Athens. A Hall in Timon's House.
 Enter POET, PAINTER, JEWELLER, MERCHANT, and MERCER, at several doors.

Poet	Good day, sir.

Painter					I am glad y'are well.

Poet	I have not seen you long. How goes the world?

Painter	It wears, sir, as it grows.

Poet								Ay, that's well known.
	But what particular rarity? What strange,
	Which manifold record not matches? See,
	Magic of bounty, all these spirits thy power
	Hath conjured to attend! I know the merchant.

Painter	I know them both. Th'other's a jeweller.

Merchant	O, 'tis a worthy lord.

Jeweller							Nay, that's most fixed.

Merchant	A most incomparable man; breathed, as it were,
	To an untirable and continuate goodness.
	He passes.

Jeweller	I have a jewel here-

Merchant	O, pray let's see't. For the Lord Timon, sir?

Jeweller	If he will touch the estimate. But for that-

Poet	[Recites.] "When we for recompense have praised the vile,
	It stains the glory in that happy verse
	Which aptly sings the good."

Merchant	[Looking at the jewel.]		'Tis a good form.

Jeweller	And rich. Here is a water, look ye.

Painter	You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication
	To the great lord.

Poet						A thing slipped idly from me.
	Our poesy is as a gum which oozes
	From whence 'tis nourishd. The fire i'th' flint
	Shows not till it be struck; our gentle flame
	Provokes itself, and like the current flies
	Each bound it chafes. What have you there?

Painter	A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?

Poet	Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.
	Let's see your piece.

Painter							'Tis a good piece.

Poet	So 'tis; this comes off well and excellent.

Painter	Indifferent.

Poet				Admirable. How this grace
	Speaks his own standing! What a mental power
	This eye shoots forth! How big imagination
	Moves in this lip! To th' dumbness of the gesture
	One might interpret.

Painter	It is a pretty mocking of the life.
	Here is a touch - is't good?

Poet								I will say of it,
	It tutors nature. Artificial strife
	Lives in these touches, livelier than life.

   Enter certain SENATORS, who pass over the stage and go in to Timon.

Painter	How this lord is followed!

Poet	The senators of Athens. Happy men!

Painter	Look, more.

Poet	You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.
	I have in this rough work shaped out a man
	Whom this beneath world doth embrace and hug
	With amplest entertainment. My free drift
	Halts not particularly, but moves itself
	In a wide sea of wax. No levelled malice
	Infects one comma in the course I hold,
	But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,
	Leaving no tract behind.

Painter	How shall I understand you?

Poet								I will unbolt to you.
	You see how all conditions, how all minds,
	As well of glib and slipp'ry 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-faced 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.

Painter							I saw them speak together.

Poet	Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill
	Feigned Fortune to be throned. The base o'th' mount
	Is ranked with all deserts, all kind of natures
	That labour on the bosom of this sphere
	To propagate their states. Amongst them all
	Whose eyes are on this sovereign lady fixed
	One do I personate of Lord Timon's frame,
	Whom Fortune with her ivory hand wafts to her,
	Whose present grace to present slaves and servants
	Translates his rivals.

Painter							'Tis conceived to scope.
	This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,
	With one man beckoned from the rest below,
	Bowing his head against the steepy mount
	To climb his happiness, would be well expressed
	In our condition.

Poet	Nay, sir, but hear me on.
	All those which were his fellows but of late,
	Some better than his value, on the moment
	Follow his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
	Rain sacrificial whisperings in his ear,
	Make sacred even his stirrup, and through him
	Drink the free air.

Painter						Ay, marry, what of these?

Poet	When Fortune in her shift and change of mood
	Spurns down her late beloved, all his dependants,
	Which laboured after him to the mountain's top
	Even on their knees and hands, let him slip down,
	Not one accompanying his declining foot.

Painter	'Tis common.
	A thousand moral paintings I can show
	That shall demonstrate these quick blows of Fortune's
	More pregnantly than words. Yet you do well
	To show Lord Timon that mean eyes have seen
	The foot above the head.

                             Trumpets sound.
    Enter LORD TIMON, addressing himself courteously to every suitor,
               a MESSENGER from Ventidius talking with him;
                  LUCILIUS and other SERVANTS following.

Timon								Imprisoned is he, say you?

Messenger	Ay, my good lord. Five talents is his debt,
	His means most short, his creditors most strait.
	Your honourable letter he desires
	To those have shut him up, which failing,
	Periods his comfort.

Timon							Noble Ventidius. Well,
	I am not of that feather to shake off
	My friend when he must need me. I do know him
	A gentleman that well deserves a help,
	Which he shall have. I'll pay the debt, and free him.

Messenger	Your lordship ever binds him.

Timon	Commend me to him. I will send his ransom;
	And, being enfranchised, bid him come to me.
	'Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
	But to support him after. Fare you well.

Messenger	All happiness to your honour!
													[Exit.
                          Enter an OLD ATHENIAN.

Old Athenian	Lord Timon, hear me speak.

Timon								Freely, good father.

Old Athenian	Thou hast a servant named Lucilius.

Timon	I have so. What of him?

Old Athenian	Most noble Timon, call the man before thee.

Timon	Attends he here or no? Lucilius!

Lucilius	Here, at your lordship's service.

Old Athenian	This fellow here, Lord Timon, this thy creature,
	By night frequents my house. I am a man
	That from my first have been inclined to thrift,
	And my estate deserves an heir more raised
	Than one which holds a trencher.

Timon									Well, what further?

Old Athenian	One only daughter have I, no kin else,
	On whom I may confer what I have got.
	The maid is fair, o'th' youngest for a bride,
	And I have bred her at my dearest cost
	In qualities of the best. This man of thine
	Attempts her love. I prithee, noble lord,
	Join with me to forbid him her resort;
	Myself have spoke in vain.

Timon								The man is honest.

Old Athenian	Therefore he will be, Timon.
	His honesty rewards him in itself;
	It must not bear my daughter.

Timon									Does she love him?

Old Athenian	She is young and apt.
	Our own precedent passions do instruct us
	What levity's in youth.

Timon							Love you the maid?

Lucilius	Ay, my good lord, and she accepts of it.

Old Athenian	If in her marriage my consent be missing,
	I call the gods to witness I will choose
	Mine heir from forth the beggars of the world,
	And dispossess her all.

Timon							How shall she be endowed
	If she be mated with an equal husband?

Old Athenian	Three talents on the present; in future, all.

Timon	This gentleman of mine hath served me long.
	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 Athenian								Most noble lord,
	Pawn me to this your honour, she is his.

Timon	My hand to thee; mine honour on my promise.

Lucilius	Humbly I thank your lordship. Never may
	That state or fortune fall into my keeping
	Which is not owed to you.
							  [Exeunt LUCILIUS and OLD ATHENIAN.
Poet	[Presenting his poem.]
	Vouchsafe my labour, and long live your lordship!

Timon	I thank you; you shall hear from me anon.
	Go not away. [To PAINTER.] What have you there, my friend?

Painter	A piece of painting, which I do beseech
	Your lordship to accept.

Timon								Painting is welcome.
	The painting is almost the natural man;
	For since dishonour traffics with man's nature,
	He is but outside; these pencilled 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.

Painter									The gods preserve ye!

Timon	Well fare you, gentleman. Give me your hand;
	We must needs dine together. Sir, your jewel
	Hath suffered under praise.

Jeweller								What, my lord - dispraise?

Timon	A mere satiety of commendations.
	If I should pay you for't as 'tis extolled,
	It would unclew me quite.

Jeweller								My lord, 'tis rated
	As those which sell would give; but you well know
	Things of like value, differing in the owners,
	Are prizd by their masters. Believe't, dear lord,
	You mend the jewel by the wearing it.

Timon	Well mocked.

                             Enter APEMANTUS.

Merchant	No, my good lord; he speaks the common tongue,
	Which all men speak with him.

Timon								Look who comes here.
	Will you be chid?

Jeweller	We'll bear, with your lordship.

Merchant	He'll spare none.

Timon	Good morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus.

Apemantus	Till I be gentle, stay thou for thy good morrow-
	When thou art Timon's dog, and these knaves honest.

Timon	Why dost thou call them knaves? - thou know'st them not.

Apemantus	Are they not Athenians?

Timon	Yes.

Apemantus	Then I repent not.

Jeweller	You know me, Apemantus?

Apemantus	Thou know'st I do; I called thee by thy name.

Timon	Thou art proud, Apemantus.

Apemantus	Of nothing so much as that I am not like Timon.

Timon	Whither art going?

Apemantus	To knock out an honest Athenian's brains.

Timon	That's a deed thou'lt die for.

Apemantus	Right, if doing nothing be death by th' law.

Timon	How lik'st thou this picture, Apemantus?

Apemantus	The best for the innocence.

Timon	Wrought he not well that painted it?

Apemantus	He wrought better that made the painter, and yet he's but a 
	filthy piece of work.

Painter	Y'are a dog.

Apemantus	Thy mother's of my generation - what's she, if I be a dog?

Timon	Wilt dine with me, Apemantus?

Apemantus	No, I eat not lords.

Timon	An thou shouldst, thou'dst anger ladies.

Apemantus	O, they eat lords - so they come by great bellies.

Timon	That's a lascivious apprehension.

Apemantus	So thou apprehend'st it, take it for thy labour.

Timon	How dost thou like this jewel, Apemantus?

Apemantus	Not so well as plain-dealing, which will not cost a man a 
	doit.

Timon	What dost thou think 'tis worth?

Apemantus	Not worth my thinking. How now, poet!

Poet	How now, philosopher!

Apemantus	Thou liest.

Poet	Art not one?

Apemantus	Yes.

Poet	Then I lie not.

Apemantus	Art not a poet?

Poet	Yes.

Apemantus	Then thou liest. Look in thy last work, where thou hast 
	feigned him a worthy fellow.

Poet	That's not feigned, he is so.

Apemantus	Yes, he is worthy of thee, and to pay thee for thy labour. 
	He that loves to be flattered is worthy o'th' flatterer. 
	Heavens, that I were a lord!

Timon	What wouldst do then, Apemantus?

Apemantus	E'en as Apemantus does now - hate a lord with my heart.

Timon	What, thyself?

Apemantus	Ay.

Timon	Wherefore?

Apemantus	That I had no angry wit to be a lord. Art not thou a 
	merchant?

Merchant	Ay, Apemantus.

Apemantus	Traffic confound thee, if the gods will not!

Merchant	If traffic do it, the gods do it.

Apemantus	Traffic's thy god, and thy god confound thee!

                    Trumpet sounds. Enter a MESSENGER.

Timon	What trumpet's that?

Messenger	'Tis Alcibiades, and some twenty horse,
	All of companionship.

Timon	Pray entertain them; give them guide to us.
												[Exeunt some SERVANTS.
	[To JEWELLER.]You must needs dine with me.
									[To POET.] Go not you hence
	Till I have thanked you. [To PAINTER.] When dinner's done,
	Show me this piece. [To ALL.] I am joyful of your sights.

                     Enter ALCIBIADES, with the Rest.

	Most welcome, sir!

Apemantus						So, so, there!
	Aches contract and starve your supple joints!
	That there should be small love amongst these sweet knaves,
	And all this courtesy! The strain of man's bred out
	Into baboon and monkey.

Alcibiades	Sir, you have saved my longing, and I feed
	Most hungerly on your sight.

Timon								Right welcome, sir!
	Ere we depart we'll share a bounteous time
	In different pleasures. Pray you, let us in.
									  [Exeunt all but APEMANTUS.
                             Enter two LORDS.

1st Lord	What time o' day is't, Apemantus?

Apemantus	Time to be honest.

1st Lord	That time serves still.

Apemantus	The most accursd thou that still omit'st it.

2nd Lord	Thou art going to Lord Timon's feast?

Apemantus	Ay, to see meat fill knaves and wine heat fools.

2nd Lord	Fare thee well, fare thee well.

Apemantus	Thou art a fool to bid me farewell twice.

2nd Lord	Why, Apemantus?

Apemantus	Shouldst have kept one to thyself, for I mean to give thee 
	none.

1st Lord	Hang thyself!

Apemantus	No, I will do nothing at thy bidding. Make thy requests to 
	thy friend.

2nd Lord	Away, unpeaceable dog! - or I'll spurn thee hence.

Apemantus	I will fly, like a dog, the heels o'th' ass.
													[Exit.
1st Lord	He's opposite to humanity. Come, shall we in
	And taste Lord Timon's bounty? He outgoes
	The very heart of kindness.

2nd Lord	He pours it out. Plutus the god of gold
	Is but his steward. No meed but he repays
	Sevenfold above itself; no gift to him
	But breeds the giver a return exceeding
	All use of quittance.

1st Lord							The noblest mind he carries
	That ever governed man.

2nd Lord	Long may he live in fortunes! Shall we in?

1st Lord	I'll keep you company.
													[Exeunt.
