Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months, and Antonio bound. Bass. Your answer to that. Shy. Antonio is a good man. Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? Shy. 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 land-rats and waterrats, land-thieves and water-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. Bass. Be assured you may. Shy. I will be assured I may; and, that I may be assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio? Bass. If it please you to dine with us. Shy. 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. Bass. This is Signior Antonio. Shy. [Aside.] How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a Christian ; 4 But more, for that in low simplicity He lends out money gratis, and brings down The rate of usance here with us in Venice.5 2 Squandered here means simply scattered, dispersed; a frequent usage of the time. 3 Alluding to the permission given to the Legion of devils to enter into the herd of swine: St. Luke viii. 33. - Habitation is used of the body; the dwelling-place, in this instance, of the devils. 4 For was often used with the exact sense of our because. 5 Usance, usury, and interest were all terms of precisely the same import in Shakespeare's time; there being then no such law or custom whereby usury has since come to mean the taking of interest above a certain rate. How the taking of interest, at whatever rate, was commonly esteemed, is shown in Lord Bacon's Essay of Usury, where he mentions the popular ar guments against it: "That the usurer is the greatest Sabbath-breaker, because his plough goeth every Sunday; that the usurer breaketh the first law that was made for mankind after the fall, which was, 'in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread;' that usurers should have orange-tawny bonnets I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. Bass. Shylock, do you hear? Shy. 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? Will furnish me. But, soft! how many months Do you desire? [To ANT.] Rest you fair, good Signior; Your worship was the last man in our mouths. Ant. Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow, By taking nor by giving of excess, Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. Ant. And for three months. Shy. I had forgot; three months; you told me so. Ant. I do never use it. Shy. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep,This Jacob from our holy Abraham was (As his wise mother wrought in his behalf) The third possessor; ay, he was the third,8 Ant. And what of him? did he take interest? Shy. No, not take interest; not, as you would say, That all the eanlings which were streak'd and pied because they do Judaize; that it is against nature for money to beget money, and the like." The words in Italic show that usury was regarded as a badge of Judaism. 6 Some explain this as a phrase of wrestling; others, of hunting. To have one on the hip was to have the advantage of him; as when a wrestler seized his antagonist by that part, or a hound a deer. 7 Possessed was often used for informed. Excess, second line before means in excess of the sum lent; that is, interest. 8 The third, reckoning Abraham himself as the first.. See Genesis xxvii. This was a way to thrive, and he was blest; Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd for; But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of Heaven. Ant. -'tis a good round sum. Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? In the Rialto, you have rated me 12 About my moneys, and my usances: Still have I borne it with a patient shrug; 9 See Genesis xxx. 31-43. 10 That is, inserted in the Scriptures. 11 Falsehood here means knavery, treachery, as truth is sometimes used for honesty. 12 In this scene we have already had "on the Rialto," and " upon the Rialto." Concerning the place meant, Rogers thus speaks in one of the notes to his poem on Italy: "Rialto is the name, not of the bridge, but of the island from which it is called; and the Venetians say il ponte di Rialto, as we say Westminster-bridge. In that island is the exchange; and I have often walked there as on classic ground. In the days of Antonio and Bassanio it was second to none." 18 So in the old copies, but commonly changed to spit. As an old form of the word, and as giving a Shylockin tang to the speech, spet ought to be retained. Gaberdine was a long, coarse outer garment or frock. Caliban, in The Tempest, ii. 2, wears one big enough, it seems, to wrap both himself and Trinculo in. A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or Fair sir, you spet on me on Wednesday last; you Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, Who if he break,15 thou may'st with better face Shy. Shy. This kindness will I show: Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken Ant. Content, in faith; I'll seal to such a bond, And say there is much kindness in the Jew. Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me: I'll rather dwell 17 in my necessity. Ant. 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. Shy. O, father Abraham, what these Christians are, Whose own hard dealing teaches them suspect 14 Breed is interest, money bred from the principal. 15 For this uniting of the relative and personal pronouns, who and he, in one subject, see page 39, note 2. 16 Doit was a small Italian coin, considerably less than our cent. 17 That is, continue, or abide. The thoughts of others! - Pray you, tell me this: A pound of man's flesh taken from a man And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not. I will be with you. [Exit. kind. Ant. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. Belmont. A Room in PORTIA's House. Flourish of Cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco, and his Mor. Mislike me not for my complexion, Hath fear'd the valiant:2 by my love I swear, 18 Fearful guard is a guard that is not to be trusted, but gives cause of fear. To fear was anciently to give as well as feel terrors. 1 Red blood is a traditionary sign of courage. Thus Macbeth calls one of his frighted soldiers a lily-liver'd boy; again, in this play, cowards are said to have livers as white as milk; and an effeminate man is termed a milksop. 2 Fear was often used as a transitive verb, in the sense of frighten or terrify. See last note of preceding scene. |