May not extend so far as to the lady: 28
And yet to be afeard of my deserving
Were but a weak disabling of myself.
As much as I deserve! Why, that's the lady:
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes, 32
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But more than these, in love I do deserve.
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here?
Let's see once more this saying grav'd in gold: 36
Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.
Why, that's the lady: all the world desires her;
From the four corners of the earth they come,
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint: 40
The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds
Of wide Arabia are as throughfares now
For princes to come view fair Portia:
The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head 44
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar
To stop the foreign spirits, but they come,
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.
One of these three contains her heavenly picture. 48
Is 't like that lead contains her? 'Twere damnation
To think so base a thought: it were too gross
To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.
Or shall I think in silver she's immur'd, 52
Being ten times undervalu'd to tried gold?
O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem
Was set in worse than gold. They have in England
A coin that bears the figure of an angel 56
Stamped in gold, but that's insculp'd upon;
30 disabling: disparagement
33 In natural and acquired advantages
36 grav'd: engraved
40 shrine: image
41 Hyrcanian: south of the Caspian Sea
42 throughfares: thoroughfares
51 rib: enclose
cerecloth: winding sheet
53 undervalu'd: inferior in value
56 angel: gold coin worth 10s.
57 insculp'd upon: engraved on the outside
