Page 492 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turned to a modest gaze
By the sweet power of music. Therefore the poet

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods, [80]
Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils, [85]
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.

Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.

Enter Portia and Nerissa.

PORTIA
That light we see is burning in my hall;
How far that little candle throws his beams! [90]
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

NERISSA
When the moon shone we did not see the candle.

PORTIA
So doth the greater glory dim the less:
A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a king be by, and then his state [95]
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook

Into the main of waters. Music! hark!

NERISSA
It is your music, madam, of the house.

PORTIA
Nothing is good, I see, without respect;
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. [100]