Thou naughty jailer, that thou art so fond
To come abroad with him at his request.
Ant.
I pray thee hear me speak.
Shy.
I’ll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak.
I’ll have my bond, and therefore speak no more.
I’ll not be made a soft and dull-ey’d fool
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not,
I’ll have no speaking, I will have my bond.
Exit Jew.
Sol.
It is the most impenetrable cur
That ever kept with men.
Ant.
Let him alone,
I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
He seeks my life; his reason well I know:
I oft deliver’d from his forfeitures
Many that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.
[Sol.]
I am sure the Duke
Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.
Ant.
The Duke cannot deny the course of law;
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be denied,
Will much impeach the justice of the state,
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations. Therefore go.
These griefs and losses have so bated me
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.
Well, jailer, on. Pray God Bassanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!
Exeunt.
¶
[Scene IV]
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and [Balthazar,] a man of Portia’s.
Lor.
Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
You have a noble and a true conceit
Of godlike amity, which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you show this honor,
How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know you would be prouder of the work
Than customary bounty can enforce you.
Por.
I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now: for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an egall yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestowed
In purchasing the semblance of my soul,
From out the state of hellish cruelty.
This comes too near the praising of myself,
Therefore no more of it. [Hear] other things:
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house
Until my lord’s return. For mine own part,
I have toward heaven breath’d a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,
Until her husband and my lord’s return.
There is a monast’ry two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition,
The which my love and some necessity
Now lays upon you.
Lor.
Madam, with all my heart,
I shall obey you in all fair commands.
Por.
My people do already know my mind,
And will acknowledge you and Jessica
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.
So fare you well till we shall meet again.
Lor.
Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
Jes.
I wish your ladyship all heart’s content.
Por.
I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas’d
To wish it back on you. Fare you well, Jessica.
Exeunt [Jessica and Lorenzo].
Now, Balthazar,
As I have ever found thee honest-true,
So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,
And use thou all th’ endeavor of a man
In speed to [Padua]. See thou render this
Into my [cousin’s] hands, Doctor Bellario,
And look what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin’d speed
Unto the [traject], to the common ferry
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
But get thee gone. I shall be there before thee.
Balth.
Madam, I go with all convenient speed.
[Exit.]
Por.
Come on,