Yet I would have given a great deal if
everybody could have found out somehow that I am
tremendously rich ; they would be fit to hang themselves over the thing. But what is this? I say,
what haste they make! They are running up from
all sides, dusty and out of breath, for they scent the
gold somehow or other. Shall I climb this hill and
drive them off with a skirmish fire of stones from
above, or shall I break the law to the extent of
talking to them just this once, in order that they
may be hurt even more by being treated with contempt? That way is better, I think; so let us
stand our ground now and receive them. Let me
see, who is the first of them? Gnathonides the
toady, the man who gave me a rope the other day
when I asked for a loan, though often he has spewed
up whole jars of wine at my house. I am glad he
came: he shall be the first to smart.
Didn’t I say that the gods would not neglect an
upright man like Timon? Good day to you, Timon,
first in good looks, first in good manners and first in
good fellowship.
The same to you, Gnathonides, first of all vultures
in voracity and first of all mankind in rascality.
You are always fond of your joke. But where
are we to dine? I have brought you a new song
from one of the playsLiterally : “From one of the dithyrambs.” The allusion is anachronistic, for in Timon’s day the dithyramb was not dramatic in character. Cf. Bywater, Aristotle on the Art of Poetry, p. 99. that have just been put on.
I assure you, it will be a very mournful dirge that
you will sing, with this pick of mine to prompt you.
What’s this? A blow, Timon? I appeal to the
witnesses. O Heracles! Oh! Oh! I summon you
before the Areopagus for assault and battery.
If you will only linger one moment more, the
summons will be for murder.
No, no! Do heal my wound, at least, by putting
alittle gold on it. That is a wonderful specific for
staunching blood.
What, are you still bent on staying ?
I am going; but you shall be sorry that you left
off being a gentleman and became such a boor.