• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Which might have wrought much good had it in time been known,

Where now by her concealing it a mischief great is grown;

And Peter, for he did obey his master's hest,

ln wonted freedom had good leave to lead his life in rest,

Th'apothecary high is hangéd by the throat,

And for the pains he took with him the hangman had his coat.

But now what shall betide of this grey-bearded sire?

Of Friar Laurence thus arraigned, that good barefooted friar

Because that many times he worthily did serve

The commonwealth, and in his life was never found to swerve,

He was dischargéd quite, and no mark of defame

Did seem to blot or touch at all the honour of his name.

But of himself he went into an hermitage,

Two miles from Verone town, where he in prayers passed forth his age;

Till that from earth to heaven his heavenly sprite did fly,

Five years he lived an hermit and an hermit did he die.

The strangeness of the chance, when triéd was the truth,

The Montagues and Capulets hath moved so to ruth,

That with their emptied tears their choler and their rage

Was emptied quite; and they, whose wrath no wisdom could assuage,

Nor threat'ning of the prince, ne mind of murthers done,

At length, so mighty Jove it would, by pity they are won.

And lest that length of time might from our minds remove

The memory of so perfect, sound, and so approvéd love,

The bodies dead, removed from vault where they did die,

ln stately tomb, on pillars great of marble, raise they high.

On every side above were set, and eke beneath,

Great store of cunning epitaphs, in honour of their death.

And even at this day the tomb is to be seen;

So that among the monuments that in Verona been,

There is no monument more worthy of the sight,

Than is the tomb of Juliet and Romeus her knight.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE – Three Sources

THE ADVENTURES OF GIANNETTO.

From the Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino

Both the original Italian of this tale and the English translation known to Shakespeare are included in alternate pages.

EGLI ebbe in Firenze in casa gli Scali un mercatante, il quale ebbe nome Bindo; il quale era stato piu volte e alia Tana e in Alessandria, e in tutti que* gran viaggi che si fanno con le mercatanzie. Era questo Bindo assai ri'cco, e aveva tre figliuoli maschi grandi; e venendo a morte, chiamo il maggior e '1 mezzano, e fece in lor presenza testamento, e lascid lor due eredi di cid ch' egli aveva al mondo, e al mi- nore non lascio niente. Fatto ch' egli ebbe testamento, il fig- liuol minore, che aveva nome Giannetto, sentendo questo, ando a trovarlo al letto e gli disse: Padre mio, io mi mara- viglio forte di quello che voi avete fatto, a non esservi ricor- dato di me in su '1 testamento. Rispose il padre: Giannetto mio, e' non e creatura, a cui voglia meglio che a te, e pero io non voglio che dopo la morte mia tu stia qui, anzi voglio, com* io son morto, che tu te ne vada a Vinegia a un tuo san- tolo, che ha nome messere Ansaldo, il quale non ha figliuolo

There lived at Florence, in the house of the Scali, a merchant whose name was Bindo, who had been several times at Tana, and at Alexan dria, and had made the other long voyages usually made by the merchants. This Bindo was rich, and had three sons grown to man's estate. He being near his end, called for the two eldest, and in their presence made his will, and left these two heirs of every thing he had in the world: to the youngest he left nothing. The will being made, this youngest, whose name was Giannetto, hearing what bad been done, went to his father's bed-side, and said to him, What has my father done? not to have mentioned me in his will is somewhat extraordinary.

nessuno, e hammi scritto piu volte ch' io te gli mandi. E sotti dire ch' egli d il piu ricco mercatante che sia oggi tra' Cristiani. E pero voglio che come io son morto, tu te ne vada a lui, e gli porti questa lettera; e se tu saprai fare, tu rimarrai ricco uomo. Disse il figliuolo : Padre mio, io sono apparecchiato a fare cid che voi mi comandate;