15 provision was out financial means were exhausted
16 of on account of
16 how ... go how things stand now
18 so in the same situation
20 pieces gold coins
24 With ... heart welcome with all my heart
29 Nor ... men "swallows, like false friends, fly away upon the approach of winter" (proverbial) 31 stay delay
32 if ... sound i.e. if your ears can feed on rough music 33 presently imminently
34 it ... lordship that you do not resent the fact/that you do not view it to have been harsh and unfriendly 38 what cheer how are you
38 banquet i.e. table, place settings etc. since dishes are still forthcoming 41 so ... beggar i.e. too poor to help you
44 cumber encumber, burden
46 covered dishes suggesting lavish hot food
47 cheer food
54 upon what for what reason
56 toward forthcoming
57 old man i.e. the old Timon
58 hold last/prove to be true
59 will i.e. will tell
60 conceive understand
61 spur eagerness
62 diet food
63 city feast formal banquet, where people sit according to rank 64 require demand/deserve
67 reserve still always keep something back
72 a score twenty
73 as they are i.e. no better than women really are/not wearing makeup/not falsely representing themselves 74 tag rabble
82 knot group
82 mouth-friends men whose friendship is all talk/men who can be won with feasts 82 Smoke steam/dishonesty, swindling
83 Is your perfection sums you up perfectly/is your consummate skill/is your foremost virtue 84 stuck and spangled pinned with jewels and sparkling 86 reeking steaming
89 trencher wooden plate
89 trencher-friends friends won with feasts
89 flies i.e. parasites
90 Cap ... slaves i.e. always doffing their caps or bowing in a sycophantic manner 90 vapours i.e. insubstantial, worthless men 90 minute-jacks i.e. overly punctilious in their attentions 90 jack figure of a man that strikes the bell on a clock, usually every quarter of an hour 91 infinite endless/worst possible
93 Soft wait a moment
93 physic medicine
95 be let there be
96 Whereat at which
98 Of by
100 quality nature
101 Push! exclamation of impatience
103 humours moods
104 sways control
111 upon my bones intuitively/because of the bruises incurred by the stones Act 4 Scene 1
4.1 Location: outside the walls of Athens
2 girdles in encircles
3 Matrons married women
3 incontinent sexually unrestrained
5 grave wise/dignified
6 minister govern
6 steads places
6 general filths common whores
7 green young/innocent
8 Do't change/have sex
8 eyes i.e. sight
8 hold fast i.e. hold on to money
10 trusters those who trust you/creditors
10 Bound under contract to serve for a specified time 11 Large-handed grasping
12 pill plunder
13 o'th'brothel i.e. a whore
14 lined padded
16 Religion devotion
17 Domestic awe respect given to home and parents
17 neighbourhood neighborliness
18 instruction teaching/knowledge
18 mysteries crafts, trades
19 Degrees social ranks
19 observances ritual, ceremony
20 confounding contraries ruinous opposites
21 incident liable to afflict
23 for stroke to be struck
23 cold stiffening/caused by a chill
24 halt limp
25 liberty licentiousness
27 strive contend, wage war
28 riot debauchery
28 blains sores, blisters (perhaps venereal)
29 bosoms i.e. bodies (the image is of sowing seed in the bosom of the earth) 32 merely absolute
32 bear carry away
34 bans curses
36 kinder more caring/more natural, showing more kinship 37 confound destroy
Act 4 Scene 2
4.2 Location: Timon's house, Athens
2 undone ruined
4 Let ... gods may the gods hear me/as the gods are my witness 6 house household
6 broke bankrupt/broken up
8 take ... arm i.e. support him in his misfortune 12 familiars ... fortunes those who were his close friends when he was rich 14 picked robbed, emptied
15 dedicated ... air beggar dedicated to life in the open air 16 all-shunned avoided by everyone
17 fellows fellow servants
18 implements furniture, utensils
19 livery servant's uniform
21 bark ship
22 dying i.e. sinking, doomed
23 surges waves
26 latest last
29 knell funeral bell
33 glory magnificence/vainglory
38 pomp ceremony, splendor
38 what state compounds that constitutes magnificence 39 painted i.e. superficial, false
41 blood disposition
44 still mar always ruin
46 wretched poor/miserable
48 flung thrown himself
48 seat center/place of residence
49 monstrous unnatural
50 to ... life any of life's necessities
51 command purchase
52 inquire find
Act 4 Scene 3
4.3 Location: woods near Athens
1 breeding i.e. breeding infection
1 draw ... humidity the sun was thought to draw putrid vapors from the earth 2 sister's orb i.e. the moon (the earthly region below which was thought to be corruptible, unlike the heavens above) 4 residence gestation, time spent in the womb
5 dividant separable
5 touch test/afflict
5 several different
6 Not ... nature i.e. not even human nature, which is subject to all afflictions, can experience good fortune without feeling contempt for others' misfortune 9 Raise me promote, elevate
10 bear contempt hereditary endure contempt as though it came with their position (or birth) 11 native honour treated as if he was born with honor 12 pasture i.e. fortune, sustenance, what one gets in life 12 lards fattens
13 want lack of
14 purity of manhood human integrity
16 grece step, stair
17 smoothed made easy/smoothed by flattery
17 pate head
18 Ducks bows
18 golden i.e. wealthy
18 oblique indirect
19 level direct
20 direct straightforward
22 semblable likeness
23 fang seize, maul
24 of from
24 sauce flavor
25 operant potent, effective
27 votarist one bound by a vow
28 clear innocent, pure
28 this i.e. the gold
32 lug haul away
35 knit bind
36 hoar whitish-gray (the color of the scaly skin characteristic of leprosy)/puns on "whore" (leprosy was often confused with syphilis) 36 place appoint to positions of high status
37 knee homage, the right to be knelt to
39 wappened sexually exhausted
40 spittle house hospital
41 cast ... at vomit at the sight of
41 this i.e. the gold
41 embalms and spices preserves and perfumes (as one might a corpse) 42 th'April day i.e. youthful freshness
43 common whore i.e. because frequently trodden upon or plowed (both euphemisms for sex) 43 odds discord, conflict
44 rout company, gathering; plays on sense of "defeat, overthrow"
45 Do ... nature act in accordance wi
th your true nature 45 quick fast/alive
46 go keep going, be able to walk
46 thief i.e. the gold
47 keepers owners/jailers
48 for earnest as a deposit, a pledge
48 Drum and Fife a drummer and a player of the fife (a flute-like instrument, often used for military music) 50 canker cancer/canker-worm (which eats plants and flowers) 54 Misanthropos "man-hater" (Greek)
56 something somewhat, a little
58 strange unacquainted, ignorant
61 gules red (heraldic term)
62 canons rules, edicts; plays on "cannons" (large guns) 63 fell fierce, cruel
65 cherubin look angelic appearance
66 lips rot off suggestive of the rotting effects of syphilis 70 wanting lacking
71 renew grow again (may play on a sense of "extend the repayment period for a loan") 79 in some sort to some extent
82 brace pair
83 minion favorite, darling
84 Voiced so regardfully praised so highly, spoke of with such regard 87 use employ sexually
89 salt lecherous (season picks up on the culinary sense) 89 season prepare/spice, salt
90 tubs and baths sweating-tubs and hot baths used to treat venereal disease 91 tub-fast sexual abstinence during the treatment
95 of late lately
96 whereof of which
97 penurious poverty-stricken
97 band i.e. of soldiers
98 mindless heedless, neglectful
100 But had it not been for
100 trod would have trodden
108 on a heap in ruins
116 up away
117 planetary plague i.e. a disaster caused by malign planetary influence 117 Jove supreme Roman god
118 Will resolves to
118 high-viced very wicked, full of vice
119 sick infected/infectious
119 skip omit, spare
121 strike me strike (me is emphatic) 121 counterfeit matron married woman who feigns respectability 122 habit clothing/bearing
124 trenchant sharp, cutting
124 milk-paps nipples
125 window-bars open-work squares of a bodice/latticework of a window 126 leaf of pity list of those to be shown pity
127 set write
128 exhaust draw forth
130 doubtfully ambiguously
130 the ... cut will have its throat cut/will be a cutthroat 131 mince chop it up
131 sans remorse without pity 131 objects objections
133 proof tested strength
136 confusion ruin, destruction
139 counsel advice
140 Dost ... not whether you do or not
142 forswear renounce
143 make ... bawd make pimps give up making women into prostitutes 144 mountant raised (to catch the gold in, with a suggestion of skirts lifted for sex) 144 oathable able to keep an oath
146 agues fevers characterized by shaking
148 conditions characters/occupations
150 whore (your) whoring
150 burn him up i.e. with lust/with venereal disease 151 close fire hidden infection/enclosed heat/hot vaginas 151 predominate prevail over, dominate
151 smoke i.e. pious (and insincere or insubstantial) words 152 be no turncoats i.e. don't turn against your true profession (prostitution) 152 your ... contrary your efforts be thwarted six months later/you suffer harmful venereal pains six months later/you suffer for six months; six months may refer to the maximum gestation period for secondary syphilis or to the period of imprisonment for prostitutes 153 thin roofs balding heads (a symptom of syphilis) 154 burdens of i.e. wigs made with hair from 156 Paint apply makeup
156 mire upon sink, get stuck in/defecate on
157 pox (syphilitic) plague
159 do plays on sense of "have sex with"
160 Consumptions wasting diseases (specifically syphilis, which decays the bones) 161 sharp starved, wasted
162 mar ruin
162 spurring ability to use spurs/ability to have sex 163 title claim to possession
164 quillets fine distinctions, quibbles
164 Hoar decay/whiten (as well as rotting the bones, syphilis causes silvery ulcerations) 164 flamen priest
165 scolds ... flesh preaches against sexual desire 166 Down ... nose syphilis causes the collapse of the nasal bridge 168 his ... foresee to safeguard his personal advantage 169 Smells ... weal loses the scent of the common good (hunting imagery) 169 curled-pate curly-haired
170 braggarts boastful cowards
172 activity sexual activity
173 erection personal advancement/penile erection
175 grave bury, serve as a grave for
177 earnest advance payment, a deposit
184 it i.e. to be so
185 beagles hunting dogs/whores
186 Strike! Sound the drum!
187 sick of made ill by
188 Common mother i.e. the earth
190 Teems gives birth to/is fertile, flourishes
190 mettle spirit, essence (given the buried gold, probably puns on "metal") 191 puffed inflated (with pride)
192 Engenders produces, breeds
192 toad thought to be poisonous
193 gilded gold-colored
193 eyeless venomed worm blindworm (legless lizard)/adder 194 crisp shining, clear (just possibly "marbled with clouds") 195 Whereon on which
195 Hyperion's belonging to the father of the sun, sometimes the sun god himself in Greek mythology 195 quickening life-giving
198 Ensear dry up
198 conceptious fertile
200 Go great be pregnant
202 marbled ... above i.e. the heavens
204 marrows vitality, nourishing richness, figurative bone marrow 204 leas fields
205 liquorish sweet, tempting (plays on "lickerous," i.e. lecherous) 205 draughts drinks/potions
206 unctuous oily
207 That so that
207 consideration reflection, reason
210 affect favor/imitate
212 would would rather
212 catch seize
213 but infected i.e. temporary, not inherent 216 slave-like habit lowly, servile clothing
216 care anxiety
217 yet still
217 soft in comfort
218 perfumes i.e. perfumed mistresses
220 putting on assuming/exhibiting
220 cunning skill, practices
220 carper cynic, fault-finder
222 hinge thy knee i.e. kneel
223 observe follow, pay homage to
224 vicious strain immoral characteristic
225 Thou ... thus this is how you were spoken to (i.e. flattered) previously 226 gav'st thine ears i.e. listened
226 tapsters barmen (who would greet all customers indiscriminately) 228 rascal a lowly commoner/a camp follower (in the following line the sense shifts to "rogues") 233 boisterous rough
233 chamberlain servant responsible for the bedroom 234 put ... warm i.e. warm your clothes by the fire 235 page thy heels wait on you like your page
236 skip ... out i.e. jump to do your bidding 237 Candied encrusted, as if with sugar
237 caudle ... taste i.e. revive you in the morning with a caudle (a warm, strengthening drink) 238 o'ernight's previous night's
238 surfeit excess, overindulgence
240 wreakful vengeful
240 trunks bodies
242 Answer face
242 mere absolute, unmitigated
248 caitiff wretch
250 vex torment
251 office task, role
252 Dost ... in't? Are you enjoying it?
255 habit outfit, i.e. manner
256 well good, well done
257 enforcedly out of necessity
257 Thou'dst you would like (to be)
258 Willing misery voluntary poverty
259 incertain changeable, unreliable
259 crowned before sooner satisfied
260 The one i.e. p
omp
260 filling still i.e. never satisfied, always seeking more 261 high wish the height of its wishes
261 Best ... content it is more miserable to be at the height of prosperity without contentment than to be contented and at the bottom of one's fortunes 262 distracted agitated, mentally disturbed
265 breath i.e. advice
268 swath swaddling clothes, i.e. infancy
268 proceeded climbed/attained/graduated to
269 degrees steps/social ranks/university degrees
270 drugs drudges (menial servants; or possibly "medicinal drugs" that a qualified doctor might dispense) 272 riot debauchery
272 melted down wasted/exhausted sexually (with connotations of detumescence) 274 precepts of respect commands of those in authority/principles of respect/rules a respected person must live by 275 sugared game sweet (sexual) prey/delicious amusements 278 at duty at my command, available for service
278 frame devise
280 brush violent gust of wind
281 Fell fallen
284 sufferance hardship
285 hard in't hardened to it
287 rag worthless scrap
288 put stuff To sexually penetrated/ejaculated in 288 stuff penis/semen (picks up on rag to play on the sense of "fabric") 289 compounded conceived
290 hereditary by inheritance
291 worst socially lowest
293 yet still
295 prodigal spendthrift, wasteful person
298 leave permission
299 That I wish that, if only
301 mend improve
304 botched poorly repaired, patched up (as you will remain in your own company) 305 would it were wish it were botched (i.e. I wish you would continue to be discontent on your own/I wish you would leave me alone) 306 to sent to, conveyed
310 truest most honest
311 does ... harm i.e. is not used to bribe and corrupt 312 a-nights at night
313 that's that which is
320 humanity i.e. human experience
321 gilt gold, money/lavish adornments
322 curiosity fastidiousness, delicate refinement
324 medlar apple-like fruit eaten when rotten/meddler, one who interferes/slang term for the vagina, hence also "whore"/ person who has lots of sex ("to meddle" also meant "to copulate") 328 An th'hadst if you had
330 unthrift wasteful
330 after his means for what he had/after he had spent everything 334 thou ... dog i.e. only a dog would love you 342 confusion destruction, overthrow
345 beastly beast-like/irrational/low, disgusting
346 t'attain to gain, achieve
346 beguile deceive, outwit
348 peradventure as chance would probably have it
349 dullness slowness/stupidity
350 still thou livedst you would always live
353 unicorn ... thee supposedly the fierce unicorn could be goaded into charging at a tree, where it would become trapped by embedding its horn in the trunk 354 conquest i.e. victim
357 german closely related
357 spots markings/crimes
357 spots ... life i.e. you would be blamed for the crimes of your relations 358 thy ... remotion your safety would rely on removing yourself elsewhere 361 thy ... transformation what you would lose if you became an animal 363 hit upon it done so, pleased me
367 Yonder ... painter in fact they do not appear until the beginning of Act 5; either Shakespeare did not correct his former intention to have the characters enter here, or Apemantus is speaking generally and simply means that the men are on their way 368 give way leave