Page 3152 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3
P. 3152

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;
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