SCENE III. 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.
