ACT I.




SCENE I.--VENICE.(A) SAINT MARK'S PLACE.(B)


_Various groups of Nobles, Citizens, Merchants, Foreigners,
Water-Carriers, Flower Girls, &c., pass and repass. Procession of the
Doge, in state, across the square_.[1]

ANTONIO, SALARINO, _and_ SALANIO _come forward_.

_Ant_. 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.

_Salar_. Your mind is tossing on the ocean;
There, where your argosies[2] with portly sail,
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curt'sy to them, do them reverence,