Chapter 16 Scene 4 A room in Belmont Portia's home

Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORANZO, JESSICA, and BALTHAZER. Mrs. Lorenzo, I am not flattering you face to face. You do have a noble, sincere and uncommon benevolent heart; especially this kind of spiritual perseverance that urges your husband to follow the law and would rather give up the personal love of your children is really amazing. admiration.But if you know who is receiving your kindness, what kind of upright gentleman you rescued, and how deep is his friendship with your husband, I believe you will be very proud of doing this good deed , an ordinary act of kindness does not bring you so much happiness.

PORTIA I have never regretted a good deed, nor now.Because all friends who often talk and play together have a mutual friendship with each other, and they must not be far from each other in appearance, manners, and habits; so I think that since this Antonio is my husband A confidant of mine, he must have behaved much like my husband.If my conjecture turns out to be true, what a price it is for me to redeem from cruel persecution a soul like mine!But if this is the case, it is too close to boasting, so stop talking, let's talk about other things.Lorenzo, I will take care of the house for me, till my husband comes; I have sworn to heaven myself, To live in prayer and meditation, and let Nerissa alone be with me until our two husbands come back.There's a monastery two miles away, and we're going to live there.I am making this request to you not only for personal reasons, but also for other practical needs, please do not refuse me.

Madame Lorenzo, I will gladly obey all your orders. PORTIA My servants know my resolve, and they will regard you and Jessica as Bassanio and myself.There will be a period later, goodbye. Lorenzo, may good thoughts and happy times be with you! Jessica wishes all the best to the lady! Portia Thank you for your kindness, and I would like to bless you with the same wish.Goodbye, Jessica. (Exit Jessica and Lorenzo) Balthazar, I have always known you to be honest and trustworthy, and I hope you will always be one.Send this letter to Padua, and give it to my cousin, Dr. Bellario, to collect and open it; if he has any reply and clothes for you, take them to the dock as soon as possible, Take the public ferry to Venice.Don't talk much, go; I'll wait for you in Venice.

Miss Balthazar, I'll be there as soon as possible. (Down.) Come, Portia, Nerissa, I've got something to do now that you don't know; We're going to meet our husbands before they think of us. Nerissa Shall we let them see us? PORTIA They'll see us, Nerissa, but we'll be so dressed that they don't recognize us for what we are.I'll bet you anything that if we were all boys I'd be prettier than you, and look better with a knife; Like a grown boy; I'll combine two slender steps into a man's stride; I'll follow the example of those bragging buddies, talk about some fencing games, and make up some clever lies , who’s daughter fell in love with me, I don’t accept her kindness, she fell ill and died, I couldn’t bear it, I regretted that I shouldn’t have killed her, and twenty other irrelevant things like that Important lies, if people hear it, they must think that I have not been out of school for less than a year.I have a thousand tricks of these bragging dolls in my head, and I can use them all.

What about Nerissa, are we going to dress up as men? Portia why not?Come, the carriage is waiting for us at the gate of the Grove; and when we get into it, I can tell you all my plans all the way.Come on, we have twenty miles to go today. (same below.)