Marzio—He came to me the other day in all secrecy, to beg me to lend him ten sequins on a pair of earrings of his wife's.[Pg 6492] Ridolfo—Well, you know, every man is liable to have these little difficulties; but they don't care to have them known, and that is doubtless why he came to you, certain that you would tell no one. Marzio—Oh, I say nothing. I help all, and take no credit for it. See! Here are his wife's earrings. I lent him ten sequins on them. Do you think I am secured? Ridolfo—I'm no judge, but I think so. Marzio—Halloa, Trappolo. [Trappolo enters.] Here; go to the jeweler's yonder, show him these earrings of Signor Eugenio's wife, and ask him for me if they are security for ten sequins that I lent him. Trappolo—And it doesn't harm Signor Eugenio to make his affairs public? Marzio—I am a person with whom a secret is safe. [Exit Trappolo.] Say, Ridolfo, what do you know of that dancer over there? Ridolfo—I really know nothing about her. Marzio—I've been told the Count Leandro is her protector. Ridolfo—To be frank, I don't care much for other people's affairs. Marzio—But 'tis well to know things, to govern one's self accordingly. She has been under his protection for some time now, and the dancer's earnings have paid the price of the protection. Instead of spending anything, he devours all the poor wretch has. Indeed, he forces her to do what she should not. Oh, what a villain! Ridolfo—But I am here all day, and I can swear that no one goes to her house except Leandro. Marzio—It has a back door. Fool! Fool! Always the back door. Fool! Ridolfo—I attend to my shop: if she has a back door, what is it to me? I put my nose into no one's affairs. Marzio—Beast! Do you speak like that to a gentleman of my station? [This character of Don Marzio the slanderer is the most effective one in the comedy. He finally brings upon himself the bitterest ill-will of all the other characters, and feels himself driven out of Venice, "a land in which all men live at ease, all enjoy liberty, peace, and amusement, if only they know how to be prudent, discreet, honorable."] Translated for 'A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by William C. Lawton [Pg 6493] MEÏR AARON GOLDSCHMIDT (1819-1887) n the first line of his memoirs Goldschmidt states that he was of "the tribe of Levi," a fact of which he was never unconscious, and which has given him his peculiar position in modern Danish literature as the exponent of the family and social life of the orthodox Jew. Brandes writes of Goldschmidt that: "In spite of his cosmopolitan spirit, he has always loved two nationalities above all others and equally well,—the Jewish and the Danish. He has looked upon himself as a sort of noble-born bastard; and with the bat of the fable he has said alternately to the mice, 'I am a mouse' and to the birds, 'I have wings.' He has endeavored to give his answer to the questions of the Jew's place in modern culture." Goldschmidt