Ha, you gods! why this? Why this, you gods?| [sides; Will lug your priests and servants from your Pluck stout men's pillows from below their This yellow slave [heads: 5 15 But yet I'll bury thee: Thou'lt go, strong thief, Alcib. What is thy name? Is man so hateful to That art thyself a man? Tim. I am misanthropos, and hate mankind. Alcib. I know thee well; use thee; Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust. To the tub-fast", and the diet. Ale. Pardon him, sweet Tymandra; for his wits But in thy fortunes am unlearn'd and strange. I not desire to know. Follow thy drum: Then what should war be? This fell whore of 4c 50] 3 Alcib. Why, fare thee well: Tim. Keep it, I cannot eat ́it. Alc. When I have laid proud Athens on a heap,- Tim. The gods confound them all in thy con- Thee after, when thou hast conquer'd! Tim. That, by killing of villains, thou wast born Put up thy gold; Go on,-here's gold,-go on; i. e. men who have strength yet remaining to struggle with their distemper. This alludes to an old custom of drawing away the pillow from under the heads of men in their last agonies, to make their departure the easier. Waped or wappen'd, according to Warburton, signifies both sorrowful and terrified, either for the loss of a good husband, or by the treatment of a bad. But gold, he says, can overcome both her affection and her fears. That is, to the wedding day, called by the poet, satirically, April day, or fool's day.-The April day, however, does not relate to the widow, but to the other diseased female, who is represented as the outcast of an hospital. She it is whom gold em balms and spices to the April day again: i. e. gold restores her to all the freshness and sweetness of youth. Lie in the earth where nature laid thee. 6 "Thou hast life and motion in thee. This alludes to the method of cure for venereal complaints (explained in note, p. 90), the unction for which was sometimes continued for thirty-seven days, and during this time there was necessarily an extraordinary abstinence required. Hence the term of the tub-fast. The diet was likewise a customary term for the regimen prescribed in these cases, Will 證 Act 4, Scene 3.} TIMON OF ATHENS. Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison Heis an usurer: Strike methe counterfeit matron, It is her habit only that is honest, Herself's a bawd: Let not the virgin's cheek That through the window-bars bore at men's eyes, Set them down horrible traitors: Spare not thebabe, mercy; Think it a bastard, whom the oracle Phr. and Tym. Well, more gold;-What the Believe't, that we'll do any thing for gold. Tim. Consumptions sow In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shi That he may never more false title plead, Tim. Enough to make a whore forswear her 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, 1351 I'll trust to your conditions: Be whores still; Timon. More whore, more mischief first Alcib. Strike up the drum towards Athe If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again. Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee mor Tim. Yes, thou spok'st well of me. Tim. Men daily find it. Get thee away, and take thy beagles with the [Drum beats. Exeunt Alcibia Phrynia, and Tymandra. Tim. [Digging.] That nature, being sick man's unkindness, Should yet be hungry!-Common mother, t 40 Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite brea Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is p Engenders the black toad, and adder blue, The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd wor With all the abhorred births below crisp hea Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth sh Yield him, who all thy human sons doth ha From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor roo Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb, 3 13 1i. e. draw forth. 2 An allusion to the tale of Edipus. Perhaps objects is here used cincially for abjects. That is, enough to make awhore leave whoring, and a bard leave making wh i. e. I will trust to your inclinations. Dr. Warburton comments on this thus: passage is obscure, partly from the ambiguity of the word pains, and partly from the generality of the ex sion. The meaning is this: He had said before, Follow constantly your trade of debauchery; th (says he) for six months in the year. Let the other six be employed in quite contrary pains and la namely, in the severe discipline necessary for the repair of those disorders that your debaucheries sion, in order to fit you anew to the trade; and thus let the whole year be spent in these diff occupations. On this account he goes on, and says, Make false hair, &c.—Mr. Steevens however ceives the meaning to be only this: "Yet for half the year at least, may you suffer such punishmen inflicted on harlots in houses of correction." "Quillets are subtilties. i. e. give the flamen the leprosy. To foresee his particular, is to provide for his private advantage, for which he lea 9 Cwood In hunting, when hares have cross'd one another, it is common for Let it no more bring out ingrateful man! Enter Apemantus. More man? Plague! plague! Apem. I was directed hither: Men report, The sweet degrees that this brief world affords Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft ; 20 In general riot; melted down thy youth Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot In different beds of lust; and never learn'd hate men? 35 They never flatter'd thee: What hast thou given? A madman so long, now a fool; What, think'st Tim. A fool of thee: Depart. Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did. Apem. Why? Tim. Thou flatter'st misery. Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caitiff. 145 Apem. Tovex thee. 55 Were all the wealth I have, shut up in thee, [Eating a root, Apem. Here; I will mend thy feast. [Offering him something. Tim. First mendmycompany, take awaythyself. Apem. So I shall mend my own, by the lack of thine. Tim. 'Tis not well mended so, it is but botch'd; Apem. What wouldst thou have to Athens? The cunning of a carper means the insidious arts of a critic. 2 That is, Best states contentless have a wretched being, a being worse than that of the worst states that are content. 4 3 By his breath is probably meant his sentence. Alluding to the word Cynic, of which sect Apemantus was. From intancy.-Swath is the dress of a new-born child. Respect, according to Mr. Steevens, means the qu'en dira't-on? the regard of Athens, that strongest restraint on licentiousness: the icy precepts, i e. that cool hot blood. Tell Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have. to me, thou might'st have hit upon it here commonwealth of Athens is become a for beasts. Tim. How has the ass broke the wall, tha 5 art out of the city? Tim. 'Would poison were obedient, and knew 10 my mind! Apem. Where would'st thou send it? Apem. The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends: When 15 thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume,they mock'd thee for too much curiosity; in thy rags, thou knowest none, but art despis'd for the contrary. There's a medlar for thee, eat it. Tim. On what I hate, I feed not. Tim. Ay, though it look like thee. Apem. Yonder comes a poet, and a pai The plague of company light upon thee! fear to catch it, and give way: When I not what else to do, I'll see thee again. Tim. When there is nothing living but thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beg dog, than Apemantus. Apem. Thou art the cap' of all the fools all Apem. Thou art too bad to curse. 20I'll beat thee, but I should infect my hand Apem. An thou hadst hated medlars sooner, thou shouldst have lov'd thyself better now. What man didst thou ever know unthrift, that was be-25 lov'd after his means? Tim. Who, without those means thou talk'st of, didst thou ever know belov'd? Apem. Myself. Tim. I understand thee; thou had'st some means 30 to keep a dog. Apem. What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers? Tim. Women nearest; but nien, men are the things themselves. What wouldst thou do with 35 the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power? Apem. Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confusion of men, and remain a beast with the beasts? Apem. Ay, Timon. I Apem. 'Would thou wouldst burst! Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry, I shall los Tim. Rogue, rogue, rogue! [Apemantus retreats backward, as g I am sick of this false world; and will love no Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain too! 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 suspect thee, when,peradventure, thou 45 wert accus'd by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee; and still thou liv'dst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou 50 the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be kill'd by the horse: wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert 55 german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life: all thy safety were remotion; and thy defence, absence. What beast couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast? And what a beast art thou already, and seest not 60 thy loss in transformation ? Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking| : 'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defi And mak'st them kiss! that speak'st with ev tongue, To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts Apem. 'Would 'twere so; But not 'till I am dead!-I'll say, thou hast 60 Apem. Ay. Tim. Thy back, I pr'ythee. Tim. Longlive so, and so die !—I am qui 1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender ort of his remainder: the meer want of gold, and the fallingfrom 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 assay upon him; if he care not for 't, he will supply us easily; If he covetous'y reserve it, how shall's get it? 2. Thief. True; for he bears it not about him, 'tis hid. 1 Thief. Is not this he? All. Where? 2 Thief. 'Tis his description. 3 Thief. He; I know him. All. Save thee, Timon. Tim. Now, thieves. All. Soldiers, not thieves. Tim. Both too; and women's sons. All. We arenot thieves, but men that much do want. 5 Here's gold:Go suckthes 25 [meat. As beasts, and birds, and fishes. [ter, Tim. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes; 3 Thief. He has almost profession, by persuading n 1 Thief. 'Tis in the malic thus advises us; not to ha mystery. 2 Thief. I'll believe him over my trade. 1 Thief. Let us first se There is no time so miserab You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con1,35 true. To con thanks is a very common expression among our old dramatic writers. Mr. Tollett comments on this passage thus: "The moon is the governess of the be resolved by the surges of the sea.' This seems incontestible, and therefore an a appears to be necessary. I propose to read :—whose liquid surge resolves the main i resolves the main land, or the continent, into sea. In Bacon, and also in Shakspeare's sc. 1. main occurs in this signification. Earth melting to sea is not an uncommo "Melt carth to sea, sea flow to air." I might add, that in Chaucer, mone, which traces of the old reading, seems to mean the globe of the earth, or a map of it, from the world; but I think main is the true reading here, and might easily be mistaken transcriber, or a careless printer, who might have in their thoughts the moon, whi a preceding line." * Rarely, for fitly; not for seldom. 5 We should read will is, "Let me rather woo or caress those that would mischief, that profess to mean those that really do me mischief under false professions of kindness." 4 1 |