Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Act I, Scene I
Antonio, sitting under a cloud of unexplained sadness, meets with a few friends who try to guess as to the cause of his long face. Is he in love? Is he worried about his business as a merchant? Antonio will not betray the source of his melancholy. One friend suggests that it is the fashion to be somber and quiet to affect an appearance of wisdom, but that when those pretenders speak, their foolishness betrays them. It appears as though his "friends" are superficially interested in cheering him up, but mostly bent on getting away from his unpleasant presence. They come and go rather quickly during the scene.
One friend, Bassario (?), sticks around longer than the rest, but it turns out the reason is that he needs something from Antonio. Bassario has fallen in love with beautiful Portia of Belmont, but due to some past indiscretions he owes many debts and does not have the money with which to properly woo Portia, who has several others suitors. Bassario asks Antonio if for their friendship's sake he would help in his quest for love. Antonio declares his loyalty to his friend and promises to help in any way he can. Unfortunately his capital is all tied up at sea at the moment, but he believes that merchants in Venice will consider his name good for credit, and urges Bassario to use his credit freely to fund his courtship of Portia.
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