_Ant_. But little; I am arm'd and well prepar'd.-- 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 a misery doth she cut me off. Commend me to your honorable 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 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 instantly with all my heart. _Bas_. 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. _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. _Shy_. These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter; Would any of the stock of Barrabas[108] 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: Then take 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. _Gra_. O upright judge!--Mark, Jew!--O learned judge! _Shy_. Is that the law? _Por_. Thyself shall see the act; For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd Thou shalt have justice more than thou desir'st. _Gra_. O learned judge!--Mark Jew;--a learned judge! _Shy_. I take his offer, then,--pay the bond thrice, And let the Christian go. _Bas_. Here is the money. _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.(D) Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more, But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more, Or less, than a just pound,--be it but so much As makes it light or heavy in the balance, Or the division of the twentieth part 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! Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.