THAT

S CE N E V.
Tim. "HAT nature being fick of man's unkind.

ness, Should

yet

be hungry! Common mother, thou Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast Teems, and feeds all; oh thou! whose self-fame

mettle (Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puft)

Engenders the black toad, and adder blue, : The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm;

With all th' abhorred births below cript heav'n, : Whereon Hyperion's quickning fire doth shine ;

Yield him, who all thy human fons does hate,
From forth thy plenteous bofom, one poor root!
Enfear thy fertile and conceptious womb;

Let it no more bring out to ingrateful man.
Go great with tygers, dragons, wolves and bears,
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward-face
Hath to the marbled mansion all above
Never presented-o, a root-dear thanks!

Dry up thy harrow'd veins, and plough-torn leas, : Whereof ingrateful man with liqu’rilh draughts 5 And morsels undious, greases his pure mind,

That from it all confideration flips.

S CE N E VI.

Enter Apemantus.
More man? plague! plague!
Apem. I was directed hither.

Men report,
Thou dost affect my manners, and dost use them.

* Let it no more bring out ingrateful Man.] This is an absurd Reading. Shakespear Wrote,

bring out to ingrateful Man, i. e. Fruits for his Sustinence and Support; but let it rather teen with Monsters to his Deltrudion. Vol. VII.

I

Tim.

Tim. 'Tis then, because thou doft not keep a dog Whom I would imitate ; consumption catch thee!

Apem. This is in thee a nature but affeded, A poor unmanly melancholy, sprung From change of fortune. Why this spade ? this

place? This flave-like habit, and these looks of care ? Thy flatt'rers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft; Hug their diseas'd perfumes, and have forgot That ever Timon was. Shame not these weeds, By putting on the cunning of a carper. Bé 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 observe, Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious ftrain, And call it excellent. Thou waft told thus: Thou gav'st thine ears, like tapsters, that bid welcome To knäves, and all approachers: 'Tis most just That thou turn rascal: hadst thou wealth again, Rascals should have't. Do not assume my likeness

. Tim. Were I like thee, I'd throw away myself. Apem. Thou'st cast away thyfelf, being like thy

self, So long a mad-man, now a fool. What, think'st thou, That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain, Will put thy shirt on warm ? will these moss'd trees, That have our liv'd the eagle, page thy heels, And skip when thou point'st out? will the cold

brook,
Candied with ice, cawdle thy morning taste
To cure thy o'er-night's furfeit? Call the creatures,
Whose naked natures live in all the spight
Of wreakful heav'n, whofe bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,
Answer mere nature ; bid them flatter thee;
Oh! thou shalt 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'rest misery.
Apem. I flatter not; but say, thou art a caytiff.
Tim. Why dost thou seek me out ?
Apem. To vex thee.

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

Apem. Ay.
Tim. What a knave thou !

Apem. If thou didft put this four cold habit on
To castigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou
Doft it enforcedly : thou'dit Courtier be,
Wert thou not beggar. Willing misery
Outlives incertain pomp; is crown'd before :
The one is filling still, never complete ;
The other, at high wish : Beft ftates, contentless,
Have a diftra&ed and most wretched being;
Worse than the worst, content.
Thou shouldft defire to die, -being miserable.

Tim. Not by his breath, that is more miserable. Thou art a flave, whom fortune's tender arm With favour never clafpt ; but bred a dog. Hadit thou, like us, from our first swath proceeded Through sweet degrees that this brief world affords, To such as may the passive drugs of it Freely command; thou wouldit have plung’d thy

self In general riot, melted down thy youth In different beds of luft, and never learn'd The icy precepts of respe&, but followed The sugar'd game before thee. But myself, Who had the world as my confe&ionary, 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; have with one winter's brush
I ?

Fall'n

Fall'n 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 suff'rance, time
Hath made thee hard in't. Why shouldst thou hate

men ?
They never flatter'd thee. What hast thou given ?
If thou wilt curse, thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy subject ; who in spight put stuff
To some fhe-beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone-
If thou hadît not been born the worst 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 root.
Apem. Here, I will mend thy feat.
Tim. First mend my company, take away thyself.
Apem. So I shall mend my own, by th' lack of

thine. Tim. 'Tis not well mended so, it is but botcht; If not, I would it were.

Apem. What would'st 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.

Tim. The best and truelt:
For here it sleeps, and does no hired harm.

Apem. Where ly'st o'nights, Timon ?

Tim. Under that's above me.
Where feed'st thou o'days, Apemantus ?

Apem. Where my stomach finds meat; or rather, where I eat it.

Tim. 'Would poison were obedient, and knew my mind!

Apem. Where would'At thou send it?
Tim. To sauce thy dishes.

Apem. The middle of humanity thou never knewest, but the extremity of both ends. When thou wast in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mockt thee for too much curiosity; in thy rags thou knowest none, but art despis'd for the contrary. There's a medlar for thee, eat it.

Tim. On what I hate I feed not.
Apem. Dost hate a medlar?
Tim. Ay, though it look like thee.

Apem. An th' hadst hated medlers sooner, thou fhould'It have loved thyself better now.

What man didst 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. Myself.

Tim. I understand thee, thou hadst some means to keep a dog.

Apem. What things in the world canst thou nearest compare to thy flatterers ?

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

Apem. Give it the beasts, to be rid of the men. Tim. Wouldst thou have thyself fall in the confusion of

men, or remain a beast with the beasts ?
Apem. Ay, T'imon.

T'im. A beastly ambition, which the Gods grant thee to attain to! If thou wert a lion, the fox would beguile thee; if thou wert a lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would fufpe& thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accus'd by the ass; if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would tornent thee; and still thou liv'dit but as a break

fait

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