AUFIDIUS.

Name not the god, thou boy of tears.

CORIOLANUS.

Measureless liar, thou hast made my heart
Too great for what contains it. Boy! O slave!
Pardon me, lords, 'tis the first time that ever
I was forc'd to scold.....

..Boy! False hound!

If you have writ your annals true, 'tis there,
That, like an eagle in a dove-cote, I

Flutter'd your voices in Corioli:
Alone I did it. - Boy!

TIMON OF ATHENS.

TIMON.

Noble Ventidius! Well;

I am not of that feather, to shake off

My friend when he must need me. I do know him

A gentleman, that well deserves help,

Which he shall have.

'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,

But to support him after. '

How likest thou this picture, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS.

The best, for the innocence.

TIMON.

Wrought he not well that painted it?

APEMANTUS.

He wrought better that made the painter; and yet

he's but a filthy piece of work."

You are a dog.

PAINTER.

APEMANTUS.

Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog?

Aches contract and starve your supple joints!

SECOND LORD.

Thou art going to Lord Timon's feast.

APEMANTUS.

Ay; to see meat fill knaves, and wine heat fools.

SECOND LORD.

Fare thee well, fare thee well.

APEMANTUS.

Thou art a fool, to bid me farewell twice.

SECOND LORD.

Why, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS.

Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give

thee none.

FIRST LORD.

Hang thyself.

TIMON OF ATHENS.

117

APEMANTUS.

No, I will do nothing at thy bidding; make thy requests to thy friend.

SECOND LORD.

Away, unpeaceable dog, or I'll spurn thee hence.

APEMANTUS.

I will fly, like a dog, the heels of an ass.

TIMON.

Honest Ventidius, you mistake my love;

I

gave

it freely ever; and there's none Can truly say he gives, if he receives.

You have done our pleasures much grace, fair ladies,

Set a fair fashion on our entertainment,

Which was not half so beautiful and kind;

You have added worth unto 't, and lively lustre.

APEMANTUS.

O, that men's ears should be

To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!

ALCIBIADES.

I am an humble suitor to your virtues ;

For pity is the virtue of the law,
And none but tyrants use it cruelly.

He is a man, setting his fate aside,

Of comely virtues.

SENATOR.

He's truly valiant that can wisely suffer
The worst that man can breathe.

ALCIBIADES.

Banish me?

Banish your dotage; banish usury,

That makes the senate ugly.

TIMON.

Let me look back upon thee, O thou wall,
That girdlest in those wolves! Dive in the earth,
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent;
Obedience fail in children! slaves and fools,

Pluck the grave, wrinkled senate from the bench,
And minister in their steads!

....son of sixteen,

Pluck the lin'd crutch from the old limping sire;
With it beat out his brains!...

.....lust and liberty

Creep in the minds and manners of our youth; That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive, And drown themselves in riot!

. What is here?

Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold?