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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 humane 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.

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Shy I have possess'd your Grace of what I

purpose;

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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 pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats 45
To have it ban'd? 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,
Master of passion, sways it to the mood

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Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your

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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 any thing most hard,
As seek to soften that-than which what's
harder?

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His Jewish heart. Therefore, I do beseech you,
Make no moe offers, use no farther means,
But with all brief and plain conveniency
Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.
Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is
six.

Shy If every ducat in six thousand ducats
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, ren-
dering none?

Shy What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchas'd slave, s 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 burdens? Let their beds

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Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,

Whom I have sent for to determine this, Come here to-day.

Saler.

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

Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messen

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Bass. 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.

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Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee? Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

Gra. O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog! And for thy life let justice be accus'd.

Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith 130
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, 135 And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallowed dam,

Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desires

Are wolvish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous. Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,

141

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 com-
mend

A young and learned doctor to our court.
Where is he?

Ner.
He attendeth here hard by, 145
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 let

ter.

149

[Clerk. Reads.] "Your Grace shall understand that at the receipt of your letter I am very sick; but in the instant that your mes senger came, in loving visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome. His name is Balthazar. I acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant. [155 We turned o'er many books together. He is furnished with my opinion; which, bett'red with his own learning, the greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes with him, at my importunity, to fill up your Grace's re- [100 quest in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a

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Por. The quality of mercy is not strain'd. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 185 Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. IT is 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 the 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, v Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy, 200 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

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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 judgement. By my soul I swear 240
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me. I stay here on my bond.

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgement.
Por.

Why then, thus it is: You must prepare your bosom for his knife,- 245 Shy. O noble judge! O excellent young man!

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

Shy. T is very true. O wise and upright judge!

250

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
Por. Therefore lay bare your bosom.
Shy.

Ay, his breast;

So says the bond; doth it not, noble judge? "Nearest his heart;" those are the very

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Shy. I cannot find it; 't is not in the bond. Por. You, merchant, have you anything to say?

Ant. But little; I am arm'd and well prepar'd.

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 10
An age of poverty; from which lingering pen-

ance

276

Of such a misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife.
Tell her the process of Antonio's end;
Say how I lov'd 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 instantly with all my heart.

Bass. 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.

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285

Por. Your wife would give you little thanks for that,

If she were by, to hear you make the offer.
Gra. I have a wife, who, I protest, I love;
I would she were in heaven, so she could
Entreat some power to change this currish
Jew.

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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.

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Gra. O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned

judge! Shy. Is that the law? Por.

Thyself shall see the act;

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Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak'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.
Gra. A second Daniel! A Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.
Por. Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy
forfeiture.

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335

339

Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is. Por. He hath refus'd it in the open court. He shall have merely justice and his bond. Gra. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel! I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal? Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,

To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

Shy. Why, then the devil give him good of it!

I'll stay no longer question.

Por.

The law hath yet another hold on you.

Tarry, Jew:

It is enacted in the laws of Venice,

If it be prov'd against an alien

That by direct or indirect attempts He seek the life of any citizen,

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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 contriv'd against the very life
Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd
The danger formerly by me rehears'd.
Down therefore and beg mercy of the Duke.
Gra. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang
thyself;

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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,

370

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.
Por. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.
Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not
that.

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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. Por. What mercy can you render him, Antonio ?

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

Ant. 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:

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Antonio, gratify this gentleman;
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him.
[Exeunt Duke and his train.
Bass. 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.
Ant. And stand indebted, over and above,
In love and service to you evermore.

Por. 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.

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415

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Bass. 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. Por. That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.

445

An if your wife be not a mad-woman,
And know how well I have deserv'd the ring,
She would not hold out enemy for ever,
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!
[Exeunt [Portia and Nerissa].
Ant. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring.
Let his deservings and my love withal
Be valued against your wife's commandment.
Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;
Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou
canst,

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[SCENE I. Belmont. Avenue to Portia's house.} Enter LORENZO and JESSICA.

Lor. The moon shines bright. In such a night as this,

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the

trees

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Lor. In such a night Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew, And with an unthrift love did run from Venice As far as Belmont.

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Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well, Stealing her soul with many vows of faith And ne'er a true one.

Lor.

In such a night Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, Slander her love, and he forgave it her.

Jes. I would out-night you, did no body

come;

But, hark, I hear the footing of a man.

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