a Therefore he will be, Timon:] The meaning is not apparent. Malone construes it," Therefore he will continue to be so, and is sure of being sufficiently rewarded by the consciousness of virtue." But this, too, is inexplicit. We should perhaps read,"Therefore he will be Timon's," &c., that is, he will continue to be in the service of so noble a master, and thus, his virtue will reward itself: or it is possible the words, "Therefore he will be,' may originally have formed part of Timon's speech, and the dialogue have run thus : Go not away. What have you there, my friend? PAIN. A piece of painting, which I do beseech Your lordship to accept. TIM. Painting is welcome. The painting is almost the natural man ; For since dishonour traffics with man's nature, He is but outside: these pencill'd figures are Even such as they give out. I like your work; And you shall find I like it: wait attendance Till you hear further from me. PAIN. The gods preserve ye! TIM. Well fare you, gentleman: give me your hand; We must needs dine together.-Sir, your jewel Hath suffered under praise. JEW. What, my lord! dispraise? TIM. A mere satiety of commendations. If I should pay you for't as 'tis extoll'd, It would unclew me quite. JEW. My lord, 'tis rated As those which sell would give: but you well know, In a text so lamentably imperfect as that of the present play, a more than ordinary licence of conjecture is permissible. b Are prized by their masters:] "Are rated according to the esteem in which their possessor is held."-Jonsson. law. TIM. That's a deed thou'lt die for. TIM. How likest thou this picture, Apemantus? TIM. Wrought he not well, that painted it? APEM. He wrought better that made the painter; and yet he's but a filthy piece of work. PAIN. You are a dog. APEM. Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog? TIM. Wilt dine with me, Apemantus? TIM. An thou shouldst, thou'dst anger ladies. great bellies. TIM. That's a lascivious apprehension. APEM. So thou apprehend'st it, take it for thy labour." a So thou apprehend'st it. take it, &c.] That is, In whatever sense thou apprehend'st it, take it, &c. H H aThat I had no angry wit to be a lord.-] This appears to be an incorrigible corruption. Warburton proposed, "That I had so hungry a wit to be a lord." Mason-"That I had an angry wish to be a lord." And Mr. Collier's annotator reads, "That I had so hungry a wish to be a lord." No one of these, or of many other emendations which have been proposed, is sufficiently plausible to deserve a place in the text. We leave the passage, therefore, as it stands in the old copy, merely suggesting that be may have been misprinted for bay; "That I had no angry wit to bay a lord." The meaning being, he should hate himself, because, by his elevation, he had lost the privilege of reviling rank. In a subsequent scene, he says,-" No, I'll nothing: for, if I should be bribed too, there would be none left to rail upon thee;" &c. b So, so; there! &c.] This speech is printed as prose in the old 1 LORD. What time o' day is't, Apemantus? APEM. Time to be honest. 1 LORD. That time serves still. APEM. The most accursed thou, that still omitt'st it. 2 LORD. Thou art going to lord Timon's feast? APEM. Ay; to see meat fill knaves, and wine beat fools. 2 LORD. Fare thee well, fare thee well. APEM. Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice. 2 LORD. Why, Apemantus ? APEM. Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give thee none. 1 LORD. Hang thyself! APEM. No, I will do nothing at thy bidding; make thy requests to thy friend. 2 LORD. Away, unpeaceable dog, or I'll spurn e Depart,-] Separate, part. d Meed-] Here, as in other places, Shakespeare uses meed in the sense of merit, or desert. See "Henry VI. Part III." Act II. Sc. 1: "Each one already blazing by our meeds." And a passage in Act IV. Sc. 8, of the same play, "That's not my fear; my meed hath got me fame." So also in "Hamlet," Act V. Sc. 2: "but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed." O, by no means; TIM. If our betters play at that game, we must not dare [They all stand ceremoniously looking on TIMON. TIM. Nay, my lords, ceremony was but devis'd at first, To set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes, 1 LORD. My lord, we always have confess'd it. APEM. Ho, ho, confess'd it! hang'd it, have you not ?b TIM. O, Apemantus !-you are welcome. APEM. No, you shall not make me welcome : I come to have thee thrust me out of doors. TIM. Fie, thou 'rt a churl; you've got a humour there Does not become a man, 't is much to blame :They say, my lords, ira furor brevis est, But yond' man is ever angry. Go, let him have a table by himself; a All use of quittance.] All customary requital. b Confess'd it! hang'd it, have you not?] An allusion, not unfrequent with the writers of the Elizabethan era, to a familiar proverbial saying, "Confess and be hang'd." Shakespeare again refers to it in Othello," Act IV. Sc. 1: "to confess, and be hang'd for his labour." For he does neither affect company, Nor is he fit for it, indeed. APEM. Let me stay at thine apperil, Timon ; I come to observe; I give thee warning on't. TIM. I take no heed of thee; thou art an Athenian, therefore welcome: I myself would have no power: pr'ythee, let my meat make thee silent. APEM. I scorn thy meat; 't would choke me, for I should ne'er flatter thee. O, you gods! what a number of men eat Timon, and he sees 'em not! It grieves me to see so many dip their meat in one man's blood; and all the madness is, he cheers them up too. I wonder men dare trust themselves with men : Methinks they should invite them without knives; Good for their meat, and safer for their lives. There's much example for't; the fellow that sits next him, now parts bread with him, pledges the breath of him in a divided draught, is the readiest man to kill him: it has been proved. If I were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals; Lest they should spy my windpipe's dangerous notes: |