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

Por. Is he not able to discharge the money?
Bass. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;
Yea, twice the sum:7 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.

Por. 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.

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

Por. I pray you, let me look upon the bond. Shy. Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is. Por. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee. Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?

tian doctrine of salvation, and the Lord's Prayer, is a little out of character. Blackstone.

6 My deeds upon my head!] An imprecation adopted from that of the Jews to Pilate: "His blood be on us, and our children!"

Henley. 7 Yea, twice the sum:] We should read-thrice the sum.-Portia, a few lines below, says

"Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee." And Shylock himself supports the emendation:

"I take his offer then;-pay the bond thrice."

The editions, indeed, read-this offer; but Mr. Steevens has already proposed the alteration we ought to adopt. Ritson.

8

malice bears down truth.] Malice oppresses honesty; a true man in old language is an honest man. We now call the jury good men and true. Johnson.

No, not for Venice.

Por.

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.
Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour.
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.

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

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

Ay, his breast:

Shy. 'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!
How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
Por. Therefore, lay bare your bosom.
Shy.
So says the bond;-Doth it not, noble judge?
Nearest his heart, those are the very words.
Por. It is so. Are there balance here, to weigh
The flesh.

Shy.

I have them ready.

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

Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond?

Por. It is not so express'd; But what of that? 'Twere good you do so much for charity.

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

Por. Come, merchant, have you any thing 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 out-live his wealth,
To view with hollow eye, and wrinkled brow,
An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
Of such a misery doth she cut me off.

9

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 not 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.

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, whom, I protest, I love;

I would she were in heaven, so she could
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.
Ner. 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;

The wish would make else an unquiet house.

Shy. These be the christian husbands; I have a daughter;

'Would, any of the stock of Barrabas1

Had been her husband, rather than a Christian! [Aside. We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence.

Por. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine;

Of such a misery-] The first folio destroys the measure by omitting the particle-a; which, nevertheless, is found in the corrected second folio, 1632. Steevens.

1- the stock of Barrabas-] The name of this robber is differently spelt as well as accented in The New Testament; [M τότον, ἀλλὰ τον Βαραββάν. ἦν δὲ ὁ Βαραββᾶς ληστής ;] but Shakspeare seems to have followed the pronunciation usual to the theatre, Barabbas being sounded Barabas throughout Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Our poet might otherwise have written: "Would any of Barabbas' stock had been "Her husband, rather than a Christian!"

Steevens.

The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
Shy. Most rightful judge!

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

Shy. Most learned judge!—A sentence; come, pre

pare.

Por. 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.

Gra. O upright judge!-Mark, Jew;-O learned judge!

Shy. Is that the law?

Por.

Thyself shalt see the act:

For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd,

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desir❜st.

Gra. O learned judge!-Mark, Jew;-a learned

judge!

Shy. I take this offer then; 2-pay the bond thrice, And let the Christian go.

Bass.

Por. Soft;

Here is the money.

The Jew shall have all justice;-soft!-no haste;—
He shall have nothing but the penalty.

Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!
Por. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.3

2 I take this offer then;] Perhaps we should read—his; i. e. Bassanio's, who offers twice the sum, &c. Steevens.

This offer is right. Shylock specifies the offer he means, which is, "to have the bond paid thrice." M. Mason.

He means, I think, to say, "I take this offer that has been made me." Bassanio had offered at first but twice the sum, but Portia had gone further-" Shylock, there's thrice thy money," &c. The Jew naturally insists on the larger sum. Malone.

3 Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.] This judgment is related by Gracian, the celebrated Spanish jesuit, in his Hero, with a reflection at the conclusion of it: "-Compite con la del Salomon la promptitud de aquel gran Turco. Pretendia un Judio cortar una onza de carne a un Christiano, pena sobre usura. Insistia en ello con igual terqueria a su Principe, que perfidia a su

Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more,
But just a pound of flesh:-if thou takʼst 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 thee on the hip.

Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.
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.

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,

Dios. Mando el gran Juez traer peso, y cuchillo; conminole el deguello si cortava mas ni menos. Y fue dar agudo corte a la lid, y al mundo milagro del ingenio." El Heroe de Lorenzo Gracian. Primor. 3. Thus rendered by Sir John Skeffington, 1652:

"The vivacity of that great Turke enters in competition with that of Solomon: a Few pretended to cut an ounce of the flesh of a Christian upon a penalty of usury; he urged it to the Prince, with as much obstinacy, as perfidiousness towards God. The great Judge comanded a pair of scales to be brought, threatening the few with death if he cut either more or less: And this was to give a sharp decision to a malicious process, and to the world a miracle of subtilty." The Heroe, p. 24, &c.

Gregori Leti, in his Life of Sixtus V, has a similar story. The papacy of Sixtus began in 1583. He died Aug. 29, 1590. The reader will find an extract from Farneworth's translation, at the conclusion of the play. Steevens.