ACT III



SCENE III	Venice. A street.


	[Enter SHYLOCK, SALARINO, ANTONIO, and Gaoler]

SHYLOCK	Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy;
	This is the fool that lent out money gratis:
	Gaoler, look to him.

ANTONIO	Hear me yet, good Shylock.

SHYLOCK	I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond:
	I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.
	Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;
	But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs:
	The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,
	Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond
	To come abroad with him at his request.

ANTONIO	I pray thee, hear me speak.

SHYLOCK	I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:
	I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.
	I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,
	To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
	To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
	I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.

	[Exit]

SALARINO	It is the most impenetrable cur
	That ever kept with men.

ANTONIO	Let him alone:
	I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
	He seeks my life; his reason well I know:
	I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures
	Many that have at times made moan to me;
	Therefore he hates me.

SALARINO	I am sure the duke
	Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

ANTONIO	The duke cannot deny the course of law:
	For the commodity that strangers have
	With us in Venice, if it be denied,
	Will much impeach the justice of his state;
	Since that the trade and profit of the city
	Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go:
	These griefs and losses have so bated me,
	That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
	To-morrow to my bloody creditor.
	Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come
	To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

	[Exeunt]




	THE MERCHANT OF VENICE


ACT III



SCENE IV	Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.


	[Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and
	BALTHASAR]

LORENZO	Madam, although I speak it in your presence,
	You have a noble and a true conceit
	Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly
	In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
	But if you knew to whom you show this honour,
	How true a gentleman you send relief,
	How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
	I know you would be prouder of the work
	Than customary bounty can enforce you.

PORTIA	I never did repent for doing good,
	Nor shall not now: for in companions
	That do converse and waste the time together,
	Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love,
	There must be needs a like proportion
	Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;
	Which makes me think that this Antonio,
	Being the bosom lover of my lord,
	Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
	How little is the cost I have bestow'd
	In purchasing the semblance of my soul
	From out the state of hellish misery!
	This comes too near the praising of myself;
	Therefore no more of it: hear other things.
	Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
	The husbandry and manage of my house
	Until my lord's return: for mine own part,
	I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow
	To live in prayer and contemplation,
	Only attended by Nerissa here,
	Until her husband and my lord's return:
	There is a monastery two miles off;
	And there will we abide. I do desire you
	Not to deny this imposition;
	The which my love and some necessity
	Now lays upon you.

LORENZO	                  Madam, with all my heart;
	I shall obey you in all fair commands.

PORTIA	My people do already know my mind,
	And will acknowledge you and Jessica
	In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.
	And so farewell, till we shall meet again.

LORENZO	Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!

JESSICA	I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

PORTIA	I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased
	To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.

	[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO]

	Now, Balthasar,
	As I have ever found thee honest-true,
	So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,
	And use thou all the endeavour of a man
	In speed to Padua: see thou render this
	Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;
	And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,
	Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed
	Unto the tranect, to the common ferry
	Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
	But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.

BALTHASAR	Madam, I go with all convenient speed.

	[Exit]

PORTIA	Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand
	That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands
	Before they think of us.

NERISSA	Shall they see us?

PORTIA	They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,
	That they shall think we are accomplished
	With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
	When we are both accoutred like young men,
	I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
	And wear my dagger with the braver grace,
	And speak between the change of man and boy
	With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps
	Into a manly stride, and speak of frays
	Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
	How honourable ladies sought my love,
	Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
	I could not do withal; then I'll repent,
	And wish for all that, that I had not killed them;
	And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
	That men shall swear I have discontinued school
	Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
	A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
	Which I will practise.

NERISSA	Why, shall we turn to men?

PORTIA	Fie, what a question's that,
	If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
	But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
	When I am in my coach, which stays for us
	At the park gate; and therefore haste away,
	For we must measure twenty miles to-day.

	[Exeunt]




	THE MERCHANT OF VENICE


ACT III



SCENE V	The same. A garden.


	[Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA]

LAUNCELOT	Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father
	are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I
	promise ye, I fear you. I was always plain with
	you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter:
	therefore be of good cheer, for truly I think you
	are damned. There is but one hope in it that can do
	you any good; and that is but a kind of bastard
	hope neither.

JESSICA	And what hope is that, I pray thee?

LAUNCELOT	Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you
	not, that you are not the Jew's daughter.

JESSICA	That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed: so the
	sins of my mother should be visited upon me.

LAUNCELOT	Truly then I fear you are damned both by father and
	mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I
	fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are
	gone both ways.

JESSICA	I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a
	Christian.

LAUNCELOT	Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians
	enow before; e'en as many as could well live, one by
	another. This making Christians will raise the
	price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we
	shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.

	[Enter LORENZO]

JESSICA	I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: here he comes.

LORENZO	I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if
	you thus get my wife into corners.

JESSICA	Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launcelot and I
	are out. He tells me flatly, there is no mercy for
	me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he
	says, you are no good member of the commonwealth,
	for in converting Jews to Christians, you raise the
	price of pork.

LORENZO	I shall answer that better to the commonwealth than
	you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the
	Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.

LAUNCELOT	It is much that the Moor should be more than reason:
	but if she be less than an honest woman, she is
	indeed more than I took her for.

LORENZO	How every fool can play upon the word! I think the
	best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence,
	and discourse grow commendable in none only but
	parrots. Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for dinner.

LAUNCELOT	That is done, sir; they have all stomachs.

LORENZO	Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then bid
	them prepare dinner.

LAUNCELOT	That is done too, sir; only 'cover' is the word.

LORENZO	Will you cover then, sir?

LAUNCELOT	Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty.

LORENZO	Yet more quarrelling with occasion! Wilt thou show
	the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray
	tree, understand a plain man in his plain meaning:
	go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, serve
	in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

LAUNCELOT	For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for the
	meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in
	to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and
	conceits shall govern.

	[Exit]

LORENZO	O dear discretion, how his words are suited!
	The fool hath planted in his memory
	An army of good words; and I do know
	A many fools, that stand in better place,
	Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word
	Defy the matter. How cheerest thou, Jessica?
	And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,
	How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife?

JESSICA	Past all expressing. It is very meet
	The Lord Bassanio live an upright life;
	For, having such a blessing in his lady,
	He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;
	And if on earth he do not mean it, then
	In reason he should never come to heaven
	Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match
	And on the wager lay two earthly women,
	And Portia one, there must be something else
	Pawn'd with the other, for the poor rude world
	Hath not her fellow.

LORENZO	Even such a husband
	Hast thou of me as she is for a wife.

JESSICA	Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.

LORENZO	I will anon: first, let us go to dinner.

JESSICA	Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach.

LORENZO	No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;
'	Then, howso'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things
	I shall digest it.

JESSICA	                  Well, I'll set you forth.

	[Exeunt]




	THE MERCHANT OF VENICE


ACT IV



SCENE I	Venice. A court of justice.


	[Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO,
	GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others]

DUKE	What, is Antonio here?

ANTONIO	Ready, so please your grace.

DUKE	I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer
	A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
	uncapable of pity, void and empty
	From any dram of mercy.

ANTONIO	I have heard
	Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify
	His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate
	And that no lawful means can carry me
	Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose
	My patience to his fury, and am arm'd
	To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
	The very tyranny and rage of his.

DUKE	Go one, and call the Jew into the court.

SALERIO	He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

	[Enter SHYLOCK]

DUKE	Make room, and let him stand before our face.
	Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
	That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice
	To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought
	Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange
	Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;
	And where thou now exact'st the penalty,
	Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,
	Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
	But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,
	Forgive a moiety of the principal;
	Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
	That have of late so huddled on his back,
	Enow to press a royal merchant down
	And pluck commiseration of his state
	From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,
	From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
	To offices of tender courtesy.
	We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

SHYLOCK	I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
	And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
	To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
	If you deny it, let the danger light
	Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
	You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
	A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
	Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
	But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?
	What if my house be troubled with a rat
	And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
	To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
	Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
	Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;
	And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,
	Cannot contain their urine: for affection,
	Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood
	Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:
	As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
	Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
	Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
	Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force
	Must yield to such inevitable shame
	As to offend, himself being offended;
	So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
	More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
	I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
	A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

BASSANIO	This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
	To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

SHYLOCK	I am not bound to please thee with my answers.

BASSANIO	Do all men kill the things they do not love?

SHYLOCK	Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

BASSANIO	Every offence is not a hate at first.

SHYLOCK	What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

ANTONIO	I pray you, think you question with the Jew:
	You may as well go stand upon the beach
	And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
	You may as well use question with the wolf
	Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
	You may as well forbid the mountain pines
	To wag their high tops and to make no noise,
	When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
	You may as well do anything most hard,
	As seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--
	His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,
	Make no more offers, use no farther means,
	But with all brief and plain conveniency
	Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.

BASSANIO	For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

SHYLOCK	What judgment shall I dread, doing
	Were in six parts and every part a ducat,
	I would not draw them; I would have my bond.

DUKE	How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?

SHYLOCK	What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
	You have among you many a purchased slave,
	Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
	You use in abject and in slavish parts,
	Because you bought them: shall I say to you,
	Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
	Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds
	Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
	Be season'd with such viands? You will answer
	'The slaves are ours:' so do I answer you:
	The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
	Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it.
	If you deny me, fie upon your law!
	There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
	I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?

DUKE	Upon my power I may dismiss this court,
	Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,
	Whom I have sent for to determine this,
	Come here to-day.

SALERIO	                  My lord, here stays without
	A messenger with letters from the doctor,
	New come from Padua.

DUKE	Bring us the letter; call the messenger.

BASSANIO	Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
	The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all,
	Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

ANTONIO	I am a tainted wether of the flock,
	Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit
	Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me
	You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,
	Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

	[Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk]

DUKE	Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

NERISSA	From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.

	[Presenting a letter]

BASSANIO	Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

SHYLOCK	To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.

GRATIANO	Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
	Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,
	No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness
	Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

SHYLOCK	No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

GRATIANO	O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!
	And for thy life let justice be accused.
	Thou almost makest me waver in my faith
	To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
	That souls of animals infuse themselves
	Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit
	Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,
	Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
	And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,
	Infused itself in thee; for thy desires
	Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

SHYLOCK	Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
	Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud:
	Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
	To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

DUKE	This letter from Bellario doth commend
	A young and learned doctor to our court.
	Where is he?

NERISSA	                  He attendeth here hard by,
	To know your answer, whether you'll admit him.

DUKE	With all my heart. Some three or four of you
	Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
	Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter.

Clerk	[Reads]

	Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of
	your letter I am very sick: but in the instant that
	your messenger came, in loving visitation was with
	me a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar. I
	acquainted him with the cause in controversy between
	the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turned o'er
	many books together: he is furnished with my
	opinion; which, bettered with his own learning, the
	greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes
	with him, at my importunity, to fill up your grace's
	request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of
	years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend
	estimation; for I never knew so young a body with so
	old a head. I leave him to your gracious
	acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his
	commendation.

DUKE	You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes:
	And here, I take it, is the doctor come.

	[Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws]

	Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario?

PORTIA	I did, my lord.

DUKE	                  You are welcome: take your place.
	Are you acquainted with the difference
	That holds this present question in the court?

PORTIA	I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
	Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

DUKE	Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.

PORTIA	Is your name Shylock?

SHYLOCK	Shylock is my name.

PORTIA	Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;
	Yet in such rule that the Venetian law
	Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.
	You stand within his danger, do you not?

ANTONIO	Ay, so he says.

PORTIA	                  Do you confess the bond?

ANTONIO	I do.

PORTIA	    Then must the Jew be merciful.

SHYLOCK	On what compulsion must I? tell me that.

PORTIA	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. Therefore, Jew,
	Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
	That, in the course of justice, none of us
	Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
	And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
	The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
	To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
	Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
	Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.

SHYLOCK	My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
	The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

PORTIA	Is he not able to discharge the money?

BASSANIO	Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;
	Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,
	I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,
	On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:
	If this will not suffice, it must appear
	That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you,
	Wrest once the law to your authority:
	To do a great right, do a little wrong,
	And curb this cruel devil of his will.

PORTIA	It must not be; there is no power in Venice
	Can alter a decree established:
	'Twill be recorded for a precedent,
	And many an error by the same example
	Will rush into the state: it cannot be.

SHYLOCK	A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!
	O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

PORTIA	I pray you, let me look upon the bond.

SHYLOCK	Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.

PORTIA	Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.

SHYLOCK	An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven:
	Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
	No, not for Venice.

PORTIA	Why, this bond is forfeit;
	And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
	A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
	Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful:
	Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.

SHYLOCK	When it is paid according to the tenor.
	It doth appear you are a worthy judge;
	You know the law, your exposition
	Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,
	Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
	Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear
	There is no power in the tongue of man
	To alter me: I stay here on my bond.

ANTONIO	Most heartily I do beseech the court
	To give the judgment.

PORTIA	Why then, thus it is:
	You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHYLOCK	O noble judge! O excellent young man!

PORTIA	For the intent and purpose of the law
	Hath full relation to the penalty,
	Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHYLOCK	'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!
	How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

PORTIA	Therefore lay bare your bosom.

SHYLOCK	Ay, his breast:
	So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge?
	'Nearest his heart:' those are the very words.

PORTIA	It is so. Are there balance here to weigh
	The flesh?

SHYLOCK	         I have them ready.

PORTIA	Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
	To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

SHYLOCK	Is it so nominated in the bond?

PORTIA	It is not so express'd: but what of that?
	'Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHYLOCK	I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

PORTIA	You, merchant, have you any thing to say?

ANTONIO	But little: I am arm'd and well prepared.
	Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!
	Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
	For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
	Than is her custom: it is still her use
	To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
	To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
	An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
	Of such misery doth she cut me off.
	Commend me to your honourable wife:
	Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
	Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;
	And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge
	Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
	Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,
	And he repents not that he pays your debt;
	For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
	I'll pay it presently with all my heart.

BASSANIO	Antonio, I am married to a wife
	Which is as dear to me as life itself;
	But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
	Are not with me esteem'd above thy life:
	I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
	Here to this devil, to deliver you.

PORTIA	Your wife would give you little thanks for that,
	If she were by, to hear you make the offer.

GRATIANO	I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:
	I would she were in heaven, so she could
	Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

NERISSA	'Tis well you offer it behind her back;
	The wish would make else an unquiet house.

SHYLOCK	These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter;
	Would any of the stock of Barrabas
	Had been her husband rather than a Christian!

	[Aside]

	We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.

PORTIA	A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine:
	The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

SHYLOCK	Most rightful judge!

PORTIA	And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:
	The law allows it, and the court awards it.

SHYLOCK	Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!

PORTIA	Tarry a little; there is something else.
	This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;
	The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'
	Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
	But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
	One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
	Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
	Unto the state of Venice.

GRATIANO	O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!

SHYLOCK	Is that the law?

PORTIA	                  Thyself shalt see the act:
	For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
	Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

GRATIANO	O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!

SHYLOCK	I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice
	And let the Christian go.

BASSANIO	Here is the money.

PORTIA	Soft!
	The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:
	He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRATIANO	O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

PORTIA	Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
	Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
	But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut'st more
	Or less than a just pound, be it but so much
	As makes it light or heavy in the substance,
	Or the division of the twentieth part
	Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn
	But in the estimation of a hair,
	Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.

GRATIANO	A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!
	Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.

PORTIA	Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.

SHYLOCK	Give me my principal, and let me go.

BASSANIO	I have it ready for thee; here it is.

PORTIA	He hath refused it in the open court:
	He shall have merely justice and his bond.

GRATIANO	A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!
	I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

SHYLOCK	Shall I not have barely my principal?

PORTIA	Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
	To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

SHYLOCK	Why, then the devil give him good of it!
	I'll stay no longer question.

PORTIA	Tarry, Jew:
	The law hath yet another hold on you.
	It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
	If it be proved against an alien
	That by direct or indirect attempts
	He seek the life of any citizen,
	The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive
	Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
	Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
	And the offender's life lies in the mercy
	Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
	In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st;
	For it appears, by manifest proceeding,
	That indirectly and directly too
	Thou hast contrived against the very life
	Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd
	The danger formerly by me rehearsed.
	Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke.

GRATIANO	Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:
	And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
	Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
	Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.

DUKE	That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,
	I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:
	For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's;
	The other half comes to the general state,
	Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

PORTIA	Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.

SHYLOCK	Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:
	You take my house when you do take the prop
	That doth sustain my house; you take my life
	When you do take the means whereby I live.

PORTIA	What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

GRATIANO	A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake.

ANTONIO	So please my lord the duke and all the court
	To quit the fine for one half of his goods,
	I am content; so he will let me have
	The other half in use, to render it,
	Upon his death, unto the gentleman
	That lately stole his daughter:
	Two things provided more, that, for this favour,
	He presently become a Christian;
	The other, that he do record a gift,
	Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,
	Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

DUKE	He shall do this, or else I do recant
	The pardon that I late pronounced here.

PORTIA	Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?

SHYLOCK	I am content.

PORTIA	                  Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

SHYLOCK	I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;
	I am not well: send the deed after me,
	And I will sign it.

DUKE	Get thee gone, but do it.

GRATIANO	In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers:
	Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
	To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.

	[Exit SHYLOCK]

DUKE	Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.

PORTIA	I humbly do desire your grace of pardon:
	I must away this night toward Padua,
	And it is meet I presently set forth.

DUKE	I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.
	Antonio, gratify this gentleman,
	For, in my mind, you are much bound to him.

	[Exeunt Duke and his train]

BASSANIO	Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
	Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
	Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof,
	Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,
	We freely cope your courteous pains withal.

ANTONIO	And stand indebted, over and above,
	In love and service to you evermore.

PORTIA	He is well paid that is well satisfied;
	And I, delivering you, am satisfied
	And therein do account myself well paid:
	My mind was never yet more mercenary.
	I pray you, know me when we meet again:
	I wish you well, and so I take my leave.

BASSANIO	Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:
	Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,
	Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,
	Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

PORTIA	You press me far, and therefore I will yield.

	[To ANTONIO]

	Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;

	[To BASSANIO]

	And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:
	Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;
	And you in love shall not deny me this.

BASSANIO	This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!
	I will not shame myself to give you this.

PORTIA	I will have nothing else but only this;
	And now methinks I have a mind to it.

BASSANIO	There's more depends on this than on the value.
	The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
	And find it out by proclamation:
	Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.

PORTIA	I see, sir, you are liberal in offers
	You taught me first to beg; and now methinks
	You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.

BASSANIO	Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;
	And when she put it on, she made me vow
	That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.

PORTIA	That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
	An if your wife be not a mad-woman,
	And know how well I have deserved the ring,
	She would not hold out enemy for ever,
	For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!

	[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa]

ANTONIO	My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:
	Let his deservings and my love withal
	Be valued against your wife's commandment.

BASSANIO	Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;
	Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,
	Unto Antonio's house: away! make haste.

	[Exit Gratiano]

	Come, you and I will thither presently;
	And in the morning early will we both
	Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio.

	[Exeunt]


