thee to attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee: if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee: if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accused by the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee; and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seised 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 safety were remotion,1 and thy defence absence. What beast couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast? and what a beast art thou already, that seest not thy loss in transformation!

Ape. If thou couldst please me with speaking to me, thou mightst have hit upon it here. The commonwealth of Athens is become a forest of beasts.

Timon. How has the ass broke the wall, that thou art out of the city?

Ape. Yonder comes a poet and a painter. The plague of company light upon thee! I will fear to

1 i. e. in being placed at a distance from the lion.

catch it, and give way.

When I know not what

else to do, I'll see thee again.

Timon. When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beggar's dog than Apemantus.

Ape. Thou art the cap1 of all the fools alive.

Timon. Would thou wert clean enough to spit

upon.

Ape. A plague on thee; thou art too bad to

curse.

Timon. All villains, that do stand by thee, are

pure.

Ape. There is no leprosy, but what thou speak'st. Timon. If I name thee.

I'll beat thee, but I should infect

my

hands.

Ape. I would, my tongue could rot them off!
Timon. Away, thou issue of a mangy dog!

Choler does kill me, that thou art alive:

I swoon to see thee.

Ape.

Timon.

Would thou wouldst burst!

Thou tedious rogue! I am sorry I shall lose

A stone by thee.

Ape.
Timon.

Ape.

Timon.

Away,

[throws a stone at him.

Beast!

Slave!

Toad!

Rogue, rogue, rogue !

[Apemantus retreats backward, as going.

The top, the principal.

I am sick of this false world; and will love naught
But even the mere necessities upon it.
Then, Timon, presently prepare thy grave;
Lie where the light foam of the sea may beat
Thy grave-stone 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 son and sire! thou bright defiler
Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, loved, and delicate wooer,
Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow
That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,
That solder'st close impossibilities,

And makest them kiss! that speak'st with every tongue,

To every purpose! O thou touch 1 of hearts!
Think, thy slave man rebels; and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beasts
May have the world in empire!

Ape.

Would 'twere so;

But not till I am dead!-I'll say, thou hast gold:

Thou wilt be throng'd to shortly.

Timon. Long live so, and so die!—I am quit.

[Exit Apemantus. More things like men?-Eat, Timon, and abhor

them.

Enter THIEVES.

1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender ort of his remainder. The mere want of gold, and the falling-from of his friends, drove him into this melancholy.

2 Thief. It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure. 3 Thief. Let us make the assay upon him: if he care not for 't, he will supply us easily; if he covetously reserve it, how shall's get it?

2 Thief. True; for he bears it not about him; 'tis hid.

1 Thief. Is not this he? Thieves. Where?

2 Thief. 'Tis his description. 3 Thief. He; I know him. Thieves. Save thee, Timon.

Timon. Now, thieves?

Thieves. Soldiers, not thieves.

Timon. Both too, and women's sons.

Thieves. We are not thieves, but men that much

do want.

Timon. Your greatest want is, you want much of

meat.

Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath

roots;

Within this mile break forth a hundred springs :
The oaks bear mast, the briers scarlet hips;

The bounteous housewife, Nature, on each bush Lays her full mess before you. Want? why want? 1 Thief. We cannot live on grass, on berries, water,

As beasts, and birds, and fishes.

Timon. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;

You must eat men.

Yet thanks I must you con, That you are thieves profess'd; that you work not In holier shapes: for there is boundless theft In limited 1 professions. Rascal thieves,

Here's gold. Go, suck the subtle blood of the

grape,

Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth,
And so 'scape hanging: trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays

More than you rob: take wealth and lives together
Do villany, do, since you profess to do 't,
Like workmen I'll example you with thievery.
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea: the moon 's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun :
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears: the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture 2 stole
From general excrement: each thing's a thief: