_Por._ Therefore lay bare your bosom. _Shy._ Ay, his breast: So says the bond: doth it not, noble judge? "Nearest his heart:" those are the very words. _Por._ It is so. Are there balance here to weigh The flesh? _Shy._ I have them ready. _Por._ Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. _Shy._ Is it so nominated in the bond? _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. _Por._ You, merchant, have you any thing to say? _Ant._ But little: I am arm'd and well prepared. 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 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 lingering 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 loved you, speak me fair in death; And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge Whether Bassanio had not once a love. Repent not 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 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, Are not with me esteem'd above thy life: 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. _Gra._ I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love: I would she were in heaven, so she could Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. _Ner._ 'Tis well you offer it behind her back; The wish would make else an unquiet house. _Shy._ These be the Christian husbands. I have a daughter; Would any of the stock of Barabbas Had been her husband rather than a Christian! [_Aside._] We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence. _Por._ A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine: The court awards it, and the law doth give it. _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! _Por._ Tarry a little; there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are "a pound of flesh:" Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of Christian blood, thy land 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? _Por._ Thyself shalt see the act: For as thou urgest justice, be assured Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.