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  • Title: Timon of Athens (Folio 1, 1623)

    • Copyright Internet Shakespeare Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-proift purposes; for all other uses contact the Coordinating Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Timon of Athens (Folio 1, 1623)

    Timon of Athens. 93
    If thou wilt curse; thy Father (that poore ragge)
    Must be thy subiect; who in spight put stuffe
    1900To some shee-Begger, and compounded thee
    Poore Rogue, hereditary. Hence, be gone,
    If thou hadst not bene borne the worst of men,
    Thou hadst bene a Knaue and Flatterer.
    Ape. Art thou proud yet?
    1905Tim. I, that I am not thee.
    Ape. I, that I was no Prodigall.
    Tim. I, that I am one now.
    Were all the wealth I haue shut vp in thee,
    I'ld giue thee leaue to hang it. Get thee gone:
    1910That the whole life of Athens were in this,
    Thus would I eate it .
    Ape. Heere, I will mend thy Feast.
    Tim. First mend thy company, take away thy selfe.
    Ape. So I shall mend mine owne, by'th'lacke of thine
    1915Tim. 'Tis not well mended so, it is but botcht;
    If not, I would it were.
    Ape. What would'st thou haue to Athens?
    Tim. Thee thither in a whirlewind: if thou wilt,
    Tell them there I haue Gold, looke, so I haue.
    1920Ape. Heere is no vse for Gold.
    Tim. The best, and truest:
    For heere it sleepes, and do's no hyred harme.
    Ape. Where lyest a nights Timon?
    Tim. Vnder that's aboue me.
    1925Where feed'st thou a-dayes Apemantus?
    Ape. Where my stomacke findes meate, or rather
    where I eate it.
    Tim. Would poyson were obedient, & knew my mind
    Ape. Where would'st thou send it?
    1930Tim. To sawce thy dishes.
    Ape. The middle of Humanity thou neuer knewest,
    but the extremitie of both ends. When thou wast in thy
    Gilt, and thy Perfume, they mockt thee for too much
    Curiositie: in thy Ragges thou know'st none, but art de-
    1935spis'd for the contrary. There's a medler for thee, eate it.
    Tim. On what I hate, I feed not.
    Ape. Do'st hate a Medler?
    Tim. I, though it looke like thee.
    Ape. And th'hadst hated Medlers sooner, yu should'st
    1940haue loued thy selfe better now. What man didd'st thou
    euer know vnthrift, that was beloued after his meanes?
    Tim. Who without those meanes thou talk'st of, didst
    thou euer know belou'd?
    Ape. My selfe.
    1945Tim. I vnderstand thee: thou had'st some meanes to
    keepe a Dogge.
    Apem. What things in the world canst thou neerest
    compare to thy Flatterers?
    Tim. Women neerest, but men: men are the things
    1950themselues. What would'st thou do with the world A-
    pemantus, if it lay in thy power?
    Ape. Giue it the Beasts, to be rid of the men.
    Tim. Would'st thou haue thy selfe fall in the confu-
    sion of men, and remaine a Beast with the Beasts.
    1955Ape. I Timon.
    Tim. A beastly Ambition, which the Goddes graunt
    thee t'attaine to. If thou wert the Lyon, the Fox would
    beguile thee. if thou wert the Lambe, the Foxe would
    eate thee: if thou wert the Fox, the Lion would suspect
    1960thee, when peraduenture thou wert accus'd by the Asse:
    If thou wert the Asse, thy dulnesse would torment thee;
    and still thou liu'dst but as a Breakefast to the Wolfe. If
    thou wert the Wolfe, thy greedinesse would afflict thee,
    & oft thou should'st hazard thy life for thy dinner. Wert
    1965thou the Vnicorne, pride and wrath would confound
    thee, and make thine owne selfe the conquest of thy fury.
    Wert thou a Beare, thou would'st be kill'd by the Horse:
    wert thou a Horse, thou would'st be seaz'd by the Leo-
    pard: wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the
    1970Lion, and the spottes of thy Kindred, were Iurors on thy
    life. All thy safety were remotion, and thy defence ab-
    sence. What Beast could'st thou bee, that were not sub-
    iect to a Beast: and what a Beast art thou already, that
    seest not thy losse in transformation.
    1975Ape. If thou could'st please me
    With speaking to me, thou might'st
    Haue hit vpon it heere.
    The Commonwealth of Athens, is become
    A Forrest of Beasts.
    1980Tim. How ha's the Asse broke the wall, that thou art
    out of the Citie.
    Ape. Yonder comes a Poet and a Painter:
    The plague of Company light vpon thee:
    I will feare to catch it, and giue way.
    1985When I know not what else to do,
    Ile see thee againe.
    Tim. When there is nothing liuing but thee,
    Thou shalt be welcome.
    I had rather be a Beggers Dogge,
    1990Then Apemantus.
    Ape. Thou art the Cap
    Of all the Fooles aliue.
    Tim. Would thou wert cleane enough
    To spit vpon.
    1995Ape. A plague on thee,
    Thou art too bad to curse.
    Tim. All Villaines
    That do stand by thee, are pure.
    Ape. There is no Leprosie,
    2000But what thou speak'st.
    Tim. If I name thee, Ile beate thee;
    But I should infect my hands.
    Ape. I would my tongue
    Could rot them off.
    2005Tim. Away thou issue of a mangie dogge,
    Choller does kill me,
    That thou art aliue, I swoond to see thee.
    Ape. Would thou would'st burst.
    Tim. Away thou tedious Rogue, I am sorry I shall
    2010lose a stone by thee.
    Ape. Beast.
    Tim. Slaue.
    Ape. Toad.
    Tim. Rogue, Rogue, Rogue.
    2015I am sicke of this false world, and will loue nought
    But euen the meere necessities vpon't:
    Then Timon presently prepare thy graue:
    Lye where the light Fome of the Sea may beate
    Thy graue stone dayly, make thine Epitaph,
    2020That death in me, at others liues may laugh.
    O thou sweete King-killer, and deare diuorce
    Twixt naturall Sunne and fire: thou bright defiler
    of Himens purest bed, thou valiant Mars,
    Thou euer, yong, fresh, loued, and delicate wooer,
    2025Whose blush doth thawe the consecrated Snow
    That lyes on Dians lap.
    Thou visible God,
    That souldrest close Impossibilities,
    And mak'st them kisse; that speak'st with euerie Tongue
    hh3 To
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