Shakespeare\u2019s Timon of Athens Commentary A. J. Drake, Ph.D.<\/title><meta name= \"description\" content= \"Timon of Athens commentary addresses major themes, major characters such as Timon, Apemantus, Alcibiades, Ventidius, Flavius, literary analysis, drama theory.\"><\/head><\/p>\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Commentaries on<br>Shakespeare’s Tragedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-4f6cdd05 uag-hide-mob\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-dcba7b2a wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div 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class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-commentaries\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-57f86fdb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-audio\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">AUDIO<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-1b812369 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-guides\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-d5da63d7 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/shakespeare-links\/\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-19d28286\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-69502be5 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act1\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0ec42142 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act2\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-6ac70dcb wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act3\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-bfd6ecc9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act4\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-55716ff6 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#act5\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-0246bad9 wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"#endnotes\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">ENDNOTES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shakespeare, William. <em>The Life of Timon of Athens.<\/em> (<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 850-904).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Of Interest: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsc.org.uk\/timon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">RSC Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/internetshakespeare.uvic.ca\/Library\/Texts\/Tim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ISE Resources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shakespeare-online.com\/sources\/timonsources.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">S-O Sources<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.folger.edu\/explore\/shakespeare-in-print\/first-folio\/bookreader-68\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">1623 Folio 696-717 (Folger)<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/lucianofsamosata.info\/wiki\/doku.php?id=home:texts_and_library:dialogues:timon-the-misanthrope\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lucian\u2019s <em>The Misanthrope<\/em><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b4034287&seq=19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Plutarch\u2019s <em>Life of Marcus Antonius (North)<\/em><\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b3827690&seq=138\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Plutarch\u2019s <em>Life of Pericles <\/em>(North)<\/a><strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act1\">ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 1 (850-57, Timon\u2019s hangers-on\u2014a poet, a painter, a merchant, and a jeweler\u2014gather at his estate to talk about Timon and what they hope to get from him; Timon pays Ventidius\u2019s fine to free him from jail, financially backs his servant Lucilius\u2019s marriage proposal, and praises his guests\u2019 efforts; he invites them to a feast, along with Alcibiades and the Cynic Apemantus, who rails at Timon and his entourage.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the opening of the play, a number of Timon\u2019s apparently frequent friends and dinner guests wait inside Timon\u2019s great house, and together they give us our initial, if indirect, look at the great man. First, the jeweler has an exquisite precious stone that he would like Timon to have, at the right price\u2014that is, \u201cIf he will touch the estimate\u201d (851, 1.1.15). The jeweler has a way of somehow being frankly commercialist and yet elegant in his praise of Timon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next, the painter displays his creation intended to honor the gracious Timon, and the poet duly praises the \u201cArtificial strife\u201d (851, 1.1.38) or craftsmanlike effort that must have gone into its making. The poet, in turn, gives us a view of Timon of Athens, for he has written a moral allegory: in his poem, he has \u201cupon a high and pleasant hill \/ Feigned Fortune to be throned\u201d (852, 1.1.64-65), and at the base of the hill are all sorts of people, in all states of virtue. Timon is called by Lady Fortune herself to make his way up the hill toward her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the Poet also gives us the darker side of the widely known medieval \u201cLady Fortune\u201d motif: when the wheel shifts, all of Timon\u2019s followers perceive his distress but still \u201clet him set down, \/ Not one accompanying his declining foot\u201d (853, 1.1.88-89). In other words, they save themselves and let him be dragged down to the base of the hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The painter doesn\u2019t seem impressed, saying that he could easily point to \u201cA thousand moral paintings\u201d (853, 1.1.91) that could more effectually get the same point across. He does, however, think the poet wise to show Timon \u201cthat mean eyes have seen \/ The foot above the head\u201d (853, 1.1.94-95). The poet\u2019s words will put it to Timon if trouble besets him, baser people may not exactly idolize him as if he were a god: they will recognize his common humanity, and they will act to preserve themselves above all others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, this is a point that the poet has already made in his own way. He has said with respect to Timon that, \u201cHis large fortune, \/ Upon his good and gracious nature hanging, \/ Subdues and properties to his love and tendance \/ All sorts of hearts\u201d (852, 1.1.56-59). There is a hint in such language of something other than the remarkably innocent spirit in which Timon sees himself acting when he spreads largesse among his fellow Athenians. There is a hint in such unlimited giving of a drive to dominate others, to condition them to one\u2019s will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But at this point, none of Timon\u2019s followers makes much of the poet\u2019s suggestive word-painting. They are there, after all, to sell Timon something, not to reflect deeply on the man\u2019s nature or his future well-being, so they need not engage in serious reflection on the unhappy implications of the poet\u2019s representation of a fickle, ultimately unkind Fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon, too, is oblivious to any such considerations, and we catch our first glimpse of him when he is doing something characteristic: helping everyone who asks, anyone who is in need of money. He rescues Ventidius, who has been arrested for debts owed, and easily gives in to the Old Athenian who professes to be irate that one of Timon\u2019s servants, Lucilius, wants to marry his daughter (853-54, 1.1.96-111, 112-53).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s reward is the robust thanks of those he benefits, and Lucilius even tenders a large promise, saying, \u201cNever may \/ That state or fortune fall into my keeping \/ Which is not owed to you\u201d (854, 1.1.151-53). This is the language one uses with an absolute monarch from whom all lands, titles, and benefits flow, not with a mere citizen in presumably democratic Athens. <a href=\"#_edn1\" id=\"_ednref1\">[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The painter and the jeweler flatter Timon as is apparently their habit, and then Apemantus the Cynic philosopher <a href=\"#_edn2\" id=\"_ednref2\">[2]<\/a> puts in an appearance. In his mocking way, he tries to impart some wisdom to Timon and the onlookers, declaring that Timon is no better than those who flatter him: \u201cHe that loves to be flattered is worthy \u2018o\u2019th\u2019 flatterer (856, 1.1.219). Aside from that not very successful mission, the sum total of Apemantus\u2019s present purpose seems to be to confirm that \u201cthe strain of man\u2019s \/ bred out into baboon and monkey\u201d (857, 1.1.243-44).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ever the observer, Apemantus has come to the feast mainly, he says, \u201cto see meat fill knaves and wine heat fools\u201d (857, 1.1.253). Having announced that portfolio as a sour Cynic philosopher among the beautiful people\u2014or those pretending to be such\u2014Apemantus has done with the lords who have flocked to Timon\u2019s feast. At least, for the moment. He will have another chance to shine when dinner is served.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 1, Scene 2 (857-63, Timon throws a fine dinner party, replete with a masque; he rejects Ventidius\u2019s offer to repay him, and gives his guests thoughtful, expensive gifts; Apemantus, by contrast, calls out the guests\u2019 obvious flattery of their host; the honest steward, Flavius, tells us\u2014though not yet Timon\u2014that his employer is now spending money alarmingly beyond his means.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon asserts his utopian personal philosophy: it consists of a social circle of \u201cshiny happy people holding hands,\u201d <a href=\"#_edn3\" id=\"_ednref3\">[3]<\/a> a society grounded in the continual act of exchanging mostly symbolic, very expensive gifts that unite its members in friendship. In practice, however, Timon is the one bestowing the gifts\u2014there is almost nothing reciprocal about the relationships he maintains with his admirers. They pay him with flattery and use him as an easy mark for their overpriced commodities, and he rewards them all the more for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Ventidius tries to repay Timon\u2014if indeed he is even serious in the offer, which seems doubtful\u2014the latter turns down the repayment, saying \u201cthere\u2019s none \/ Can truly say he gives if he receives\u201d (858, 1.2.10-11). He does not see giving in economic terms, but processes it as an expression of generous friendship. Taking anything in return would cancel out the good intentions involved in the original act of giving. <a href=\"#_edn4\" id=\"_ednref4\">[4]<\/a> It seems to be a principal tenet of \u201cTimonomics\u201d that chickens never come home to roost. But if they did, one should offer them a magnificent gift for their trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s gloss on \u201cceremony\u201d is presented to us when his guests make a decorous response to his generosity toward Ventidius, only to be told, \u201cCeremony was but devised at first \/ To set a gloss on faint deeds, hollow welcomes, \/ Recanting goodness, sorry \u2018ere tis shown\u201d (858, 1.2.16-18). It is entirely possible for decorum, ceremony, and the like to degenerate into hollow, dishonest formalism, but Timon\u2019s dismissal seems peremptory and overly broad, all but inviting his guests to scorn his beneficence and take advantage of him at will. <a href=\"#_edn5\" id=\"_ednref5\">[5]<\/a> Appreciation for life\u2019s formalities was not so despised in Shakespeare\u2019s own time. <a href=\"#_edn6\" id=\"_ednref6\">[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The strangeness of Timon\u2019s conception of friendship appears when he says, \u201cWhy, I have \/ often wished myself poorer that I might come nearer to you. We are born to do benefits \u2026\u201d (859-60, 1.2.95-97). He is opposed to any immediate reciprocity, choosing instead to widen the arc of giving and receiving as much as possible, even wishing that someday\u2014who knows when?\u2014he might have need of his friends\u2019 generosity just so they may have the same pleasure in giving that he himself enjoys, and grow even closer to him. This seems na\u00efve, to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is na\u00efve, that is, because Timon himself continually short-circuits the possibility of any such reciprocity between himself and those who call themselves his friends. He will soon find that when he needs to \u201cstress-test\u201d his friendships in the manner that he all but invites here, he will be sorely disappointed. Trying to transcend the spirit-controlling power of money by means of enormous sums of money has a way of backfiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even as Timon enunciates his philosophy of perpetual beneficence, <a href=\"#_edn7\" id=\"_ednref7\">[7]<\/a> Apemantus is at work tearing down his host\u2019s fine gestures. In Scene 2, the Cynic gets a sustained opportunity to chip away at Timon\u2019s na\u00efvet\u00e9, but in truth, his sour insight is no match for Timon\u2019s effervescent nobility: he scorns the evening\u2019s masque, an event that everyone else delights to behold, saying, \u201cI should fear those that dance before me now \/ Would one day stamp upon me\u201d (860, 1.2.136-37).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the magnificent line that follows upon this thought, \u201cMen shut their doors against a setting sun\u201d (860, 1.2.138)\u2014if indeed Timon hears this line\u2014drops to no effect amid so much good cheer, what with the conversation, dancing, and great food. Evidently, Apemantus sees all this entertainment as vanity; he finds in it, or in the dance of life itself, no harmony, and in pleasure no healing for the soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A similar fate belongs to Apemantus\u2019s blunt question, \u201cWhat needs \/ these feasts, pomps, and vainglories?\u201d (863, 1.2.240-41)\u2014a moment wherein the Cynic philosopher is earnestly trying to warn Timon about the danger he is in\u2014as well as to the steward Flavius\u2019s agonized, but as yet unshared, recognition of his master\u2019s blindness to impending ruin in the form of \u201can empty coffer\u201d (863, 1.2.190).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Steward is perplexed in the extreme by his employer\u2019s heedless conduct: Timon will not, laments Flavius, \u201cknow his purse, or yield me this: \/ To show him what a beggar his heart is, \/ Being of no power to make his wishes good\u201d (862, 1.2.191-93). In modern times, we sometimes joke about the very rich being so wealthy that they have no idea how much money and property they possess, and that seems to be literally true of Timon of Athens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apemantus sums up his assessment of Timon, and the second scene as well, with what sounds like a heartfelt remark: \u201cO, that men\u2019s ears should be \/ To counsel deaf, but not to flattery (863, 1.2.246-47).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Indeed, Timon is too busy enjoying his utopian circle of admirers and dependents to pay attention to Apemantus\u2019s barbed wisdom. Unfortunately for this Greek lord, however, Shakespeare seldom allows such utopian visions to go unchallenged. Again and again, the playwright reinforces the point that there is no such thing as a flawless human system. There is no utopia, no perfect society, outside of fiction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Shakespeare and practically everyone else in his own time, human beings are ineradicably <em>postlapsarian.<\/em> As the wise clown Feste puts the matter in <em>Twelfth Night,<\/em> \u201cAnything \/ that\u2019s mended is but patched. Virtue that transgresses is but \/ patched with sin, and sin that amends is but patched with vir- \/ tue\u2026.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn8\" id=\"_ednref8\">[8]<\/a> At base, Timon does not have a realistic understanding of human nature, and he does not understand himself or his relationships with other human beings. While he is far from an ignoble or base man, no sustainable good can come of his philosophy of flattery-as-friendship and extreme giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act2\">ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scene 1 (863-64, A senator figures out that Timon is going broke, and sends his servant to call in the loans the privileged borrower has failed to repay.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second act\u2019s beginning marks an abrupt perspectival transformation from the beginning of the first. We hear not from Timon\u2019s flatterers but from someone who is well placed to bring his way of life crashing down: a senator to whom the philanthropist owes a lot of money. The senator sends his servant Caphis to call in Timon\u2019s loan, with instructions to get right to the point: \u201cPut on a most importunate aspect, \/ A visage of demand, for I do fear \/ When every feather sticks in his own wing \/ Lord Timon will be left a naked gull \u2026\u201d (864, 2.1.28-31).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 2, Scene 2 (864-69, Timon\u2019s creditors send servants who assemble together and confront the spendthrift lord, insisting that their employers be made whole; Timon finally understands that he is flat broke, and sends his servants forth to borrow from his friends.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flavius again speaks in soliloquy, observing that Timon simply will not \u201ccease his flow of riot\u201d (864, 2.2.3) and live in anything close to a sane, much less frugal, manner. Just as Flavius determines to speak frankly with his employer, in come the senator\u2019s servant Caphis, Varro\u2019s servant, and Isidore\u2019s servant, all of them determined to call in the loans that have been extended to Flavius on behalf of Timon. At last, when all three of these men rush at Timon to press their masters\u2019 overdue suits, he finally takes notice, however confusedly, of his real situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flavius asks the servants of Timon\u2019s creditors to hold off until dinnertime, so that he may explain to Timon the precise nature and extent of his troubles. Apemantus visits the creditors\u2019 servants together with a Fool who seems to be a pimp, or \u201cbawd,\u201d and the two of them enjoy trading barbs with the servants. Meanwhile, Flavius takes advantage of the present distressing situation to give Timon a proper accounting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon himself now uses the language of responsible economic stewardship, however unconvincingly. He remonstrates with Flavius, \u201cYou make me marvel wherefore ere this time \/ Had you not fully laid my state before me, \/ That I might so have rated my expense \/ As I had leave of means\u201d (867, 2.2.119-22). By this time, however, Flavius has no intention of allowing Timon to blame him, and he tells him plainly, \u201cYou would not hear me. \/ At many leisures I proposed\u201d (867, 2.2.122-23), admitting as well that on many occasions he actually wept over the sorry state of Timon\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon now acknowledges his predicament, though in a self-defensive way, saying to Flavius, \u201cNo villainous bounty yet hath passed my heart. \/ Unwisely, not ignobly, have I given\u201d (868, 2.2.168-69). He also scolds Flavius for his supposed failure to trust in the power of friendship: \u201cYou shall perceive how you \/ Mistake my fortunes: I am wealthy in my friends\u201d (868, 2.2.178-79). Even the steward Flavius\u2019s admission that he has already unsuccessfully sounded the Athenian senators about the possibility of a loan fails to dent Timon\u2019s unbounded belief in the good will and sufficiency of his charmed circle of friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The main function of the second scene, we can see by now, is to set Timon of Athens up for the steepest and cruelest possible fall. Nearly everyone he thought he could count on will, in short order, reject him in the most shameful and transparently selfish way. Unlike some of today\u2019s major financial institutions that have fallen on evil days, no one will be able to say of Timon that he is \u201ctoo big to fail.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn9\" id=\"_ednref9\">[9]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act3\">ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 1 (869-71, Timon\u2019s servant Flaminius asks Lucullus for money, but Lucullus refuses to help.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s servant Flaminius visits his sometime dinner companion Lucullus, who behaves like a thorough cad. He even goes so far as to offer Timon the equivalent of \u201cI told you so\u201d with regard to his profligacy, and tosses a bit of money at Flaminius to \u201cforget\u201d that he even met Lucullus. Flaminius scorns the dishonest offer, and when Lucullus exits, the servant declares, \u201cI feel my master\u2019s passion. This slave \/ Unto this hour has my lord\u2019s meat in him\u201d (871, 3.1.50-51).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It’s worth noting that among Timon\u2019s circle, only his servants seem to honor him in a genuine and steady manner\u2014a pattern that will hold true throughout the play. They seem well aware of Timon\u2019s flaws and mistakes, but they also see the goodness of the man shining through even the worst of those flaws and mistakes. In its excessiveness, the master\u2019s conduct may be foolhardy rather than truly magnificent, but his is at least arguably a less blameworthy path to follow than that of, say, a wealthy person who remains a miser. <a href=\"#_edn10\" id=\"_ednref10\">[10]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 2 (871-72, Timon\u2019s servant Servilius asks Lucius, another of Timon\u2019s companions, for a big loan and he, too, refuses to help; bystanders speak with disgust about the ungrateful conduct of Timon\u2019s friends, and praise Timon himself for his decency.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s servant Servilius asks Lucius to lend Timon a large sum, and is immediately refused. Lucius is much more polite and \u201cpolitic\u201d in his rejection, but that is all that may be said in his favor. His politeness is a cover for his heartless knavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several strangers see what\u2019s happening between Servilius and Lucius, and the First Stranger offers a robust condemnation of Lucius\u2019s conduct, pointing out that Timon has showered benefits on him and helped him and his people in their hour of need. The First Stranger also tells us that he never had occasion to borrow any money of seek any favors from Timon, so perhaps his status of being \u201cfree and clear\u201d makes it easier for him to render an objective appreciation of Timon\u2019s true quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 3 (873, Timon\u2019s companion Sempronius is asked to extend a loan to Timon, but again, the request is denied.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sempronius\u2019s turn to be hit up for money comes next, and he\u2019s more than equal to the task of finding a way to reject the request in the most ridiculous way possible. In this case, he pretends to take offense at Timon\u2019s servant because the master came to him <em>last. <\/em>Oh, the outrage of it! Timon is answered with, \u201cWho bates mine honor shall not know my coin\u201d (873, 3.3.26). The servant is disgusted almost beyond words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 4 (874-76, Timon\u2019s creditors once again send their servants to him, but this time he faces them with an angry spirit and harsh words.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The steward Flavius is in no mood to parry wits with the servants of Timon\u2019s creditors, and he waves them aside with the rejoinder, \u201cmy lord and I have made an end; \/ I have no more to reckon, he to spend\u201d (875, 3.4.54-55). That\u2019s hardly acceptable to the impatient servants, but soon they must reckon with a newly enraged Timon. We have not seen this fire in him until now, but it\u2019s there: he is angry at having his way barred in his own house by importunate suitors for money he no longer has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s language now takes on a metaphoricity that registers the seriousness of the catastrophe he has brought upon himself. When the \u201cbills\u201d or demands for repayment are thrust at him, he responds as if the bills were halberds, sharp weapons intended to stab him and draw his blood: \u201cKnock me down with \u2018em; cleave me to the girdle\u201d <a href=\"#_edn11\" id=\"_ednref11\">[11]<\/a> (876, 3.4.85). The creditors don\u2019t know what to do with this new sensibility, and they leave dissatisfied in their common suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 5 (876, Timon, beside himself over the pitiless and rude behavior of his friends and creditors, tells Flavius to issue one last dinner invitation.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon, having presented an angry face to his creditors, now orders Flavius to send out one final dinner invitation, and it\u2019s clear that it will not be a pleasant occasion since he now refers to the future guests not as creditors but as \u201cDevils\u201d (876, 3.5.2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 6 (877-79, Alcibiades earnestly entreats the Athenian senate to spare the life of a soldier who has committed manslaughter as revenge; the Senate denies his suit, and when he persists in it, they banish him from Athens; Alcibiades is outraged at this treatment, and, in soliloquy, swears that he will win his soldiers over to attacking Athens.) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alcibiades, a military officer who, at least upon first consideration, has little in common with a refined lord such as Timon, <a href=\"#_edn12\" id=\"_ednref12\">[12]<\/a> now suffers a similarly humiliating defeat at the hands of Athens. When the captain asks that the law\u2019s rigor be set aside on his say-so for a soldier of his who has apparently committed manslaughter in some civil honor-based confrontation, the Athenian senators brusquely refuse a request that Alcibiades thought would be routine. The senators value neither the soldier\u2019s concern for honor, nor Alcibiades\u2019s belief that he is entitled to the state\u2019s consideration for his own services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Athenian senators summarily banish Alcibiades, the captain reacts with great bitterness. His banishment is almost welcome to him, he says in soliloquy: \u201cIt is a cause worthy my spleen and fury \/ That I may strike at Athens\u201d (879, 3.6.111-12). Like Timon, who has found to his cost that his conception of friendship is by no means shared by his supposed friends, Alcibiades discovers that, as far as the esteemed senators of Athens are concerned, his military prowess in service of the great city are worth next to nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 3, Scene 7 (879-82, Timon holds one last dinner for his supposed friends, but the fare is nothing but hot water; Timon curses the diners, splashes water at them, and drives them away violently; the guests think he must have gone mad.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s erstwhile friends try to paper over their shameful treatment of him, but it does them no good. His prayer to the gods now is, \u201cFor these \/ my present friends, as they are to me nothing, so in nothing \/ bless them, and to nothing are they welcome\u201d (3.7.77-79). For their duteous presence at Timon\u2019s \u201cLast Supper,\u201d they receive only lukewarm water. In other words, they are treated to the proverbial \u201cnice hot bowl of nothing.\u201d That, and some painful blows as they exit. Timon has made the transformation from gracious host to dedicated misanthrope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act4\">ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 1 (882-83, cursing Athens and everyone in it who once celebrated his wealth and influence, Timon abandons the city and withdraws to live in the woods, where he expects to perfect his hatred for all mankind.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As Apemantus will say in the third scene, <a href=\"#_edn13\" id=\"_ednref13\">[13]<\/a> Timon cannot maintain the middle way in anything, but runs to excess both in his generosity and now in his utter condemnation of all humanity. Here in Scene 1, we are subjected to Timon\u2019s first sustained burst of words expressing his rage not just at his particular foes but at humankind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like King Lear, Timon sees nothing but systemic knavery everywhere he looks, even in institutions such as law and the conventions that uphold social hierarchy and sexual morality. To all these forces of righteousness and restraint, Timon offers a harsh prayer: \u201cDecline to your confounding contraries, \/ And yet confusion live\u201d (882, 4.1.20-21). Much of what Timon says here is rather close, at least in tone if not ultimately in wisdom, to King Lear\u2019s awful insights into the corruption of human nature and the consequent perversion of the stays set up to keep that corruption in check. <a href=\"#_edn14\" id=\"_ednref14\">[14]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If we ask why Timon has gone to the woods, <a href=\"#_edn15\" id=\"_ednref15\">[15]<\/a> we can know the answer by reading the conclusion to his prayer: \u201cThe gods confound\u2014hear me, you good gods all!\u2014 \/ Th\u2019Athenians both within and out that wall, \/ And grant as Timon grows his hate may grow \/ To the whole race of mankind, high and low\u201d (883, 4.1.37-40). Now that is a prayer to which any confirmed misanthropist can, as Timon does, say \u201cAmen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 2 (883-84, Flavius the steward shares his own money with his anxious fellow servants, who must now leave Timon\u2019s abandoned estate; Flavius says he will follow after Timon and do his best to perform the office of steward for him.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Flavius, Timon\u2019s former steward, meets with his fellow servants one last time and selflessly shares with these social underlings a portion of his remaining wealth, little as it is. This is to emulate his master\u2019s gesture, but in a more down-to-earth way grounded in necessity, not in the grandiose and primarily symbolic manner of Timon. When the servants leave, Flavius denounces hope for the kind of riches Timon once commanded since, in the end, as experience has shown him, it brings only \u201cmisery and contempt\u201d (883, 4.2.32).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What is Flavius\u2019s steadfast support for Timon based on? Well, in his soliloquy he does not recognize the Aristotelian \u201cgolden mean\u201d standard for assessing virtue, <a href=\"#_edn16\" id=\"_ednref16\">[16]<\/a> but he seems to be acting on the basis of a standard that we, Shakespeare, and his audience would recognize: it\u2019s the one Portia declares when she tells Shylock in <em>The Merchant of Venice, <\/em>\u201cThe quality of mercy is not strained.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn17\" id=\"_ednref17\">[17]<\/a> In other words, compassion and empathy should never have to be forced from a person; they should come naturally and be extended as many times as necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Portia\u2019s approach is not much different from Christ\u2019s answer to Peter when the apostle asked how many times he should forgive a brother who has done him wrong: \u201cI say not to thee, Unto seven times, but, Unto seventy times seven times.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn18\" id=\"_ednref18\">[18]<\/a> Flavius takes no personal offense at his old master\u2019s mistakes and sometime shallowness, but forgives him. <a href=\"#_edn19\" id=\"_ednref19\">[19]<\/a> It is unfortunate, to be sure, that Timon doesn\u2019t return the sentiment, but Flavius remains loyal just the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 4, Scene 3 (884-96, while digging for edible roots, Timon finds gold; Alcibiades visits him along with two prostitutes, and Timon condemns Alcibiades but gives the women gold if they will promise to keep damaging Athens with venereal disease; next, Apemantus visits, reproaching Timon for his lack of moderation and promising to tell the Athenians about his gold; bandits arrive, and Timon gives them gold while encouraging them to continue in their trade; Timon\u2019s steward visits him, lamenting and offering help, but Timon sends him away.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Again sounding for all the world like the furious King Lear in the depths of his daughters\u2019 betrayal and deep sensibility of his own guilt, Timon curses all human pretensions to anything but vice and wickedness. Who, he asks, can honestly \u201cstand upright \/ And say, \u2018This man\u2019s a flatterer\u2019? If one be, \/ So are they all, for every grece of fortune \/ Is smoothed by that below\u201d (884, 4.3.14-17). Everything is governed by hierarchy and advantage-taking, no matter that these concepts are quickly hollowed out and rendered shams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon has for some time now reckoned that all he wants from mother earth is edible roots, but in the strangest of coincidences\u2014if such it is since, for all we know, the gods may be involved\u2014while digging for his next meal, he finds a large quantity of gold, perhaps in the form of coins. <a href=\"#_edn20\" id=\"_ednref20\">[20]<\/a> At the moment, all Timon can do is tally the many bad effects of this supposedly precious yellow metal. He re-buries some of it when he hears a drum announcing someone\u2019s approach, but he leaves a portion of the gold exposed, as he says, \u201cfor earnest.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn21\" id=\"_ednref21\">[21]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The drum announces the entrance of none other than Captain Alcibiades with his soldiers and two prostitutes, Phrynia and Timandra. Timon at first curses at Alcibiades and tells him to betake his interest in gold elsewhere, but when the Captain offers him gold, he rejects it with contempt, and offers him some in turn, encouraging him to destroy Athens and show no pity for even the most innocent: \u201cPut armor on thine ears and on thine eyes, \/ Whose proof nor yells of mothers, maids, nor babes, \/ Nor sight of priests in holy vestments bleeding, \/ Shall pierce a jot\u201d (887, 4.3.124-27).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for Phrynia and Timandra, Timon is obsessively positive about the \u201cworld\u2019s oldest profession\u201d that they follow, and he showers them with gold to extract a promise that they will not leave off afflicting Athenian men (along with those the men inadvertently harm) with the several diseases that come from irresponsible sexual relations. As Timon puts it, what the prostitutes can inflict on Athens is far worse than anything Alcibiades and his soldiers would do: \u201cBe whores still,\u201d he tells them, \u201cand he whose pious breath seeks to convert you, \/ Be strong in whore, allure him, burn him up\u201d (887, 4.3.140-42).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next up in the queue to visit Timon is Apemantus, our favorite Cynic philosopher, and the two men have quite a back-and-forth, from which we should cover at least the highlights. Apemantus\u2019s first gesture is to try to deflate what he must take to be Timon\u2019s continued ego and arrogance by insisting that this onetime rich lord has come by his cynicism at cut-rate: \u201cThis is in thee,\u201d he taunts Timon, \u201ca nature but infected, \/ A poor unmanly melancholy sprung \/ From change of future. Why this spade, this place, \/ This slave-like habit, and these looks of care?\u201d (889, 4.3.203-06)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon listens to some more of such talk, and then turns the argument around against Apemantus, saying, \u201cThou art a slave, whom Fortune\u2019s tender arm \/ With favor never clasped, but bred a dog\u201d (890, 4.3.251-52). Timon goes on to suggest that if this Cynic born to misery had had a rich person\u2019s upbringing, he would not be so abstemious but would rather have thrown himself into a state of \u201cgeneral riot\u201d and depravity (890, 4.3.257) just like any spoiled rich brat: \u201cIf thou hadst not been born the worst of men, \/ Thou hadst been a knave and flatterer\u201d (890, 4.3.276-77).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apemantus next responds to Timon\u2019s question as to what he would do if he could do anything he wanted as follows: he would hand over the earth to wild animals \u201cto be rid of the men\u201d (891, 4.3.322). This logic Timon rejects utterly, calling it \u201ca beastly ambition\u201d (891, 4.3.326) to wish that men were no better than beasts. What he appears to mean is that he sees no advantage in living in a primal state. In such a state there obtains, as Thomas Hobbes would later write in <em>Leviathan <\/em>about life before civil contracts, nothing but a universal \u201cwar of every one against every one.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn22\" id=\"_ednref22\">[22]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this condition, Timon says, there is no freedom since, as he asks, \u201cWhat beast couldst \/ thou be that were not subject to a beast, and what a beast \/ art thou already , that seest not thy loss in transformation?\u201d (4.3.340-42) This is as unanswerable as King Lear\u2019s refusal to accept his proposed reduction by Regan and Goneril to living according to mere necessity, without his hundred retainers: \u201cOh, reason not the need!\u201d thunders the old king. <a href=\"#_edn23\" id=\"_ednref23\">[23]<\/a> Being constrained to one\u2019s unaccommodated human nature never appealed to Shakespeare, to judge from his plays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Apemantus and Timon finally come nearly to blows, so heated is their argument. Strangely, Timon advances a confession that largely undoes what he had said by way of distinguishing between men and beasts: he tells Apemantus, \u201cI am sick of this false world and will love naught \/ But even the mere necessities upon\u2019t\u201d (892, 4.3.369-70). His parting words to the Cynic amount to a paean to the destructive power of gold, and in turn, Apemantus promises to tell the Athenians that Timon has gold so that they will flock to him and pester him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following in the procession of Timon\u2019s greeters are three bandits, who, with surprising delicacy, call themselves not thieves, but \u201cmen that much do want\u201d (893, 4.3.408). No matter\u2014Timon gives them gold enough and encourages them to go about their trade. He even offers a litany explaining how practically everything, including the sun and the moon and the sea, is a thief, if you consider its operation. The \u201cmen that much do want\u201d don\u2019t know what to make of Timon or anything he says, so off they go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s final visitor in this scene is, as we might have expected, his loyal steward Flavius, who has come to check up on his old employer. Upon seeing Timon, Flavius exclaims, \u201cOh, monument \/ And wonder of good deeds evilly bestowed!\u201d (894, 4.3.453-54) Timon\u2019s generosity was right, implies the Steward; he just bestowed it on the wrong people. But he also questions the very concept of friendship, saying, \u201cWhat viler thing upon the earth than friends, \/ Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends\u201d (894, 4.3.456-57). <a href=\"#_edn24\" id=\"_ednref24\">[24]<\/a> In a corrupt society, he seems to ask, how can such a concept survive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Conversing with Flavius, Timon finds himself compelled to admit that the corruption of the world is not quite universal: \u201cI do proclaim \/ One honest man. Mistake me not, but one\u2014 \/ No more, I pray\u2014and he\u2019s a steward\u201d (895, 4.3.488-90). This sounds almost like damning with faint praise, but at least Timon seems sincere in his praise, hemmed in though it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What are we to make of Timon\u2019s parting gesture of offering Flavius gold\u2014that horrible metal that he has already said has corrupted the world? Well, he gives this \u201cgift\u201d with one strong injunction: \u201cHate all, curse all, show charity to none, \/ But let the famished flesh slide from the bone \/ Ere thou relieve the beggar\u201d (896, 4.3.519-21). Impervious to Flavius\u2019s prayer to let him stay and bring comfort to his onetime master, Timon sends this one good man on his way, and there ends the long procession of people whom Timon would prefer not to have encountered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"act5\">ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 1 (896-98, the poet and painter come to Timon\u2019s camp, but not to see him\u2014they hope to secure the gold that others say he now has; Timon ushers them out of his presence, so they receive nothing for their efforts.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In one of the play\u2019s most satisfying scenes, Timon tricks the poet and the painter into revealing the venality of their purpose in visiting him at his seaside hovel, and then runs them clean off the premises. You go, Timon! But seriously, before they are kicked to the curb, these two aesthetic grifters make a couple of statements worth mention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first is that the times suit not performance but mere promise-making, which, the painter says, \u201copens the eyes of expectation.\u201d Furthermore, he says, except among \u201cthe plainer and simpler \/ kind of people, the deed of saying is quite out of use. \/ To promise is most courtly and fashionable \u2026\u201d (896, 5.1.23-26). This kind of talk might as well be taken from the work of Oscar Wilde or some other proponent of Victorian <em>fin de si\u00e8cle<\/em> overturning of moral earnestness and realism. <a href=\"#_edn25\" id=\"_ednref25\">[25]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Except that Wilde and his companions were engaging in a legitimate critique of their societies, and our dear poet and painter aren\u2019t\u2014they are simply parasites. In any case, we could, if we were so inclined, spin the painter\u2019s silly remark into an observation about the superiority of suggestiveness in art over the full representation of something staid and dull, or something we have come to see only by a kind of visual shorthand. One of Wilde\u2019s characters, for example\u2014Vivian in \u201cThe Decay of Lying\u201d\u2014delightfully refers to an actual sunset as merely a \u201csecond-rate Turner\u201d painting. <a href=\"#_edn26\" id=\"_ednref26\">[26]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then there is the poet\u2019s intention of promising Timon a fine satirical representation, \u201ca personating\u201d of Timon himself that would amount to \u201ca satire against the softness of prosperity, with a discovery of the infinite flat- \/ teries that follow youth and opulency\u201d (897, 5.1.32-34). Let\u2019s call this something like a premonition of William Hogarth\u2019s eighteenth-century series of paintings titled \u201cA Rake\u2019s Progress,\u201d <a href=\"#_edn27\" id=\"_ednref27\">[27]<\/a> which follows the downfall of a young gentleman when he proves unable to stay away from prostitutes, strong drink, and gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The strange thing is, the poet seems to intend his promise of such work more as flattery than condemnation. So what kind of gesture is the artist engaging in here? It resembles the one made by the conspirator Decius Brutus in Shakespeare\u2019s<em> Julius Caesar, <\/em>who says that he will draw the reluctant Caesar to the Capitol on the Ides of March by the following strategy: \u201cwhen I tell him he hates flatterers, \/ He says he does, being then most flattered.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn28\" id=\"_ednref28\">[28]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 2 (899-901, a pair of Athenian senators visit Timon, begging him to come to Athens and preserve the city from the ravages of Alcibiades\u2019s army; Timon rejects their pleas and says he will withdraw to his rocky beachside hut and prepare to die.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two Athenian senators, having been delegated to speak for the Senate and Athens more broadly, come to Timon\u2019s seaside cave and try every argument they can think of, but nothing works. The newly minted misanthrope is impervious to bribery, flattery, appeals to leniency and fairness, or any other temptation. The only interesting thing in this scene is Timon\u2019s way of responding to all these vain appeals. Above all, it\u2019s clear that he is merely toying with the senators, deliberately filling them with hope and then cruelly returning to his savage condemnations of Athens and all humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But most interesting of all, perhaps, are his repeated references to the apathy that reigns in his thinking about other people\u2019s suffering. This \u201capathy,\u201d we notice, is something about which Timon is oddly passionate\u2014a contradiction if ever such was. How can a person be <em>passionately<\/em> apathetic? Timon conjures up the worst outrages against civilians during war, and then says simply, \u201cI care not\u201d (900, 5.2.62).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s last trick in this sadistic vein is his reference to a tree in his compound that he means to cut down soon, but that for the moment still stands. He then claims to have a way for Athenians to cure what ails them: \u201cwhoso please \/ To stop affliction, let him take his haste, \/ Come hither ere my tree hath felt the ax, \/ And hang himself\u201d (901, 5.2.94-97). With that, the senators realize that their mission is hopeless: there will be no help from Timon\u2019s quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Timon\u2019s final prayer is a call for his own personal extinction along with everyone else\u2019s: \u201cLips, let four words go by and language end; \/ What is amiss, plague and infection mend. \/ Graves only be men\u2019s works and death their gain. \/ Sun, hide thy beams. Timon hath done his reign\u201d (901, 5.2.105-08). This can\u2019t even accurately be called nihilism since, after all, nihilistic prescriptions have a point and are usually intended to pave the way for future action, future meaning. Timon\u2019s call is closer to Macbeth\u2019s summation of life as \u201ca tale \/ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, \/ Signifying nothing.\u201d <a href=\"#_edn29\" id=\"_ednref29\">[29]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 3 (901-02, Athenian senators fear the news that a messenger brings, which is that the city will be taken by Alcibiades; a courier has been sent from Alcibiades to Timon seeking his support; the senators betake themselves within the city\u2019s walls.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alcibiades\u2019s approach and breaching of Athens is imminent, and it\u2019s clear that neither camp has any hope of securing Timon\u2019s favor. The senators fearfully withdraw within the Athenian walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 4 (902, a soldier in Alcibiades\u2019s forces finds Timon\u2019s tomb; since he isn\u2019t able to read the epitaph there, he makes a wax impression of it and will present it to the Captain.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of Alcibiades\u2019s soldiers discovers Timon\u2019s tomb. He is able to read a notice that Timon has stashed near the tomb: \u201cTimon is dead, who hath outstretched his span. \/ Some beast read this; there does not live a man\u201d (902, 5.4.3-4). The sad thing about this note is that Timon seems to have forgotten all about his steward Flavius, who he had confessed to the gods to be at least <em>one<\/em> honest person in the world. In any case, the soldier takes a wax imprint of the tomb\u2019s inscription for Alcibiades since he can\u2019t read the language it\u2019s written in. <a href=\"#_edn30\" id=\"_ednref30\">[30]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Act 5, Scene 5 (902-04, Alcibiades marches to the gates of Athens, threatening bloody revenge; the First and Second Senators plead with him to seek only a just redress and kill no more than ten percent of the people; Alcibiades agrees to punish only those who are selected by the authorities as his and Timon\u2019s enemies, but not to subject the conquered city to the usual outrages; a soldier hands Timon\u2019s epitaph to Alcibiades, who reads it to everyone present and offers peace to his native city of Athens.)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alcibiades approaches Athens and halts outside the city\u2019s walls. He sets forth his sense of grievance against his native town, and seems determined to attack. But in the end, the senators\u2019 pleas for mitigation of harm sinks in (or perhaps just exhausts the dreaded captain), and he agrees not to engage in the usual indiscriminate mayhem that ancient armies practiced against defenseless enemy cities. <a href=\"#_edn31\" id=\"_ednref31\">[31]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In <em>Timon of Athens, <\/em>neither Timon nor Alcibiades is a well-developed character, so it is not entirely clear why the captain should take up Timon\u2019s grievances as his own, which he in part does, or why the legal condemnation of one of his own soldiers for manslaughter should lead him to attack his native city. <a href=\"#_edn32\" id=\"_ednref32\">[32]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These questions aside, however, there is matter in Alcibiades\u2019s prompt acceptance of the Athenian terms for surrender. The play is a tragedy, but it does <em>not <\/em>end in what could have been unrestricted violence swallowing up the world it has conjured for us. The incensed captain softens his wrath, agreeing to accept delivery of those within the city walls who the authorities determine have genuinely harmed him and his friend Timon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In truth, only Timon has died, and Alcibiades reads to us the sour-spirited final words of the once great Athenian lord: \u201cHere lies a wretch\u00e8d corpse of wretch\u00e8d soul bereft. \/ Seek not my name. A plague consume you wicked caitiffs left. \/ Here lie I, Timon, who alive all living men did hate. \/ Pass by and curse thy fill, but pass and stay not here thy gait\u201d (904, 5.5.70-73).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s hard to miss the contradictoriness of the line \u201cSeek not my name\u201d and \u201cHere lie I, Timon,\u201d <a href=\"#_edn33\" id=\"_ednref33\">[33]<\/a> but in any event, Timon has not wavered: he has held on to an experience-based misanthropy to his bitter seaside end. What to make of it all, this strange riches-to-rags-and-imprecations career and lonely death of one Timon of Athens?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That Timon alone among the play\u2019s key characters dies may indicate that his story does not bring us a viable stance toward life, or a sustainable way of regarding life\u2019s meaning. It is common to expect that tragic protagonists\u2019 insights, however terrible the cost to the characters themselves may be, are worth something to them and us, but that value may not be available as a dignity-preserving, sustaining takeaway from <em>Timon of Athens.<\/em> It is a strange and brilliant play\u2014a tragedy, but unique in its means and in its effect upon us. <a href=\"#_edn34\" id=\"_ednref34\">[34]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0<em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies + Digital Edition.<\/em>\u00a03rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93860-9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Document Timestamp: 8\/9\/2025 7:57 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"endnotes\">ENDNOTES<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">*To return to exact part of the text referenced by the endnotes below, left-click on the endnote’s numbered link. By contrast, the blue scroll-up button at the bottom right of the page returns to the top of the document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref1\" id=\"_edn1\">[1]<\/a> Regarding the theory of the divine right of kings, see King James I\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/e\/eebo2\/A04230.0001.001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basilikon Doron<\/a><em>. <\/em>(EEBO\/U-Mich)<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref2\" id=\"_edn2\">[2]<\/a> On Cynic philosophy, see \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/iep.utm.edu\/cynics\/\">Cynics<\/a>.\u201d Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed 8\/22\/2024. The Cynics are similar to the Stoics in that both think it is important to live according to nature and to avoid overvaluing things that are in themselves of little or no worth. They reject an emphasis on wealth and fine manners as these lead away from the principle of excellence and naturalness\u2014this rejection is not hard to see in the extreme behavior of Apemantus, whose characteristic way of relating to others is biting sarcasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref3\" id=\"_edn3\">[3]<\/a> The line is from R.E.M.\u2019s 1991 song \u201cShiny Happy People Holding Hands\u201d from the album <em>Out of Time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref4\" id=\"_edn4\">[4]<\/a> It has often been observed that there is a competitive edge to the exchange of gifts; indeed, in many cultures over much of human history, gift-giving has been a way of reaffirming reciprocal obligations. One excellent study is Marcel Mauss\u2019s 1954 study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Gift-Reason-Exchange-Archaic-Societies\/dp\/039332043X\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2YUDFQVCGSPDX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.8p-0EVrgb_GwIG5hGZXXJdjEVe6MxNVn_XEBOWMnZ0PeSLqMV0W4ANqm0hZulHUxEPnXcpMvn7BA3xTIgS3WnTMPTTX42lyDnjvUTw3akJDXdLeUYEFp-xSNWGBPCDYByUUTrlaUTJQb2Q64X1uTBpae3lF88-c4FCTiwUvgxAU6Qp1Ky3tzkXPoPb5X5-Q5enXCK-tAe5GcERQKIk4v5i-1h57RtPy0SVbcb_MMsJE.k8MCW96kJBqwVdbrfDqD-AZ0M8gT-WZ5eS8uBJC-jSY&dib_tag=se&keywords=mauss+the+gift&qid=1724348529&sprefix=mauss+the+gift%2Caps%2C159&sr=8-1\"><em>The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies<\/em><\/a><em>. <\/em>W. W. Norton, 2000. ISBN-13: 978-0393320435.<em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref5\" id=\"_edn5\">[5]<\/a> More, Thomas. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/2130\/2130-h\/2130-h.htm#chap10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Utopia<\/a><em>. <\/em>Henry Morley, ed. In the final chapter, \u201cOf the Religions of the Utopians,\u201d More\u2019s narrator questions Raphael Hythloday\u2019s enthusiasm for the communistic utopian society he visited; it seems to the narrator that such an egalitarian society must lack \u201csplendor\u201d and \u201cmajesty,\u201d which he calls \u201cthe true ornaments of a nation.\u201d Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 2\/18\/2024. The role of social and political hierarchy in the maintenance of civilization is a significant concern in Shakespeare\u2019s plays.<em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref6\" id=\"_edn6\">[6]<\/a> Ackroyd, Peter. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Foundation-History-England-Earliest-Beginnings\/dp\/1250037557\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1I79V0Y2A9UH6&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.W0ZYzDIHtz9_JDW7Y1P5Tg4FEwgdm_Jo92eEZ9EEw5mCZ_CRoeunGATpFw4xga3GQuAJT3LDVA0nad7os2FdQHKKQ5SD5pthcjRjx4iv235gjfrR248kmuJzEAlpDVw4F0wFJKIv9wymyEFze5-o8NVUGA8N0kchHDclcctpiMNJ7XKaKzIhAET6I1uR6TBubQAU98sdfamoPNTpPOuOWigeJ1EKaoVEMVUu8VgGEUo.Rl3sYc7f0VyC_JBXnerk_cPM9P0QQpHppUAbJ7VKbX8&dib_tag=se&keywords=Ackroyd%2C+Peter+Beginnings&qid=1724349139&sprefix=ackroyd%2C+peter+beginning%2Caps%2C223&sr=8-1\"><em>Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em> St. Martin\u2019s Griffin, 2013 (repr.). ISBN-13: 978-1250037558. Ackroyd links this point to governance by tracing the development in England of what we would now call \u201cthe administrative state\u201d or \u201cthe bureaucracy\u201d in line with King Henry I\u2019s persistent need to facilitate the taxing of his subjects. See 114-17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref7\" id=\"_edn7\">[7]<\/a> Aristotle. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abekker+page%3D1106a\">Nichomachean Ethics. Becker 1106a26\u2013b28<\/a>. The basic point is that a \u201cvirtue\u201d is to be located at the mean or mid-point between excess of a quality and deficiency. Excessive courage amounts to foolhardiness, for example, and a deficiency of it amounts to cowardice. The \u201cgolden mean\u201d indicates just the right amount of courage in one\u2019s actions. Timon obviously veers from excessive and irresponsible generosity to extreme miserliness, once he has become disillusioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref8\" id=\"_edn8\">[8]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>Twelfth Night, or What You Will.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 743-97. 704, 1.5.40-43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref9\" id=\"_edn9\">[9]<\/a> On the phrase \u201ctoo big to fail,\u201d see \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clevelandfed.org\/publications\/economic-commentary\/2017\/ec-201717-origins-of-too-big-to-fail\">Origins of too big to fail<\/a>.\u201d Clevelandfed.org. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref10\" id=\"_edn10\">[10]<\/a> See Aristotle. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abekker+page%3D1106a\">Nichomachean Ethics. Becker 1106a26\u2013b28<\/a>. Perseus Digital Archive. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref11\" id=\"_edn11\">[11]<\/a> Norton\u2019s footnote 7 for pg. 876 says that \u201cbill\u201d was another name for the weapon known as a halberd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref12\" id=\"_edn12\">[12]<\/a> The name \u201cAlcibiades\u201d is a famous one from the time of Classical Athens. The general was a friend of Socrates, and had a stormy history with his native city. See Plutarch\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b3827690&seq=253\">Life of Alcibiades<\/a>.\u201d Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref13\" id=\"_edn13\">[13]<\/a> See Shakespeare, William. <em>The Life of Timon of Athens.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 850-904. 890 4.3.301-05.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref14\" id=\"_edn14\">[14]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>King Lear.<\/em> Folio with additions from the Quarto. In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. Combined text 764-840. See 824, 4.6.152-66. Ultimately, however, Timon does not come near the level of tragic dignity or insight that we find in Lear. Perhaps his best analogues would be the likes of Coriolanus in his ragings against Rome once the city banishes him, or Thersites\u2019s persistent, outrageous railing at the Greek heroes who line the cast of <em>Troilus and Cressida.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref15\" id=\"_edn15\">[15]<\/a> Thoreau, Henry David. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/205\/205-h\/205-h.htm\">Walden<\/a><em>. <\/em>In his chapter \u201cWhere I Lived, and What I Lived For,\u201d Thoreau writes, I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.\u201d Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref16\" id=\"_edn16\">[16]<\/a> Aristotle. Again, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perseus.tufts.edu\/hopper\/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0054%3Abekker+page%3D1106a\">Nichomachean Ethics. Becker 1106a26\u2013b28<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref17\" id=\"_edn17\">[17]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>The Comical History of The Merchant of Venice.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 467-521. See 508-09, 4.1.182-200, where Portia explains that \u201cThe quality of mercy is not strained.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref18\" id=\"_edn18\">[18]<\/a> See <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew%2018%3A20-22&version=GNV\"><em>Matthew<\/em> 18:21-22<\/a>. (1599 Geneva Bible, Biblegateway.com.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref19\" id=\"_edn19\">[19]<\/a> Either that, or Flavius simply believes that loyalty once declared is not to be undeclared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref20\" id=\"_edn20\">[20]<\/a> The stage directions don\u2019t specify what form the gold is in when Timon finds it, but buried coins would make sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref21\" id=\"_edn21\">[21]<\/a> See Norton marginal gloss of \u201cfor earnest\u201d: \u201cAs a pledge.\u201d 885.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref22\" id=\"_edn22\">[22]<\/a> Hobbes, Thomas. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/3207\/3207-h\/3207-h.htm\">Leviathan<\/a><em>. <\/em>Hobbes writes that in such a primal state of war, human life would have been \u201csolitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short.\u201d Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref23\" id=\"_edn23\">[23]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>King Lear.<\/em> Folio with additions from the Quarto. In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. Combined text 764-840. Lear exclaims, \u201cOh, reason not the need! Our basest beggars \/ Are in the poorest thing superfluous. \/ Allow not nature more than nature needs, \/ Man\u2019s life is cheap as beast\u2019s\u201d (798, 2.4.259-62).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref24\" id=\"_edn24\">[24]<\/a> On friendship\u2019s importance among the Greeks and Romans, see Shakespeare\u2019s Globe essay \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@shakespearesglobe\/shakespeare-and-friendship-d4dd854e0670\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Shakespeare and Friendship<\/a>.\u201d April 6, 2018. Accessed 8\/22\/2024. See also Cicero\u2019s fine treatise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/cache\/epub\/7491\/pg7491-images.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">De Amicitia<\/a><em>, <\/em>or \u201cOn Friendship,\u201d and Seneca\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius\/Letter_9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Letters<\/a><em>, <\/em><em>both of which <\/em>deal with the concept of friendship insightfully. See especially <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/Moral_letters_to_Lucilius\/Letter_9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Letter IX<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref25\" id=\"_edn25\">[25]<\/a> See the essays in Oscar Wilde\u2019s critical volume <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/887\/887-0.txt\">Intentions<\/a><em>. <\/em>\u201cThe Decay of Lying\u201d is instructive. Gutenberg e-text. Accessed 8\/22\/2024. See also \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vam.ac.uk\/articles\/an-introduction-to-the-aesthetic-movement?srsltid=AfmBOooDiOmDkeg73Rz2liZoaZgbwxoZ8YWrnBCfAo27xSkQ4uDl2si_\">An Introduction to the Aesthetic Movement<\/a>.\u201d Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref26\" id=\"_edn26\">[26]<\/a> See the essays in Oscar Wilde\u2019s critical volume <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/887\/887-0.txt\">Intentions<\/a><em>. <\/em>The quote referred to is in \u201cThe Decay of Lying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref27\" id=\"_edn27\">[27]<\/a> Hogarth, William. \u201cA Rake\u2019s Progress.\u201d (1733-35). See the <a href=\"https:\/\/collections.soane.org\/object-p40\">article<\/a> available at Sir John Soane\u2019s Museum Collection Online. Accessed 8\/22\/2024. For the plates, see the <a href=\"https:\/\/smarthistory.org\/william-hogarth-a-rakes-progress\/\">display by smarthistory.org<\/a>. Accessed 8\/22\/2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref28\" id=\"_edn28\">[28]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 288-343. See 305, 2.1.207-08.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref29\" id=\"_edn29\">[29]<\/a> Shakespeare, William. <em>The Tragedy of Macbeth.<\/em> In <em>The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 917-69. See 965, 5.5.26-28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref30\" id=\"_edn30\">[30]<\/a> In his <em><a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b4034287&seq=19&q1=Timon\">Life of Marcus Antonius<\/a><\/em><em>,<\/em> Plutarch says that the poem on the gravestone is to be attributed to the Greek poet Callimachus; the scroll writing belongs to Timon himself. See pg. 114\/98. See Marjorie Garber on this point. <em>Shakespeare after All. <\/em>Anchor Books, 2004. Essay on <em>Timon of Athens, <\/em>634-48. 636.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref31\" id=\"_edn31\">[31]<\/a> On ancient armies\u2019 habit of pillaging enemy towns, see \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/imperiumromanum.pl\/en\/roman-army\/attitude-of-romans-towards-defeated\/\">Attitude of Romans Towards the Defeated.<\/a>\u201d Imperiumromanum.pl. Accessed 8\/22\/2024. See also Gabriel Baker, <em>Spare No One: Mass Violence in Roman Warfare<\/em>. War and society. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2021. ISBN 978-1538112205.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref32\" id=\"_edn32\">[32]<\/a> In Plutarch\u2019s <em><a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b4034287&seq=19&q1=Timon\">Life of Marcus Antonius<\/a><\/em><em>,<\/em> however, there is a clue regarding the affinity between Alcibiades and Timon: when Apemantus asks him why he spends time with Alcibiades, Timon says, \u201cI know that one day he shall do great mischief unto the Athenians\u201d (<a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=uc1.b4034287&seq=113&q1=Timon\">113<\/a>). See Marjorie Garber on this point. <em>Shakespeare after All. <\/em>Anchor Books, 2004. Essay on <em>Timon of Athens, <\/em>634-48. 636.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref33\" id=\"_edn33\">[33]<\/a> There may be a bit of Timon\u2019s ego in that contradictoriness. He implies that he wants to be forgotten, but he also wants people to remember his name as the man who was forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"#_ednref34\" id=\"_edn34\">[34]<\/a> See Bloom, Harold. <em>Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human.<\/em> Riverhead Books, 1998. In his essay \u201cTimon of Athens\u201d (588-99), the author locates <em>Timon of Athens <\/em>\u201csomewhere between satire and farce,\u201d and suggests that the play \u201canticipates the savage indignation of Jonathan Swift\u201d (589).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shakespeare\u2019s Timon of Athens Commentary A. J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Life of Timon of Athens. 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J. Drake, Ph.D. Shakespeare, William. The Life of Timon of Athens. (The Norton Shakespeare: Tragedies, 3rd […]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9771,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/225\/revisions\/9771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"wf_page_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_page_folders?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":225,"date":"2024-04-13T21:47:13","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T04:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=225"},"modified":"2025-08-09T07:59:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T14:59:35","slug":"timon-of-athens-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/timon-of-athens-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Timon of Athens"},"content":{"rendered":"