My friend when he must need me.1 I do know him Which he shall have: I'll pay the debt, and free him. Tim. Commend me to him: I will send his ransome; And, being enfranchis'd, bid him come to me :— 'Tis not enough to help the feeble up, But to support him after.2-Fare you well. Old Ath. Lord Timon, hear me speak. Tim. [Exit. Freely, good father. Old Ath. Thou hast a servant nam'd Lucilius. Tim. I have so: What of him? Old Ath. Most noble Timon, call the man before thee. Tim. Attends he here, or no?—Lucilius! Enter LUCILIUS. Luc. Here, at your lordship's service. Old Ath. This fellow here, lord Timon, this thy crea ture, By night frequents my house. I am a man That from my first have been inclin❜d to thrift; And my estate deserves an heir more rais'd, Tim. Well; what further? Old Ath. One only daughter have I, no kin else, On whom I may confer what I have got: The maid is fair, o' the youngest for a bride, And I have bred her at my dearest cost, 1 must need me.] i. e. when he is compelled to have need of my assistance; or, as Mr. Malone has more happily explained the phrase,-"cannot but want my assistance." Steevens. 2 'Tis not enough &c.] This thought is better expressed by Dr. Madden in his Elegy on Archbishop Boulter: "More than they ask'd he gave; and deem'd it mean 66 It has been said that Dr. Johnson was paid ten guineas by Dr. Madden for correcting this poem. Steevens. 3 ・your honour!] The common address to a lord in our author's time, was your honour, which was indifferently used with your lordship. See any old letter, or dedication of that age; and Vol. XI, D 95, where a Pursuivant, speaking to Lord Hastings, says, "I thank your honour." Steevens. In qualities of the best. This man of thine The man is honest. Tim. It must not bear my daughter.5 Tim. Old Ath. She is young, and apt: Does she love him? A Therefore he will be, Timon:] The thought is closely expressed, and obscure: but this seems the meaning: "If the man be honest, my lord, for that reason he will be so in this; and not endeavour at the injustice of gaining my daughter without my consent" Warburton. I rather think an emendation necessary, and read: Therefore well be him, Timon: His honesty rewards him in itself. That is, "If he is honest, bene sit illi, I wish him the proper happiness of an honest man, but his honesty gives him no claim to my daughter." The first transcriber probably wrote-will be with him, which the next, not understanding, changed to,—he will be. Johnson. I think Dr. Warburton's explanation is best, because it exacts no change. So, in King Henry VIII: "Long in his highness' favour; and do justice Again, more appositely, in Cymbeline: "This hath been "Your faithful servant: I dare lay mine honour Therefore he will be, Timon:] Therefore he will continue to be so, and is sure of being sufficiently rewarded by the consciousness of virtue; and he does not need the additional blessing of a beautiful and accomplished wife. It has been objected, I forget by whom, if the old Athenian means to say that Lucilius will still continue to be virtuous, what occasion has he to apply to Timon to interfere relative to this marriage? But this is making Shakspeare write by the card. The words mean undoubtedly, that he will be honest in his general conduct through life; in every other action except that now complained of. Malone. 5 bear my daughter.] A similar expression occurs in Othello: "What a full fortune does the thick-lips owe, Our own precedent passions do instruct us Tim. [to Luc.] Love you the maid? Luc. Ay, my good lord, and she accepts of it. Old Ath. 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. Tim. How shall she be endow'd, If she be mated with an equal husband?" Old Ath. Three talents, on the present; in future, all, Tim. This gentleman of mine hath serv'd me long; To build his fortune, I will strain a little, For 'tis a bond in men. Give him thy daughter: And make him weigh with her. Old Ath. Most noble lord, Pawn me to this your honour, she is his. Tim. My hand to thee; mine honour on my promise. Luc. Humbly I thank your lordship: Never may That state of fortune fall into my keeping, Which is not ow'd to you!" [Exeunt Luc. and old Ath. Poet. Vouchsafe my labour, and long live your lord ship! Tim. I thank you; you shall hear from me anon; Go not away. What have you there, my friend? • And dispossess her all. Tim. How shall she be endow'd, If she be mated with an equal husband?] The players, those avowed enemies to even a common ellipsis, have here again disordered the metre by interpolation. Will a single idea of our author's have been lost, if, omitting the useless and repeated words -she be, we should regulate the passage thus: How shall she be Endow'd, if mated with an equal husband? Steevens. Never may That state or fortune fall into my keeping, Which is not ow'd to you!] The meaning is, let me never henceforth consider any thing that I possess, but as owed or due to you; held for your service, and at your disposal. Johnson. So Lady Macbeth says to Duncan: "Your servants ever "Have theirs, themselves, and what is theirs, in compt,, Pain. A piece of painting, which I do beseech Your lordship to accept. Tim. Painting is welcome. Pain. The gods preserve you! Tim. Well fare you, gentlemen: Give me your hand; We must needs dine together.-Sir, your jewel Hath suffer'd under praise. Jew. What, my lord? dispraise? Tim. A mere satiety of commendations. If I should pay you for 't as 'tis extoll'd, It would unclew me quite.9 Jew. My lord, 'tis rated As those, which sell, would give: But you well know, Are prized by their masters:1 believe 't, dear lord, Tim. Well mock'd. Mer. No, my good lord; he speaks the common tongue, Which all men speak with him. 8 Tim. Look, who comes here. Will you be chid? Enter APEMANTUS.3 Jew. We will bear, with your lordship. pencil'd figures are Even such as they give out.] Pictures have no hypocrisy; they are what they profess to be. 9 Johnson. unclew me quite.] To unclew is to unwind a ball of thread. To unclew a man, is to draw out the whole mass of his fortunes. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "Therefore as you unwind her love from him,- Johnson. Steevens. 1 Are prized by their masters:] Are rated according to the esteem in which their possessor is held. Johnson. 21 by wearing it.] Old copy-by the wearing it. Steevens. 3 Enter Apemantus.] See this character of a cynick finely drawn by Lucian, in his Auction of the Philosophers; and how well Shakspeare has copied it. Warburton . Mer. He'll spare none. Tim. Good morrow to thee, gentle Apemantus ! Apem. Till I be gentle, stay for thy good morrow; When thou art Timon's dog, and these knaves honest. Tim. Why dost thou call them knaves? thou know'st them not. Apem. Are they not Athenians?6 Tim. Yes. Apem. Then I repent not. Jew. You know me, Apemantus. Apem. Thou knowest, I do; I call'd thee by thy name. Tim. Thou art proud, Apemantus. Apem. Of nothing so much, as that I am not like Ti mon. Tim. Whither art going? Apem. To knock out an honest Athenian's brains. Apem. Right, if doing nothing be death by the law. stay for Old copy-stay thou for. With Sir T. Hanmer I have omitted the useless thou, (which the compositor's eye might have caught from the following line,) because it disorders the metre. Steevens. 5 When thou art Timon's dog,] When thou hast gotten a better character, and instead of being Timon as thou art, shalt be changed to Timon's dog, and become more worthy kindness and salutation. Johnson. This is spoken dux Tis, as Mr. Upton says, somewhere:striking his hand on his breast. "Wot you who named me first the kinge's dogge?" says Aristippus in Damon and Pythias. Farmer. Apemantus, I think, means to say, that Timon is not to receive a gentle good morrow from him till that shall happen which never will happen; till Timon is transformed to the shape of his dog, and his knavish followers become honest men. Stay for thy good morrow, says he, till I be gentle, which will happen at the same time when thou art Timon's dog, &c. i. e. never. Malone. Mr. Malone has justly explained the drift of Apemantus. Such another reply occurs in Troilus and Cressida, where Ulysses, desir. ous to avoid a kiss from Cressida, says to her; give me one "When Helen is a maid again," &c. Steevens. 6 Are they not Athenians?] The very imperfect state in which the ancient copy of this play has reached us, leaves a doubt whe ther several short speeches in the present scene were designed for verse or prose. I have therefore made no attempt at regula tion. Steevens. |