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There is no power in the tongue of man

To alter me. I stay here on my bond.

ANTONIO.

Most heartily I do beseech the court

To give the judgment.

PORTIA.

Why then, thus it is:

You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHYLOCK.

O noble judge! O excellent young man!

PORTIA.

For the intent and purpose of the law

Hath full relation to the penalty,

Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHYLOCK.

'Tis very true. O wise and upright judge,

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

PORTIA.

Therefore, lay bare your bosom.

SHYLOCK.

Ay, his breast-

So says the bond; doth it not, noble judge?

'Nearest his heart,' those are the very words.

PORTIA.

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

SHYLOCK.

I have them ready.

PORTIA.

Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,

To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

SHYLOCK.

Is it so nominated in the bond?

PORTIA.

It is not so express'd, but what of that?

'Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHYLOCK.

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

PORTIA.

You, merchant, have you anything to say?

ANTONIO.

But little: I am arm'd and well prepar'd.

Give me your hand, Bassanio; fare you well.

Grieve not that I am fall'n to this for you,

For herein Fortune shows herself more kind

Than is her custom. It is still her use

To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,

To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow

An age of poverty; from which ling'ring penance

Of such misery doth she cut me off.

Commend me to your honourable wife;

Tell her the process of Antonio's end;

Say how I lov'd you; speak me fair in death;

And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge

Whether Bassanio had not once a love.

Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,

And he repents not that he pays your debt;

For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,

I'll pay it instantly with all my heart.

BASSANIO.

Antonio, I am married to a wife

Which is as dear to me as life itself;

But life itself, my wife, and all the world,

Are not with me esteem'd above thy life;

I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all

Here to this devil, to deliver you.

PORTIA.

Your wife would give you little thanks for that,

If she were by to hear you make the offer.

GRATIANO.

I have a wife who I protest I love;

I would she were in heaven, so she could

Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

NERISSA.

'Tis well you offer it behind her back;

The wish would make else an unquiet house.

SHYLOCK.

[Aside] These be the Christian husbands! I have a

daughter-

Would any of the stock of Barrabas

Had been her husband, rather than a Christian!-

We trifle time; I pray thee pursue sentence.

PORTIA.

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

The court awards it and the law doth give it.

SHYLOCK.

Most rightful judge!

PORTIA.

And you must cut this flesh from off his breast.

The law allows it and the court awards it.

SHYLOCK.

Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare.

PORTIA.

Tarry a little; there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood:

The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh.'

Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate

Unto the state of Venice.

GRATIANO.

O upright judge! Mark, Jew. O learned judge!

SHYLOCK.

Is that the law?

PORTIA.

Thyself shalt see the act;

For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd

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

GRATIANO.

O learned judge! Mark, Jew. A learned judge!

SHYLOCK.

I take this offer then: pay the bond thrice,

And let the Christian go.

BASSANIO.

Here is the money.

PORTIA.

Soft!

The Jew shall have all justice. Soft! No haste.

He shall have nothing but the penalty.

GRATIANO.

O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

PORTIA.

Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.

Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more

But just a pound of flesh; if thou