There is another circumstance which increases the probability of his being acquainted with this play, or with some other English story besides those of Plutarch and Painter. There are several incidents in Timon of Athens, evidently originating with Lucian: but that admirable dialogue, the delight of the classical reader, had not been put into an English dress at the period in question. I shall give a passage or two of Lucian, as a specimen of his humour. The reception of Philiades and Demea, after they were aware that he was possessed of great sums of gold which he had dug up in the woods, is paralleled by his treatment of the Poet, the Painter, and the Senators, which winds his character in Shakspeare:

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ΤΙ. Τίς οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ προσιών, ὁ ἀναφαλαντίας ; Φιλιάδης, κολάκων ἀπάντων ὁ βδελυρώτατος. οὗτος δὲ παρ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἀγρὸν ὅλον λαβὼν, καὶ τῇ θυγατρὶ προῖκα δύο τάλαντα, μισθὸν τοῦ ἐπαίνου, ὁπότε ᾄσαντά με, πάντων σιωπώντων, μόνος ὑπερεπήνεσεν, ἐπομοσάμενος ᾠδικώτερον εἶναι τῶν κύκνων, ἐπειδὰν νοσοῦντα πρώην εἶδέ με, καὶ προσῆλθον ἐπικουρίας δεόμενος, πληγὰς ὁ γενναῖος προσενέτεινε.

ΦΙ. Ὢ τῆς ἀναισχυντίας ! Νῦν Τίμωνα γνωρίζετε; νῦν Γναθωνίδης φίλος καὶ συμπότης ; τοιγαροῦν δίκαια πέπονθεν οὗτος ἀχάριστος ὤν. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οἱ πάλαι ξυνήθεις καὶ ξυνέφηβοι, καὶ δημόται, ὅμως μετριάζομεν, ὡς μὴ ἐπιπηδᾷν δοκῶμεν. Χαῖρε, ὦ δέσποτα· καὶ ὅπως τοὺς μιαροὺς τούτους κόλακας φυλάξῃ, τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς τραπέζης μόνον, τὰ ἄλλα δὲ κοράκων οὐδὲν διαφέροντας· οὐκ ἔτι πιστευτέα τῶν νῦν οὐδενί· πάντες ἀχάριστοι, καὶ πονηροί. Ἐγὼ δὲ τάλαντόν σοι κομίζων, ὡς ἔχοις πρὸς τὰ κατεπείγοντα χρῆσθαι, καθ ̓ ὁδὸν ἤδη πλησίον ἤκουσα ὡς πλουτοίης ὑπερμεγέθη τινὰ πλοῦτον. Ηκω τοιγαροῦν ταῦτά σε νουθετήσων· καίτοι σύ γε οὕτω σοφὸς ὢν, οὐδὲν ἴσως δεήσῃ τῶν παρ' ἐμοῦ λόγων, ὃς καὶ τῷ Νέστορι τὸ δέον παραινέσειας ἄν. ΤΙ. Ἔσται ταῦτα, ὦ Φιλιάδη. Πλὴν ἀλλὰ πρόσιθι, ὡς καὶ σὲ φιλοφρονήσομαι τῇ

δικέλλῃ. ΦΙ. *Ανθρωποι, κατέαγα τοῦ κρανίου ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀχαρίστου, διότι τὰ συμφέροντα ἐνουθέτουν αὐτὸν. ·

There is much wit in the decree which Demea brings making him out a conqueror at the Olympic games; and when Timon says that he never was there, the sycophant says, Well! but you will be there. The decree then makes him fight against the Peloponnesians; to which he again makes the following slight objection of impossibility, notwithstanding which the decree proceeds in all solemnity and magnificence, to detail the honours voted to him. The decree itself affords a specimen of an Athenian parliamentary address:

ΤΙ. Πῶς ; διὰ γὰρ τὸ μὴ ἔχειν ὅπλα, οὐδὲ προεγράφην ἐν τῷ καταλόγῳ. ΔΗ. Μέτρια τὰ περὶ σαυτοῦ λέγεις· ἡμεῖς ἀχάριστοι ἂν εἴημεν ἀμνημονοῦντες. “Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ψηφίσματα γράφων, καὶ συμβουλεύων, καὶ στρατηγῶν, οὐ μικρὰ ὠφέλησε τὴν πόλιν· Ἐπὶ τούτοις ἅπασι δέδοκται τῇ βουλῇ, καὶ τῷ δήμῳ, καὶ τῇ Ηλιαίᾳ κατὰ φυλὰς, καὶ τοῖς δήμοις ἰδίᾳ, καὶ κοινῇ πᾶσι, χρυσοῦν ἀναστῆσαι τὸν Τίμωνα παρὰ τὴν ̓Αθηνᾶν ἐν τῇ ἀκροπόλει, κεραυνὸν ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ ἔχοντα, καὶ ἀκτῖνας ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ· καὶ στεφανῶσαι αὐτὸν χρυσοῖς στεφάνοις ἕπτα· καὶ ἀνακηρυ χθῆναι τοὺς στεφάνους τήμερον Διονυσίοις τραγῳδοῖς καινοῖς ἀχθῆναι γὰρ δι' αὐτὸν δεῖ τήμερον τὰ Διονύσια. Εἶπε τὴν γνώμην Δημέας ὁ ῥήτως συγγενὴς αὐτοῦ, ἀγχιστεὺς καὶ μαθητὴς αὐτοῦ ὢν. Καὶ γὰς ῥήτως ἄριστος ὁ Τίμων, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα ὁπόσα ἂν ἐθέλοι.”

The character of Timon in Shakspeare is gradually and finely developed. In the outset he is the munificent patron, and the accomplished courtier, the model of condescension and generosity, with a fashionable air of affected modesty :

O, by no means,

Honest Ventidius: you mistake my love;

I gave it freely ever; and there's none
Can truly say, he gives, if he receives:

If our betters play at that game, we must not dare
To imitate them; Faults that are rich, are fair.

But what he has already given is not sufficient for the occasion. He fancies he could deal out cards, and distribute kingdoms without grudging them :

I take all and your several visitations

So kind to heart, 'tis not enough to give;

Methinks, I could deal kingdoms to my friends,
And ne'er be weary. - Alcibiades,

Thou art a soldier, therefore seldom rich,

It comes in charity to thee: for all thy living
Is 'mongst the dead; and all the lands thou hast
Lie in a pitch'd field.

The usual consequences of even virtuous profusion have befallen Timon. He is beggared through want of prudence. But he takes comfort to himself from the reflection, that his ruin was not occasioned by the pursuit of guilty pleasures:

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.

The limits of an essay will not allow us to follow all the gradations of character; having selected

the traits most at variance with the ultimate misanthropy, but leading through self-culpatory reflections on the past, with a strong hope resting on a favourable opinion of human nature, founded on the careless observation of a person too noble and too splendid to sift narrowly, and again disappointed in that liberal construction, we must follow Timon to the woods:

O blessed breeding sun, draw from the earth
Rotten humidity; below thy sister's orb

Infect the air! Twinn'd brothers of one womb,
Whose procreation, residence and birth,

Scarce is dividant, - touch them with several fortunes;

The greater scorns the lesser: Not nature,

To whom all sores lay siege, can bear great fortune,

But by contempt of nature.

Raise me this beggar, and deny't that lord;
The senator shall bear contempt hereditary,
The beggar native honour.

Who dares, who dares,

It is the pasture lards the brother's sides,
The want that makes him lean.
In purity of manhood stand upright,
And say, This man's a flatterer? if one be,
So are they all; for every grize of fortune
Is smooth'd by that below: the learned pate
Ducks to the golden fool: all is oblique;
There's nothing level in our cursed natures,
But direct villainy. Therefore, be abhorr'd
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men!
His semblance, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang mankind! - Earth, yield me roots!

[digging.

Who seeks for better of thee, sauce his palate
With thy most operant poison! What is here?
Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods,
I am no idle votarist. Roots, you clear heavens!
Thus much of this will make black, white; foul, fair;

Wrong, right; base, noble; old, young; coward, valiant. Ha, you gods! Why this? What this, you gods? Why

this

Will lug your priests and servants from your sides;
Pluck stout men's pillows from below their heads:
This yellow slave

Will knit and break religions; bless the accurs'd;
Make the hoar leprosy ador'd; place thieves,
And give them title, knee, and approbation,
With senators on the bench: this is it,
That makes the wappen'd widow wed again;
She, whom the spital-house, and ulcerous sores
Would cast the gorge at, this embalms and spices
To the April day again. Come, damned earth,
Thou common whore of mankind, that put'st odds
Among the rout of nations, I will make thee

Do thy right nature.-[march afar off]-Ha! a drum?
-Thou'rt quick,

But yet I'll bury thee: Thou'lt go, strong thief,
When gouty keepers of thee cannot stand:—
Nay, stay thou out for earnest. [keeping some gold.

It has been observed that Plutarch gave the tone to our author's delineation of the character. The old translation of Plutarch's Life of Antony furnished him with a learned term, as well as with an anecdote in relation to Alcibiades, which he has

ingeniously adapted to his purpose in the present

scene:

I am misanthropos, and hate mankind.

For thy part, I do wish thou wert a dog,
That I might love thee something.

The following answer to Alcibiades's question is in Shakspeare's best style: