VARRO'S SERVANT. Thou art not
altogether a fool.
FOOL. Nor thou
altogether a wise man.
As much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lack'st.
APEMANTUS. That answer might have become Apemantus.
VARRO'S SERVANT. Aside, aside; here comes Lord Timon.
Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS
APEMANTUS. Come with me, fool, come.
FOOL. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman;
sometime the philosopher.
Exeunt APEMANTUS and FOOL
FLAVIUS. Pray you walk near; I'll speak with you anon.
Exeunt SERVANTS
TIMON. You make me
marvelwherefore 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.
FLAVIUS. You would not hear me
At many leisures I propos'd.
TIMON. Go to;
Perchance some single vantages you took
When my indisposition put you back,
And that unaptness made your minister
Thus to excuse yourself.
FLAVIUS. 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 th' 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
estateAnd your great flow of debts. My 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.
TIMON. Let all my land be sold.
FLAVIUS. '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 reck'ning?
TIMON. To Lacedaemon did my land extend.
FLAVIUS. 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!
TIMON. You tell me true.
FLAVIUS. If you
suspect my
husbandry or falsehood,
Call me before th' 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.
TIMON. Prithee no more.
FLAVIUS. 'Heavens,' have I said 'the
bounty of this lord!
How many
prodigal bits have slaves and peasants
This night englutted! Who is not Lord 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 show'rs,
These flies are couch'd.
TIMON. 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.
FLAVIUS. Assurance bless your thoughts!
TIMON. 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! Flaminius! Servilius!
Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and another SERVANT
SERVANTS. My lord! my lord!
TIMON. I will
dispatch 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 'em toward a supply of money. Let the
request be fifty talents.
FLAMINIUS. As you have said, my lord. Exeunt SERVANTS
FLAVIUS. [Aside] Lord Lucius and Lucullus? Humh!
TIMON. Go you, sir, to the senators,
Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have
Deserv'd this
hearing. Bid 'em send o' th'
instantA thousand talents to me.
FLAVIUS. 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.
TIMON. Is't true? Can't be?
FLAVIUS. 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-
But yet they could have wish'd- they know not-
Something hath been amiss- a noble nature
May catch a wrench- would all were well!- 'tis 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.
TIMON. You gods,
reward them!
Prithee, 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. Prithee be not sad,
Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak,
No blame belongs to thee. 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 rememb'red
With those five talents. That had, give't these fellows
To whom 'tis
instant due. Nev'r speak or think
That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink.
FLAVIUS. I would I could not think it.
That thought is
bounty's foe;
Being free itself, it thinks all others so. Exeunt
ACT III. SCENE I.
LUCULLUS' house
FLAMINIUS
waiting to speak with LUCULLUS. Enter
SERVANT to him
SERVANT. I have told my lord of you; he is coming down to you.
FLAMINIUS. I thank you, sir.
Enter LUCULLUS
SERVANT. Here's my lord.
LUCULLUS. [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
honourable, complete, freehearted gentleman of Athens, thy very
bountiful good lord and master?
FLAMINIUS. His health is well, sir.
LUCULLUS. I am right glad that his health is well, sir. And what
hast thou there under thy cloak, pretty Flaminius?
FLAMINIUS. Faith, nothing but an empty box, sir, which in my lord's
behalf I come to
entreat your honour 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.
LUCULLIUS. La, la, la, la! 'Nothing doubting' says he? Alas, good
lord! a noble gentleman 'tis, if he would not keep so good a
house. Many a time and often I ha' din'd 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 ha'
told him on't, but I could ne'er get him from't.
Re-enter SERVANT, with wine
SERVANT. Please your
lordship, here is the wine.
LUCULLUS. Flaminius, I have noted thee always wise. Here's to thee.
FLAMINIUS. Your
lordship speaks your pleasure.
LUCULLUS. 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. [To SERVANT] Get you gone, sirrah. [Exit SERVANT] Draw
nearer, honest Flaminius. Thy lord's a bountiful gentleman; but
thou art wise, and thou know'st well enough, although thou com'st
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 saw'st me not. Fare thee well.
FLAMINIUS. Is't possible the world should so much differ,
And we alive that liv'd? Fly,
damned baseness,
To him that worships thee. [Throwing the money back]
LUCULLUS. Ha! Now I see thou art a fool, and fit for thy master.
Exit
FLAMINIUS. 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 honour has my lord's meat in him;
Why should it
thrive and turn to nutriment
When he is turn'd to poison?
O, may diseases only work upon't!
And when he's 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
SCENE II.
A public place
Enter Lucius, with three STRANGERS
LUCIUS. Who, the Lord Timon? He is my very good friend, and an
honourable gentleman.
FIRST STRANGER. We know him for no less, though we are but
strangers to him. But I can tell you one thing, my lord, and
which I hear from common rumours: now Lord Timon's happy hours