Page 398 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

BASSANIO

’Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something showing a more swelling port

Than my faint means would grant continuance; [125]
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged
From such a noble rate, but my chief care
Is to come fairly off from the great debts
Wherein my time, something too prodigal,

Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio, [130]
I owe the most in money and in love,
And from your love I have a warranty

To unburden all my plots and purposes
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

ANTONIO
I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it, [135]
And if it stand as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be assured.

My purse, my person, my extremest means
Lie all unlocked to your occasions.

BASSANIO
In my schooldays, when I had lost one shaft [140]
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight

The self-same way, with more advisèd watch
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both,
I oft found both. I urge this childhood proof
Because what follows is pure innocence. [145]
I owe you much, and like a wilful youth,

That which I owe is lost; but if you please
To shoot another arrow that self way
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,

As I will watch the aim, or to find both, [150]
Or bring your latter hazard back again,
And thankfully rest debtor for the first.

ANTONIO