Page 11 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

For Gratziano never lets me speak.

—Gratziano
Well, keep my company for two more years
And you’ll forget the sound of your own tongue.° / voice

—Antonio
Farewell. I’ll grow in talk next time. 66

—Gratziano Please do—
Silence is virtue° in dried tongue of ox / preferred / better/ prais’ble
67
And in craggy old maids who’ve got the pox.
Exeunt Gratziano and Lorenzo

—Antonio
He speaks a great deal yet says° not a thing. 68 / a lot yet he says

66. {Fare you well. I’ll grow a talker for this gear} / Farewell, I’ll grow more of a talker next time
gear: a) discourse, talk. ‘Farewell, I’ll take your advice and become more of a talker (next time we meet);
b) matter, affair. ‘Farewell, now that you’re gone, and I’m with Bassanio, I’ll become a talker—for this
matter, now that there is something relevant to speak about.’
c) reason ‘Farewell, ‘I’ll talk more (with respect to your advice) so that others do not think that I silent (for
the reason you mentioned) to try and get others to think I am full of wisdom and profound understanding—which is
not the case.’
67. {Thanks, i’faith, for silence is only commendable | In a neat’s tongue dried and a maid not vendible.}
/ Please do, for silence is best in ox-tongue, | And in craggy old maids no longer young.
/ Please do, for silence’s best in ox-tongue dried, | And in a maid too old to be a bride.
neat’s tongue dried: the dried tongue of an ox, which is commendable precisely because one does not want this
kind of tongue to talk—one wants it to be dead, dried, and ready to eat. (Some commentators suggest that this
reference to neat’s tongue dried may be a bawdy a reference to the dried up penis of an old man which cannot
become erect—but why Gratziano would find this commendable is unclear).
not vendible: not saleable. Refers to a maid who cannot be sold (with a dowry) in the way of marriage—and
thus a maid who is worthless and unsaleable. The implication is that someone who is old and unwed (and whom
nobody wants) would speak with bitter and complaining words—so her silence would be welcomed. Some interpret
not vendible as referring to a maid who is too young and not yet saleable (in the marketplace of marriage)—and
whose talk might be witless. It seems more likely that Gratziano would commend silence in a craggy old maid (who
is wont to complain) rather than in a young maid who is not yet of a marriageable age. [See Additional Notes,
1.1.112]
68. {It is that any thing now.}
/ He speaks and speaks, and yet says not a thing / He speaks a lot, yet says a lot of nothing.
This line, as it appears in Q1, is missing three syllables and does not fit the standard meter. Editors have treated
this anomalous line in several ways: A) Left it as is. B) Deleted the opening ‘It’ and posited that the line as a
question: ‘Is that anything now?’—which means: ‘What was all that talk about?’ This renders the line somewhat
intelligible, but does not correct the line structure. (This emendation was first proposed by Rowe). C) Changed It to
Yet:‘Yet is that anything now?’ With this emendation, Antonio is apparently referring to the newfound silence
(which is being enjoyed since Gratziano, the talker, has just left). This emendation is based upon the supposition
that ‘Yet’ was found in the original manuscript, and somehow became ‘Yt’ and then ‘It.’) All these textual
contortions do not improve the line. It is most likely that the original contained a full five iambs and part of the line
had become unreadable. Thus, the typesetter did his best in setting what part of the line he could read.
We find that the lines of Bassanio, which follow this one, are also corrupt in that they do not adhere to the
standard meter. Hence, one possibility is that the name Gratziano was originally intended to be part of Antonio’s
line, and somehow got shifted to Bassanio. If so, the lines might have appeared as follows:
Ant. Did Gratziano say anything now?
Bass. He speaks an infinite deal of nothing,
Ay, more than any man in all of Venice . . .
[See Additional Notes, 1.1.113.]