That, then, was the situation in South Vietnam, but by then it had got out of hand such that USA was obliged to assist the peaceable southerners against these horrendous criminals. They were supplying equipment, food and arms to replace the drastic losses, training new community leaders to replace the murdered ones, military advisers to train the army in the methods needed to repel the savage Viet Minh. But it was not going well. The Viet Minh hid by day in the mountains or else pretended to be innocent villagers, and struck by night and only when they knew the advantage was theirs. Worse still, young men of South Vietnam were being tortured and coerced into joining the rebel forces and their numbers swelled. The article ended, however, on an optimistic note—US leaders were confident that with their continued aid it would be less than a year before the dreadful situation in that unfortunate country would be brought under control and peace restored.
…The Devil can cite Scripture for his purpose…
…It is a wise father that knows his own child…
…But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The petty follies that themselves commit…
…If you prick us, do we bleed?…
…The quality of mercy is not strain’d;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath…
…To do a great right do a little wrong…
…A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is mine…
Never let it be said that Moorabbin Tech was completely without classical education—they had a go at The Merchant of Venice, and I’ve suffered an unnatural hatred of the play ever since. The parts were assigned to the class by the very brave teacher, and there was no end to the chortling over the boys playing girls. Wisely, the female roles were given to all the bullies and tough guys (those two types being opposites). I got to do Salerno which I read in a one-word-at-a-time monotone, struggling with the pronunciation of every fifth word, never at any time understanding what I was saying. Somehow, the image of Shylock came through although only because the teacher explained it several times. Twenty years later, when Rumpole made continual references to The Portia of our chambers, I had no idea what he was referring to and had to look it up.
As an aside, Shakespeare ripped the play off from Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta which in turn was ripped off from Florentine’s Il Pecorone and Munday’s Zelauto—a provable instance that he reworked existing plays.
Let’s keep a Shakespeare Scoreboard and see how this comes out:
Plays ripped off from others: 1. (Merchant of Venice from Marlowe’s Jew of Malta)
