Act 1, Scene 2

-- The Same. A room of state in TIMON'S House.

[Hautboys playing loud music. A great banquet served in; FLAVIUS and Others attending: then enter LORD TIMON, ALCIBIADES, Lords, and Senators, VENTIDIUS and Attendants. Then comes, dropping after all, APEMANTUS, discontentedly, like himself.]
Ventidius
307 Most honour'd Timon,
308 It hath pleas'd the gods to remember my father's age,
309 And call him to long peace.
310 He is gone happy, and has left me rich:
311 Then, as in grateful virtue I am bound
312 To your free heart, I do return those talents,
313 Doubled with thanks and service, from whose help
314 I deriv'd liberty.
Timon
315 O! by no means,
316 Honest Ventidius: you mistake my love;
317 I gave it freely ever; and there's none
318 Can truly say he gives, if he receives:
319 If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
320 To imitate them; faults that are rich are fair.
Ventidius
321 A noble spirit.
[They all stand ceremoniously looking on TIMON.]
Timon
322 Nay, my lords, ceremony was but devis'd at first
323 To set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes,
324 Recanting goodness, sorry ere 'tis shown;
325 But where there is true friendship there needs none.
326 Pray, sit; more welcome are ye to my fortunes
327 Than my fortunes to me.
[They sit.]
First Lord
328 My lord, we always have confess'd it.
Apemantus
329 Ho, ho! confess'd it; hang'd it, have you not?
Timon
330 O! Apemantus, you are welcome.
Apemantus
331 No,
332 You shall not make me welcome:
333 I come to have thee thrust me out of doors.
Timon
334 Fie! thou'rt a churl; ye've got a humour there
335 Does not become a man; 'tis much to blame.
336 They say, my lords, Ira furor brevis est;
337 But yond man is ever angry.
338 Go, let him have a table by himself;
339 For he does neither affect company,
340 Nor is he fit for it, indeed.
Apemantus
341 Let me stay at thine apperil, Timon:
342 I come to observe; I give thee warning on't.
Timon
343 I take no heed of thee; thou'rt an Athenian, therefore, welcome.
344 I myself would have no power; prithee; let my meat make thee
345 silent.
Apemantus
346 I scorn thy meat; 't'would choke me, for I should
347 Ne'er flatter thee. O you gods! what a number
348 Of men eats Timon, and he sees 'em not!
349 It grieves me to see so many dip their meat
350 In one man's blood; and all the madness is,
351 He cheers them up too.
352 I wonder men dare trust themselves with men:
353 Methinks they should invite them without knives;
354 Good for their meat, and safer for their lives.
355 There's much example for 't; the fellow that
356 Sits next him now, parts bread with him, pledges
357 The breath of him in a divided draught,
358 Is the readiest man to kill him: 't has been prov'd.
359 If I were a huge man, I should fear to drink at meals;
360 Lest they should spy my wind-pipe's dangerous notes:
361 Great men should drink with harness on their throats.
Timon
362 My lord, in heart; and let the health go round.
Second Lord
363 Let it flow this way, my good lord.
Apemantus
364 Flow this way! A brave fellow! he keeps his tides well. Those
365 healths will make thee and thy state look ill, Timon.
366 Here's that which is too weak to be a sinner,
367 Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire:
368 This and my food are equals; there's no odds:
369 Feasts are too proud to give thanks to the gods.
Apemantus
370 Immortal gods, I crave no pelf;
371 I pray for no man but myself.
372 Grant I may never prove so fond
373 To trust man on his oath or bond;
374 Or a harlot for her weeping;
375 Or a dog that seems a-sleeping;
376 Or a keeper with my freedom;
377 Or my friends, if I should need 'em.
378 Amen. So fall to't.
379 Rich men sin, and I eat root.
[Eats and drinks.]
Apemantus
380 Much good dich thy good heart, Apemantus!
Timon
381 Captain Alcibiades, your heart's in the field now.
Alcibiades
382 My heart is ever at your service, my lord.
Timon
383 You had rather be at a breakfast of enemies than a dinner of
384 friends.
Alcibiades
385 So they were bleeding—new, my lord, there's no meat
386 like 'em: I could wish my best friend at such a feast.
Apemantus
387 'Would all those flatterers were thine enemies then, that
388 then thou mightst kill 'em, and bid me to 'em.
First Lord
389 Might we but have that happiness, my lord, that you
390 would once use our hearts, whereby we might express some part of
391 our zeals, we should think ourselves for ever perfect.
Timon
392 O, no doubt, my good friends, but the gods themselves have
393 provided that I shall have much help from you: how had you been
394 my friends else? why have you that charitable title from
395 thousands, did not you chiefly belong to my heart? I have told
396 more of you to myself than you can with modesty speak in your own
397 behalf; and thus far I confirm you. O you gods! think I, what
398 need we have any friends if we should ne'er have need of 'em?
399 they were the most needless creatures living, should we ne'er
400 have use for 'em; and would most resemble sweet instruments hung
401 up in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves. Why, I have
402 often wished myself poorer that I might come nearer to you. We
403 are born to do benefits; and what better or properer can we call
404 our own than the riches of our friends? O! what a precious
405 comfort 'tis to have so many, like brothers, commanding one
406 another's fortunes! O joy! e'en made away ere it can be born.
407 Mine eyes cannot hold out water, methinks: to forget their
408 faults, I drink to you.
Apemantus
409 Thou weepest to make them drink, Timon.
Second Lord
410 Joy had the like conception in our eyes,
411 And, at that instant like a babe, sprung up.
Apemantus
412 Ho, ho! I laugh to think that babe a bastard.
Third Lord
413 I promise you, my lord, you mov'd me much.
Apemantus
414 Much!
[Tucket sounded.]
Timon
415 What means that trump?
[Enter a SERVANT.]
Timon
416 How now!
Servant
417 Please you, my lord, there are certain ladies most desirous of
418 admittance.
Timon
419 Ladies? What are their wills?
Servant
420 There comes with them a forerunner, my lord, which bears
421 that office, to signify their pleasures.
Timon
422 I pray, let them be admitted.
[Enter CUPID.]
Cupid
423 Hail to thee, worthy Timon; and to all
424 That of his bounties taste! The five best Senses
425 Acknowledge thee their patron; and come freely
426 To gratulate thy plenteous bosom. Th' Ear,
427 Taste, Touch, Smell, pleas'd from thy table rise;
428 They only now come but to feast thine eyes.
Timon
429 They are welcome all; let 'em have kind admittance:
430 Music, make their welcome!
[Exit CUPID.]
First Lord
431 You see, my lord, how ample you're belov'd.
[Music. Re-enter CUPID, with a masque of LADIES as Amazons, with lutes in their hands, dancing and playing.]
Apemantus
432 Hoy-day! what a sweep of vanity comes this way:
433 They dance! they are mad women.
434 Like madness is the glory of this life,
435 As this pomp shows to a little oil and root.
436 We make ourselves fools to disport ourselves;
437 And spend our flatteries to drink those men
438 Upon whose age we void it up again,
439 With poisonous spite and envy.
440 Who lives that's not depraved or depraves?
441 Who dies that bears not one spurn to their graves
442 Of their friend's gift?
443 I should fear those that dance before me now
444 Would one day stamp upon me: it has been done:
445 Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
[The LORDS rise from table, with much adoring of TIMON; and to show their loves, each singles out an Amazon, and all dance, men with women, a lofty strain or two to the hautboys, and cease.]
Timon
446 You have done our pleasures much grace, fair ladies,
447 Set a fair fashion on our entertainment,
448 Which was not half so beautiful and kind;
449 You have added worth unto 't and lustre,
450 And entertain'd me with mine own device;
451 I am to thank you for 't.
First Lady
452 My lord, you take us even at the best.
Apemantus
453 Faith, for the worst is filthy; and would not hold taking, I
454 doubt me.
Timon
455 Ladies, there is an idle banquet
456 Attends you; please you to dispose yourselves.
All the Ladies
457 Most thankfully, my lord.
[Exeunt CUPID and LADIES.]
Timon
458 Flavius!
Flavius
459 My lord!
Timon
460 The little casket bring me hither.
Flavius
461 Yes, my lord.
[Aside.]
Flavius
462 More jewels yet!
463 There is no crossing him in 's humour;
464 Else I should tell him well, i' faith, I should,
465 When all's spent, he'd be cross'd then, an he could.
466 'Tis pity bounty had not eyes behind,
467 That man might ne'er be wretched for his mind.
[Exit.]
First Lord
468 Where be our men?
Servant
469 Here, my lord, in readiness.
Second Lord
470 Our horses!
[Re-enter FLAVIUS, with the casket.]
Timon
471 O, my friends! I have one word to say to you;
472 Look you, my good lord,
473 I must entreat you, honour me so much
474 As to advance this jewel; accept it and wear it,
475 Kind my lord.
First Lord
476 I am so far already in your gifts—
All
477 So are we all.
[Enter a SERVANT.]
Servant
478 My lord, there are certain nobles of the Senate
479 Newly alighted and come to visit you.
Timon
480 They are fairly welcome.
Flavius
481 I beseech your honour,
482 Vouchsafe me a word; it does concern you near.
Timon
483 Near! why then, another time I'll hear thee.
484 I prithee let's be provided to show them entertainment.
[Aside.]
Flavius
485 I scarce know how.
[Enter another SERVANT.]
Second Servant
486 May it please vour honour, Lord Lucius,
487 Out of his free love, hath presented to you
488 Four milk-white horses, trapp'd in silver.
Timon
489 I shall accept them fairly; let the presents
490 Be worthily entertain'd.
[Enter a third SERVANT.]
Timon
491 How now! What news?
Third Servant
492 Please you, my lord, that honourable gentleman, Lord Lucullus,
493 entreats your company to-morrow to hunt with him, and has sent
494 your honour two brace of greyhounds.
Timon
495 I'll hunt with him; and let them be receiv'd,
496 Not without fair reward.
[Aside.]
Flavius
497 What will this come to?
498 He commands us to provide, and give great gifts,
499 And all out of an empty coffer;
500 Nor will he know his purse, or yield me this,
501 To show him what a beggar his heart is,
502 Being of no power to make his wishes good.
503 His promises fly so beyond his state
504 That what he speaks is all in debt; he owes
505 For every word: he is so kind that he now
506 Pays interest for 't; his land's put to their books.
507 Well, would I were gently put out of office
508 Before I were forc'd out!
509 Happier he that has no friend to feed
510 Than such that do e'en enemies exceed.
511 I bleed inwardly for my lord.
[Exit.]
Timon
512 You do yourselves much wrong;
513 You bate too much of your own merits;
514 Here, my lord, a trifle of our love.
Second Lord
515 With more than common thanks I will receive it.
Third Lord
516 O! he's the very soul of bounty!
Timon
517 And now I remember, my lord, you gave
518 Good words the other day of a bay courser
519 I rode on: it is yours because you lik'd it.
Third Lord
520 O! I beseech you, pardon me, my lord, in that.
Timon
521 You may take my word, my lord: I know no man
522 Can justly praise but what he does affect:
523 I weigh my friend's affection with mine own.
524 I'll tell you true; I'll call to you.
All the Lords
525 O! none so welcome!
Timon
526 I take all and your several visitations
527 So kind to heart, 'tis not enough to give;
528 Methinks, I could deal kingdoms to my friends,
529 And ne'er be weary. Alcibiades,
530 Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich;
531 It comes in charity to thee; for all thy living
532 Is 'mongst the dead, and all the lands thou hast
533 Lie in a pitch'd field.
Alcibiades
534 Ay, defil'd land, my lord.
First Lord
535 We are so virtuously bound,—
Timon
536 And so am I to you.
Second Lord
537 So infinitely endear'd,—
Timon
538 All to you. Lights, more lights!
First Lord
539 The best of happiness,
540 Honour, and fortunes, keep with you, Lord Timon!
Timon
541 Ready for his friends.
[Exeunt ALCIBIADES, Lords, and etc.]
Timon
542 .]
Apemantus
543 What a coil's here!
544 Serving of becks and jutting out of bums!
545 I doubt whether their legs be worth the sums
546 That are given for 'em. Friendship's full of dregs:
547 Methinks, false hearts should never have sound legs.
548 Thus honest fools lay out their wealth on curtsies.
Timon
549 Now, Apemantus, if thou wert not sullen,
550 I would be good to thee.
Apemantus
551 No, I'll nothing; for if I should be bribed too, there
552 would be none left to rail upon thee, and then thou wouldst sin
553 the faster. Thou givest so long, Timon, I fear me thou wilt give
554 away thyself in paper shortly: What needs these feasts, pomps,
555 and vain-glories?
Timon
556 Nay, an you begin to rail on society once, I am sworn not to
557 give regard to you. Farewell; and come with better music.
[Exit.]
Apemantus
558 So: Thou wilt not hear me now; thou shalt not then;
559 I'll lock thy heaven from thee.
560 O! that men's ears should be
561 To counsel deaf, but not to flattery!
[Exit.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 312archaic vocab
“to your free heart, I do return those talents”
Ventidius offers to repay the money Timon spent releasing him from debtor's prison. A 'talent' was a large ancient unit of weight used as currency — roughly equivalent to a substantial annual wage for a craftsman. Timon refuses the repayment, treating the gift as unconditional.
TLN 317rhetorical device
“none / Can truly say he gives, if he receives”
Timon states a paradox: a gift is only genuine if the giver expects nothing back. The logic is a sentimental foundation for his entire open-handed life — and the play will test it to destruction when every friend refuses to return the favour.
TLN 320wordplay
“faults that are rich are fair”
Timon wryly notes that the wealthy can get away with behaviour the poor cannot — the rich man's faults look 'fair' (fine, acceptable) because his wealth covers them. The line is slyly self-aware: he knows he is being indulgent but does it anyway.
TLN 322cultural context
“ceremony was but devis'd at first / To set a gloss on faint deeds”
Timon argues that formal ceremony — bowing, elaborate courtesy — was invented only to disguise weak or hollow behaviour. 'A gloss on faint deeds' means a shine put over weak actions. He dismisses the lords' formal standing because, he claims, true friendship needs no such performance.
TLN 329wordplay
“confess'd it; hang'd it, have you not?”
Apemantus parodies a legal proverb: 'Confess and be hanged' — meaning once you confess a crime you are hanged for it. The lords have 'confessed' that they owe everything to Timon; Apemantus sarcastically asks why they have not been metaphorically hanged (punished, destroyed) for admitting the debt.
TLN 336classical allusion
“Ira furor brevis est”
Latin: 'Anger is a brief madness.' The line is a quotation from the Roman poet Horace (Epistles 1.2.62). Timon uses it to excuse Apemantus's permanent bad temper — but the joke is that Apemantus is never briefly angry; he is always angry, so the proverb does not apply.
TLN 341archaic vocab
“at thine apperil, Timon”
'Apperil' is an archaic form of 'peril.' Apemantus says 'let me stay at your own risk' — meaning if Timon insists on keeping him, the danger of what Apemantus says is Timon's own problem.
TLN 346rhetorical device
“'t'would choke me, for I should / Ne'er flatter thee”
Apemantus refuses Timon's food with a dark pun: the food would choke him because eating it means accepting Timon's hospitality, which would morally require him to flatter his host — and flattery would stick in his throat before the food did.
TLN 353historical topical
“they should invite them without knives”
Apemantus suggests the safest way to feast potential assassins would be to give them no table-knives, since at banquets guests sat close together with bladed eating-knives. He is warning Timon that his closest companions are his most dangerous enemies.
TLN 356cultural context
“parts bread with him, pledges / The breath of him in a divided draught”
To 'part bread' and share a drink (a 'divided draught') was the ancient mark of friendship — sharing food and cup from the same loaf and vessel sealed a bond. Apemantus says the very man who does this 'is the readiest man to kill him,' meaning the closest companion is the most dangerous betrayer.
TLN 367rhetorical device
“Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire”
Apemantus praises plain water as the only 'honest' drink because it does not intoxicate (leave a man 'in the mire,' stuck in drunken mud). Unlike wine, water flatters nobody and asks for nothing. His drinking of water at Timon's feast is a pointed refusal to participate in the feast's false sociability.
TLN 370cultural context
“Immortal gods, I crave no pelf; / I pray for no man but myself”
Apemantus delivers his own 'grace' (the short prayer said before meals in England) but makes it a prayer for himself alone — the opposite of Christian communal grace. 'Pelf' means money or ill-gotten gains. The whole short poem (TLN 370-379) is a Cynic creed: trust nobody, need nothing, rely on no one.
TLN 380archaic vocab
“Much good dich thy good heart”
'Dich' is a contracted dialect form of 'do it' — the phrase means 'much good may it do your good heart' (a standard toast or benediction). Apemantus is ironically toasting himself after his solitary grace, in cheerful contempt for the others' elaborate hospitality.
TLN 383rhetorical device
“breakfast of enemies than a dinner of friends”
Timon jests that Alcibiades would rather have 'a breakfast of enemies' — cut-down soldiers — than a dinner of friends, because a soldier lives among the dead. Alcibiades confirms the joke ('So they were bleeding-new'). The exchange establishes Alcibiades as a warrior by nature, not a courtly flatterer — which is why he alone keeps faith with Timon in the end.
TLN 400rhetorical device
“sweet instruments hung / up in cases, that keep their sounds to themselves”
Timon compares useless friends — those never called upon in need — to expensive musical instruments shut in their cases, never played, their music kept inside. The simile is meant as a compliment: Timon values friendship above all, and a friend never used is a gift wasted. The irony the audience feels is that the friends' 'music' — their professed love — is also locked away, unavailable when Timon will need it.
TLN 415stage direction note
“What means that trump”
A 'tucket' (as the stage direction names it) is a short fanfare of trumpet-notes, used in Elizabethan theatre to signal the approach of a noble person or procession. Here it heralds the entry of Cupid and the masquing ladies. Timon's question ('What means that trump?') is addressed to a servant — the fanfare is unannounced, part of the surprise entertainment.
TLN 424classical allusion
“The five best Senses / Acknowledge thee their patron”
Cupid enters and presents the masque in praise of Timon, saying the five senses — hearing, taste, touch, smell, and sight — all salute him as their patron, because his lavish table gratifies them all. The masque is itself an extreme symbol of Timon's extravagance: he even has the gods of love and desire perform in his honour.
TLN 432cultural context
“what a sweep of vanity comes this way: / They dance! they are mad women”
The masque of ladies dressed as Amazons was a fashionable form of aristocratic entertainment in Shakespeare's time. Apemantus dismisses it as a 'sweep of vanity' — an ostentatious rush of empty display. Amazons were legendary warrior women from classical myth; their appearance as costumed dancers at a private feast was a courtly compliment to both the ladies and the host.
TLN 462archaic vocab
“More jewels yet! / There is no crossing him in 's humour”
Flavius, aside, notes that Timon is giving away more jewels — and there is 'no crossing him in his humour,' meaning no way to oppose or frustrate him when he is in this mood. 'Humour' here means temperament or prevailing mood, not comedy. The aside is the first clear signal to the audience that Timon's finances are already in serious trouble.
TLN 499rhetorical device
“all out of an empty coffer; / Nor will he know his purse”
Flavius's long aside (TLN 497-511) is the play's clearest financial warning: Timon orders gifts from an already empty treasury and will not look at his own accounts. 'His land's put to their books' means Timon's estates have been pledged as collateral to his creditors, whose account-books ('books') now hold his land as security for debts. The aside functions as dramatic irony: the audience knows what Timon does not.
historical The fall of princes (de casibus tragedy)
TLN 530wordplay
“thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich; / It comes in charity to thee; for all thy living / Is 'mongst the dead, and all the lands thou hast / Lie in a pitch'd field”
Timon offers Alcibiades a gift, noting that soldiers are seldom rich. The wordplay is dense: a soldier's 'living' (livelihood) is among the dead (on the battlefield); his 'lands' lie in a 'pitch'd field' — a field pitched (set up) for battle, and also land 'pitched' (covered) with gore. Alcibiades's reply, 'Ay, defil'd land,' completes the pun: the battle-field is literally defiled (dirtied, profaned).
TLN 543archaic vocab
“What a coil's here! / Serving of becks and jutting out of bums”
Apemantus, watching the lords' elaborate leave-taking, sneers at the 'coil' (commotion, fuss) of their bowing. 'Serving of becks' means performing deep bows — a 'beck' is a nod or low bow. 'Jutting out of bums' is a crude description of bowing deeply, in which the backside sticks out. The phrase reduces courtly ceremony to a ridiculous physical posture.
TLN 553historical topical
“thou wilt give / away thyself in paper shortly: What needs these feasts, pomps, / and vain-glories?”
Apemantus warns that Timon will soon 'give himself away in paper' — meaning he will have run out of real assets and be left only with written bonds (promises to pay, notes of hand), giving away pieces of paper rather than gold. It is a precise financial prophecy: Timon's gifts will eventually be financed only by debt-instruments. 'Vain-glories' means ostentatious, empty displays of grandeur.
TLN 558rhetorical device
“thou shalt not then; / I'll lock thy heaven from thee. / O! that men's ears should be / To counsel deaf, but not to flattery”
Apemantus closes the scene with a dark promise and an epigram. 'I'll lock thy heaven from thee' means: when Timon's ruin comes and he wants Apemantus's bitter comfort, Apemantus will refuse him — the Cynic will become as inaccessible as paradise. The final couplet is the scene's moral: men block out honest counsel but receive flattery willingly. It frames the entire feast as a lesson Timon cannot hear.
classical Timon the misanthrope (Lucian and the man-hater tradition)