Let me have judgement and the Jew his will.

BASSANIO (to Shylock)

For thy three thousand ducats here is six.

SHYLOCK

If every ducat in six thousand ducats

Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,

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

DUKE

How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring none?

SHYLOCK

What judgement shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchased slave

Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,

You use in abject and in slavish parts

Because you bought them. Shall I say to you

‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs.

Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates

Be seasoned with such viands.’ You will answer

‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you.

The pound of flesh which I demand of him

Is dearly bought. ’Tis mine, and I will have it.

If you deny me, fie upon your law:

There is no force in the decrees of Venice.

I stand for judgement. Answer: shall I have it?

DUKE

Upon my power I may dismiss this court

Unless Bellario, a learned doctor

Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here today.

SALERIO My lord, here stays without

A messenger with letters from the doctor,

New come from Padua.

DUKE

Bring us the letters. Call the messenger. ⌈Exit Salerio⌉

BASSANIO

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

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

Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

ANTONIO

I am a tainted wether of the flock,

Meetest for death. The weakest kind of fruit

Drops earliest to the ground; and so let me.

You cannot better be employed, Bassanio,

Than to live still and write mine epitaph.

Enter ⌈Salerio, with⌉ Nerissa apparelled as a judge’s clerk

DUKE

Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

NERISSA

From both, my lord. Bellario greets your grace.

She gives a letter to the Duke.

Shylock whets his knife on his shoe

BASSANIO (to Shylock)

Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?

SHYLOCK

To cut the forfeit from that bankrupt there.

GRAZIANO

Not on thy sole but on thy soul, harsh Jew,

Thou mak’st thy knife keen. But no metal can,

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

Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?

SHYLOCK

No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.

GRAZIANO

O, be thou damned, inexorable dog,

And for thy life let justice be accused!

Thou almost mak‘st me waver in my faith

To hold opinion with Pythagoras

That souls of animals infuse themselves

Into the trunks of men. Thy currish spirit

Governed a wolf who, hanged for human slaughter,

Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,

And, whilst thou lay’st in thy unhallowed dam,

Infused itself in thee; for thy desires

Are wolvish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.

SHYLOCK

Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond

Thou but offend’st thy lungs to speak so loud.

Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall

To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.

DUKE

This letter from Bellario doth commend

A young and learned doctor to our court.

Where is he?

NERISSA 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.

Exeunt three or four

Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.

(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 name is Balthasar. I

acquainted him with the cause in controversy between

the Jew and Antonio, the merchant. We turned o’er

many books together. He is 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 body with so old a head. I

leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial

shall better publish his commendation.’

Enter ⌈three or four with⌉ Portia as Balthasar

You hear the learn’d Bellario, what he writes;

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

(To Portia) Give me your hand. Come you from old

Bellario?

PORTIA

I did, my lord.

DUKE You are welcome. Take your place.

Are you acquainted with the difference

That holds this present question in the court?

PORTIA

I am informed throughly of the cause.

Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

DUKE

Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.

Antonio and Shylock stand forth

PORTIA

Is your name Shylock?

SHYLOCK Shylock is my name.

PORTIA

Of a strange nature is the suit you follow,

Yet in such rule that the Venetian law

Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.

(To Antonio) You stand within his danger, do you not?

ANTONIO

Ay, so he says.

PORTIA Do you confess the bond?