Forgetting thy great deeds, when neighbour states, But for thy sword and fortune, trod upon them,Tim. I pr'ythee, beat thy drum, and get thee gone. Alcib. I am thy friend, and pity thee, dear Timon. Tim. How dost thou pity him, whom thou dost trouble? 1 had rather be alone. Alcib. Why, fare thee well: Here's some gold for thee. Tim. Keep't, I cannot eat it. Alcib. When I have laid proud Athens on a heap, Tim. Warr'st thou 'gainst Athens? Alcib. Ay, Timon, and have cause Tim. The gods confound them all i'thy conquest; and Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd! Alcib. Tim. That, Why me, Timon? By killing villains, thou wast born to conquer Put up thy gold; Go on,-here's gold,-go on; Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison In the sick air: Let not thy sword skip one: He's an usurer: Strike me the counterfeit matron; Herself's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek Make soft thy trenchant sword; for those milk paps, That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes, Are not within the leaf of pity writ, Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not the babe, Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their mercy; Think it a bastard, whom the oracle Hath doubtfully pronounc'd thy throat shall cut, And mince it sans remorse: Swear against objects;" Put armour on thine ears, and on thine eyes; Whose proof, nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes, Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding, Shall pierce a jot. There's gold to pay thy soldiers: Make large confusion; and, thy fury spent, Confounded be thyself! Speak not, be gone. Alcib. Hast thou gold yet? I'll take the gold thou giv'st me, Not all thy counsel. Tim. Dost thou, or dost thou not, heaven's curse upon thee! Phr. & Timan. Give us some gold, good Timon: Hast thou more? Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear her trade, And to make whores, a bawd. Hold up, you sluts, Your aprons mountant: You are not oathable,— Although, I know, you'll swear, terribly swear, Into strong shudders, and to heavenly agues, The immortal gods that hear you,-spare your oaths, I'll trust to your conditions: Be whores still; And he whose pious breath seeks to convert you, Be strong in whore, allure him, burn him up; Let your close fire predominate his smoke, And be no turncoats: Yet may your pains, six months, Be quite contrary: And thatch your poor thin roofs With burdens of the dead;-some that were hang'd, No matter:-wear them, betray with them: whore still; bastard,] An allusion to the tale of Oedipus. 5 Swear against objects;] Against objects is, against objects of charity and compassion. I'll trust to your conditions:] I will trust to your inclinations, or rather vocations. Paint till a horse may mire upon your A pox of wrinkles! face: Phr.& Timan. Well, more gold;-What then?— Believ't, that we'll do any thing for gold. Tim. Consumptions sow In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins, Nor sound his quillets shrilly:" hoar the flamen, And not believes himself: down with the nose, 1 Smells from the general weal: make curl'd-pate ruffians bald; And let the unscarr'd braggarts of the war The source of all erection.-There's more gold:damn others, and let this damn you, Do you And ditches grave you all!1 Phr. & Timan. More counsel with more money, bounteous Timon. Tim. More whore, more mischief first; I have Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athens. If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again. "Nor sound his quillets shrilly:] Quillets are subtilties. 8 hoar the flamen,] This may mean,-Give the flamen the hoary leprosy. 9 that his particular to foresee,] The metaphor is apparently incongruous, but the sense is good. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he leaves the right scent of publick good. And ditches grave you all!] To grave is to entomb. The word is now obsolete, though sometimes used by Shakspeare and his contemporary authors. Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee more. Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me. Alcib. Call'st thou that harm? Tim. Men daily find it such. Get thee away, And take thy beagles with thee. Alcib. We but offend him. [Drum beats. Exeunt ALCIBIADES, PHRYNIA, and TIMANDRA. Tim. That nature, being sick of man's unkindness, 3 ? Whose-infinite breast-] means whose boundless surface. eyeless venom'd worm,] The serpent, which we, from the smallness of his eyes, call the blind-worm, and the Latins, cæcilia. below crisp heaven-] i. e. curled, bent, hollow. Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;] The sense is this: O nature! cease to produce men, ensear thy womb; but if thou wilt continue to produce them, at least cease to pamper them; dry up thy marrows, on which they fatten with unctuous morsels, thy vines, which give them liquorish draughts, and thy plow-torn leas. Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts, And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind, That from it all consideration slips! Enter APEMANTUS. More man? Plague! plague! Apem. I was directed hither: Men report, Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use them. Tim. 'Tis then, because thou dost not keep a dog Whom I would imitate: Consumption catch thee! Apem. This is in thee a nature but affected; A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung From change of fortune. place? Why this spade? this This slave-like habit? and these looks of care? Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that bid welcome, To knaves, and all approachers: 'Tis most just, A madman so long, now a fool: What, think'st critick. the cunning of a carper.] i. e. the insidious art of a |