THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. William Shakespeare
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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 assur’d
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir’st.
GRATIANO.
O learned judge! Mark, Jew: alearned 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 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.
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 refus’d 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 prov’d 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 rehears’d.
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 godfathers;
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
To bring thee to the gallows, not to the font.
[Exit SHYLOCK.]
DUKE.
Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.