SHYLOCK The Merchant of Venice By Alfred de Vigny

SHYLOCK The Merchant of Venice By Alfred de Vigny
SCENE III
Belmont. Portia's palace. One sees the palace at the end of an avenue.
Italian building. Night.
Lorenzo and Jessica enter arm in arm and come to sit on a bench on
the lawn. Lorenzo holds a book in his hand.
LORENZO: See, the moon is beautiful and how pure the disc is!
It was in such a night, with this heavenly azure
While a light wind caressed the foliage
Tears of the night still moistened everything
That Troilus of Troy scaled the walls
To come softly, by these dark paths
To address the burning sighs of his soul
To Cressida, the Greek, and see her in her tent.
JESSICA: It was on such a night, that Thisbe came
With a light foot, ready to die at the least danger,
And who, having noticed a big lion in the shadow,
Escaped.
LORENZO: Yes, it was on a night no less somber
That Jessica the Jewess, crossed plain and mountain
From Venice, with me, and ran straight to Belmont.
JESSICA: And it was, they tell me, on a like night
That the handsome Lorenzo slipped into her ear
Tales of a young man and oaths good for a day.
LORENZO: And in a like night, slandering the love
Of her faithful friend she was forgiven
Although she deserved only to be abandoned.
(he kisses her two hands)
SCENE III 65