Page 3152 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

Will ’t hold? Will ’t hold?

SECOND LORD
It does; but time will − and so −

THIRD LORD
I do conceive.

TIMON
Each man to his stool, with that spur as he would to the lip of his mistress.
Your diet shall be in all places [65] alike. Make not a City feast of it, to let the
meat cool ere

we can agree upon the first place. Sit, sit. The gods require our thanks.
You great benefactors, sprinkle our society with thankfulness. For your own
gifts, make yourselves prais’d; but [70] reserve still to give, lest your deities

be despis’d. Lend to each man enough, that one need not lend to another; for
were your godheads to borrow of men, men would forsake the gods. Make
the meat be belov’d, more than the man that gives it. Let no assembly of
twenty be without a score [75] of villains. If there sit twelve women at the
table, let a dozen of them be as they are. The rest of your fees, O gods, the

Senators of Athens, together with the common leg of people − what is amiss
in them, you gods, make suitable for destruction. For these my present
friends, as they [80] are to me nothing, so in nothing bless them, and to

nothing are they welcome.
Uncover, dogs, and lap.
[The dishes are uncovered and seen to be full of warm water]

SOME
What does his lordship mean?

OTHERS
I know not.

TIMON
May you a better feast never behold, [85]

You knot of mouth-friends! Smoke and lukewarm water
Is your perfection. This is Timon’s last;