Timon of Athens
ACT IV SCENE III | Woods and cave, near the seashore. | |
[Enter TIMON, from the cave] | ||
TIMON | O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth | |
Rotten humidity; below thy sister’s orb | ||
Infect the air! Twinn’d brothers of one womb, | ||
Whose procreation, residence, and birth, | ||
Scarce is dividant, touch them with several fortunes; | 5 | |
The greater scorns the lesser: not nature, | ||
To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune, | ||
But by contempt of nature. | ||
Raise me this beggar, and deny ‘t that lord; | ||
The senator shall bear contempt hereditary, | 10 | |
The beggar native honour. | ||
It is the pasture lards the rother’s sides, | ||
The want that makes him lean. Who dares, who dares, | ||
In purity of manhood stand upright, | ||
And say ‘This man’s a flatterer?’ if one be, | 15 | |
So are they all; for every grise of fortune | ||
Is smooth’d by that below: the learned pate | ||
Ducks to the golden fool: all is oblique; | ||
There’s nothing level in our cursed natures, | ||
But direct villany. Therefore, be abhorr’d | 20 | |
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men! | ||
His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains: | ||
Destruction fang mankind! Earth, yield me roots! | ||
[Digging] | ||
Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate | ||
With thy most operant poison! What is here? | 25 | |
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods, | ||
I am no idle votarist: roots, you clear heavens! | ||
Thus much of this will make black white, foul fair, | ||
Wrong right, base noble, old young, coward valiant. | ||
Ha, you gods! why this? what this, you gods? Why, this | 30 | |
Will lug your priests and servants from your sides, | ||
Pluck stout men’s pillows from below their heads: | ||
This yellow slave | ||
Will knit and break religions, bless the accursed, | ||
Make the hoar leprosy adored, place thieves | 35 | |
And give them title, knee and approbation | ||
With senators on the bench: this is it | ||
That makes the wappen’d widow wed again; | ||
She, whom the spital-house and ulcerous sores | ||
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices | 40 | |
To the April day again. Come, damned earth, | ||
Thou common whore of mankind, that put’st odds | ||
Among the route of nations, I will make thee | ||
Do thy right nature. | ||
[March afar off] | ||
Ha! a drum? Thou’rt quick, | 45 | |
But yet I’ll bury thee: thou’lt go, strong thief, | ||
When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand. | ||
Nay, stay thou out for earnest. | ||
[Keeping some gold] | ||
[ Enter ALCIBIADES, with drum and fife, in warlike manner; PHRYNIA and TIMANDRA ] | ||
ALCIBIADES | What art thou there? speak. | |
TIMON | A beast, as thou art. The canker gnaw thy heart, | 50 |
For showing me again the eyes of man! | ||
ALCIBIADES | What is thy name? Is man so hateful to thee, | |
That art thyself a man? | ||
TIMON | I am Misanthropos, and hate mankind. | |
For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog, | 55 | |
That I might love thee something. | ||
ALCIBIADES | I know thee well; | |
But in thy fortunes am unlearn’d and strange. | ||
TIMON | I know thee too; and more than that I know thee, | |
I not desire to know. Follow thy drum; | 60 | |
With man’s blood paint the ground, gules, gules: | ||
Religious canons, civil laws are cruel; | ||
Then what should war be? This fell whore of thine | ||
Hath in her more destruction than thy sword, | ||
For all her cherubim look. | 65 | |
PHRYNIA | Thy lips rot off! | |
TIMON | I will not kiss thee; then the rot returns | |
To thine own lips again. | ||
ALCIBIADES | How came the noble Timon to this change? | |
TIMON | As the moon does, by wanting light to give: | 70 |
But then renew I could not, like the moon; | ||
There were no suns to borrow of. | ||
ALCIBIADES | Noble Timon, | |
What friendship may I do thee? | ||
TIMON | None, but to | 75 |
Maintain my opinion. | ||
ALCIBIADES | What is it, Timon? | |
TIMON | Promise me friendship, but perform none: if thou | |
wilt not promise, the gods plague thee, for thou art | ||
a man! if thou dost perform, confound thee, for | 80 | |
thou art a man! | ||
ALCIBIADES | I have heard in some sort of thy miseries. | |
TIMON | Thou saw’st them, when I had prosperity. | |
ALCIBIADES | I see them now; then was a blessed time. | |
TIMON | As thine is now, held with a brace of harlots. | 85 |
TIMANDRA | Is this the Athenian minion, whom the world | |
Voiced so regardfully? | ||
TIMON | Art thou Timandra? | |
TIMANDRA | Yes. | |
TIMON | Be a whore still: they love thee not that use thee; | 90 |
Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust. | ||
Make use of thy salt hours: season the slaves | ||
For tubs and baths; bring down rose-cheeked youth | ||
To the tub-fast and the diet. | ||
TIMANDRA | Hang thee, monster! | 95 |
ALCIBIADES | Pardon him, sweet Timandra; for his wits | |
Are drown’d and lost in his calamities. | ||
I have but little gold of late, brave Timon, | ||
The want whereof doth daily make revolt | ||
In my penurious band: I have heard, and grieved, | 100 | |
How cursed Athens, mindless of thy worth, | ||
Forgetting thy great deeds, when neighbour states, | ||
But for thy sword and fortune, trod upon them,– | ||
TIMON | I prithee, beat thy drum, and get thee gone. | |
ALCIBIADES | I am thy friend, and pity thee, dear Timon. | 105 |
TIMON | How dost thou pity him whom thou dost trouble? | |
I had rather be alone. | ||
ALCIBIADES | Why, fare thee well: | |
Here is some gold for thee. | ||
TIMON | Keep it, I cannot eat it. | 110 |
ALCIBIADES | When I have laid proud Athens on a heap,– | |
TIMON | Warr’st thou ‘gainst Athens? | |
ALCIBIADES | Ay, Timon, and have cause. | |
TIMON | The gods confound them all in thy conquest; | |
And thee after, when thou hast conquer’d! | 115 | |
ALCIBIADES | Why me, Timon? | |
TIMON | That, by killing of villains, | |
Thou wast born to conquer my country. | ||
Put up thy gold: go on,–here’s gold,–go on; | ||
Be as a planetary plague, when Jove | 120 | |
Will o’er some high-viced city hang his poison | ||
In the sick air: let not thy sword skip one: | ||
Pity not honour’d age for his white beard; | ||
He is an usurer: strike me the counterfeit matron; | ||
It is her habit only that is honest, | 125 | |
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, | ||
But set them down horrible traitors: spare not the babe, | 130 | |
Whose dimpled smiles from fools exhaust their mercy; | ||
Think it a bastard, whom the oracle | ||
Hath doubtfully pronounced thy throat shall cut, | ||
And mince it sans remorse: swear against objects; | ||
Put armour on thine ears and on thine eyes; | 135 | |
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 soldiers: | ||
Make large confusion; and, thy fury spent, | ||
Confounded be thyself! Speak not, be gone. | 140 | |
ALCIBIADES | Hast thou gold yet? I’ll take the gold thou | |
givest me, | ||
Not all thy counsel. | ||
TIMON | Dost thou, or dost thou not, heaven’s curse | |
upon thee! | 145 | |
TIMANDRA | Give us some gold, good Timon: hast thou more? | |
TIMON | 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 | 150 | |
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; | 155 | |
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 burthens of the dead;–some that were hang’d, | ||
No matter:–wear them, betray with them: whore still; | 160 | |
Paint till a horse may mire upon your face, | ||
A pox of wrinkles! | ||
TIMANDRA | Well, more gold: what then? | |
Believe’t, that we’ll do any thing for gold. | ||
TIMON | Consumptions sow | 165 |
In hollow bones of man; strike their sharp shins, | ||
And mar men’s spurring. Crack the lawyer’s voice, | ||
That he may never more false title plead, | ||
Nor sound his quillets shrilly: hoar the flamen, | ||
That scolds against the quality of flesh, | 170 | |
And not believes himself: down with the nose, | ||
Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away | ||
Of him that, his particular to foresee, | ||
Smells from the general weal: make curl’d-pate | ||
ruffians bald; | 175 | |
And let the unscarr’d braggarts of the war | ||
Derive some pain from you: plague all; | ||
That your activity may defeat and quell | ||
The source of all erection. There’s more gold: | ||
Do you damn others, and let this damn you, | 180 | |
And ditches grave you all! | ||
TIMANDRA | More counsel with more money, bounteous Timon. | |
TIMON | More whore, more mischief first; I have given you earnest. | |
ALCIBIADES | Strike up the drum towards Athens! Farewell, Timon: | |
If I thrive well, I’ll visit thee again. | 185 | |
TIMON | If I hope well, I’ll never see thee more. | |
ALCIBIADES | I never did thee harm. | |
TIMON | Yes, thou spokest well of me. | |
ALCIBIADES | Call’st thou that harm? | |
TIMON | Men daily find it. Get thee away, and take | 190 |
Thy beagles with thee. | ||
ALCIBIADES | We but offend him. Strike! | |
[ Drum beats. Exeunt ALCIBIADES, PHRYNIA, and TIMANDRA ] | ||
TIMON | That nature, being sick of man’s unkindness, | |
Should yet be hungry! Common mother, thou, | ||
[Digging] | ||
Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast, | 195 | |
Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle, | ||
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puff’d, | ||
Engenders the black toad and adder blue, | ||
The gilded newt and eyeless venom’d worm, | ||
With all the abhorred births below crisp heaven | 200 | |
Whereon Hyperion’s quickening fire doth shine; | ||
Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate, | ||
From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor root! | ||
Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb, | ||
Let it no more bring out ingrateful man! | 205 | |
Go great with tigers, dragons, wolves, and bears; | ||
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face | ||
Hath to the marbled mansion all above | ||
Never presented!–O, a root,–dear thanks!– | ||
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas; | 210 | |
Whereof ungrateful man, with liquorish draughts | ||
And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind, | ||
That from it all consideration slips! | ||
[Enter APEMANTUS] | ||
More man? plague, plague! | ||
APEMANTUS | I was directed hither: men report | 215 |
Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use them. | ||
TIMON | ‘Tis, then, because thou dost not keep a dog, | |
Whom I would imitate: consumption catch thee! | ||
APEMANTUS | This is in thee a nature but infected; | |
A poor unmanly melancholy sprung | 220 | |
From change of fortune. Why this spade? this place? | ||
This slave-like habit? and these looks of care? | ||
Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft; | ||
Hug their diseased perfumes, and have forgot | ||
That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods, | 225 | |
By putting on the cunning of a carper. | ||
Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive | ||
By that which has undone thee: hinge thy knee, | ||
And let his very breath, whom thou’lt observe, | ||
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain, | 230 | |
And call it excellent: thou wast told thus; | ||
Thou gavest thine ears like tapsters that bid welcome | ||
To knaves and all approachers: ’tis most just | ||
That thou turn rascal; hadst thou wealth again, | ||
Rascals should have ‘t. Do not assume my likeness. | 235 | |
TIMON | Were I like thee, I’ld throw away myself. | |
APEMANTUS | Thou hast cast away thyself, being like thyself; | |
A madman so long, now a fool. What, think’st | ||
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, | ||
Will put thy shirt on warm? will these moss’d trees, | 240 | |
That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels, | ||
And skip where thou point’st out? will the | ||
cold brook, | ||
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste, | ||
To cure thy o’er-night’s surfeit? Call the creatures | 245 | |
Whose naked natures live in an the spite | ||
Of wreakful heaven, whose bare unhoused trunks, | ||
To the conflicting elements exposed, | ||
Answer mere nature; bid them flatter thee; | ||
O, thou shalt find– | 250 | |
TIMON | A fool of thee: depart. | |
APEMANTUS | I love thee better now than e’er I did. | |
TIMON | I hate thee worse. | |
APEMANTUS | Why? | |
TIMON | Thou flatter’st misery. | 255 |
APEMANTUS | I flatter not; but say thou art a caitiff. | |
TIMON | Why dost thou seek me out? | |
APEMANTUS | To vex thee. | |
TIMON | Always a villain’s office or a fool’s. | |
Dost please thyself in’t? | 260 | |
APEMANTUS | Ay. | |
TIMON | What! a knave too? | |
APEMANTUS | If thou didst put this sour-cold habit on | |
To castigate thy pride, ’twere well: but thou | ||
Dost it enforcedly; thou’ldst courtier be again, | 265 | |
Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery | ||
Outlives encertain pomp, is crown’d before: | ||
The one is filling still, never complete; | ||
The other, at high wish: best state, contentless, | ||
Hath a distracted and most wretched being, | 270 | |
Worse than the worst, content. | ||
Thou shouldst desire to die, being miserable. | ||
TIMON | Not by his breath that is more miserable. | |
Thou art a slave, whom Fortune’s tender arm | ||
With favour never clasp’d; but bred a dog. | 275 | |
Hadst thou, like us from our first swath, proceeded | ||
The sweet degrees that this brief world affords | ||
To such as may the passive drugs of it | ||
Freely command, thou wouldst have plunged thyself | ||
In general riot; melted down thy youth | 280 | |
In different beds of lust; and never learn’d | ||
The icy precepts of respect, but follow’d | ||
The sugar’d game before thee. But myself, | ||
Who had the world as my confectionary, | ||
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes and hearts of men | 285 | |
At duty, more than I could frame employment, | ||
That numberless upon me stuck as leaves | ||
Do on the oak, hive with one winter’s brush | ||
Fell from their boughs and left me open, bare | ||
For every storm that blows: I, to bear this, | 290 | |
That never knew but better, is some burden: | ||
Thy nature did commence in sufferance, time | ||
Hath made thee hard in’t. Why shouldst thou hate men? | ||
They never flatter’d thee: what hast thou given? | ||
If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag, | 295 | |
Must be thy subject, who in spite put stuff | ||
To some she beggar and compounded thee | ||
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence, be gone! | ||
If thou hadst not been born the worst of men, | ||
Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer. | 300 | |
APEMANTUS | Art thou proud yet? | |
TIMON | Ay, that I am not thee. | |
APEMANTUS | I, that I was | |
No prodigal. | ||
TIMON | I, that I am one now: | 305 |
Were all the wealth I have shut up in thee, | ||
I’ld give thee leave to hang it. Get thee gone. | ||
That the whole life of Athens were in this! | ||
Thus would I eat it. | ||
[Eating a root] | ||
APEMANTUS | Here; I will mend thy feast. | 310 |
[Offering him a root] | ||
TIMON | First mend my company, take away thyself. | |
APEMANTUS | So I shall mend mine own, by the lack of thine. | |
TIMON | ‘Tis not well mended so, it is but botch’d; | |
if not, I would it were. | ||
APEMANTUS | What wouldst thou have to Athens? | 315 |
TIMON | Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt, | |
Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have. | ||
APEMANTUS | Here is no use for gold. | |
TIMON | The best and truest; | |
For here it sleeps, and does no hired harm. | 320 | |
APEMANTUS | Where liest o’ nights, Timon? | |
TIMON | Under that’s above me. | |
Where feed’st thou o’ days, Apemantus? | ||
APEMANTUS | Where my stomach finds meat; or, rather, where I eat | |
it. | 325 | |
TIMON | Would poison were obedient and knew my mind! | |
APEMANTUS | Where wouldst thou send it? | |
TIMON | To sauce thy dishes. | |
APEMANTUS | The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the | |
extremity of both ends: when thou wast in thy gilt | 330 | |
and thy perfume, they mocked thee for too much | ||
curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but art | ||
despised for the contrary. There’s a medlar for | ||
thee, eat it. | ||
TIMON | On what I hate I feed not. | 335 |
APEMANTUS | Dost hate a medlar? | |
TIMON | Ay, though it look like thee. | |
APEMANTUS | An thou hadst hated meddlers sooner, thou shouldst | |
have loved thyself better now. What man didst thou | ||
ever know unthrift that was beloved after his means? | 340 | |
TIMON | Who, without those means thou talkest of, didst thou | |
ever know beloved? | ||
APEMANTUS | Myself. | |
TIMON | I understand thee; thou hadst some means to keep a | |
dog. | 345 | |
APEMANTUS | What things in the world canst thou nearest compare | |
to thy flatterers? | ||
TIMON | Women nearest; but men, men are the things | |
themselves. What wouldst thou do with the world, | ||
Apemantus, if it lay in thy power? | 350 | |
APEMANTUS | Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men. | |
TIMON | Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confusion of | |
men, and remain a beast with the beasts? | ||
APEMANTUS | Ay, Timon. | |
TIMON | A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee t’ | 355 |
attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would | ||
beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would | ||
eat three: if thou wert the fox, the lion would | ||
suspect thee, when peradventure thou wert accused by | ||
the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would | 360 | |
torment thee, and still thou livedst 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 the | ||
unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and | 365 | |
make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert | ||
thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse: | ||
wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the | ||
leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to | ||
the lion and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on | 370 | |
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, that seest not thy loss in | ||
transformation! | 375 | |
APEMANTUS | If thou couldst please me with speaking to me, thou | |
mightst have hit upon it here: the commonwealth of | ||
Athens is become a forest of beasts. | ||
TIMON | How has the ass broke the wall, that thou art out of the city? | |
APEMANTUS | Yonder comes a poet and a painter: the plague of | 380 |
company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it | ||
and give way: when I know not what else to do, I’ll | ||
see thee again. | ||
TIMON | When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be | |
welcome. I had rather be a beggar’s dog than Apemantus. | 385 | |
APEMANTUS | Thou art the cap of all the fools alive. | |
TIMON | Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon! | |
APEMANTUS | A plague on thee! thou art too bad to curse. | |
TIMON | All villains that do stand by thee are pure. | |
APEMANTUS | There is no leprosy but what thou speak’st. | 390 |
TIMON | If I name thee. | |
I’ll beat thee, but I should infect my hands. | ||
APEMANTUS | I would my tongue could rot them off! | |
TIMON | Away, thou issue of a mangy dog! | |
Choler does kill me that thou art alive; | 395 | |
I swound to see thee. | ||
APEMANTUS | Would thou wouldst burst! | |
TIMON | Away, | |
Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry I shall lose | ||
A stone by thee. | 400 | |
[Throws a stone at him] | ||
APEMANTUS | Beast! | |
TIMON | Slave! | |
APEMANTUS | Toad! | |
TIMON | Rogue, rogue, rogue! | |
I am sick of this false world, and will love nought | 405 | |
But even the mere necessities upon ‘t. | ||
Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave; | ||
Lie where the light foam the sea may beat | ||
Thy grave-stone daily: make thine epitaph, | ||
That death in me at others’ lives may laugh. | 410 | |
[To the gold] | ||
O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce | ||
‘Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler | ||
Of Hymen’s purest bed! thou valiant Mars! | ||
Thou ever young, fresh, loved and delicate wooer, | ||
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow | 415 | |
That lies on Dian’s lap! thou visible god, | ||
That solder’st close impossibilities, | ||
And makest them kiss! that speak’st with | ||
every tongue, | ||
To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts! | 420 | |
Think, thy slave man rebels, and by thy virtue | ||
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts | ||
May have the world in empire! | ||
APEMANTUS | Would ’twere so! | |
But not till I am dead. I’ll say thou’st gold: | 425 | |
Thou wilt be throng’d to shortly. | ||
TIMON | Throng’d to! | |
APEMANTUS | Ay. | |
TIMON | Thy back, I prithee. | |
APEMANTUS | Live, and love thy misery. | 430 |
TIMON | Long live so, and so die. | |
[Exit APEMANTUS] | ||
I am quit. | ||
Moe things like men! Eat, Timon, and abhor them. | ||
[Enter Banditti] | ||
First Bandit | Where should he have this gold? It is some poor | |
fragment, some slender sort of his remainder: the | 435 | |
mere want of gold, and the falling-from of his | ||
friends, drove him into this melancholy. | ||
Second Bandit | It is noised he hath a mass of treasure. | |
Third Bandit | Let us make the assay upon him: if he care not | |
for’t, he will supply us easily; if he covetously | 440 | |
reserve it, how shall’s get it? | ||
Second Bandit | True; for he bears it not about him, ’tis hid. | |
First Bandit | Is not this he? | |
Banditti | Where? | |
Second Bandit | ‘Tis his description. | 445 |
Third Bandit | He; I know him. | |
Banditti | Save thee, Timon. | |
TIMON | Now, thieves? | |
Banditti | Soldiers, not thieves. | |
TIMON | Both too; and women’s sons. | 450 |
Banditti | We are not thieves, but men that much do want. | |
TIMON | Your greatest want is, you want much of meat. | |
Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath roots; | ||
Within this mile break forth a hundred springs; | ||
The oaks bear mast, the briers scarlet hips; | 455 | |
The bounteous housewife, nature, on each bush | ||
Lays her full mess before you. Want! why want? | ||
First Bandit | We cannot live on grass, on berries, water, | |
As beasts and birds and fishes. | ||
TIMON | Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes; | 460 |
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con | ||
That you are thieves profess’d, that you work not | ||
In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft | ||
In limited professions. Rascal thieves, | ||
Here’s gold. Go, suck the subtle blood o’ the grape, | 465 | |
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth, | ||
And so ‘scape hanging: trust not the physician; | ||
His antidotes are poison, and he slays | ||
Moe than you rob: take wealth and lives together; | ||
Do villany, do, since you protest to do’t, | 470 | |
Like workmen. I’ll example you with thievery. | ||
The sun’s a thief, and with his great attraction | ||
Robs the vast sea: the moon’s an arrant thief, | ||
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun: | ||
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves | 475 | |
The moon into salt tears: the earth’s a thief, | ||
That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen | ||
From general excrement: each thing’s a thief: | ||
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power | ||
Have uncheque’d theft. Love not yourselves: away, | 480 | |
Rob one another. There’s more gold. Cut throats: | ||
All that you meet are thieves: to Athens go, | ||
Break open shops; nothing can you steal, | ||
But thieves do lose it: steal no less for this | ||
I give you; and gold confound you howsoe’er! Amen. | 485 | |
Third Bandit | Has almost charmed me from my profession, by | |
persuading me to it. | ||
First Bandit | ‘Tis in the malice of mankind that he thus advises | |
us; not to have us thrive in our mystery. | ||
Second Bandit | I’ll believe him as an enemy, and give over my trade. | 490 |
First Bandit | Let us first see peace in Athens: there is no time | |
so miserable but a man may be true. | ||
[Exeunt Banditti] | ||
[Enter FLAVIUS] | ||
FLAVIUS | O you gods! | |
Is yond despised and ruinous man my lord? | ||
Full of decay and failing? O monument | 495 | |
And wonder of good deeds evilly bestow’d! | ||
What an alteration of honour | ||
Has desperate want made! | ||
What viler thing upon the earth than friends | ||
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends! | 500 | |
How rarely does it meet with this time’s guise, | ||
When man was wish’d to love his enemies! | ||
Grant I may ever love, and rather woo | ||
Those that would mischief me than those that do! | ||
Has caught me in his eye: I will present | 505 | |
My honest grief unto him; and, as my lord, | ||
Still serve him with my life. My dearest master! | ||
TIMON | Away! what art thou? | |
FLAVIUS | Have you forgot me, sir? | |
TIMON | Why dost ask that? I have forgot all men; | 510 |
Then, if thou grant’st thou’rt a man, I have forgot thee. | ||
FLAVIUS | An honest poor servant of yours. | |
TIMON | Then I know thee not: | |
I never had honest man about me, I; all | ||
I kept were knaves, to serve in meat to villains. | 515 | |
FLAVIUS | The gods are witness, | |
Ne’er did poor steward wear a truer grief | ||
For his undone lord than mine eyes for you. | ||
TIMON | What, dost thou weep? Come nearer. Then I | |
love thee, | 520 | |
Because thou art a woman, and disclaim’st | ||
Flinty mankind; whose eyes do never give | ||
But thorough lust and laughter. Pity’s sleeping: | ||
Strange times, that weep with laughing, not with weeping! | ||
FLAVIUS | I beg of you to know me, good my lord, | 525 |
To accept my grief and whilst this poor wealth lasts | ||
To entertain me as your steward still. | ||
TIMON | Had I a steward | |
So true, so just, and now so comfortable? | ||
It almost turns my dangerous nature mild. | 530 | |
Let me behold thy face. Surely, this man | ||
Was born of woman. | ||
Forgive my general and exceptless rashness, | ||
You perpetual-sober gods! I do proclaim | ||
One honest man–mistake me not–but one; | 535 | |
No more, I pray,–and he’s a steward. | ||
How fain would I have hated all mankind! | ||
And thou redeem’st thyself: but all, save thee, | ||
I fell with curses. | ||
Methinks thou art more honest now than wise; | 540 | |
For, by oppressing and betraying me, | ||
Thou mightst have sooner got another service: | ||
For many so arrive at second masters, | ||
Upon their first lord’s neck. But tell me true– | ||
For I must ever doubt, though ne’er so sure– | 545 | |
Is not thy kindness subtle, covetous, | ||
If not a usuring kindness, and, as rich men deal gifts, | ||
Expecting in return twenty for one? | ||
FLAVIUS | No, my most worthy master; in whose breast | |
Doubt and suspect, alas, are placed too late: | 550 | |
You should have fear’d false times when you did feast: | ||
Suspect still comes where an estate is least. | ||
That which I show, heaven knows, is merely love, | ||
Duty and zeal to your unmatched mind, | ||
Care of your food and living; and, believe it, | 555 | |
My most honour’d lord, | ||
For any benefit that points to me, | ||
Either in hope or present, I’ld exchange | ||
For this one wish, that you had power and wealth | ||
To requite me, by making rich yourself. | 560 | |
TIMON | Look thee, ’tis so! Thou singly honest man, | |
Here, take: the gods out of my misery | ||
Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and happy; | ||
But thus condition’d: thou shalt build from men; | ||
Hate all, curse all, show charity to none, | 565 | |
But let the famish’d flesh slide from the bone, | ||
Ere thou relieve the beggar; give to dogs | ||
What thou deny’st to men; let prisons swallow ’em, | ||
Debts wither ’em to nothing; be men like | ||
blasted woods, | 570 | |
And may diseases lick up their false bloods! | ||
And so farewell and thrive. | ||
FLAVIUS | O, let me stay, | |
And comfort you, my master. | ||
TIMON | If thou hatest curses, | 575 |
Stay not; fly, whilst thou art blest and free: | ||
Ne’er see thou man, and let me ne’er see thee. | ||
[Exit FLAVIUS. TIMON retires to his cave] |
Timon of Athens, Act 5, Scene 1