Flav. Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you Soy anon. [Exeunt Serv. Tim. You make me marvel: Wherefore, ere this time, Had you not fully laid my state before me; As I had leave of means? my expense, Flav. You would not hear me, At many leisures I propos'd. Tim. svelopes Trade Go to: Flav. Laid them before you; you would throw them off, When, for some trifling present, you have bid me And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord, Let all my 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 reckoning12? 9 The construstion is, And made that unaptness your minister;" 10 He does not mean so great a sum, but a certain sum. 11Though you now at last listen to my remonstrances, yet now your affairs are in such a rate, that the whole of your remaining fortune will scarce pay half your debts: you are therefore wise too late.' 12 How will you be able to subsist in the time intervening Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend. Flav. O my good lord, the world is but a word 13; Were it all yours to give it in a breath, How quickly were it gone? Tim. 10 916's side vi You tell me true. Flav. If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood, Call me before the exactest auditors, 135 And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me, 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, between the payment of the present demands (which your whole substance will hardly satisfy) and the claim of future dues, for which you have no fund whatsoever; and, finally, on the settlement of all accounts, in what a wretched plight will you be.' 13 i. e. as the world itself may be comprised in a word, you might give it away in a breath. 14 Steevens asserted that offices here meant apartments allotted to culinary purposes, the reception of domestics, &c.; and that feeders meant servants. Malone contended that by offices was intended all rooms or places at which refreshments were prepared or served out;' as Steevens had explained it in Othello; and that feeders did not here mean servants. It must be confessed that the passage in Othello, All offices are open, and there is full liberty of feasting from this present hour of five until the bell has told eleven, countenances Steevens's explanation; as does another passage, from Shirley's Opportunitie, cited by Mr. Boswell:~ Let all the offices of entertainment Be free and open. The cellar and the buttery are probably meant. 15 A wasteful cock is possibly what we now call a waste pipe, a pipe which is continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cisterns, &c. by carrying off their superfluous water. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceasing prodigality in the mind of the steward, while its remoteness was favourable to meditation. The breath is gone whereof this praise is made: Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers, These flies are couch'd.dat Time! Come, sermon me no further: No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given16, Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart; As I can bid thee spessurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd18, d That I account them blessings; for by these Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Serv. My lord, my lord,- Tim. I will despatch you severally.-You, to. To Lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say, 16 Every reader must rejoice in this circumstance of comfort which want of prudence, consoles himself with reflection that his ruin itself to Timon, who, although beggared through was not brought on by the pursuit of guilty pleasures. 17 i. e. the contents of them. The argum Steevens. a argument of a book was brief sum of the whole matter contained in it. So in Hamlet the king asks concerning the play: Have you heard the argument? is there no offence in it?" 18 i. e. dignified, adorned, made gracious. And yet no day without a deed to crown it.' King Henry VIII. Toward a supply of money: let the request Flam. As you have said, my lord. 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. I have been bold Tim. Is't true? can it be? Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall20, want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry you are honourledord di able, But yet they could have wish'd-they know not-but Something hath been amiss- -a noble nature May catch pity a wrench-would all were well--'tis And so, intending21 other serious matters, Tim. You gods, reward them! I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly; These old fellows Have their ingratitude in them hereditary: 19 The most general way, is the most compendious, to try many at a time. 20 i. e. at an ebb. 21 Johnson, Steevens, and Malone have explained intending here regarding, turning their notice, or attending to, &c.; but it certainly means pretending. See King Richard III. Sc. 5, note 9. Shakspeare uses pretend in many places for intend; and I have shown that he also uses pretend for intend in several instances. 22 Fractions are broken hints, abrupt remarks. cap slightly moved, not put off. A half-cap is a Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it seldom flows; Thou art true, and honest; ingeniously I speak, Buried his father; by whose death, he's stepp'd I clear'd him with five talents; Greet him from me; 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 free23 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 23 Liberal, not parsimonious. |