SCENE I
Venice. A street.Enter SALANIO and SALARINO.
Salan.
Now, what news on the Rialto?
Salar.
Why, yet it lives there unchecked
that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading
wrecked on the narrow seas; the Goodwins,
I think they call the place; a very dangerous
flat and fatal, where the carcases of many a
tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip
Report be an honest woman of her word.
Salan.
I would she were as lying a gossip in
that as ever knapped ginger or made her neighbors
believe she wept for the death of a third
husband. But it is true, without any slips of
prolixity or crossing the plain highway of talk,
that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio,--
O that I had a title good enough to keep his
name company!--
Salar.
Come, the full stop.
Salan.
Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the
end is, he hath lost a ship.
Salar.
I would it might prove the end of his
(21)
losses.
Salan.
Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the
devil cross my prayer, for here he comes in
the likeness of a Jew.
Enter SHYLOCK.
How now, Shylock! what news among the
merchants?
Shy.
You knew, none so well, none so well
as you, of my daughter's flight.
Salar.
That's certain: I, for my part,
knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal.
Salan.
And Shylock, for his own part,
knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the
complexion of them all to leave the dam.
Shy.
She is damned for it.
Salar.
That's certain, if the devil may be
her judge.
Shy.
My own flesh and blood to rebel!
Salan.
Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it
at these years?
Shy.
40I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.
Salar.
There is more difference between
thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory;
more between your bloods than there is between
red wine and rhenish. But tell us, do you
hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea
or no?
Shy.
There I have another bad match: a
bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his
head on the Rialto; a beggar, that was used to
come so smug upon the mart; let him look to
his bond: he was wont to call me usurer; let
him look to his bond: he was wont to lend
money for a Christian courtesy; let him look
to his bond.
Salar.
Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou
wilt not take his flesh; what's that good for?
Shy.
To bait fish withal: if it will feed
nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath
disgraced me, and hindered me half a million;
laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains,
scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains,
cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and
what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a
Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions,
senses, affections, passions? fed with
the same food, hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases, healed by the
same means, warmed and cooled by the same
winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you
prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do
we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?
and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If
we are like you in the rest, we will resemble
you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what
is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong
a Jew, what should this sufferance be by Christian
example? Why, revenge. The villany you
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard
but I will better the instruction.
Enter a Servant.
Serv.
Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at
his house and desires to speak with you both.
Salar.
We have been up and down to seek him.
Enter TUBAL.
Salan.
Here comes another of the tribe: a
third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself
turn Jew.
[Exeunt Salan., Salar., and Servant.
Shy.
How now, Tubal! what news from
Genoa? hast thou found my daughter?
Tub.
I often came where I did hear of her,
but cannot find her.
Shy.
Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond
gone, cost me two thousand ducats in
Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our nation
till now; I never felt it till now: two
thousand ducats in that; and other precious,
precious jewels. I would my daughter were
dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!
would she were hearsed at my foot, and the
ducats in her coffin! No news of them?
Why, so: and I know not what's spent in the
search: why, thou loss upon loss! the thief
gone with so much, and so much to find the
thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge; nor no
ill luck stirring but what lights on my shoulders;
no sighs but of my breathing; no tears
(101)
but of my shedding.
Tub.
Yes, other men have ill luck too:
Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,--
Shy.
What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?
Tub.
Hath an argosy cast away, coming
from Tripolis.
Shy.
I thank God, I thank God. Is't true,
is't true?
Tub.
I spoke with some of the sailors that
(110)
escaped the wreck.
Shy.
I thank thee, good Tubal: good news,
good news! ha, ha! where? in Genoa?
Tub.
Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I
heard, in one night fourscore ducats.
Shy.
Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall
never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at
a sitting! fourscore ducats!
Tub.
There came divers of Antonio's creditors
in my company to Venice, that swear he
(120)
cannot choose but break.
Shy.
I am very glad of it: I'll plague him;
I'll torture him: I am glad of it.
Tub.
One of them showed me a ring that
he had of your daughter for a monkey.
Shy.
Out upon her! Thou torturest me,
Tubal: it was my turquoise: I had it of Leah
when I was a bachelor: I would not have
given it for a wilderness of monkeys.
Tub.
But Antonio is certainly undone.
Shy.
Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go,
Tubal, fee me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight
before. I will have the heart of him, if
he forfeit; for, were he out of Venice, I can
make what merchandise I will. Go, go, Tubal,
and meet me at our synagogue; go, good
Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt.
