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SCENE

V.

Tim.HAT nature being fick of man's unkind

THA

nefs,

Should yet be hungry! Common mother, thou Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast Teems, and feeds all; oh thou! whofe felf-fame mettle

(Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puft) Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,

The gilded newt, and eyelefs 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 monfters, 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'rish draughts
And morfels unctious, greafes his pure mind,
That from it all confideration flips.-

SCENE

Enter Apemantus.

More man? plague! plague!

VI.

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 abfurd Reading. Shakespear Wrote,

bring out to ingrateful Man,

i. e. Fruits for his Suftinence and Support; but let it rather teen with Monsters to his Deftru&ion.

VOL. VII.

I

Tim.

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.

place?

Why this fpade? this

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 moft vicious ftrain,
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 rafcal: 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 caft away' thyfelf, being like thy-
felf,

So long a mad-man, now a fool. What, think'ft thou,
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,
Will put thy fhirt on warm? will these mofs'd trees,
That have out liv'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-night's furfeit? Call the creatures,
Whofe naked natures live in all the fpight

Of wreakful heav'n, whofe bare unhoufed trunks,
To the conflicting elements expos'd,

Answer 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 caytiff. Tim. Why doft 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 caftigate thy pride, 'twere well; but thou
Doft it enforcedly: thou'dft Courtier be,
Wert thou not beggar. Willing mifery
Outlives incertain pomp; is crown'd before :
The one is filling ftill, never complete ;

The other, at high wish: Best states, contentless,
Have a diftra&ted and moft wretched being;
Worfe than the worst, content.

Thou shouldft 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 claspt; but bred a dog. Hadft thou, like us, from our firft fwath proceeded Through sweet degrees that this brief world affords, To fuch as may the paffive drugs of it

Freely command; thou wouldst have plung'd thy

felf

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 fluck, as leaves

Do on the oak; have with one winter's brush

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Fall'n from their boughs, and left me open, bare
For every ftorm that blows. I to bear this,
That never knew but better, is fome burden.
Thy nature did commence in fuff'rance, time

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

They never flatter'd thee. What haft thou given?
If thou wilt curfe, thy father, that poor rag,
Must be thy fubject; who in fpight put stuff
To fome fhe-beggar, and compounded thee
Poor rogue hereditary. Hence! be gone-
If thou hadst 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 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 betcht; If not, I would it were.

Apem. What would'ft thou have to Athens?

Tim. Thee thither in a whirlwind; if thou wilt, Tell them there, I have gold; look, fo I have. Apem. Here is no ufe for gold.

Tim. The best and trueft:

For here it fleeps, and does no hired harm.

Apem. Where lyft 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 I eat it.

Tim. 'Would poison 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 knewest, but the extremity of both ends. When thou waft in thy gilt, and thy perfume, they mockt thee for too much curiofity; in thy rags thou knoweft none, but art defpis'd for 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.

Apem. An th' hadft hated medlers fooner, thou fhould't have loved thyfelf better now.

What man

didst thou ever know unthrift, that was beloved after his means?

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

Apem. Myfelf.

Tim. I understand thee, thou hadft fome means to keep a dog.

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

Tim. Women nearest; but men, men, are the things themselves. What wouldft 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 thyself fall in the confufion of men, or remain a beast with the beasts?

Apem. Ay, Timon.

Tim. A beaftly 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 suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accus'd by the afs; if thou wert the afs, thy dulnefs would torment thee; and ftill thou liv'dft but as a break

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