beat But even the mere necessities upon it. Looking on the Gold. 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 touch of hearts !3 '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? Ay. Tim. Thy back, I pr'ythee. Арет. Live, and love thy misery! Exit APEMANTUS. Tim. Long live so, and so die!—I am quit. More things like men?-Eat, Timon, and abhor them. Enter Thieves. 1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender ort of his remainder: The mere want of gold, and the fallingfrom of his friends, drove him into this melancholy. 8 O thou touch of hearts!] Touch, for touchstone. 2 Thief. It is noised, 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? Thieves. Where? 2 Thief. 'Tis his description. Thieves. Soldiers, not thieves. Tim. Both too; and women's sons. Thieves. We are not thieves, but men that much do want. Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of meat. Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath roots; The bounteous housewife, nature, on each bush Tim. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes: 4 You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con, 4 In limited professions.] Regular, orderly, professions. grape, More than you rob: take wealth and lives together; 1 Thief. '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. Let us first see peace in Athens: There is no time so miserable, but a man may be true. Exeunt Thieves. Enter FLAVIUS. Flav. O you gods! Is yon despis'd and ruinous man my lord? 5 by a composture] i. e. composition, compost. Desperate want made! What viler thing upon the earth, than friends, Those that would mischief me, than those that do!? TIMON comes forward from his Cave. Tim. Away! what art thou? 1 Flav. Have you forgot me, sir? Tim. Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; Then, if thou grant'st thou'rt man, I have forgot thee. Flav. An honest poor servant of yours. I know thee not: I ne'er had honest man Flav. • What an alteration of honour has Then The gods are witness, Desperate want made!] An alteration of honour, is an alteration of an honourable state to a state of disgrace. 7 How rarely does it meet-] How curiously; how happily. 8 When man was wish'd] i. e. recommended. 9 Grant, I may ever love, and rather woo Those that would mischief me, than those that do!] It is plain, that in this whole speech friends and enemies are taken only for those who profess friendship and profess enmity; for the friend is supposed not to be more kind, but more dangerous than the enemy. The sense is, Let me rather woo or caress those that would mischief, that profess to mean me mischief, than those that really do me mischief, under false professions of kindness. The Spaniards, I think, have this proverb: Defend me from my friends, and from my enemies I will defend myself. This proverb is a sufficient com ment on the passage. JOHNSON. VOL. VII. H Ne'er did poor steward wear a truer grief Because thou art a woman, and disclaim'st Flav. 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.. Tim. Had I a steward so true, so just, and now So comfortable? It almost turns My dangerous nature wild.' Let me behold One honest man,-mistake me not,-but one; Methinks, thou art more honest now, than wise; Thou might'st have sooner got another service: If not a usuring kindness; and as rich men deal gifts, Expecting in return twenty for one? 1 - It almost turns My dangerous nature wild.] To turn wild is to distract. An appearance so unexpected, says Timon, almost turns my savageness to distraction. |