Apem. Anthou had'ft hated medlers fooner, thou should'st have loved thyfelf better now. What man didit thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means? Tim. Who, without thofe means thou talk'ft of, didft thou ever know beloved? Apem. Myfelf. Tim. I understand thee; thou had'ft some means to keep a dog. Apem. What things in the world canft thou nearest com. pare to thy flatterers? Tim. Women neareft; but men, men are the things themselves. What would't thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power? Apem. Give it the beafts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Would't thou have thyfelf fall in the confusion of men, and remain a beast with the beasts? Apem. Ay, Timon. Tim. A beaftly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would fufpect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accus'd by the afs: if thou wert the afs, thy dulnefs would torment thee; and ftill thou livedft but as a breakfaft to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou fhould't hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the unicorn', pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own felf the conqueft of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou would't be kill'd by the horfe; wert thou a horfe, thou would'st be feiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy fafety were remotion; The account given of the unicorn is this: that he and the lion being enemies by nature, as foon as the lion fees the unicorn he betakes himself to a tree: the unicorn in his fury, and with all the wiftness of his courfe, running at him, fticks his horn faft in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him. Gefner Hift. Animal. remotion; and thy defence, abfence. What beaft could'st thou be, that were not fubject to a beaft? and what a beast art thou already, that feeft not thy lofs in transformation? Apem. If thou could'st please me with speaking to me, thou might'ft have hit upon it here: The commonwealth of Athens is become a foreft of beafts. Tim. How has the afs broke the wall, that thou art out of the city? Apem. Yonder comes a poet, and a painter: The plague of company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it, and give way: When I know not what elfe to do, I'll fee thee again. Tim. When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beggar's dog, than Ape mantus. Apem. Thou art the cap of all the fools alive 3. Tim. 'Would thou wert clean enough to fpit upon. I'll beat thee,-but I fhould infect my hands Apem. 'Would thou would't burft! Thou tedious rogue! I am forry, I fhall lofe A stone by thee. [throws a ftone at him. Apem. Beaft! Tim. Slave! Apem. 2 Remotion means, I apprehend, not a frequent removal from place to place, but merely remotenefs, the being placed at a distance from the lion. MALONE. 3 The top, the principal. The remaining dialogue has more malig nity than wit. Apem. Toad! Tim. Rogue, rogue, rogue! [APEMANTUS retreats backward, as going. I am fick of this falfe world; and will love nought But even the meer neceffities upon it. Then, Timon, prefently prepare thy grave; [Looking on the gold. 'Twixt natural fon and fire! thou bright defiler. And mak'ft them kifs! that speak'ft with every tongue, Think, thy flave man rebels: and by thy virtue May have the world in empire! Apem. 'Would 'twere fo; But not till I am dead!-I'll fay, thou haft gold: Thou wilt be throng'd to fhortly. Tim. Throng'd to? Apem. Ay. Tim. Thy back, I pr'ythee. Apem. Live, and love thy mifery! Tim. Long live fo, and fo die!-I am quit. [Exit APEMANTUS. More things like men'?-Eat, Timon, and abhor them. The imagery is here exquifitely beautiful and fublime. Enter 5 This line, in the old edition, is given to Apemantus, but it apparently belongs to Timon. Sir T. Hanmer has tranfpofed the foregoing dialogue according to his own mind, not unskilfully, but with unwarrantable licence. Enter Thieves. I. .Thief. Where fhould he have this gold? It is fome poor fragment, fome flender ort of his remainder: The meer want of gold, and the falling-from of his friends, drove him into this melancholy. 2. Thief. It is nois'd, he hath a mass of treasure. 3. Thief. Let us make the affay upon him; if he care not for't, he will fupply us easily; If he covetously referve it, how fhall's get it? 2. Thief. True; for he bears it not about him, 'tis hid. 1. Thief. Is not this he? Thieves. Where? 2. Thief. 'Tis his description. 3. Thief. He; I know him. Thieves. Save thee, Timon. Tim. Now, thieves? Thieves. Soldiers, not thieves. Tim. Both too; and women's fons. Thieves. We are not thieves, but men that much do want. Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of meat. Why fhould you want? Behold, the earth hath roots? Within this mile break forth an hundred springs: The oaks bear maft, the briars fcarlet hips;, The bounteous hufwife, nature, on each bufh Lays her full mess before you. Want? why want? 1. Thief. We cannot live on grafs, on berries, water, As beafts, and birds, and fishes. Tim. Nor on the beafts themselves, the birds, and fishes ; You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con, That you are thieves profeft; that you work not In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft In limited profeffions. Rafcal thieves, Here's gold: Go, fuck the fubtle blood o' the grape, Regular, orderly, profeffions. His His antidotes are poifon, and he flays More than you rob': take wealth and lives together; Like workmen: I'll example you with thievery. But thieves do lofe it: Steal not lefs, for this 73 7 Our authour's favourite daughter who married a phyfician, three years I believe before this play was written, could not have been much pleased with this paffage. MALONE. 8 The moon is fuppofed to be humid, and perhaps a fource of humidity, but cannot be refolved by the furges of the fea. Yet I think moon is the true reading. Here is a circulation of thievery defcribed: The fun, moon, and fea, all rob, and are robbed. JOHNSON. He fays fimply, that the fun, the moon, and the fea, rob one another by turns, but the earth robs them all: the fea, i. e. liquid furge, by fupplying the moon with moisture, robs her in turn of the foft tears of dew which the poets always fetch from this planet. Soft for falt is an eafy change. In this fenfe Milton speaks of ber moift continent, Par. Loft, b. v. 1. 422. STEEVENS. Shakspeare knew that the moon was the caufe of the tides, and in that refpect the liquid furge, that is, the waves of the fea, rifing one upon another, in the progrefs of the tide, may be faid to refolve the moon into falt tears; the moon, as the poet chooses to state the matter, lofing fome part of her humidity, and the accretion to the fea, in confequence of her tears, being the cause of the liquid furge. Add to this the popular notion, yet prevailing, of the moon's influence on the weather; which, together with what has been already stated, probably induced our authour here and in other places to allude to the watry quality of that planet. MALONE. 9 - by a compofture-] i. e. compofition, compoft. Steal not lefs,-] Not, which was accidentally omitted in the old copy, was inferted by Mr. Rowe. MALONE. VOL. VI. |
