Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens (24 page)
Read Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
SOURCES:
There is a general outline of the Timon story in Plutarch’s “Life of Marcus Antonius,” which was Shakespeare’s main source for
Antony and Cleopatra;
Plutarch’s
Lives of the Most Noble Grecians and Romanes
also included a biography of Alcibiades, providing material for the subplot. The other major source is a dialogue on Timon by the second-century Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata (probably in the 1528 Latin translation by Erasmus). There are close resemblances, especially in the second banquet scene, to an anonymous university or Inns of Court comedy of
Timon
, which may be a source. It is possible that Shakespeare worked from Plutarch while Middleton brought knowledge of the academic play and Lucian. The character of Apemantus may also be indebted to the misanthropic philosopher Diogenes in John Lyly’s comedy
Campaspe
(1581).
TEXT:
The relative brevity of the play and a plethora of internal inconsistencies, such as the interview between Flavius and Ventidius that is arranged at the end of Act 2 Scene 2 but never materializes, led to the hypothesis that
Timon
was an incomplete work. Coauthorship is now considered a much likelier explanation for the textual problems. Most scholars believe that the copy was set from the dramatists’ rough draft; though this is not known for certain, most of the difficulties are attributable to problems with the copy rather than the quality of the printers’ work.
TIMON
of Athens
FLAVIUS
, steward to Timon
ALCIBIADES
, an Athenian
captain
APEMANTUS
, a churlish philosopher
Timon’s servants
LUCILIUS
FLAMINIUS
SERVILIUS
A
POET
A
PAINTER
A
JEWELLER
A
MERCHANT
who trades in silks
A
FOOL
An
OLD
Athenian
MAN
A
PAGE
flattering lords
LUCIUS
LUCULLUS
SEMPRONIUS
VENTIDIUS
, one of Timon’s false friends
Servants to usurers
CAPHIS
VARRO
PHILOTUS
TITUS
LUCIUS’ SERVANT
HORTENSIUS
SENATORS
CUPID AND MASQUERS
BANDITTI
whores with Alcibiades
PHRYNIA
TIMANDRA
Three
STRANGERS
, the second called
Hostilius
Two
MESSENGERS
Other
LORDS
Servants, Attendants
running scene 1
Enter Poet, Painter, Jeweller, Merchant
(
a
Mercer
)
at
several
doors
POET
Good day, sir.
PAINTER
I am glad you’re well.
POET
I have not seen you
long
.
How goes the world?
3
PAINTER
It
wears
, sir, as it
grows.
4
POET
Ay, that’s well known.
But what particular
rarity
? What
strange,
6
Which manifold
record
not matches
7
? See,
Magic of
bounty
, all these
spirits
8
thy power
Hath
conjured
to
attend
9
. I know the merchant.
PAINTER
I know them both: th’other’s a jeweller.
To Jeweller
MERCHANT
O, ’tis a worthy lord.
JEWELLER
Nay, that’s most
fixed.
12
MERCHANT
A most incomparable man,
breathed
13
, as it were,
To an untirable and
continuate
14
goodness:
JEWELLER
I have a jewel here—
MERCHANT
O, pray let’s see’t. For the lord Timon, sir?
JEWELLER
If he will
touch the estimate
18
. But for that—
Recites
POET
‘When
we
for
recompense
19
have praised the vile,
It stains the glory in that
happy
20
verse
Which
aptly
21
sings the good.’
Looks at the jewel
To Poet
PAINTER
You are
rapt
, sir, in some work, some
dedication
24
To the great lord.
POET
A thing slipped
idly
26
from me.
Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes
From whence ’tis nourished. The fire i’th’flint
Shows not till it be struck: our gentle flame
Provokes itself
and like the
current
flies
30
Each
bound
it
chafes
31
. What have you there?
PAINTER
A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?
POET
Upon the heels of my presentment
33
, sir.
Let’s see your piece.
Shows the painting
PAINTER
’Tis a good piece.
POET
So ’tis: this
comes off
36
well and excellent.
PAINTER
Indifferent.
37
POET
Admirable. How
this grace
38
Speaks his own standing! What a mental power
This eye shoots forth!
How big
40
imagination
Moves
in this lip!
To th’dumbness of the gesture
41
One might interpret.
PAINTER
It is a
pretty
mocking
43
of the life.
Here is a
touch:
44
is’t good?
POET
I will say of it,
It
tutors nature
:
artificial strife
46
Lives in these touches
livelier
47
than life.
Enter certain Senators
They pass over the stage
PAINTER
How this lord is
followed.
48
POET
The senators of Athens, happy men.
PAINTER
Look, more.
POET
You see this
confluence
51
, this great flood of visitors.
Shows the poem
I have in this rough work shaped out a man
Whom this
beneath world
53
doth embrace and hug
With amplest
entertainment
: my free
drift
54
Halts not
particularly
55
, but moves itself
In a wide sea of
wax
— no
levelled
56
malice
Infects one
comma
57
in the course I hold —
But flies an eagle flight, bold and forth on,
Leaving no
tract
59
behind.
PAINTER
How shall I understand you?
60
POET
I will
unbolt
61
to you.
You see how all
conditions
62
, how all minds,
As well of
glib
and
slipp’ry
63
creatures as
Of
grave
and
austere
quality
,
tender down
64
Their services to Lord Timon: his large fortune
Upon his good and gracious nature
hanging
66
Subdues
and
properties
to
his love and tendance
67
All sorts of hearts; yea, from the
glass-faced
68
flatterer
To Apemantus, that few things loves better
Than to
abhor
himself — even he
drops down
70
The knee before him, and
returns
71
in peace
Most rich in Timon’s
nod.
72
PAINTER
I saw them speak together.
POET
Sir, I have upon a high and pleasant hill
Feigned
75
Fortune to be throned: the base o’th’mount
Is
ranked with all deserts
76
, all kind of natures
That labour on the bosom of this
sphere
77
To
propagate
78
their states, amongst them all
Whose eyes are on this sovereign
lady
79
fixed
One do I
personate
of Lord Timon’s
frame,
80
Whom Fortune with her ivory hand
wafts
81
to her,
Whose
present grace to
present slaves and servants
82
Translates his rivals.
PAINTER
’Tis
conceived to scope.
84
This throne, this Fortune, and this hill, methinks,
With one man beckoned from the rest below,
Bowing his head
against
87
the sleepy mount
To climb his happiness, would be well expressed
POET
Nay, sir, but
hear me on.
90
All those which were his
fellows
but
of late,
91
Some better than his
value
92
, on the moment
Follow
his strides, his lobbies fill with tendance,
93
Rain
sacrificial
94
whisperings in his ear,
Make sacred even his
stirrup
, and
through him
95
Drink the free air.
PAINTER
Ay,
marry
97
, what of these?
POET
When Fortune in her shift and change of mood
Spurns down
99
her late belovèd, all his dependants,
Which laboured after him to the mountain’s top
Even on their knees and hands, let him fly down,
Not one accompanying his
declining
102
foot.
PAINTER
’Tis common:
A thousand moral paintings I can show
That shall demonstrate these
quick
105
blows of Fortune’s
More
pregnantly
106
than words. Yet you do well
To show Lord Timon that
mean
107
eyes have seen
Trumpets sound. Enter Lord Timon
[
with Lucilius and other servants following
],
addressing himself courteously to every
suitor
[
and then
speaking with a Messenger
]
TIMON
Imprisoned is he, say you?
MESSENGER
Ay, my good lord:
five talents
110
is his debt,
His
means
most short, his creditors most
strait.
111
Your honourable letter he desires
To those have shut him up, which failing,
TIMON
Noble Ventidius! Well,
I am not of that
feather
116
to shake off
My friend when he must need me. I do know him
A gentleman that well deserves a help,
Which he shall have: I’ll pay the debt and free him.
MESSENGER
Your lordship
ever binds him.
120
TIMON
Commend me
121
to him. I will send his ransom,
And being
enfranchised
122
, bid him come to me:
’Tis not enough to help the feeble up,
But to support him after. Fare you well.
MESSENGER
All happiness to your honour.