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102
I’ll have the doctor° for my bedfellow. / lawyer

—Nerissa
And I his clerk. Therefore, be well-adviséd / So take this as fair warning
If° you do leave me to mine own protection. {How}

—Gratziano
Do as you will.° Let not me catch him, then, {Well, do you so}
For if I do, I’ll break° the young clerk’s pen. {mar} / ruin

—Antonio
I am th’unhappy subject° of these quarrels. / the bitter // cause of this contention

—Portia
103 104
Sir, grieve not—none of this is caused by° you. / brought by / over

—Bassanio
Portia, forgive me this enforcèd wrong;
And in the witness° of these many friends 105 {hearing}
I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes,
Wherein I see myself—

—Portia Hear you but that?° 106 / Take heed of that! / Amen to that!
107
In both my° eyes he doubly sees himself !° / In mine two
In each eye one version of self is seen 108 / Each eye reflects but one of two pretenses
109 110
And then he swears upon his double self— / And so his swearing be but two-faced
Now° there’s an oath to count on!° 111 {And} // bank on

102. / I’ll share a bed with that worthy doctor.
103. / Sir, grieve not—you are not the cause of this.
104. {Sir, grieve not you, you are welcome notwithstanding}
/ Sir, grieve not you°—you’re welcome nonetheless. / Grieve not dear sir
105. / And with these many friend as faithful° witness,
106. {Mark you but that!}
107. {In both my eyes he doubly sees himself}
/ In mine two eyes he sees himself as double / He sees himself but doubly (/as two-faced), one in each eye
108. / Each eye reflects but one of two positions / Each eye reflects his double-facedness
109. / In one eye, swears he, by his first of self; | In the second eye, swears he, by the second— // In each one eye a
self he swears upon | He breaks the first and now he makes a second—
110. {In each eye one. Swear by your double self}
swear: and now you swear (upon the reliability of your two-faced self)
111. {And there’s an oath of credit}
This line is spoken with sarcasm. Portia is saying that Bassanio oath is not something she can rely on.
of credit: a) that which can be believed; something credible, something of value, something which has backing,
something that can be relied upon—said with sarcasm to imply the opposite. b) something which lacks value, which
is not there, such as credit on a loan. Thus: ‘Now there’s an oath of credit, not an oath that has actual value’—and
oath that appears credible but which has no real backing. This may also refer to Bassanio’s previous show (when he
came to Belmont) as a rich man—which was due to his having borrowing money on credit rather than having the
actual wealth he was outwardly showing. (Such previous actions suggests the two-faced nature of Bassanio, where he
presented himself with one face yet had another.)