TIMON.
’Tis, then, because thou dost not keep a dog
Whom I would imitate. Consumption catch thee!
APEMANTUS.
This is in thee a nature but infected,
A poor unmanly melancholy sprung
From change of fortune. Why this spade, this place?
This slave-like habit and these looks of care?
Thy flatterers yet wear silk, drink wine, lie soft,
Hug their diseased perfumes, and have forgot
That ever Timon was. Shame not these woods
By putting on the cunning of a carper.
Be thou a flatterer now, and seek to thrive
By that which has undone thee. Hinge thy knee
And let his very breath whom thou’lt observe
Blow off thy cap; praise his most vicious strain,
And call it excellent. Thou wast told thus;
Thou gav’st thine ears, like tapsters that bade welcome,
To knaves and all approachers. ’Tis most just
That thou turn rascal; had’st thou wealth again,
Rascals should have’t. Do not assume my likeness.
TIMON.
Were I like thee, I’d throw away myself.
APEMANTUS.
Thou hast cast away thyself, being like thyself
A madman so long, now a fool. What, think’st
That the bleak air, thy boisterous chamberlain,
Will put thy shirt on warm? Will these mossed trees,
That have outlived the eagle, page thy heels
And skip when thou point’st out? Will the cold brook,
Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste
To cure thy o’ernight’s surfeit? Call the creatures
Whose naked natures live in all the spite
Of wreakful heaven, whose bare unhoused trunks,
To the conflicting elements exposed,
Answer mere nature, bid them flatter thee.
O, thou shalt find—
TIMON.
A fool of thee. Depart.
APEMANTUS.
I love thee better now than e’er I did.
TIMON.
I hate thee worse.
APEMANTUS.
Why?
TIMON.
Thou flatter’st misery.
APEMANTUS.
I flatter not, but say thou art a caitiff.