SCENE III. Venice. A public place.

Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK.

Shy. Three thousand ducats; well.
Bass. Ay, sir, for three months.

Shy. For three months; well.

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

Shy. Antonio shall become bound; well.

Bass. May you stead me? will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer?

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. Oh, 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, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean

1. ducats; the Venetian ducat was worth between four and five shillings in English money of that time.

7. May you stead me? Can you help me?

18. in supposition, a matter of conjecture.

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18. Tripolis; this may be either the town in Barbary, or the port in Syria. Since Barbary is distinguished from ' Tripolis' in iii. 2. 271, the latter is more likely.

145

22. squandered, dispersed.

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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; may be assured, I will bethink me. with Antonio ?

and, that I 30 May I speak

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,

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,

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Even there where merchants most do congregate, 50 On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift,

Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe,

If I forgive 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?

Tubal, a wealthy

Will furnish me.

Do you desire? signior;

Hebrew of my tribe,

But soft! how many months

[To Ant.] Rest you fair, good

Your worship was the last man in our mouths.

Ant. Shylock, although 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 possess'd

How much ye would?

Shy.

Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.

Ant. And for three months.

Shy. I had forgot; three months; you told

me so.

Well then, your bond; and let me see; but hear

you;

Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow
Upon advantage.

Shy. 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

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75. The third possessor; probably Shylock is intended to reckon Esau ousted by his wise mother, hence the exulting emphasis on the third.'

Ant. And what of him? did he take interest?

Shy. 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 streak'd and pied 80
Should fall as Jacob's hire, the ewes, being rank,
In the end of autumn turned to the rams,
And, when the work of generation was
Between these woolly breeders in the act,
The skilful shepherd peel'd 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-colour'd 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.

Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served

for;

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,
But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven.
Was this inserted to make interest good?
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast :
But note me, signior.

Ant.

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!

Shy. Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round

sum.

79. were compromised, had agreed.

80. eanlings, new-born lambs. 87. fulsome, wanton.

90

100

88. eaning time, lambing time.

89. Fall, bring forth, 'drop.' 92. served for, i.e. he was merely a subordinate agent in it.

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

Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you? Shy. 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 can lend three thousand ducats?' Or
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath and whispering humbleness,
Say this;

'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?

Ant. 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

106. beholding, indebted.

108. Rialto. The term was then applied not only to the bridge now so called, but especially to the Exchange on the south of

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the Grand Canal, to which it led.

113. gaberdine, a loose cloak of coarse material; not a distinctively Jewish garment.