Timon of Athens

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Timon of Athens is a play by William Shakespeare written around 1607. There is some stylistic evidence to indicate that Thomas Middleton was involved in the writing, either as collaborator or reviser.

Timon is a wealthy lord of Athens who overextends his munificence by showering patronage on parasitic writers and artists, and delivering his dubious friends from their financial straits. Shadowing Timon is his opposite number, the cynic philosopher Apemantus, who terrorizes Timon's shallow companions with his caustic railery. When Timon's creditors make their demands for immediate payment, Timon finds himself abandoned by his former friends. He betakes himself to the wilderness beyond the city gates, and makes his rude home in a cave, sustaining himself on roots. Here he discovers an underground trove of gold, and offers it to the rebel Alcibiades as a subsidy for his assault on the city. Accompanying Alcibiades on his ingrateful adventure are two prostitutes, who trade barbs with the bitter Timon on the subject of venereal disease. When Epimantus appears and accuses Timon of copying his pessimistic style, the audience is treated to the spectacle of a mutually misanthropic exchange of invective. Soon enough, Timon dies in his wilderness, leaving behind two distinct epitaphs.

Scholars find much unfinished about this play, including unexplained plot developments, characters who appear unexplained and say little, and prose sections that would have been put into verse in a polished version. The author appears to have abandoned his play, perhaps tired of antique subjects drawn from Plutarch. This was the third straight play to have been based on the second-century biographer.