Apem. Tim. Thy back, I pr’ythee. Apem. Ay. Live, and love thy misery! Tim. Long live so, and so die !—I am quit. Exit APEM. More things like men?5-Eat, Timon, and abhor them. Enter Thieves.6 1 Thief. Where should he have this gold? It is some poor fragment, some slender ort of his remainder: The mere want of gold, and the falling-from of his friends, drove him into this melancholy. 2 Thief. It is noised, he hath a mass of treasure. 3 Thief. Let us make the assay upon him, if he care not for 't, he will supply us easily; If he covetously reserve it, how shall 's get it? 2 Thief. True; for he bears it not about him, 'tis hid. 1 Thief. Is not this he? Thieves. Where? 2 Thief. 'Tis his description. 3 Thief. He; I know him. Thieves. Save thee, Timon. Tim. Now, thieves? Thieves. Soldiers, not thieves. Tim. Both too; and women's sons. Thieves. We are not thieves, but men that much do want. Tim. Your greatest want is, you want much of meat." 5 More things like men?] This line, in the old edition, is given to Apemantus, but it apparently belongs to Timon. Sir Thomas Hanmer has transposed the foregoing dialogue according to his own mind, not unskilfully, but with unwarrantable licence. Johnson. I believe, as the name of Apemantus was prefixed to this line, instead of Timon, so the name of Timon was prefixed to the preceding line by a similar mistake. This line seems more proper in the mouth of Apemantus; and the words—I am quit, seem to mark his exit. Malone. The words-I am quit, in my opinion, belong to Timon, who means that he is quit or clear, has at last got rid of Apemantus; is delivered from his company. This phrase is yet current among the vulgar. Steevens. 6 Enter Thieves.] The old copy reads,-Enter the Banditti. 7 Steevens. -you want much of meat.] Thus both the player and poetical editor have given us this passage; quite sand-blind, as honest Why should you want? Behold, the earth hath roots;* Tim. Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes; You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con,9 Launcelot says, to our author's meaning. If these poor Thieves wanted meat, what greater want could they be cursed with, as they could not live on grass, and berries, and water? but I dare warrant the poet wrote: -you much want of meet. i. e. Much of what you ought to be; much of the qualities befitting you as human creatures. Theobald. Such is Mr. Theobald's emendation, in which he is followed by Dr. Warburton. Sir Thomas Hanmer reads: -you want much of men. They have been all busy without necessity. Observe the series of the conversation. The Thieves tell him, that they are men that much do want. Here is an ambiguity between much want and want of much. Timon takes it on the wrong side, and tells them that their greatest want is, that, like other men, they want much of meat; then telling them where meat may be had, he asks, Want? why want? Johnson. Perhaps we should read: Your greatest want is, you want much of me. rejecting the two last letters of the word. The sense will then be-your greatest want is that you expect supplies of me from whom you can reasonably expect nothing. Your necessities are indeed desperate, when you apply for relief to one in my situation. Dr. Farmer, however, with no small probability, would point the passage as follows: 8 Your greatest want is, you want much. Of meat the earth hath roots; &c.] "Vile olus, & duris hærentia mora rubetis, Pugnantis stomachi composuere famem: "Flumine vicino stultus sitit." I do not suppose these to be imitations, but only to be similar thoughts on similar occasions. Johnson. 9 Yet thanks I must you con,] To con thanks is a very common expression among our old dramatick writers. So, in The Story of King Darius, 1565, an interlude: "Yea and well said, I con you no thanke.", That you are thieves profess'd; that you work not Here's gold: Go, suck the subtle blood of the grape, More than you rob: take wealth and lives together; Again, in Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication to the Devil, by Nasb, 1592: "It is well done to practise my wit; but I believe our lord will con thee little thanks for it." Steevens. 1 In limited professions,] Limited, for legal. Warburton. Regular, orderly, professions. So, in Macbeth: "For 'tis my limited service." i. e. my appointed service, prescribed by the necessary duty and rules of my office. Malone. 2 - since you profess to do't,] The old copy has-protest. The correction was made by Mr. Theobald. Malone. 3 The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves The moon into salt tears:] The moon is supposed to be humid, and perhaps a source of humidity, but cannot be resolved by the surges of the sea. Yet I think moon is the true reading. Here is a circulation of thievery described: The sun, moon, and sea, all rob, and are robbed. Johnson. He says simply, that the sun, the moon, and the sea, rob one another by turns, but the earth robs them all: the sea, i. e. liquid surge, by supplying the moon with moisture, robs her in turn of the soft tears of dew which the poets always fetch from this planet. Soft for salt is an easy change. In this sense Milton speaks of her moist continent. Paradise Lost, Book V, 1. 422. And, in Hamlet, Horatio says: 66 the moist star "Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands." Steevens. We are not to attend on such occasions merely to philosophical truth; we are to consider what might have been the received or vulgar notions of the time.-The populace, in the days of Shakspeare, might possibly have considered the waining of the moon as a gradual dissolution of it, and have attributed to this melting That feeds and breeds by a composture stolen 1 Thief. 'Tis in the malice of mankind, that he thus advises us; not to have us thrive in our mystery.7 of the moon, the increase of the sea at the time she disappears. They might, it is true, be told, that there is a similar increase in the tides when the moon becomes full; but when popular notions are once established, the reasons urged against them are but little attended to. It may also be observed, that the moon, when viewed through a telescope, has a humid appearance, and seems to have drops of water suspended from the rim of it; to which cir cumstance Shakspeare probably alludes in Macbeth, where He cate says: "Upon the corner of the moon "There hangs a vaporous drop," &c. M. Mason. Shakspeare knew that the moon was the cause of the tides, [See The Tempest, Vol. II, p. 134,] and in that respect the liquid surge, that is, the waves of the sea, rising one upon another, in the progress of the tide, may be said to resolve the moon into salt tears; the moon, as the poet chooses to state the matter, losing some part of her humidity, and the accretion to the sea, in consequence of her tears, being the cause of the liquid surge. Add to this the popular notion, yet prevailing, of the moon's influence on the weather; which, together with what has been already stated, probably induced our author here and in other places to allude to the watry quality of that planet. In Romeo and Juliet, he speaks of her "atry beams." Malone. 4 5 read: by a composture-] i. e. composition, compost. Steevens. - nothing can you steal,] To complete the measure I would Steal not less,] Not, which was accidentally omitted in the old copy, was inserted by Mr. Rowe. Malone. 7'Tis in the malice of mankind, that he thus advises us; not to have us thrive in our mystery.] The reason of his advice, says the VOL. XV. PP 2 Thief. I'll believe him as an enemy, and give over iny trade. 1 Thief. Let us first see peace in Athens: There is no time so miserable, but a man may be true.8 Enter FLAVIUS. Flav. O you gods! [Exeunt Thieves. lord? Is yon despis'd and ruinous man my Desperate want made !9 What viler thing upon the earth, than friends, 1 How rarely does it meet with this time's guise, Those that would mischief me, than those that do!3 Thief, is malice to mankind, not any kindness to us, or desire to have us thrive in our mystery. Johnson. 8 Let us first see peace in Athens: There is no time so miserable, but a man may be true.] [Dr. Warburton divides this line between the two thieves.] This and the concluding little speech have in all the editions been placed to one speaker: But, it is evident, the latter words ought to be put in the mouth of the second Thief, who is repenting, and leaving off his trade. Warburton. The second Thief has just said, he 'll give over his trade. It is time enough for that, says the first Thief: let us wait till Athens is at peace. There is no hour of a man's life so wretched, but he always has it in his power to become a true, i, e. an honest man. I have explained this easy passage, because it has, I think, been misunderstood. Our author has made Mrs. Quickly utter nearly the same exNow I bid him not think of hortation to the dying Falstaff: "God; there was time enough for that yet." Malone. ? What an alteration of honour has Desperate want made!] An alteration of honour, is an alteration of an honourable state to a state of disgrace. Johnson. 1 How rarely does it meet-] Rarely for fitly; not for seldom. Warburton. How curiously; how happily. Malone. 2 When man was wish'd to love his enemies:] We should readwill'd He forgets his Pagan system here again. Warburton. Wish'd is right. It means recommended. See Vol. VI, p. 38, n. 7. Reed. |