The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, To render them redoubted. 4. Thus ornament is but the gilded shore To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf Vailing an Indian beauty; in a word, The seeming truth which cunning times put on 5. I know the gentleman To be of worth and worthy estimation; To clothe mine age with angel-like perfection, 6. Cease to lament for that thou canst not help, And study help for that which thou lamentest; Time is the nurse and breeder of all good. 7. Protheus. My shame and guilt confound me! Forgive me, Valentine; if hearty sorrow Be a sufficient ransom for offence, I tender it here. I do as truly suffer 8. Valentine. Then I am paid ; Is nor of heaven nor earth; for these are pleased; By penitence the Eternal's wrath 's appeased. 9. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do; Not light them for ourselves: for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike As if we had them not. 10. Spirits are not finely touched But to fine issues; nor Nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence, Both thanks and use. 11. Lord Angelo is precise; Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses Is more to bread than stone. Hence shall we see, If power change purpose, what our seemers be. And make us lose the good we oft might win, 13. We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape, till custom make it 14. Let us be keen, and rather cut a little, Than fell and bruise to death. Alas! this gentleman Whom I would save had a most noble father. Let but your honor know (whom I believe To be most strait in virtue) That, in the working of your own affections, Had time cohered with place, or place with wishing, Could have attained the effect of your own purpose, 15. O place! oh form! How often dost thou, with thy case, thy habit, To thy false seeming! 16. Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, Making both it unable for itself, And dispossessing all my other parts Of necessary fitness? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons; Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive. 17. Happy thou art not: For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get; 18. Dar'st thou die? The sense of death is most in apprehension; And the poor beetle that we tread upon In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 19. The weariest and most loathéd worldly life That age, ache, penury and imprisonment, Can lay on nature, is a paradise To what we fear of death. 20. Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right; we would and we would not. 21. My business in this state Made me a looker on here in Vienna, Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble But faults so countenanced that the strong statutes As much in mock as mark. 22. That life is better life, past fearing death, Than that which lives to fear. 23. They say best men are molded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad. 24. He that commends me to mine own content 25. There are a sort of men whose visages That, therefore, only are reputed wise 27. Mark you this, Bassanio! The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. LESSON CLXXII. Trial Scene from the Merchant of Venice.*- SHAKSPEARE. [The DUKE, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, SALANIO, GRATIANO.] Duke. What, is Antonio here? Antonio. Ready, so please your grace. Duke. I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, Uncapable of pity, void and empty From any dram of mercy. Ant. I have heard Your grace hath taken great pains to qualify His rigorous course; but since he stands obdúrate, And that no lawful means can carry me Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose My patience to his fury; and am armed The very tyranny and rage of his. Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. Duke. [Enter Shylock.] Make room, and let him stand before our face. Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then 't is thought And, where thou now exact'st the penalty (Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh), Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, But, touched with human gentleness and love, Glancing an eye of pity on his losses, *The story of the play from which this scene is taken is simply this: Antonio had become the debtor of Shylock for the sum of three thousand ducats, to supply the necessities of his friend Bassanio. Shylock, a wealthy Jew, who lent the money, had a grudge against Antonio, and artfully exacted, as the condition of the loan, that if the money were not repaid on a certain day, he might cut a pound of flesh from the body of Antonio, nearest his heart." Portia, the judge, is the wife of Bassanio, and Nerissa, her maid, is the wife of Gratiano; but both are in disguise, and unknown to their husbands. ג And pluck commiseration of his state From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint, We all expect a gentle answer, Jew. Shylock. I have possessed your grace of what I purpose; And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn, To have the due and forfeit of my bond; As there is no firm reason to be rendered, More than a lodged hate, and a certain loathing, A losing suit against him. Are you answered? Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answer. Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate its usual height; As seek to soften that (than which what's harder?) |