Timon of Athens
Act II, Scene 1
Athens. A room in a Senator’s house.
- Enter the Third Senator with papers in his hand.
Third Senator
1 - 14- And late, five thousand; to Varro and to Isidore
- He owes nine thousand, besides my former sum,
- Which makes it five and twenty. Still in motion
- Of raging waste? It cannot hold, it will not.
- If I want gold, steal but a beggar’s dog
- And give it Timon, why, the dog coins gold.
- If I would sell my horse and buy twenty more
- Better than he, why, give my horse to Timon,
- Ask nothing, give it him, it foals me straight
- And able horses. No porter at his gate,
- But rather one that smiles and still invites
- All that pass by. It cannot hold, no reason
- Can sound his state in safety. Caphis ho!
- Caphis, I say!
- Enter Caphis.
Caphis
15- Here, sir, what is your pleasure?
Third Senator
16 - 33- Get on your cloak and haste you to Lord Timon;
- Importune him for my moneys, be not ceas’d
- With slight denial; nor then silenc’d when
- “Commend me to your master” and the cap
- Plays in the right hand, thus—but tell him
- My uses cry to me; I must serve my turn
- Out of mine own. His days and times are past,
- And my reliances on his fracted dates
- Have smit my credit. I love and honor him,
- But must not break my back to heal his finger.
- Immediate are my needs, and my relief
- Must not be toss’d and turn’d to me in words,
- But find supply immediate. Get you gone,
- Put on a most importunate aspect,
- A visage of demand; for I do fear,
- When every feather sticks in his own wing,
- Lord Timon will be left a naked gull,
- Which flashes now a phoenix. Get you gone.
From: Max Goschen's edition of Timon of Athens
Wyndham Lewis, 1912
Caphis
34- I go, sir.
Third Senator
35 - 36- Ay, go, sir; take the bonds along with you,
- And have the dates in. Come!
Caphis
37- I will, sir.
Third Senator
38- Go.
- Exeunt.