Arragon.
I am enjoin’d by oath to observe three things:
First, never to unfold to any one
Which casket ’t was 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 everyone doth swear
That comes to hazard for my worthless self.
Arragon.
And so have I address’d 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,
Because I will not jump with common spirits,
And rank me with the barbarous multitude.
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house;
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear: