OCRed data provided
for searching only. 614. SMALL LATINE AND LESSE GREEKE
This is implied in the mediation of Christ gratis, . as quoted above from Polyanthea. As a matter of fact, Portia's figure and phraseology
are Biblical. As Noble points out,
There would be no dissentient from the view that Shakespeare was indebted to Ecclus. xxxv. 19, "0 howe faire a thing is mercie in the time of anguishe and trouble? it is like a cloude of raine that commeth in the time of drought." The position is complicated here by the fact that there is an-other candidate for the inspiration of the passage. The figure "It droppeth as the gentle rain" may have been suggested by the Song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. a), "My doctrine shall drop as doeth the raine: and my speache shall Howe as doeth the dew, as the showre upon the hearties, and as the droppes vpon the grasse." There is no reason why both passages should not have operated, but in any case the texts should unite in convincing anybody that Portia's speech had a Scriptural base and so, therefore, whether it was Ecclesiasticus or Deuteronomy, or whether it was both, the excerpt in question would rank in the first class [that is, of certain allusions].78
With this conclusion, I do not see any possibility of reasonable disagreement. But we can venture a bit further. It will be noticed that Shakspere's premises upon mercy are from either Ecclesiasticus or Deuteronomy:" his conclusion from Ecclesiasticus and the Liturgy.
The application is
we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer cloth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy.
As Noble notes,
If we turn to Ecclus. xxviii. 2-5 we shall find Portia's observation as to the prayer sufficiently justified: "Forgiue thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done thee, and so shall thy shines be forgiuen thee also when thou prayest. A man that beareth hatred against another, howe dare he desire forgiuenesse of God? Flee that sheweth no mercie to a man which is like himselfe, howe dare hee aske forgiuenes of his sinnes ? If he that is but flesh, beareth hatred, and keepeth it, who will entreate for his sinnes ?" As far as known, Ecclesiasticus provides the only direct parallel to the passage in The Lord's Prayer.Î
The common denominator in each of these three statements is Ecclesiasticus, which, as we have seen,81 Shakspere had doubtless turned into Latin in lower school. Its sententiae on mercy now come to mind- or have been looked up-to form the framework of Portia's
'r'8 Noble, Shakespeare's Biblical Knowledge, pp. 26-27; cf. p. i67.
Since rain must drop, especially if it be the rain of mercy from Heaven, I see no necessity nor probability for Deuteronomy.
' Noble, SAekespearc's Biblical Knowledge, p. i68. See VoL I, p. 684 if.
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