001 Shy. Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy;

002 This is the fool that lent out money gratis:

Gaoler, look to him.

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Shy. I’ll have my bond; speak not against my bond:

005 I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

006 Thou call’dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;

But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs:

The Duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,

Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond

010 To come abroad with him at his request.

011 Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak.

Shy. I’ll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

I’ll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.

I’ll not be made a soft and dull-eyed fool,

015 To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield

To Christian intercessors. Follow not;

I’ll have no speaking: I will have my bond. [Exit.

Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur

That ever kept with men.

Let him alone:

020 I’ll follow him no more with bootless prayers.

He seeks my life; his reason well I know:

022 I oft deliver’d from his forfeitures

Many that have at times made moan to me;

Therefore he hates me.

024 I am sure the Duke

025 Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

026 Ant. The Duke cannot deny the course of law:

For the commodity that strangers have

028 With us in Venice, if it be denied,

029 Will much impeach the justice of his state;

030 Since that the trade and profit of the city

Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go:

032 These griefs and losses have so bated me,

That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh

To-morrow to my bloody creditor.

035 Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not! [Exeunt.

001 Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence,

You have a noble and a true conceit

003 Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly

In bearing thus the absence of your lord.

005 But if you knew to whom you show this honour.

006 How true a gentleman you send relief,

How dear a lover of my lord your husband,

I know you would be prouder of the work

Than customary bounty can enforce you.

010 Por. I never did repent for doing good,

011 Nor shall not now: for in companions

That do converse and waste the time together,

013 Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,

There must be needs a like proportion

015 Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;

Which makes me think that this Antonio,

Being the bosom lover of my lord,

Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,

How little is the cost I have bestow’d

020 In purchasing the semblance of my soul

021 From out the state of hellish misery!

This comes too near the praising of myself;

023 Therefore no more of it: hear other things.

024 Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

025 The husbandry and manage of my house

Until my lord’s return: for mine own part,

027 I have toward heaven breathed a secret vow

To live in prayer and contemplation,

Only attended by Nerissa here,

030 Until her husband and my lord’s return:

There is a monastery two miles off;

032 And there will we abide. I do desire you

Not to deny this imposition;

The which my love and some necessity

Now lays upon you.

035 Madam, with all my heart;

I shall obey you in all fair commands.

Por. My people do already know my mind,

And will acknowledge you and Jessica

In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.

040 And so farewell, till we shall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!

Jes. I wish your ladyship all heart’s content.

043 Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased

044 To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica. [Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo.

045 Now, Balthasar,

046 As I have ever found thee honest-true,

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,

And use thou all the endeavour of a man

049 In speed to Padua: see thou render this

050 Into my cousin’s hand, Doctor Bellario;

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,

Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed

053 Unto the tranect, to the common ferry

054 Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,

055 But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit.

Por. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand

That you yet know not of: we’ll see our husbands

Before they think of us.

Shall they see us?

060 Por. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,

That they shall think we are accomplished

062 With that we lack. I’ll hold thee any wager,

063 When we are both accoutred like young men,

I’ll prove the prettier fellow of the two,

065 And wear my dagger with the braver grace,

And speak between the change of man and boy

With a reed voice, and turn two mincing steps

Into a manly stride, and speak of frays

Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,

070 How honourable ladies sought my love,

Which I denying, they fell sick and died;

072 I could not do withal: then I’ll repent,

And wish, for all that, that I had not kill’d them;

And twenty of these puny lies I’ll tell,

075 That men shall swear I have discontinued school

Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind

A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,

Which I will practise.

Why, shall we turn to men?

Por. Fie, what a question’s that,

080 If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!

081 But come, I’ll tell thee all my whole device

When I am in my coach, which stays for us

At the park-gate; and therefore haste away,

For we must measure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt.

056 Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited!

The fool hath planted in his memory

An army of good words; and I do know

A many fools, that stand in better place,

060 Garnish’d like him, that for a tricksy word

061 Defy the matter. How cheer’st thou, Jessica?

And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,

063 How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio’s wife?

Jes. Past all expressing. It is very meet

065 The Lord Bassanio live an upright life;

For, having such a blessing in his lady,

He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;

068 And if on earth he do not mean it, then

In reason he should never come to heaven.

070 Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match

And on the wager lay two earthly women,

And Portia one, there must be something else

Pawn’d with the other; for the poor rude world

Hath not her fellow.

074 Even such a husband

075 Hast thou of me as she is for a wife.

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.

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

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

079 Lor. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk;

080 Then, howsoe’er thou speak’st, ’mong other things

081 I shall digest it.

Well, I’ll set you forth. [Exeunt.

Duke. What, is Antonio here?

Ant. Ready, so please your Grace.

003 Duke. I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer

A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch

005 Uncapable of pity, void and empty

006 From any dram of mercy.

I have heard

007 Your Grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify

His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,

And that no lawful means can carry me

010 Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose

My patience to his fury; and am arm’d

To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,

The very tyranny and rage of his.

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

015 Saler. He is ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

Enter Shylock.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face

Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,

That thou but lead’st this fashion of thy malice

To the last hour of act; and then ’tis thought

020 Thou’lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange

Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;

022 And where thou now exact’st the penalty,

Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh,

024 Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,

025 But, touch’d with human gentleness and love,

Forgive a moiety of the principal;

Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,

That have of late so huddled on his back,

029 Enow to press a royal merchant down,

030 And pluck commiseration of his state

031 From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,

From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train’d

To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

035 Shy. I have possess’d your Grace of what I purpose;

036 And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn

To have the due and forfeit of my bond:

If you deny it, let the danger light

Upon your charter and your city’s freedom.

040 You’ll ask me, why I rather choose to have

A weight of carrion-flesh than to receive

042 Three thousand ducats: I’ll not answer that:

043 But, say, it is my humour: is it answer’d?

What if my house be troubled with a rat,

045 And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats

046 To have it baned? What, are you answer’d yet?

Some men there are love not a gaping pig;

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat;

049 And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ the nose,

050 Cannot contain their urine: for affection,

Mistress of passion, sways it to the mood

Of what it likes or loathes. Now, for your answer:

As there is no firm reason to be render’d,

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;

055 Why he, a harmless necessary cat;

056 Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force

Must yield to such inevitable shame

058 As to offend, himself being offended;

So can I give no reason, nor I will not,

060 More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing

I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you answer’d?

Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,

To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

065 Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answers.

066 Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love?

Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill?

Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first.

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

070 Ant. I pray you, think you question with the Jew:

You may as well go stand upon the beach,

And bid the main flood bate his usual height;

073 You may as well use question with the wolf,

074 Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;

075 You may as well forbid the mountain pines

076 To wag their high tops, and to make no noise,

077 When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;

You may as well do any thing most hard,

079 As seek to soften that—than which what’s harder?—

080 His Jewish heart: therefore, I do beseech you,

Make no more offers, use no farther means,

But with all brief and plain conveniency

Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.

Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

085 Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats

Were in six parts and every part a ducat,

I would not draw them; I would have my bond.

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

Shy. What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?

090 You have among you many a purchased slave,

091 Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

092 You use in abject and in slavish parts,

093 Because you bought them: shall I say to you,

Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?

095 Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

Be season’d with such viands? You will answer

‘The slaves are ours:’ so do I answer you:

The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,

100 Is dearly bought; ’tis mine and I will have it.

If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice.

I stand for judgement: answer; shall I have it?

Duke. Upon my power I may dismiss this court,

105 Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,

Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here to-day.

107 My lord, here stays without

A messenger with letters from the doctor,

New come from Padua.

110 Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messenger.

Bass. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!

The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all,

Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock,

115 Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit

116 Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me:

You cannot better be employ’d, Bassanio,

118 Than to live still, and write mine epitaph.

Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyer’s clerk.

119 Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

120 Ner. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your Grace. [Presenting a letter.

Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

122 Shy. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there.

123 Gra. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul, harsh Jew,

124 Thou makest thy knife keen; but no metal can,

125 No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness

Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

127 Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

128 Gra. O, be thou damn’d, inexecrable dog!

And for thy life let justice be accused.

130 Thou almost makest me waver in my faith,

To hold opinion with Pythagoras,

That souls of animals infuse themselves

Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit

134 Govern’d a wolf, who, hang’d for human slaughter,

135 Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,

136 And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallow’d dam,

Infused itself in thee; for thy desires

138 Are wolvish, bloody, starved and ravenous.

Shy. Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,

140 Thou but offend’st thy lungs to speak so loud:

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall

142 To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend

144 A young and learned doctor to our court.

Where is he?

145 He attendeth here hard by,

To know your answer, whether you’ll admit him.

Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four of you

Go give him courteous conduct to this place.

Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.

150 Clerk. [reads] Your Grace shall understand that at the receipt of your letter I am very sick: but in the instant that your messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome; his 153 name is Balthasar. I acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turned o’er many 155 books together: he is furnished with my opinion; which, bettered with his own learning,—the greatness whereof I cannot enough commend,—comes with him, at my importunity, to fill up your Grace’s request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation; for I never knew so young a 160 body with so old a head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his commendation.

Duke. You hear the learn’d Bellario, what he writes:

163 And here, I take it, is the doctor come.

Enter Portia for Balthasar.

164 Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario?

Por. I did, my lord.

165 You are welcome: take your place.

Are you acquainted with the difference

That holds this present question in the court?

Por. I am informed throughly of the cause.

Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

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

Por. Is your name Shylock?

Shylock is my name.

Por. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow;

Yet in such rule that the Venetian law

174 Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.

175 You stand within his danger, do you not?

Ant. Ay, so he says.

Do you confess the bond?

Ant. I do.

Then must the Jew be merciful.

Shy. On what compulsion must I? tell me that.

Por. The quality of mercy is not strain’d,

180 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

181 Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:

’Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown;

185 His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,

190 It is an attribute to God himself;

191 And earthly power doth then show likest God’s

When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,

That, in the course of justice, none of us

195 Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much

To mitigate the justice of thy plea;

199 Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice

200 Must needs give sentence ’gainst the merchant there.

Shy. My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,

The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

Por. Is he not able to discharge the money?

Bass. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;

205 Yea, twice the sum: if that will not suffice,

I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er,

On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:

If this will not suffice, it must appear

209 That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you,

210 Wrest once the law to your authority:

To do a great right, do a little wrong,

And curb this cruel devil of his will.

Por. It must not be; there is no power in Venice

Can alter a decree established:

215 ’Twill be recorded for a precedent,

And many an error, by the same example,

Will rush into the state: it cannot be.

Shy. A Daniel come to judgement! yea, a Daniel!

219 O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!

220 Por. I pray you, let me look upon the bond.

Shy. Here ’tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.

222 Por. Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offer’d thee.

Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven:

Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?

225 No, not for Venice.

225 Why, this bond is forfeit;

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim

A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off

Nearest the merchant’s heart. Be merciful:

Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.

230 Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour.

It doth appear you are a worthy judge;

You know the law, your exposition

Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,

Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,

235 Proceed to judgement: by my soul I swear

There is no power in the tongue of man

To alter me: I stay here on my bond.

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court

To give the judgement.

Why then, thus it is:

240 You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

Shy. O noble judge! O excellent young man!

Por. For the intent and purpose of the law

Hath full relation to the penalty,

Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

245 Shy. ’Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!

Por. Therefore lay bare your bosom.

Ay, his breast:

So says the bond:—doth it not, noble judge?—

‘Nearest his heart:’ those are the very words.

250 Por. It is so. Are there balance here to weigh

The flesh?

Shy. I have them ready.

Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,

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

254 Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond?

255 Por. It is not so express’d: but what of that?

’Twere good you do so much for charity.

Shy. I cannot find it; ’tis not in the bond.

258 Por. You, merchant, have you any thing to say?

Ant. But little: I am arm’d and well prepared.

260 Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!

Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;

For herein Fortune shows herself more kind

263 Than is her custom: it is still her use

To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,

265 To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow

An age of poverty; from which lingering penance

267 Of such misery doth she cut me off.

Commend me to your honourable wife:

Tell her the process of Antonio’s end;

270 Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death;

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

272 Whether Bassanio had not once a love.

273 Repent but you that you shall lose your friend,

And he repents not that he pays your debt;

275 For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,

276 I’ll pay it presently with all my heart.

Bass. 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,

280 Are not with me esteem’d above thy life:

281 I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all

Here to this devil, to deliver you.

Por. Your wife would give you little thanks for that,

If she were by, to hear you make the offer.

285 Gra. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love:

I would she were in heaven, so she could

Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.

Ner. ’Tis well you offer it behind her back;

The wish would make else an unquiet house.

290 Shy. These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter;

Would any of the stock of Barrabas

292 Had been her husband rather than a Christian! [Aside.

We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.

Por. A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine:

295 The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

Shy. Most rightful judge!

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:

The law allows it, and the court awards it.

Shy. Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare!

300 Por. Tarry a little; there is something else.

301 This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;

The words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh:’

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

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed

305 One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate

Unto the state of Venice.

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

Shy. Is that the law?

Thyself shalt see the act:

310 For, as thou urgest justice, be assured

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

Gra. O learned judge! Mark, Jew: a learned judge!

313 Shy. I take this offer, then; pay the bond thrice,

And let the Christian go.

Here is the money.

315 Por. Soft!

The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste:

He shall have nothing but the penalty.

Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!

Por. Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.

320 Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less nor more

321 But just a pound of flesh: if thou cut’st more

322 Or less than a just pound, be it but so much

323 As makes it light or heavy in the substance,

324 Or the division of the twentieth part

325 Of one poor scruple, nay, if the scale do turn

But in the estimation of a hair,

Thou diest and all thy goods are confiscate.

Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!

329 Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.

330 Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.

Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go.

Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is.

Por. He hath refused it in the open court:

334 He shall have merely justice and his bond.

335 Gra. A Daniel, still say I, a second Daniel!

I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

337 Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal?

Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,

339 To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

340 Shy. Why, then the devil give him good of it!

341 I’ll stay no longer question.

Tarry, Jew:

The law hath yet another hold on you.

It is enacted in the laws of Venice,

344 If it be proved against an alien

345 That by direct or indirect attempts

He seek the life of any citizen,

The party ’gainst the which he doth contrive

348 Shall seize one half his goods; the other half

349 Comes to the privy coffer of the state;

350 And the offender’s life lies in the mercy

Of the Duke only, ’gainst all other voice.

In which predicament, I say, thou stand’st;

For it appears, by manifest proceeding,

That indirectly, and directly too,

355 Thou hast contrived against the very life

Of the defendant; and thou hast incurr’d

357 The danger formerly by me rehearsed.

Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.

Gra. Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself:

360 And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,

Thou hast not left the value of a cord;

Therefore thou must be hang’d at the state’s charge.

363 Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirits,

I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:

365 For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s;

The other half comes to the general state,

Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

Por. Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.

Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:

370 You take my house, when you do take the

That doth sustain my house; you take my life,

When you do take the means whereby I live.

Por. What mercy can you render him, Antonio?

374 Gra. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God’s sake.

375 Ant. So please my lord the Duke and all the court

376 To quit the fine for one half of his goods,

I am content; so he will let me have

The other half in use, to render it,

379 Upon his death, unto the gentleman

380 That lately stole his daughter:

Two things provided more, that, for this favour,

He presently become a Christian;

The other, that he do record a gift,

384 Here in the court, of all he dies possess’d,

385 Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant

The pardon that I late pronounced here.

Por. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?

Shy. I am content.

Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

390 Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence;

I am not well: send the deed after me,

And I will sign it.

Get thee gone, but do it.

393 Gra. In christening shalt thou have two godfathers:

Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,

395 To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. [Exit Shylock.

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

397 Por. I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon:

I must away this night toward Padua,

And it is meet I presently set forth.

400 Duke. I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.

Antonio, gratify this gentleman,

For, in my mind, you are much bound to him. [Exeunt Duke and his train.

403 Bass. Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend

Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted

405 Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof,

Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew,

We freely cope your courteous pains withal.

Ant. And stand indebted, over and above,

In love and service to you evermore.

410 Por. He is well paid that is well satisfied;

And I, delivering you, am satisfied

And therein do account myself well paid:

413 My mind was never yet more mercenary.

I pray you, know me when we meet again:

415 I wish you well, and so I take my leave.

Bass. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further:

Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,

418 Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,

Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

420 Por. You press me far, and therefore I will yield.

421 Give me your gloves, I’ll wear them for your sake; [To Ant.

422 And, for your love, I’ll take this ring from you [To Bass.]:

Do not draw back your hand; I’ll take no more;

And you in love shall not deny me this.

425 Bass. This ring, good sir, alas, it is a trifle!

I will not shame myself to give you this.

Por. I will have nothing else but only this;

And now methinks I have a mind to it.

429 Bass. There’s more depends on this than on the value.

430 The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,

And find it out by proclamation:

Only for this, I pray you, pardon me.

Por. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers:

You taught me first to beg; and now methinks

435 You teach me how a beggar should be answer’d.

Bass. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;

And when she put it on, she made me vow

That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.

Por. That ’scuse serves many men to save their gifts.

440 An if your wife be not a mad-woman,

441 And know how well I have deserved the ring,

442 She would not hold out enemy for ever,

For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you! [Exeunt Portia and Nerissa.

Ant. My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring:

445 Let his deservings and my love withal

446 Be valued ’gainst your wife’s commandment.

Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him;

Give him the ring; and bring him, if thou canst,

449 Unto Antonio’s house: away! make haste. [Exit Gratiano.

450 Come, you and I will thither presently;

And in the morning early will we both

Fly toward Belmont: come, Antonio. [Exeunt.