Enter the DUKE, the MAGNIFICOES, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALERIO, and OTHERSDUKE OF VENICE.What, is Antonio here? ANTONIO.Ready, so please your Grace.DUKE OF VENICE.I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch, Uncapable of pity, void and empty From any dram of mercy.ANTONIO.I have heard 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 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 OF VENICE.Go one, and call the Jew into the court.SALERIO.He is ready at the door; he comes, my lord.
Enter SHYLOCK
DUKE OF VENICE.Make room, and let him stand before our face.Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but leadest this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought, Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse, more strange Than is thy strange apparent cruelty; And where thou now exacts the penalty, Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh, Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture, 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- Enow to press a royal merchant down, And pluck commiseration of his state 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.SHYLOCK.I have possess'd your Grace of what I purpose, 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 *******.You'll ask me why I rather choose to have A weight of carrion flesh than to receive Three thousand ducats.I'll not answer that, But say it is my humour- is it answer'd? What if my house be troubled with a rat, And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats To have it ban'd? What, are you answer'd yet? Some men there are love not a gapingpig; Some that are mad if they behold a cat; And others, when the bagpipe sings i' th' nose, 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 rend'red Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; Why he, a harmless necessary cat; Why he, a woollen bagpipe, but of force Must yield to such inevitable shame As to offend, himself being offended; So can I give no reason, nor I will not, More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing I bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him.Are you answered? BASSANIO.This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, To excuse the current of thy cruelty.SHYLOCK.I am not bound to please thee with my answers.BASSANIO.Do all men kill the things they do not love? SHYLOCK.Hates any man the thing he would not kill? BASSANIO.Every offence is not a hate at first.SHYLOCK.What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? ANTONIO.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; You may as well use question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops and to make no noise When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven; You may as well do anything most hard As seek to soften that- than which what's harder?- His jewish heart.Therefore, I do beseech you, Make no moe offers, use no farther means, But with all brief and plain conveniency Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.BASSANIO.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 OF VENICE.How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none? SHYLOCK.What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? You have among you many a purchas'd slave, Which, fike 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 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 Is dearly bought, 'tis mine, and I will have it.If you denyme, fie upon your law! There is no force in the decrees of Venice.I stand for judgment; answer; shall I have it? DUKE OF VENICE.Upon my power I may dismiss this court, Unless Bellario, a learned doctor, Whom I have sent for to determine this, Come here to-day.SALERIO.My lord, here stays without A messenger with letters from the doctor, New come from Padua.DUKE OF VENICE.Bring us the letters; call the messenger.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 employ'd, Bassanio, Than to live still, and write mine epitaph.
