Belmont.
Enter Bassanio, Portia, Gratiano, and attendants. The Caskets are set out.
Por.
I pray you, tarry, pause a day or two,
Before you hazard; for in chusing wrong
I lose your company; therefore, forbear a while.
There's something tells me (but it is not love)
I would not lose you; and you know your self,
Hate counsels not in such a quality.
But lest you should not understand me well,
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,
I would detain you here some month or two,
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
-- 44 --
How to chuse right, but I am then forsworn:
So will I never be; so may you miss me;
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,
They have o'erlook'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I would say: but if mine, then yours;
And so all yours. Alas! these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights:
And so tho' yours, not yours; prove it so,
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.
I speak too long, but 'tis to peece the time,
To eche it, and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.
Bass.
Let me chuse:
For as I am, I live upon the rack.
Por.
Upon the rack, Bassanio? then confess,
What treason there is mingled with your love.
Bass.
None, but that ugly treason of mistrust,
Which makes me fear th' enjoying of my love:
There may as well be amity and life
'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love.
Por.
Ay, but, I fear, you speak upon the rack;
Where men enforced do speak any thing.
Bass.
Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth.
Por.
Well then, confess and live.
Bass.
Confess, and love,
Had been the very sum of my confession.
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me answers for deliverance!
But let me to my fortune and the caskets.
Por.
Away then! I am lockt in one of them;
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Nerissa, and the rest, stand all aloof,
Let musick sound, while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in musick. That the comparison
May stand more just, my eye shall be the stream
And wat'ry death-bed for him: he may win,
And what is musick then? then musick is
-- 45 --
Even as the flourish, when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is,
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin-tribute, paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice;
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages come forth to view
The issue of th' exploit. Go, Hercules!—
Live thou, I live; with much, much more dismay
I view the fight, than thou, that mak'st the fray.
[Musick within.
A Song, whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself.
Tell me, where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engender'd in the eye,
With gazing fed, and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lyes:
Let us all ring fancy's knell.
I'll begin it.
Ding, dong, bell.
All,
Ding, dong, bell.
Bass.
So may the outward shows be least themselves:
The world is still deceiv'd with Ornament.
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
But being season'd with a gracious voice,
Obscures the show of evil? in religion,
What damned error, but some sober brow
Will bless it, and approve it with a text,
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?
There is no vice so simple, but assumes
Some mark of virtue on its outward parts.
-- 46 --
How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars;
Who, inward searcht, have livers white as milk?
And these assume but valour's excrement,
To render them redoubted. Look on beauty,
And you shall see 'tis purchas'd by the weight,
Which therein works a miracle in nature,
Making them lightest, that wear most of it:
So are those crisped snaky golden locks,
Which make such wanton gambols with the wind
Upon supposed fairness, often known
To be the dowry of a second head,
The skull, that bred them, in the sepulcher.
Thus Ornament is but the guiled shore(16) note
To a most dang'rous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
T' entrap the wisest. Then thou gaudy gold,
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee:
Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge
'Tween man and man: but thou, thou meager lead,
Which rather threatnest, than dost promise ought,(17) note
Thy plainness moves me more than eloquence;
And here chuse I; joy be the consequence!
-- 47 --
Por.
How all the other passions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embrac'd despair,
And shudd'ring fear, and green-ey'd jealousie.
O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasie;
In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess,
I feel too much thy blessing, make it less,
For fear I surfeit.
[Opening the leaden casket.
Bass.
What find I here?
Fair Portia's counterfeit? what Demy-god
Hath come so near creation? move these eyes?
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,
Seem they in motion? here are sever'd lips
Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar
Should sunder such sweet friends: here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider, and hath woven
A golden mesh t' intrap the hearts of men,
Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes,—
How could he see to do them? having made one,
Methinks, it should have pow'r to steal both his,
And leave it self unfinish'd: yet how far
The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow
In underprizing it; so far this shadow
Doth limp behind the substance. Here's the scrowl,
The continent and summary of my fortune.
You that chuse not by the view,
Chance as fair, and chuse as true:
Since this fortune falls to you,
Be content, and seek no new.
If you be well pleas'd with this,
And hold your fortune for your bliss,
Turn you where your lady is,
And claim her with a loving kiss.
A gentle scrowl; fair lady, by your leave;
[Kissing her.
I come by note to give, and to receive.
Like one of two contending in a prize,
That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes;
Hearing applause and universal shout,
Giddy in spirit, gazing still in doubt,
Whether those peals of praise be his or no;
-- 48 --
So (thrice-fair lady) stand I, even so,
As doubtful whether what I see be true,
Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratify'd by you.
Por.
You see me, lord Bassanio, where I stand,
Such as I am; tho' for my self alone,
I would not be ambitious in my wish,
To wish my self much better; yet for you,
I would be trebled twenty times my self,
A thousand times more fair; ten thousand times
More rich; that, to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account: but the full sum of me
Is sum of something, which, to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd:
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; more happy then in this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn;
Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit
Commits it self to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her King:
My self, and what is mine, to you and yours
Is now converted. But now I was the Lord
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen o'er my self; and even now, but now,
This house, these servants, and this same my self
Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring,
Which, when you part from, lose or give away,
Let it presage the ruin of your love,
And be my vantage to exclaim on you.
Bass.
Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins;
And there is such confusion in my pow'rs,
As, after some oration fairly spoke
By a beloved Prince, there doth appear
Among the buzzing pleased multitude;
Where every something, being blent together,
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy
Exprest, and not exprest. But when this ring
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence;
O, then be bold to say, Bassanio's dead.
-- 49 --
Ner.
My lord and lady, it is now our time,
That have stood by, and seen our wishes prosper,
To cry, good joy, good joy, my lord and lady!
Gra.
My lord Bassanio, and my gentle lady,
I wish you all the joy, that you can wish;
For, I am sure, you can wish none from me:
And when your honours mean to solemnize
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,
Ev'n at that time I may be married too.
Bass.
With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife.
Gra.
I thank your lordship, you have got me one.
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours;
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid;
You lov'd; I lov'd: for intermission(18) note
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you.
Your fortune stood upon the casket there;
And so did mine too, as the matter falls:
For wooing here until I sweat again,
And swearing, till my very roof was dry
With oaths of love; at last, if promise last,
I got a promise of this fair one here,
-- 50 --
To have her love, provided that your fortune
Atchiev'd her mistress.
Por.
Is this true, Nerissa?
Ner.
Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal.
Bass.
And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?
Gra.
Yes, faith, my lord.
Bass.
Our feast shall be much honour'd in your marriage.
Gra.
We'll play with them, the first boy for a thousand
ducats.
Ner.
What, and stake down?
Gra.
No, we shall ne'er win at that sport, and stake
down.
But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel?
What, and my old Venetian friend, Salanio?
Enter Lorenzo, Jessica, and Salanio.
Bass.
Lorenzo and Salanio, welcome hither;
If that the youth of my new interest here
Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave,
I bid my very friends and country-men,
(Sweet Portia) welcome.
Por.
So do I, my lord; they are intirely welcome.
Lor.
I thank your honour; for my part, my lord,
My purpose was not to have seen you here;
But meeting with Salanio by the way,
He did intreat me, past all saying nay,
To come with him along.
Sal.
I did, my lord,
And I have reason for't; Signior Anthonio
Commends him to you.
[Gives Bassanio a Letter.
Bass.
Ere I ope his letter,
I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.
Sal.
Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind;
Nor well, unless in mind; his letter there
Will shew you his estate.
[Bassanio opens the letter.
Gra.
Nerissa, cheer yond stranger: Bid her welcome.(19) note
-- 51 --
Your hand, Salanio; what's the news from Venice?
How doth that royal merchant good Anthonio?
I know, he will be glad of our success:
We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.
Sal.
Would, you had won the fleece, that he hath lost!
Por.
There are some shrewd contents in yond same paper,
That steal the colour from Bassanio's cheek:
Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world
Could turn so much the constitution
Of any constant man. What, worse and worse!
With leave, Bassanio, I am half your self,
And I must have the half of any thing
That this same paper brings you.
Bass.
O sweet Portia!
Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words,
That ever blotted paper. Gentle lady,
When I did first impart my love to you,
I freely told you, all the wealth I had
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman;
And then I told you true; and yet, dear lady,
Rating my self at nothing, you shall see
How much I was a braggart: when I told you,
My state was nothing, I should then have told you,
That I was worse than nothing. For, indeed,
I have engag'd my self to a dear friend,
Engag'd my friend to his meer enemy,
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady,
The paper, as the body of my friend;
And every word in it a gaping wound,
Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salanio?
Have all his ventures fail'd? what, not one hit
From Tripolis, from Mexico, from England,
-- 52 --
From Lisbon, Barbary, and India?
And not one vessel 'scap'd the dreadful touch
Of merchant-marring rocks?
Sal.
Not one, my lord.
Besides, it should appear, that if he had
The present mony to discharge the Jew,
He would not take it. Never did I know
A creature, that did bear the shape of man,
So keen and greedy to confound a man.
He plies the Duke at morning and at night,
And doth impeach the freedom of the state,
If they deny him justice. Twenty merchants,
The Duke himself, and the Magnificoes
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him;
But none can drive him from the envious plea
Of forfeiture, of justice, and his bond.
Jes.
When I was with him, I have heard him swear,
To Tuball and to Chus his country-men,
That he would rather have Anthonio's flesh,
Than twenty times the value of the sum
That he did owe him; and I know, my lord,
If law, authority, and pow'r deny not,
It will go hard with poor Anthonio.
Por.
Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trouble?
Bass.
The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,
The best condition'd and unweary'd spirit
In doing courtesies; and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears,
Than any that draws breath in Italy.
Por.
What sum owes he the Jew?
Bass.
For me, three thousand ducats.
Por.
What, no more?
Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond;
Double six thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this description
Shall lose a hair through my Bassanio's fault.
First, go with me to church, and call me wife,
And then away to Venice to your friend:
For never shall you lie by Portia's side
With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold
-- 53 --
To pay the petty debt twenty times over.
When it is paid, bring your true friend along;
My maid Nerissa and my self, mean time,
Will live as maids and widows: come, away!
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day.
Bid your friends welcome, shew a merry cheer;
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.
But let me hear the letter of your friend.
Bass. reads.
Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarry'd,
my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very
low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since, in paying
it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are cleared between
you and me, if I might but see you at my death;
notwithstanding, use your pleasure: if your love do not
persuade you to come, let not my letter.
Por.
O love! dispatch all business, and be gone.
Bass.
Since I have your good leave to go away,
I will make haste; but 'till I come again,
No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay;
No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain.
[Exeunt.
Lewis Theobald [1733], The works of Shakespeare: in seven volumes. Collated with the Oldest Copies, and Corrected; With notes, Explanatory and Critical; By Mr. Theobald (Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch [and] J. Tonson [etc.], London) [word count] [S11201].
