To do a great right, do a little wrong; 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, Shy. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel !— No, not for Venice. Por. Why, this bond is forfeit; Nearest the merchant's heart:-Be merciful; Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law, 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. 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. Ay, his breast: 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. Por. It is not so express'd; But what of that? you: Commend me to your honourable wife: Which is as dear to me as life itself; 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 Barrabas 21 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. 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: 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 21 Shakspeare seems to have followed the pronunciation usual to the theatre, Barabbas being sounded Barabas throughout Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 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 shalt have justice, more than thou desir'st. Gra. O learned judge!-Mark, Jew;—a learned judge! Shy. I take this offer then;-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! Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate. Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. 22 Balthasar Gracian, the celebrated Spanish Jesuit, in his Hero, relates a similar judgment, which he attributes to the great Turk. Gregorio Leti in his Life of Sixtus V. has another story of the kind. The papacy of Sixtus began in 1583, and ended in 1599. The passages may be found in the Variorum Shakspeare. 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,- The party, 'gainst the which he doth contrive, Thou hast contriv'd against the very life Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke. Gra. 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 spirit, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ; |