If you maintain, or hide behind, a front for long enough, you might find there is not much left when the front comes down.  If you fabricate your view of the world for long enough, you may not be able to deal with reality when the need to do so is imposed upon you. 

The person has not been born who can hold out indefinitely against the world.  We describe as mad those who think they are God.  Even the ensainted founders of religious followings have to pass into the ground or the fires – even if some of their followers maintain their faith by what the rest of the world sees as rather silly myths.

Timon of Athens is one those men we meet who have no gear box.  They have two speeds – nought and flat out.  In each direction.  He was a man of extremes – doomed to live on the edge – and therefore doomed to fall off it.  And we know that the results of the fall will be a general overturn, what we call a catastrophe.

He lives in the upper reaches of Athenian society – but not at the peak: Country Life, and Tatler, not Debrett.  He feels the need to uphold his standing by lavish parties and gifts for his betters.  And they soak it up most cynically. 

Timon is not doing this for charity.  He is doing it for himself.  You may be able to pay for a public face that gives you some public standing, but you cannot buy friendship.  You cannot even buy respect.  (Ask Dr Twiggy Forrest.  The Stock Market now takes an informed interest in his purported claims on our conscience.  And don’t even mention Elon Musk.)

The fall is inevitable, as are its awful consequences.  Dr Johnson was spot on.

The catastrophe affords a very powerful warning against that ostentatious liberality, which scatters bounty, but confers no benefits, and buys flattery, but not friendship.

What is left of the persona of Timon is a retreat from reality that verges on madness, and a venomous loathing for those who fed his habit and wallowed in his fake benevolence.  He lashes out poisonously like a taipan you have trodden on.  Dr Johnson saw ‘a sullen haughtiness and malignant dignity suitable at once to the lord and man-hunter.’

It is very hard to put this play on in a way that entertains and holds the audience.  No one has ever done it for me.  The Arkangel has Alan Howard going clean over the top.  That is OK in Coriolanus, who obviously wills his own destruction, but not for this dire play – especially when a clarinet screeches like a thumbnail dragged across a blackboard.  That is now the most painful experience a play of this author has given me.

Donald Trump has a lot in common with Timon.  He is all front, with no core.  It is hard to see anything he values except his own standing.  His wealth is very hard to trace – as is any skill in acquiring it.  His attachment to himself is all consuming.  He wills away reality if it does not suit him.  He does not have a friend in the world, but, like Timon, surrounds himself with flatterers, not by gifts so much as promises.  And promises mean as much to Donald Trump as books of account meant to Timon.  He is brutal to those under him – which in his eyes means almost everyone.  If a supporter wavers, that person is discarded.  

One thing Trump and Timon have together is the complete absence of moderation or restraint.

One real difference between Trump and Timon is that Trump associates with outright crooks in a manner that Timon did not.

Another difference I see is that I regard Trump as evil, whereas Timon is just an annoying bloody idiot.  For a community of people to work in a manner different to a bunch of gorillas, people as a whole must be capable of restraint or moderation.  Trump, like Timon, was incapable of either – and the price that may be paid by the U S and indeed the world may be frightful.

There is another similarity.  Decent people do not associate with Trump.  One of the reasons Timon of Athens is so hard to bear is that there is hardly a decent character in it, and none develops. 

The exception is the servants of Timon.  Someone said that if you want to inquire about a man, speak to his valet.  He will be best placed to see the subject close up and with no need to put on a front.  He might also be a prime target for abuse. 

Flavius is unfailingly loyal, although driven mad by Timon’s steadfast refusal to see his end coming in the books of account. 

Dr Johnson made a very interesting comment for a man of his time.

Nothing contributes more to the exaltation of Timon’s character than the zeal and fidelity of his servants.  Nothing but real virtue can be honoured by domestics: nothing but impartial kindness can gain affection from the dependants.

No one will ever say anything like that about Donald Trump.  And if the play Timon of Athens stands for anything, it is that if there is power or money on the table, the Sermon on the Mount goes clean out the window.

Men must learn now with pity to dispense;
For policy sits above conscience. (3.2.91-2)

Trump – restraint – moderation – Shakespeare – Timon of Athens