Ere we depart41, we'll share a bounteous time [Exeunt all but APEMANTUS. Enter two Lords. 1 Lord. What time a day is't, Apemantus? Apem. Time to be honest. • 1 Lord. That time serves still. Apem. The most accursed thou 42, that still omit'stit. 2 Lord. Thou art going to Lord Timon's feast. Apem. Ay; to see meat fill knaves, and wine heat fools. 2 Lord. Fare thee well, fare thee well. Apem. Thou art a fool, to bid me farewell twice. 2 Lord. Why, Apemantus? Apem. Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give thee none. 1 Lord. Hang thyself. Apem. No, I will do nothing at thy bidding; make thy requests to thy friend. 2 Lord. Away, unpeaceable dog, or I'll spurn thee hence. Apem. I will fly, like a dog, the heels of the ass. [Exit. 1 Lord. He's opposite to humanity. Come, shall we in, And taste Lord Timon's bounty? he outgoes 2 Lord. He pours it out; Plutus, the god of gold, 41 It has been before observed that to depart and to part were anciently synonymous. See vol. ii. p. 329, note 7. So in King John, Act ii. Sc. 2: 'Hath willingly departed with a part.' 42 Ritson says we should read : 'The more accursed thou.' So in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 'The more degenerate and base art thou.' Is but his steward: no meed 43, but he repays But breeds the giver a return exceeding All use of quittance 44. 1 Lord. The noblest mind he carries, That ever govern'd man. 2 Lord. Long may he live in fortunes! Shall we in? 1 Lord. I'll keep you company. SCENE II. [Exeunt. The same. A Room of State in Timon's House. Hautboys playing loud musick. A great banquet served in; FLAVIUS and others attending; then enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, Lucius, LUCULLUS, SEMPRONIUS, and other Athenian Senators, with VENTIDIUS, and Attendants. Then comes dropping after all, APEMANTUS, discontentedly. Ven. Most honour'd Timon, 't hath pleas'd the gods to remember My father's age, and call him to long peace. He is gone happy, and has left me rich: Then, as in grateful virtue I am bound To your free heart, I do return those talents, Doubled, with thanks, and service, from whose help I deriv'd liberty. Tim. O, by no means, Honest Ventidius: you mistake my love; I gave it freely ever; and there's none Can truly say, he gives, if he receives: If our betters play at that game, we must not dare To imitate them; Faults that are rich, are fair 1. 43 Meed here means desert. 44 i. e. all the customary returns made in discharge of obligations. 1. The faults of rich persons, and which contribute to the increase of riches, wear a plausible appearance, and as the world goes are thought fair; but they are faults notwithstanding.' Nay, my lords, ceremony Was but devis'd at first, to set a gloss On faint deeds, hollow welcomes, Recanting goodness, sorry ere 'tis shown; But where there is true friendship, there needs none. Pray, sit; more welcome are ye to my fortunes, Than my fortunes to me. [They sit. 1 Lord. My lord, we always have confess'd it. Apem. Ho, ho, confess'd it? hang'd it, have you not? Tim. O, Apemantus! you are welcome. You shall not make me welcome: I come to have thee thrust me out of doors. No, Tim. Fye, thou art a churl: you have got a humour there Does not become a man, 'tis much to blame :- Go, let him have a table by himself; Nor is he fit for it, indeed. Apem. Let me stay at thine apperil, Timon; I come to observe; I give thee warning on't. 2 There seems to be some allusion to a common proverbial saying of Shakspeare's time, 'Confess and be hanged.' See Othello, Act iv. Sc. 1. 3 The old copy reads 'Yond' man's very angry.' 4 Steevens and Malone dismissed apperil from the text, and inserted own peril: but Mr. Gifford has shown that the word occurs several times in Ben Jonson: ' Sir, I will bail you at mine own apperil.' Devil is an Ass. See Ben Jonson, vol. v. p. 137; vol. vi. p. 117, and p. 159. Tim. I take no heed of thee; thou art an Athenian; therefore welcome: I myself would have no power: pr'ythee, let my meat make thee silent5. Apem. I scorn thy meat; 'twould choke me, for I should Ne'er flatter thee. O you gods! what a number I wonder, men dare trust themselves with men: Is the readiest man to kill him: it has been prov'd. If I Were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals; Lest they should spy my windpipe's dangerous noteso: Great men should drink with harness 10 on their throats. 5 I myself would have no power to make thee silent, but I wish thou wouldst let my meat stop your mouth.' 6 For in the sense of cause or because. 7 It grieves me to see so many feed luxuriously, or sauce their meat at the expense of one man, whose very blood (means of living) must at length be exhausted by them; and yet he preposterously encourages them to proceed in his destruction.' 8 It was the custom in old times for every guest to bring his own knife, which he occasionally whetted on a stone that hung behind the door. One of these whetstones was formerly to be seen in Parkinson's Museum. It is scarcely necessary to observe that they were strangers to the use of forks. 9 The windpipe's notes' were the indications in the throat of its situation when in the act of drinking; it should be remembered that our ancestors' throats were uncovered. Perhaps, as Steevens observes, a quibble is intended on windpipe and notes. 10 i. e. armour. 1 Tim. My lord, in heart11; and let the health go round. 2 Lord. Let it flow this way, my good lord. Apem. Flow this way! A brave fellow!-he keeps his tides well. Timon12, Those healths will make thee, and thy state, look ill. Here's that, which is too weak to be a sinner, Honest water, which ne'er left man i'the mire : This, and my food, are equals; there's no odds. Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods. APEMANTUS'S GRACE. Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; Rich men sin, and I eat root. [Eats and drinks. Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus! now. Alcib. My heart is ever at your service, my lord. 11 My lord's health in sincerity. So in Chaucer's Knightes Tale: 'And was all his in chere, as his in herte.' 12 This speech, except the concluding couplet, is printed as prose in the old copy, nor could it be exhibited as verse without transposing the word Timon, which follows look ill, to its present place. I think with Malone that many of the speeches in this play, which are now exhibited in a loose and imperfect kind of metre, were intended by Shakspeare for prose, in which form they are exhibited in the old copy. 13 Foolish. |