The Merchant of Venice. William Shakespeare

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СКАЧАТЬ Three thousand ducats for three months, and Antonio bound.

      BASS. Your answer to that.

      SHY. Antonio is a good man.

      BASS. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?

      SHY. Ho, no, no, no, no: my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he is sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto,²¹ he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, squandered abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I mean pirates; and then there is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient. Three thousand ducats; I think I may take his bond.

      BASS. Be assured you may.

      SHY. I will be assured I may; and, that I may be assured, I will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio?

      BASS. If it please you to dine with us.

      SHY. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto? Who is he comes here?

      Enter ANTONIO

      BASS. This is Signior Antonio.

      SHY. [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks!

      I hate him for he is a Christian;

      But more for that in low simplicity

      He lends out money gratis and brings down

      The rate of usance²² here with us in Venice. If I can catch him once upon the hip, I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. He hates our sacred nation; and he rails, Even there where merchants most do congregate, On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe, If I forgive him!

      BASS. Shylock, do you hear?

      SHY, I am debating of my present store;

      And, by the near guess of my memory,

      I cannot instantly raise up the gross

      Of full three thousand ducats. What of that?

      Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,

      Will furnish me. But soft! how many months

      Do you desire? [To Ant.] Rest you fair, good signior;

      Your worship was the last man in our mouths.

      ANT. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow,

      By taking nor by giving of excess,²³ Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, I ’ll break a custom. Is he yet possess’d How much ye would?

      SHY. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.

      ANT. And for three months.

      SHY. I had forgot; three months, you told me so.

      Well then, your bond; and let me see; but hear you;

      Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow

      Upon advantage.

      ANT. I do never use it.

      SHY. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban’s sheep, — ²⁴

      This Jacob from our holy Abram was,

      As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,

      The third possessor; ay, he was the third, —

      ANT. And what of him? did he take interest?

      SHY. No, not take interest; not, as you would say,

      Directly interest: mark what Jacob did.

      When Laban and himself were compromised

      That all the eanlings²⁵ which were streak’d and pied Should fall as Jacob’s hire, the ewes, being rank, In the end of Autumn turned to the rams; And when the work of generation was Between these woolly breeders in the act, The skilful shepherd peel’d me certain wands, And, in the doing of the deed of kind, He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes, Who, then conceiving, did in eanling time Fall parti-colour’d lambs, and those were Jacob’s. This was a way to thrive, and he was blest: And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not.

      ANT. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;

      A thing not in his power to bring to pass,

      But sway’d and fashion’d by the hand of heaven.

      Was this inserted to make interest good?

      Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

      SHY. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast:

      But note me, signior.

      ANT. Mark you this, Bassanio,

      The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.

      An evil soul, producing holy witness,

      Is like a villain with a smiling cheek;

      A goodly apple rotten at the heart:

      0, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

      SHY. Three thousand ducats; ’t is a good round sum.

      Three months from twelve; then, let me see; the rate—

      ANT. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?

      SHY. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft

      In the Rialto you have rated me

      About my moneys and my usances:

      Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;

      For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.

      You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

      And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

      And all for use of that which is mine own.

      Well then, it now appears you need my help:

      Go to, then; you come to me, and you say

      “Shylock, we would have moneys:” you say so;

      You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,

      And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur

      Over your threshold: moneys is your suit.

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