95By being peeuish? I tell thee what Anthonio,

96I loue thee, and it is my loue that speakes:

97There are a sort of men, whose visages

98Do creame and mantle like a standing pond,

99And do a wilfull stilnesse entertaine,

100With purpose to be drest in an opinion

101Of wisedome, grauity, profound conceit,

102As who should say, I am sir an Oracle,

103And when I ope my lips, let no dogge barke.

104O my Anthonio, I do know of these

105That therefore onely are reputed wise,

106For saying nothing; when I am verie sure

107If they should speake, would almost dam those eares

108Which hearing them would call their brothers fooles:

109Ile tell thee more of this another time.

110But fish not with this melancholly baite

111For this foole Gudgin, this opinion:

112Come good Lorenzo, faryewell a while,

113Ile end my exhortation after dinner.

114Lor. Well, we will leaue you then till dinner time.

115I must be one of these same dumbe wise men,

116For Gratiano neuer let's me speake.

117Gra. Well, keepe me company but two yeares mo,

118Thou shalt not know the sound of thine owne tongue.

119Ant. Far you well, Ile grow a talker for this geare.

120Gra. Thankes ifaith, for silence is onely commendable

121In a neats tongue dri'd, and a maid not vendible. Exit.

122Ant. It is that any thing now.

123Bas. Gratiano speakes an infinite deale of nothing,

124more then any man in all Venice, his reasons are two

125graines of wheate hid in two bushels of chaffe: you shall

126seeke all day ere you finde them, & when you haue them

127they are not worth the search.

128An. Well: tel me now, what Lady is the same

129To whom you swore a secret Pilgrimage

130That you to day promis'd to tel me of?

131Bas. Tis not vnknowne to you Anthonio

132How much I haue disabled mine estate,

133By something shewing a more swelling port

134Then my faint meanes would grant continuance:

135Nor do I now make mone to be abridg'd

136From such a noble rate, but my cheefe care

137Is to come fairely off from the great debts

138Wherein my time something too prodigall

139Hath left me gag'd: to you Anthonio

140I owe the most in money, and in loue,

141And from your loue I haue a warrantie

142To vnburthen all my plots and purposes,

143How to get cleere of all the debts I owe.

144An. I pray you good Bassanio let me know it,

145And if it stand as you your selfe still do,

146Within the eye of honour, be assur'd

147My purse, my person, my extreamest meanes

148Lye all vnlock'd to your occasions.

149Bass. In my schoole dayes, when I had lost one shaft

150I shot his fellow of the selfesame flight

151The selfesame way, with more aduised watch

152To finde the other forth, and by aduenturing both,

153I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe,

154Because what followes is pure innocence.

155I owe you much, and like a wilfull youth,

156That which I owe is lost: but if you please

157To shoote another arrow that selfe way

158Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,

159As I will watch the ayme: Or to finde both,

160Or bring your latter hazard backe againe,

161And thankfully rest debter for the first.

162An. You know me well, and herein spend but time

163To winde about my loue with circumstance,

164And out of doubt you doe more wrong

165In making question of my vttermost

166Then if you had made waste of all I haue:

167Then doe but say to me what I should doe

168That in your knowledge may by me be done,

169And I am prest vnto it: therefore speake.

170Bass. In Belmont is a Lady richly left,

171And she is faire, and fairer then that word,

172Of wondrous vertues, sometimes from her eyes

173I did receiue faire speechlesse messages:

174Her name is Portia, nothing vndervallewd

175To Cato's daughter, Brutus Portia,

176Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,

177For the foure windes blow in from euery coast

178Renowned sutors, and her sunny locks

179Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,

180Which makes her seat of Belmont Cholchos strond,

181And many Iasons come in quest of her.

182O my Anthonio, had I but the meanes

183To hold a riuall place with one of them,

184I haue a minde presages me such thrift,

185That I should questionlesse be fortunate.

186Anth. Thou knowst that all my fortunes are at sea,

187Neither haue I money, nor commodity

188To raise a present summe, therefore goe forth

189Try what my credit can in Venice doe,

190That shall be rackt euen to the vttermost,

191To furnish thee to Belmont to faire Portia.

192Goe presently enquire, and so will I

193Where money is, and I no question make

194To haue it of my trust, or for my sake. Exeunt.

196Portia. By my troth Nerrissa, my little body is a wea-

197rie of this great world.

198Ner. You would be sweet Madam, if your miseries

199were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are:

200and yet for ought I see, they are as sicke that surfet with

201too much, as they that starue with nothing; it is no smal

202happinesse therefore to bee seated in the meane, super-

203fluitie comes sooner by white haires, but competencie

204liues longer.

205Portia. Good sentences, and well pronounc'd.

206Ner. They would be better if well followed.

207Portia. If to doe were as easie as to know what were

208good to doe, Chappels had beene Churches, and poore

209mens cottages Princes Pallaces: it is a good Diuine that

210followes his owne instructions; I can easier teach twen-

211tie what were good to be done, then be one of the twen-

212tie to follow mine owne teaching: the braine may de-

213uise lawes for the blood, but a hot temper leapes ore a

214colde decree, such a hare is madnesse the youth, to skip

215ore the meshes of good counsaile the cripple; but this

216reason is not in fashion to choose me a husband: O mee,

217the word choose, I may neither choose whom I would,

218nor refuse whom I dislike, so is the wil of a liuing daugh-

219ter curb'd by the will of a dead father: it is not hard Ner-

220rissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none.

221Ner. Your father was euer vertuous, and holy men

222at their death haue good inspirations, therefore the lot-

223terie that hee hath deuised in these three chests of gold,

224siluer, and leade, whereof who chooses his meaning,