Watching a live performance at The Venetian, while surrounded by merchants as I was at the time, I was reminded (oddly enough) of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and so tonight, I post some lines from of my favorite speech of that work.
The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
- Act IV Scene I, Portia addressing Shylock
(Nikon D300, 36mm, f/4.2, 1/60, ISO 1400)
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