Page 436 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

PORTIA

Behold, there stand the caskets, noble Prince.
If you choose that wherein I am contained, [5]
Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized;

But if you fail, without more speech, my lord,
You must be gone from hence immediately.

ARRAGON
I am enjoined by oath to observe three things:
First, never to unfold to anyone [10]
Which casket ’twas 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, [15]

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 addressed me. Fortune now
To my heart’s hope! Gold, silver, and base lead. [20]

‘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 [25]
By the fool multitude that choose by show,
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach,
Which pries not to th’interior, but like the martlet

Builds in the weather on the outward wall,
Even in the force and road of casualty. [30]
I will not choose what many men desire,
Because I will not jump with common spirits

And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.
Why then, to thee, thou silver treasure house.