Act 1

Scene 1 / running scene 1

Enter Antonio, Salerio and Solanio

ANTONIO In sooth I know not why I am so sad.

It wearies me, you say it wearies you;

But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,

What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born ,

I am to learn :

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me

That I have much ado to know myself.

SALERIO Your mind is tossing on the ocean,

There where your argosies with portly sail

Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood ,

Or as it were the pageants of the sea,

Do overpeer the petty traffickers

That curtsy to them, do them reverence ,

As they fly by them with their woven wings .

SOLANIO Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth ,

The better part of my affections would

Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still

Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind,

Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads ,

And every object that might make me fear

Misfortune to my ventures out of doubt

Would make me sad.

SALERIO My wind cooling my broth

Would blow me to an ague , when I thought

What harm a wind too great might do at sea.

I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,

But I should think of shallows and of flats ,

And see my wealthy Andrew docked in sand,

Vailing her high top lower than her ribs

To kiss her burial ; should I go to church

And see the holy edifice of stone,

And not bethink me straight of dang'rous rocks,

Which touching but my gentle vessel's side,

Would scatter all her spices on the stream ,

Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ,

And in a word, but even now worth this ,

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought

To think on this, and shall I lack the thought

That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?

But tell not me, I know, Antonio

Is sad to think upon his merchandise.

ANTONIO Believe me, no. I thank my fortune for it,

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,

Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate

Upon the fortune of this present year:

Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.

SALERIO Why, then you are in love.

ANTONIO Fie , fie!

SOLANIO Not in love neither: then let us say you are sad

Because you are not merry; and 'twere as easy

For you to laugh and leap, and say you are merry

Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus ,

Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time:

Some that will evermore peep through their eyes

And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper ,

And other of such vinegar aspect

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,

Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo and Gratiano

SOLANIO Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,

Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well,

We leave you now with better company.

SALERIO I would have stayed till I had made you merry,

If worthier friends had not prevented me.

ANTONIO Your worth is very dear in my regard .

I take it your own business calls on you,

And you embrace th'occasion to depart.

SALERIO Good morrow, my good lords.

BASSANIO Good signiors both, when shall we laugh ? Say, when?

You grow exceeding strange . Must it be so?

SALERIO We'll make our leisures to attend on yours .

Exeunt Salerio and Solanio

LORENZO My lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,

We two will leave you, but at dinnertime

I pray you have in mind where we must meet.

BASSANIO I will not fail you.

GRATIANO You look not well, Signior Antonio.

You have too much respect upon the world :

They lose it that do buy it with much care .

Believe me, you are marvellously changed.

ANTONIO I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,

A stage where every man must play a part,

And mine a sad one.

GRATIANO Let me play the fool:

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,

And let my liver rather heat with wine

Than my heart cool with mortifying groans .

Why should a man whose blood is warm within,

Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ?

Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundices

By being peevish ? I tell thee what, Antonio —

I love thee, and it is my love that speaks —

There are a sort of men whose visages

Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,

And do a wilful stillness entertain ,

With purpose to be dressed in an opinion

Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit ,

As who should say , 'I am, sir, an oracle,

And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!'

O my Antonio, I do know of these

That therefore only are reputed wise

For saying nothing; when I am very sure

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears

Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools .

I'll tell thee more of this another time.

But fish not with this melancholy bait

For this fool gudgeon , this opinion.

Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile,

I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

LORENZO Well, we will leave you then till dinnertime.

To Antonio and Bassanio

I must be one of these same dumb wise men,

For Gratiano never lets me speak.

GRATIANO Well, keep me company but two years more,

Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.

ANTONIO Fare you well, I'll grow a talker for this gear .

GRATIANO Thanks, i'faith, for silence is only commendable

In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible .

Exit [ Gratiano with Lorenzo ]

ANTONIO Is that anything now?

BASSANIO Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you have them, they are not worth the search.

ANTONIO Well, tell me now, what lady is the same

To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage

That you today promised to tell me of ?

BASSANIO 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,

How much I have disabled mine estate

By something showing a more swelling port

Than my faint means would grant continuance .

Nor do I now make moan to be abridged

From such a noble rate , but my chief care

Is to come fairly off from the great debts

Wherein my time something too prodigal

Hath left me gaged . To you, Antonio,

I owe the most in money and in love,

And from your love I have a warranty

To unburden all my plots and purposes

How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

ANTONIO I pray you good Bassanio, let me know it,

And if it stand as you yourself still do,

Within the eye of honour , be assured

My purse, my person, my extremest means,

Lie all unlocked to your occasions .

BASSANIO In my schooldays, when I had lost one shaft ,

I shot his fellow of the selfsame flight

The selfsame way with more advisèd watch

To find the other forth , and by adventuring both

I oft found both. I urge this childhood proof

Because what follows is pure innocence .

I owe you much and, like a wilful youth,

That which I owe is lost. But if you please

To shoot another arrow that self way

Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,

As I will watch the aim, or to find both,

Or bring your latter hazard back again,

And thankfully rest debtor for the first.

ANTONIO You know me well, and herein spend but time

To wind about my love with circumstance ,

And out of doubt you do me now more wrong

In making question of my uttermost

Than if you had made waste of all I have.

Then do but say to me what I should do

That in your knowledge may by me be done,

And I am pressed unto it: therefore speak.

BASSANIO In Belmont is a lady richly left ,

And she is fair and, fairer than that word,

Of wondrous virtues. Sometimes from her eyes

I did receive fair speechless messages.

Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued

To Cato 's daughter, Brutus ' Portia.

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,

For the four winds blow in from every coast

Renownèd suitors, and her sunny locks

Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ,

Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand ,

And many Jasons come in quest of her.

O my Antonio, had I but the means

To hold a rival place with one of them,

I have a mind presages me such thrift ,

That I should questionless be fortunate.

ANTONIO Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea,

Neither have I money, nor commodity

To raise a present sum: therefore go forth.

Try what my credit can in Venice do,

That shall be racked , even to the uttermost,

To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.

Go presently inquire, and so will I,

Where money is, and I no question make

To have it of my trust or for my sake .

Exeunt

Scene 2 / running scene 2

Enter Portia with her waiting woman , Nerissa

PORTIA By my troth , Nerissa, my little body is aweary of this great world.

NERISSA You would be , sweet madam, if your miseries were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are, and yet, for aught 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 . Superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.

PORTIA Good sentences 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 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 , but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree — such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple; but this reason is not in fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word 'choose!' I may neither choose whom I would , nor refuse whom I dislike, so is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will 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 that he hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver and lead, whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you, will no doubt never be chosen by any rightly 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 them, and as thou namest them, I will describe them, and according to my description level at my affection.

NERISSA First, there is the Neapolitan prince.

PORTIA Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse, and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts that he can shoe him himself. I am much afraid my lady his mother played false with a smith .

NERISSA Then is there the County Palatine .

PORTIA He doth nothing but frown, as who should say, 'An you will not have me, choose .' He hears merry tales and smiles not. I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather to be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth than to either of these. God defend me from these two!

NERISSA How 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 habit of frowning than the Count Palatine. He is every man in no man . If a throstle 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 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 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 that I have a poor pennyworth in the English. He is a proper man's picture , but alas, who can converse with a dumb show ? How oddly he is suited . I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose 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 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 and sealed under for another .

NERISSA How like you the young German, the Duke of Saxony '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 . An the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him.

NERISSA If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should 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 on the contrary casket, for if the devil be within, and that temptation without , I know he will choose it. I will do anything, Nerissa, ere I will be married to a sponge .

NERISSA You need not fear, lady, the having any of these lords. They have acquainted me with their determinations , which is indeed to return to their home, and to trouble you with no more suit , unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition , depending on the caskets.

PORTIA If I live to be as old as Sibylla , I will die as chaste as Diana , unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will. I am glad this parcel 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 ?

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 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 seek you, madam, to take their leave. And there is a forerunner 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 of a saint and the complexion of a devil , I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. Come, Nerissa.— Sirrah , go before; whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door.

To the Servingman

Exeunt

Scene 3 / running scene 3

Enter Bassanio with Shylock the Jew

SHYLOCK Three thousand ducats , well.

BASSANIO Ay, sir, for three months.

SHYLOCK For three months, well.

BASSANIO For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound .

SHYLOCK Antonio shall become bound, well.

BASSANIO May you stead 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 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 . Yet his means are in supposition : he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis , another to the Indies , I understand moreover, upon the Rialto , he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath squandered abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but men. There be landrats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves — I mean pirates — and then there is the peril of waters, winds and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding , sufficient. Three thousand ducats. I think I may take his bond.

BASSANIO Be assured you may.

SHYLOCK I will be assured I may. And that I may be assured, I will bethink me . May I speak with Antonio?

BASSANIO If it please you to dine with us.

SHYLOCK Yes, to smell pork, to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following , 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 he looks!

Aside

I hate him for he is a Christian,

But more, for that in low simplicity

He lends out money gratis and brings down

The rate of usance here with us in Venice.

If I can catch him once upon the hip ,

I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.

He hates our sacred nation , and he rails —

Even there where merchants most do congregate —

On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift ,

Which he calls interest. Cursèd be my tribe ,

If I forgive him!

BASSANIO Shylock, do you hear?

SHYLOCK I am debating of my present store ,

And by the near guess of my memory,

I cannot instantly raise up the gross

Of full three thousand ducats. What of that?

Tubal , a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,

Will furnish me; but soft ! How many months

Do you desire?— Rest you fair , good signior.

To Antonio

Your worship was the last man in our mouths .

ANTONIO Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow

By taking nor by giving of excess ,

Yet to supply the ripe wants of my friend,

I'll break a custom.— Is he yet possessed

To Bassanio

How much ye would ?

SHYLOCK Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.

ANTONIO And for three months.

SHYLOCK I had forgot — three months — you told me so.

Well then, your bond . And let me see, but hear you,

Methoughts you said you neither lend nor borrow

Upon advantage .

ANTONIO I do never use it.

SHYLOCK When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep —

This Jacob from our holy Abram was,

As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,

The third possessor ; ay, he was the third—

ANTONIO And what of him? Did he take interest?

SHYLOCK No, not take interest, not, as you would say,

Directly interest. Mark what Jacob did:

When Laban and himself were compromised

That all the eanlings which were streaked and pied

Should fall as Jacob's hire , the ewes, being rank ,

In end of autumn turnèd to the rams,

And, when the work of generation was

Between these woolly breeders in the act,

The skilful shepherd peeled me certain wands ,

And in the doing of the deed of kind ,

He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes ,

Who then conceiving, did in eaning time

Fall parti-coloured lambs, and those were Jacob's.

This was a way to thrive , and he was blest:

And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not.

ANTONIO This was a venture , sir, that Jacob served for,

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,

But swayed and fashioned by the hand of heaven.

Was this inserted to make interest good ?

Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

SHYLOCK I cannot tell, I make it breed as fast.

But note me, signior—

ANTONIO Mark you this, Bassanio,

The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

An evil soul producing holy witness

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,

A goodly apple rotten at the heart.

O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

SHYLOCK Three thousand ducats, 'tis a good round sum.

Three months from twelve, then let me see, the rate—

ANTONIO Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?

SHYLOCK Signior Antonio, many a time and oft

In the Rialto you have rated me

About my moneys and my usances.

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine ,

And all for use of that which is mine own.

Well then, it now appears you need my help.

Go to , then. You come to me and you say

'Shylock, we would have moneys' — you say so,

You that did void your rheum upon my beard,

And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur

Over your threshold. Moneys is your suit .

What should I say to you? Should I not say,

'Hath a dog money? Is it possible

A cur should lend three thousand ducats?' Or

Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key ,

With bated breath and whisp'ring humbleness,

Say this: 'Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last;

You spurned me such a day; another time

You called me dog, and for these courtesies

I'll lend you thus much moneys'?

ANTONIO I am as like to call thee so again,

To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.

If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not

As to thy friends, for when did friendship take

A breed of barren metal of his friend?

But lend it rather to thine enemy,

Who, if he break , thou mayst with better face

Exact the penalties.

SHYLOCK Why, look you how you storm!

I would be friends with you and have your love,

Forget the shames that you have stained me with,

Supply your present wants and take no doit

Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me:

This is kind I offer.

BASSANIO This were kindness.

SHYLOCK This kindness will I show:

Go with me to a notary , seal me there

Your single bond, and in a merry sport

If you repay me not on such a day,

In such a place, such sum or sums as are

Expressed in the condition , let the forfeit

Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken

In what part of your body it pleaseth me.

ANTONIO Content, in faith, I'll seal to such a bond

And say there is much kindness in the Jew.

BASSANIO You shall not seal to such a bond for me.

I'll rather dwell in my necessity .

ANTONIO Why, fear not, man, I will not forfeit it.

Within these two months — that's a month before

This bond expires — I do expect return

Of thrice three times the value of this bond.

SHYLOCK O father Abram, what these Christians are,

Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect

The thoughts of others! Pray you tell me this:

If he should break his day , what should I gain

By the exaction of the forfeiture?

A pound of man's flesh taken from a man

Is not so estimable , profitable neither,

As flesh of muttons, beefs or goats. I say

To buy his favour, I extend this friendship:

If he will take it, so , if not, adieu.

And for my love, I pray you wrong me not.

ANTONIO Yes Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.

SHYLOCK Then meet me forthwith at the notary's,

Give him direction for this merry bond,

And I will go and purse the ducats straight,

See to my house, left in the fearful guard

Of an unthrifty knave , and presently

I'll be with you.

Exit

ANTONIO Hie thee, gentle Jew.

This Hebrew will turn Christian, he grows kind .

BASSANIO I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.

ANTONIO Come on, in this there can be no dismay.

My ships come home a month before the day.

Exeunt JcCIVvL7OUa4wCmTBb05ZhVMTIrCA2igS8zsv7vDGOarxT+BeE5uQCTX4bmHzWF6