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Timon of Athens

Act II, Scene 2

The same. A hall in Timon's house.
 
[Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand]
 
FLAVIUS
            ,          ,          ,         ,       ,
      No* care,| no* stop,| so* sense|less of | expense,
            ,          ,        ,     ,               x
      That he | will neith|er know | how to | maintain it,
            ,           ,         x      ,           ,
      Nor cease | his flow | of riot.| Takes no^|account
             ,           ,          ,        ,           ,
      How things | go* from | him, nor | resumes | no* care
           ,        ,       ,       ,       ,
      Of what | is to | contin|ue: nev|er 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.
 
[Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of Isidore and Varro]
 
CAPHIS
Good even Varro: what, you come for money?
 
VARRO'S SERVANT
Is it not your business too?
 
CAPHIS
It is, and yours too, Isidore?
 
ISIDORE'S SERVANT
It is so.
 
CAPHIS
Would we were all discharged.
 
VARRO'S SERVANT
I fear it.
 
CAPHIS
Here comes the lord.
 
[Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, and Lords, etc.]
 
TIMON
           ,        ,          ,            ,        ,
      So soon | as din|ner's done,| we'll forth | again
        2   ,   ,        ,          ,      2       ,
      My Alci|biad|es. With | me, what | is your will?
 
CAPHIS
           ,      ,           ,        ,         ,
      My lord,| here is | a note | of cert|ain dues.
 
TIMON
        ,            ,
      Dues? Whence^|are you?
 
CAPHIS
                                 ,        ,         ,
                             Of Ath|ens here,| my lord.
 
TIMON
       ,           ,
      Go to | my stew|ard.  \\
 
CAPHIS
         ,               ,         ,         ,        ,
      Please it | your lord|ship, he | hath put | me off
       ,           ,              ,    ,           ,
      To the | success|sion of / new days | this month:
       ,  ,        2    ,          ,       ,
      My mas/ter is a|waked by | great oc|casion,
           ,     x          ,          ,         ,
      To call | upon his | own, and | humbly | prays you,
             ,          ,      ,       ,              ,
      That with | your oth|er nob|le parts,| you'll suit,
          ,       ,          ,
      In giv|ing him | his right.
 
TIMON
                                       ,         ,
                                 Mine hon|est friend,
          ,       ,        ,      2     ,      ,
      I prith|ee 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.
 
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 stew|ard puts | me off | my lord,| and I
           ,        ,     3  3       ,
      Am sent | express|ly to your lord|ship.
 
TIMON
                                               ,          ,
                                             Give | me breath:
         ,       ,           ,         ,           ,
      I do | beseech | you good | my lords | keep^on,
             ,      ,          ,    2      ,          ,
      I'll wait | upon | you inst|antly. Come hither: pray you  ????
       T    T   .    T       ,   2       ,       ,
      How goes the world,| that I am | thus en|countered
             ,     ,        ,      .   T     Tx     T
      With clam|orous | demands | of debt, broken bonds,
       ,           ,      2     ,     T    T    T
      And the | deten|tion of long-|since-due debts
          ,         ,
      Against | my hon|or?
 
FLAVIUS
                             ,          ,      ,
                          Please | you gent|lemen,
              x      ,    ,  2          ,     ,
      The time is | una|greeable | to this | business:
            ,     ,   2    ,           ,        x
      Your im|portun|acy cease,| till aft|er dinner,
           ,         ,          ,        ,      ,
      That I | may make | his lord|ship und|erstand,
        ,    ,              ___    __    oo
      Wherefore / you are | not | paid.|
 
TIMON
       ,            ,       ,           T    Tx   T
      Do so | my friends,| see them | well entertained.
 
[Exit]
 
FLAVIUS
Pray draw near.
 
[Exit. Enter APEMANTUS and Fool]
 
CAPHIS
Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus, let's have some sport with 'em.
 
VARRO'S SERVANT
Hang him, he'll abuse us.
 
ISIDORE'S SERVANT
A plague upon him dog.
 
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. Come away.
 
ISIDORE'S SERVANT
There's the fool hangs on your back already.
 
APEMANTUS
No thou standst 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.
 
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.
 
FOOL
How do you gentlemen?
 
ALL SERVANTS
Gramercies good fool:
How does your mistress?
 
FOOL
She's eene setting on water to scald such chickens as you are. Would we could see you at Corinth.
 
APEMANTUS
Good, gramercy.
 
FOOL
Look you, here comes my mistress' page.
 
PAGE
Why how now captain? What do you 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 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 Alcibiades. Go thou wast born a bastard, and thou'lt die a bawd.
 
PAGE
Thou wast whelped a dog, and thou shalt famish a dog's death.
Answer not, I am gone.
 
[Exit]
 
APEMANTUS
Eene so thou outrunnest grace,
Fool I will go with you to Lord Timon's.
 
FOOL
Will you leave me there?
 
APEMANTUS
If Timon stay at home.
You three serve three usurers?
 
ALL SERVANTS
Aye would they served us.
 
APEMANTUS
So would I:
As good a trick as ever hangman served thief.
 
FOOL
Are you three usurers' men?
 
ALL SERVANTS
Aye 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 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 notwithstanding thou shalt be 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 it appears like a lord, sometime like a lawyer, sometime like a philosopher, with two stones more than his 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.
 
FOOL
Nor thou altogether a wise man,
As much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackst.
 
APEMANTUS
That answer might have become Apemantus.
 
ALL SERVANTS
Aside, aside, here comes Lord Timon.
 
APEMANTUS
Come with me (fool) come.
 
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 marv|el where|fore^ere | this time
           ,          x       ,         ,        ,
      Had^you | not fully | laid my | state be|fore me,
           ,          ,         ,      ,       ,
      That I | might so | have rat|ed my | expense
         ,         ,          ,
      As I | had leave | of means.
 
FLAVIUS
                                      2       ,      ,
                                   You would not | hear me:
          ,     ,        ,        ,
      At man|y leis|ures I | propose.
 
TIMON
                                           ,
                                      Go* to:
            ,             ,       ,    ,          ,
      Perchance | some* sing|le vant|ages | you took,
             ,     ,     ,       ,          ,
      When* my |indis|posi|tion put | you back,
            ,       ,         ,          ,     ,
      And that | unapt|ness made | your min|ister
        ,           ,          ,
      Thus to | excuse | yourself.
 
FLAVIUS
                                   ,              ,
                                   O my | good* lord,
          ,      ,          ,          ,        ,
      At ma|ny times | I brought | in my | accounts,
        ,             ,          ,            ,           ,
      Laid them | before | you, you | would throw | them off,
           ,          ,           ,         ,    ,
      And say | you found | them^in | mine^hon|esty,
        ,     2         ,          ,        ,          ,
      When for some | trifling | present | you have | bid me
          ,          ,     2       ,          ,          ,
      Return | so* much,| I have shook | my head,| and wept:
       ,      ,              ,  3 3      ,           ,
      Yea 'gainst / the auth|ority of | manners,| prayed you
           ,           ,            ,        ,        ,
      To hold | your hand | more* close:| I did | endure
           ,        ,          ,        ,      ,
      Not^sel|dom, nor | no slight | checks, when / I have
         ,        ,            ,         ,       ,
      Prompted | you in | the ebb | of your | estate,
                   ,     ,         ,         ,       ,
      And your / great flow | of debts;| my lov|ed lord,
              ,           ,           ,          ,         ,
      Though^you | hear* now |(too* late)| yet now's | a time,
            ,        ,         ,         ,         ,
      The great|est of | your hav|ing, lacks | a half,
          ,           ,        ,
      To pay | your pres|ent debts.
 
TIMON
           ,         ,         ,
      Let all | my land | be sold.  (tri with prev)
 
FLAVIUS
            ,        ,           ,      ,          ,
      'Tis^all | engaged,| some for|feited | and gone,
            ,        ,            ,       ,          ,
      And what | remains | will hard|ly stop | the mouth
           ,        ,         ,        ,        ,
      Of pres|ent dues;| the fut|ure comes | apace:
        ,              ,         ,    ,       2      ,
      What shall | defend | the in|terim,| and at length
             ,          ,     ,
      How* goes | our reck|oning?  \\
 
TIMON
          ,     ,      ,         ,        ,
      To La|cedae|mon did | my land | extend.
 
FLAVIUS
      ,              ,          ,         ,        ,
      O my | good* lord,| the world | is but | a word,
                 ,    ,          ,        ,        ,
      Were it / all yours,| to give | it in | a breath,
            ,        ,         ,
      How quick|ly were | it gone.
 
TIMON
                                         ,         ,
                                   You tell | me true.
 
FLAVIUS
       ,    2      ,        ,      ,         ,
      If you sus|pect my | husban|dry or | falsehood,
        ,           ,       2   ,       ,     ,
      Call me | before | the exact|est aud|itors,
           ,        ,         ,        2      ,      ,
      And set | me on | the proof.| So* the gods | bless me,
            ,         ,    ,           ,         ,
      When all | our of|fices | have been | oppressed
            ,   2     ,         ,           ,            ,
      With ri|otous feed|ers, when | our vaults | have wept
             ,         ,          ,          ,       ,
      With drunk|en spilth | of wine;| when eve|ry room
              ,             ,            ,            ,       ,
      Hath blazed | with lights,| and brayed | with mins|trelsy,
      ,            ,      ,          ,         ,
      I have | retired | me to | a waste|ful cock,
           ,           ,         ,
      And set | mine^eyes | at flow.
 
TIMON
                                      ,             ,
                                    Prithee | no* more.
 
FLAVIUS
        ,         ,        ,          ,   2            ,
      Heavens | have I | said the | bounty of | this^lord:
       ,    2      ,  2       ,            ,           ,
      How many | prodigal | bits have | slaves and | peasants
             ,         ,        ,        ,     ,
      This night | englut|ted: who | is not | Timon's,
             ,       T     T      T       T      Tx     T     ,
      What heart,| head, sword, force,| means, but is Lord | Timon's:
       ___     ,       ,       ,        ,       ,
      Great | Timon,| noble,| worthy,| royal | Timon:  (hex with prev)
       ,               ,           ,          ,            ,
      Ah, when | the means | are gone | that buy | this praise,
             ,          ,          ,           ,          ,
      The breath | is gone | whereof | this^praise | is made:
        T    T     T      ,           ,         ,        x
      Feast won, fast | lost; one*| cloud of | winter showers,  ????
              ,            ,
      These^flies | are couched.
 
TIMON
                                       ,     2    ,    ,
                                Come* ser|mon me no | further.  ??
           ,     2      ,      ,            ,          ,
      No* vil|lainous boun|ty yet | hath passed | my heart;
          ,       ,       ,       ,        x
      Unwise|ly, not | ignob|ly have | I given.
             ,           ,            ,         ,            ,
      Why* dost | thou^weep,| canst^thou | the con|science lack,
           ,                 ,     ,          ,          ,
      To think | I shall / lack friends:| secure | thy heart,
         ,            ,          ,        ,        ,
      If I | would broach | the ves|sels of | my love,
           ,         ,     ,          ,          ,      2   ->
      And try | the arg|ument | of hearts,| by* bor||rowing,
       ,          ,      ,              2    ,       ,
      Men,| and men's | fortunes | could I frank|ly use
         ,        ,           ,
      As I | can bid | thee speak.
 
FLAVIUS
         ,         ,              ,
      Assur|ance bless | your thoughts.  (tri with prev)
 
TIMON
                 ,    ,            ,          ,           ,
      And in / some sort | these^wants | of mine | are crowned,
           ,       ,            ,                ,   ,
      That I | account | them bles|sings. For / by these
            ,    T     T      T      ,        ___
      Shall I | try friends. You | shall per|ceive
       ,            ,         ,         o
      How you | mistake | my for|tunes;
      ,        ,        ,        ___
      I am | wealthy | in my | friends.  (tetra with prev)
          ,      ,         , 2         ,    ,
      Within | there, Fla|minius,| Servil|ius?
 
[Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants]
 
SERVANTS
My lord, my lord.
 
TIMON
I will dispatch you severally.
You to Lord Lucius, to Lord Lucullus you, I hunted with his honor today; 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 the request be fifty talents.
 
FLAMINIUS
As you have said, my lord.
 
FLAVIUS
Lord Lucius and Lucullus? Hum.
 
TIMON
Go you sir to the senators;
           ,      x    2         T      T     T     ,
      Of whom,| even to the | state's best health,| I have
           ,            ,        ,         ,      2      ,      2->
      Deserved | this hear|ing: bid |'em send | of the inst||ant
          ,        ,        ,
      A thous|and tal|ents to | me.
 
FLAVIUS
                                    ,       2       ,
                                    I | have been bold
             ,          x           ,     ,        ,
      (For that | I knew it | the most | gene|ral way)
           ,        ,          ,        ,           ,
      To them,| to use | your sig|net, and | your name,
            ,         ,             ,         ,        ,
      But they | do shake | their heads,| and I | am here
       ,   ,              ,
      No rich/er in | return.
 
TIMON
                                2     ,       2    ,
                              Is it true?| Can it be?
 
FLAVIUS
            ,       ,       ,           ,   2      ,
      They ans|wer in | a joint | and corp|orate voice,
            ,          ,         ,           ,          x
      That now | they are | at fall,| want^treas|ure cannot
       ,     2         ,           ,       ,         ,  3 3
      Do what they | would, are | sorry:| you are | honorable,  ??
           ,           ,             ,       T    T   T
      But yet | they could | have wished,| they know not,
        ,      2         ,      ,        ,       ,
      Something hath | been a|miss; a | noble | nature
       T    T   .    T            ,           ,           x
      May catch a wrench;| would^all | were well;| 'tis pity,
       ,    2    ,         ,       ,  2      ,
      And so in|tending | other | serious | matters,
       ,   2      ,          ,                  ,      ,
      After dis|tasteful | looks, and | these hard | fractions
             ,        ,     T    .    T   T        ,
      With cert|ain half-|caps, and cold-mov|ing nods,
             ,         ,     ,      2
      They froze | me in|to sil|ence.
 
TIMON
                                           ,        ,          ->
                                     You gods | reward || them:
        ,     2      ,      ,              ,     ,
      Prith|ee man look | cheerly.| These^old | fellows
        ,       2     ,     ,         ,       ,  2
      Have their in|grati|tude in | them her|editary:
              ,          ,            ,        ,        ,
      Their blood | is caked,| 'tis cold,| it sel|dom flows,
             ,         ,        ,           ,          ,
      'Tis lack | of kind|ly warmth,| they are | not^kind;
           ,        ,        ,        ,             ,
      And nat|ure, as | it grows | again | toward^earth,
           ,         ,          ,           x       ,
      Is fash|ioned for | the journ|ey, dull and | heavy.
       ,          ,   2    ,        ,        ,
      Go to | Ventig|ius (prith|ee be | not^sad,
          2      ,         ,         x       ,        ,
      Thou art true,| and hon|est; ingen|iously | I speak,
       T   T    .  T          ,         ,   2    ,     ->
      No blame belongs | to thee:)| Ventig|ius late||ly
       ,     2      ,             ,     ,             ,
      Bur|ied his fath|er, by / whose death | he's stepped
         ,       ,        ,           ,         ,
      Into | a great | estate:| when he | was poor,
          ,         ,         ,     ,         ,
      Impris|oned, and | in scarc|ity | of friends,
           ,         2       ,     ,          ,           ,
      I cleared | him with five | talents:| greet him | from me,
       ,             ,           ,       ,     ,
      Bid him | suppose,| some good | neces|sity
        ,    2         ,              ,         ,     ,
      Touches his | friend, which^|craves to | be re|membered
          2        ,     ,              ,        x            ,
      With those^five | talents:| that had,| give it these*| fellows
           ,          ,       ,      T    T     .   T
      To whom |'tis inst|ant due.| Nere speak, or think,
            ,        ,           ,           ,            ,
      That Tim|on's for|tunes 'mong | his friends | can sink.
 
FLAVIUS
          ,         ,           ,         o
      I would | I could | not think | it:
              ,           ,        ,    oo
      That thought | is bount|y's foe;|
       ,        ,      __    oo         ,          ,       ,   oo
      Being | free it|self,|    | it thinks | all oth|ers so.|    (oct with tetra)
 
[Exeunt]

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