Apemantus: The Man Who Was Always Right

Apemantus is a professional cynic (in the philosophical sense: he follows the school founded by Diogenes of Sinope, which valued plain living and contempt for social convention). He eats roots, tells everyone what he thinks of them, and attends Timon's banquets only to refuse the food and criticise the guests.

He is right about everything in the first half of the play. Timon's friends are false, his generosity is reckless, and no-one will help him when the money runs out.

In Act 4, when Timon has become a misanthrope, the two men meet in the woods. Apemantus cannot accept that Timon has become what he himself always was. 'The middle of humanity thou never knewest,' he says, accusing Timon of extremism in both phases of his life.