I know my duty46.

LORENZO   Yet more quarrelling with occasion47! Wilt thou show
     the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee,
     understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy
     fellows50; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we
     will come in to dinner.

LANCELET   For52 the table, sir, it shall be served in: for the meat,
     sir, it shall be covered53: for your coming in to dinner, sir, why,
     let it be as humours and conceits54 shall govern.

Exit Clown [Lancelet]

LORENZO   O dear discretion55, how his words are suited!
     The fool hath planted in his memory
     An army of good words, and I do know
     A many58 fools that stand in better place,
     Garnished59 like him, that for a tricksy word
     Defy the matter60. How cheerest thou, Jessica?
     And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,
     How dost thou like the lord Bassanio’s wife?

JESSICA   Past all expressing63. 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 merit it,
     In reason68 he should never come to heaven.
     Why, if two gods should play some heav’nly match
     And on the wager lay70 two earthly women,
     And Portia one, there must be something else
     Pawned72 with the other, for the poor rude world
     Hath not her fellow73.

LORENZO   Even74 such a husband
     Hast thou of75 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 stomach78.

LORENZO   No, pray thee let it serve for table-talk,
     Then, howsome’er thou speak’st, ’mong other things
     I shall digest81 it.

JESSICA   Well, I’ll set you forth82.

Exeunt

Act 4 [Scene 1]

running scene 18

Location: Venice

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio and Gratiano [with Salerio and others]

DUKE   What, is Antonio here?

ANTONIO   Ready, so please your grace.

DUKE   I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer3
     A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch
     Uncapable of pity, void and empty
     From6 any dram of mercy.

ANTONIO   I have heard
     Your grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify8
     His rigorous course, but since he stands obdurate9
     And that no lawful means can carry me
     Out of his envy’s11 reach, I do oppose
     My patience to his fury, and am armed
     To suffer with a quietness of spirit
     The very tyranny14 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 our17 face.
     Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
     That thou but lead’st this fashion19 of thy malice
     To the last hour of act20, and then ’tis thought
     Thou’lt show thy mercy and remorse21 more strange
     Than is thy strange22 apparent cruelty;
     And where thou now exact’st the penalty,
     Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh,
     Thou wilt not only loose25 the forfeiture,
     But, touched with humane gentleness and love,
     Forgive a moiety27 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 merchant30 down
     And pluck commiseration of his state
     From brassy bosoms32 and rough hearts of flints,
     From stubborn Turks and Tartars33, never trained
     To offices of tender courtesy.
     We all expect a gentle35 answer, Jew.

SHYLOCK   I have possessed36 your grace of what I purpose,
     And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
     To have the due38 and forfeit of my bond.
     If you deny it, let the danger39 light
     Upon your charter40 and your city’s freedom.
     You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
     A weight of carrion42 flesh than to receive
     Three thousand ducats: I’ll not answer that,
     But say it is my humour44; is it answered?
     What if my house be troubled with a rat
     And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
     To have it baned47? What, are you answered yet?
     Some men there are love48 not a gaping pig,
     Some that are mad if they behold a cat,
     And others when the bagpipe sings i’th’nose50
     Cannot contain their urine, for affection51,
     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 rendered,
     Why he55 cannot abide a gaping pig,
     Why he56, 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 lodged61 hate and a certain loathing
     I bear Antonio, that I follow62 thus
     A losing63 suit against him. Are you answered?

BASSANIO   This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
     To excuse the current65 of thy cruelty.

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

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 think71 you question with the Jew:
     You may as well go stand upon the beach
     And bid the main flood73 bate his usual height,
     Or even as well use question74 with the wolf
     Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb.
     You may as well forbid the mountain pines
     To wag77 their high tops and to make no noise
     When they are fretted78 with the gusts of heaven.
     You may as well do anything most hard79
     As seek to soften that—than80 which what harder?—
     His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you
     Make no more offers, use no further means,
     But with all brief and plain conveniency83
     Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.

BASSANIO   For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

SHYLOCK   If every ducat in six thousand ducats
     Were in six parts and every part a ducat,
     I would not draw88 them. I would have my bond!

DUKE   How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring89 none?

SHYLOCK   What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong90?
     You have among you many a purchased slave,
     Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
     You use in abject and in slavish parts93,
     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
     Be made as soft as yours and let their palates
     Be seasoned with such viands98? 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 for104 judgement. Answer: shall I have it?

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

SALERIO   My lord, here stays without109
     A messenger with letters from the doctor,
     New come from Padua.

DUKE   Bring us the letters. 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 tainted116 wether of the flock,
     Meetest117 for death. The weakest kind of fruit
     Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me;
     You cannot better be employed, Bassanio,
     Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

Enter Nerissa [dressed like a law clerk]

DUKE   Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

NERISSA   From both. My lord Bellario greets your
         grace.

She gives the Duke a letter while
Shylock whets his knife on his shoe

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 mak’st thy knife keen126. But no metal can,
     No, not the hangman’s127 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 damned, inexecrable130 dog!
     And for thy life131 let justice be accused.
     Thou almost mak’st me waver in my faith
     To hold opinion with Pythagoras133,
     That souls of animals infuse themselves
     Into the trunks of men. Thy currish135 spirit
     Governed a wolf who, hanged for human slaughter,
     Even from the gallows did his fell137 soul fleet,
     And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallowed138 dam,
     Infused itself in thee, for thy desires
     Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

SHYLOCK   Till thou canst rail141 the seal from off my bond,
     Thou but offend’st142 thy lungs to speak so loud:
     Repair143 thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
     To endless ruin. I stand here for law.

DUKE   This letter from Bellario doth commend
     A young and learnèd doctor in our court;
     Where is he?

NERISSA   He attendeth here hard148 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.

[Exeunt some]

     Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.
     ‘Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of

Reads

     your letter I am very sick, but in the instant that your
     messenger came, in loving visitation155 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 furnished159 with my opinion, which—bettered with his
     own learning, the greatness whereof I cannot enough
     commend—comes with him, at my importunity161, 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 reverend163
     estimation, for I never knew so young a body with so old a
     head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial165
     shall better publish166 his commendation.’

Enter Portia for Balthasar

Dressed like a lawyer

     You hear the learnèd Bellario, what he writes,
     And here, I take it, is the doctor come.
     Give me your hand. Came you from old Bellario?

PORTIA   I did, my lord.

DUKE   You are welcome. Take your place.
     Are you acquainted with the difference172
     That holds this present question173 in the court?

PORTIA   I am informèd throughly174 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 rule180 that the Venetian law
     Cannot impugn181 you as you do proceed.—
     You stand within his danger182, do you not?

ANTONIO   Ay, so he says.

PORTIA   Do you confess184 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 strained188,
     It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
     Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest190:
     It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
     ’Tis mightiest in the mightiest, it becomes
     The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
     His sceptre shows194 the force of temporal power,
     The attribute to awe and majesty,
     Wherein doth sit the dread196 and fear of kings.
     But mercy is above this sceptred sway197,
     It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,
     It is an attribute to God himself;
     And earthly power doth then show likest200 God’s
     When mercy seasons201 justice: therefore, Jew,
     Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
     That in the course of justice203, none of us
     Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
     And that same prayer doth teach us all to render205
     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!210 I crave the law,
     The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

PORTIA   Is he not able to discharge212 the money?

BASSANIO   Yes, here I tender213 it for him in the court,
     Yea, twice the sum.