ANTONIO.In sooth I know not why I am so sad,It wearies me. you say it wearies you;But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,I am to learn.And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,That I have much ado to know myself.SALARINO.Your mind is tossing on the ocean,There where your argosies, with portly sailLike signiors and rich burghers on the flood,Or as it were the pageants of the sea,Do overpeer the petty traffickersThat curtsy to them, do them reverence,As they fly by them with their woven wings.SOLANIO.Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,The better part of my affections wouldBe with my hopes abroad.

I should be stillPlucking the grass to know where sits the wind,Peering in maps for ports, and piers and roads;And every object that might make me fearMisfortune to my ventures, out of doubtWould make me sad.SALARINO.My wind cooling my brothWould blow me to an ague when I thoughtWhat harm a wind too great might do at sea.I should not see the sandy hour-glass runBut I should think of shallows and of flats,And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand,Vailing her high top lower than her ribsTo kiss her burial.

Should I go to churchAnd see the holy edifice of stoneAnd not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,5Which, touching but my gentle vessel's side,Would scatter all her spices on the stream,Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks,And, in a word, but even now worth this,And now worth nothing?

Shall I have the thoughtTo think on this, and shall I lack the thoughtThat such a thing bechanc'd would make me sad?But tell not me, I know AntonioIs sad to think upon his merchandise.ANTONIO.Believe me, no.

I thank my fortune for it,My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,Nor to one place; nor is my whole estateUpon the fortune of this present year.Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.SALARINO.Why then you are in love.ANTONIO.Fie, fie!SALARINO.Not in love neither?

Then let us say you are sadBecause you are not merry; and 'twere as easyFor you to laugh and leap and say you are merryBecause you are not sad.

Now, by two-headed Janus,Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper.And other of such vinegar aspectThat they'll not show their teeth in way of smileThough Nestor swear the jest be laughable.Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO and GRATIANO.SOLANIO.Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,Gratiano, and Lorenzo.

Fare ye well.We leave you now with better company.SALARINO.I would have stay'd till I had made you merry,If worthier friends had not prevented me.6ANTONIO.Your worth is very dear in my regard.I take it your own business calls on you,And you embrace th' occasion to depart.SALARINO.Good morrow, my good lords.BASSANIO.Good signiors both, when shall we laugh?

Say, when?You grow exceeding strange. Must it be so?SALARINO.We'll make our leisures to attend on yours.[Exeunt SALARINO and SOLANIO.]LORENZO.My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,We two will leave you, but at dinner-timeI pray you have in mind where we must meet.BASSANIO.I will not fail you.GRATIANO.You look not well, Signior Antonio,You have too much respect upon the world.They lose it that do buy it with much care.Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.ANTONIO.I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,A stage, where every man must play a part,And mine a sad one.