Apem. So would I,-as good a trick as ever hangman ferved thief.

Fool. Are you three usurers' men?

All Serv. Ay, fool.

Fool. I think, no ufurer but has a fool to his fervant: My mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your masters, they approach fadly, and go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house merrily, and go away fadly: The reafon of this?

Var, Serv. I could render one.

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

Var. Serv. What is a whoremaster, fool?

Fool. A fool in good clothes, and fomething like thee. 'Tis a fpirit: fometime, it appears like a lord; fometime, like a lawyer; fometime, like a philofopher, with two ftones more than his artificial one: He is very often like a knight; and, generally, in all fhapes, that man goes up and down in, from fourfcore to thirteen, this spirit

walks in..

Var. Serv. Thou art not altogether a fool.

Fool. Nor thou altogether a wife man: as much foolery as I have, fo much wit thou lack'st.

Apem. That anfwer might have become Apemantus.
All Serv. Afide, afide; here comes lord Timon.

Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS.

Apem. Come with me, fool, come.

Fool. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman; fometime, the philofopher.

[Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool.

Flav. 'Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you anon.

[Exeunt Serv.

Tim.

whore

e the

And that unaptnefs made your minister,
Thus to excufe yourself.

Flav.

O my good lord At many times I brought in my accounts Laid them before you; you would throw And fay, you found them in mine honest When, for fome trifling prefent, you hav Return fo much, I have fhook my head, Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pr To hold your hand more close: I did en Not feldom, nor no flight checks; when Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate, And your great flow of debts. My dearThough you hear now, (too late!) yet n The greatest of your having lacks a half To pay your present debts.

Tim.

Let all my la

Flav. 'Tis all engag'd, some forfeited a
And what remains will hardly stop the m
Of present dues: the future comes apace
What shall defend the interim? and at le
How goes our reckoning?

Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land exte
Flav. O my good lord, the world is bu

Were it all yours, to give it in a breath,
How quickly were it gone?

Tim.

You tell me true.

Flav. If you fufpect my husbandry, or falsehood,
Call me before the exactest auditors,

And fet me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been opprefs'd

With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept
With drunken fpilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy ;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,

And fet mine eyes at flow.

Tim.

Pr'ythee, no more.

Flav. Heavens, have I faid, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have slaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?

What heart, head, fword, force, means, but is lord Ti

mon's ?

Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?

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

Tim.

Come, fermon me no further:

No villainous bounty hath yet pass'd my heart;
Unwifely, not ignobly, have I given.

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the confcience lack,

To think I fhall lack friends? Secure thy heart

If I would broach the veffels of my love,
And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

Flav.

Affurance blefs your thoughts! Tim. And, in fome fort, thefe wants of mine are crown'd,

That

cius,

To lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his Honour to-day;-You, to Sempronius ; Commend me to their loves; and, I am pr That my occasions have found time to ufe Toward a fupply of money: let the reque Be fifty talents.

Flam.

As you have faid, my lord Flav. Lord Lucius, and lord Lucullus,

Tim. Go you, fir, [To another Serv.] to (Of whom, even to the state's best health, Deferv'd this hearing,) bid 'em send o'the A thousand talents to me.

Flav.

I have been bold

(For that I knew it the most general way,) To them to use your fignet, and your nam But they do fhake their heads, and I am h No richer in return.

Tim.

Is't true? can it be? Flav. They answer, in a joint and corpo That now they are at fall, want treasure, c Do what they would; are sorry—you are But yet they could have wish'd-they kno Something hath been amifs-a noble natur

May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis pity-
And fo, intending other ferious matters,

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

Tim.

You gods, reward them!-
I pr'ythee, man, look cheerly: Thefe old fellows
Have their ingratitude in them hereditary :
Their blood is cak'd, 'tis cold, it feldom 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.-
Go to Ventidius,-[To a Serv.] 'Pr'ythee, [To FLAVIUS]
be not fad,

Thou art true, and honeft; ingenuously I fpeak,
No blame belongs to thee :-[To Serv.] Ventidius lately
Bury'd his father; by whofe death, he's stepp'd
Into a great eftate: when he was poor,

Imprifon'd, and in scarcity of friends,

I clear'd him with five talents: Greet him from me;
Bid him fuppofe, fome good neceffity

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

To whom 'tis inftant due. Ne'er speak, or think,
That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can fink.

Flav. I would, I could not think it; That thought is bounty's foe;

Being free itself, it thinks all others fo.

[Exeunt.

ACT