Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

generally in all shapes, that man goes up and down in, from fourscore to thirteen, this spirit walks in. Var. Serv. Thou art not altogether a fool.

Fool. Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lackest. Apem. That answer might have become Ape

mantus.

All Serv. Aside, aside; 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; sometime, the philosopher.

[Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool. Flav. 'Pray you, walk near; I'll speak with you [Exeunt Serv. Tim. You make me marvel: Wherefore, ere this

anon.

time,

Had you not fully laid my state before me;
That I might so have rated my expense,
As I had leave of means?

Flav.

You would not hear me,

Go to:

At many leisures I propos'd.

Tim.

Perchance, some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back;

And that unaptness made

your

minister 9,

Thus to excuse yourself.

Flav.

O my good lord! many times I brought in my accounts, Laid them before you; you would throw them off,

At

seeking of it. Sir Richard Steele was one of the last eminent men who entertained hopes of being successful in this pursuit. His laboratory was at Poplar.

9 The construction is,And made that unapness your mi nister.'

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

And say, you found them in mine honesty.
When, for some trifling present, you have bid me
Return so much 10, I have shook my head, and wept;
Yea, 'gainst the authority of manners, pray'd you
To hold your hand more close; I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight 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 11,
The greatest of your having lacks a half

To pay your present debts.

Tim.
Let all my
land be sold.
Flav. 'Tis all engag'd, some forfeited and gone;
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of present dues: the future comes apace:
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning 12?

Tim. To Lacedæmon did my land extend.
Flav. O my good lord, the world is but a word 13;
Were it all yours to give it in a breath,

How quickly were it gone?

Tim.

You tell me true.

Flav. If you suspect my husbandry, or falsehood, Call me before the exactest auditors,

And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,

10 He does not mean so great a sum, but a certain sum.

11 "Though you now at last listen to my remonstrances, yet now your affairs are in such a state, that the whole of your remaining fortune will scarce pay half your debts: you are therefore wise too late.'

12 How will you be able to subsist in the time intervening between the payment of the present demands (which your whole substance will hardly satisfy) and the claim of future dues, for which you have no fund whatsoever; and, finally, on the settlement of all accounts, in what a wretched plight will you be.'

13 i, e. as the world itself may be comprised in a word, you might give it away în a breath.

When all our offices 14 have been oppress'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 minstrelsy;
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock 15,

And set mine eyes at flow.

Tim.

Pr'ythee, no more.

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

What heart, head, sword, 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: Feast-won, fast-lost; one cloud of winter showers, These flies are couch'd.

Tim. Come, sermon me no further: No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;

14 Steevens asserted that offices here meant apartments allotted to culinary purposes, the reception of domestics, &c.; and that feeders meant servants. Malone contended that by offices was intended all rooms or places at which refreshments were prepared or served out;' as Steevens had explained it in Othello; and that feeders did not here mean servants. It must be confessed that the passage in Othello, All offices are open, and there is full liberty of feasting from this present hour of five until the bell has told eleven,' countenances Steevens's explanation; as does another passage, from Shirley's Opportunitie, cited by Mr. Boswell::

Let all the offices of entertaiment
Be free and open.'

The cellar and the buttery are probably meant.

15 A wasteful cock is possibly what we now call a waste pipe, a pipe which continually running, and thereby prevents the overflow of cisterns, &c. by carrying off their superfluous water. This circumstance served to keep the idea of Timon's unceasing prodigality in the mind of the steward, while its remoteness was favourable to meditation.

Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given 16.

Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack,

To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the argument17 of hearts by borrowing,
Men, and men's fortunes, could I frankly use,
As I can bid thee speak.

Flav

Assurance bless your thoughts! Tim. And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd 18,

That I account them blessings; for by these
Shall I try friends: You shall perceive, how you
Mistake my fortunes; I am wealthy in my friends.
Within there, ho!-Flaminius! Servilius!

Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other

Servants.

Serv. My lord, my lord,

Tim. I will despatch you severally.-You, to
Lord Lucius,-

To Lord Lucullus you; I hunted with his
Honour to-day;-You to Sempronius;

Commend me to their loves; and, I am proud, say,
That my occasions have found time to use them

16

Every reader must rejoice in this circumstance of comfort which presents itself to Timon, who, although beggared through want of prudence, consoles himself with reflection that his ruin was not brought on by the pursuit of guilty pleasures.

Steevens.

17 i.e. the contents of them. The argument of a book was ' a brief sum of the whole matter contained in it.' So in Hamlet the king asks concerning the play:

ment? is there no offence in it?'

Have you heard the argu

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Toward a supply of money: let the request
Be fifty talents.
Flam.

As you have said, my lord.

Flav. Lord Lucius, and Lord Lucullus? humph!

[Aside.

Tim. Go you, sir [To another Serv.], to the

senators

(Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have (Deserv'd this hearing), bid 'em send o' the instant A thousand talents to me.

Flav.

I have been bold (For that I knew it the most general way 19), To them to use your signet, and your name; But they do shake their heads, and I am here No richer in return.

Tim.

Is't true? can it be?

Flav. They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, That now they are at fall 20, want treasure, cannot Do what they would; are sorry-you are honour

[merged small][ocr errors]

But yet they could have wish'd--they know not

but

Something hath been amiss

-a noble nature

May catch a wrench-would all were well-'tis

pity

And so, intending 21 other serious matters,
After distasteful looks, and these hard fractions,

19The most general way,' is the most compendious, to try many at a time.

20 i. e. at an ebb.

21 Johnson, Steevens, and Malone have explained intending here regarding, turning their notice, or attending to, &c.; but it certainly means pretending. See King Richard III. Sc. 5, note 9. Shakspeare uses pretend in many places for intend; and I have shown that he also uses pretend for intend in several instances.

« AnteriorContinuar »