THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. William ShakespeareЧитать онлайн книгу.
Was set in worse than gold. They have in England
A coin that bears the figure of an angel
Stamped in gold; but that’s insculp’d upon;
But here an angel in a golden bed
Lies all within. Deliver me the key;
Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may!
PORTIA.
There, take it, prince, and if my form lie there,
Then I am yours.
[He unlocks the golden casket.]
PRINCE OF MOROCCO.
O hell! what have we here?
A carrion Death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll! I’ll read the writing.
‘All that glisters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told;
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll’d:
Fare you well, your suit is cold.’
Cold indeed; and labour lost:
Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost!
Portia, adieu! I have too griev’d a heart
To take a tedious leave; thus losers part.
[Exit with his train. Flourish of cornets.]
PORTIA.
A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains: go.
Let all of his complexion choose me so.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 8. Venice. A street
[Enter SALARINO and SALANIO.]
SALARINO.
Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail;
With him is Gratiano gone along;
And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not.
SALANIO.
The villain Jew with outcries rais’d the Duke,
Who went with him to search Bassanio’s ship.
SALARINO.
He came too late, the ship was under sail;
But there the duke was given to understand
That in a gondola were seen together
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica.
Besides, Antonio certified the duke
They were not with Bassanio in his ship.
SALANIO.
I never heard a passion so confus’d,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable,
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets.
‘My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!
Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!
Justice! the law! my ducats and my daughter!
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats,
Of double ducats, stol’n from me by my daughter!
And jewels! two stones, two rich and precious stones,
Stol’n by my daughter! Justice! find the girl!
She hath the stones upon her and the ducats.’
SALARINO.
Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats.
SALANIO.
Let good Antonio look he keep his day,
Or he shall pay for this.
SALARINO.
Marry, well remember’d.
I reason’d with a Frenchman yesterday,
Who told me,—in the narrow seas that part
The French and English,—there miscarried
A vessel of our country richly fraught.
I thought upon Antonio when he told me,
And wish’d in silence that it were not his.
SALANIO.
You were best to tell Antonio what you hear;
Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him.
SALARINO.
A kinder gentleman treads not the earth.
I saw Bassanio and Antonio part:
Bassanio told him he would make some speed
Of his return. He answer’d ‘Do not so;
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio,
But stay the very riping of the time;
And for the Jew’s bond which he hath of me,
Let it not enter in your mind of love:
Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts
To courtship, and such fair ostents of love
As shall conveniently become you there.’
And even there, his eye being big with tears,
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,
And with affection wondrous sensible
He wrung Bassanio’s hand; and so they parted.
SALANIO.
I think he only loves the world for him.
I pray thee, let us go and find him out,
And quicken his embraced heaviness
With some delight or other.
SALARINO.
Do we so.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 9. Belmont. A room in PORTIA’s house.
[Enter NERISSA, with a SERVITOR.]
NERISSA.
Quick, quick, I pray thee, draw the curtain straight;
The Prince of Arragon hath ta’en his oath,
And comes to his election presently.
[Flourish of cornets. Enter the PRINCE OF ARRAGON, PORTIA, and their Trains.]
PORTIA.
Behold, there stand the caskets, noble Prince:
If you choose that wherein I am contain’d,
Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemniz’d;
But if you fail, without more speech, my lord,
You must be gone from hence immediately.
ARRAGON.
I am enjoin’d by oath to observe three things:
First, never to unfold to any one
Which casket ‘twas I chose; next, if I fail
Of the right casket, never in my life
To woo a maid in way of marriage;
Lastly,
If I do fail in fortune of my choice,
Immediately to leave you and be gone.
PORTIA.
To these injunctions