THE LIFE OF TIMON OF ATHENS

Act 2 Scene 1

(Enter a Senator with bonds)
l1l	Senator	 And late five thousand. To Varro and to Isidore
l2l		He owes nine thousand, besides my former sum,
l3l		Which makes it five-and-twenty. Still in motion
l4l		Of raging waste! It cannot hold, it will not.
l5l		If I want gold, steal but a beggar’s dog
l6l		And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold.
l7l		If I would sell my horse and buy twenty more
l8l		Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon—
l9l		Ask nothing, give it him—it foals me straight,
l10l		And able horses. No porter at his gate,
l11l		But rather one that smiles and still invites
l12l		All that pass by. It cannot hold. No reason
l13l		Can sound his state in safety. Caphis ho!
l14l		Caphis, I say!
		(Enter Caphis)
		
	Caphis	 Here, sir. What is your pleasure?
l15l	Senator	Get on your cloak and haste you to Lord Timon.
l16l		Importune him for my moneys. Be not ceased
l17l		With slight denial, nor then silenced when
l18l		“Commend me to your master”, and the cap
l19l		Plays in the right hand, thus# but tell him
l20l		My uses cry to me, I must serve my turn
l21l		Out of mine own, his days and times are past,
l22l		And my reliances on his fracted dates
l23l		Have smit my credit. I love and honour him,
l24l		But must not break my back to heal his finger.
l25l		Immediate are my needs, and my relief
l26l		Must not be tossed and turned to me in words,
l27l		But find supply immediate. Get you gone.
l28l		Put on a most importunate aspect,
l29l		A visage of demand, for I do fear
l30l		When every feather sticks in his own wing
l31l		Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
l32l		Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
l33l	Caphis	I go, sir.
	Senator	
		(giving him bonds)
		 Take the bonds along with you,
l34l		And have the dates in count.
	Caphis	I will, sir.
	Senator	Go.
		(Exeunt severally)
	?Middleton>