Tim. 'Tis then because thou doft not keep a dog
Whom I would imitate; confumption catch thee!
Apem. "This is in thee a nature but affected,
"A poor unmanly melancholy, fprung

"From change of fortune. Why this fpade? this place! "This flave-like habit, and these looks of care?

Thy flatt'rers yet wear filk, drink wine, lie foft; "Hug their difeas'd † perfumes, and have forgot "That ever Timon was. Shame not these weeds, "By putting on the cunning of a carper. "Be thou a flatt'rer now, and seek to thrive "By that which has undone thee; hinge thy knee, * And let his very breath whom thou'lt obferve "Blow off thy cap: praise his most vicious strain, "And call it excellent. Thou waft told thus: Thou gav'ft thine ears, like tapfters, that bid welcome To knaves, and all approachers: 'tis most just That thou turn rascal: hadft thou wealth again, Rafcals fhould have't. Do not affume my likeness.

Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself. Apem. Thou'ft cast away thyself, being like thyfelf, So long a madman, now a fool. What, think'ft thou, That the bleak air, thy boifterous chamberlain, 'Will put thy fhirt on warm? will these mofs'd trees "That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels,

'And skip when thou point'ft out? will the cold brook, 'Candied with ice, cawdle thy morning-tafte

'To cure thy o'er-nights furfeit? Call the creatures,
'Whose naked natures live in all the spight
'Of wreakful heav'n, whose bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,

'Anfwer mere nature; bid them flatter thee;
"Oh! thou fhalt find-

Tim. A fool of thee; depart.

Apem. I love thee better now than e'er I did.
Tim. I hate thee worse.

Apem. Why!

Tim. Thou flatt'reft mifery.

Apem. I flatter not; but fay thou art a caitiff.
Tim. Why doft thou feek me out?

Apem. To vex thee.

difeas'd, for causing difeafes.

Tim. Always a villain's office, or a fool's. Do'ft please thyself in't ?

Apem. Ay.

Tim. What a knave thou!

Apem. "If thou didst put this four cold habit on "To caftigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou "Doft it inforcedly: thou'dft courtier be, "Wert thou not beggar. Willing mifery Outftrips uncertain pomp ; is crown'd before it : The one is filling ftill, never compleat;

The other, at high with: beft ftates, contentless,
Have a distracted and moft wretched being;
Worfe than the worft, content.

Thou should'ft defire to die, being miferable.
Tim. Not by his breath, that is more miferable.
Thou art a flave, whom Fortune's tender arm
• With favour never clafp'd; but bred a dog t
Hadft thou, like us, from our firft fwath proceeded
Through fweet degrees that this brief world affords, : .
To fuch as may the paffive drugs of it

6

Freely command; thou would'st have plung'd thyfelf In general riot, melted down thy youth

In different beds of luft, and never learn'd

The icy precepts of refpect, but followed

The fugar'd game before thee. But myself,

• Who had the world as my confectionary,

The mouths, the tongues, the eyes, the hearts of men
At duty, more than I could frame employments;
That numberless upon me stuck, as leaves
Do on the oak; yet with one winter's brush
Fall'n from their boughs, have left me open, bare
For every ftorm that blows; I to bear this,

• That never knew but better, is fome burthen.
Thy nature did commence in fuff'rance, time

• Hath made thee hard in't. Why shouldft thou hate men?

They never flatter'd thee. What haft thou given?
If thou wilt curfe thy father, that poor rag,
Muft be thy fubject, who in fpight put ftuff
To fome fhe-beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone

Alluding to the word Cynic, of which fect Apemantus was.

If

If thou hadst not been born the worft* of men,

Thou hadst been knave and flatterer.

Apem. Art thou proud yet?

Tim. Ay, that I am not thee.
Apem. I, that I was no prodigal.
Tim. 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!

Thus would I eat it †.

[Eating a roots 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 ufe for gold.

Tim. The beft and trueft:

For here it fleeps, and does no hired harm.
Apem. Where ly'ft o'nights, Timon?
Tim. Under that's above me.

Where feed'ft thou o'days, Apemantus?

Apem. Where my ftomach finds meat, or rather where

eat it.

Tim. 'Would poifon were obedient, and knew my mind! Apem. Where would'ft thou fend it?

Tim. To fauce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never kneweft, but the extremity of both ends. When thou waft in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mock'd thee for too much curiofity; in thy rag's thou knoweft none, but art defpis'd for the contrary. What things in the world canft thou nearest compare to thy flatterers?

VOL. VI.

*worst, for lowest.

+ Thus would I eat it.

N

Apem. Here, I will mend thy feast.

Tim. First mend my company, take away thyself.
Apem. So I fhall mend my own, by th' lack of thine.
Tim 'Tis not well mended fo, it is but botch'd;

If not, I would it were.

Apem. What would'ft, &c.

ti. e. for too much finical delicacy.

the contrary. There's a medlar for thee, eat it.

Tim. On what I hate I feed not.

Apem. Doft hate a medlar?

Tim. Ay, though it look like thee,

Tim.

Арет

6

Tim. Women nearest; but men, men are the things themfelves. What wouldst thou do with the world, Apemantus, if it lay in thy power?

Apem. Give it the beafts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Wouldst thou have thyfelf fall in the confufion of men, or remain a beast with the beafts?

Apem. Ay, Timon.

Tim. A beaftly ambition, which the gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert a lion, the fox would be guile thee; if thou wert a lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would fufpect thee; when, peradventure, thou wert accus'd by the ass; if thou wert the afs, thy dulnefs would torment thee; and ftill thou'dft live but as a breakfast to the wolf. If thou wert the wolf, thy greedinefs would afflict thee; and oft thou shouldft hazard thy life for thy dinner. Wert thou the unicorn †, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own felf the conqueft of thy fury. Wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be kill'd by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be feiz'd by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life. All thy fafety were remotion, and thy defence abfence. What beaft couldst thou be, that were not fubject to a beaft; and what a beaft art thou already, and feeft not thy loss in transformation !'

Apem. If thou couldft please me with speaking to me, thou might't have hit upon it here.

The common

wealth of Athens is become a foreft of beafts.

Tim.

Apem. An' th' hadst hated medlars fooner, thou fhouldst have loved thyfelf better now. What man didft thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means?

Tim. Who, without those means thou talk'st of, didst thou ever know beloved?

Apem. Myfelf.

Tim. I understand thee, thou hadft fome means to keep a dog. Apem. What things, c.

The account given of the unicorn is this: That he and the lion being enemies by nature, as foon as the lion fees the unicorn, he betakes himself to a tree The unicorn, in his fury, and with all the fwiftness of his course, running at him, fticks his horn faft in the tree, and then the lion falls upon him and kills him. Gefner bift, animal.

Tim. How has the afs broke the wall, 'that thou art

out of the city?

The

Apem. Yonder comes a poet and a painter. plague of company light upon thee! I will fear to catch it, and give way. When I know not what else to do,

I'll fee thee again.

Tim. When there is nothing living but thee, thou fhalt be welcome.

I had rather be a beggar's dog, than Apemantus.
Apem. Thou art the cap
* of all the fools alive.
Tim. Would thou wert clean enough to fpit upon.
A plague on thee!

Apem. Thou art too bad to curfe..

Tim. All villains that do ftand by thee, are pure. Apem. There is no leprofy but what thou fpeak'il. Tim. If I name thee.-I'll beat thee; but I should infect my hands.

Apem. I would my tongue could rot them off!
Tim. Away, thou iffue of a mangy dog!

Choler does kill me, that thou art alive.

I fwoon to fee thee.

Apem. 'Would thou wouldst burst!

Tim. Away, thou tedious rogue,am forry I shall

lofe a ftone by thee.

Apem. Bealt!

Tim. Slave!

Apem. Toad!

Tim. Rogue! rogue! rogue!

Apem. retreats backward, as going.

I am fick of this falfe world, and will love nought
But ev'n the mere neceffities upon it.

beat

Then, Timon, prefently prepare thy grave;
Lie where the light foam of the fea may
Thy grave-tone daily; make thine epitaph;
That death in me at others' lives may laugh.
'O thou sweet king-killer, and dear divorce

[Looking on the gold. ''Twixt natural fon and fire! thou bright defiler 'Of Hymen's pureft bed! thou valiant Mars! Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer, 'Whose blush doth thaw the confecrated fnow, N 2

i. e. the property, the bubble.

That