Let me look back upon thee. O thou wall
That girdles in those wolves, dive in the earth
And fence not Athens! Matrons, turn incontinent!
Obedience fail in children! Slaves and fools,
Pluck the grave wrinkled senate from the bench
And minister in their steads! To general filths
Convert, o’ th’ instant, green virginity,
Do’t in your parents’ eyes! Bankrupts, hold fast;
Rather than render back, out with your knives
And cut your trusters’ throats! Bound servants, steal!
Large-handed robbers your grave masters are,
And pill by law. Maid, to thy master’s bed,
Thy mistress is o’ th’ brothel. Son of sixteen,
Pluck the lined crutch from thy old limping sire,
With it beat out his brains! Piety and fear,
Religion to the gods, peace, justice, truth,
Domestic awe, night-rest and neighbourhood,
Instruction, manners, mysteries and trades,
Degrees, observances, customs and laws,
Decline to your confounding contraries,
And let confusion live! Plagues incident to men,
Your potent and infectious fevers heap
On Athens, ripe for stroke! Thou cold sciatica,
Cripple our senators, that their limbs may halt
As lamely as their manners! Lust and liberty,
Creep in the minds and marrows of our youth,
That ’gainst the stream of virtue they may strive
And drown themselves in riot! Itches, blains,
Sow all th’ Athenian bosoms, and their crop
Be general leprosy! Breath infect breath,
That their society, as their friendship, may
Be merely poison! Nothing I’ll bear from thee
But nakedness, thou detestable town!
Take thou that too, with multiplying bans!
Timon will to the woods, where he shall find
Th’ unkindest beast more kinder than mankind.
The gods confound—hear me, you good gods all!—
Th’ Athenians both within and out that wall,
And grant, as Timon grows, his hate may grow
To the whole race of mankind, high and low!
Amen.
Look at you one last time, you wall that keeps those wolves penned inside. Break down. Let the earth swallow you up—don't protect Athens anymore. Mothers, abandon virtue. Children, forget your parents. Slaves and common criminals, drag the senators from their seats and take their places. Turn all innocence to filth in an instant. Break your bonds with honor; kill your creditors with your own hands rather than repay them. Servants, steal from your masters. Your masters are already robbing you by law. Maids, betray your mistresses in your fathers' beds. Young men, beat your elderly fathers with their own crutches. Respect for the gods, justice, peace, truth, family honor, sleep, community, learning, custom, law—let all of this vanish into utter chaos. Send plague after plague to Athens. Make our senators cripple with disease until they walk as badly as they live. Let lust and madness poison our youth, driving them to destroy themselves in riots. Spread disease like leprosy across this city until even breath itself becomes poison from mouth to mouth. Let their friendships become deadly. Nothing will I take from you but my naked body, you hateful city. I curse you as I leave. I'm going to the woods, where wild animals are kinder than any human. May the gods destroy every Athenian, inside and outside these walls. And as my hatred grows, let it spread to all of mankind—high and low alike. Amen.
That's it. I'm done with you. That wall keeping the wolves inside? Tear it down. Let your mothers stop caring. Let kids turn on their parents. Let criminals take over the government. Every innocent thing you have—wreck it. Murder your lenders instead of paying them back. Servants, rob your masters blind. Maids, sleep with your mistresses' lovers. Beat your own fathers with their crutches. Throw out every law, every custom, every decent thing. Just let chaos take over. Plague should hit this city—make your leaders so sick they can barely walk. Let our kids get so into sex and partying they destroy themselves. Let disease spread everywhere until just breathing on someone poisons them. That's what I think of your friendship and loyalty—it's all poison. I'm leaving. I'm taking nothing but myself and my hatred for this place. The woods have better company than you humans do. I'm going to hate everyone now—all of mankind, rich and poor, everyone. That's my prayer.
done with all of you go corrupt yourselves everything you built should crumble i'm cursing this place as i walk away to hate everyone forever
The Reckoning
In this short soliloquy, Timon's disillusionment with his false friends grows into a hatred of all humanity. He is the only character in the scene and no one answers him. Look at what he asks for: he calls every form of social order into collapse, from marriage, family and service to law, religion, trade and sleep. For Timon, betrayal has shown that the whole structure was a lie. Notice his reasoning that the senators are already 'large-handed robbers' who 'pill by law', so theft by servants only makes open what is already true. He even takes off his clothes, keeping 'nothing but nakedness' from the city, which marks the change from lavish host to outcast. His last lines make his hatred spread from Athens to 'the whole race of mankind', and this is the Timon who fills the rest of the play.
If this happened today…
You've spent years picking up the tab, lending money and hosting everyone. When you needed help, not one of them took your call. You're driving out of town with everything you own. At the city limits you pull over, look back at the skyline and let it all out. You don't just curse those friends. You curse the banks, the courts, the neighbours and the whole idea that people owe each other anything. You leave your phone on the roadside and drive away from everyone.