I have a jewel here JEW. sir? Enter certain Senators, and pass over. PAIN. How this lord is follow'd! POET. The senators of Athens:-happy inen! b PAIN. Look, more!† POET. You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors. I have, in this rough work, shap'd out a man, a Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes-] In the old text the latter portion of this line is ludicrously misprinted, Gowne, which uses," &c. Pope corrected gowne to "gum," and Johnson very happily changed uses to "oozes." b Happy men!] Theobald reads "happy man," perhaps rightly. e In a wide sea of wax :] The allusion is presumed to point to the Roman practice of writing on waxen tablets: a practice pre PAIN. How shall I understand you? POET. I'll unbolt to you. You see how all conditions, how all minds, (As well of glib and slippery creatures, as Of grave and austere quality) tender down Their services to lord Timon: his large fortune, Upon his good and gracious nature hanging, Subdues and properties to his love and tendance All sorts of hearts; yea, from the glass-fac'd flatterer To Apemantus, that few things loves better Than to abhor himself; even he drops down The knee before him, and returns in peace, Most rich in Timon's nod. PAIN. I saw them speak together. POET. Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill, Feign'd Fortune to be thron'd: the base o' the mount Is rank'd with all deserts, all kind of natures, PAIN. POET. PAIN. Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants, PAIN. "Tis common: A thousand moral paintings I can show, (*) First folio, hund. valent in England until about the end of the fourteenth century; but the word wax is more probably a misprint, though not cer tainly, for verse, which Mr. Collier's annotator substitutes for it. d Properties-] Appropriates. See note (c), p. 268. e In our condition.] Condition here means, profession or art. f Let him slip down,-] The old text has, "let him sit downe;" the necessary alteration was made by Rowe. OLD ATH. One only daughter have I, no kin else, On whom I may confer what I have got: a TIM. Does she love him? TIM. [TO LUCILIUS.] Love you the maid? I call the gods to witness, I will choose a Therefore he will be, Timon:] The meaning is not apparent. Malone construes it," Therefore he will continue to be 30, 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: How shall she be endow'd, TIM. If she be mated with an equal husband? OLD ATH. Three talents on the present; in future, all. [long; TIM. This gentleman of mine hath serv'd me To build his fortune I will strain a little, For 'tis a bond in men. Give him thy daughter: What you bestow, in him I'll counterpoise, And make him weigh with her. OLD ATH. Most noble lord, Pawn me to this your honour, she is his. TIM. My hand to thee; mine honour on my [may promise. 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 work; And you shall find I like it: wait attendance Till you hear further from me. PAIN. your The gods preserve ye! TIM. Well fare you, gentleman: give me your TIM. That's a deed thou'lt die for. APEM. Right, if doing nothing be death by the law. TIM. How likest thou this picture, Apemantus? APEM. The best, for the innocence. 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. APEM. O, they eat lords; so they come by 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 1 LORD. What time o' day is't, Apemantus? 1 LORD. That time serves still. 2 LORD. Thou art going to lord Timon's feast? 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 thee hence! APEM. I will fly, like a dog, the heels o' the ass. [Exit. 1 LORD. He's opposite to humanity. Come,* And taste lord Timon's bounty? he outgoes 2 LORD. He pours it out; Plutus, the god of Is but his steward: no meed," but he repays (*) First folio, Comes. text, and begins, "So, so; their Aches contract," &c. The present arrangement was made by Capell. 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: a That 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. So also in " 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 "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." IIamlet," Act V. Sc. 2: "but in the imputation laid on him by them, in his meed he's unfellowed." |