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.

_Bas_. 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.

_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.

_Shy_. These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter;
Would any of the stock of Barrabas[108]
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;
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, prepare.

_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:
Then take 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 shall see the act;
For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd
Thou shall have justice more than thou desir'st.

_Gra_. O learned judge!--Mark Jew;--a learned judge!

_Shy_. I take his offer, then,--pay the bond thrice,
And let the Christian go.

_Bas_. Here is the money.

_Por_. Soft.
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.(D)
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 balance,
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 forfeitu