The Merchant of Venice (complete text)

The Merchant of Venice

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ACT I

SCENE I. Venice. A street.

[Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO]

Antonio. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:	1.1.1
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;	1.1.2
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,	1.1.3
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,	1.1.4
I am to learn;	1.1.5
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,	1.1.6
That I have much ado to know myself.	1.1.7

Salarino. Your mind is tossing on the ocean;	1.1.8
There, where your argosies with portly sail,	1.1.9
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,	1.1.10
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,	1.1.11
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,	1.1.12
That curtsy to them, do them reverence,	1.1.13
As they fly by them with their woven wings.	1.1.14

Salanio. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,	1.1.15
The better part of my affections would	1.1.16
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still	1.1.17
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind,	1.1.18
Peering in maps for ports and piers and roads;	1.1.19
And every object that might make me fear	1.1.20
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt	1.1.21
Would make me sad.	1.1.22

Salarino. My wind cooling my broth	1.1.23
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought	1.1.24
What harm a wind too great at sea might do.	1.1.25
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,	1.1.26
But I should think of shallows and of flats,	1.1.27
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand,	1.1.28
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs	1.1.29
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church	1.1.30
And see the holy edifice of stone,	1.1.31
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,	1.1.32
Which touching but my gentle vessel's side,	1.1.33
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,	1.1.34
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks,	1.1.35
And, in a word, but even now worth this,	1.1.36
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought	1.1.37
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought	1.1.38
That such a thing bechanced would make me sad?	1.1.39
But tell not me; I know, Antonio	1.1.40
Is sad to think upon his merchandise.	1.1.41

Antonio. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it,	1.1.42
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,	1.1.43
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate	1.1.44
Upon the fortune of this present year:	1.1.45
Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.	1.1.46

Salarino. Why, then you are in love.	1.1.47

Antonio. Fie, fie!	1.1.48

Salarino. Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad,	1.1.49
Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy	1.1.50
For you to laugh and leap and say you are merry,	1.1.51
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus,	1.1.52
Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time:	1.1.53
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes	1.1.54
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper,	1.1.55
And other of such vinegar aspect	1.1.56
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,	1.1.57
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.	1.1.58

[Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO]

Salanio. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,	1.1.59
Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well:	1.1.60
We leave you now with better company.	1.1.61

Salarino. I would have stay'd till I had made you merry,	1.1.62
If worthier friends had not prevented me.	1.1.63

Antonio. Your worth is very dear in my regard.	1.1.64
I take it, your own business calls on you	1.1.65
And you embrace the occasion to depart.	1.1.66

Salarino. Good morrow, my good lords.	1.1.67

Bassanio. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say, when?	1.1.68
You grow exceeding strange: must it be so?	1.1.69

Salarino. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours.	1.1.70
[Exeunt Salarino and Salanio]

Lorenzo. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,	1.1.71
We two will leave you: but at dinner-time,	1.1.72
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.	1.1.73

Bassanio. I will not fail you.	1.1.74

Gratiano. You look not well, Signior Antonio;	1.1.75
You have too much respect upon the world:	1.1.76
They lose it that do buy it with much care:	1.1.77
Believe me, you are marvellously changed.	1.1.78

Antonio. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;	1.1.79
A stage where every man must play a part,	1.1.80
And mine a sad one.	1.1.81

Gratiano. Let me play the fool:	1.1.82
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,	1.1.83
And let my liver rather heat with wine	1.1.84
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.	1.1.85
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,	1.1.86
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?	1.1.87
Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice	1.1.88
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio--	1.1.89
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks--	1.1.90
There are a sort of men whose visages	1.1.91
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,	1.1.92
And do a wilful stillness entertain,	1.1.93
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion	1.1.94
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit,	1.1.95
As who should say 'I am Sir Oracle,	1.1.96
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!'	1.1.97
O my Antonio, I do know of these	1.1.98
That therefore only are reputed wise	1.1.99
For saying nothing; when, I am very sure,	1.1.100
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,	1.1.101
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.	1.1.102
I'll tell thee more of this another time:	1.1.103
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,	1.1.104
For this fool gudgeon, this opinion.	1.1.105
Come, good Lorenzo. Fare ye well awhile:	1.1.106
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.	1.1.107

Lorenzo. Well, we will leave you then till dinner-time:	1.1.108
I must be one of these same dumb wise men,	1.1.109
For Gratiano never lets me speak.	1.1.110

Gratiano. Well, keep me company but two years moe,	1.1.111
Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.	1.1.112

Antonio. Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this gear.	1.1.113

Gratiano. Thanks, i' faith, for silence is only commendable	1.1.114
In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible.	1.1.115
[Exeunt GRATIANO and LORENZO]

Antonio. Is that any thing now?	1.1.116

Bassanio. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more	1.1.117
than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two	1.1.118
grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you	1.1.119
shall seek all day ere you find them, and when you	1.1.120
have them, they are not worth the search.	1.1.121

Antonio. Well, tell me now what lady is the same	1.1.122
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,	1.1.123
That you to-day promised to tell me of?	1.1.124

Bassanio. 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,	1.1.125
How much I have disabled mine estate,	1.1.126
By something showing a more swelling port	1.1.127
Than my faint means would grant continuance:	1.1.128
Nor do I now make moan to be abridged	1.1.129
From such a noble rate; but my chief care	1.1.130
Is to come fairly off from the great debts	1.1.131
Wherein my time something too prodigal	1.1.132
Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio,	1.1.133
I owe the most, in money and in love,	1.1.134
And from your love I have a warranty	1.1.135
To unburden all my plots and purposes	1.1.136
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.	1.1.137

Antonio. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;	1.1.138
And if it stand, as you yourself still do,	1.1.139
Within the eye of honour, be assured,	1.1.140
My purse, my person, my extremest means,	1.1.141
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions.	1.1.142

Bassanio. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft,	1.1.143
I shot his fellow of the self-same flight	1.1.144
The self-same way with more advised watch,	1.1.145
To find the other forth, and by adventuring both	1.1.146
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof,	1.1.147
Because what follows is pure innocence.	1.1.148
I owe you much, and, like a wilful youth,	1.1.149
That which I owe is lost; but if you please	1.1.150
To shoot another arrow that self way	1.1.151
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,	1.1.152
As I will watch the aim, or to find both	1.1.153
Or bring your latter hazard back again	1.1.154
And thankfully rest debtor for the first.	1.1.155

Antonio. You know me well, and herein spend but time	1.1.156
To wind about my love with circumstance;	1.1.157
And out of doubt you do me now more wrong	1.1.158
In making question of my uttermost	1.1.159
Than if you had made waste of all I have:	1.1.160
Then do but say to me what I should do	1.1.161
That in your knowledge may by me be done,	1.1.162
And I am prest unto it: therefore, speak.	1.1.163

Bassanio. In Belmont is a lady richly left;	1.1.164
And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,	1.1.165
Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from her eyes	1.1.166
I did receive fair speechless messages:	1.1.167
Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued	1.1.168
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia:	1.1.169
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,	1.1.170
For the four winds blow in from every coast	1.1.171
Renowned suitors, and her sunny locks	1.1.172
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece;	1.1.173
Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos' strand,	1.1.174
And many Jasons come in quest of her.	1.1.175
O my Antonio, had I but the means	1.1.176
To hold a rival place with one of them,	1.1.177
I have a mind presages me such thrift,	1.1.178
That I should questionless be fortunate!	1.1.179

Antonio. Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea;	1.1.180
Neither have I money nor commodity	1.1.181
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth;	1.1.182
Try what my credit can in Venice do:	1.1.183
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost,	1.1.184
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.	1.1.185
Go, presently inquire, and so will I,	1.1.186
Where money is, and I no question make	1.1.187
To have it of my trust or for my sake.	1.1.188
[Exeunt]

SCENE II: Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Enter PORTIA and NERISSA]

Portia. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is aweary of	1.2.1
this great world.	1.2.2

Nerissa. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in	1.2.3
the same abundance as your good fortunes are: and	1.2.4
yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit	1.2.5
with too much as they that starve with nothing. It	1.2.6
is no mean happiness therefore, to be seated in the	1.2.7
mean: superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but	1.2.8
competency lives longer.	1.2.9

Portia. Good sentences and well pronounced.	1.2.10

Nerissa. They would be better, if well followed.	1.2.11

Portia. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to	1.2.12
do, chapels had been churches and poor men's	1.2.13
cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that	1.2.14
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach	1.2.15
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the	1.2.16
twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may	1.2.17
devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps	1.2.18
o'er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the	1.2.19
youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the	1.2.20
cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to	1.2.21
choose me a husband. O me, the word 'choose!' I may	1.2.22
neither choose whom I would nor refuse whom I	1.2.23
dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curbed	1.2.24
by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard,	1.2.25
Nerissa, that I cannot choose one nor refuse none?	1.2.26

Nerissa. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men at their	1.2.27
death have good inspirations: therefore the lottery,	1.2.28
that he hath devised in these three chests of gold,	1.2.29
silver and lead, whereof who chooses his meaning	1.2.30
chooses you, will, no doubt, never be chosen by any	1.2.31
rightly but one who shall rightly love. But what	1.2.32
warmth is there in your affection towards any of	1.2.33
these princely suitors that are already come?	1.2.34

Portia. I pray thee, over-name them; and as thou namest	1.2.35
them, I will describe them; and, according to my	1.2.36
description, level at my affection.	1.2.37

Nerissa. First, there is the Neapolitan prince.	1.2.38

Portia. Ay, that's a colt indeed, for he doth nothing but	1.2.39
talk of his horse; and he makes it a great	1.2.40
appropriation to his own good parts, that he can	1.2.41
shoe him himself. I am much afeard my lady his	1.2.42
mother played false with a smith.	1.2.43

Nerissa. Then there is the County Palatine.	1.2.44

Portia. He doth nothing but frown, as who should say 'If you	1.2.45
will not have me, choose:' he hears merry tales and	1.2.46
smiles not: I fear he will prove the weeping	1.2.47
philosopher when he grows old, being so full of	1.2.48
unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be	1.2.49
married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth	1.2.50
than to either of these. God defend me from these	1.2.51
two!	1.2.52

Nerissa. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur Le Bon?	1.2.53

Portia. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man.	1.2.54
In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker: but,	1.2.55
he! why, he hath a horse better than the	1.2.56
Neapolitan's, a better bad habit of frowning than	1.2.57
the Count Palatine; he is every man in no man; if a	1.2.58
throstle sing, he falls straight a capering: he will	1.2.59
fence with his own shadow: if I should marry him, I	1.2.60
should marry twenty husbands. If he would despise me	1.2.61
I would forgive him, for if he love me to madness, I	1.2.62
shall never requite him.	1.2.63

Nerissa. What say you, then, to Falconbridge, the young baron	1.2.64
of England?	1.2.65

Portia. You know I say nothing to him, for he understands	1.2.66
not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French,	1.2.67
nor Italian, and you will come into the court and	1.2.68
swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the English.	1.2.69
He is a proper man's picture, but, alas, who can	1.2.70
converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is suited!	1.2.71
I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round	1.2.72
hose in France, his bonnet in Germany and his	1.2.73
behavior every where.	1.2.74

Nerissa. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neighbour?	1.2.75

Portia. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him, for he	1.2.76
borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman and	1.2.77
swore he would pay him again when he was able: I	1.2.78
think the Frenchman became his surety and sealed	1.2.79
under for another.	1.2.80

Nerissa. How like you the young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew?	1.2.81

Portia. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober, and	1.2.82
most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when	1.2.83
he is best, he is a little worse than a man, and	1.2.84
when he is worst, he is little better than a beast:	1.2.85
and the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall	1.2.86
make shift to go without him.	1.2.87

Nerissa. If he should offer to choose, and choose the right	1.2.88
casket, you should refuse to perform your father's	1.2.89
will, if you should refuse to accept him.	1.2.90

Portia. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set a	1.2.91
deep glass of rhenish wine on the contrary casket,	1.2.92
for if the devil be within and that temptation	1.2.93
without, I know he will choose it. I will do any	1.2.94
thing, Nerissa, ere I'll be married to a sponge.	1.2.95

Nerissa. You need not fear, lady, the having any of these	1.2.96
lords: they have acquainted me with their	1.2.97
determinations; which is, indeed, to return to their	1.2.98
home and to trouble you with no more suit, unless	1.2.99
you may be won by some other sort than your father's	1.2.100
imposition depending on the caskets.	1.2.101

Portia. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as	1.2.102
chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner	1.2.103
of my father's will. I am glad this parcel of wooers	1.2.104
are so reasonable, for there is not one among them	1.2.105
but I dote on his very absence, and I pray God grant	1.2.106
them a fair departure.	1.2.107

Nerissa. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a	1.2.108
Venetian, a scholar and a soldier, that came hither	1.2.109
in company of the Marquis of Montferrat?	1.2.110

Portia. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, he was so called.	1.2.111

Nerissa. True, madam: he, of all the men that ever my foolish	1.2.112
eyes looked upon, was the best deserving a fair lady.	1.2.113

Portia. I remember him well, and I remember him worthy of	1.2.114
thy praise.	1.2.115
[Enter a Serving-man]
How now! what news?	1.2.116

Servant. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take	1.2.117
their leave: and there is a forerunner come from a	1.2.118
fifth, the Prince of Morocco, who brings word the	1.2.119
prince his master will be here to-night.	1.2.120

Portia. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good a	1.2.121
heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I should	1.2.122
be glad of his approach: if he have the condition	1.2.123
of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had	1.2.124
rather he should shrive me than wive me. Come,	1.2.125
Nerissa. Sirrah, go before.	1.2.126
Whiles we shut the gates	1.2.127
upon one wooer, another knocks at the door.	1.2.128
[Exeunt]

SCENE III. Venice. A public place.

[Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK]

Shylock. Three thousand ducats; well.	1.3.1

Bassanio. Ay, sir, for three months.	1.3.2

Shylock. For three months; well.	1.3.3

Bassanio. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.	1.3.4

Shylock. Antonio shall become bound; well.	1.3.5

Bassanio. May you stead me? will you pleasure me? shall I	1.3.6
know your answer?	1.3.7

Shylock. Three thousand ducats for three months and Antonio bound.	1.3.8

Bassanio. Your answer to that.	1.3.9

Shylock. Antonio is a good man.	1.3.10

Bassanio. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?	1.3.11

Shylock. Oh, no, no, no, no: my meaning in saying he is a	1.3.12
good man is to have you understand me that he is	1.3.13
sufficient. Yet his means are in supposition: he	1.3.14
hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the	1.3.15
Indies; I understand moreover, upon the Rialto, he	1.3.16
hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and	1.3.17
other ventures he hath, squandered abroad. But ships	1.3.18
are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats	1.3.19
and water-rats, water-thieves and land-thieves, I	1.3.20
mean pirates, and then there is the peril of waters,	1.3.21
winds and rocks. The man is, notwithstanding,	1.3.22
sufficient. Three thousand ducats; I think I may	1.3.23
take his bond.	1.3.24

Bassanio. Be assured you may.	1.3.25

Shylock. I will be assured I may; and, that I may be assured,	1.3.26
I will bethink me. May I speak with Antonio?	1.3.27

Bassanio. If it please you to dine with us.	1.3.28

Shylock. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which	1.3.29
your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into. I	1.3.30
will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you,	1.3.31
walk with you, and so following, but I will not eat	1.3.32
with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What	1.3.33
news on the Rialto? Who is he comes here?	1.3.34

[Enter ANTONIO]

Bassanio. This is Signior Antonio.	1.3.35

Shylock. [Aside] How like a fawning publican he looks!	1.3.36
I hate him for he is a Christian,	1.3.37
But more for that in low simplicity	1.3.38
He lends out money gratis and brings down	1.3.39
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.	1.3.40
If I can catch him once upon the hip,	1.3.41
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.	1.3.42
He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,	1.3.43
Even there where merchants most do congregate,	1.3.44
On me, my bargains and my well-won thrift,	1.3.45
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe,	1.3.46
If I forgive him!	1.3.47

Bassanio. Shylock, do you hear?	1.3.48

Shylock. I am debating of my present store,	1.3.49
And, by the near guess of my memory,	1.3.50
I cannot instantly raise up the gross	1.3.51
Of full three thousand ducats. What of that?	1.3.52
Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,	1.3.53
Will furnish me. But soft! how many months	1.3.54
Do you desire?	1.3.55
[To ANTONIO]
Rest you fair, good signior;	1.3.56
Your worship was the last man in our mouths.	1.3.57

Antonio. Shylock, although I neither lend nor borrow	1.3.58
By taking nor by giving of excess,	1.3.59
Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend,	1.3.60
I'll break a custom. Is he yet possess'd	1.3.61
How much ye would?	1.3.62

Shylock. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.	1.3.63

Antonio. And for three months.	1.3.64

Shylock. I had forgot; three months; you told me so.	1.3.65
Well then, your bond; and let me see; but hear you;	1.3.66
Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow	1.3.67
Upon advantage.	1.3.68

Antonio. I do never use it.	1.3.69

Shylock. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep--	1.3.70
This Jacob from our holy Abram was,	1.3.71
As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,	1.3.72
The third possessor; ay, he was the third--	1.3.73

Antonio. And what of him? did he take interest?	1.3.74

Shylock. No, not take interest, not, as you would say,	1.3.75
Directly interest: mark what Jacob did.	1.3.76
When Laban and himself were compromised	1.3.77
That all the eanlings which were streak'd and pied	1.3.78
Should fall as Jacob's hire, the ewes, being rank,	1.3.79
In the end of autumn turned to the rams,	1.3.80
And, when the work of generation was	1.3.81
Between these woolly breeders in the act,	1.3.82
The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands,	1.3.83
And, in the doing of the deed of kind,	1.3.84
He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes,	1.3.85
Who then conceiving did in eaning time	1.3.86
Fall parti-colour'd lambs, and those were Jacob's.	1.3.87
This was a way to thrive, and he was blest:	1.3.88
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not.	1.3.89

Antonio. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob served for;	1.3.90
A thing not in his power to bring to pass,	1.3.91
But sway'd and fashion'd by the hand of heaven.	1.3.92
Was this inserted to make interest good?	1.3.93
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?	1.3.94

Shylock. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast:	1.3.95
But note me, signior.	1.3.96

Antonio. Mark you this, Bassanio,	1.3.97
The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.	1.3.98
An evil soul producing holy witness	1.3.99
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,	1.3.100
A goodly apple rotten at the heart:	1.3.101
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!	1.3.102

Shylock. Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round sum.	1.3.103
Three months from twelve; then, let me see; the rate--	1.3.104

Antonio. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholding to you?	1.3.105

Shylock. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft	1.3.106
In the Rialto you have rated me	1.3.107
About my moneys and my usances:	1.3.108
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,	1.3.109
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe.	1.3.110
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,	1.3.111
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,	1.3.112
And all for use of that which is mine own.	1.3.113
Well then, it now appears you need my help:	1.3.114
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say	1.3.115
'Shylock, we would have moneys:' you say so;	1.3.116
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard	1.3.117
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur	1.3.118
Over your threshold: moneys is your suit	1.3.119
What should I say to you? Should I not say	1.3.120
'Hath a dog money? is it possible	1.3.121
A cur can lend three thousand ducats?' Or	1.3.122
Shall I bend low and in a bondman's key,	1.3.123
With bated breath and whispering humbleness, Say this;	1.3.124
'Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;	1.3.125
You spurn'd me such a day; another time	1.3.126
You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies	1.3.127
I'll lend you thus much moneys'?	1.3.128

Antonio. I am as like to call thee so again,	1.3.129
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.	1.3.130
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not	1.3.131
As to thy friends; for when did friendship take	1.3.132
A breed for barren metal of his friend?	1.3.133
But lend it rather to thine enemy,	1.3.134
Who, if he break, thou mayst with better face	1.3.135
Exact the penalty.	1.3.136

Shylock. Why, look you, how you storm!	1.3.137
I would be friends with you and have your love,	1.3.138
Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with,	1.3.139
Supply your present wants and take no doit	1.3.140
Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me:	1.3.141
This is kind I offer.	1.3.142

Bassanio. This were kindness.	1.3.143

Shylock. This kindness will I show.	1.3.144
Go with me to a notary, seal me there	1.3.145
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,	1.3.146
If you repay me not on such a day,	1.3.147
In such a place, such sum or sums as are	1.3.148
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit	1.3.149
Be nominated for an equal pound	1.3.150
Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken	1.3.151
In what part of your body pleaseth me.	1.3.152

Antonio. Content, i' faith: I'll seal to such a bond	1.3.153
And say there is much kindness in the Jew.	1.3.154

Bassanio. You shall not seal to such a bond for me:	1.3.155
I'll rather dwell in my necessity.	1.3.156

Antonio. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it:	1.3.157
Within these two months, that's a month before	1.3.158
This bond expires, I do expect return	1.3.159
Of thrice three times the value of this bond.	1.3.160

Shylock. O father Abram, what these Christians are,	1.3.161
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect	1.3.162
The thoughts of others! Pray you, tell me this;	1.3.163
If he should break his day, what should I gain	1.3.164
By the exaction of the forfeiture?	1.3.165
A pound of man's flesh taken from a man	1.3.166
Is not so estimable, profitable neither,	1.3.167
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say,	1.3.168
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship:	1.3.169
If he will take it, so; if not, adieu;	1.3.170
And, for my love, I pray you wrong me not.	1.3.171

Antonio. Yes Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.	1.3.172

Shylock. Then meet me forthwith at the notary's;	1.3.173
Give him direction for this merry bond,	1.3.174
And I will go and purse the ducats straight,	1.3.175
See to my house, left in the fearful guard	1.3.176
Of an unthrifty knave, and presently	1.3.177
I will be with you.	1.3.178

Antonio. Hie thee, gentle Jew.	1.3.179
[Exit Shylock]
The Hebrew will turn Christian: he grows kind.	1.3.180

Bassanio. I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.	1.3.181

Antonio. Come on: in this there can be no dismay;	1.3.182
My ships come home a month before the day.	1.3.183
[Exeunt]

ACT II

SCENE I. Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Flourish of cornets. Enter the PRINCE OF MOROCCO and his train; PORTIA, NERISSA, and others attending]

Morocco. Mislike me not for my complexion,	2.1.1
The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun,	2.1.2
To whom I am a neighbour and near bred.	2.1.3
Bring me the fairest creature northward born,	2.1.4
Where Phoebus' fire scarce thaws the icicles,	2.1.5
And let us make incision for your love,	2.1.6
To prove whose blood is reddest, his or mine.	2.1.7
I tell thee, lady, this aspect of mine	2.1.8
Hath fear'd the valiant: by my love I swear	2.1.9
The best-regarded virgins of our clime	2.1.10
Have loved it too: I would not change this hue,	2.1.11
Except to steal your thoughts, my gentle queen.	2.1.12

Portia. In terms of choice I am not solely led	2.1.13
By nice direction of a maiden's eyes;	2.1.14
Besides, the lottery of my destiny	2.1.15
Bars me the right of voluntary choosing:	2.1.16
But if my father had not scanted me	2.1.17
And hedged me by his wit, to yield myself	2.1.18
His wife who wins me by that means I told you,	2.1.19
Yourself, renowned prince, then stood as fair	2.1.20
As any comer I have look'd on yet	2.1.21
For my affection.	2.1.22

Morocco. Even for that I thank you:	2.1.23
Therefore, I pray you, lead me to the caskets	2.1.24
To try my fortune. By this scimitar	2.1.25
That slew the Sophy and a Persian prince	2.1.26
That won three fields of Sultan Solyman,	2.1.27
I would outstare the sternest eyes that look,	2.1.28
Outbrave the heart most daring on the earth,	2.1.29
Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear,	2.1.30
Yea, mock the lion when he roars for prey,	2.1.31
To win thee, lady. But, alas the while!	2.1.32
If Hercules and Lichas play at dice	2.1.33
Which is the better man, the greater throw	2.1.34
May turn by fortune from the weaker hand:	2.1.35
So is Alcides beaten by his page;	2.1.36
And so may I, blind fortune leading me,	2.1.37
Miss that which one unworthier may attain,	2.1.38
And die with grieving.	2.1.39

Portia. You must take your chance,	2.1.40
And either not attempt to choose at all	2.1.41
Or swear before you choose, if you choose wrong	2.1.42
Never to speak to lady afterward	2.1.43
In way of marriage: therefore be advised.	2.1.44

Morocco. Nor will not. Come, bring me unto my chance.	2.1.45

Portia. First, forward to the temple: after dinner	2.1.46
Your hazard shall be made.	2.1.47

Morocco. Good fortune then!	2.1.48
To make me blest or cursed'st among men.	2.1.49
[Cornets, and exeunt]

SCENE II. Venice. A street.

[Enter LAUNCELOT]

Launcelot. Certainly my conscience will serve me to run from	2.2.1
this Jew my master. The fiend is at mine elbow and	2.2.2
tempts me saying to me 'Gobbo, Launcelot Gobbo, good	2.2.3
Launcelot,' or 'good Gobbo,' or good Launcelot	2.2.4
Gobbo, use your legs, take the start, run away. My	2.2.5
conscience says 'No; take heed,' honest Launcelot;	2.2.6
take heed, honest Gobbo, or, as aforesaid, 'honest	2.2.7
Launcelot Gobbo; do not run; scorn running with thy	2.2.8
heels.' Well, the most courageous fiend bids me	2.2.9
pack: 'Via!' says the fiend; 'away!' says the	2.2.10
fiend; 'for the heavens, rouse up a brave mind,'	2.2.11
says the fiend, 'and run.' Well, my conscience,	2.2.12
hanging about the neck of my heart, says very wisely	2.2.13
to me 'My honest friend Launcelot, being an honest	2.2.14
man's son,' or rather an honest woman's son; for,	2.2.15
indeed, my father did something smack, something	2.2.16
grow to, he had a kind of taste; well, my conscience	2.2.17
says 'Launcelot, budge not.' 'Budge,' says the	2.2.18
fiend. 'Budge not,' says my conscience.	2.2.19
'Conscience,' say I, 'you counsel well;' ' Fiend,'	2.2.20
say I, 'you counsel well:' to be ruled by my	2.2.21
conscience, I should stay with the Jew my master,	2.2.22
who, God bless the mark, is a kind of devil; and, to	2.2.23
run away from the Jew, I should be ruled by the	2.2.24
fiend, who, saving your reverence, is the devil	2.2.25
himself. Certainly the Jew is the very devil	2.2.26
incarnal; and, in my conscience, my conscience is	2.2.27
but a kind of hard conscience, to offer to counsel	2.2.28
me to stay with the Jew. The fiend gives the more	2.2.29
friendly counsel: I will run, fiend; my heels are	2.2.30
at your command; I will run.	2.2.31

[Enter Old GOBBO, with a basket]

Gobbo. Master young man, you, I pray you, which is the way	2.2.32
to master Jew's?	2.2.33

Launcelot. [Aside] O heavens, this is my true-begotten father!	2.2.34
who, being more than sand-blind, high-gravel blind,	2.2.35
knows me not: I will try confusions with him.	2.2.36

Gobbo. Master young gentleman, I pray you, which is the way	2.2.37
to master Jew's?	2.2.38

Launcelot. Turn up on your right hand at the next turning, but,	2.2.39
at the next turning of all, on your left; marry, at	2.2.40
the very next turning, turn of no hand, but turn	2.2.41
down indirectly to the Jew's house.	2.2.42

Gobbo. By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit. Can	2.2.43
you tell me whether one Launcelot,	2.2.44
that dwells with him, dwell with him or no?	2.2.45

Launcelot. Talk you of young Master Launcelot?	2.2.46
[Aside]
Mark me now; now will I raise the waters. Talk you	2.2.47
of young Master Launcelot?	2.2.48

Gobbo. No master, sir, but a poor man's son: his father,	2.2.49
though I say it, is an honest exceeding poor man	2.2.50
and, God be thanked, well to live.	2.2.51

Launcelot. Well, let his father be what a' will, we talk of	2.2.52
young Master Launcelot.	2.2.53

Gobbo. Your worship's friend and Launcelot, sir.	2.2.54

Launcelot. But I pray you, ergo, old man, ergo, I beseech you,	2.2.55
talk you of young Master Launcelot?	2.2.56

Gobbo. Of Launcelot, an't please your mastership.	2.2.57

Launcelot. Ergo, Master Launcelot. Talk not of Master	2.2.58
Launcelot, father; for the young gentleman,	2.2.59
according to Fates and Destinies and such odd	2.2.60
sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches of	2.2.61
learning, is indeed deceased, or, as you would say	2.2.62
in plain terms, gone to heaven.	2.2.63

Gobbo. Marry, God forbid! the boy was the very staff of my	2.2.64
age, my very prop.	2.2.65

Launcelot. Do I look like a cudgel or a hovel-post, a staff or	2.2.66
a prop? Do you know me, father?	2.2.67

Gobbo. Alack the day, I know you not, young gentleman:	2.2.68
but, I pray you, tell me, is my boy, God rest his	2.2.69
soul, alive or dead?	2.2.70

Launcelot. Do you not know me, father?	2.2.71

Gobbo. Alack, sir, I am sand-blind; I know you not.	2.2.72

Launcelot. Nay, indeed, if you had your eyes, you might fail of	2.2.73
the knowing me: it is a wise father that knows his	2.2.74
own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of	2.2.75
your son: give me your blessing: truth will come	2.2.76
to light; murder cannot be hid long; a man's son	2.2.77
may, but at the length truth will out.	2.2.78

Gobbo. Pray you, sir, stand up: I am sure you are not	2.2.79
Launcelot, my boy.	2.2.80

Launcelot. Pray you, let's have no more fooling about it, but	2.2.81
give me your blessing: I am Launcelot, your boy	2.2.82
that was, your son that is, your child that shall	2.2.83
be.	2.2.84

Gobbo. I cannot think you are my son.	2.2.85

Launcelot. I know not what I shall think of that: but I am	2.2.86
Launcelot, the Jew's man, and I am sure Margery your	2.2.87
wife is my mother.	2.2.88

Gobbo. Her name is Margery, indeed: I'll be sworn, if thou	2.2.89
be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and blood.	2.2.90
Lord worshipped might he be! what a beard hast thou	2.2.91
got! thou hast got more hair on thy chin than	2.2.92
Dobbin my fill-horse has on his tail.	2.2.93

Launcelot. It should seem, then, that Dobbin's tail grows	2.2.94
backward: I am sure he had more hair of his tail	2.2.95
than I have of my face when I last saw him.	2.2.96

Gobbo. Lord, how art thou changed! How dost thou and thy	2.2.97
master agree? I have brought him a present. How	2.2.98
'gree you now?	2.2.99

Launcelot. Well, well: but, for mine own part, as I have set	2.2.100
up my rest to run away, so I will not rest till I	2.2.101
have run some ground. My master's a very Jew: give	2.2.102
him a present! give him a halter: I am famished in	2.2.103
his service; you may tell every finger I have with	2.2.104
my ribs. Father, I am glad you are come: give me	2.2.105
your present to one Master Bassanio, who, indeed,	2.2.106
gives rare new liveries: if I serve not him, I	2.2.107
will run as far as God has any ground. O rare	2.2.108
fortune! here comes the man: to him, father; for I	2.2.109
am a Jew, if I serve the Jew any longer.	2.2.110

[Enter BASSANIO, with LEONARDO and other followers]

Bassanio. You may do so; but let it be so hasted that supper	2.2.111
be ready at the farthest by five of the clock. See	2.2.112
these letters delivered; put the liveries to making,	2.2.113
and desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging.	2.2.114
[Exit a Servant]

Launcelot. To him, father.	2.2.115

Gobbo. God bless your worship!	2.2.116

Bassanio. Gramercy! wouldst thou aught with me?	2.2.117

Gobbo. Here's my son, sir, a poor boy,--	2.2.118

Launcelot. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew's man; that	2.2.119
would, sir, as my father shall specify--	2.2.120

Gobbo. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would say, to serve--	2.2.121

Launcelot. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve the Jew,	2.2.122
and have a desire, as my father shall specify--	2.2.123

Gobbo. His master and he, saving your worship's reverence,	2.2.124
are scarce cater-cousins--	2.2.125

Launcelot. To be brief, the very truth is that the Jew, having	2.2.126
done me wrong, doth cause me, as my father, being, I	2.2.127
hope, an old man, shall frutify unto you--	2.2.128

Gobbo. I have here a dish of doves that I would bestow upon	2.2.129
your worship, and my suit is--	2.2.130

Launcelot. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, as	2.2.131
your worship shall know by this honest old man; and,	2.2.132
though I say it, though old man, yet poor man, my father.	2.2.133

Bassanio. One speak for both. What would you?	2.2.134

Launcelot. Serve you, sir.	2.2.135

Gobbo. That is the very defect of the matter, sir.	2.2.136

Bassanio. I know thee well; thou hast obtain'd thy suit:	2.2.137
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day,	2.2.138
And hath preferr'd thee, if it be preferment	2.2.139
To leave a rich Jew's service, to become	2.2.140
The follower of so poor a gentleman.	2.2.141

Launcelot. The old proverb is very well parted between my	2.2.142
master Shylock and you, sir: you have the grace of	2.2.143
God, sir, and he hath enough.	2.2.144

Bassanio. Thou speak'st it well. Go, father, with thy son.	2.2.145
Take leave of thy old master and inquire	2.2.146
My lodging out. Give him a livery	2.2.147
More guarded than his fellows': see it done.	2.2.148

Launcelot. Father, in. I cannot get a service, no; I have	2.2.149
ne'er a tongue in my head. Well, if any man in	2.2.150
Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear	2.2.151
upon a book, I shall have good fortune. Go to,	2.2.152
here's a simple line of life: here's a small trifle	2.2.153
of wives: alas, fifteen wives is nothing! eleven	2.2.154
widows and nine maids is a simple coming-in for one	2.2.155
man: and then to 'scape drowning thrice, and to be	2.2.156
in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed;	2.2.157
here are simple scapes. Well, if Fortune be a	2.2.158
woman, she's a good wench for this gear. Father,	2.2.159
come; I'll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of an eye.	2.2.160
[Exeunt Launcelot and Old Gobbo]

Bassanio. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this:	2.2.161
These things being bought and orderly bestow'd,	2.2.162
Return in haste, for I do feast to-night	2.2.163
My best-esteem'd acquaintance: hie thee, go.	2.2.164

Leonardo. My best endeavours shall be done herein.	2.2.165

[Enter GRATIANO]

Gratiano. Where is your master?	2.2.166

Leonardo. Yonder, sir, he walks.	2.2.167
[Exit]

Gratiano. Signior Bassanio!	2.2.168

Bassanio. Gratiano!	2.2.169

Gratiano. I have a suit to you.	2.2.170

Bassanio. You have obtain'd it.	2.2.171

Gratiano. You must not deny me: I must go with you to Belmont.	2.2.172

Bassanio. Why then you must. But hear thee, Gratiano;	2.2.173
Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice;	2.2.174
Parts that become thee happily enough	2.2.175
And in such eyes as ours appear not faults;	2.2.176
But where thou art not known, why, there they show	2.2.177
Something too liberal. Pray thee, take pain	2.2.178
To allay with some cold drops of modesty	2.2.179
Thy skipping spirit, lest through thy wild behavior	2.2.180
I be misconstrued in the place I go to,	2.2.181
And lose my hopes.	2.2.182

Gratiano. Signior Bassanio, hear me:	2.2.183
If I do not put on a sober habit,	2.2.184
Talk with respect and swear but now and then,	2.2.185
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely,	2.2.186
Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes	2.2.187
Thus with my hat, and sigh and say 'amen,'	2.2.188
Use all the observance of civility,	2.2.189
Like one well studied in a sad ostent	2.2.190
To please his grandam, never trust me more.	2.2.191

Bassanio. Well, we shall see your bearing.	2.2.192

Gratiano. Nay, but I bar to-night: you shall not gauge me	2.2.193
By what we do to-night.	2.2.194

Bassanio. No, that were pity:	2.2.195
I would entreat you rather to put on	2.2.196
Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends	2.2.197
That purpose merriment. But fare you well:	2.2.198
I have some business.	2.2.199

Gratiano. And I must to Lorenzo and the rest:	2.2.200
But we will visit you at supper-time.	2.2.201
[Exeunt]

SCENE III. The same. A room in SHYLOCK'S house.

[Enter JESSICA and LAUNCELOT]

Jessica. I am sorry thou wilt leave my father so:	2.3.1
Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil,	2.3.2
Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness.	2.3.3
But fare thee well, there is a ducat for thee:	2.3.4
And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see	2.3.5
Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest:	2.3.6
Give him this letter; do it secretly;	2.3.7
And so farewell: I would not have my father	2.3.8
See me in talk with thee.	2.3.9

Launcelot. Adieu! tears exhibit my tongue. Most beautiful	2.3.10
pagan, most sweet Jew! if a Christian did not play	2.3.11
the knave and get thee, I am much deceived. But,	2.3.12
adieu: these foolish drops do something drown my	2.3.13
manly spirit: adieu.	2.3.14

Jessica. Farewell, good Launcelot.	2.3.15
[Exit Launcelot]
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me	2.3.16
To be ashamed to be my father's child!	2.3.17
But though I am a daughter to his blood,	2.3.18
I am not to his manners. O Lorenzo,	2.3.19
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife,	2.3.20
Become a Christian and thy loving wife.	2.3.21
[Exit]

SCENE IV. The same. A street.

[Enter GRATIANO, LORENZO, SALARINO, and SALANIO]

Lorenzo. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time,	2.4.1
Disguise us at my lodging and return,	2.4.2
All in an hour.	2.4.3

Gratiano. We have not made good preparation.	2.4.4

Salarino. We have not spoke us yet of torchbearers.	2.4.5

Salanio. 'Tis vile, unless it may be quaintly order'd,	2.4.6
And better in my mind not undertook.	2.4.7

Lorenzo. 'Tis now but four o'clock: we have two hours	2.4.8
To furnish us.	2.4.9
[Enter LAUNCELOT, with a letter]
Friend Launcelot, what's the news?	2.4.10

Launcelot. An it shall please you to break up	2.4.11
this, it shall seem to signify.	2.4.12

Lorenzo. I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;	2.4.13
And whiter than the paper it writ on	2.4.14
Is the fair hand that writ.	2.4.15

Gratiano. Love-news, in faith.	2.4.16

Launcelot. By your leave, sir.	2.4.17

Lorenzo. Whither goest thou?	2.4.18

Launcelot. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the	2.4.19
Jew to sup to-night with my new master the Christian.	2.4.20

Lorenzo. Hold here, take this: tell gentle Jessica	2.4.21
I will not fail her; speak it privately.	2.4.22
Go, gentlemen,	2.4.23
[Exit Launcelot]
Will you prepare you for this masque tonight?	2.4.24
I am provided of a torch-bearer.	2.4.25

Salanio. Ay, marry, I'll be gone about it straight.	2.4.26

Salanio. And so will I.	2.4.27

Lorenzo. Meet me and Gratiano	2.4.28
At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence.	2.4.29

Salarino. 'Tis good we do so.	2.4.30
[Exeunt SALARINO and SALANIO]

Gratiano. Was not that letter from fair Jessica?	2.4.31

Lorenzo. I must needs tell thee all. She hath directed	2.4.32
How I shall take her from her father's house,	2.4.33
What gold and jewels she is furnish'd with,	2.4.34
What page's suit she hath in readiness.	2.4.35
If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven,	2.4.36
It will be for his gentle daughter's sake:	2.4.37
And never dare misfortune cross her foot,	2.4.38
Unless she do it under this excuse,	2.4.39
That she is issue to a faithless Jew.	2.4.40
Come, go with me; peruse this as thou goest:	2.4.41
Fair Jessica shall be my torch-beare r.	2.4.42
[Exeunt]

SCENE V. The same. Before SHYLOCK'S house.

[Enter SHYLOCK and LAUNCELOT]

Shylock. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge,	2.5.1
The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:--	2.5.2
What, Jessica!--thou shalt not gormandise,	2.5.3
As thou hast done with me:--What, Jessica!--	2.5.4
And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out;--	2.5.5
Why, Jessica, I say!	2.5.6

Launcelot. Why, Jessica!	2.5.7

Shylock. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.	2.5.8

Launcelot. Your worship was wont to tell me that	2.5.9
I could do nothing without bidding.	2.5.10

[Enter Jessica]

Jessica. Call you? what is your will?	2.5.11

Shylock. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica:	2.5.12
There are my keys. But wherefore should I go?	2.5.13
I am not bid for love; they flatter me:	2.5.14
But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon	2.5.15
The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl,	2.5.16
Look to my house. I am right loath to go:	2.5.17
There is some ill a-brewing towards my rest,	2.5.18
For I did dream of money-bags to-night.	2.5.19

Launcelot. I beseech you, sir, go: my young master doth expect	2.5.20
your reproach.	2.5.21

Shylock. So do I his.	2.5.22

Launcelot. An they have conspired together, I will not say you	2.5.23
shall see a masque; but if you do, then it was not	2.5.24
for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on	2.5.25
Black-Monday last at six o'clock i' the morning,	2.5.26
falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four	2.5.27
year, in the afternoon.	2.5.28

Shylock. What, are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica:	2.5.29
Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum	2.5.30
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife,	2.5.31
Clamber not you up to the casements then,	2.5.32
Nor thrust your head into the public street	2.5.33
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces,	2.5.34
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements:	2.5.35
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter	2.5.36
My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear,	2.5.37
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night:	2.5.38
But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah;	2.5.39
Say I will come.	2.5.40

Launcelot. I will go before, sir. Mistress, look out at	2.5.41
window, for all this, There will come a Christian	2.5.42
boy, will be worth a Jewess' eye.	2.5.43
[Exit]

Shylock. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?	2.5.44

Jessica. His words were 'Farewell mistress;' nothing else.	2.5.45

Shylock. The patch is kind enough, but a huge feeder;	2.5.46
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day	2.5.47
More than the wild-cat: drones hive not with me;	2.5.48
Therefore I part with him, and part with him	2.5.49
To one that would have him help to waste	2.5.50
His borrow'd purse. Well, Jessica, go in;	2.5.51
Perhaps I will return immediately:	2.5.52
Do as I bid you; shut doors after you:	2.5.53
Fast bind, fast find;	2.5.54
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.	2.5.55
[Exit]

Jessica. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost,	2.5.56
I have a father, you a daughter, lost.	2.5.57
[Exit]

SCENE VI. The same.

[Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued]

Gratiano. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo	2.6.1
Desired us to make stand.	2.6.2

Salarino. His hour is almost past.	2.6.3

Gratiano. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,	2.6.4
For lovers ever run before the clock.	2.6.5

Salarino. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly	2.6.6
To seal love's bonds new-made, than they are wont	2.6.7
To keep obliged faith unforfeited!	2.6.8

Gratiano. That ever holds: who riseth from a feast	2.6.9
With that keen appetite that he sits down?	2.6.10
Where is the horse that doth untread again	2.6.11
His tedious measures with the unbated fire	2.6.12
That he did pace them first? All things that are,	2.6.13
Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd.	2.6.14
How like a younker or a prodigal	2.6.15
The scarfed bark puts from her native bay,	2.6.16
Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind!	2.6.17
How like the prodigal doth she return,	2.6.18
With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails,	2.6.19
Lean, rent and beggar'd by the strumpet wind!	2.6.20

Salarino. Here comes Lorenzo: more of this hereafter.	2.6.21

[Enter LORENZO]

Lorenzo. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode;	2.6.22
Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait:	2.6.23
When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,	2.6.24
I'll watch as long for you then. Approach;	2.6.25
Here dwells my father Jew. Ho! who's within?	2.6.26

[Enter JESSICA, above, in boy's clothes]

Jessica. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty,	2.6.27
Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.	2.6.28

Lorenzo. Lorenzo, and thy love.	2.6.29

Jessica. Lorenzo, certain, and my love indeed,	2.6.30
For who love I so much? And now who knows	2.6.31
But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?	2.6.32

Lorenzo. Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that thou art.	2.6.33

Jessica. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.	2.6.34
I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,	2.6.35
For I am much ashamed of my exchange:	2.6.36
But love is blind and lovers cannot see	2.6.37
The pretty follies that themselves commit;	2.6.38
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush	2.6.39
To see me thus transformed to a boy.	2.6.40

Lorenzo. Descend, for you must be my torchbearer.	2.6.41

Jessica. What, must I hold a candle to my shames?	2.6.42
They in themselves, good-sooth, are too too light.	2.6.43
Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;	2.6.44
And I should be obscured.	2.6.45

Lorenzo. So are you, sweet,	2.6.46
Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.	2.6.47
But come at once;	2.6.48
For the close night doth play the runaway,	2.6.49
And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast.	2.6.50

Jessica. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself	2.6.51
With some more ducats, and be with you straight.	2.6.52
[Exit above]

Gratiano. Now, by my hood, a Gentile and no Jew.	2.6.53

Lorenzo. Beshrew me but I love her heartily;	2.6.54
For she is wise, if I can judge of her,	2.6.55
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true,	2.6.56
And true she is, as she hath proved herself,	2.6.57
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair and true,	2.6.58
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.	2.6.59
[Enter JESSICA, below]
What, art thou come? On, gentlemen; away!	2.6.60
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay.	2.6.61
[Exit with Jessica and Salarino]

[Enter ANTONIO]

Antonio. Who's there?	2.6.62

Gratiano. Signior Antonio!	2.6.63

Antonio. Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest?	2.6.64
'Tis nine o'clock: our friends all stay for you.	2.6.65
No masque to-night: the wind is come about;	2.6.66
Bassanio presently will go aboard:	2.6.67
I have sent twenty out to seek for you.	2.6.68

Gratiano. I am glad on't: I desire no more delight	2.6.69
Than to be under sail and gone to-night.	2.6.70
[Exeunt]

SCENE VII. Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Flourish of cornets. Enter PORTIA, with the PRINCE OF MOROCCO, and their trains]

Portia. Go draw aside the curtains and discover	2.7.1
The several caskets to this noble prince.	2.7.2
Now make your choice.	2.7.3

Morocco. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears,	2.7.4
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire;'	2.7.5
The second, silver, which this promise carries,	2.7.6
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves;'	2.7.7
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,	2.7.8
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'	2.7.9
How shall I know if I do choose the right?	2.7.10

Portia. The one of them contains my picture, prince:	2.7.11
If you choose that, then I am yours withal.	2.7.12

Morocco. Some god direct my judgment! Let me see;	2.7.13
I will survey the inscriptions back again.	2.7.14
What says this leaden casket?	2.7.15
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'	2.7.16
Must give: for what? for lead? hazard for lead?	2.7.17
This casket threatens. Men that hazard all	2.7.18
Do it in hope of fair advantages:	2.7.19
A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross;	2.7.20
I'll then nor give nor hazard aught for lead.	2.7.21
What says the silver with her virgin hue?	2.7.22
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.'	2.7.23
As much as he deserves! Pause there, Morocco,	2.7.24
And weigh thy value with an even hand:	2.7.25
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation,	2.7.26
Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough	2.7.27
May not extend so far as to the lady:	2.7.28
And yet to be afeard of my deserving	2.7.29
Were but a weak disabling of myself.	2.7.30
As much as I deserve! Why, that's the lady:	2.7.31
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,	2.7.32
In graces and in qualities of breeding;	2.7.33
But more than these, in love I do deserve.	2.7.34
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here?	2.7.35
Let's see once more this saying graved in gold	2.7.36
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.'	2.7.37
Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her;	2.7.38
From the four corners of the earth they come,	2.7.39
To kiss this shrine, this mortal-breathing saint:	2.7.40
The Hyrcanian deserts and the vasty wilds	2.7.41
Of wide Arabia are as thoroughfares now	2.7.42
For princes to come view fair Portia:	2.7.43
The watery kingdom, whose ambitious head	2.7.44
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar	2.7.45
To stop the foreign spirits, but they come,	2.7.46
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.	2.7.47
One of these three contains her heavenly picture.	2.7.48
Is't like that lead contains her? 'Twere damnation	2.7.49
To think so base a thought: it were too gross	2.7.50
To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.	2.7.51
Or shall I think in silver she's immured,	2.7.52
Being ten times undervalued to tried gold?	2.7.53
O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem	2.7.54
Was set in worse than gold. They have in England	2.7.55
A coin that bears the figure of an angel	2.7.56
Stamped in gold, but that's insculp'd upon;	2.7.57
But here an angel in a golden bed	2.7.58
Lies all within. Deliver me the key:	2.7.59
Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may!	2.7.60

Portia. There, take it, prince; and if my form lie there,	2.7.61
Then I am yours.	2.7.62
[He unlocks the golden casket]

Morocco. O hell! what have we here?	2.7.63
A carrion Death, within whose empty eye	2.7.64
There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.	2.7.65
[Reads]
All that glitters is not gold;	2.7.66
Often have you heard that told:	2.7.67
Many a man his life hath sold	2.7.68
But my outside to behold:	2.7.69
Gilded tombs do worms enfold.	2.7.70
Had you been as wise as bold,	2.7.71
Young in limbs, in judgment old,	2.7.72
Your answer had not been inscroll'd:	2.7.73
Fare you well; your suit is cold.	2.7.74
Cold, indeed; and labour lost:	2.7.75
Then, farewell, heat, and welcome, frost!	2.7.76
Portia, adieu. I have too grieved a heart	2.7.77
To take a tedious leave: thus losers part.	2.7.78
[Exit with his train. Flourish of cornets]

Portia. A gentle riddance. Draw the curtains, go.	2.7.79
Let all of his complexion choose me so.	2.7.80
[Exeunt]

SCENE VIII. Venice. A street.

[Enter SALARINO and SALANIO]

Salarino. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail:	2.8.1
With him is Gratiano gone along;	2.8.2
And in their ship I am sure Lorenzo is not.	2.8.3

Salanio. The villain Jew with outcries raised the duke,	2.8.4
Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.	2.8.5

Salarino. He came too late, the ship was under sail:	2.8.6
But there the duke was given to understand	2.8.7
That in a gondola were seen together	2.8.8
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica:	2.8.9
Besides, Antonio certified the duke	2.8.10
They were not with Bassanio in his ship.	2.8.11

Salanio. I never heard a passion so confused,	2.8.12
So strange, outrageous, and so variable,	2.8.13
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets:	2.8.14
'My daughter! O my ducats! O my daughter!	2.8.15
Fled with a Christian! O my Christian ducats!	2.8.16
Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!	2.8.17
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats,	2.8.18
Of double ducats, stolen from me by my daughter!	2.8.19
And jewels, two stones, two rich and precious stones,	2.8.20
Stolen by my daughter! Justice! find the girl;	2.8.21
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats.'	2.8.22

Salarino. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,	2.8.23
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats.	2.8.24

Salanio. Let good Antonio look he keep his day,	2.8.25
Or he shall pay for this.	2.8.26

Salarino. Marry, well remember'd.	2.8.27
I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday,	2.8.28
Who told me, in the narrow seas that part	2.8.29
The French and English, there miscarried	2.8.30
A vessel of our country richly fraught:	2.8.31
I thought upon Antonio when he told me;	2.8.32
And wish'd in silence that it were not his.	2.8.33

Salanio. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear;	2.8.34
Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him.	2.8.35

Salarino. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth.	2.8.36
I saw Bassanio and Antonio part:	2.8.37
Bassanio told him he would make some speed	2.8.38
Of his return: he answer'd, 'Do not so;	2.8.39
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio	2.8.40
But stay the very riping of the time;	2.8.41
And for the Jew's bond which he hath of me,	2.8.42
Let it not enter in your mind of love:	2.8.43
Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts	2.8.44
To courtship and such fair ostents of love	2.8.45
As shall conveniently become you there:'	2.8.46
And even there, his eye being big with tears,	2.8.47
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,	2.8.48
And with affection wondrous sensible	2.8.49
He wrung Bassanio's hand; and so they parted.	2.8.50

Salanio. I think he only loves the world for him.	2.8.51
I pray thee, let us go and find him out	2.8.52
And quicken his embraced heaviness	2.8.53
With some delight or other.	2.8.54

Salarino. Do we so.	2.8.55
[Exeunt]

SCENE IX. Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Enter NERISSA with a Servitor]

Nerissa. Quick, quick, I pray thee; draw the curtain straight:	2.9.1
The Prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath,	2.9.2
And comes to his election presently.	2.9.3

[Flourish of cornets. Enter the PRINCE OF ARRAGON, PORTIA, and their trains]

Portia. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince:	2.9.4
If you choose that wherein I am contain'd,	2.9.5
Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized:	2.9.6
But if you fail, without more speech, my lord,	2.9.7
You must be gone from hence immediately.	2.9.8

Arragon. I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things:	2.9.9
First, never to unfold to any one	2.9.10
Which casket 'twas I chose; next, if I fail	2.9.11
Of the right casket, never in my life	2.9.12
To woo a maid in way of marriage: Lastly,	2.9.13
If I do fail in fortune of my choice,	2.9.14
Immediately to leave you and be gone.	2.9.15

Portia. To these injunctions every one doth swear	2.9.16
That comes to hazard for my worthless self.	2.9.17

Arragon. And so have I address'd me. Fortune now	2.9.18
To my heart's hope! Gold; silver; and base lead.	2.9.19
'Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.'	2.9.20
You shall look fairer, ere I give or hazard.	2.9.21
What says the golden chest? ha! let me see:	2.9.22
'Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.'	2.9.23
What many men desire! that 'many' may be meant	2.9.24
By the fool multitude, that choose by show,	2.9.25
Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach;	2.9.26
Which pries not to the interior, but, like the martlet,	2.9.27
Builds in the weather on the outward wall,	2.9.28
Even in the force and road of casualty.	2.9.29
I will not choose what many men desire,	2.9.30
Because I will not jump with common spirits	2.9.31
And rank me with the barbarous multitudes.	2.9.32
Why, then to thee, thou silver treasure-house;	2.9.33
Tell me once more what title thou dost bear:	2.9.34
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves:'	2.9.35
And well said too; for who shall go about	2.9.36
To cozen fortune and be honourable	2.9.37
Without the stamp of merit? Let none presume	2.9.38
To wear an undeserved dignity.	2.9.39
O, that estates, degrees and offices	2.9.40
Were not derived corruptly, and that clear honour	2.9.41
Were purchased by the merit of the wearer!	2.9.42
How many then should cover that stand bare!	2.9.43
How many be commanded that command!	2.9.44
How much low peasantry would then be glean'd	2.9.45
From the true seed of honour! and how much honour	2.9.46
Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times	2.9.47
To be new-varnish'd! Well, but to my choice:	2.9.48
'Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.'	2.9.49
I will assume desert. Give me a key for this,	2.9.50
And instantly unlock my fortunes here.	2.9.51
[He opens the silver casket]

Portia. Too long a pause for that which you find there.	2.9.52

Arragon. What's here? the portrait of a blinking idiot,	2.9.53
Presenting me a schedule! I will read it.	2.9.54
How much unlike art thou to Portia!	2.9.55
How much unlike my hopes and my deservings!	2.9.56
'Who chooseth me shall have as much as he deserves.'	2.9.57
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?	2.9.58
Is that my prize? are my deserts no better?	2.9.59

Portia. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices	2.9.60
And of opposed natures.	2.9.61

Arragon. What is here?	2.9.62
[Reads]
The fire seven times tried this:	2.9.63
Seven times tried that judgment is,	2.9.64
That did never choose amiss.	2.9.65
Some there be that shadows kiss;	2.9.66
Such have but a shadow's bliss:	2.9.67
There be fools alive, I wis,	2.9.68
Silver'd o'er; and so was this.	2.9.69
Take what wife you will to bed,	2.9.70
I will ever be your head:	2.9.71
So be gone: you are sped.	2.9.72
Still more fool I shall appear	2.9.73
By the time I linger here	2.9.74
With one fool's head I came to woo,	2.9.75
But I go away with two.	2.9.76
Sweet, adieu. I'll keep my oath,	2.9.77
Patiently to bear my wroth.	2.9.78
[Exeunt Arragon and train]

Portia. Thus hath the candle singed the moth.	2.9.79
O, these deliberate fools! when they do choose,	2.9.80
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.	2.9.81

Nerissa. The ancient saying is no heresy,	2.9.82
Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.	2.9.83

Portia. Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa.	2.9.84

[Enter a Servant]

Servant. Where is my lady?	2.9.85

Portia. Here: what would my lord?	2.9.86

Servant. Madam, there is alighted at your gate	2.9.87
A young Venetian, one that comes before	2.9.88
To signify the approaching of his lord;	2.9.89
From whom he bringeth sensible regreets,	2.9.90
To wit, besides commends and courteous breath,	2.9.91
Gifts of rich value. Yet I have not seen	2.9.92
So likely an ambassador of love:	2.9.93
A day in April never came so sweet,	2.9.94
To show how costly summer was at hand,	2.9.95
As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord.	2.9.96

Portia. No more, I pray thee: I am half afeard	2.9.97
Thou wilt say anon he is some kin to thee,	2.9.98
Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him.	2.9.99
Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to see	2.9.100
Quick Cupid's post that comes so mannerly.	2.9.101

Nerissa. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be!	2.9.102
[Exeunt]

ACT III

SCENE I. Venice. A street.

[Enter SALANIO and SALARINO]

Salanio. Now, what news on the Rialto?	3.1.1

Salarino. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd that Antonio hath	3.1.2
a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas;	3.1.3
the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very	3.1.4
dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many	3.1.5
a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip	3.1.6
Report be an honest woman of her word.	3.1.7

Salanio. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever	3.1.8
knapped ginger or made her neighbours believe she	3.1.9
wept for the death of a third husband. But it is	3.1.10
true, without any slips of prolixity or crossing the	3.1.11
plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the	3.1.12
honest Antonio,--O that I had a title good enough	3.1.13
to keep his name company!--	3.1.14

Salarino. Come, the full stop.	3.1.15

Salanio. Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end is, he hath	3.1.16
lost a ship.	3.1.17

Salarino. I would it might prove the end of his losses.	3.1.18

Salanio. Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil cross my	3.1.19
prayer, for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.	3.1.20
[Enter SHYLOCK]
How now, Shylock! what news among the merchants?	3.1.21

Shylock. You know, none so well, none so well as you, of my	3.1.22
daughter's flight.	3.1.23

Salarino. That's certain: I, for my part, knew the tailor	3.1.24
that made the wings she flew withal.	3.1.25

Salanio. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was	3.1.26
fledged; and then it is the complexion of them all	3.1.27
to leave the dam.	3.1.28

Shylock. She is damned for it.	3.1.29

Salanio. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.	3.1.30

Shylock. My own flesh and blood to rebel!	3.1.31

Salanio. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these years?	3.1.32

Shylock. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.	3.1.33

Salarino. There is more difference between thy flesh and hers	3.1.34
than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods	3.1.35
than there is between red wine and rhenish. But	3.1.36
tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any	3.1.37
loss at sea or no?	3.1.38

Shylock. There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a	3.1.39
prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the	3.1.40
Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug upon	3.1.41
the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont to	3.1.42
call me usurer; let him look to his bond: he was	3.1.43
wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him	3.1.44
look to his bond.	3.1.45

Salarino. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take	3.1.46
his flesh: what's that good for?	3.1.47

Shylock. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,	3.1.48
it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and	3.1.49
hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses,	3.1.50
mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my	3.1.51
bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine	3.1.52
enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath	3.1.53
not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs,	3.1.54
dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with	3.1.55
the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject	3.1.56
to the same diseases, healed by the same means,	3.1.57
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as	3.1.58
a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed?	3.1.59
if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison	3.1.60
us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not	3.1.61
revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will	3.1.62
resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian,	3.1.63
what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian	3.1.64
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by	3.1.65
Christian example? Why, revenge. The villany you	3.1.66
teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I	3.1.67
will better the instruction.	3.1.68

[Enter a Servant]

Servant. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house and	3.1.69
desires to speak with you both.	3.1.70

Salarino. We have been up and down to seek him.	3.1.71

[Enter TUBAL]

Salanio. Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot be	3.1.72
matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew.	3.1.73
[Exeunt SALANIO, SALARINO, and Servant]

Shylock. How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? hast thou	3.1.74
found my daughter?	3.1.75

Tubal. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.	3.1.76

Shylock. Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond gone,	3.1.77
cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse	3.1.78
never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it	3.1.79
till now: two thousand ducats in that; and other	3.1.80
precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter	3.1.81
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear!	3.1.82
would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in	3.1.83
her coffin! No news of them? Why, so: and I know	3.1.84
not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon	3.1.85
loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to	3.1.86
find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge:	3.1.87
nor no in luck stirring but what lights on my	3.1.88
shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing; no tears	3.1.89
but of my shedding.	3.1.90

Tubal. Yes, other men have ill luck too: Antonio, as I	3.1.91
heard in Genoa,--	3.1.92

Shylock. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?	3.1.93

Tubal. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.	3.1.94

Shylock. I thank God, I thank God. Is't true, is't true?	3.1.95

Tubal. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck.	3.1.96

Shylock. I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good news!	3.1.97
ha, ha! where? in Genoa?	3.1.98

Tubal. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, in one	3.1.99
night fourscore ducats.	3.1.100

Shylock. Thou stickest a dagger in me: I shall never see my	3.1.101
gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting!	3.1.102
fourscore ducats!	3.1.103

Tubal. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my	3.1.104
company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break.	3.1.105

Shylock. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture	3.1.106
him: I am glad of it.	3.1.107

Tubal. One of them showed me a ring that he had of your	3.1.108
daughter for a monkey.	3.1.109

Shylock. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my	3.1.110
turquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor:	3.1.111
I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.	3.1.112

Tubal. But Antonio is certainly undone.	3.1.113

Shylock. Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee	3.1.114
me an officer; bespeak him a fortnight before. I	3.1.115
will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were	3.1.116
he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I	3.1.117
will. Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue;	3.1.118
go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal.	3.1.119
[Exeunt]

SCENE II. Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Enter BASSANIO, PORTIA, GRATIANO, NERISSA, and Attendants]

Portia. I pray you, tarry: pause a day or two	3.2.1
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong,	3.2.2
I lose your company: therefore forbear awhile.	3.2.3
There's something tells me, but it is not love,	3.2.4
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,	3.2.5
Hate counsels not in such a quality.	3.2.6
But lest you should not understand me well,--	3.2.7
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,--	3.2.8
I would detain you here some month or two	3.2.9
Before you venture for me. I could teach you	3.2.10
How to choose right, but I am then forsworn;	3.2.11
So will I never be: so may you miss me;	3.2.12
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,	3.2.13
That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,	3.2.14
They have o'erlook'd me and divided me;	3.2.15
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,	3.2.16
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,	3.2.17
And so all yours. O, these naughty times	3.2.18
Put bars between the owners and their rights!	3.2.19
And so, though yours, not yours. Prove it so,	3.2.20
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.	3.2.21
I speak too long; but 'tis to peize the time,	3.2.22
To eke it and to draw it out in length,	3.2.23
To stay you from election.	3.2.24

Bassanio. Let me choose	3.2.25
For as I am, I live upon the rack.	3.2.26

Portia. Upon the rack, Bassanio! then confess	3.2.27
What treason there is mingled with your love.	3.2.28

Bassanio. None but that ugly treason of mistrust,	3.2.29
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love:	3.2.30
There may as well be amity and life	3.2.31
'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love.	3.2.32

Portia. Ay, but I fear you speak upon the rack,	3.2.33
Where men enforced do speak anything.	3.2.34

Bassanio. Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth.	3.2.35

Portia. Well then, confess and live.	3.2.36

Bassanio. 'Confess' and 'love'	3.2.37
Had been the very sum of my confession:	3.2.38
O happy torment, when my torturer	3.2.39
Doth teach me answers for deliverance!	3.2.40
But let me to my fortune and the caskets.	3.2.41

Portia. Away, then! I am lock'd in one of them:	3.2.42
If you do love me, you will find me out.	3.2.43
Nerissa and the rest, stand all aloof.	3.2.44
Let music sound while he doth make his choice;	3.2.45
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,	3.2.46
Fading in music: that the comparison	3.2.47
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream	3.2.48
And watery death-bed for him. He may win;	3.2.49
And what is music then? Then music is	3.2.50
Even as the flourish when true subjects bow	3.2.51
To a new-crowned monarch: such it is	3.2.52
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day	3.2.53
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,	3.2.54
And summon him to marriage. Now he goes,	3.2.55
With no less presence, but with much more love,	3.2.56
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem	3.2.57
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy	3.2.58
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice	3.2.59
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,	3.2.60
With bleared visages, come forth to view	3.2.61
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!	3.2.62
Live thou, I live: with much, much more dismay	3.2.63
I view the fight than thou that makest the fray.	3.2.64
[Music, whilst BASSANIO comments on the caskets to himself]
SONG.	3.2.65
Tell me where is fancy bred,	3.2.66
Or in the heart, or in the head?	3.2.67
How begot, how nourished?	3.2.68
Reply, reply.	3.2.69
It is engender'd in the eyes,	3.2.70
With gazing fed; and fancy dies	3.2.71
In the cradle where it lies.	3.2.72
Let us all ring fancy's knell	3.2.73
I'll begin it,--Ding, dong, bell.	3.2.74

All. Ding, dong, bell.	3.2.75

Bassanio. So may the outward shows be least themselves:	3.2.76
The world is still deceived with ornament.	3.2.77
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,	3.2.78
But, being seasoned with a gracious voice,	3.2.79
Obscures the show of evil? In religion,	3.2.80
What damned error, but some sober brow	3.2.81
Will bless it and approve it with a text,	3.2.82
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?	3.2.83
There is no vice so simple but assumes	3.2.84
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts:	3.2.85
How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false	3.2.86
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins	3.2.87
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars;	3.2.88
Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk;	3.2.89
And these assume but valour's excrement	3.2.90
To render them redoubted! Look on beauty,	3.2.91
And you shall see 'tis purchased by the weight;	3.2.92
Which therein works a miracle in nature,	3.2.93
Making them lightest that wear most of it:	3.2.94
So are those crisped snaky golden locks	3.2.95
Which make such wanton gambols with the wind,	3.2.96
Upon supposed fairness, often known	3.2.97
To be the dowry of a second head,	3.2.98
The skull that bred them in the sepulchre.	3.2.99
Thus ornament is but the guiled shore	3.2.100
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf	3.2.101
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,	3.2.102
The seeming truth which cunning times put on	3.2.103
To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold,	3.2.104
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee;	3.2.105
Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge	3.2.106
'Tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre lead,	3.2.107
Which rather threatenest than dost promise aught,	3.2.108
Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence;	3.2.109
And here choose I; joy be the consequence!	3.2.110

Portia. [Aside] How all the other passions fleet to air,	3.2.111
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair,	3.2.112
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy! O love,	3.2.113
Be moderate; allay thy ecstasy,	3.2.114
In measure rein thy joy; scant this excess.	3.2.115
I feel too much thy blessing: make it less,	3.2.116
For fear I surfeit.	3.2.117

Bassanio. What find I here?	3.2.118
[Opening the leaden casket]
Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god	3.2.119
Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes?	3.2.120
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,	3.2.121
Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips,	3.2.122
Parted with sugar breath: so sweet a bar	3.2.123
Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs	3.2.124
The painter plays the spider and hath woven	3.2.125
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men,	3.2.126
Faster than gnats in cobwebs; but her eyes,--	3.2.127
How could he see to do them? having made one,	3.2.128
Methinks it should have power to steal both his	3.2.129
And leave itself unfurnish'd. Yet look, how far	3.2.130
The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow	3.2.131
In underprizing it, so far this shadow	3.2.132
Doth limp behind the substance. Here's the scroll,	3.2.133
The continent and summary of my fortune.	3.2.134
[Reads]
You that choose not by the view,	3.2.135
Chance as fair and choose as true!	3.2.136
Since this fortune falls to you,	3.2.137
Be content and seek no new,	3.2.138
If you be well pleased with this	3.2.139
And hold your fortune for your bliss,	3.2.140
Turn you where your lady is	3.2.141
And claim her with a loving kiss.	3.2.142
A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave;	3.2.143
I come by note, to give and to receive.	3.2.144
Like one of two contending in a prize,	3.2.145
That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes,	3.2.146
Hearing applause and universal shout,	3.2.147
Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt	3.2.148
Whether these pearls of praise be his or no;	3.2.149
So, thrice fair lady, stand I, even so;	3.2.150
As doubtful whether what I see be true,	3.2.151
Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratified by you.	3.2.152

Portia. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,	3.2.153
Such as I am: though for myself alone	3.2.154
I would not be ambitious in my wish,	3.2.155
To wish myself much better; yet, for you	3.2.156
I would be trebled twenty times myself;	3.2.157
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times more rich;	3.2.158
That only to stand high in your account,	3.2.159
I might in virtue, beauties, livings, friends,	3.2.160
Exceed account; but the full sum of me	3.2.161
Is sum of something, which, to term in gross,	3.2.162
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractised;	3.2.163
Happy in this, she is not yet so old	3.2.164
But she may learn; happier than this,	3.2.165
She is not bred so dull but she can learn;	3.2.166
Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit	3.2.167
Commits itself to yours to be directed,	3.2.168
As from her lord, her governor, her king.	3.2.169
Myself and what is mine to you and yours	3.2.170
Is now converted: but now I was the lord	3.2.171
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,	3.2.172
Queen o'er myself: and even now, but now,	3.2.173
This house, these servants and this same myself	3.2.174
Are yours, my lord: I give them with this ring;	3.2.175
Which when you part from, lose, or give away,	3.2.176
Let it presage the ruin of your love	3.2.177
And be my vantage to exclaim on you.	3.2.178

Bassanio. Madam, you have bereft me of all words,	3.2.179
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins;	3.2.180
And there is such confusion in my powers,	3.2.181
As after some oration fairly spoke	3.2.182
By a beloved prince, there doth appear	3.2.183
Among the buzzing pleased multitude;	3.2.184
Where every something, being blent together,	3.2.185
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy,	3.2.186
Express'd and not express'd. But when this ring	3.2.187
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence:	3.2.188
O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead!	3.2.189

Nerissa. My lord and lady, it is now our time,	3.2.190
That have stood by and seen our wishes prosper,	3.2.191
To cry, good joy: good joy, my lord and lady!	3.2.192

Gratiano. My lord Bassanio and my gentle lady,	3.2.193
I wish you all the joy that you can wish;	3.2.194
For I am sure you can wish none from me:	3.2.195
And when your honours mean to solemnize	3.2.196
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,	3.2.197
Even at that time I may be married too.	3.2.198

Bassanio. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife.	3.2.199

Gratiano. I thank your lordship, you have got me one.	3.2.200
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours:	3.2.201
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid;	3.2.202
You loved, I loved for intermission.	3.2.203
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you.	3.2.204
Your fortune stood upon the casket there,	3.2.205
And so did mine too, as the matter falls;	3.2.206
For wooing here until I sweat again,	3.2.207
And sweating until my very roof was dry	3.2.208
With oaths of love, at last, if promise last,	3.2.209
I got a promise of this fair one here	3.2.210
To have her love, provided that your fortune	3.2.211
Achieved her mistress.	3.2.212

Portia. Is this true, Nerissa?	3.2.213

Nerissa. Madam, it is, so you stand pleased withal.	3.2.214

Bassanio. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?	3.2.215

Gratiano. Yes, faith, my lord.	3.2.216

Bassanio. Our feast shall be much honour'd in your marriage.	3.2.217

Gratiano. We'll play with them the first boy for a thousand ducats.	3.2.218

Nerissa. What, and stake down?	3.2.219

Gratiano. No; we shall ne'er win at that sport, and stake down.	3.2.220
But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel? What,	3.2.221
and my old Venetian friend Salerio?	3.2.222

[Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO, a Messenger from Venice]

Bassanio. Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither;	3.2.223
If that the youth of my new interest here	3.2.224
Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave,	3.2.225
I bid my very friends and countrymen,	3.2.226
Sweet Portia, welcome.	3.2.227

Portia. So do I, my lord:	3.2.228
They are entirely welcome.	3.2.229

Lorenzo. I thank your honour. For my part, my lord,	3.2.230
My purpose was not to have seen you here;	3.2.231
But meeting with Salerio by the way,	3.2.232
He did entreat me, past all saying nay,	3.2.233
To come with him along.	3.2.234

Salerio. I did, my lord;	3.2.235
And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio	3.2.236
Commends him to you.	3.2.237
[Gives Bassanio a letter]

Bassanio. Ere I ope his letter,	3.2.238
I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.	3.2.239

Salerio. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind;	3.2.240
Nor well, unless in mind: his letter there	3.2.241
Will show you his estate.	3.2.242

Gratiano. Nerissa, cheer yon stranger; bid her welcome.	3.2.243
Your hand, Salerio: what's the news from Venice?	3.2.244
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?	3.2.245
I know he will be glad of our success;	3.2.246
We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.	3.2.247

Salerio. I would you had won the fleece that he hath lost.	3.2.248

Portia. There are some shrewd contents in yon same paper,	3.2.249
That steals the colour from Bassanio's cheek:	3.2.250
Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world	3.2.251
Could turn so much the constitution	3.2.252
Of any constant man. What, worse and worse!	3.2.253
With leave, Bassanio: I am half yourself,	3.2.254
And I must freely have the half of anything	3.2.255
That this same paper brings you.	3.2.256

Bassanio. O sweet Portia,	3.2.257
Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words	3.2.258
That ever blotted paper! Gentle lady,	3.2.259
When I did first impart my love to you,	3.2.260
I freely told you, all the wealth I had	3.2.261
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman;	3.2.262
And then I told you true: and yet, dear lady,	3.2.263
Rating myself at nothing, you shall see	3.2.264
How much I was a braggart. When I told you	3.2.265
My state was nothing, I should then have told you	3.2.266
That I was worse than nothing; for, indeed,	3.2.267
I have engaged myself to a dear friend,	3.2.268
Engaged my friend to his mere enemy,	3.2.269
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady;	3.2.270
The paper as the body of my friend,	3.2.271
And every word in it a gaping wound,	3.2.272
Issuing life-blood. But is it true, Salerio?	3.2.273
Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit?	3.2.274
From Tripolis, from Mexico and England,	3.2.275
From Lisbon, Barbary and India?	3.2.276
And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch	3.2.277
Of merchant-marring rocks?	3.2.278

Salerio. Not one, my lord.	3.2.279
Besides, it should appear, that if he had	3.2.280
The present money to discharge the Jew,	3.2.281
He would not take it. Never did I know	3.2.282
A creature, that did bear the shape of man,	3.2.283
So keen and greedy to confound a man:	3.2.284
He plies the duke at morning and at night,	3.2.285
And doth impeach the freedom of the state,	3.2.286
If they deny him justice: twenty merchants,	3.2.287
The duke himself, and the magnificoes	3.2.288
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him;	3.2.289
But none can drive him from the envious plea	3.2.290
Of forfeiture, of justice and his bond.	3.2.291

Jessica. When I was with him I have heard him swear	3.2.292
To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen,	3.2.293
That he would rather have Antonio's flesh	3.2.294
Than twenty times the value of the sum	3.2.295
That he did owe him: and I know, my lord,	3.2.296
If law, authority and power deny not,	3.2.297
It will go hard with poor Antonio.	3.2.298

Portia. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?	3.2.299

Bassanio. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,	3.2.300
The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit	3.2.301
In doing courtesies, and one in whom	3.2.302
The ancient Roman honour more appears	3.2.303
Than any that draws breath in Italy.	3.2.304

Portia. What sum owes he the Jew?	3.2.305

Bassanio. For me three thousand ducats.	3.2.306

Portia. What, no more?	3.2.307
Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond;	3.2.308
Double six thousand, and then treble that,	3.2.309
Before a friend of this description	3.2.310
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault.	3.2.311
First go with me to church and call me wife,	3.2.312
And then away to Venice to your friend;	3.2.313
For never shall you lie by Portia's side	3.2.314
With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold	3.2.315
To pay the petty debt twenty times over:	3.2.316
When it is paid, bring your true friend along.	3.2.317
My maid Nerissa and myself meantime	3.2.318
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!	3.2.319
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day:	3.2.320
Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer:	3.2.321
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.	3.2.322
But let me hear the letter of your friend.	3.2.323

Bassanio. [Reads] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all	3.2.324
miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is	3.2.325
very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since	3.2.326
in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all	3.2.327
debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but	3.2.328
see you at my death. Notwithstanding, use your	3.2.329
pleasure: if your love do not persuade you to come,	3.2.330
let not my letter.	3.2.331

Portia. O love, dispatch all business, and be gone!	3.2.332

Bassanio. Since I have your good leave to go away,	3.2.333
I will make haste: but, till I come again,	3.2.334
No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay,	3.2.335
No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain.	3.2.336
[Exeunt]

SCENE III. Venice. A street.

[Enter SHYLOCK, SALARINO, ANTONIO, and Gaoler]

Shylock. Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy;	3.3.1
This is the fool that lent out money gratis:	3.3.2
Gaoler, look to him.	3.3.3

Antonio. Hear me yet, good Shylock.	3.3.4

Shylock. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond:	3.3.5
I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.	3.3.6
Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;	3.3.7
But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs:	3.3.8
The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,	3.3.9
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond	3.3.10
To come abroad with him at his request.	3.3.11

Antonio. I pray thee, hear me speak.	3.3.12

Shylock. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:	3.3.13
I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.	3.3.14
I'll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,	3.3.15
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield	3.3.16
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;	3.3.17
I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.	3.3.18
[Exit]

Salarino. It is the most impenetrable cur	3.3.19
That ever kept with men.	3.3.20

Antonio. Let him alone:	3.3.21
I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.	3.3.22
He seeks my life; his reason well I know:	3.3.23
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures	3.3.24
Many that have at times made moan to me;	3.3.25
Therefore he hates me.	3.3.26

Salarino. I am sure the duke	3.3.27
Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.	3.3.28

Antonio. The duke cannot deny the course of law:	3.3.29
For the commodity that strangers have	3.3.30
With us in Venice, if it be denied,	3.3.31
Will much impeach the justice of his state;	3.3.32
Since that the trade and profit of the city	3.3.33
Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go:	3.3.34
These griefs and losses have so bated me,	3.3.35
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh	3.3.36
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.	3.3.37
Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come	3.3.38
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!	3.3.39
[Exeunt]

SCENE IV. Belmont. A room in PORTIA'S house.

[Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and BALTHASAR]

Lorenzo. Madam, although I speak it in your presence,	3.4.1
You have a noble and a true conceit	3.4.2
Of godlike amity; which appears most strongly	3.4.3
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.	3.4.4
But if you knew to whom you show this honour,	3.4.5
How true a gentleman you send relief,	3.4.6
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,	3.4.7
I know you would be prouder of the work	3.4.8
Than customary bounty can enforce you.	3.4.9

Portia. I never did repent for doing good,	3.4.10
Nor shall not now: for in companions	3.4.11
That do converse and waste the time together,	3.4.12
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke Of love,	3.4.13
There must be needs a like proportion	3.4.14
Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;	3.4.15
Which makes me think that this Antonio,	3.4.16
Being the bosom lover of my lord,	3.4.17
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,	3.4.18
How little is the cost I have bestow'd	3.4.19
In purchasing the semblance of my soul	3.4.20
From out the state of hellish misery!	3.4.21
This comes too near the praising of myself;	3.4.22
Therefore no more of it: hear other things.	3.4.23
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands	3.4.24
The husbandry and manage of my house	3.4.25
Until my lord's return: for mine own part,	3.4.26
I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow	3.4.27
To live in prayer and contemplation,	3.4.28
Only attended by Nerissa here,	3.4.29
Until her husband and my lord's return:	3.4.30
There is a monastery two miles off;	3.4.31
And there will we abide. I do desire you	3.4.32
Not to deny this imposition;	3.4.33
The which my love and some necessity	3.4.34
Now lays upon you.	3.4.35

Lorenzo. Madam, with all my heart;	3.4.36
I shall obey you in all fair commands.	3.4.37

Portia. My people do already know my mind,	3.4.38
And will acknowledge you and Jessica	3.4.39
In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.	3.4.40
And so farewell, till we shall meet again.	3.4.41

Lorenzo. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!	3.4.42

Jessica. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.	3.4.43

Portia. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased	3.4.44
To wish it back on you: fare you well Jessica.	3.4.45
[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO]
Now, Balthasar,	3.4.46
As I have ever found thee honest-true,	3.4.47
So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,	3.4.48
And use thou all the endeavour of a man	3.4.49
In speed to Padua: see thou render this	3.4.50
Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;	3.4.51
And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,	3.4.52
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed	3.4.53
Unto the tranect, to the common ferry	3.4.54
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,	3.4.55
But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.	3.4.56

Balthasar. Madam, I go with all convenient speed.	3.4.57
[Exit]

Portia. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand	3.4.58
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands	3.4.59
Before they think of us.	3.4.60

Nerissa. Shall they see us?	3.4.61

Portia. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,	3.4.62
That they shall think we are accomplished	3.4.63
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,	3.4.64
When we are both accoutred like young men,	3.4.65
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,	3.4.66
And wear my dagger with the braver grace,	3.4.67
And speak between the change of man and boy	3.4.68
With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps	3.4.69
Into a manly stride, and speak of frays	3.4.70
Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,	3.4.71
How honourable ladies sought my love,	3.4.72
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;	3.4.73
I could not do withal; then I'll repent,	3.4.74
And wish for all that, that I had not killed them;	3.4.75
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,	3.4.76
That men shall swear I have discontinued school	3.4.77
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind	3.4.78
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,	3.4.79
Which I will practise.	3.4.80

Nerissa. Why, shall we turn to men?	3.4.81

Portia. Fie, what a question's that,	3.4.82
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!	3.4.83
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device	3.4.84
When I am in my coach, which stays for us	3.4.85
At the park gate; and therefore haste away,	3.4.86
For we must measure twenty miles to-day.	3.4.87
[Exeunt]

SCENE V. The same. A garden.

[Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA]

Launcelot. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father	3.5.1
are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I	3.5.2
promise ye, I fear you. I was always plain with	3.5.3
you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter:	3.5.4
therefore be of good cheer, for truly I think you	3.5.5
are damned. There is but one hope in it that can do	3.5.6
you any good; and that is but a kind of bastard	3.5.7
hope neither.	3.5.8

Jessica. And what hope is that, I pray thee?	3.5.9

Launcelot. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you	3.5.10
not, that you are not the Jew's daughter.	3.5.11

Jessica. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed: so the	3.5.12
sins of my mother should be visited upon me.	3.5.13

Launcelot. Truly then I fear you are damned both by father and	3.5.14
mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I	3.5.15
fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are	3.5.16
gone both ways.	3.5.17

Jessica. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a	3.5.18
Christian.	3.5.19

Launcelot. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians	3.5.20
enow before; e'en as many as could well live, one by	3.5.21
another. This making Christians will raise the	3.5.22
price of hogs: if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we	3.5.23
shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.	3.5.24

[Enter LORENZO]

Jessica. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: here he comes.	3.5.25

Lorenzo. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if	3.5.26
you thus get my wife into corners.	3.5.27

Jessica. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launcelot and I	3.5.28
are out. He tells me flatly, there is no mercy for	3.5.29
me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he	3.5.30
says, you are no good member of the commonwealth,	3.5.31
for in converting Jews to Christians, you raise the	3.5.32
price of pork.	3.5.33

Lorenzo. I shall answer that better to the commonwealth than	3.5.34
you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the	3.5.35
Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.	3.5.36

Launcelot. It is much that the Moor should be more than reason:	3.5.37
but if she be less than an honest woman, she is	3.5.38
indeed more than I took her for.	3.5.39

Lorenzo. How every fool can play upon the word! I think the	3.5.40
best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence,	3.5.41
and discourse grow commendable in none only but	3.5.42
parrots. Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for dinner.	3.5.43

Launcelot. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs.	3.5.44

Lorenzo. Goodly Lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then bid	3.5.45
them prepare dinner.	3.5.46

Launcelot. That is done too, sir; only 'cover' is the word.	3.5.47

Lorenzo. Will you cover then, sir?	3.5.48

Launcelot. Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty.	3.5.49

Lorenzo. Yet more quarrelling with occasion! Wilt thou show	3.5.50
the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray	3.5.51
tree, understand a plain man in his plain meaning:	3.5.52
go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, serve	3.5.53
in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.	3.5.54

Launcelot. For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for the	3.5.55
meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in	3.5.56
to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and	3.5.57
conceits shall govern.	3.5.58
[Exit]

Lorenzo. O dear discretion, how his words are suited!	3.5.59
The fool hath planted in his memory	3.5.60
An army of good words; and I do know	3.5.61
A many fools, that stand in better place,	3.5.62
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word	3.5.63
Defy the matter. How cheerest thou, Jessica?	3.5.64
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,	3.5.65
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife?	3.5.66

Jessica. Past all expressing. It is very meet	3.5.67
The Lord Bassanio live an upright life;	3.5.68
For, having such a blessing in his lady,	3.5.69
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;	3.5.70
And if on earth he do not mean it, then	3.5.71
In reason he should never come to heaven	3.5.72
Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match	3.5.73
And on the wager lay two earthly women,	3.5.74
And Portia one, there must be something else	3.5.75
Pawn'd with the other, for the poor rude world	3.5.76
Hath not her fellow.	3.5.77

Lorenzo. Even such a husband	3.5.78
Hast thou of me as she is for a wife.	3.5.79

Jessica. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.	3.5.80

Lorenzo. I will anon: first, let us go to dinner.	3.5.81

Jessica. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach.	3.5.82

Lorenzo. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;	3.5.83
' Then, howso'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things	3.5.84
I shall digest it.	3.5.85

Jessica. Well, I'll set you forth.	3.5.86
[Exeunt]

ACT IV

SCENE I. Venice. A court of justice.

[Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others]

Duke. What, is Antonio here?	4.1.1

Antonio. Ready, so please your grace.	4.1.2

Duke. I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer	4.1.3
A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch	4.1.4
uncapable of pity, void and empty	4.1.5
From any dram of mercy.	4.1.6

Antonio. I have heard	4.1.7
Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify	4.1.8
His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate	4.1.9
And that no lawful means can carry me	4.1.10
Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose	4.1.11
My patience to his fury, and am arm'd	4.1.12
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,	4.1.13
The very tyranny and rage of his.	4.1.14

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.	4.1.15

Salerio. He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.	4.1.16

[Enter SHYLOCK]

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face.	4.1.17
Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,	4.1.18
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice	4.1.19
To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought	4.1.20
Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange	4.1.21
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;	4.1.22
And where thou now exact'st the penalty,	4.1.23
Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,	4.1.24
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,	4.1.25
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,	4.1.26
Forgive a moiety of the principal;	4.1.27
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,	4.1.28
That have of late so huddled on his back,	4.1.29
Enow to press a royal merchant down	4.1.30
And pluck commiseration of his state	4.1.31
From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,	4.1.32
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd	4.1.33
To offices of tender courtesy.	4.1.34
We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.	4.1.35

Shylock. I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;	4.1.36
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn	4.1.37
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:	4.1.38
If you deny it, let the danger light	4.1.39
Upon your charter and your city's freedom.	4.1.40
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have	4.1.41
A weight of carrion flesh than to receive	4.1.42
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:	4.1.43
But, say, it is my humour: is it answer'd?	4.1.44
What if my house be troubled with a rat	4.1.45
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats	4.1.46
To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?	4.1.47
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;	4.1.48
Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;	4.1.49
And others, when the bagpipe sings i' the nose,	4.1.50
Cannot contain their urine: for affection,	4.1.51
Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood	4.1.52
Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:	4.1.53
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,	4.1.54
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;	4.1.55
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;	4.1.56
Why he, a woollen bagpipe; but of force	4.1.57
Must yield to such inevitable shame	4.1.58
As to offend, himself being offended;	4.1.59
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,	4.1.60
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing	4.1.61
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus	4.1.62
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?	4.1.63

Bassanio. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,	4.1.64
To excuse the current of thy cruelty.	4.1.65

Shylock. I am not bound to please thee with my answers.	4.1.66

Bassanio. Do all men kill the things they do not love?	4.1.67

Shylock. Hates any man the thing he would not kill?	4.1.68

Bassanio. Every offence is not a hate at first.	4.1.69

Shylock. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?	4.1.70

Antonio. I pray you, think you question with the Jew:	4.1.71
You may as well go stand upon the beach	4.1.72
And bid the main flood bate his usual height;	4.1.73
You may as well use question with the wolf	4.1.74
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;	4.1.75
You may as well forbid the mountain pines	4.1.76
To wag their high tops and to make no noise,	4.1.77
When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;	4.1.78
You may as well do anything most hard,	4.1.79
As seek to soften that--than which what's harder?--	4.1.80
His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,	4.1.81
Make no more offers, use no farther means,	4.1.82
But with all brief and plain conveniency	4.1.83
Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.	4.1.84

Bassanio. For thy three thousand ducats here is six.	4.1.85

Shylock. What judgment shall I dread, doing	4.1.86
Were in six parts and every part a ducat,	4.1.87
I would not draw them; I would have my bond.	4.1.88

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none?	4.1.89

Shylock. What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?	4.1.90
You have among you many a purchased slave,	4.1.91
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,	4.1.92
You use in abject and in slavish parts,	4.1.93
Because you bought them: shall I say to you,	4.1.94
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?	4.1.95
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds	4.1.96
Be made as soft as yours and let their palates	4.1.97
Be season'd with such viands? You will answer	4.1.98
'The slaves are ours:' so do I answer you:	4.1.99
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,	4.1.100
Is dearly bought; 'tis mine and I will have it.	4.1.101
If you deny me, fie upon your law!	4.1.102
There is no force in the decrees of Venice.	4.1.103
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?	4.1.104

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court,	4.1.105
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,	4.1.106
Whom I have sent for to determine this,	4.1.107
Come here to-day.	4.1.108

Salerio. My lord, here stays without	4.1.109
A messenger with letters from the doctor,	4.1.110
New come from Padua.	4.1.111

Duke. Bring us the letter; call the messenger.	4.1.112

Bassanio. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!	4.1.113
The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones and all,	4.1.114
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.	4.1.115

Antonio. I am a tainted wether of the flock,	4.1.116
Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit	4.1.117
Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me	4.1.118
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,	4.1.119
Than to live still and write mine epitaph.	4.1.120

[Enter NERISSA, dressed like a lawyer's clerk]

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario?	4.1.121

Nerissa. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.	4.1.122
[Presenting a letter]

Bassanio. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?	4.1.123

Shylock. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.	4.1.124

Gratiano. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,	4.1.125
Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,	4.1.126
No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness	4.1.127
Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?	4.1.128

Shylock. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.	4.1.129

Gratiano. O, be thou damn'd, inexecrable dog!	4.1.130
And for thy life let justice be accused.	4.1.131
Thou almost makest me waver in my faith	4.1.132
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,	4.1.133
That souls of animals infuse themselves	4.1.134
Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit	4.1.135
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter,	4.1.136
Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,	4.1.137
And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam,	4.1.138
Infused itself in thee; for thy desires	4.1.139
Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.	4.1.140

Shylock. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,	4.1.141
Thou but offend'st thy lungs to speak so loud:	4.1.142
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall	4.1.143
To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.	4.1.144

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend	4.1.145
A young and learned doctor to our court.	4.1.146
Where is he?	4.1.147

Nerissa. He attendeth here hard by,	4.1.148
To know your answer, whether you'll admit him.	4.1.149

Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four of you	4.1.150
Go give him courteous conduct to this place.	4.1.151
Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter.	4.1.152

Clerk. [Reads]	4.1.153
Your grace shall understand that at the receipt of	4.1.154
your letter I am very sick: but in the instant that	4.1.155
your messenger came, in loving visitation was with	4.1.156
me a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthasar. I	4.1.157
acquainted him with the cause in controversy between	4.1.158
the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turned o'er	4.1.159
many books together: he is furnished with my	4.1.160
opinion; which, bettered with his own learning, the	4.1.161
greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes	4.1.162
with him, at my importunity, to fill up your grace's	4.1.163
request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of	4.1.164
years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend	4.1.165
estimation; for I never knew so young a body with so	4.1.166
old a head. I leave him to your gracious	4.1.167
acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his	4.1.168
commendation.	4.1.169

Duke. You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes:	4.1.170
And here, I take it, is the doctor come.	4.1.171
[Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws]
Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario?	4.1.172

Portia. I did, my lord.	4.1.173

Duke. You are welcome: take your place.	4.1.174
Are you acquainted with the difference	4.1.175
That holds this present question in the court?	4.1.176

Portia. I am informed thoroughly of the cause.	4.1.177
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?	4.1.178

Duke. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.	4.1.179

Portia. Is your name Shylock?	4.1.180

Shylock. Shylock is my name.	4.1.181

Portia. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;	4.1.182
Yet in such rule that the Venetian law	4.1.183
Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.	4.1.184
You stand within his danger, do you not?	4.1.185

Antonio. Ay, so he says.	4.1.186

Portia. Do you confess the bond?	4.1.187

Antonio. I do.	4.1.188

Portia. Then must the Jew be merciful.	4.1.189

Shylock. On what compulsion must I? tell me that.	4.1.190

Portia. The quality of mercy is not strain'd,	4.1.191
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven	4.1.192
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;	4.1.193
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:	4.1.194
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes	4.1.195
The throned monarch better than his crown;	4.1.196
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,	4.1.197
The attribute to awe and majesty,	4.1.198
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;	4.1.199
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;	4.1.200
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,	4.1.201
It is an attribute to God himself;	4.1.202
And earthly power doth then show likest God's	4.1.203
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,	4.1.204
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,	4.1.205
That, in the course of justice, none of us	4.1.206
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;	4.1.207
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render	4.1.208
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much	4.1.209
To mitigate the justice of thy plea;	4.1.210
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice	4.1.211
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there.	4.1.212

Shylock. My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,	4.1.213
The penalty and forfeit of my bond.	4.1.214

Portia. Is he not able to discharge the money?	4.1.215

Bassanio. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;	4.1.216
Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,	4.1.217
I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,	4.1.218
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:	4.1.219
If this will not suffice, it must appear	4.1.220
That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you,	4.1.221
Wrest once the law to your authority:	4.1.222
To do a great right, do a little wrong,	4.1.223
And curb this cruel devil of his will.	4.1.224

Portia. It must not be; there is no power in Venice	4.1.225
Can alter a decree established:	4.1.226
'Twill be recorded for a precedent,	4.1.227
And many an error by the same example	4.1.228
Will rush into the state: it cannot be.	4.1.229

Shylock. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!	4.1.230
O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!	4.1.231

Portia. I pray you, let me look upon the bond.	4.1.232

Shylock. Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.	4.1.233

Portia. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.	4.1.234

Shylock. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven:	4.1.235
Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?	4.1.236
No, not for Venice.	4.1.237

Portia. Why, this bond is forfeit;	4.1.238
And lawfully by this the Jew may claim	4.1.239
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off	4.1.240
Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful:	4.1.241
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.	4.1.242

Shylock. When it is paid according to the tenor.	4.1.243
It doth appear you are a worthy judge;	4.1.244
You know the law, your exposition	4.1.245
Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,	4.1.246
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,	4.1.247
Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear	4.1.248
There is no power in the tongue of man	4.1.249
To alter me: I stay here on my bond.	4.1.250

Antonio. Most heartily I do beseech the court	4.1.251
To give the judgment.	4.1.252

Portia. Why then, thus it is:	4.1.253
You must prepare your bosom for his knife.	4.1.254

Shylock. O noble judge! O excellent young man!	4.1.255

Portia. For the intent and purpose of the law	4.1.256
Hath full relation to the penalty,	4.1.257
Which here appeareth due upon the bond.	4.1.258

Shylock. 'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!	4.1.259
How much more elder art thou than thy looks!	4.1.260

Portia. Therefore lay bare your bosom.	4.1.261

Shylock. Ay, his breast:	4.1.262
So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge?	4.1.263
'Nearest his heart:' those are the very words.	4.1.264

Portia It is so. Are there balance here to weigh	4.1.265
The flesh?	4.1.266

Shylock. I have them ready.	4.1.267

Portia. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,	4.1.268
To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.	4.1.269

Shylock. Is it so nominated in the bond?	4.1.270

Portia. It is not so express'd: but what of that?	4.1.271
'Twere good you do so much for charity.	4.1.272

Shylock. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.	4.1.273

Portia. You, merchant, have you any thing to say?	4.1.274

Antonio. But little: I am arm'd and well prepared.	4.1.275
Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!	4.1.276
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;	4.1.277
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind	4.1.278
Than is her custom: it is still her use	4.1.279
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,	4.1.280
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow	4.1.281
An age of poverty; from which lingering penance	4.1.282
Of such misery doth she cut me off.	4.1.283
Commend me to your honourable wife:	4.1.284
Tell her the process of Antonio's end;	4.1.285
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;	4.1.286
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge	4.1.287
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.	4.1.288
Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,	4.1.289
And he repents not that he pays your debt;	4.1.290
For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,	4.1.291
I'll pay it presently with all my heart.	4.1.292

Bassanio. Antonio, I am married to a wife	4.1.293
Which is as dear to me as life itself;	4.1.294
But life itself, my wife, and all the world,	4.1.295
Are not with me esteem'd above thy life:	4.1.296
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all	4.1.297
Here to this devil, to deliver you.	4.1.298

Portia. Your wife would give you little thanks for that,	4.1.299
If she were by, to hear you make the offer.	4.1.300

Gratiano. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:	4.1.301
I would she were in heaven, so she could	4.1.302
Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.	4.1.303

Nerissa. 'Tis well you offer it behind her back;	4.1.304
The wish would make else an unquiet house.	4.1.305

Shylock. These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter;	4.1.306
Would any of the stock of Barrabas	4.1.307
Had been her husband rather than a Christian!	4.1.308
[Aside]
We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.	4.1.309

Portia. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine:	4.1.310
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.	4.1.311

Shylock. Most rightful judge!	4.1.312

Portia. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:	4.1.313
The law allows it, and the court awards it.	4.1.314

Shylock. Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!	4.1.315

Portia. Tarry a little; there is something else.	4.1.316
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;	4.1.317
The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'	4.1.318
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;	4.1.319
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed	4.1.320
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods	4.1.321
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate	4.1.322
Unto the state of Venice.	4.1.323

Gratiano. O upright judge! Mark, Jew: O learned judge!	4.1.324

Shylock. Is that the law?	4.1.325

Portia. Thyself shalt see the act:	4.1.326
For, as thou urgest justice, be assured	4.1.327
Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.	4.1.328

Gratiano. O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!	4.1.329

Shylock. I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice	4.1.330
And let the Christian go.	4.1.331

Bassanio. Here is the money.	4.1.332

Portia. Soft!	4.1.333
The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:	4.1.334
He shall have nothing but the penalty.	4.1.335

Gratiano. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!	4.1.336

Portia. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.	4.1.337
Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more	4.1.338
But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut'st more	4.1.339
Or less than a just pound, be it but so much	4.1.340
As makes it light or heavy in the substance,	4.1.341
Or the division of the twentieth part	4.1.342
Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn	4.1.343
But in the estimation of a hair,	4.1.344
Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.	4.1.345

Gratiano. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!	4.1.346
Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.	4.1.347

Portia. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.	4.1.348

Shylock. Give me my principal, and let me go.	4.1.349

Bassanio. I have it ready for thee; here it is.	4.1.350

Portia. He hath refused it in the open court:	4.1.351
He shall have merely justice and his bond.	4.1.352

Gratiano. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!	4.1.353
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.	4.1.354

Shylock. Shall I not have barely my principal?	4.1.355

Portia. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,	4.1.356
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.	4.1.357

Shylock. Why, then the devil give him good of it!	4.1.358
I'll stay no longer question.	4.1.359

Portia. Tarry, Jew:	4.1.360
The law hath yet another hold on you.	4.1.361
It is enacted in the laws of Venice,	4.1.362
If it be proved against an alien	4.1.363
That by direct or indirect attempts	4.1.364
He seek the life of any citizen,	4.1.365
The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive	4.1.366
Shall seize one half his goods; the other half	4.1.367
Comes to the privy coffer of the state;	4.1.368
And the offender's life lies in the mercy	4.1.369
Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.	4.1.370
In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st;	4.1.371
For it appears, by manifest proceeding,	4.1.372
That indirectly and directly too	4.1.373
Thou hast contrived against the very life	4.1.374
Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr'd	4.1.375
The danger formerly by me rehearsed.	4.1.376
Down therefore and beg mercy of the duke.	4.1.377

Gratiano. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:	4.1.378
And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,	4.1.379
Thou hast not left the value of a cord;	4.1.380
Therefore thou must be hang'd at the state's charge.	4.1.381

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,	4.1.382
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:	4.1.383
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's;	4.1.384
The other half comes to the general state,	4.1.385
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.	4.1.386

Portia. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.	4.1.387

Shylock. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:	4.1.388
You take my house when you do take the prop	4.1.389
That doth sustain my house; you take my life	4.1.390
When you do take the means whereby I live.	4.1.391

Portia. What mercy can you render him, Antonio?	4.1.392

Gratiano. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake.	4.1.393

Antonio. So please my lord the duke and all the court	4.1.394
To quit the fine for one half of his goods,	4.1.395
I am content; so he will let me have	4.1.396
The other half in use, to render it,	4.1.397
Upon his death, unto the gentleman	4.1.398
That lately stole his daughter:	4.1.399
Two things provided more, that, for this favour,	4.1.400
He presently become a Christian;	4.1.401
The other, that he do record a gift,	4.1.402
Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,	4.1.403
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.	4.1.404

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant	4.1.405
The pardon that I late pronounced here.	4.1.406

Portia. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?	4.1.407

Shylock. I am content.	4.1.408

Portia. Clerk, draw a deed of gift.	4.1.409

Shylock. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;	4.1.410
I am not well: send the deed after me,	4.1.411
And I will sign it.	4.1.412

Duke. Get thee gone, but do it.	4.1.413

Gratiano. In christening shalt thou have two god-fathers:	4.1.414
Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,	4.1.415
To bring thee to the gallows, not the font.	4.1.416
[Exit SHYLOCK]

Duke. Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.	4.1.417

Portia. I humbly do desire your grace of pardon:	4.1.418
I must away this night toward Padua,	4.1.419
And it is meet I presently set forth.	4.1.420

Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.	4.1.421
Antonio, gratify this gentleman,	4.1.422
For, in my mind, you are much bound to him.	4.1.423
[Exeunt Duke and his train]

Bassanio. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend	4.1.424
Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted	4.1.425
Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof,	4.1.426
Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,	4.1.427
We freely cope your courteous pains withal.	4.1.428

Antonio. And stand indebted, over and above,	4.1.429
In love and service to you evermore.	4.1.430

Portia. He is well paid that is well satisfied;	4.1.431
And I, delivering you, am satisfied	4.1.432
And therein do account myself well paid:	4.1.433
My mind was never yet more mercenary.	4.1.434
I pray you, know me when we meet again:	4.1.435
I wish you well, and so I take my leave.	4.1.436

Bassanio. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:	4.1.437
Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,	4.1.438
Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,	4.1.439
Not to deny me, and to pardon me.	4.1.440

Portia. You press me far, and therefore I will yield.	4.1.441
[To ANTONIO]
Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;	4.1.442
[To BASSANIO]
And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:	4.1.443
Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;	4.1.444
And you in love shall not deny me this.	4.1.445

Bassanio. This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!	4.1.446
I will not shame myself to give you this.	4.1.447

Portia. I will have nothing else but only this;	4.1.448
And now methinks I have a mind to it.	4.1.449

Bassanio. There's more depends on this than on the value.	4.1.450
The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,	4.1.451
And find it out by proclamation:	4.1.452
Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.	4.1.453

Portia. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers	4.1.454
You taught me first to beg; and now methinks	4.1.455
You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.	4.1.456

Bassanio. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;	4.1.457
And when she put it on, she made me vow	4.1.458
That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.	4.1.459

Portia. That 'scuse serves many men to save their gifts.	4.1.460
An if your wife be not a mad-woman,	4.1.461
And know how well I have deserved the ring,	4.1.462
She would not hold out enemy for ever,	4.1.463
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!	4.1.464
[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa]

Antonio. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:	4.1.465
Let his deservings and my love withal	4.1.466
Be valued against your wife's commandment.	4.1.467

Bassanio. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;	4.1.468
Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst,	4.1.469
Unto Antonio's house: away! make haste.	4.1.470
[Exit Gratiano]
Come, you and I will thither presently;	4.1.471
And in the morning early will we both	4.1.472
Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio.	4.1.473
[Exeunt]

SCENE II. The same. A street.

[Enter PORTIA and NERISSA]

Portia. Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed	4.2.1
And let him sign it: we'll away to-night	4.2.2
And be a day before our husbands home:	4.2.3
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo.	4.2.4

[Enter GRATIANO]

Gratiano. Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en	4.2.5
My Lord Bassanio upon more advice	4.2.6
Hath sent you here this ring, and doth entreat	4.2.7
Your company at dinner.	4.2.8

Portia. That cannot be:	4.2.9
His ring I do accept most thankfully:	4.2.10
And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore,	4.2.11
I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house.	4.2.12

Gratiano. That will I do.	4.2.13

Nerissa. Sir, I would speak with you.	4.2.14
[Aside to PORTIA]
I'll see if I can get my husband's ring,	4.2.15
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.	4.2.16

Portia. [Aside to NERISSA] Thou mayst, I warrant.	4.2.17
We shall have old swearing	4.2.18
That they did give the rings away to men;	4.2.19
But we'll outface them, and outswear them too.	4.2.20
[Aloud]
Away! make haste: thou knowist where I will tarry.	4.2.21

Nerissa. Come, good sir, will you show me to this house?	4.2.22
[Exeunt]

ACT V

SCENE I. Belmont. Avenue to PORTIA'S house.

[Enter LORENZO and JESSICA]

Lorenzo. The moon shines bright: in such a night as this,	5.1.1
When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees	5.1.2
And they did make no noise, in such a night	5.1.3
Troilus methinks mounted the Troyan walls	5.1.4
And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents,	5.1.5
Where Cressid lay that night.	5.1.6

Jessica. In such a night	5.1.7
Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew	5.1.8
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself	5.1.9
And ran dismay'd away.	5.1.10

Lorenzo. In such a night	5.1.11
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand	5.1.12
Upon the wild sea banks and waft her love	5.1.13
To come again to Carthage.	5.1.14

Jessica. In such a night	5.1.15
Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs	5.1.16
That did renew old AEson.	5.1.17

Lorenzo. In such a night	5.1.18
Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew	5.1.19
And with an unthrift love did run from Venice	5.1.20
As far as Belmont.	5.1.21

Jessica. In such a night	5.1.22
Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well,	5.1.23
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith	5.1.24
And ne'er a true one.	5.1.25

Lorenzo. In such a night	5.1.26
Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew,	5.1.27
Slander her love, and he forgave it her.	5.1.28

Jessica. I would out-night you, did no body come;	5.1.29
But, hark, I hear the footing of a man.	5.1.30

[Enter STEPHANO]

Lorenzo. Who comes so fast in silence of the night?	5.1.31

Stephano. A friend.	5.1.32

Lorenzo. A friend! what friend? your name, I pray you, friend?	5.1.33

Stephano. Stephano is my name; and I bring word	5.1.34
My mistress will before the break of day	5.1.35
Be here at Belmont; she doth stray about	5.1.36
By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays	5.1.37
For happy wedlock hours.	5.1.38

Lorenzo. Who comes with her?	5.1.39

Stephano. None but a holy hermit and her maid.	5.1.40
I pray you, is my master yet return'd?	5.1.41

Lorenzo. He is not, nor we have not heard from him.	5.1.42
But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica,	5.1.43
And ceremoniously let us prepare	5.1.44
Some welcome for the mistress of the house.	5.1.45

[Enter LAUNCELOT]

Launcelot. Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola!	5.1.46

Lorenzo. Who calls?	5.1.47

Launcelot. Sola! did you see Master Lorenzo?	5.1.48
Master Lorenzo, sola, sola!	5.1.49

Lorenzo. Leave hollaing, man: here.	5.1.50

Launcelot. Sola! where? where?	5.1.51

Lorenzo. Here.	5.1.52

Launcelot. Tell him there's a post come from my master, with	5.1.53
his horn full of good news: my master will be here	5.1.54
ere morning.	5.1.55
[Exit]

Lorenzo. Sweet soul, let's in, and there expect their coming.	5.1.56
And yet no matter: why should we go in?	5.1.57
My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you,	5.1.58
Within the house, your mistress is at hand;	5.1.59
And bring your music forth into the air.	5.1.60
[Exit Stephano]
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!	5.1.61
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music	5.1.62
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night	5.1.63
Become the touches of sweet harmony.	5.1.64
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven	5.1.65
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:	5.1.66
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st	5.1.67
But in his motion like an angel sings,	5.1.68
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins;	5.1.69
Such harmony is in immortal souls;	5.1.70
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay	5.1.71
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.	5.1.72
[Enter Musicians]
Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn!	5.1.73
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,	5.1.74
And draw her home with music.	5.1.75
[Music]

Jessica. I am never merry when I hear sweet music.	5.1.76

Lorenzo. The reason is, your spirits are attentive:	5.1.77
For do but note a wild and wanton herd,	5.1.78
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,	5.1.79
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing loud,	5.1.80
Which is the hot condition of their blood;	5.1.81
If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,	5.1.82
Or any air of music touch their ears,	5.1.83
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,	5.1.84
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze	5.1.85
By the sweet power of music: therefore the poet	5.1.86
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones and floods;	5.1.87
Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage,	5.1.88
But music for the time doth change his nature.	5.1.89
The man that hath no music in himself,	5.1.90
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,	5.1.91
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils;	5.1.92
The motions of his spirit are dull as night	5.1.93
And his affections dark as Erebus:	5.1.94
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.	5.1.95

[Enter PORTIA and NERISSA]

Portia. That light we see is burning in my hall.	5.1.96
How far that little candle throws his beams!	5.1.97
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.	5.1.98

Nerissa. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle.	5.1.99

Portia. So doth the greater glory dim the less:	5.1.100
A substitute shines brightly as a king	5.1.101
Unto the king be by, and then his state	5.1.102
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook	5.1.103
Into the main of waters. Music! hark!	5.1.104

Nerissa. It is your music, madam, of the house.	5.1.105

Portia. Nothing is good, I see, without respect:	5.1.106
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.	5.1.107

Nerissa. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam.	5.1.108

Portia. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,	5.1.109
When neither is attended, and I think	5.1.110
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,	5.1.111
When every goose is cackling, would be thought	5.1.112
No better a musician than the wren.	5.1.113
How many things by season season'd are	5.1.114
To their right praise and true perfection!	5.1.115
Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion	5.1.116
And would not be awaked.	5.1.117
[Music ceases]

Lorenzo. That is the voice,	5.1.118
Or I am much deceived, of Portia.	5.1.119

Portia He knows me as the blind man knows the cuckoo,	5.1.120
By the bad voice.	5.1.121

Lorenzo. Dear lady, welcome home.	5.1.122

Portia. We have been praying for our husbands' healths,	5.1.123
Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.	5.1.124
Are they return'd?	5.1.125

Lorenzo. Madam, they are not yet;	5.1.126
But there is come a messenger before,	5.1.127
To signify their coming.	5.1.128

Portia. Go in, Nerissa;	5.1.129
Give order to my servants that they take	5.1.130
No note at all of our being absent hence;	5.1.131
Nor you, Lorenzo; Jessica, nor you.	5.1.132
[A tucket sounds]

Lorenzo. Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet:	5.1.133
We are no tell-tales, madam; fear you not.	5.1.134

Portia. This night methinks is but the daylight sick;	5.1.135
It looks a little paler: 'tis a day,	5.1.136
Such as the day is when the sun is hid.	5.1.137

[Enter BASSANIO, ANTONIO, GRATIANO, and their followers]

Bassanio. We should hold day with the Antipodes,	5.1.138
If you would walk in absence of the sun.	5.1.139

Portia. Let me give light, but let me not be light;	5.1.140
For a light wife doth make a heavy husband,	5.1.141
And never be Bassanio so for me:	5.1.142
But God sort all! You are welcome home, my lord.	5.1.143

Bassanio. I thank you, madam. Give welcome to my friend.	5.1.144
This is the man, this is Antonio,	5.1.145
To whom I am so infinitely bound.	5.1.146

Portia. You should in all sense be much bound to him.	5.1.147
For, as I hear, he was much bound for you.	5.1.148

Antonio. No more than I am well acquitted of.	5.1.149

Portia. Sir, you are very welcome to our house:	5.1.150
It must appear in other ways than words,	5.1.151
Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy.	5.1.152

Gratiano. [To NERISSA] By yonder moon I swear you do me wrong;	5.1.153
In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk:	5.1.154
Would he were gelt that had it, for my part,	5.1.155
Since you do take it, love, so much at heart.	5.1.156

Portia. A quarrel, ho, already! what's the matter?	5.1.157

Gratiano. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring	5.1.158
That she did give me, whose posy was	5.1.159
For all the world like cutler's poetry	5.1.160
Upon a knife, 'Love me, and leave me not.'	5.1.161

Nerissa. What talk you of the posy or the value?	5.1.162
You swore to me, when I did give it you,	5.1.163
That you would wear it till your hour of death	5.1.164
And that it should lie with you in your grave:	5.1.165
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths,	5.1.166
You should have been respective and have kept it.	5.1.167
Gave it a judge's clerk! no, God's my judge,	5.1.168
The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face that had it.	5.1.169

Gratiano. He will, an if he live to be a man.	5.1.170

Nerissa. Ay, if a woman live to be a man.	5.1.171

Gratiano. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,	5.1.172
A kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy,	5.1.173
No higher than thyself; the judge's clerk,	5.1.174
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee:	5.1.175
I could not for my heart deny it him.	5.1.176

Portia. You were to blame, I must be plain with you,	5.1.177
To part so slightly with your wife's first gift:	5.1.178
A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger	5.1.179
And so riveted with faith unto your flesh.	5.1.180
I gave my love a ring and made him swear	5.1.181
Never to part with it; and here he stands;	5.1.182
I dare be sworn for him he would not leave it	5.1.183
Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth	5.1.184
That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano,	5.1.185
You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief:	5.1.186
An 'twere to me, I should be mad at it.	5.1.187

Bassanio. [Aside] Why, I were best to cut my left hand off	5.1.188
And swear I lost the ring defending it.	5.1.189

Gratiano. My Lord Bassanio gave his ring away	5.1.190
Unto the judge that begg'd it and indeed	5.1.191
Deserved it too; and then the boy, his clerk,	5.1.192
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine;	5.1.193
And neither man nor master would take aught	5.1.194
But the two rings.	5.1.195

Portia. What ring gave you my lord?	5.1.196
Not that, I hope, which you received of me.	5.1.197

Bassanio. If I could add a lie unto a fault,	5.1.198
I would deny it; but you see my finger	5.1.199
Hath not the ring upon it; it is gone.	5.1.200

Portia. Even so void is your false heart of truth.	5.1.201
By heaven, I will ne'er come in your bed	5.1.202
Until I see the ring.	5.1.203

Nerissa. Nor I in yours	5.1.204
Till I again see mine.	5.1.205

Bassanio. Sweet Portia,	5.1.206
If you did know to whom I gave the ring,	5.1.207
If you did know for whom I gave the ring	5.1.208
And would conceive for what I gave the ring	5.1.209
And how unwillingly I left the ring,	5.1.210
When nought would be accepted but the ring,	5.1.211
You would abate the strength of your displeasure.	5.1.212

Portia. If you had known the virtue of the ring,	5.1.213
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,	5.1.214
Or your own honour to contain the ring,	5.1.215
You would not then have parted with the ring.	5.1.216
What man is there so much unreasonable,	5.1.217
If you had pleased to have defended it	5.1.218
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty	5.1.219
To urge the thing held as a ceremony?	5.1.220
Nerissa teaches me what to believe:	5.1.221
I'll die for't but some woman had the ring.	5.1.222

Bassanio. No, by my honour, madam, by my soul,	5.1.223
No woman had it, but a civil doctor,	5.1.224
Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me	5.1.225
And begg'd the ring; the which I did deny him	5.1.226
And suffer'd him to go displeased away;	5.1.227
Even he that did uphold the very life	5.1.228
Of my dear friend. What should I say, sweet lady?	5.1.229
I was enforced to send it after him;	5.1.230
I was beset with shame and courtesy;	5.1.231
My honour would not let ingratitude	5.1.232
So much besmear it. Pardon me, good lady;	5.1.233
For, by these blessed candles of the night,	5.1.234
Had you been there, I think you would have begg'd	5.1.235
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor.	5.1.236

Portia. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house:	5.1.237
Since he hath got the jewel that I loved,	5.1.238
And that which you did swear to keep for me,	5.1.239
I will become as liberal as you;	5.1.240
I'll not deny him any thing I have,	5.1.241
No, not my body nor my husband's bed:	5.1.242
Know him I shall, I am well sure of it:	5.1.243
Lie not a night from home; watch me like Argus:	5.1.244
If you do not, if I be left alone,	5.1.245
Now, by mine honour, which is yet mine own,	5.1.246
I'll have that doctor for my bedfellow.	5.1.247

Nerissa. And I his clerk; therefore be well advised	5.1.248
How you do leave me to mine own protection.	5.1.249

Gratiano. Well, do you so; let not me take him, then;	5.1.250
For if I do, I'll mar the young clerk's pen.	5.1.251

Antonio. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels.	5.1.252

Portia. Sir, grieve not you; you are welcome notwithstanding.	5.1.253

Bassanio. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong;	5.1.254
And, in the hearing of these many friends,	5.1.255
I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes,	5.1.256
Wherein I see myself--	5.1.257

Portia. Mark you but that!	5.1.258
In both my eyes he doubly sees himself;	5.1.259
In each eye, one: swear by your double self,	5.1.260
And there's an oath of credit.	5.1.261

Bassanio. Nay, but hear me:	5.1.262
Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear	5.1.263
I never more will break an oath with thee.	5.1.264

Antonio I once did lend my body for his wealth;	5.1.265
Which, but for him that had your husband's ring,	5.1.266
Had quite miscarried: I dare be bound again,	5.1.267
My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord	5.1.268
Will never more break faith advisedly.	5.1.269

Portia. Then you shall be his surety. Give him this	5.1.270
And bid him keep it better than the other.	5.1.271

Antonio. Here, Lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring.	5.1.272

Bassanio. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor!	5.1.273

Portia. I had it of him: pardon me, Bassanio;	5.1.274
For, by this ring, the doctor lay with me.	5.1.275

Nerissa. And pardon me, my gentle Gratiano;	5.1.276
For that same scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk,	5.1.277
In lieu of this last night did lie with me.	5.1.278

Gratiano. Why, this is like the mending of highways	5.1.279
In summer, where the ways are fair enough:	5.1.280
What, are we cuckolds ere we have deserved it?	5.1.281

Portia. Speak not so grossly. You are all amazed:	5.1.282
Here is a letter; read it at your leisure;	5.1.283
It comes from Padua, from Bellario:	5.1.284
There you shall find that Portia was the doctor,	5.1.285
Nerissa there her clerk: Lorenzo here	5.1.286
Shall witness I set forth as soon as you	5.1.287
And even but now return'd; I have not yet	5.1.288
Enter'd my house. Antonio, you are welcome;	5.1.289
And I have better news in store for you	5.1.290
Than you expect: unseal this letter soon;	5.1.291
There you shall find three of your argosies	5.1.292
Are richly come to harbour suddenly:	5.1.293
You shall not know by what strange accident	5.1.294
I chanced on this letter.	5.1.295

Antonio. I am dumb.	5.1.296

Bassanio. Were you the doctor and I knew you not?	5.1.297

Gratiano. Were you the clerk that is to make me cuckold?	5.1.298

Nerissa. Ay, but the clerk that never means to do it,	5.1.299
Unless he live until he be a man.	5.1.300

Bassanio. Sweet doctor, you shall be my bed-fellow:	5.1.301
When I am absent, then lie with my wife.	5.1.302

Antonio. Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;	5.1.303
For here I read for certain that my ships	5.1.304
Are safely come to road.	5.1.305

Portia. How now, Lorenzo!	5.1.306
My clerk hath some good comforts too for you.	5.1.307

Nerissa. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee.	5.1.308
There do I give to you and Jessica,	5.1.309
From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,	5.1.310
After his death, of all he dies possess'd of.	5.1.311

Lorenzo. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way	5.1.312
Of starved people.	5.1.313

Portia. It is almost morning,	5.1.314
And yet I am sure you are not satisfied	5.1.315
Of these events at full. Let us go in;	5.1.316
And charge us there upon inter'gatories,	5.1.317
And we will answer all things faithfully.	5.1.318

Gratiano. Let it be so: the first inter'gatory	5.1.319
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on is,	5.1.320
Whether till the next night she had rather stay,	5.1.321
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day:	5.1.322
But were the day come, I should wish it dark,	5.1.323
That I were couching with the doctor's clerk.	5.1.324
Well, while I live I'll fear no other thing	5.1.325
So sore as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.	5.1.326
[Exeunt]

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