The Merchant of Venice | Page 3

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This etext was prepared by the PG Shakespeare Team,
a team of
about twenty Project Gutenberg volunteers.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
by William Shakespeare
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE DUKE OF VENICE
THE PRINCE OF MOROCCO, suitor to
Portia
THE PRINCE OF ARRAGON, suitor to Portia
ANTONIO,
a merchant of Venice
BASSANIO, his friend
SALANIO, friend to
Antonio and Bassanio
SALARINO, friend to Antonio and Bassanio

GRATIANO, friend to Antonio and Bassanio
LORENZO, in love
with Jessica
SHYLOCK, a rich Jew
TUBAL, a Jew, his friend

LAUNCELOT GOBBO, a clown, servant to Shylock
OLD GOBBO,
father to Launcelot
LEONARDO, servant to Bassanio

BALTHASAR, servant to Portia
STEPHANO, servant to Portia
PORTIA, a rich heiress
NERISSA, her waiting-maid
JESSICA,
daughter to Shylock
Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice,
Gaoler,
Servants to Portia, and other Attendants
SCENE: Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the seat of Portia, on
the
Continent
ACT 1.
SCENE I. Venice. A street
[Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO]
ANTONIO.
In sooth, I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me;
you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,


What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such
a want-wit sadness makes of me
That I have much ado to know
myself.
SALARINO.
Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There where your
argosies, with portly sail--
Like signiors and rich burghers on the
flood,
Or as it were the pageants of the sea--
Do overpeer the petty
traffickers,
That curtsy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by
them with their woven wings.
SALANIO.
Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,
The better
part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be
still
Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind,
Peering in
maps for ports, and piers, and roads;
And every object that might
make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt
Would make
me sad.
SALARINO.
My wind, cooling my broth
Would blow me to an
ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I
should not see the sandy hour-glass run
But I should think of
shallows and of flats,
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand,

Vailing her high top lower than her ribs
To kiss her burial. Should I
go to church
And see the holy edifice of stone,
And not bethink me
straight of dangerous rocks,
Which, touching but my gentle vessel's
side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the roaring
waters with my silks,
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And
now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this, and
shall I lack the thought
That such a thing bechanc'd would make me
sad?
But tell not me; I know Antonio
Is sad to think upon his
merchandise.
ANTONIO.

Believe me, no; I thank my fortune for it,
My ventures
are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole
estate
Upon the fortune of this present year;
Therefore my

merchandise makes me not sad.
SALARINO.
Why, then you are in love.
ANTONIO.
Fie, fie!
SALARINO.
Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad

Because you are not merry; and 'twere as easy
For you to laugh and
leap and say you are merry,
Because you are not sad. Now, by
two-headed Janus,
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:

Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh like
parrots at a bag-piper;
And other of such vinegar