FIRST BANDIT.
We cannot live on grass, on berries, water,
As beasts and birds and fishes.
TIMON.
Nor on the beasts themselves, the birds, and fishes;
You must eat men. Yet thanks I must you con
That you are thieves professed, that you work not
In holier shapes, for there is boundless theft
In limited professions. Rascal thieves,
Here’s gold. Go, suck the subtle blood o’ th’ grape
Till the high fever seethe your blood to froth,
And so scape hanging. Trust not the physician;
His antidotes are poison, and he slays
More than you rob. Take wealth and lives together,
Do villainy, do, since you protest to do’t,
Like workmen. I’ll example you with thievery.
The sun’s a thief and with his great attraction
Robs the vast sea; the moon’s an arrant thief,
And her pale fire she snatches from the sun;
The sea’s a thief, whose liquid surge resolves
The moon into salt tears; the earth’s a thief,
That feeds and breeds by a composture stol’n
From general excrement. Each thing’s a thief.
The laws, your curb and whip, in their rough power
Has unchecked theft. Love not yourselves; away!
Rob one another. There’s more gold. Cut throats,
All that you meet are thieves. To Athens go,
Break open shops, nothing can you steal
But thieves do lose it. Steal no less for this I give you,
And gold confound you howsoe’er! Amen.
THIRD BANDIT.
Has almost charmed me from my profession by persuading me to it.
FIRST BANDIT.
’Tis in the malice of mankind that he thus advises us, not to have us thrive in our mystery.
SECOND BANDIT.
I’ll believe him as an enemy and give over my trade.
FIRST BANDIT.
Let us first see peace in Athens. There is no time so miserable but a man may be true.
[Exeunt Banditti.]
Enter Flavius.
FLAVIUS.
O you gods!
Is yond despised and ruinous man my lord?
Full of decay and failing? O monument
And wonder of good deeds evilly bestowed!
What an alteration of honour has desperate want made!
What viler thing upon the earth than friends
Who can bring noblest minds to basest ends!
How rarely does it meet with this time’s guise,
When man was wished to love his enemies!
Grant I may ever love, and rather woo
Those that would mischief me than those that do!
He has caught me in his eye. I will present
My honest grief unto him and as my lord
Still serve him with my life.—My dearest master!
TIMON.
Away! What art thou?