Mojo, The Bard, & Me

  

When there is nothing living but thee, thou shalt be welcome. I had rather be a beggar’s dog than Apemantus.

 

-Timon

Timon of Athens                      Act IV, Scene iii, Line 355

 

Not a particularly welcoming statement, is it? FYI, Timon is speaking to Apemantus, addressing him as the third person.

This is a good conversation. It’s a pretty long scene (as you see, we’re on line 355) and in it Timon talks to several different people who show up at his cave. Right now it’s Apemantus. Will comes up with interesting ideas to play with. This is a guy that went from loving everyone to realizing that most of his friends were not friends at all. Now he hates all mankind, and Will is exploring the different facets of this state, mostly through Timon’s interactions with different types of people. This line is part of a fairly long conversation with Apemantus, a guy who’s been pretty much fed up with mankind from the start.

I wanted to listen to/read this scene, or if not the whole scene, at least this part where he’s talking to Apemantus. I think I would need to listen to/read this whole conversation to appreciate this line. But I’m afraid I just don’t have time for that this morning.

Ah, I’m no better than a beggar’s dog.

I think today's line would make an interesting Welcome mat. What do you think?