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And ne'er be weary. Alcibiades,
Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich.

It comes in charity to thee; for all thy living
Is 'mongst the dead, and all the lands thou hast

Lie in a pitch'd field.
ALCIBIADES. Ay, defil'd land, my lord.

FIRST LORD. We are so virtuously bound-
TIMON. And so am I to you.

SECOND LORD. So infinitely endear'd-
TIMON. All to you. Lights, more lights!

FIRST LORD. The best of happiness, honour, and fortunes, keep with
you, Lord Timon!

TIMON. Ready for his friends.
Exeunt all but APEMANTUS and TIMON

APEMANTUS. What a coil's here!
Serving of becks and jutting-out of bums!

I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums
That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs:

Methinks false hearts should never have sound legs.
Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on curtsies.

TIMON. Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen
I would be good to thee.

APEMANTUS. No, I'll nothing; for if I should be brib'd too, there
would be none left to rail upon thee, and then thou wouldst sin

the faster. Thou giv'st so long, Timon, I fear me thou wilt give
away thyself in paper shortly. What needs these feasts, pomps,

and vain-glories?
TIMON. Nay, an you begin to rail on society once, I am sworn not to

give regard to you. Farewell; and come with better music.
Exit

APEMANTUS. So. Thou wilt not hear me now: thou shalt not then. I'll
lock thy heaven from thee.

O that men's ears should be
To counsel deaf, but not to flattery! Exit

ACT II. SCENE I.
A SENATOR'S house

Enter A SENATOR, with papers in his hand
SENATOR. And late, five thousand. To Varro and to Isidore

He owes nine thousand; besides my former sum,
Which makes it five and twenty. Still in motion

Of raging waste? It cannot hold; it will not.
If I want gold, steal but a beggar's dog

And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold.
If I would sell my horse and buy twenty moe

Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me straight,

And able horses. No porter at his gate,
But rather one that smiles and still invites

All that pass by. It cannot hold; no reason
Can sound his state in safety. Caphis, ho!

Caphis, I say!
Enter CAPHIS

CAPHIS. Here, sir; what is your pleasure?
SENATOR. Get on your cloak and haste you to Lord Timon;

Importune him for my moneys; be not ceas'd
With slight denial, nor then silenc'd when

'Commend me to your master' and the cap
Plays in the right hand, thus; but tell him

My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
Out of mine own; his days and times are past,

And my reliances on his fracted dates
Have smit my credit. I love and honour him,

But must not break my back to heal his finger.
Immediate are my needs, and my relief

Must not be toss'd and turn'd to me in words,
But find supply immediate. Get you gone;

Put on a most importunate aspect,
A visage of demand; for I do fear,

When every feather sticks in his own wing,
Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,

Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
CAPHIS. I go, sir.

SENATOR. Take the bonds along with you,
And have the dates in compt.

CAPHIS. I will, sir.
SENATOR. Go. Exeunt

SCENE II.
Before TIMON'S house

Enter FLAVIUS, TIMON'S Steward, with many bills in his hand
FLAVIUS. No care, no stop! So senseless of expense

That he will neither know how to maintain it
Nor cease his flow of riot; takes no account

How things go from him, nor resumes no care
Of what is to continue. Never mind

Was to be so unwise to be so kind.
What shall be done? He will not hear till feel.

I must be round with him. Now he comes from hunting.
Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Enter CAPHIS, and the SERVANTS Of ISIDORE and VARRO
CAPHIS. Good even, Varro. What, you come for money?

VARRO'S SERVANT. Is't not your business too?
CAPHIS. It is. And yours too, Isidore?

ISIDORE'S SERVANT. It is so.
CAPHIS. Would we were all discharg'd!

VARRO'S SERVANT. I fear it.
CAPHIS. Here comes the lord.

Enter TIMON and his train, with ALCIBIADES
TIMON. So soon as dinner's done we'll forth again,

My Alcibiades.- With me? What is your will?
CAPHIS. My lord, here is a note of certain dues.

TIMON. Dues! Whence are you?
CAPHIS. Of Athens here, my lord.

TIMON. Go to my steward.
CAPHIS. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off

To the succession of new days this month.
My master is awak'd by great occasion

To call upon his own, and humbly prays you
That with your other noble parts you'll suit

In giving him his right.
TIMON. Mine honest friend,

I prithee but repair to me next morning.
CAPHIS. Nay, good my lord-

TIMON. Contain thyself, good friend.
VARRO'S SERVANT. One Varro's servant, my good lord-

ISIDORE'S SERVANT. From Isidore: he humbly prays your speedy
payment-

CAPHIS. If you did know, my lord, my master's wants-
VARRO'S SERVANT. 'Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks and

past.
ISIDORE'S SERVANT. Your steward puts me off, my lord; and

I am sent expressly to your lordship.
TIMON. Give me breath.

I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;
I'll wait upon you instantly.

Exeunt ALCIBIADES and LORDS
[To FLAVIUS] Come hither. Pray you,

How goes the world that I am thus encount'red
With clamorous demands of date-broke bonds

And the detention of long-since-due debts,
Against my honour?

FLAVIUS. Please you, gentlemen,
The time is unagreeable to this business.

Your importunacy cease till after dinner,
That I may make his lordship understand

Wherefore you are not paid.
TIMON. Do so, my friends.

See them well entertain'd. Exit
FLAVIUS. Pray draw near. Exit

Enter APEMANTUS and FOOL
CAPHIS. Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus.

Let's ha' some sport with 'em.
VARRO'S SERVANT. Hang him, he'll abuse us!

ISIDORE'S SERVANT. A plague upon him, dog!
VARRO'S SERVANT. How dost, fool?

APEMANTUS. Dost dialogue with thy shadow?
VARRO'S SERVANT. I speak not to thee.

APEMANTUS. No, 'tis to thyself. [To the FOOL] Come away.
ISIDORE'S SERVANT. [To VARRO'S SERVANT] There's the fool hangs on

your back already.
APEMANTUS. No, thou stand'st single; th'art not on him yet.

CAPHIS. Where's the fool now?
APEMANTUS. He last ask'd the question. Poor rogues and usurers'

men! Bawds between gold and want!
ALL SERVANTS. What are we, Apemantus?

APEMANTUS. Asses.
ALL SERVANTS. Why?

APEMANTUS. That you ask me what you are, and do not know
yourselves. Speak to 'em, fool.

FOOL. How do you, gentlemen?
ALL SERVANTS. Gramercies, good fool. How does your mistress?

FOOL. She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens as you
are. Would we could see you at Corinth!

APEMANTUS. Good! gramercy.
Enter PAGE

FOOL. Look you, here comes my mistress' page.
PAGE. [To the FOOL] Why, how now, Captain? What do you in this wise

company? How dost thou, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS. Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee

profitably!
PAGE. Prithee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of these

letters; I know not which is which.
APEMANTUS. Canst not read?

PAGE. No.
APEMANTUS. There will little learning die, then, that day thou art

hang'd. This is to Lord Timon; this to Alcibiades. Go; thou wast
born a bastard, and thou't die a bawd.

PAGE. Thou wast whelp'd a dog, and thou shalt famish dog's death.
Answer not: I am gone. Exit PAGE

APEMANTUS. E'en so thou outrun'st grace.
Fool, I will go with you to Lord Timon's.

FOOL. Will you leave me there?
APEMANTUS. If Timon stay at home. You three serve three usurers?

ALL SERVANTS. Ay; would they serv'd us!
APEMANTUS. So would I- as good a trick as ever hangman serv'd

thief.
FOOL. Are you three usurers' men?

ALL SERVANTS. Ay, fool.
FOOL. I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant. My mistress

is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your
masters, they approach sadly and go away merry; but they enter my

mistress' house merrily and go away sadly. The reason of this?
VARRO'S SERVANT. I could render one.

APEMANTUS. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster and a
knave; which notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteemed.

VARRO'S SERVANT. What is a whoremaster, fool?
FOOL. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. 'Tis a

spirit. Sometime 't appears like a lord; sometime like a lawyer;
sometime like a philosopher, with two stones moe than's

artificial one. He is very often like a knight; and, generally,
in all shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore to

thirteen, this spirit walks in.


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