e despises it.
Coriolanus would have laughed at them from Elysium and scorned to write
any epitaph.

No other Shakespearean play, with the exception of _Troilus and
Cressida_, shows the human race in a light so contemptible as this.
Aside from Timon and his faithful steward, there is not one person in
the play {195} who seems to have a single redeeming trait. All of the
others are selfish, and most of them are treacherous and cowardly.

+Authorship+.--It is generally believed that some parts of the play are
not by Shakespeare, although opinion is still somewhat divided as to
what is and is not his. The scenes and parts of scenes in which
Apemantus and some of the minor characters appear are most strongly
suspected.

+Date+.--This play was not printed until the publication of the First
Folio, and the only evidence which we have for its date is in the meter
and style and in the fact that some of the speeches show a strong
resemblance to certain ones in _King Lear_. The date most generally
approved is 1607-8.

+Sources+.--The direct source was probably a short account of Timon in
Plutarch's _Life of Marcus Antonius_. The same story also appears in
Painter's _Palace of Pleasure_, where Shakespeare may have read it.
Both of these accounts, however, contain but a small part of the
material found in the play. Certain details missing in them, such as
the discovery of the gold, etc., are found in _Timon or the
Misanthrope_, a dialogue by Lucian, one of the later of the ancient
Greek writers. As far as we know, Lucian had not been translated into
English at this time; but there were copies of his works in Latin,
French, and Italian. We cannot say whether Shakespeare had read them
or not. In 1842 a play on Timon was printed from an old manuscript
which is supposed to have been written about 1000. This contains a
banquet scene, a faithful steward, and the finding of the gold. This
has the appearance of an academic play rather than one meant for the
public theaters, so it is probable that Shakespeare never heard of it;
but it is barely possible that he knew it and used it as a source.

The most helpful book yet written on the period is: _Shakespearean
Tragedy_, by A. C. Bradley (London, Macmillan, 1910 (1st ed. 1904)).

{196}

CHAPTER XIII

THE PLAYS OF THE FOURTH PERIOD--ROMANTIC TRAGI-COMEDY

No less clear than the interest in tragic themes which attracted the
London audiences for the half-a-dozen y