2 Var. Serv. No matter what; he's poor, and that's revenge enough. Who can speak broader than he that has no house to put his head in? Such may rail against great buildings. Enter SERVILIUS. Tit. O, here's Servilius; now we shall know Some answer. Serv. If I might beseech you, gentlemen, To repair some other hour, I should much Derive from it: for, take it on my soul, My lord leans wond'rously to discontent. His comfortable temper has forsook him; He is much out of health, and keeps his chamber. Luc. Serv. Many do keep their chambers, are not sick And, if it be so far beyond his health, Methinks, he should the sooner pay his debts, And make a clear way to the gods. Ser. Good gods ! Tit. We cannot take this for an answer, sir. Flam. [within.] Servilius, help!-my lord! my lord !--Enter TIMON, in a rage; FLAMINIUS following. Tim. What, are my doors oppos'd against my passage ? 1 Have I been ever free, and must my house Be my retentive enemy, my gaol? The place, which I have feasted, does it now, Like all mankind, show me an iron heart? Luc. Serv. Put in now, Titus. Tit. My lord, here is my bill. Hor. Serv. And mine, my lord. Both Var. Serv. And ours, my lord. Phi. All our bills. Tim. Knock me down with 'em : cleave me to the gir Luc. Serv. Alas! my lord,— Tim. Cut my heart in sums. Tit. Mine, fifty talents. Tim. Tell out my blood. Luc. Serv. Five thousand crowns, my lord. Tim. Five thousand drops pays that. What yours?—and yours? 1 Var. Serv. My lord, -- [dle. [8] Timon catches at the word bills, and alludes to the bills or battle-axes, which the ancient soldiery carried, and were still used by the watch in Shakespeare's time. STEEVENS. 2 Var. Serv. My lord, Tim. Tear me, take me, and the gods fall on you! [Exit. Hor. 'Faith, I perceive our masters may throw their caps at their money; these debts may well be called desperate ones, for a madman owes 'em. [Exeunt. Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS. Tim. They have e'en put my breath from me, the Creditors!-devils. Tim. So fitly? Go, bid all my friends again, Flar. O my lord, You only speak from your distracted soul; Tim. Be't not in thy care; go, I charge thee; invite them all let in the tide The same. SCENE V. [slaves: [Exeunt. The Senate-House. The Senate sitting. Enter 1 Sen. My lord, you have my voice to it; the fault's Bloody; 'tis necessary he should die : Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy. 2 Sen. Most true; the law shall bruise him. Alcib. I am an humble suitor to your virtues; For pity is the virtue of the law, And none but tyrants use it cruelly. It pleases time, and fortune, to lie heavy [1] Putting this action of his, which was pre-determined by fate, out of the ques- Of comely virtues ; Nor did he soil the fact with cowardice; 2 And with such sober and unnoted passion 1 Sen. You undergo too strict a paradox,' Striving to make an ugly deed look fair : Your words have took such pains, as if they labour'd The worst that man can breathe; and make his wrongs His outsides; wear them like his raiment, carelessly; And ne'er prefer his injuries to his heart, To bring it into danger. If wrongs be evils, and enforce us kill, 1 Sen. You cannot make gross sins look clear; To revenge is no valour, but to bear. Alcib. My lords, then, under favour, pardon me, Why do fond men expose themselves to battle, That stay at home, if bearing carry it; And th' ass, more captain than the lion; the felon, If wisdom be in suffering. O my lords, As you are great, be pitifully good : Who cannot condemn rashness in cold blood? To kill, I grant, is sin's extremest gust ;5 [2] Unnoted, for common, bounded.---Behave, for curb, manage. WARBURTON. [8] You undertake a paradox too hard. JOHNSON. [4] What do we, or what have we to do in the field? JOHNSON. [5] I believe gust means rashness. The allusion may be to a sudden gust of wind STEEVENS But, in defence, by mercy, 'tis most just. But who is man, that is not angry ? 2 Sen. You breathe in vain. Alcib. In vain ? his service done At Lacedæmon, and Byzantium, Were a sufficient briber for his life. 1 Sen. What's that? Alcib. Why I say, my lords, h'as done fair service, And slain in fight many of your enemies : How full of valour did he bear himself In the last conflict, and made plenteous wounds? 2 Sen. He has made too much plenty with 'em, he Is a sworn rioter: h'as a sin that often Drowns him, and takes his valour prisoner : Alcib. Hard fate! he might have died in war. (Though his right arm might purchase his own time, 1 Sen. We are for law, he dies; urge it no more, On height of our displeasure: Friend, or brother, He forfeits his own blood, that spills another. Alcib. Must it be so ? it must not be. My lords, I do beseech you, know me. 2 Sen. How? Alcib. I cannot think, but your age has forgot me ; [6] I call mercy herself to witness, that defensive violence is just. JOHNSON. A sworn rioter, is a man who practises riot, as if he had by an oath made it his duty. JOHN. [8] He charges them obliquely with being usurers. JOHNSON. It could not else be, I should prove so base,❞ 1 Sen. Do you dare our anger ? "Tis in few words, but spacious in effect; We banish thee forever. Alcib. Banish me? Banish your dotage; banish usury, That makes the senate ugly. 1 Sen. If, after two days' shine, Athens contain thee, Attend our weightier judgment. spirit,' He shall be executed presently. And, not to swell our [Exeunt Senators. Alcib. Now the gods keep you old enough; that you may live Only in bone, that none may look on you! I am worse than mad: I have kept back their foes, SCENE VI. A magnificent Room in TIMON's House. [Exit Music. Tables set out: Servants attending. Enter divers Lords at several doors. 1 Lord. The good time of day to you, sir. 2 Lord. I also wish it to you. I think, this honourable lord did but try us this other day. 1 Lord. Upon that were my thoughts tiring, when we encountered: I hope, it is not so low with him, as he made it seem in the trial of his several friends. 2 Lord. It should not be, by the persuasion of his new feasting. [9] Base for dishonoured. WARBURTON. Not to swell our spirit, I believe, means, not to put ourselves into any tumour of rage, take our definitive resolution. STEEVENS. [2] A hawk, I think, is said to tire when she amuses herself with pecking a pheasant's wing or any thing that puts her in mind of prey. To tire upon a thing, there fore, is to be idly employed upon it. JOHNSON. |