Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.
How shall I know if I do choose the right?

If you

POR. The one of them contains my picture, prince : choose that, then I am yours withal. MOR. Some god direct my judgement! Let me see; I will survey the inscriptions back again.

What says this leaden casket?

Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath. 'Must give' for what? for lead? hazard for lead? This casket threatens.

Men that hazard all

Do it in hope of fair advantages :

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross,
I'll then nor give, nor hazard, aught for lead.
What says the silver with her virgin hue?

Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
'As much as he deserves'? Pause there, Morocco,
And weigh thy value with an even hand.

If thou beest rated by thy estimation,

Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough
May not extend so far as to the lady;
And yet to be afeard of my deserving
Were but a weak disabling of myself.

As much as I deserve! Why, that's the lady:
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But more than these, in love I do deserve.
What if I strayed no further, but chose here?
Let's see once more this saying graved in gold:

Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.
Why, that's the lady: all the world desires her.
From the four corners of the earth they come
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint.
The Hyrcanian deserts, and the vasty wilds
Of wide Arabia, are as throughfares now
For princes to come view fair Portia.
The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar

As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.

IO

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To stop the foreign spirits, but they come,

One of these three contains her heavenly picture.

Is't like that lead contains her? 'T were damnation

To think so base a thought it were too gross
To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.

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Or shall I think in silver she's immured,
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?

O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem

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 insculped 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 !

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POR. There, take it, prince; and if my form lie there, Then I am yours.

MOR.

[He unlocks the golden casket.

O hell! what have we here?

A carrion death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll. I'll read the writing.

[Reads.] 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 :

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Then, farewell heat, and welcome frost :

Portia, adieu, I have too grieved a heart,

To take a tedious leave: thus losers part.

[Exit.

POR. A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains; go.

Let all of his complexion choose me so.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VIII. Venice. A street.

Enter SALARINO and SALANIO.

SALAR. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail :

With him is Gratiano gone along ;

And in their ship, I'm sure, Lorenzo is not.

SALAN. The villain Jew with outcries raised the Duke,

Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.

SALAR. 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.
SALAN. I never heard a passion so confused,
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, stolen from me by my daughter!
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones,
Stolen by my daughter! Justice! find the girl!
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats!

SALAR. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats.
SALAN. Let good Antonio look he keep his day,
Or he shall pay for this.

SALAR.
Marry, well remembered.
I reasoned 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 wished in silence that it were not his.

SALAN. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear;

Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him.

SALAR. 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 answered, 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.

SALAN. I think he only loves the world for him.

I pray thee, let us go and find him out,

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And quicken his embraced heaviness
With some delight or other.

SALAR.

Do we so.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IX. Belmont. A room in PORTIA's house.

Enter NERISSA, with a Servitor.

NER. Quick, quick, I pray thee, draw the curtain straight, The prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath,

And comes to his election presently.

Enter the Prince of ARRAGON, PORTIA, and their Trains. Flourish of cornets.

POR. Behold there stand the caskets, noble prince : If you choose that wherein I am contained, Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnised; But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, You must be gone from hence immediately.

AR. I am enjoined 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.

POR. To these injunctions every one doth swear
That comes to hazard for my worthless self.

AR. And so have I addressed me. Fortune now
To my heart's hope! Gold, silver, and base lead,
Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath :
You shall look fairer, ere I give, or hazard.
What says the golden chest? ha! let me see :-
Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.
'What many men desire': that many may be meant
By the fool multitude, that choose by show,
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach,
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet,
Builds in the weather on the outward wall,
Even in the force and road of casualty.
I will not choose what many men desire,

IO

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Because I will not jump with common spirits
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house;
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear:
Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
And well said too; for who shall go about
To cozen fortune and be honourable

Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume
To wear an undeserved dignity:

O that estates, degrees, and offices

Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should cover that stand bare ;
How many be commanded that command;

How much low peasantry would then be gleaned
From the true seed of honour; and how much honour
Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times,
To be new-varnished! Well, but to my choice:
Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.
I will assume desert. Give me a key for this,
And instantly unlock my fortunes here.

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[He opens the silver casket. POR. Too long a pause for that which you find there. AR. What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot, Presenting me a scedule! I will read it.

How much unlike art thou to Portia !

How much unlike my hopes and my deservings!

Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves:

Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?

Is that my prize? are my deserts no better?
POR. To offend and judge are distinct offices,
And of opposed natures.

AR.

What is here?

[Reads.] The fire seven times tried this,

Seven times tried that judgment is
That did never choose amiss.

Some there be that shadows kiss,
Such have but a shadow's bliss:
There be fools alive, I wis,
Silvered d'er, and so was this:
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head:
So be gone, you are sped.

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