Complete Plays, The

by William Shakespeare

  And you shall see ’tis purchased 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 sepulchre.

  Thus ornament is but the guiled shore

  To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf

  Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,

  The seeming truth which cunning times put on

  To entrap the wisest. Therefore, 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 meagre lead,

  Which rather threatenest than dost promise aught,

  Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence;

  And here choose I; joy be the consequence!

  Portia

  [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to air,

  As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,

  And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love,

  Be moderate; allay thy ecstasy,

  In measure rein thy joy; scant this excess.

  I feel too much thy blessing: make it less,

  For fear I surfeit.

  Bassanio

  What find I here?

  Opening the leaden casket

  Fair Portia’s counterfeit! What demi-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 to entrap 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 power to steal both his

  And leave itself unfurnish’d. Yet look, 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 scroll,

  The continent and summary of my fortune.

  [Reads] You that choose not by the view,

  Chance as fair and choose as true!

  Since this fortune falls to you,

  Be content and seek no new,

  If you be well pleased with this

  And hold your fortune for your bliss,

  Turn you where your lady is

  And claim her with a loving kiss.

  A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave;

  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, still gazing in a doubt

  Whether these pearls of praise be his or no;

  So, thrice fair lady, stand I, even so;

  As doubtful whether what I see be true,

  Until confirm’d, sign’d, ratified by you.

  Portia

  You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,

  Such as I am: though for myself alone

  I would not be ambitious in my wish,

  To wish myself much better; yet, for you

  I would be trebled twenty times myself;

  A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich;

  That only to stand high in your account,

  I might in virtue, 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, unpractised;

  Happy in this, she is not yet so old

  But she may learn; happier than this,

  She is not bred so dull but she can learn;

  Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit

  Commits itself to yours to be directed,

  As from her lord, her governor, her king.

  Myself 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 myself: and even now, but now,

  This house, these servants and this same myself

  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.

  Bassanio

  Madam, you have bereft me of all words,

  Only my blood speaks to you in my veins;

  And there is such confusion in my powers,

  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,

  Express’d and not express’d. But when this ring

  Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence:

  O, then be bold to say Bassanio’s dead!

  Nerissa

  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!

  Gratiano

  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,

  Even at that time I may be married too.

  Bassanio

  With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife.

  Gratiano

  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 loved, I loved for intermission.

  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 sweating until my very roof was dry

  With oaths of love, at last, if promise last,

  I got a promise of this fair one here

  To have her love, provided that your fortune

  Achieved her mistress.

  Portia

  Is this true, Nerissa?

  Nerissa

  Madam, it is, so you stand pleased withal.

  Bassanio

  And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

  Gratiano

  Yes, faith, my lord.

  Bassanio

  Our feast shall be much honour’d in your marriage.

  Gratiano

  We’ll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.

  Nerissa

  What, and stake down?

  Gratiano

  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, a Messenger from Venice

  Bassanio

  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 countrymen,

  Sweet Portia, welcome.

  Portia

  So do I, my lord:

  They are entirely welcome.

  Lorenzo

  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 entreat me, past all saying nay,

  To come with him along.

  Salanio

  I did, my lord;

  And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio

  Commends him to you.

  Gives Bassanio a letter

  Bassanio

  Ere I ope his letter,

  I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.

  Salanio

  Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind;

  Nor well, unless in mind: his letter there

  Will show you his estate.

  Gratiano

  Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome.

  Your hand, Salanio: what’s the news from Venice?

  How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?

  I know he will be glad of our success;

  We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.

  Salanio

  I would you had won the fleece that he hath lost.

  Portia

  There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper,

  That steals 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 yourself,

  And I must freely have the half of anything

  That this same paper brings you.

  Bassanio

  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 myself 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 engaged myself to a dear friend,

  Engaged my friend to his mere 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 and England,

  From Lisbon, Barbary and India?

  And not one vessel ’scape the dreadful touch

  Of merchant-marring rocks?

  Salanio

  Not one, my lord.

  Besides, it should appear, that if he had

  The present money 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.

  Jessica

  When I was with him I have heard him swear

  To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen,

  That he would rather have Antonio’s flesh

  Than twenty times the value of the sum

  That he did owe him: and I know, my lord,

  If law, authority and power deny not,

  It will go hard with poor Antonio.

  Portia

  Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?

  Bassanio

  The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,

  The best-condition’d and unwearied spirit

  In doing courtesies, and one in whom

  The ancient Roman honour more appears

  Than any that draws breath in Italy.

  Portia

  What sum owes he the Jew?

  Bassanio

  For me three thousand ducats.

  Portia

  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 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

  To pay the petty debt twenty times over:

  When it is paid, bring your true friend along.

  My maid Nerissa and myself meantime

  Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!

  For you shall hence upon your wedding-day:

  Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer:

  Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.

  But let me hear the letter of your friend.

  Bassanio

  [Reads] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, 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 I, 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.

  Portia

  O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!

  Bassanio

  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

  SCENE III. VENICE. A STREET.

  Enter Shylock, Salarino, Antonio, and Gaoler

  Shylock

  Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy;

  This is the fool that lent out money gratis:

  Gaoler, look to him.

  Antonio

  Hear me yet, good Shylock.

  Shylock

  I’ll have my bond; speak not against my bond:

  I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

  Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;

  But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs:

  The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,

  Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond

  To come abroad with him at his request.

  Antonio

  I pray thee, hear me speak.

  Shylock

  I’ll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

  I’ll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.

  I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,

  To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield

  To Christian intercessors. Follow not;

  I’ll have no speaking: I will have my bond.

  Exit

  Salarino

  It is the most impenetrable cur

  That ever kept with men.

  Antonio

  Let him alone:

  I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers.

  He seeks my life; his reason well I know:

  I oft deliver’d from his forfeitures

  Many that have at times made moan to me;

  Therefore he hates me.

  Salarino

  I am sure the duke

  Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

  Antonio

  The duke cannot deny the course of law:

  For the commodity that strangers have

  With us in Venice, if it be denied,

  Will much impeach the justice of his state;

  Since that the trade and profit of the city

  Consistet
h of all nations. Therefore, go:

  These griefs and losses have so bated me,

  That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

  To-morrow to my bloody creditor.

  Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come

  To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

  Exeunt

  SCENE IV. BELMONT. A ROOM IN PORTIA’S HOUSE.

  Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthasar

  Lorenzo

  Madam, although I speak it in your presence,

  You have a noble and a true conceit

  Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly

  In bearing thus the absence of your lord.

  But if you knew to whom you show this honour,

  How true a gentleman you send relief,

  How dear a lover of my lord your husband,

  I know you would be prouder of the work

  Than customary bounty can enforce you.

  Portia

  I never did repent for doing good,

  Nor shall not now: for in companions

  That do converse and waste the time together,

  Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love,

  There must be needs a like proportion

  Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;

  Which makes me think that this Antonio,

  Being the bosom lover of my lord,

  Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,

  How little is the cost I have bestow’d

  In purchasing the semblance of my soul

  From out the state of hellish misery!

  This comes too near the praising of myself;

  Therefore no more of it: hear other things.

  Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

  The husbandry and manage of my house

  Until my lord’s return: for mine own part,

  I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow

  To live in prayer and contemplation,

  Only attended by Nerissa here,

  Until her husband and my lord’s return:

  There is a monastery two miles off;

  And there will we abide. I do desire you

  Not to deny this imposition;

  The which my love and some necessity

  Now lays upon you.

  Lorenzo

  Madam, with all my heart;

  I shall obey you in all fair commands.

  Portia

  My people do already know my mind,

  And will acknowledge you and Jessica

  In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.

  And so farewell, till we shall meet again.

  Lorenzo

  Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!

  Jessica

  I wish your ladyship all heart’s content.

  Portia

  I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased

  To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.

  Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo

  Now, Balthasar,

  As I have ever found thee honest-true,