Page 10 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

Sleep when he wakes, and become ill with jaundice° 58 / bring about the jaundice
By being peevish° from morning till night? / cranky / sad-faced
I say Antonio—I speak out of love— 59
There are some men who show no expression, / reveal no emotion
Their face is held in a willful stillness
60
Just like the muck cov’ring° a stagnant pond; / atop
61
They hope that others will look well upon them
As men of wisdom, gravity, and depth,° 62 {and profound conceit}
As who should say,° ‘I am Sir Oracle, / Who proudly say
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!’
O my Antonio, I do know of those° {these}
Who are reputed° wise for saying naught, / Who are but held as
When I am sure, if they should move to speak,
‘Twould almost° dam the ears of those who listen 63 / surely
And cause their brothers to say they are fools.
I’ll tell thee more of this another time.
But fish not with this melancholy bait
For e’er the worthless° opinion of others, / For the ill-gained / unvalued
64
Which one can catch° as eas’ly as fool gudgeon— / Which can be caught
+A fish inclined will biteB at any° bait., / well-known to bite // ev’ry
Come good Lorenzo. Fare thee well for now; ° {awhile}
I’ll finish with my preaching° after dinner. {end my exortation}

—Lorenzo
Well, we will leave you then, till dinner-time. 65
I must be one of these same dumb wise men

58. {Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice} / creep into an illness
/ Sleep when awake and give himself an illness
jaundice: a disease related to the liver and caused by an excess of yellow bile; as such, it brings a yellowish
th
complexion to the skin and whites of the eyes. Up until the 19 century, this disease was thought to have a
psychosomatic origin. Hence, Gratziano is saying that Antonio is going to get jaundice as a result his depressed
disposition (which makes him appear as though he is asleep when awake).
59. {I tell the what, Antonio— | I love thee, and ‘tis my love that speaks:}
60. {There are a sort of men whose visages | Do cream and mantle like a standing pond | And do a willful stillness
entertain}
cream and mantle: cover over and mask; become pale and mask-like. This image suggests a) the algae that floats
upon the surface of a stagnant pond (covering the interior of the pond), or b) the covering of cream on milk. [See
Additional Notes, 1.1.90]
61. {With purpose to be dressed in an opinion}
62. {Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit} / As men of profound wisdom and insight.
gravity: authority, seriousness, weight
profound conceit: deep thinking; those who deeply contemplate the matter
63. {If they should speak, would almost dam those ears}
dam: dam, clog up, block, stop damn: damn, curse, foul
64. {But fish not with this melancholy bait | For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.}
fool gudgeon: gudgeon are fish which were thought to be gullible, easy believers in the bait, (and which would
bite and anything). Thus they were easy to catch. Some editions use Pope’s emendation of: fool’s gudgeon.
opinion: the opinion that others will think you are wise because you look sad and do not open your mouth.
65. There are three direct references that the parties are going meet later for dinner [70, 104, 105], plus a response to
those references [72]. Is dinner in these references the same as the supper which Bassanio has the night he leaves for
Belmont or is there some other meeting indicated?