I must be round with him, now he comes from hunting.

Fie, fie, fie, fie!

Enter CAPHIS, and the Servants of ISIDORE and VARRO.
Good even, Varro. What!

Caph.

Enter TIMON, ALCIBIADES, and Lords, &c.
So soon as dinner's done, we 'll forth again,

Tim.
My Alcibiades. With me! what is

your

will?

Caph. My lord, here is a note of certain dues.
Tim. Dues! Whence are you?

Caph.

Tim. Go to my steward.

Of Athens here, my lord.

Caph. Please it your lordship, he hath put me off

To the succession of new days this month:

My master is awak'd by great occasion

To call upon his own, and humbly prays you,
That with your other noble parts you 'll suit,

In giving him his right.

Tim.

Mine honest friend,

I pr'ythee, but repair to me next morning.

Caph. Nay, good my lord,

Tim.

Contain thyself, good friend.

Var. Serv. One Varro's servant, my good lord,
Isid. Serv.

He humbly prays your speedy payment,

From Isidore!

Caph. If you did know, my lord, my master's wants, Var. Serv. 'T was due on forfeiture, my lord, six weeks, And past,

Isid. Serv. Your steward puts me off, my lord; And I am sent expressly to your lordship.

I do beseech you, good my lords, keep on;.

[Exeunt ALCIBIADES and Lords.

I'll wait upon you instantly. — Come hither: pray you,

How goes the world, that I am thus encounter'd
With clamorous demands of debt, broken bonds,
And the detention of long-since-due debts,
Against my honour?

Flav.

Please you, gentlemen,'

The time is unagreeable to this business:
Your importunacy cease till after dinner,
That I may make his lordship understand
Wherefore you are not paid.

Tim.

See them well entertain'd.

Flav.

[TO FLAVIUS.

Do so, my friends.

Enter APEMANTUS and a Fool.

Caph. Stay, stay; here comes the fool with Apemantus: let's

have some sport with 'em.

Var. Serv. Hang him, he 'll abuse us.

Isid. Serv. A plague upon him, dog!

Var. Serv. How dost, fool?

Apem. Dost dialogue with thy shadow?

Var. Serv. I speak not to thee.

Apem. No; 't is to thyself. Come away.

[To the Fool.

Isid. Serv. [To VAR. Serv.] There 's the fool hangs on your

back already.

Apem. No, thou stand'st single; thou 'rt not on him yet.

Caph. Where's the fool now?

Apem. He last asked the question.

Poor rogues, and

usurers' men; bawds between gold and want. All Serv. What are we, Apemantus? Apem. Asses.

All Serv. Why?

Apem. That you ask me what you are, and do not know yourselves. Speak to 'em, fool.

Fool. How do you, gentlemen?

All Serv.

Gramercies, good fool. How does your mistress? Fool. She's e'en setting on water to scald such chickens as you are. Would, we could see you at Corinth!

Apem. Good: gramercy.

Enter Page.

Fool. Look you, here comes my mistress' page.

Page. [To the Fool.] Why, how now, captain! what do you in this wise company? How dost thou, Apemantus?

Apem. Would I had a rod in my mouth, that I might answer thee profitably.

Page. Pr'ythee, Apemantus, read me the superscription of these letters: I know not which is which,

Apem. Canst not read?

Page. No.

Apem. There will little learning die, then, that day thou art hanged. This is to lord Timon; this to Alcibiades. Go: thou wast born a bastard, and thou 'lt die a bawd.

Page. Thou wast whelped a dog; and thou shalt famish, a dog's death. Answer not; I am gone. [Exit Page. Apem. Even so thou out-run'st grace. Fool, I will go with you to lord Timon's.

Fool. Will you leave me there? Арет. If Timon stay at home. usurers?

All Serv. I would they served us!
Apem. So would I,

thief.

You three serve three

as good a trick as ever hangman served

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 and go away merry; but and go away sadly. The

of your masters, they approach sadly,

they enter my mistress' house merrily, 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 esteemed.

Var. Serv. What is a whoremaster, fool?

Fool. A fool in good clothes, and something like thee. 'Tis a spirit: sometime it appears like a lord; sometime like a lawyer; sometime like a philosopher, with two stones more than his 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 lackest.

Apem. That answer might have become Apemantus.
All Serv. Aside, aside: here comes lord Timon.

Re-enter TIMON and 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 Serv. 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,

Go to:

At many leisures I propos'd.

Tim.

Perchance, some single vantages you took,
When my indisposition put you back;
And that unaptness made your minister,
Thus to excuse yourself.

Flav.

1

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 the 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 loved 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 reckoning?

Tim. To Lacedæmon 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.

Pr'ythee, 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?