And your great flow of debts. My loved lord, Though you hear now, (too late!) yet now's a time The greatest of your having lacks a half

To pay your present debts.

Tim. Let all my land be sold. Flav. "Tis all engag'd, some forfeited and gone; And what remains will hardly stop the mouth Of present dues. The future comes apace : What shall defend the interim? and at length How goes our reckoning?

Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.

Flav. O, my good lord! the world is but a word: Were it all yours to give it in a breath,

How quickly were it gone!

Tim.

You tell me true.

Flav. If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood, Call me before the exactest auditors, And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me, When all our offices" have been oppress'd With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept With drunken spilth of wine; when every room Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy; I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,12

And set mine eyes at flow.

11 By offices here is probably meant the cellar and buttery, or any places whence refreshments were served out. So in Othello, Act ii. sc. 2: All offices are open; and there is full liberty of feasting from this present hour of five till the bell hath told eleven."

H.

12 This passage has greatly puzzled the commentators and put them upon divers strange explanations. Nares in his Glossary has doubtless given the right explanation; taking cock to mean the common instrument for drawing liquor from a cask. Mr. Dyce says, "One thing is quite clear, that wasteful cock can only mean a pipe with a turning stopple running to waste."" The reference, we have no doubt, is to the "spilth of wine" mentioned just before, which was kept running to waste by the owner's prodigality. The thoughts started in such a place would naturally set the good servant's "eyes at flow."

H.

Tim.

Pr'ythee, no more.

Flav. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have slaves and peasants This night englutted! Who is not Timon's? What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is lord Timon's?

Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon!

Ah! when the means are gone that buy this praise, The breath is gone whereof this praise is made: Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers, These flies are couch'd.

Tim.

Come, sermon me no further: No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience

lack,

To think I shall lack friends?

Secure thy heart :

If I would broach the vessels of my love,

13

And try the argument 13 of hearts by borrowing,
Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

Flav.

Assurance bless your thoughts!

Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are

crown'd,14

That I account them blessings; for by these

Shall I try friends.

You shall perceive how you

Mistake my fortunes: I am wealthy in my friends. Within there!- Flaminius! Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants. Serv. My lord, my lord,

13 That is, the contents of them. The argument of a book was "a brief sum of the whole matter contained in it." So in Hamlet the king asks concerning the play: "Have you heard the argument? is there no offence in it?"

14 That is, dignified, adorned, made gracious.

Tim. I will despatch you severally.

You, to

lord Lucius; to lord Lucullus you; I hunted with

his honour to-day: you to Sempronius. Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say, that my occasions have found time to use them toward a supply of money: let the request be fifty talents. Flam. As you have said, my lord.

Flav. Lord Lucius, and Lucullus? humph!

Tim. [To another Serv.] Go you, sir, to the sen

ators,

Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deserv'd this hearing; - bid 'em send o'the instant

A thousand talents to me.

Flav.

I have been bold

(For that I knew it the most general way)
To them to use your signet and your name;
But they do shake their heads, and I am here
No richer in return.

Tim.

Is't true? can 't be?

Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall,15 want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry -you are honour

able,

But yet they could have wish'd — they know not Something hath been amiss a noble nature May catch a wrench-would all were well

pity:

And so, intending other serious matters,'

18

'tis

After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,
With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods
They froze me into silence."

15 That is, at an ebb.

17

16 Intending for pretending. The Poet often uses the two words interchangeably.

H.

17 Fractions are broken hints, abrupt remarks. A half-cap is a cap slightly moved, not put off.

Tim. You gods, reward them!Pr'ythee, man, look cheerly: these old fellows Have their ingratitude in them hereditary : Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it seldom flows; 'Tis lack of kindly warmth they are not kind; And nature, as it grows again toward earth, Is fashion'd for the journey, dull, and heavy.[To a Serv.] Go to Ventidius: [To FLAV.] 'Pr'ythee, be not sad,

Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak,18 No blame belongs to thee.[To Serv.] Ventidius lately

Buried his father; by whose death he's stepp'd
Into a great estate when he was poor,

Imprison'd, and in scarcity of friends,

I clear'd him with five talents. Greet him from me; Bid him suppose some good necessity

Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd With those five talents:- [To FLAV.] that had, give it these fellows

To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think, That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink. Flav. I would I could not think it: that thought is bounty's foe;

Being free itself, it thinks all others so.

18 Ingenious was often used for ingenuous.

[Exeunt.

H.

ACT III.

SCENE I. The Same.

A Room in LUCULLUS's House.

FLAMINIUS waiting. Enter a Servant to him. Serv. I have told my lord of you; he is coming down to you.

Flam. I thank you, sir.

Enter LUCULlus.

Serv. Here's my lord.

Lucul. [Aside.] One of lord Timon's men ? a gift, I warrant. Why, this hits right; I dreamt of a silver bason and ewer to-night. Flaminius, honest Flaminius, you are very respectively welcome, sir.

- Fill me some wine.—[Exit Servant.] And how does that honourable, complete, free-hearted gentleman of Athens, thy very bountiful good lord and master?

Flam. His health is well, sir.

Lucul. I am right glad that his health is well, sir. And what hast thou there under thy cloak, pretty Flaminius?

Flam. 'Faith, nothing but an empty box, sir; which, in my lord's behalf, I come to entreat your honour to supply; who, having great and instant occasion to use fifty talents, hath sent to your lordship to furnish him, nothing doubting your present assistance therein.

Lucul. La, la, la, la,—nothing doubting, says he? alas, good lord! a noble gentleman 'tis, if he would.