But no mercy would the cruel Shylock show; and he said, “By my soul, I swear there is no power in the tongue of man to alter me.” “Why, then, Antonio,” said Portia, “you must prepare your bosom for the knife.” And while Shylock was sharpening a long knife with great eagerness to cut off the pound of flesh, Portia said to Antonio, “Have you anything to say?” Antonio with a calm resignation replied that he had but little to say, for that he had prepared his mind for death. Then he said to Bassanio: “Give me your hand, Bassanio! Fare you well! Grieve not that I am fallen into this misfortune for you. Commend me to your honorable wife and tell her how I have loved you!” Bassanio in the deepest affliction replied: “Antonio, I am married to a wife who is as dear to me as life itself; but life itself, my wife, and all the world are not esteemed with me above your life. I would lose all, I would sacrifice all to this devil here, to deliver you.” Portia hearing this, though the kind-hearted lady was not at all offended with her husband for expressing the love he owed to so true a friend as Antonio in these strong terms, yet could not help answering: “Your wife would give you little thanks, if she were present, to hear you make this offer.” And then Gratiano, who loved to copy what his lord did, thought he must make a speech like Bassanio’s, and he said, in Nerissa’s hearing, who was writing in her clerk’s dress by the side of Portia: “I have a wife whom I protest I love. I wish she were in heaven if she could but entreat some power there to change the cruel temper of this currish Jew.” “It is well you wish this behind her back, else you would have but an unquiet house,” said Nerissa. Shylock now cried out, impatiently: “We trifle time. I pray pronounce the sentence.” And now all was awful expectation in the court, and every heart was full of grief for Antonio. Portia asked if the scales were ready to weigh the flesh; and she said to the Jew, “Shylock, you must have some surgeon by, lest he bleed to death.” Shylock, whose whole intent was that Antonio should bleed to death, said, “It is not so named in the bond.” Portia replied: “It is not so named in the bond, but what of that? It were good you did so much for charity.” To this all the answer Shylock would make was, “I cannot find it; it is not in the bond.” “Then,” said Portia, “a pound of Antonio’s flesh is thine. The law allows it and the court awards it. And you may cut this flesh from off his breast. The law allows it and the court awards it.” Again Shylock exclaimed: “O wise and upright judge! A Daniel is come to judgment!” And then he sharpened his long knife again, and looking eagerly on Antonio, he said, “Come, prepare!”