As lamely as their manners! Lust and liberty 25 Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth, That 'gainst the stream of virtue they may strive,

30

And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,
Sow all the Athenian bosoms; and their crop
Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,
That their society, as their friendship, may
Be merely poison! Nothing I'll bear from
thee

But nakedness, thou detestable town!
Take thou that too, with multiplying bans !
Timon will to the woods, where he shall find 35
The unkindest beast more kinder than man-
kind.

The gods confound-hear me, you good gods all,

The Athenians both within and out that wall!
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low! 40
Amen.
[Exit.
[SCENE II. Athens. A room in Timon's house.]
Enter Steward [FLAVIUS,] with two or three
SERVANTS.

1. Serv. Hear you, master steward, where 's our master?

Are we undone? cast off? nothing remaining? [Flav.] Alack, my fellows, what should I say to you?

Let me be recorded by the righteous gods,
I am as poor as you.

1. Serv.
Such a house broke!
So noble a master fallen! All gone! and not
One friend to take his fortune by the arm,
And go along with him!

10

2. Serv. As we do turn our backs From our companion thrown into his grave, So his familiars to his buried fortunes Slink all away, leave their false vows with him,

Like empty purses pick'd; and his poor self, A dedicated beggar to the air,

With his disease of all-shunn'd poverty, Walks, like contempt, alone. More of our fellows.

Enter other SERVANTS.

15

My dearest lord, bless'd to be most accurs'd, Rich only to be wretched, thy great fortunes Are made thy chief afflictions. Alas, kind lord!

He 's flung in rage from this ingrateful seat 45 Of monstrous friends, nor has he with him to Supply his life, or that which can command it. I'll follow and inquire him out.

I'll ever serve his mind with my best will; Whilst I have gold, I'll be his steward still. 50 [Exit.

[SCENE III.] Woods [and cave, near the seashore].

Enter TIMON [from the cave].

Tim. 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,

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 villainy. Therefore, be abhorr'd x
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men!
His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang mankind! Earth, yield me
roots!
[Digging.]

Alcib. How came the noble Timon to this change?

Tim. As the moon does, by wanting light to give:

None, but to "

But then renew I could not, like the moon;
There were no suns to borrow of.
Alcib.
Noble Timon,
What friendship may I do thee?
Tim.
Maintain my opinion.
Alcib.
What is it, Timon?
Tim. 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 thou art a man!

Alcib. I have heard in some sort of thy miseries.

Tim. Thou saw'st them, when I had prosperity.

Alcib. I see them now; then was a blessed time.

Tim. As thine is now, held with a brace of harlots.

Timan. Is this the Athenian minion, whom the world

Voic'd so regardfully?

Tim.
Timan. Yes.

Art thou Timandra?

Tim. Be a whore still. They love thee not that use thee;

Give them diseases, leaving with thee their lust. Make use of thy salt hours; season the slaves For tubs and baths; bring down rose-cheek'd youth

65

Tim.

Timon?

That, by killing of villains,

106

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
Will o'er some high-vic'd city hang his poison
In the sick air. Let not thy sword skip one.
Pity not honour'd Age for his white beard; 111
He is an usurer. Strike me the counterfeit
matron;

It is her habit only that is honest,

Herself's a bawd. Let not the virgin's cheek Make soft thy trenchant sword; for those milk

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;

160

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, 165
And ditches grave you all!

Phr. and Timan. More counsel with more money, bounteous Timon.

Tim. More whore, more mischief first; I have given you earnest.

Alcib. Strike up the drum toward Athens! Farewell, Timon!

If I thrive well, I'll visit thee again.

170

Tim. If I hope well, I'll never see thee

ceeded

The sweet degrees that this brief world affords
To such as may the passive drugs of it
Freely command, thou wouldst have plung'd
thyself

In general riot; melted down thy youth
In different beds of lust; and never learn'd
The icy precepts of respect, but followed
The sug red game before thee. But myself,
Who had the world as my confectionary,
The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, and hearts
of men

At duty, more than I could frame employment,
That numberless upon me stuck as leaves
Do on the oak, have with one winter's brush
Fell from their boughs and left me open, bare
For every storm that blows; I, to bear this,
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?

370

274

If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag,
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.
Art thou proud yet?
Tim. Ay, that I am not thee.

Apem.

Apem. No prodigal.

Tim.

I, that I was

I, that I am one now.

Were all the wealth I have shut up in thee,
I'd give thee leave to hang it. Get thee gone.
That the whole life of Athens were in this! 281
Thus would I eat it.
[Eating a root.]
Apem.
Here; I will mend thy feast.
[Offering him a root.]
Tim. First mend my company; take away

thyself.

Apem. So I shall mend mine own, by the lack of thine.

Tim. 'T is not well mended so, it is but botch'd;

If not, I would it were.

285

Apem. What wouldst thou have to Athens? Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind. If thou wilt,

Tell them there I have gold; look, so I have. Apem. Here is no use for gold.

Apem. Ay, Timon.

$28

Tim. A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee. If thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee. If thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when peradventure thou wert accus'd by the ass. If thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, and still thou liv'dst but as a breakfast to [336 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 make thine own self the conquest of thy fury. [340 Wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be kill'd by the horse. Wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seiz'd by the leopard. Wert thou a leopard, thou wert germane to the lion and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life; all thy safety were remotion and thy defence ab- [345 sence. 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!

349

Apem. If thou couldst please me with speaking to me, thou mightest have hit upon it here. The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

But even the mere necessities upon 't. Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave; Lie where the light foam of the sea may beat Thy grave-stone daily; make thine epitaph 380 That death in me at others' lives may laugh. [To the gold.] 0 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