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

ALL [SERV.] Ay, would they serv'd us!

APEM. So would I – as good a trick as ever hangman serv'd thief.

FOOL. Are you three usurers' men?

ALL [SERV.] 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 master's house merrily, and go away sadly. The reason of this?

VAR. [SERV.] I could render one.

APEM. Do it then, that we may account thee a whoremaster and a knave, which notwithstanding, thou shalt be no less esteem'd.

VAR. [SERV.] 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.

VAR. [SERV.] Thou art not altogether a fool.

FOOL. Nor thou altogether a wise man; as much foolery as I have, so much wit thou lack'st.

APEM. That answer might have become Apemantus.

ALL [SERV.] Aside, aside, here comes Lord Timon.

 

Enter Timon and Steward [Flavius].

 

APEM. Come with me, Fool, come.

FOOL. I do not always follow lover, elder brother, and woman; sometime the philosopher.

 

[Exeunt Apemantus and Fool.]

 

FLAV.

Pray you walk near, I'll speak with you anon.

 

Exeunt [Servants].

 

TIM.

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.

FLAV.

You would not hear me;

At many leisures I [propos'd].

TIM.

Go to!

Perchance some single vantages you took,

When my indisposition put you back,

And that unaptness made your minister

Thus to excuse yourself.

FLAV.

O my good lord,

At many times I brought in my accompts,

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), yet now's a time:

The greatest of your having lacks a half

To pay your present debts.

TIM.

Let all my land be sold.

FLAV.

'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?

TIM.

To Lacedaemon did my land extend.

FLAV.

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!

TIM.

You tell me true.

FLAV.

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.

TIM.

Prithee no more.

FLAV.

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 show'rs,

These flies are couch'd.

TIM.

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.

FLAV.

Assurance bless your thoughts!

TIM.

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 three Servants [Flaminius, Servilius, and another].

 

SERVANTS.