The most fertile soil for such financial seeds proved to be the Italian city states
Fibonacci's hometown of Pisa was one
But it was above all Venice, more exposed than any of the others to oriental influences
that became the great money-lending laboratory
and the home of literature's most notorious moneylender
Shylock, in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.
(此段对话出自《威尼斯商人》第一幕第三场)
May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer?
Crucially, Shylock's only prepared to lend the money if Bassanio's friend, the merchant Antonio, is providing the security
3,000 ducats for three months and Antonio bound
Your answer to that
Antonio is a good man
By good, Shylock doesn't mean virtuous, he means good for the money he's about to lend Bassanio
In other words, creditworthy