Timon of Athens
Play by William Shakespeare about the legendary Athenian misanthrope Timon.
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I am not of that feather to shake off
My friend when he most needs me.
When we for recompense have prais'd the vile,
It stains the glory in that happy verse
Which aptly sings the good.
Men shut their doors against a setting sun.
We have seen better days.
Every room
Hath blaz'd with lights, and bray'd with minstrelsy.
'T is lack of kindly warmth they are not kind.
You are an alchemist; make gold of that.
Here's that, which is too weak to be a sinner, —
Honest water, which ne'er left man i' the mire.
Immortal gods, I crave no pelf;
I pray for no man but myself:
Grant I may never prove so fond,
To trust man on his oath or bond.
If thou wert the lion, the fox would beguile thee; if thou wert the lamb, the fox would eat thee; if thou wert the fox, the lion would suspect thee, when, peradventure, thou wert accused by the ass; if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a breakfast to the wolf; if thou wert the wolf, thy greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst hazard thy life for thy dinner; wert thou the unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee, and make thine own self the conquest of thy fury; wert thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse; wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the leopard; wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion, and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on thy life; all thy safety were remotion, and thy defence, absence. What beast couldst thou be, that were not subject to a beast? and what beast art thou already, that seest not thy loss in transformation!
Not within the leaf of pity writ.
Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.
Timon will to the woods; where he shall find
The unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound — hear me, you good gods all —
The Athenians both within and out that wall!
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low!
Amen.
No levelled malice
Infects one comma in the course I hold;
But flies an eagle flight, bold, and forth on,
Leaving no track behind.
Magic of bounty! all these spirits thy power
Hath conjur'd to attend! I know the merchant.
Every man has his fault, and honesty is his.
I'll example you with thievery:
The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun;
The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n
From general excrement: each thing's a thief:
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Have uncheck'd theft.
Other incident throes
That nature's fragile vessel doth sustain
In life's uncertain voyage.
I have not seen you long. How goes the world?
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