The Prince of Arragon comes to the choice of caskets, and with lofty words in praise of virtue, says:
"Let none presume to wear an undeserved dignity.
O, that estates, degrees, and offices,
Were not obtained corruptly! and that clear honor
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 corruption would then be gleaned
From the true seed of honor! and how much honor
Picked from the chaff and ruin of the times!"
The Globe Theatre shook with applause at this fine political speech of the Prince, and may be well contemplated in the State transactions of to-day.
The Prince unlocks the silver casket, and finds a portrait of a blinking idiot; and departing exclaims:
"Some there be that shadows kiss,
Such have but a shadow's bliss;
There be fools alive I wis—
Silvered o'er, and so was this!"
Portia soliloquizes:
"Thus hath the candle singed the moth
Of these deliberate fools, when they do choose,
They bare their wisdom by their wit to lose."
And Nerissa, the bright waiting maid, says:
"The ancient saying is no heresy;—
Hanging and wiving go by destiny!"
The third act opens with a street in Venice, and friends of Antonio bemoan the reported loss of several of his ships at sea, which will cause his default and ruin, by the demands of Shylock.