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 propos'd. TIMON. Go to; Perchance some single vantages you took When my indisposition 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 th' 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 lov'd lord, Though you hear now- too late!- yetnow'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 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 reck'ning? 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 th' 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 blaz'd with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy, I have retir'd 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 Lord 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 show'rs, These flies are couch'd. TIMON. Come, sermon me no further. No villainous 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 another SERVANT 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. Letthe request be fifty talents. FLAMINIUS. As you have said, my lord. Exeunt SERVANTS FLAVIUS. [Aside] Lord Lucius and Lucullus? Humh! TIMON. Go you, sir, to the senators, Of whom, even to the state's best health, I have Deserv'd this hearing. Bid 'em send o' th' 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 cak'd, '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. Go to Ventidius. Prithee be not sad, Thou art true and honest; ingeniously I speak, No blame belongs to thee. 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 rememb'red With those five talents. That had, give't these fellows To whom 'tis instant due. Nev'r 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. Exeunt
