Read The Merchant of Venice Online
Authors: William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice (5 page)
NERISSA
You
would be
3
, sweet madam, if your miseries were
in the same abundance as your good fortunes are, and yet,
for
aught
5
I see, they are as sick that surfeit with too much, as
they that starve with nothing; it is no small happiness,
therefore, to be seated in the
mean
7
. Superfluity comes sooner
by white hairs, but
competency
8
lives longer.
PORTIA
Good
sentences
9
and well pronounced.
NERISSA
They would be better if well followed.
PORTIA
If to do were as easy as to know what were good to
do, chapels had been churches and poor men’s cottages
princes’ palaces. It is a good
divine
13
that follows his own
instructions; I can easier teach twenty what were good to be
done than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.
The brain may devise laws for the
blood
16
, but a hot temper
leaps o’er a
cold decree
17
—such a hare is madness the youth,
to skip o’er the
meshes
18
of good counsel the cripple; but this
reason is not
in fashion
19
to choose me a husband. O me, the
word ‘choose!’ I may neither choose whom I
would
20
, nor
refuse whom I dislike, so is the
will
21
of a living daughter
curbed by the
will
22
of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa,
that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?
NERISSA
Your father was ever virtuous, and holy men at
their death have good inspirations: therefore the
lottery
25
that
he hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver and lead,
whereof
who
27
chooses his meaning chooses you, will no
doubt never be chosen by any
rightly
28
but one who you shall
rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection
towards any of these princely suitors that are already come?
PORTIA
I pray thee
overname
31
them, and as thou namest
them, I will describe them, and according to my description
level at
33
my affection.
NERISSA
First, there is the
Neapolitan
34
prince.
PORTIA
Ay, that’s a
colt
35
indeed, for he doth nothing but talk
of his horse, and he makes it a great
appropriation
36
to his
own good
parts
37
that he can shoe him himself. I am much
afraid my lady his mother
played false
38
with a smith.
NERISSA
Then is there the
County
39
Palatine.
PORTIA
He doth nothing but frown, as
who
40
should say, ‘An
you will not have me,
choose
41
.’ He hears merry tales and
smiles not. I fear he will
prove
42
the weeping philosopher when
he grows old, being so full of
unmannerly
43
sadness in his
youth. I had rather to be married to a
death’s-head
44
with a
bone in his mouth than to either of these. God defend me
from these two!
NERISSA
How
47
say you by the French lord, Monsieur Le Bon?
PORTIA
God made him, and therefore let him pass for a
man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker, but he! Why,
he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan’s, a
better bad
50
habit of frowning than the Count Palatine.
He is every man
51
in no man. If a
throstle
52
sing, he falls straight a capering, he
will fence with his own shadow. If I should marry him, I
should marry twenty husbands. If he would despise me, I
would forgive him, for
if
55
he love me to madness, I should
never requite him.
NERISSA
What say you then to Falconbridge, the young
baron of England?
PORTIA
You know I
say
59
nothing to him, for he understands
not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian,
and you will
come into the court and swear
61
that I have a
poor pennyworth in the
62
English. He is a proper man’s
picture, but alas, who can converse with a
dumb show
63
? How
oddly he is
suited
64
. I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his
round hose
65
in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his
behaviour everywhere.
NERISSA
What think you of the other lord, his neighbour?
PORTIA
That he hath a neighbourly charity in him, for he
borrowed
69
a box of the ear of the Englishman and swore he
would pay him again when he was able. I think the
Frenchman became his
surety
71
and sealed under for another.
NERISSA
How like you the young German, the Duke of
Saxony
73
’s nephew?
PORTIA
Very vilely in the morning when he is sober, and
most vilely in the afternoon when he is drunk: when he is
best, he is a little worse than a man, and when he is worst, he
is little better than a
beast
77
. An the worst fall that ever fell, I
hope I shall
make shift
78
to go without him.
NERISSA
If he should offer to choose, and choose the right
casket,
you should
80
refuse to perform your father’s will, if you
should refuse to accept him.
PORTIA
Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee set a
deep glass of
Rhenish wine
83
on the contrary casket, for if the
devil be within, and that temptation
without
84
, I know he will
choose it. I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I will be married to
a
sponge
86
.
NERISSA
You need not fear, lady, the having any of these
lords. They have acquainted me with their
determinations
88
,
which is indeed to return to their home, and to trouble you
with no more
suit
90
, unless you may be won by some other sort
than your father’s
imposition
91
, depending on the caskets.
PORTIA
If I live to be as old as
Sibylla
92
, I will die as chaste as
Diana
93
, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father’s
will. I am glad this
parcel
94
of wooers are so reasonable, for
there is not one among them but I dote on his very absence,
and I wish them a fair departure.
NERISSA
Do you not remember, lady, in your father’s time, a
Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came hither in
company of the Marquis of
Montferrat
99
?
PORTIA
Yes, yes, it was Bassanio, as I think, so was he called.
NERISSA
True, madam. He, of all the men that ever my
foolish
102
eyes looked upon, was the best deserving a fair lady.
PORTIA
I remember him well, and I remember him worthy
of thy praise.
Enter a Servingman
SERVANT
The
four strangers
105
seek you, madam, to take their
leave. And there is a
forerunner
106
come from a fifth, the Prince
of Morocco, who brings word the prince his master will be
here tonight.
PORTIA
If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good heart as
I can bid the other four farewell, I should be glad of his
approach. If he have the
condition
111
of a saint and the
complexion of a devil
112
, I had rather he should shrive me than
wive
113
me. Come, Nerissa.—Sirrah, go before; whiles
To the Servingman
we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks
at the door.
Exeunt
running scene 3
Location: Venice
Enter Bassanio with
Shylock
the Jew
SHYLOCK
Three thousand
ducats
1
, well.
BASSANIO
Ay, sir, for three months.
SHYLOCK
For three months, well.
BASSANIO
For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be
bound
5
.
SHYLOCK
Antonio shall become bound, well.
BASSANIO
May you
stead
7
me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I
know your answer?
SHYLOCK
Three thousand ducats for three months and
Antonio bound.
BASSANIO
Your answer to that.
SHYLOCK
Antonio is a good man.
BASSANIO
Have you heard any
imputation
13
to the contrary?
SHYLOCK
Ho, no, no, no, no! My meaning in saying he is a
good man is to have you understand me that he is
sufficient
15
.
Yet his means are in
supposition
16
: he hath an argosy bound to
Tripolis
17
, another to the Indies, I understand moreover, upon
the
Rialto
18
, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England,
and other ventures he hath
squandered
19
abroad. But ships are
but boards, sailors but men. There be land-rats and water-
rats, water-thieves and land-thieves—I mean
pirates
21
—and
then there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks. The man is,
notwithstanding
23
, sufficient. Three thousand ducats. I think I
may take his bond.
BASSANIO
Be assured you may.
SHYLOCK
I will be
assured
26
I may. And that I may be assured, I
will
bethink me
27
. May I speak with Antonio?
BASSANIO
If it please you to dine with us.
SHYLOCK
Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the
habitation
29
which
your prophet the
Nazarite
30
conjured the devil into. I will buy
with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so
following
32
, but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor
pray with you. What news on the Rialto? Who is he comes
here?
Enter Antonio
BASSANIO
This is Signior Antonio.
SHYLOCK
How like a fawning
publican
36
he looks!
Aside
I hate him for he is a Christian,
But more, for that in
low simplicity
38
He lends out money
gratis
39
and brings down
The rate of
usance
40
here with us in Venice.
If I can catch him once
upon the hip
41
,
I will feed
fat
42
the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates
our sacred nation
43
, and he rails—
Even
there where merchants most do congregate
44
—
On me, my bargains and my well-won
thrift
45
,
Which he calls interest. Cursèd be my
tribe
46
,
If I forgive him!
BASSANIO
Shylock, do you hear?
SHYLOCK
I am
debating of my present store
49
,
And by the near guess of my memory,
I cannot instantly raise up the
gross
51
Of full three thousand ducats. What of that?
Tubal
53
, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,
Will
furnish
54
me; but soft! How many months
Do you desire?—
Rest you fair
55
, good signior.
To Antonio
Your worship was the last man in our mouths
56
.
ANTONIO
Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow
By taking nor by giving of
excess
58
,
Yet to supply the
ripe wants
59
of my friend,
I’ll break a custom.—Is he yet
possessed
60
To Bassanio
How much ye
would
61
?