Against my honour?

FLAV. Please you, gentlemen,

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.

TIM. Do fo, my friends:

See them well entertain'd.

FLAV. I pray, draw near.

[Exit TIMON. [Exit FLAPIUS.

Enter APEMANTUS and a Fool.

CAPH. Stay, ftay, here comes the fool with Apemantus; let's have some sport with 'em.

VAR. SERV. Hang him, he'll abuse us.

ISID. SERV. A plague upon him, dog!
VAR. SERV. How doft, fool?

APEM. Doft dialogue with thy fhadow?
VAR. SERV. I speak not to thee.

APEM. No, 'tic to thyfelf.-Come away. [To the FooL. ISID. SERV. [TO VAR. SERV.] There's the fool hangs on your back already.

yet.

APEM. No, thou ftand'ft fingle, thou art not on him

CAPH. Where's the fool now?

APEM. He last ask'd the question.-Poor rogues, and ufurers' men! bawds between gold and want!

ALL. What are we, Apemantus?

APEM. Affes.

ALL SERV. Why?

me, what

you are, and do not

APEM. That you afk me,

know yourselves.-Speak to 'em, fool.

FOOL. How do you, gentlemen?

ALL SERV. Gramercies, good fool: How does your miftrefs?

Fool. She's e'en fetting on water to scald fuch chickens as you are. 'Would, we could fee you at Corinth. APEM. Good! gramercy.

Enter PAGE.

FOOL. Look you, here comes my mistress' page.

PAGE. [To the FOOL.] Why, how now, captain? what do you in this wife company?-How doft thou, Apemantus?

APEM. 'Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee profitably.

PAGE. Pr'ythee, Apemantus, read me the superfcription of these letters; I know not which is which.

APEM. Canft not read?

PAGE. NO.

APEM. There will little learning die then, that day thou art hang'd. This is to lord Timon; this to Alcibiades. Go; thou waft born a bastard, and thou❜lt die a bawd.

PAGE. Thou waft whelp'd a dog; and thou shalt famish, a dog's death. Answer not, I am gone. [Exit PAGE. APEM. Even fo thou out-run'ft grace. Fool, I will go with you to lord Timon's.

FOOL. Will you leave me there?

APEM. If Timon stay at home.-You three ferve three ufurers?

ALL SERV. Ay; 'would they ferved us!

APEM. So would I,—as good a trick as ever hangman ferved thief.

FOOL. Are you three ufurers' men?

ALL SERV. Ay, fool.

FOOL. I think, no ufurer but has a fool to his fervant: My mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come to borrow of your mafters, they approach fadly, and go

away merry; but they enter my mistress' house merrily. go away fadly: The reason of this?

and

VAR. SERV. I could render one.

APEM. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster, and a knave; which notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteemed.

VAR. SERV. What is a whoremafter, fool?

FOOL. A fool in good clothes, and fomething like thee, 'Tis a fpirit: fometime, it appears like a lord; fometime, like a lawyer; fometime, like a philofopher, 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 fourfcore to thirteen, this fpirit walks in.

VAR. SERV. Thou art not altogether a fool. FOOL. Nor thou altogether a wife man: foolery as I have, fo much wit thou lack'ft.

as much

APEM. That answer might have become Apemantus. ALL SERV. Afide, afide; here comes lord Timon.

Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS.

APEM. Come with me, fool, come.

FOOL. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman; fometime, the philofopher.

[Exeunt APEMANTUS and FOOL.

FLAV 'Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you anon.

[Exeunt SERV. TIM. You make me marvel: Wherefore, ere this time, my ftate before me;

Had you not fully laid

That I might fo have rated my expence,

As I had leave of means?

Perchance, fome fingle 'vantages you took,
When my indifpofition put you back;
And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus to excufe yourself.

FLAV. O my good lord!

At many times I brought in my accounts,
Laid them before you; you would throw them off,
And fay, you found them in mine honesty.

When, for fome trifling prefent, you have bid me
Return fo much, I have shook my head, and wept;
Yea, 'gainft the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more clofe: I did endure
Not feldom, nor no flight checks; when I have
Prompted you, in the ebb of your estate,
And your great flow of debts. My dear-lov'd lord,
Though you hear now, (too late!) yet now's a time,
The greatest of your having lacks a half

To pay your prefent debts.

TIM. Let all my land be fold.

FLAV. 'Tis all engag'd, fome forfeited and gone; And what remains will hardly stop the mouth

Of prefent dues: the future comes apace :
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning?

TIM. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.
FLAV. 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 ?

TIM. You tell me true.

FLAV. If you fufpect my husbandry, or falsehood, Call me before the exacteft auditors,

And fet me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been opprefs'd

With riotous feeders; when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine; when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minftrelfy;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,

And fet mine eyes at flow.

TIM. Pr'ythee, no more.

FLAV. Heavens, have I said, the bounty of this lord! How many prodigal bits have flaves, and peasants, This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?

What heart, head, fword, force, means, but is lord Timon's?
Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon?

Ah! when the means are gone, that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made:
Feaft-won, faft-loft; one cloud of winter showers,
These flies are couch'd.

TIM. Come, fermon me no further :

No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;
Unwifely, not ignobly, have I given.

Why doft thou weep? Canft thou the confcience lack,
To think I fhall lack friends? Secure thy heart;

If I would broach the veffels of my love,

And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

FLAV. Affurance blefs your thoughts!

TIM. And, infome fort, thefe wants of mine are crown'd, That I account them bleffings; for by these

Shall I

try friends: You shall perceive, how you Miftake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends. Within there, ho!Flaminius! Servilius !

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other SERVANTS. SERV. My lord, my lord,

[cius,

TIM. I will defpatch you severally.-You, to lord Lu