in Timon of Athens — Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas
Metadata
Play
Timon of Athens
Author
Shakespeare, William; Middleton, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1623
First performance
1607
Decade
1620s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Speech prefix(es)
Meſ.
Words
293
Characters
1668
Typicality
0.36 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A11954.29
BritDrama no.
1536
Cluster
Cluster 18 — Chronicle statesmen & prelates
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
I my good Lord, five Talents is his debt, His means most short, his Creditors most strait: Your Honourable Letter he desires To those have shut him up, which failing, Periods his comfort. Your Lordship ever binds him. All happiness to your Honour. It's Alcibiades, and some twenty Horse All of Companionship. I have spoke the least. Beside his expedition promises present approach. I met a Currier, one mine ancient Friend, Whom though in general partly we were opposed, Yet our old love made a particular force, And made us speak Like Friends. This man was riding From Alcibiades to Timon's Cave, With Letters of entreaty, which imported His Fellowship in the cause against your City, In partly for his sake moved. My Noble General, Timon is dead, Entombed upon the very hem of the Sea, And on his Gravestone, this Insculpture which With wax I brought away: whose soft Impression Interprets for my poor ignorance. Here lies a wretched Coarse, of wretched Soul bereft, Seek not my name: A Plague consume you, wicked Caitiffs left: Here lie I Timon, who alive, all living men did hate, Pass by, and curse thy fill, but pass and stay not here thy gate. These well express in thee thy latter spirits: Though thou abhorrd'st in us our humane griefs. Scornd'st our Brains flow, and those our droplets, which From niggard Nature fallen; yet Rich Conceit Taught thee to make vast Neptune weep for aye On thy low Grave, on faults forgiven. Dead Is Noble Timon, of whose Memory Hereafter more. Bring me into your City, And I will use the Olive, with my Sword: Make war breed peace; make peace stint war, make each Prescribe to other, as each others Leach. Let our Drums strike.
Plot summary
Plot — Timon of Athens
; Timon gives freely of his riches to his acquaintances: every little gift will trigger disproportionate largesse by way of requital. He intervenes financially to secure Ventidius’ release from a debtors’ prison, and settles money on his servant Lucilius to enable him to marry the girl he loves, a wealthy man’s daughter. He entertains guests at a lavish feast at which a masque of Amazons is performed. But his creditors. are alarmed by his uncontrolled spending, and call in his debts, which amount to more than the value of his entire estate. He imagines that he can still call on the former recipients of his liberality, but they make their excuses and leave him in difficulties; he is failed even by Ventidius, now a rich man after his father’s death. Timon lays on a second feast, and invites his unreliable friends; they think normal service has been resumed, but are discomfited to find that the menu consists of water alone. Timon drives them off with abuse and leaves Athens in misanthropic fury. Alcibiades attempts to save a friend from execution for murder, but the Senate dismisses the appeal; when he persists, they banish him. In the forest, Timon digs for roots to eat, but finds only buried gold. He meets Alcibiades, marching against Athens with his soldiers, and gives him gold to ensure the city’s destruction; he also pays the army’s whores to spread venereal disease. He encourages a band of thieves to prey upon mankind, but his words persuade them to rethink their way of life. His faithful steward seeks him out and offers to share his own savings; Timon rewards him for his honesty but does not change his low opinion of the rest of humanity. News gets round that Timon still has gold, and hangers-on arrive, hoping this means his bankruptcy was only a bluff to test his friends; he drives them violently away. The Senate asks Timon to return to Athens as its tuler, to defend it against Alcibiades, but Timon, who is busy writing his own epitaph, wishes annihilation on them, and recommends suicide as their only means of escape. Alcibiades’ messenger to Timon finds only his tomb. Athens surrenders, and Timon’s epitaph is read.