The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [1047]
The play has caused considerable debate among scholars, due to its odd construction, with several missing parts in the text adding to the confusion. No precise date of composition can be given and critics vary from claiming Timon of Athens to be one of Shakespeare’s first works to one of his last.
The 1623 First Folio
CONTENTS
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
ACT I. SCENE I. Athens. TIMON'S house
SCENE II. A room of state in TIMON'S house
ACT II. SCENE I. A SENATOR'S house
SCENE II. Before TIMON'S house
ACT III. SCENE I. LUCULLUS' house
SCENE II. A public place
SCENE III. SEMPRONIUS' house
SCENE IV. A hall in TIMON'S house
SCENE V. The Senate House
SCENE VI. A banqueting hall in TIMON'S house
ACT IV. SCENE I. Without the walls of Athens
SCENE II. Athens. TIMON's house
SCENE III. The woods near the sea-shore. Before TIMON'S cave
ACT V. SCENE I. The woods. Before TIMON's cave
SCENE II. Before the walls of Athens
SCENE III. The TIMON's cave, and a rude tomb seen
SCENE IV. Before the walls of Athens
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
TIMON of Athens
LUCIUS
LUCULLUS
SEMPRONIUS
flattering lords
VENTIDIUS, one of Timon's false friends
ALCIBIADES, an Athenian captain
APEMANTUS, a churlish philosopher
FLAVIUS, steward to Timon
FLAMINIUS
LUCILIUS
SERVILIUS
Timon's servants
CAPHIS
PHILOTUS
TITUS
HORTENSIUS
servants to Timon's creditors
POET PAINTER JEWELLER MERCHANT MERCER AN OLD ATHENIAN THREE STRANGERS A PAGE A FOOL
PHRYNIA
TIMANDRA
mistresses to Alcibiades
CUPID
AMAZONS
in the Masque
Lords, Senators, Officers, Soldiers, Servants, Thieves, and Attendants
SCENE: Athens and the neighbouring woods
Illustration from ‘Tales from Shakespeare’, McLoughlin Bros., 1890
ACT I. SCENE I. Athens. TIMON'S house
Enter POET, PAINTER, JEWELLER, MERCHANT, and MERCER, at several doors
POET.
Good day, sir.
PAINTER.
I am glad y'are well.
POET.
I have not seen you long; how goes the world?
PAINTER.
It wears, sir, as it grows.
POET.
Ay, that's well known.
But what particular rarity? What strange,
Which manifold record not matches? See,
Magic of bounty, all these spirits thy power
Hath conjur'd to attend! I know the merchant.
PAINTER.
I know them both; th' other's a jeweller.
MERCHANT.
O, 'tis a worthy lord!
JEWELLER.
Nay, that's most fix'd.
MERCHANT.
A most incomparable man; breath'd, as it were,
To an untirable and continuate goodness.
He passes.
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. But for that-
POET.
When we for recompense have prais'd the vile,
It stains the glory in that happy verse
Which aptly sings the good.
MERCHANT.
[Looking at the jewel] 'Tis a good form.
JEWELLER.
And rich. Here is a water, look ye.
PAINTER.
You are rapt, sir, in some work, some dedication
To the great lord.
POET.
A thing slipp'd idly from me.
Our poesy is as a gum, which oozes
From whence 'tis nourish'd. The fire i' th' flint
Shows not till it be struck: our gentle flame
Provokes itself, and like the current flies
Each bound it chafes. What have you there?
PAINTER.
A picture, sir. When comes your book forth?
POET.
Upon the heels of my presentment, sir.
Let's see your piece.
PAINTER.
'Tis a good piece.
POET.
So 'tis; this comes off well and excellent.
PAINTER.
Indifferent.
POET.
Admirable. How this grace
Speaks his own standing! What a mental power
This eye shoots forth! How big imagination
Moves in this lip! To th' dumbness of the gesture
One might interpret.
PAINTER.
It is a pretty mocking of the life.
Here is a touch; is't good?
POET.
I will say of it
It tutors nature. Artificial strife
Lives in these touches, livelier than life.
Enter certain SENATORS, and pass over
PAINTER.
How this lord is followed!
POET.
The senators of Athens- happy man!
PAINTER.
Look, moe!
POET.
You see this confluence, this great flood of visitors.
I have in this rough work shap'd out