How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line)
Quote #1
MESSENGER:
Ay, my good lord: five talents is his debt,
His means most short, his creditors most strait:
Your honorable letter he desires
To those have shut him up; which failing,
Periods his comfort. (1.1.99-103)
We learn right away that many people are indebted to Timon. The messenger is sent to Timon because Ventidius knows Timon will foot the bill for his own spending... and Timon totally does foot the bill. It seems like Shakespeare is giving us a little taste of what's pretty routine around Athens.
Quote #2
APEMANTUS:
Who lives that's not depraved or depraves?
Who dies, that bears not one spurn to their graves
Of their friends' gift?
I should fear those that dance before me now
Would one day stamp upon me: 't has been done;
Men shut their doors against a setting sun. (1.2.137-142)
Apemantus's words might fall on deaf ears, but the audience sure hears. Here we get one of our first clues that all this gift-giving might not be the wisest for Timon to do. We also get one of the most famous lines in the play and a bit of foreshadowing all in one nice package.
Quote #3
FIRST LORD:
I am so far already in your gifts,—ALL:
So are we all. (1.2.170-171)
It's super significant that the person who says this doesn't even have a name. Timon isn't just giving stuff to his nearest and dearest; he's bestowing gifts on people who don't even matter to him. So what's all this stuff about friendship? If Timon is giving out stuff this indiscriminately, doesn't it suggest that the gift-giving is more about him (and his own image) than it is about his so-called friends?