Page 179 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

For, as I hear, he was much bound for you. 62

—Antonio
The bounds of which I’m well-acquitted of. 63

—Portia
We are most honored, sir, to have you here. 64
Yet it must show° in other ways than words; {It must appear}
65
Thus I’ll make short of° this long-winded welcome.° {Therefore I’ll scant} {breathing courtesy}

—Gratziano [to Nerissa]
By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong. 66
In faith,° I gave it to the judge’s clerk— / In truth
And I would have his manly parts cut off
67 68
Since you do take it, love, so much at heart.

—Portia
A quarrel, ho, already! What about?° {What’s the matter?}

—Gratziano
About a hoop° of gold, a paltry° ring / band // petty
That she did give me, whose lett’ring was,° 69 {posey} / motto
For all to see,° like cutler’s poetry, {for all the world} / by all accounts
+The kind of words that one would find scribbled ,
Upon a knife: ‘Love me and leave me not.’ 70

62. In Bassanio’s previous line, bound is used to mean indebted. Bound, as used here can mean: a) bound in debt,
b) bound in word or pledge, c) physically bound or imprisoned, or d) bound in friendship.
63. {No more than I am well acquitted of} / And from such bounds I have been fully freed
64. {Sir, you are very welcome to our house.}
65. {Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy} / Thus, I need not waste breath on courtesies
/ Thus I’ll skip over° this long-winded welcome
/ Thus I’ll make short of / Therefore I’ll spare you / Therefore I’ll shorten
66. Gratziano swears by yonder moon, which is fickle and inconsistent, and which, at this point in the play, has been
obscured by clouds.
67. / Since you, my love, take it so much to heart
68. {Would he were gelt that had it, for my part | Since you do take it love, so much to heart}
gelt: gelded or castrated; also a play on gelt, money.
/ Would he who has the ring have his endowment | Cut off, for all I care—since you, my love, | Are so upset over this
little thing. // Would he who has the ring have but his manly | Portions lopped off, for all I care, since you, | My love,
are taking this so much to heart. // Would he who has the ring be castrated | +For all I care—and that is what I say,,|
Since you do take it, love, so much to heart.
69. / That she gave me, whose trite inscription was,
70. {For all the world like cutler’s poetry | Upon a knife, ‘Love me, and leave me not.’}
/ By all account, like a butcher’s attempt | At poetry, with dull words that be scribbled | Upon a
knife—‘Love me and leave me not.’
/ By all accounts, like a knife-maker’s poem— | Some posy scribbled upon a cheap knife | With the fine
words: ‘Love me, and leave me not.’
/ Naught but a cutler’s try at poetry, | With fetching° words, as: ‘Love me, don’t leave me.’ / sapless / tired
It was common for a trite motto to be inscribed on knife blades, and such a motto, or posy, was put on the
blade by the cutler or knife-maker (not a poet). Gratziano is here trying to lessen the value of Nerissa’s ring by
saying its inscription was trite and written with the same skill as that of an knife-maker—like the kind of cliché