THE LIFE OF TIMON OF ATHENS
Page: 18

To hold your hand more close: I did endure
Not seldom, nor no slight checks, when I have
Prompted you in the ebb of your estate
And your great flow of debts. My loved lord,
Though you hear now, too late, yet now's a time,
The greatest of your having lacks a half
To pay your present debts.

TIMON.
Let all my land be sold.

FLAVIUS.
'Tis all engag'd, some forfeited and gone;
And what remains will hardly stop the mouth
Of present dues; the future comes apace:
What shall defend the interim? and at length
How goes our reckoning?

TIMON.
To Lacedaemon did my land extend.

FLAVIUS.
O my good lord! the world is but a word;
Were it all yours to give it in a breath,
How quickly were it gone!

TIMON.
You tell me true.

FLAVIUS.
If you suspect my husbandry or falsehood,
Call me before the exactest auditors
And set me on the proof. So the gods bless me,
When all our offices have been oppress'd
With riotous feeders, when our vaults have wept
With drunken spilth of wine, when every room
Hath blaz'd with lights and bray'd with minstrelsy,
I have retir'd me to a wasteful cock,
And set mine eyes at flow.

TIMON.
Prithee, no more.

FLAVIUS.
Heavens! have I said, the bounty of this lord!
How many prodigal bits have slaves and peasants
This night englutted! Who is not Timon's?
What heart, head, sword, force, means, but is Lord Timon's?
Great Timon, noble, worthy, royal Timon!'
Ah! when the means are gone that buy this praise,
The breath is gone whereof this praise is made:
Feast--won, fast--lost; one cloud of winter showers,
These flies are couch'd.

TIMON.
Come, sermon me no further;
No villainous bounty yet hath pass'd my heart;
Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given.
Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack,
To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart;
If I would broach the vessels of my love,
And try the argument of hearts by borrowing,
Men and men's fortunes could I frankly use
As I can bid thee speak.

FLAVIUS.
Assurance bless your thoughts!

TIMON.
And, in some sort, these wants of mine are crown'd
That I account them blessings; for by these