Volpone

On the streets of Venice, Sir Politic offers Peregrine travel advice. Peregrine shouldn’t trust anyone because people love to play tricks. Sir Politic explains how to get along with Venetians, who have very specific social rules. Sir Politic boasts that he could pass for Venetian because he knows all their customs.

Sir Politic also brags that he could make anyone rich because of his lucrative business ideas. Peregrine laughs to himself and bets that Sir Politic will share the secret ideas without provocation. As anticipated, Sir Politic reveals his enterprises, which range from selling imported fish to proposals for larger tinderboxes. He also plans to develop rapid plague detection infrastructure using onions, and if that doesn’t work, he might sell Venice to its enemies, the Ottoman Empire.

Peregrine sees that Sir Politic carries around a diary. He reads a sample entry full of mundane details about Sir Politic’s days, which Sir Politic finds important to record.

Nearby, Lady Would-Be, her ladies, and Nano spot Sir Politic with Peregrine, and Lady Would-Be mistakenly believes Peregrine is the sex worker Mosca mentioned earlier. Sir Politic cheerfully introduces Peregrine to his wife, but she interrupts him, calling Sir Politic an embarrassment to his knighthood.