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My worthy friends, will you draw near?

Timon
My worthy friends, will you draw near?
Third Friend
I’ll tell you more anon. Here’s a noble
feast toward.
Second Friend
This is the old man still.

Live loathed and long,
Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears

Third Friend
Will ’t hold? Will ’t hold?
Second Friend
It does, but time will—and so—
Third Friend
I do conceive.
Timon
Each man to his stool, with that spur as he
would to the lip of his mistress. Your diet shall
be in all places alike. Make not a city feast of it, to let
the meat cool ere we can agree upon the first place.
Sit, sit. (They sit.) The gods require our thanks:

You great benefactors, sprinkle our society with
thankfulness. For your own gifts make yourselves
praised, but reserve still to give, lest your deities be
despised. Lend to each man enough, that one need
not lend to another; for, were your godheads to
borrow of men, men would forsake the gods. Make
the meat be beloved more than the man that gives
it. Let no assembly of twenty be without a score of
villains. If there sit twelve women at the table, let a
dozen of them be as they are. The rest of your fees,
O gods, the Senators of Athens, together with the
common tag of people, what is amiss in them,
you gods, make suitable for destruction. For these
my present friends, as they are to me nothing, so
in nothing bless them, and to nothing are they welcome.

Uncover, dogs, and lap.
 The dishes are uncovered. They contain only water and stones.
Some Speak
What does his Lordship mean?
Some Other
I know not.
Timon
May you a better feast never behold,
You knot of mouth-friends! Smoke and lukewarm water
Is your perfection. This is Timon’s last,
Who, stuck and spangled with your flatteries,
Washes it off and sprinkles in your faces
Your reeking villainy. (He throws water in
their
 faces.) Live loathed and long,
Most smiling, smooth, detested parasites,
Courteous destroyers, affable wolves, meek bears,
You fools of fortune, trencher-friends, time’s flies,
Cap-and-knee slaves, vapors, and minute-jacks.
Of man and beast the infinite malady
Crust you quite o’er! (They stand.) What, dost thou go?
Soft! Take thy physic first—thou too—and thou.—
Stay. I will lend thee money, borrow none.
 He attacks them and forces them out.
What? All in motion? Henceforth be no feast
Whereat a villain’s not a welcome guest.
Burn, house! Sink, Athens! Henceforth hated be
Of Timon man and all humanity!
 He exits.

Source:
Act 3
Scene 6
Line 59

Source Type:

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