Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

ACT II.

Caph. I go, sir.

SCENE I.- Athens. A Room in a Senator's House. Enter a Senator, with papers in his hand. Sen. And late, five thousand (to Varro and to Isidore

[ocr errors]

He owes nine thousand), besides my former sum,
Which makes it five-and-twenty. Still in motion
Of raging waste? It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog
And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold:
If I would sell my horse, and buy twenty more
Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon;
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me straight,
And able horses. No porter at his gate;
But rather one that smiles, and still invites
All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can sound his state in safety. Caphis, hoa!
Caphis, I say!

Caph.

Enter CAPHIS.

Here, sir: what is your pleasure?

Sen. Get on your cloak, and haste you to lord
Timon;

Impórtune him for my monies; be not ceased
With slight denial; nor then silenced, when-
"Commend me to your master," and the cap
Plays in the right hand thus:- but tell him,
sirrah,

My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past,
And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit: I love and honor him;
But must not break my back to heal his finger:
Immediate are my needs; and my relief
Must not be tossed and turned to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone:
Put on a most importunate aspéct,
A visage of demand; for I do fear,

When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.

[blocks in formation]

Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand. Flav. No care, no stop! so senseless of expense, That he will neither know how to maintain it, Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account How things go from him; no reserve; no care Of what is to continue: never mind Was surely so unwise, to be so kind. What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel: I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting. Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of ISIDORE and

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Apem. So would I, as good a trick as ever And that unaptness made your minister hangman served thief.

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. The reason of this?

Var. Serv. I could render one.

Apem. Do it, then, that we may account thee a whóremaster and a knave; which, notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteemed.

Var. Serv. What is a whoremaster, fool? Fool. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. 'T is a spirit: sometime it appears like a lord; sometime like a lawyer; sometime like a philosopher, with two stones more than his artificial one: he is very often like a knight; and, generally, in all shapes that man goes up and down in, from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit walks in.

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 Servants. 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 expense,
As I had leave of means?

Flav. You would not hear me,
At many leisures I proposed.

Tim.
Go to:
Perchance some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back;

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, prayed 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-loved 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.
Tim. Let all my land be sold.
Flav. 'T is all engaged, 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?

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!

[blocks in formation]

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 couched.

Tim.

Come, sermon me no further:

No villainous bounty yet hath passed my heart;
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.

[blocks in formation]

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience Do what they would; are sorry you are honora

[blocks in formation]

not-

To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart; But yet they could have wished - they know
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!

Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine
are crowned,

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!

Something hath been amissa noble nature
May catch a wrench-would all were well—'t is
pity-

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'y thee, man, look cheerly. These old fellows
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary :
Their blood is caked, 't is cold, it seldom flows;

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. 'T is lack of kindly warmth, they are not kind;

[ocr errors]

Serv. My lord, my lord, —

And nature, as it grows again towards earth,
Is fashioned for the journey, dull and heavy. —

Tim. I will despatch you severally. You to Go to Ventidius [To a Servant]:- Pr'y thee, be

[blocks in formation]

not sad;
[To FLAVIUS.
Thou art true and honest; ingenuously I speak,
No blame belongs to thee:-[To Servant] Venti-
dius lately

Buried his father; by whose death, he's stepped
Into a great estate: when he was poor,
Imprisoned, and in scarcity of friends,

I cleared him with five talents: greet him from

me;

Bid him suppose some good necessity
Touches his friend, which craves to be remembered
With those five talents:- that had [To FLAVIUS],
give it to these fellows

To whom 't is instant due. Ne'er speak, or think,
That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink.

Flav. I would I could not think that thought

is bounty's foe;

Being free itself, it thinks all others so. [Exeunt.

ACT III.

SCENE I. Athens. A Room in LUCULLUS'S House.

FLAMINIUS waiting. Enter a Servant to him.

Serv. I have told my lord of you; he is coming down to you.

Flam. I thank you, sir.

Enter LUCULLUS.

Serv. Here's my lord.

Lucul. [aside]. One of lord Timon's men? a gift, I warrant. Why, this hits right; I dreamt of a silver basin and ewer to-night.- Flaminius, honest Flaminius; you are very respectively welcome, sir.- Fill me some wine.-[Exit Servant. And how does that honorable, complete, freehearted gentleman of Athens, thy very bountiful good lord and master?

Flam. His health is well, sir.

Lucul. I am right glad that his health is well, sir. And what hast thou there under thy cloak, pretty Flaminius?

Flam. 'Faith, nothing but an empty box, sir; which, in my lord's behalf, I come to entreat your honor to supply; who, having great and instant occasion to use fifty talents, hath sent to your lordship to furnish him; nothing doubting your present assistance therein.

Lucul. La, la, la, la;-"nothing doubting," says he? alas, good lord! a noble gentleman 't is, if he would not keep so good a house. Many a time and often I have dined with him, and told him on 't; and come again to supper to him, of purpose to have him spend less: and yet he would embrace no counsel, take no warning by my coming. Every man has his fault, and honesty is his : I have told him on 't, but I could never get him from it.

Re-enter Servant with wine.

Serv. Please your lordship, here is the wine.

Lucul. Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise. Here's to thee.

-

Flam. Your lordship speaks your pleasure. Lucul. I have observed thee always for a towardly prompt spirit,-give thee thy due,— and one that knows what belongs to reason; and canst use the time well, if the time use thee well: good parts in thee. Get you gone, sirrah.-[To the Servant, who goes out.]-Draw nearer, honest Flaminius. Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman: but thou art wise; and thou knowest well enough, although thou comest to me, that this is no time to lend money; especially upon bare friendship, without security. Here's three solidares for thee: good boy, wink at me, and say thou sawest me not. Fare thee well.

Flam. Is't possible the world should so much differ;

And we alive, that lived? Fly, damnéd baseness, To him that worships thee!

[Throwing the money away. Lucul. Ha! now I see thou art a fool, and fit for thy master.

[Exit LUCULLUS. Flam. May these add to the number that may scald thee!

Let molten coin be thy damnation,
Thou disease of a friend, and not himself!
Has friendship such a faint and milky heart,
It turns in less than two nights? O you gods,
I feel my master's passion! This slave
Unto his honor, has my lord's meat in him :
Why should it thrive, and turn to nutriment,
When he is turned to poison?

O, may diseases only work upon 't!
And, when he is sick to death, let not that part of

nature

Which my lord paid for, be of any power To expel sickness, but prolong his hour!

[Exit

« VorigeDoorgaan »