Timon of Athens

Timon was a rich lord in Athens who loved to give his wealth away. He shared his riches with all people, from the poor to the powerful. He was very generous and didn’t just give to those in need, even wealthy lords were among those who received his gifts. 

His house was always full of people enjoying fancy meals. Everyone liked him, even people who were usually not friendly. They all wanted to be part of his life because he was so kind and rich.

If a poet wrote a new poem, he just had to dedicate it to Lord Timon. Then, the poem would become popular, the poet would get money from Timon, and be invited to his house. 

If an artist had a painting to sell, all he had to do was show it to Timon and ask his opinion. Timon would surely buy it. If a shop owner had expensive stuff or jewelry that no one was buying, they could sell it to Timon. Timon would even thank them for giving him the chance to buy such valuable things. 

This made his house full of unnecessary stuff and people who just wanted to please him with flattery and gifts. Some of the people who depended on him were young men from good families who had spent all their money and ended up in jail. Timon would pay their debts and free them. 

After that, they would stick to him, as they felt a connection to him because of his generosity and spending. One of these people was Ventidius, a man whose debts Timon had paid. But among all these people, those who gave gifts to Timon stood out. If Timon liked something that belonged to them, like a dog, a horse, or a piece of furniture, they felt lucky to give it to him.

The praised item, whatever it was, would surely be sent to Timon the next day as a gift. The giver would always say sorry for the gift not being good enough. But, whatever the gift was, Timon would always give back a gift that was worth much more. For example, Lord Lucius had once given Timon four white horses with silver decorations because he knew Timon liked them. 

Another lord, Lucullus, had given Timon two fast greyhounds because Timon had said he liked them. Timon always accepted these gifts, not knowing the givers expected much more valuable gifts in return.

Sometimes, these people would use a very simple trick. They would compliment something that belonged to Timon, and he would give it to them as a gift. For example, one of these lords complimented Timon’s horse and said it was beautiful and fast. Because of this, Timon gave the horse to him. 

Timon thought that people only compliment things they want to have. He loved giving gifts so much that he would have given away countries if he could. But not all of Timon’s wealth went to these dishonest people. He also did good things. Once, one of his servants loved a rich man’s daughter but could not marry her because he was not rich enough. 

So, Timon gave the servant money to make him as rich as the girl’s father wanted her husband to be. But most of the time, the people who tricked him and lied to him took his money. 

He thought they were his friends because they were always with him and saying nice things to him. When they had parties with him and drank his expensive wine, he thought they were really his friends. He did not understand they were only using him for his money and gifts. He was happy to see them having fun together, not knowing it was his wealth that was paying for everything. But while he was so kind to everyone and spent his money as if he had an endless supply, his wealth, which was not endless, had to disappear. 

He was spending too much without thinking about it. But who would tell him? His false friends? They benefited from his blindness. 

His honest servant, Flavius, tried to show him his accounts and begged him to understand his situation. But Timon always avoided the subject. He did not want to believe he was becoming poor. His servant often cried alone when he saw the wild parties in Timon’s house, knowing that when the money was gone, the praise would also be gone. But the time came when Timon had to listen to his faithful servant. He needed money. 

When he asked Flavius to sell some of his land, Flavius told him what he had tried to tell him before: most of his land was already sold or lost, and what he had left was not enough to pay half of his debts. 

Shocked, Timon quickly said, “I have land from Athens to Lacedoemon.” Flavius replied, “Oh my good lord, even the world has limits. Even if the whole world was yours, you would run out of money.”

Timon comforted himself thinking that he had not wasted his money for bad things, but to help his friends. He told his sad servant that he had many rich friends. He believed he could ask them for money. 

Then, feeling hopeful, he sent messengers to Lord Lucius, Lords Lucullus, Sempronius, and Ventidius, all of whom he had helped in the past. He asked each of them to lend him fifty talents. He believed they would help him now, because he had been so generous with them in the past.

First, they went to Lucullus. This selfish lord had dreamt about a silver basin and cup the night before, and he thought Timon had sent him these gifts. But when he learned that Timon needed money, he started making excuses. He said he had tried many times to tell Timon to spend less, but Timon wouldn’t listen. This was a lie, because while he often attended Timon’s feasts, he never gave him advice. He even tried to bribe Timon’s servant to tell Timon that he wasn’t home.

Next, they went to Lord Lucius. This untruthful lord, who had enjoyed many of Timon’s meals and expensive gifts, was surprised that Timon needed money. He pretended to feel bad that he couldn’t help Timon, saying he had just spent all his money the day before. This was a lie. He said it was a shame that he couldn’t help such a good friend. 

In the past, Timon had done a lot for him, even paying his servants and the workers who built his fancy houses. But now, he refused to give Timon a small amount of money, which compared to what Timon had given him, was less than what generous people give to beggars.

The same happened with Sempronius and all the other lords. They all either made excuses or said no. 

Even Ventidius, who Timon had helped to become rich, refused to give him back the five talents that Timon had given him when he was in trouble. Now, when Timon was poor, everyone avoided him. The same people who had praised him for being generous were now criticizing him for being wasteful. 

They only saw his generosity as foolish when they were the ones benefiting from it. 

Timon’s grand house was now a place that people avoided. Where it once was full of guests and parties, it was now filled with people demanding their money back. 

Some wanted fifty talents, others wanted five thousand crowns. Timon’s house felt like a prison that he couldn’t leave because of them. 

There was so much debt that even if he paid them with his own blood, he would not have enough. Despite all these troubles, Timon announced another feast and invited all his usual guests. Lords, ladies, and all the important people in Athens were invited. Lucius, Lucullus, Ventidius, Sempronius and the rest all came. 

They were all surprised to see Timon seemingly rich again and were disappointed that they had missed the chance to help him when he needed it. But they were also glad to see that he was still generous. They apologized for not helping him before, and Timon told them not to worry about it. 

Even though they had not given him money when he needed it, they could not refuse to attend his feast.

When the food was brought out, the guests were amazed by the feast that the poor Timon had prepared. But when they uncovered the dishes, instead of finding the luxurious food they were used to, they found only smoke and lukewarm water. 

Timon said, “Uncover, dogs, and lap,” and threw the water in their faces. The shocked guests ran out of the house, with Timon calling them names like “parasites” and “fools of fortune”. 

Some even lost their clothes and jewels in the chaos. They were all glad to get away from the mad lord and his strange feast. This was the last big meal Timon ever had, and he said goodbye to Athens and all people during it.

After that, he went to the forest, turning away from the city he didn’t like and from everyone. He wished for the city’s walls to fall, and for its houses to crush the people who lived in them. 

He wished for all bad things like war, violence, poverty, and sickness to happen to the people of Athens. He prayed to the fair gods to punish all the people there, both young and old, rich and poor. He then went to the forest, saying he would find animals there to be better friends than people.

He took off all his clothes so that he wouldn’t look like a man anymore, and he dug a hole to live in. He lived alone there like an animal, eating wild plants and drinking water. He avoided other people and preferred to be with wild animals, thinking they were nicer and more harmless than humans. 

What a big change from when he was rich Lord Timon, liked by everyone, to being Timon who wore no clothes and didn’t like people! Where were all the people who used to praise him? Where were his servants and followers? Would the cold air keep his clothes warm? 

Would the old trees run around doing his chores? Would the cold stream give him hot soup when he was sick? Or would the animals in the forest come to him and be nice to him?

One day, when he was digging for plants to eat, his spade hit something heavy. It was a big pile of gold that someone who loved money had probably buried when they were scared. 

They had probably planned to come back for it, but died before they could, without telling anyone about it. So the gold just stayed there in the ground, doing nothing, until Timon found it.

This was a lot of treasure that could have gotten Timon friends and people who praised him again, if he still wanted that. But Timon didn’t like the fake world anymore, and seeing gold made him feel sick. He thought about giving it back to the ground. But then he thought about all the bad things that happen because of money, like robberies, unfairness, bribes, violence, and murder. 

He liked thinking that this gold could cause bad things to happen to people, because he didn’t like them so much. Just then, some soldiers passed by his hole in the forest. They were from the army of the Athenian leader Alcibiades. 

He was mad at the leaders of Athens (the people of Athens were known to be ungrateful and often upset their leaders and friends) and was now leading the same army that he used to protect them with, to fight against them.

Timon liked their plan, so he gave the leader of the soldiers the gold to pay his men. He asked the leader to use his army to destroy Athens completely, to kill all its people. He told him not to feel sorry for the old men because they were greedy, or for the young children because they would grow up to be unfaithful. He told him to not feel any compassion and to not let the crying of women or babies stop him from killing everyone in the city. 

After the leader had done this, Timon prayed that the gods would also destroy him. Timon really hated Athens, the people of Athens, and all people. 

While Timon was living this sad life, more like an animal than a human, he was surprised one day by a man standing outside his cave. It was Flavius, his honest helper, who had come to find him because he cared about him. 

Seeing his master, once important Timon, now living like an animal, naked and looking very old, made Flavius speechless and shocked. 

When he was finally able to speak, he was crying so much that Timon had trouble recognizing him. Timon didn’t expect anyone to come and help him when he was in such a bad state, so he didn’t trust Flavius at first. But Flavius showed him that he was really loyal and that he had come there because he loved his old master. 

So Timon admitted that there was one good man in the world. But because he hated all people, he couldn’t stand to look at Flavius or hear him speak, so Flavius had to leave. But other people came to see Timon, more important than his helper Flavius. 

The ungrateful leaders of Athens now regretted how badly they had treated noble Timon. This was because Alcibiades was attacking their city walls, and it seemed like he would destroy Athens. 

They remembered that Timon had been a brave soldier and leader, the only one in Athens who they thought could defend them against an attack like this. So, the leaders chose some of them to go and see Timon. They asked for his help when they were in trouble, even though they had not helped him when he was in trouble. 

They seemed to think that he should be grateful to them, even though they had been rude and unkind to him.

Now they really asked him, with tears, to come back and save the city they had driven him from. 

They promised him money, power, respect, a way to fix the wrongs of the past, public love, and control over their lives and money if he would only come back and help them.  But Timon, now living like an animal and hating all people, was no longer the generous, brave Timon they used to know. 

If Alcibiades killed his fellow Athenians, Timon didn’t care. If he destroyed Athens, killing the old and the young, Timon would be happy. That’s what he told them. He also said that he cared more for a knife in Alcibiades’s army than for the oldest and most respected person in Athens.

That’s all he told the sad and disappointed leaders. Before they left, he told them to give a message to the people of Athens. He said he still had some love for them and wanted to help them avoid the anger of Alcibiades. This gave the leaders some hope that he still cared about the city. 

Then Timon told them he had a tree near his cave which he would soon cut down. He invited all the people of Athens to come and “taste” his tree before he cut it down. 

This meant they could come and hang themselves on the tree to escape their problems. This was the last kind act Timon showed to people. 

The last time his fellow Athenians saw him was when a poor soldier found a tomb near the sea, not far from the woods where Timon lived. 

On the tomb, it was written that this was the grave of Timon, who hated all people. He had wished for a disease to kill all the bad people left in the world. It wasn’t clear if Timon killed himself or if he died because he was tired of life and hated people. But everyone thought that the words on his grave fit him well, as he had died hating people just like he had lived. 

Some people also thought it was fitting that he chose to be buried near the sea, where the big sea could cry over his grave forever. 

This was much more than the short and fake tears of people who didn’t really care about him.

THE END