
To the gold
O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce
‘Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler
Of Hymen’s purest bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, loved and delicate wooer,
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow
That lies on Dian’s lap! thou visible god,
That solder’st close impossibilities,
And makest them kiss! that speak’st with
every tongue,
To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts!
Think, thy slave man rebels, and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts
May have the world in empire!
APEMANTUS Would ’twere so!
But not till I am dead. I’ll say thou’st gold:
Thou wilt be throng’d to shortly.
TIMON Throng’d to!
APEMANTUS Ay.
TIMON Thy back, I prithee.
APEMANTUS Live, and love thy misery.
TIMON Long live so, and so die.
Exit APEMANTUS
I am quit.
Moe things like men! Eat, Timon, and abhor them.
Enter Banditti
First Bandit Where should he have this gold? It is some poor
fragment, some slender sort of his remainder: the
mere want of gold, and the falling-from of his
friends, drove him into this melancholy.
Second Bandit It is noised he hath a mass of treasure.
Third Bandit 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?
Second Bandit True; for he bears it not about him, ’tis hid.
First Bandit Is not this he?
Banditti Where?
Second Bandit ‘Tis his description.
Third Bandit He; I know him.
Banditti Save thee, Timon.
TIMON Now, thieves?
Banditti Soldiers, not thieves.
TIMON Both too; and women’s sons.
Banditti We are not thieves, but men that much do want.
TIMON Your greatest want is, you want much of meat.
Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath roots;
Within this mile break forth a hundred springs;
The oaks bear mast, the briers scarlet hips;
The bounteous housewife, nature, on each bush
Lays her full mess before you. Want! why want?
First Bandit We cannot live on grass, on berries, water,
As beasts and birds and fishes.
TIMON Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con
That you are thieves profess’d, that you work not
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft
In limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here’s gold. Go, suck the subtle blood o’ the grape,
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth,
And so ‘scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
Moe than you rob: take wealth and lives together;
Do villany, do, since you protest to do’t,
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:
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth’s a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen
From general excrement: each thing’s a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheque’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 no less for this
I give you; and gold confound you howsoe’er! Amen.
Third Bandit Has almost charmed me from my profession, by
persuading me to it.
First Bandit ‘Tis in the malice of mankind that he thus advises
us; not to have us thrive in our mystery.
Second Bandit I’ll believe him as an enemy, and give over my trade.
First Bandit Let us first see peace in Athens: there is no time
so miserable but a man may be true.
Exeunt Banditti
Enter FLAVIUS
FLAVIUS O you gods!
Is yond despised and ruinous man my lord?
Full of decay and failing? O monument
And wonder of good deeds evilly bestow’d!
What an alteration of honour
Has desperate want made!
What viler thing upon the earth than friends
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends!
How rarely does it meet with this time’s guise,
When man was wish’d to love his enemies!
Grant I may ever love, and rather woo
Those that would mischief me than those that do!
Has caught me in his eye: I will present
My honest grief unto him; and, as my lord,
Still serve him with my life. My dearest master!
TIMON Away! what art thou?
FLAVIUS Have you forgot me, sir?
TIMON Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men;
Then, if thou grant’st thou’rt a man, I have forgot thee.
FLAVIUS An honest poor servant of yours.
TIMON Then I know thee not:
I never had honest man about me, I; all
I kept were knaves, to serve in meat to villains.
FLAVIUS The gods are witness,
Ne’er did poor steward wear a truer grief
For his undone lord than mine eyes for you.
TIMON What, dost thou weep? Come nearer. Then I
love thee,
Because thou art a woman, and disclaim’st
Flinty mankind; whose eyes do never give
But thorough lust and laughter. Pity’s sleeping:
Strange times, that weep with laughing, not with weeping!
FLAVIUS I beg of you to know me, good my lord,
To accept my grief and whilst this poor wealth lasts
To entertain me as your steward still.
TIMON Had I a steward
So true, so just, and now so comfortable?
It almost turns my dangerous nature mild.
Let me behold thy face. Surely, this man
Was born of woman.
Forgive my general and exceptless rashness,
You perpetual-sober gods! I do proclaim
One honest man–mistake me not–but one;
No more, I pray,–and he’s a steward.
How fain would I have hated all mankind!
And thou redeem’st thyself: but all, save thee,
I fell with curses.
Methinks thou art more honest now than wise;
For, by oppressing and betraying me,
Thou mightst have sooner got another service:
For many so arrive at second masters,
Upon their first lord’s neck. But tell me true–
For I must ever doubt, though ne’er so sure–
Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous,
If not a usuring kindness, and, as rich men deal gifts,
Expecting in return twenty for one?
FLAVIUS No, my most worthy master; in whose breast
Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late:
You should have fear’d false times when you did feast:
Suspect still comes where an estate is least.
That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love,
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind,
Care of your food and living; and, believe it,
My most honour’d lord,
For any benefit that points to me,
Either in hope or present, I’ld exchange
For this one wish, that you had power and wealth
To requite me, by making rich yourself.
TIMON Look thee, ’tis so! Thou singly honest man,
Here, take: the gods out of my misery
Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and happy;
But thus condition’d: thou shalt build from men;
Hate all, curse all, show charity to none,
But let the famish’d flesh slide from the bone,
Ere thou relieve the beggar; give to dogs
What thou deny’st to men; let prisons swallow ’em,
Debts wither ’em to nothing; be men like
blasted woods,
And may diseases lick up their false bloods!
And so farewell and thrive.