Weigh but the crime with this.

2 Sen. You breathe in vain. Alcib.

In vain? his service done

At Lacedæmon, and Byzantium,
Were a sufficient briber for his life.
1 Sen. What 's that?
Alcib.

Why, I say, my lords, h' as done

fair service,

And slain in fight many of your enemies:

How full of valour did he bear himself

In the last conflict, and made plenteous wounds?
2 Sen. He has made too much plenty with 'em,2 he
Is a sworn rioter :3 h' as a sin that often

Drowns him, and takes his valour prisoner:
If there were no foes, that were enough alone
To overcome him: in that beastly fury
He has been known to commit outrages,
And cherish factions: 'Tis inferr'd to us,
His days are foul, and his drink dangerous.
1 Sen. He dies.
Alcib.

Hard fate! he might have died in war. My lords, if not for any parts in him,

(Though his right arm might purchase his own time,
And be in debt to none,) yet, more to move you,
Take my deserts to his, and join them both:
And, for I know, your reverend ages love

Security, I'll pawns my victories, all

Why, I say The personal pronoun was inserted by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

2—with 'em,] The folio-with him. Johnson.

The correction was made by the editor of the second folio.

Johnson.

Malone.

3 Is a sworn rioter:] A sworn rioter is a man who practises riot, as if he had by an oath made it his duty. The expression, a sworn rioter, seems to be similar to that of sworn brothers. See Vol. IX, p. 235, n. 8.

Malone.

4 -alone-] This word was judiciously supplied by Sir Tho mas Hanmer, to complete the measure. Thus, in All's Well that Ends Well:

-your reverend ages love

Security, I'll pawn &c.] He charges them obliquely with being usurers. Johnson.

My honour to you, upon his good returns.
If by this crime he owes the law his life,
Why, let the war receive 't in valiant gore;
For law is strict, and war is nothing more.

1 Sen. We are for law, he dies; urge it no more, On height of our displeasure: Friend, or brother, He forfeits his own blood, that spills another.

Alcib. Must it be so? it must not be. My lords, I do beseech you, know me.

2 Sen. How?

Alcib. Call me to your remembrances." 3 Sen.

What?

Alcib. I cannot think, but your age has forgot me;
It could not else be, I should prove so base,7
To sue, and be denied such common grace:
My wounds ache at you.

1 Sen.

Do you dare our anger?

'Tis in few words, but spacious in effect;8 We banish thee for ever.

Alcib.

Banish me?

Banish your dotage; banish usury,

That makes the senate ugly.

1 Sen. If, after two days' shine, Athens contain thee, Attend our weightier judgment. And, not to swell our spirit,9

So afterwards:

6

66

banish usury

"That makes the senate ugly." Malone.

remembrances.] is here used as a word of five syllables. In the singular number it occurs as a quadrisyllable only. See Twelfth Night, Act 1, sc. i:

"And lasting in her sad remembrance." Steevens.

7 I should prove so base,] Base for dishonoured. Warburton. Do you dare our anger?

'Tis in few words, but spacious in effect;] This reading may pass, but perhaps the author wrote:

our anger?

'Tis few in words, but spacious in effect. Johnson.

9 And, not to swell our spirit,]

believe, means, not to put our

selves into any tumour of rage, take our definitive resolution. So,

in King Henry VIII, Act III, sc. i:

"The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

"So much they love it; but, to stubborn spirits,

"They swell and grow as terrible as storms." Steevens.

He shall be executed presently.

[Exeunt Senators.

Alcib. Now the gods keep you old enough; that you

may live

Only in bone, that none may look on you!

I am worse than mad: I have kept back their foes,
While they have told their money, and let out
Their coin upon large interest; I myself,
Rich only in large hurts;-All those, for this?
Is this the balsam, that the usuring senáte
Pours into captains' wounds? ha! banishment? 1
It comes not ill; I hate not to be banish'd;
It is a cause worthy my spleen and fury,
That I may strike at Athens. I'll cheer up
My discontented troops, and lay for hearts.
"Tis honour, with most lands to be at odds;2
Soldiers should brook as little wrongs, as gods. [Exit.

1 -ha! banishment?] Thus the second folio. Its ever-blundering predecessor omits the interjection, ha! and consequently spoils the metre.-The same exclamation occurs in Romeo and Fuliet:

2

"Ha! banishment? be merciful, say-death

and lay for hearts.

Steevens.

'Tis honour, with most lands to be at odds;] But surely even in a soldier's sense of honour, there is very little in being at odds with all about him; which shows rather a quarrelsome disposi tion than a valiant one. Besides, this was not Alcibiades's case. He was only fallen out with the Athenians. A phrase in the foregoing line will direct us to the right reading. I will lay, says he, for hearts; which is a metaphor taken from card-play, and signifies to game deep and boldly. It is plain then the figure was continued in the following line, which should be read thus:

'Tis honour with most hands to be at odds;

i. e. to fight upon odds, or at disadvantage; as he must do against the united strength of Athens; and this, by soldiers, is accounted honourable. Shakspeare uses the same metaphor on the same occasion, in Coriolanus:

"He lurch'd all swords." Warburton.

I think hands is very properly substituted for lands. In the foregoing line, for, lay for hearts, I would read, play for hearts.

Johnson.

I do not conceive that to lay for hearts is a metaphor taken from card-play, or that lay should be changed into play. We should now say, to lay out for hearts, i. e. the affections of the people; but lay 1s used singly, as it is here, by Jonson, in The Devil is an Ass, [Mr. Whalley's edition] Vol. IV, p. 33:

"Lay for some pretty principality." Tyrwhitt.

SCENE VI.

A magnificent Room in Timon's House.

Musick. Tables set out: Servants attending. Enter divers Lords, at several Doors.

1 Lord. The good time of day to you, sir.

2 Lord. I also wish it to you. I think, this honourable lord did but try us this other day.

1 Lord. Upon that were my thoughts tiring, when

A kindred expression occurs in Marlowe's Lust's Dominion, 1657: "He takes up Spanish hearts on trust, to pay them "When he shall finger Castile's crown."

Malone.

'Tis honour, with most lands to be at odds;] I think, with Dr. Johnson, that lands cannot be right. To assert that it is honourable to fight with the greatest part of the world, is very wild. I be lieve therefore our author meant that Alcibiades in his spleen against the Senate, from whom alone he has received an injury, should say:

'Tis honour with most lords to be at odds. Malone.

I adhere to the old reading. It is surely more honourable to wrangle for a score of kingdoms, (as Miranda expresses it) than to enter into quarrels with lords, or any other private adversaries. Steevens.

The objection to the old reading still in my apprehension remains. It is not difficult for him who is so inclined, to quarrel with a lord; (or with any other person;) but not so easy to be at odds with his land. Neither does the observation just made, prove that it is honourable to quarrel, or to be at odds, with most of the lands or kingdoms of the earth, which must, I conceive, be proved, before the old reading can be supported. Malone.

By most lands, perhaps our author means greatest lands. So, in King Henry VI, P. I, Act IV, sc. i:

"But always resolute in most extremes."

i. e. in greatest. Alcibiades, therefore, may be willing to regard a contest with a great and extensive territory, like that of Athens, as a circumstance honourable to himself. Steevens.

3 Enter divers Lords,] In the modern editions these are called Senators; but it is clear from what is said concerning the banishment of Alcibiades, that this must be wrong. I have therefore substituted Lords. The old copy has "Enter divers friends."

Malone.

4 Upon that were my thoughts tiring,] A hawk, I think, is said to tire, when she amuses herself with pecking a pheasant's wing, or any thing that puts her in mind of prey. To tire upon a thing, is therefore, to be idly employed upon it. Johnson.

I believe Dr. Johnson is mistaken. Tiring means here, I think,

we encountered: I hope, it is not so low with him, as he made it seem in the trial of his several friends.

2 Lord. It should not be, by the persuasion of his new feasting.

1 Lord. I should think so: He hath sent me an earnest inviting, which many my near occasions did urge me to put off; but he hath conjured me beyond them, and I must needs appear.

2 Lord. In like manner was I in debt to my importunate business, but he would not hear my excuse. I am sorry, when he sent to borrow of me, that my provision

was out.

1 Lord. I am sick of that grief too, as I understand how all things go.

2 Lord. Every man here 's so. What would he have borrowed of you?

1 Lord. A thousand pieces.

2 Lord. A thousand pieces! À Lord. What of you?

3 Lord. He sent to me, sir, Here he comes.

-

Enter TIMON, and Attendants.

Tim. With all my heart, gentlemen both :-And how fare you?

1 Lord. Ever at the best, hearing well of your lordship. 2 Lord. The swallow follows not summer more willing, than we your lordship.

Tim. [aside] Nor more willingly leaves winter; such summer-birds are men. -Gentlemen, our dinner will not recompense this long stay: feast your ears with the

fixed, fastened, as the hawk fastens its beak eagerly on its prey. So, in our author's Venus and Adonis

"Like as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,

" Tires with her beak on feathers, flesh, and bone, Tirouër, that is, tiring for hawks, as Cotgrave calls it, signified any thing by which the falconer brought the bird back, and fixed him to his hand. A capon's wing was often used for this purpose.

In King Henry VI, Part II, we have a kindred xpression: 61 your thoughts

"Beat on a crown." Malone.

Dr. Johnson's explanation, I believe, is right Thus, in The Winter's Tale, Antigonus is said to be "woman-tir d,” i. e. pecked by a woman, as we now say, with a similar allusion, hen-pecked.

Steevens