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PHI. I wonder on't; he was wont to fhine at

feven.

LUC. SERV. Ay, but the days are waxed fhorter with him:

You must confider, that a prodigal course

Is like the fun's; but not, like his, recoverable. I fear,

'Tis deepest winter in lord Timon's purse; That is, one may reach deep enough, and yet Find little."

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a prodigal courfe

Is like the fun's;] That is, like him in blaze and fplendor. "Soles accidere & redire poffunt." Catul. JOHNSON. Theobald and the fubfequent editors, elegantly enough, but without neceffity, read-a prodigal's courfe. We have the fame phrafe as that in the text in the last couplet of the preceding scene: "And this is all a liberal course allows." MALONE.

6 reach deep enough, and yet

Find little.] Still, perhaps, alluding to the effects of winter, during which fome animals are obliged to feek their fcanty provifion through a depth of fnow. STEEVENS.

TIT. I'll show you how to obferve a strange event. Your lord fends now for money.

HOR.

Moft true, he does.

TIT. And he wears jewels now of Timon's gift, For which I wait for money.

HOR. It is against my heart.

LUC. SERV.

Mark, how ftrange it fhows, Timon in this fhould pay more than he owes: And e'en as if your lord fhould wear rich jewels, And fend for money for 'em.

HOR. I am weary of this charge, the gods can witnefs:

I know, my lord hath spent of Timon's wealth, And now ingratitude makes it worse than ftealth. 1. VAR. SERV. Yes, mine's three thoufand crowns: What's yours?

LUC. SERV. Five thoufand mine.

I. VAR. SERV. 'Tis much deep: and it fhould feem by the fum,

Your master's confidence was above mine;
Elfe, furely, his had equall'd.

7 I am weary of this charge,] That is, of this commiffion, of this employment. JOHNSON.

8 Elfe, furely, his had equall'd.] Should it not be, Elfe, furely, mine had equall'd. JOHNSON.

The meaning of the paffage is evidently and fimply this: Your mafter, it seems, had more confidence in lord Timon than mine, other wife his (i. e. my master's) debt (i. e. the money due to him from Timon) would certainly have been as great as your mafter's (i. e. as the money which Timon owes to your mafter); that is, my master being as rich as yours, could and would have advanced Timon as large a fum as your maiter has advanced him, if he (my mafter) had thought it prudent to do fo. RITSON.

The meaning may be, "The confidential friendship fubfifting between your mafter [Lucius] and Timon, was greater than that fubfifting between my mafter [Varro] and Timon; elfe furely the

Enter FLAMINIUS.

TIT. One of lord Timon's men.

LUC. SERV. Flaminius! fir, a word: 'Pray, is my lord ready to come forth?

fum borrowed by Timon from your mafter had been equal to, and not greater than, the fum borrowed from mine; and this equality would have been produced by the application made to my mafter being raised from three thousand crowns to five thousand."

Two fums of unequal magnitude may be reduced to an equality, as well by addition to the leffer fum, as by fubtraction from the greater. Thus, if A. has applied to B. for ten pounds, and to C. for five, and C. requests that he may lend A. precifely the fame fum as he shall be furnished with by B, this may be done, either by C's augmenting his loan, and lending ten pounds as well as B, or by B's diminishing his loan, and, like Č, lending only five pounds. The words of Varro's fervant therefore may mean, Elfe furely the fame fums had been borrowed by Timon from both our masters.

I have preserved this interpretation, because I once thought it probable, and because it may ftrike others as juft. But the true explication I believe is this (which I alfo formerly propofed). His may refer to mine. "It fhould feem that the confidential friendfhip fubfifting between your mafter and Timon, was greater than that fubfifting between Timon and my mafter; elfe furely his fum, i. e. the fum borrowed from my mafter, [the laft antecedent] had been as large as the fum borrowed from yours."

The former interpretation (though I think it wrong,) I have ftated thus precifely, and exactly in fubftance as it appeared several years ago, (though the expreffion is a little varied,) because a REMARKER [Mr. Ritfon] has endeavoured to reprefent it as unintelligible.

This Remarker, however, it is obfervable, after faying, that he shall take no notice of fuch fee-faw conjectures, with great gravity propofes a comment evidently formed on the latter of them, as an original interpretation of his own, on which the reader may fafely rely. MALONE.

It must be perfectly clear, that the Remarker could not be indebted to a note which, fo far as it is intelligible, feems diametrically oppofite to his idea. It is equally fo, that the editor [Mr. Malone has availed himself of the above Remark, to vary the expreffion of his conjecture, and give it a sense it would otherwise never have had. RITSON.

FLAM. No, indeed, he is not.

TIT. We attend his lordship; 'pray, fignify fo much.

FLAM. I need not tell him that; he knows, you are too diligent. [Exit FLAMINIUS.

Enter FLAVIUS in a cloak, muffled.

LUC. SERV. Ha! is not that his fteward muffled fo?

He goes away in a cloud: call him, call him.
TIT. Do you hear, fir?

1. VAR. SERV. By your leave, fir,—
FLAV. What do you ask of me, my friend?
TIT. We wait for certain money here, fir.
FLAV.

If money were as certain as your waiting,
'Twere fure enough.
Your fums and bills,
Of my lord's meat?

fawn

Ay,

Why then preferr'd you not when your false masters eat Then they could fmile, and

Upon his debts, and take down th' intereft

Into their gluttonous maws. You do yourselves but wrong,

To ftir me up; let me pafs quietly:

Believe't, my lord and I have made an end;
I have no more to reckon, he to spend.

LUC. SERV. Ay, but this anfwer will not ferve.
FLAV.

If 'twill not,"

'Tis not fo base as you; for you ferve knaves.

[Exit.

9 If 'twill not,] Old copy-If 'twill not ferve. I have ventured to omit the ufelefs repetition of the verb-serve, because it injures the metre. STEEVENS.

1. VAR. SERV. How! what does his cafhier'd worship mutter?

2. VAR. SERV. No matter what; he's poor, and that's revenge enough. Who can speak broader than he that has no houfe to put his head in? fuch may rail against great buildings.

Enter SERVILIUS.*

TIT. O, here's Servilius; now we fhall know Some answer.

SER. If I might befeech you, gentlemen, To repair fome other hour, I fhould much Derive from it: for, take it on my foul, My lord leans wond'roufly to discontent. His comfortable temper has forfook him; He is much out of health, and keeps his chamber. LUC. SERV. Many do keep their chambers, are not fick:

his debts,

And, if it be fo far beyond his health,
Methinks, he fhould the fooner pay
And make a clear way to the gods.

SER.

Good gods!

TIT. We cannot take this for an answer, fir. FLAM. [Within.] Servilius, help!—my lord! my lord!

2 Enter Servilius.] It may be observed that Shakspeare has unkilfully filled his Greek ftory with Roman names. JOHNSON.

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Derive much from it: &c.

For this flight tranfpofition, by which the metre is restored, I am

anfwerable. STEEVENS.

- for an answer,] The article an, which is deficient in the old copy, was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer. STEEVENS.

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