SCENE II. The same. A hall in Timon's house. Timon of Athens  Shakespeare homepage  |  Timon of Athens  | Act 2, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. The same. A hall in Timon's house. 

 Enter FLAVIUS, with many bills in his hand  FLAVIUS  No care, no stop! so senseless of expense, 

 That he will neither know how to maintain it, 

 Nor cease his flow of riot: takes no account 

 How things go from him, nor resumes no care 

 Of what is to continue: never mind 

 Was to be so unwise, to be so kind. 

 What shall be done? he will not hear, till feel: 

 I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting. 

 Fie, fie, fie, fie! 



 Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of Isidore and Varro  CAPHIS  Good even, Varro: what, 

 You come for money? 

 Varro's Servant	Is't not your business too? 

 CAPHIS  It is: and yours too, Isidore? 

 Isidore's Servant	It is so. 

 CAPHIS  Would we were all discharged! 

 Varro's Servant	I fear it. 

 CAPHIS  Here comes the lord. 



 Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, and Lords,  & c  TIMON  So soon as dinner's done, we'll forth again, 

 My Alcibiades. With me? what is your will? 

 CAPHIS  My lord, here is a note of certain dues. 

 TIMON  Dues! Whence are you? 

 CAPHIS  Of Athens here, my lord. 

 TIMON  Go to my steward. 

 CAPHIS  Please it your lordship, he hath put me off 

 To the succession of new days this month: 

 My master is awaked by great occasion 

 To call upon his own, and humbly prays you 

 That with your other noble parts you'll suit 

 In giving him his right. 

 TIMON  Mine honest friend, 

 I prithee, but repair to me next morning. 

 CAPHIS  Nay, good my lord,-- 

 TIMON  Contain thyself, good friend. 

 Varro's Servant	One Varro's servant, my good lord,-- 

 Isidore's Servant	From Isidore; 

 He humbly prays your speedy payment. 

 CAPHIS  If you did know, my lord, my master's wants-- 

 Varro's Servant	'Twas due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks And past. 

 Isidore's Servant	         Your steward puts me off, my lord; 

 And I am sent expressly to your lordship. 

 TIMON  Give me breath. 

 I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on; 

 I'll wait upon you instantly. 



 Exeunt ALCIBIADES and Lords 

 To FLAVIUS  Come hither: pray you, 

 How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd 

 With clamourous demands of date-broke bonds, 

 And the detention of long-since-due debts, 

 Against my honour? 

 FLAVIUS  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. 

 TIMON  Do so, my friends. See them well entertain'd. 



 Exit  FLAVIUS  Pray, draw near. 



 Exit 

 Enter APEMANTUS and Fool  CAPHIS  Stay, stay, here comes the fool with Apemantus: 

 let's ha' some sport with 'em. 

 Varro's Servant	Hang him, he'll abuse us. 

 Isidore's Servant	A plague upon him, dog! 

 Varro's Servant	How dost, fool? 

 APEMANTUS  Dost dialogue with thy shadow? 

 Varro's Servant	I speak not to thee. 

 APEMANTUS  No,'tis to thyself. 



 To the Fool  Come away. 

 Isidore's Servant	There's the fool hangs on your back already. 

 APEMANTUS  No, thou stand'st single, thou'rt not on him yet. 

 CAPHIS  Where's the fool now? 

 APEMANTUS  He last asked the question. Poor rogues, and 

 usurers' men! bawds between gold and want! 

 All Servants  What are we, Apemantus? 

 APEMANTUS  Asses. 

 All Servants  Why? 

 APEMANTUS  That you ask me what you are, and do not know 

 yourselves. Speak to 'em, fool. 

 Fool  How do you, gentlemen? 

 All Servants  Gramercies, good fool: how does your mistress? 

 Fool  She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens 

 as you are. Would we could see you at Corinth! 

 APEMANTUS  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 wise company? How dost thou, Apemantus? 

 APEMANTUS  Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer 

 thee profitably. 

 Page  Prithee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of 

 these letters: I know not which is which. 

 APEMANTUS  Canst not read? 

 Page  No. 

 APEMANTUS  There will little learning die then, that day thou 

 art hanged. This is to Lord Timon; this to 

 Alcibiades. Go; thou wast born a bastard, and thou't 

 die a bawd. 

 Page  Thou wast whelped a dog, and thou shalt famish a 

 dog's death. Answer not; I am gone. 



 Exit  APEMANTUS  E'en so thou outrunnest grace. Fool, I will go with 

 you to Lord Timon's. 

 Fool  Will you leave me there? 

 APEMANTUS  If Timon stay at home. You three serve three usurers? 

 All Servants  Ay; would they served us! 

 APEMANTUS  So would I,--as good a trick as ever hangman served thief. 

 Fool  Are you three usurers' men? 

 All Servants  Ay, fool. 

 Fool  I think no usurer but has a fool to his servant: my 

 mistress is one, and I am her fool. When men come 

 to borrow of your masters, they approach sadly, and 

 go away merry; but they enter my mistress' house 

 merrily, and go away sadly: the reason of this? 

 Varro's Servant	I could render one. 

 APEMANTUS  Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster 

 and a knave; which not-withstanding, thou shalt be 

 no less esteemed. 

 Varro's Servant	What is a whoremaster, fool? 

 Fool  A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. 

 'Tis a spirit: sometime't appears like a lord; 

 sometime like a lawyer; sometime like a philosopher, 

 with two stones moe than's artificial one: he is 

 very often like a knight; and, generally, in all 

 shapes that man goes up and down in from fourscore 

 to thirteen, this spirit walks in. 

 Varro's Servant	Thou art not altogether a fool. 

 Fool  Nor thou altogether a wise man: as much foolery as 

 I have, so much wit thou lackest. 

 APEMANTUS  That answer might have become Apemantus. 

 All Servants  Aside, aside; here comes Lord Timon. 



 Re-enter TIMON and FLAVIUS  APEMANTUS  Come with me, fool, come. 

 Fool  I do not always follow lover, elder brother and 

 woman; sometime the philosopher. 



 Exeunt APEMANTUS and Fool  FLAVIUS  Pray you, walk near: I'll speak with you anon. 



 Exeunt Servants  TIMON  You make me marvel: wherefore ere this time 

 Had you not fully laid my state before me, 

 That I might so have rated my expense, 

 As I had leave of means? 

 FLAVIUS  You would not hear me, 

 At many leisures I proposed. 

 TIMON  Go to: 

 Perchance some single vantages you took. 

 When my indispos ition put you back: 

 And that unaptness made your minister, 

 Thus to excuse yourself. 

 FLAVIUS  O my good lord, 

 At many times I brought in my accounts, 

 Laid them before you; you would throw them off, 

 And say, you found them in mine honesty. 

 When, for some trifling present, you have bid me 

 Return so much, 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 cheques, when I have 

 Prompted you in the ebb of your estate 

 And your great flow of debts. My loved lord, 

 Though you hear now, too late--yet now's a time-- 

 The greatest of your having lacks a half 

 To pay your present debts. 

 TIMON  Let all my land be sold. 

 FLAVIUS  'Tis all engaged, 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? 

 TIMON  To Lacedaemon did my land extend. 

 FLAVIUS  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! 

 TIMON  You tell me true. 

 FLAVIUS  If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood, 

 Call me before the exactest auditors 

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

 When all our offices have been oppress'd 

 With riotous feeders, when our vaults have wept 

 With drunken spilth of wine, when every room 

 Hath blazed with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy, 

 I have retired me to a wasteful cock, 

 And set mine eyes at flow. 

 TIMON  Prithee, no more. 

 FLAVIUS  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. 

 TIMON  Come, sermon me no further: 

 No villanous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart; 

 Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given. 

 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 argument of hearts by borrowing, 

 Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use 

 As I can bid thee speak. 

 FLAVIUS  Assurance bless your thoughts! 

 TIMON  And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd, 

 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! Flaminius! Servilius! 



 Enter FLAMINIUS, SERVILIUS, and other Servants  Servants  My lord? my lord? 

 TIMON  I will dispatch 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 'em toward a supply of money: let 

 the request be fifty talents. 

 FLAMINIUS  As you have said, my lord. 

 FLAVIUS  [Aside]  Lord Lucius and Lucullus? hum! 

 TIMON  Go you, sir, to the senators-- 

 Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have 

 Deserved this hearing--bid 'em send o' the instant 

 A thousand talents to me. 

 FLAVIUS  I have been bold-- 

 For that I knew it the most general way-- 

 To them to use your signet and your name; 

 But they do shake their heads, and I am here 

 No richer in return. 

 TIMON  Is't true? can't be? 

 FLAVIUS  They answer, in a joint and corporate voice, 

 That now they are at fall, want treasure, cannot 

 Do what they would; are sorry--you are honourable,-- 

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

 Something hath been amiss--a noble nature 

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

 And so, intending other serious matters, 

 After distasteful looks and these hard fractions, 

 With certain half-caps and cold-moving nods 

 They froze me into silence. 

 TIMON  You gods, reward them! 

 Prithee, man, look cheerly. These old fellows 

 Have their ingratitude in them hereditary: 

 Their blood is caked, 'tis cold, it seldom flows; 

 'Tis lack of kindly warmth they are not kind; 

 And nature, as it grows again toward earth, 

 Is fashion'd for the journey, dull and heavy. 



 To a Servant  Go to Ventidius. 



 To FLAVIUS  Prithee, be not sad, 

 Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak. 

 No blame belongs to thee. 



 To Servant  Ventidius lately 

 Buried his father; by whose death he's stepp'd 

 Into a great estate: when he was poor, 

 Imprison'd and in scarcity of friends, 

 I clear'd him with five talents: greet him from me; 

 Bid him suppose some good necessity 

 Touches his friend, which craves to be remember'd 

 With those five talents. 



 Exit Servant 

 To FLAVIUS  That had, give't these fellows 

 To whom 'tis instant due. Ne'er speak, or think, 

 That Timon's fortunes 'mong his friends can sink. 

 FLAVIUS  I would I could not think it: that thought is 

 bounty's foe; 

 Being free itself, it thinks all others so. 



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