For suff'rance is the badge of all our tribe :
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well, then, it now appears you need my help :
Go to, then ; you come to me, and you say,
'Shylock, we would have monies :'—you say so ;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold : monies is your suit.
What should I say to you ] Should I not say
'Hath a dog money ? Is it possible,
A cur can lend three thousand ducats ?' or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With 'bated breath and whisp'ring humbleness,
Say this,—
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last ;
You spurn'd me such a day ; another time
You call'd me dog ; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much monies I'"[1]
To which Antonio replies:—
" I am as like to call thee so again,
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too."
Where is the Christian love in this? Truly Shakespeare would have written a satire against Christianity if he had made it consist of those characters who are the enemies of Shylock, but who are hardly worthy to unlace his shoes. The bankrupt Antonio is a weak creature without energy, without strength of hatred, and as little
- ↑ Merchant of Venice, act i. sc. 3
