William Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice

ACT 1. SCENE 3. Venice. A public place

[Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK.]

SHYLOCK.
Three thousand ducats; well?

BASSANIO.
Ay, sir, for three months.

SHYLOCK.
For three months; well?

BASSANIO.
For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

SHYLOCK.
Antonio shall become bound; well?

BASSANIO.
May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your
answer?

SHYLOCK.
Three thousand ducats, for three months, and Antonio bound.

BASSANIO.
Your answer to that.

SHYLOCK.
Antonio is a good man.

BASSANIO.
Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?

SHYLOCK.
Ho, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a good man
is to have you understand me that he is sufficient; yet his means
are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another
to the Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a
third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he
hath, squandered abroad. But ships are but boards, sailors but
men; there be land-rats and water-rats, land-thieves and
water-thieves,--I mean pirates,--and then there is the peril of
waters, winds, and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding,
sufficient. Three thousand ducats- I think I may take his bond.

BASSANIO.
Be assured you may.

SHYLOCK.
I will be assured I may; and, that I may be assured, I
will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio?

BASSANIO.
If it please you to dine with us.

SHYLOCK.
Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your
prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into. I will buy with
you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so
following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray
with you. What news on the Rialto? Who is he comes here?