Timon of Athens

Timon of Athens

ACT II SCENE II	The same. A hall in Timon's house.
	Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand
FLAVIUS	No care, no stop! so senseless of expense,
	That he will neither know how to maintain it,
	Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account
	How things go from him, nor resumes no care	5
	Of what is to continue: never mind
	Was to be so unwise, to be so kind.
	What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel:
	I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.
	Fie, fie, fie, fie!	10
	Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of Isidore and Varro
CAPHIS	Good even, Varro: what,
	You come for money?
Varro's Servant	Is't not your business too?
CAPHIS	It is: and yours too, Isidore?
Isidore's Servant	It is so.	15
CAPHIS	Would we were all discharged!
Varro's Servant	I fear it.
CAPHIS	Here comes the lord.
	Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, and Lords, &c
TIMON	So soon as dinner's done, we'll forth again,
	My Alcibiades. With me? what is your will?	20
CAPHIS	My lord, here is a note of certain dues.
TIMON	Dues! Whence are you?
CAPHIS	Of Athens here, my lord.
TIMON	Go to my steward.
CAPHIS	Please it your lordship, he hath put me off	25
	To the succession of new days this month:
	My master is awaked by great occasion
	To call upon his own, and humbly prays you
	That with your other noble parts you'll suit
	In giving him his right.	30
TIMON	Mine honest friend,
	I prithee, but repair to me next morning.
CAPHIS	Nay, good my lord,--
TIMON	Contain thyself, good friend.
Varro's Servant	One Varro's servant, my good lord,--	35
Isidore's Servant	From Isidore;
	He humbly prays your speedy payment.
CAPHIS	If you did know, my lord, my master's wants--
Varro's Servant	'Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks And past.
Isidore's Servant	Your steward puts me off, my lord;	40
	And I am sent expressly to your lordship.
TIMON	Give me breath.
	I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;
	I'll wait upon you instantly.
	Exeunt ALCIBIADES and Lords
	To FLAVIUS
	Come hither: pray you,	45
	How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd
	With clamourous demands of date-broke bonds,
	And the detention of long-since-due debts,
	Against my honour?
FLAVIUS	Please you, gentlemen,	50
	The time is unagreeable to this business:
	Your importunacy cease till after dinner,
	That I may make his lordship understand
	Wherefore you are not paid.
TIMON	Do so, my friends. See them well entertain'd.	55
	Exit
FLAVIUS	Pray, draw near.
	Exit
	Enter APEMANTUS and Fool
CAPHIS	Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus:
	let's ha' some sport with 'em.
Varro's Servant	Hang him, he'll abuse us.
Isidore's Servant	A plague upon him, dog!	60
Varro's Servant	How dost, fool?
APEMANTUS	Dost dialogue with thy shadow?
Varro's Servant	I speak not to thee.
APEMANTUS	No,'tis to thyself.
	To the Fool
	Come away.	65
Isidore's Servant	There's the fool hangs on your back already.
APEMANTUS	No, thou stand'st single, thou'rt not on him yet.
CAPHIS	Where's the fool now?
APEMANTUS	He last asked the question. Poor rogues, and
	usurers' men! bawds between gold and want!	70
All Servants	What are we, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS	Asses.
All Servants	Why?
APEMANTUS	That you ask me what you are, and do not know
	yourselves. Speak to 'em, fool.	75
Fool	How do you, gentlemen?
All Servants	Gramercies, good fool: how does your mistress?
Fool	She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens
	as you are. Would we could see you at Corinth!
APEMANTUS	Good! gramercy.	80
	Enter Page
Fool	Look you, here comes my mistress' page.
Page	To the Fool
	in this wise company? How dost thou, Apemantus?
APEMANTUS	Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer
	thee profitably.
Page	Prithee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of	85
	these letters: I know not which is which.
APEMANTUS	Canst not read?
Page	No.
APEMANTUS	There will little learning die then, that day thou
	art hanged. This is to Lord Timon; this to	90
	Alcibiades. Go; thou wast born a bastard, and thou't
	die a bawd.
Page	Thou wast whelped a dog, and thou shalt famish a
	dog's death. Answer not; I am gone.
	Exit
APEMANTUS	E'en so thou outrunnest grace. Fool, I will go with	95
	you to Lord Timon's.
Fool	Will you leave me there?
APEMANTUS	If Timon stay at home. You three serve three usurers?
All Servants	Ay; would they served us!
APEMANTUS	So would I,--as good a trick as ever hangman served thief.	100
Fool	Are you three usurers' men?
All Servants	Ay, fool.
Fool	I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant: my
	mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come
	to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and	105
	go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house
	merrily, and go away sadly: the reason of this?
Varro's Servant	I could render one.
APEMANTUS	Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster
	and a knave; which not-withstanding, thou shalt be	110
	no less esteemed.
Varro's Servant	What is a whoremaster, fool?
Fool	A fool in good clothes, and something like thee.
	'Tis a spirit: sometime't appears like a lord;
	sometime like a lawyer; sometime like a philosopher,	115
	with two stones moe than's artificial one: he is
	very often like a knight; and, generally, in all
	shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore
	to thirteen, this spirit walks in.
Varro's Servant	Thou art not altogether a fool.	120
Fool	Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as
	I have, so much wit thou lackest.
APEMANTUS	That answer might have become Apemantus.
All Servants	Aside, aside; here comes Lord Timon.
	Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS
APEMANTUS	Come with me, fool, come.	125
Fool	I do not always follow lover, elder brother and
	woman; sometime the philosopher.
	Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool
FLAVIUS	Pray you, walk near: I'll speak with you anon.
	Exeunt Servants
TIMON	You make me marvel: wherefore ere this time
	Had you not fully laid my state before me,	130
	That I might so have rated my expense,
	As I had leave of means?
FLAVIUS	You would not hear me,
	At many leisures I proposed.
TIMON	Go to:	135
	Perchance some single vantages you took.
	When my indisposition put you back:
	And that unaptness made your minister,
	Thus to excuse yourself.
FLAVIUS	O my good lord,	140
	At many times I brought in my accounts,
	Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
	And say, you found them in mine honesty.
	When, for some trifling present, you have bid me
	Return so much, I have shook my head and wept;	145
	Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
	To hold your hand more close: I did endure
	Not seldom, nor no slight cheques, when I have
	Prompted you in the ebb of your estate
	And your great flow of debts. My loved lord,	150
	Though you hear now, too late--yet now's a time--
	The greatest of your having lacks a half
	To pay your present debts.
TIMON	Let all my land be sold.
FLAVIUS	'Tis all engaged, some forfeited and gone;	155
	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?
TIMON	To Lacedaemon did my land extend.	160
FLAVIUS	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!
TIMON	You tell me true.
FLAVIUS	If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood,	165
	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	170
	Hath blazed with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy,
	I have retired me to a wasteful cock,
	And set mine eyes at flow.
TIMON	Prithee, no more.
FLAVIUS	Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord!	175
	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!	180
	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.
TIMON	Come, sermon me no further:	185
	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,	190
	And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
	Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use
	As I can bid thee speak.
FLAVIUS	Assurance bless your thoughts!
TIMON	And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd,	195
	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
Servants	My lord? my lord?	200
TIMON	I will dispatch 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 'em toward a supply of money: let	205
	the request be fifty talents.
FLAMINIUS	As you have said, my lord.
FLAVIUS	Aside
TIMON	Go you, sir, to the senators--
	Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have
	Deserved this hearing--bid 'em send o' the instant	210
	A thousand talents to me.
FLAVIUS	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	215
	No richer in return.
TIMON	Is't true? can't be?
FLAVIUS	They answer, in a joint and corporate voice,
	That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot
	Do what they would; are sorry--you are honourable,--	220
	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--'tis pity;--
	And so, intending other serious matters,
	After distasteful looks and these hard fractions,	225
	With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods
	They froze me into silence.
TIMON	You gods, reward them!
	Prithee, man, look cheerly. These old fellows
	Have their ingratitude in them hereditary:	230
	Their blood is caked, '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 Servant
	Go to Ventidius.	235
	To FLAVIUS
	Prithee, be not sad,
	Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak.
	No blame belongs to thee.
	To Servant
	Ventidius lately
	Buried his father; by whose death he's stepp'd	240
	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	245
	With those five talents.
	Exit Servant
	To FLAVIUS
	That had, give't these fellows
	To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think,
	That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink.
FLAVIUS	I would I could not think it: that thought is	250
	bounty's foe;
	Being free itself, it thinks all others so.
	Exeunt