The Merchant of Venice - Act 4, scene 1
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The Merchant of Venice - Act 4, scene 1Act 4, scene 1
Synopsis:
In court at Venice, Shylock demands that the terms of his bond be fulfilled. Portia enters as a doctor of laws, with a letter of introduction from Dr. Bellario. She saves Antonio by determining that the bond allows Shylock no more than a pound of Antonio’s flesh and not a drop of his blood. She also finds Shylock guilty of plotting the death of a Venetian and subject to the penalty of forfeiting his estate and suffering execution. Antonio intercedes with the Duke to reduce the penalty. A defeated Shylock agrees to the proposed terms.
Bassanio offers the disguised Portia the three thousand ducats that he brought to give to Shylock, but Portia demands the ring that she herself gave Bassanio. When he refuses, she departs as if insulted. When Antonio asks Bassanio to give the ring, Bassanio sends Gratiano after her with it.
Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes, Antonio, Bassanio,⌜Salerio,⌝ and Gratiano, ⌜with Attendants.⌝
DUKE 1910 What, is Antonio here?
ANTONIO 1911 Ready, so please your Grace.
DUKE
1912 I am sorry for thee. Thou art come to answer
1913 A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch,
1914 5 Uncapable of pity, void and empty
1915 From any dram of mercy.
ANTONIO 1916 I have heard
1917 Your Grace hath ta’en great pains to qualify
1918 His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,
1919 10 And that no lawful means can carry me
1920 Out of his envy’s reach, I do oppose
1921 My patience to his fury, and am armed
1922 To suffer with a quietness of spirit
1923 The very tyranny and rage of his.
DUKE
1924 15 Go, one, and call the Jew into the court.
SALERIO
1925 He is ready at the door. He comes, my lord.
Enter Shylock.
DUKE
1926 Make room, and let him stand before our face.—
1928 That thou but leadest this fashion of thy malice
1929 20 To the last hour of act, and then, ’tis thought,
1930 Thou ’lt show thy mercy and remorse more strange
1931 Than is thy strange apparent cruelty;
1932 And where thou now exacts the penalty,
1933 Which is a pound of this poor merchant’s flesh,
1934 25 Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
1935 But, touched with humane gentleness and love,
1936 Forgive a moi’ty of the principal,
1937 Glancing an eye of pity on his losses
1938 That have of late so huddled on his back,
1939 30 Enow to press a royal merchant down
1940 And pluck commiseration of ⌜his state⌝
1941 From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of ⌜flint,⌝
1942 From stubborn Turks, and Tartars never trained
1943 To offices of tender courtesy.
1944 35 We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.
SHYLOCK
1945 I have possessed your Grace of what I purpose,
1946 And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
1947 To have the due and forfeit of my bond.
1948 If you deny it, let the danger light
1949 40 Upon your charter and your city’s freedom!
1950 You’ll ask me why I rather choose to have
1951 A weight of carrion flesh than to receive
1952 Three thousand ducats. I’ll not answer that,
1953 But say it is my humor. Is it answered?
1954 45 What if my house be troubled with a rat,
1955 And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
1956 To have it baned? What, are you answered yet?
1957 Some men there are love not a gaping pig,
1958 Some that are mad if they behold a cat,
1959 50 And others, when the bagpipe sings i’ th’ nose,
1960 Cannot contain their urine; for affection
1961 Masters ⌜oft⌝ passion, sways it to the mood
1963 As there is no firm reason to be rendered
1964 55 Why he cannot abide a gaping pig,
1965 Why he a harmless necessary cat,
1966 Why he a woolen bagpipe, but of force
1967 Must yield to such inevitable shame
1968 As to offend, himself being offended,
1969 60 So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
1970 More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
1971 I bear Antonio, that I follow thus
1972 A losing suit against him. Are you answered?
BASSANIO
1973 This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
1974 65 To excuse the current of thy cruelty.
SHYLOCK
1975 I am not bound to please thee with my answers.
BASSANIO
1976 Do all men kill the things they do not love?
SHYLOCK
1977 Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
BASSANIO
1978 Every offence is not a hate at first.
SHYLOCK
1979 70 What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
ANTONIO, ⌜to Bassanio⌝
1980 I pray you, think you question with the Jew.
1981 You may as well go stand upon the beach
1982 And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
1983 You may as well use question with the wolf
1984 75 Why he hath made the ewe ⌜bleat⌝ for the lamb;
1985 You may as well forbid the mountain pines
1986 To wag their high tops and to make no noise
1987 When they are fretten with the gusts of heaven;
1988 You may as well do anything most hard
1989 80 As seek to soften that than which what’s harder?—
1990 His Jewish heart. Therefore I do beseech you
1992 But with all brief and plain conveniency
1993 Let me have judgment and the Jew his will.
BASSANIO
1994 85 For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
SHYLOCK
1995 If every ducat in six thousand ducats
1996 Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,
1997 I would not draw them. I would have my bond.
DUKE
1998 How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend’ring none?
SHYLOCK
1999 90 What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
2000 You have among you many a purchased slave,
2001 Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
2002 You use in abject and in slavish parts
2003 Because you bought them. Shall I say to you
2004 95 “Let them be free! Marry them to your heirs!
2005 Why sweat they under burdens? Let their beds
2006 Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
2007 Be seasoned with such viands”? You will answer
2008 “The slaves are ours!” So do I answer you:
2009 100 The pound of flesh which I demand of him
2010 Is dearly bought; ⌜’tis⌝ mine and I will have it.
2011 If you deny me, fie upon your law:
2012 There is no force in the decrees of Venice.
2013 I stand for judgment. Answer: shall I have it?
DUKE
2014 105 Upon my power I may dismiss this court
2015 Unless Bellario, a learnèd doctor
2016 Whom I have sent for to determine this,
2017 Come here today.
SALERIO 2018 My lord, here stays without
2019 110 A messenger with letters from the doctor,
2020 New come from Padua.
2021 Bring us the letters. Call the messenger.
BASSANIO
2022 Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet!
2023 The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all
2024 115 Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood!
ANTONIO
2025 I am a tainted wether of the flock,
2026 Meetest for death. The weakest kind of fruit
2027 Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me.
2028 You cannot better be employed, Bassanio,
2029 120 Than to live still and write mine epitaph.
Enter Nerissa, ⌜disguised as a lawyer’s clerk.⌝
DUKE
2030 Came you from Padua, from Bellario?
NERISSA, ⌜as Clerk⌝
2031 From both, my lord. Bellario greets your Grace.
⌜Handing him a paper, which he reads, aside, while
Shylock sharpens his knife on the sole of his shoe.⌝
BASSANIO
2032 Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly?
SHYLOCK
2033 To cut the forfeiture from that bankrout there.
GRATIANO
2034 125 Not on thy sole but on thy soul, harsh Jew,
2035 Thou mak’st thy knife keen. But no metal can,
2036 No, not the hangman’s axe, bear half the keenness
2037 Of thy sharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?
SHYLOCK
2038 No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.
GRATIANO
2039 130 O, be thou damned, inexecrable dog,
2040 And for thy life let justice be accused;
2041 Thou almost mak’st me waver in my faith,
2042 To hold opinion with Pythagoras
2044 135 Into the trunks of men. Thy currish spirit
2045 Governed a wolf who, hanged for human slaughter,
2046 Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet,
2047 And whilst thou layest in thy unhallowed dam,
2048 Infused itself in thee, for thy desires
2049 140 Are wolfish, bloody, starved, and ravenous.
SHYLOCK
2050 Till thou canst rail the seal from off my bond,
2051 Thou but offend’st thy lungs to speak so loud.
2052 Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
2053 To cureless ruin. I stand here for law.
DUKE
2054 145 This letter from Bellario doth commend
2055 A young and learnèd doctor to our court.
2056 Where is he?
NERISSA, ⌜as Clerk⌝ 2057 He attendeth here hard by
2058 To know your answer whether you’ll admit him.
DUKE
2059 150 With all my heart.—Some three or four of you
2060 Go give him courteous conduct to this place.
⌜Attendants exit.⌝
2061 Meantime the court shall hear Bellario’s letter.
⌜He reads.⌝
2062 Your Grace shall understand that, at the receipt of
2063 your letter, I am very sick, but in the instant that your
2064 155 messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a
2065 young doctor of Rome. His name is Balthazar. I
2066 acquainted him with the cause in controversy between
2067 the Jew and Antonio the merchant. We turned o’er
2068 many books together. He is furnished with my opinion,
2069 160 which, bettered with his own learning (the greatness
2070 whereof I cannot enough commend), comes with
2071 him at my importunity to fill up your Grace’s request
2072 in my stead. I beseech you let his lack of years be no
2073 impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation, for I
2075 leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial
2076 shall better publish his commendation.
2077 You hear the learnèd Bellario what he writes.
Enter Portia for Balthazar, ⌜disguised as a doctor of
laws, with Attendants.⌝
2078 And here I take it is the doctor come.—
2079 170 Give me your hand. Come you from old Bellario?
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2080 I did, my lord.
DUKE 2081 You are welcome. Take your place.
2082 Are you acquainted with the difference
2083 That holds this present question in the court?
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2084 175 I am informèd throughly of the cause.
2085 Which is the merchant here? And which the Jew?
DUKE
2086 Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2087 Is your name Shylock?
SHYLOCK 2088 Shylock is my name.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2089 180 Of a strange nature is the suit you follow,
2090 Yet in such rule that the Venetian law
2091 Cannot impugn you as you do proceed.
2092 ⌜To Antonio.⌝ You stand within his danger, do you
2093 not?
ANTONIO
2094 185 Ay, so he says.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2095 Do you confess the bond?
ANTONIO
2096 I do.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2097 Then must the Jew be merciful.
SHYLOCK
2098 On what compulsion must I? Tell me that.
2099 190 The quality of mercy is not strained.
2100 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
2101 Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
2102 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
2103 ’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
2104 195 The thronèd monarch better than his crown.
2105 His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
2106 The attribute to awe and majesty
2107 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
2108 But mercy is above this sceptered sway.
2109 200 It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;
2110 It is an attribute to God Himself;
2111 And earthly power doth then show likest God’s
2112 When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
2113 Though justice be thy plea, consider this:
2114 205 That in the course of justice none of us
2115 Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,
2116 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
2117 The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much
2118 To mitigate the justice of thy plea,
2119 210 Which, if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
2120 Must needs give sentence ’gainst the merchant
2121 there.
SHYLOCK
2122 My deeds upon my head! I crave the law,
2123 The penalty and forfeit of my bond.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2124 215 Is he not able to discharge the money?
BASSANIO
2125 Yes. Here I tender it for him in the court,
2126 Yea, twice the sum. If that will not suffice,
2127 I will be bound to pay it ten times o’er
2128 On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart.
2129 220 If this will not suffice, it must appear
2131 beseech you,
2132 Wrest once the law to your authority.
2133 To do a great right, do a little wrong,
2134 225 And curb this cruel devil of his will.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2135 It must not be. There is no power in Venice
2136 Can alter a decree establishèd;
2137 ’Twill be recorded for a precedent
2138 And many an error by the same example
2139 230 Will rush into the state. It cannot be.
SHYLOCK
2140 A Daniel come to judgment! Yea, a Daniel.
2141 O wise young judge, how I do honor thee!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2142 I pray you let me look upon the bond.
SHYLOCK
2143 Here ’tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.
⌜Handing Portia a paper.⌝
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2144 235 Shylock, there’s thrice thy money offered thee.
SHYLOCK
2145 An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven!
2146 Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?
2147 ⌜No,⌝ not for Venice!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2148 Why, this bond is forfeit,
2149 240 And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
2150 A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
2151 Nearest the merchant’s heart.—Be merciful;
2152 Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.
SHYLOCK
2153 When it is paid according to the tenor.
2154 245 It doth appear you are a worthy judge;
2155 You know the law; your exposition
2156 Hath been most sound. I charge you by the law,
2157 Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
2159 250 There is no power in the tongue of man
2160 To alter me. I stay here on my bond.
ANTONIO
2161 Most heartily I do beseech the court
2162 To give the judgment.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2163 Why, then, thus it is:
2164 255 You must prepare your bosom for his knife—
SHYLOCK
2165 O noble judge! O excellent young man!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2166 For the intent and purpose of the law
2167 Hath full relation to the penalty,
2168 Which here appeareth due upon the bond.
SHYLOCK
2169 260 ’Tis very true. O wise and upright judge,
2170 How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar, to Antonio⌝
2171 Therefore lay bare your bosom—
SHYLOCK 2172 Ay, his breast!
2173 So says the bond, doth it not, noble judge?
2174 265 “Nearest his heart.” Those are the very words.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2175 It is so.
2176 Are there balance here to weigh the flesh?
SHYLOCK 2177 I have them ready.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2178 Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge,
2179 270 To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.
SHYLOCK
2180 Is it so nominated in the bond?
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2181 It is not so expressed, but what of that?
2182 ’Twere good you do so much for charity.
SHYLOCK
2183 I cannot find it. ’Tis not in the bond.
2184 275 You, merchant, have you anything to say?
ANTONIO
2185 But little. I am armed and well prepared.—
2186 Give me your hand, Bassanio. Fare you well.
2187 Grieve not that I am fall’n to this for you,
2188 For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
2189 280 Than is her custom: it is still her use
2190 To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
2191 To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
2192 An age of poverty, from which ling’ring penance
2193 Of such misery doth she cut me off.
2194 285 Commend me to your honorable wife,
2195 Tell her the process of Antonio’s end,
2196 Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death,
2197 And when the tale is told, bid her be judge
2198 Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
2199 290 Repent but you that you shall lose your friend
2200 And he repents not that he pays your debt.
2201 For if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
2202 I’ll pay it instantly with all my heart.
BASSANIO
2203 Antonio, I am married to a wife
2204 295 Which is as dear to me as life itself,
2205 But life itself, my wife, and all the world
2206 Are not with me esteemed above thy life.
2207 I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
2208 Here to this devil, to deliver you.
PORTIA, ⌜aside⌝
2209 300 Your wife would give you little thanks for that
2210 If she were by to hear you make the offer.
GRATIANO
2211 I have a wife who I protest I love.
2212 I would she were in heaven, so she could
2213 Entreat some power to change this currish Jew.
2214 305 ’Tis well you offer it behind her back.
2215 The wish would make else an unquiet house.
SHYLOCK
2216 These be the Christian husbands! I have a
2217 daughter—
2218 Would any of the stock of Barabbas
2219 310 Had been her husband, rather than a Christian!
2220 We trifle time. I pray thee, pursue sentence.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2221 A pound of that same merchant’s flesh is thine:
2222 The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
SHYLOCK 2223 Most rightful judge!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2224 315 And you must cut this flesh from off his breast:
2225 The law allows it, and the court awards it.
SHYLOCK
2226 Most learnèd judge! A sentence!—Come, prepare.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2227 Tarry a little. There is something else.
2228 This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood.
2229 320 The words expressly are “a pound of flesh.”
2230 Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh,
2231 But in the cutting it, if thou dost shed
2232 One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
2233 Are by the laws of Venice confiscate
2234 325 Unto the state of Venice.
GRATIANO
2235 O upright judge!—Mark, Jew.—O learnèd judge!
SHYLOCK
2236 Is that the law?
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2237 Thyself shalt see the act.
2238 For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
2239 330 Thou shalt have justice more than thou desir’st.
GRATIANO
2240 O learnèd judge!—Mark, Jew, a learnèd judge!
2241 I take this offer then. Pay the bond thrice
2242 And let the Christian go.
BASSANIO 2243 Here is the money.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2244 335 Soft! The Jew shall have all justice. Soft, no haste!
2245 He shall have nothing but the penalty.
GRATIANO
2246 O Jew, an upright judge, a learnèd judge!
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2247 Therefore prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
2248 Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less nor more
2249 340 But just a pound of flesh. If thou tak’st more
2250 Or less than a just pound, be it but so much
2251 As makes it light or heavy in the substance
2252 Or the division of the twentieth part
2253 Of one poor scruple—nay, if the scale do turn
2254 345 But in the estimation of a hair,
2255 Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.
GRATIANO
2256 A second Daniel! A Daniel, Jew!
2257 Now, infidel, I have you on the hip.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2258 Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.
SHYLOCK
2259 350 Give me my principal and let me go.
BASSANIO
2260 I have it ready for thee. Here it is.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2261 He hath refused it in the open court.
2262 He shall have merely justice and his bond.
GRATIANO
2263 A Daniel still, say I! A second Daniel!—
2264 355 I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
SHYLOCK
2265 Shall I not have barely my principal?
2266 Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture
2267 To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.
SHYLOCK
2268 Why, then, the devil give him good of it!
2269 360 I’ll stay no longer question.⌜He begins to exit.⌝
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2270 Tarry, Jew.
2271 The law hath yet another hold on you.
2272 It is enacted in the laws of Venice,
2273 If it be proved against an alien
2274 365 That by direct or indirect attempts
2275 He seek the life of any citizen,
2276 The party ’gainst the which he doth contrive
2277 Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
2278 Comes to the privy coffer of the state,
2279 370 And the offender’s life lies in the mercy
2280 Of the Duke only, ’gainst all other voice.
2281 In which predicament I say thou stand’st,
2282 For it appears by manifest proceeding
2283 That indirectly, and directly too,
2284 375 Thou hast contrived against the very life
2285 Of the defendant, and thou hast incurred
2286 The danger formerly by me rehearsed.
2287 Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.
GRATIANO
2288 Beg that thou mayst have leave to hang thyself!
2289 380 And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state,
2290 Thou hast not left the value of a cord;
2291 Therefore thou must be hanged at the state’s
2292 charge.
DUKE
2293 That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
2294 385 I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
2295 For half thy wealth, it is Antonio’s;
2296 The other half comes to the general state,
2297 Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.
2298 Ay, for the state, not for Antonio.
SHYLOCK
2299 390 Nay, take my life and all. Pardon not that.
2300 You take my house when you do take the prop
2301 That doth sustain my house; you take my life
2302 When you do take the means whereby I live.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2303 What mercy can you render him, Antonio?
GRATIANO
2304 395 A halter gratis, nothing else, for God’s sake!
ANTONIO
2305 So please my lord the Duke and all the court
2306 To quit the fine for one half of his goods,
2307 I am content, so he will let me have
2308 The other half in use, to render it
2309 400 Upon his death unto the gentleman
2310 That lately stole his daughter.
2311 Two things provided more: that for this favor
2312 He presently become a Christian;
2313 The other, that he do record a gift,
2314 405 Here in the court, of all he dies possessed
2315 Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.
DUKE
2316 He shall do this, or else I do recant
2317 The pardon that I late pronouncèd here.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2318 Art thou contented, Jew? What dost thou say?
SHYLOCK
2319 410 I am content.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝ 2320 Clerk, draw a deed of gift.
SHYLOCK
2321 I pray you give me leave to go from hence.
2322 I am not well. Send the deed after me
2323 And I will sign it.
DUKE 2324 415 Get thee gone, but do it.
2325 In christ’ning shalt thou have two godfathers.
2326 Had I been judge, thou shouldst have had ten more,
2327 To bring thee to the gallows, not to the font.
⌜Shylock⌝ exits.
DUKE, ⌜to Portia as Balthazar⌝
2328 Sir, I entreat you home with me to dinner.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2329 420 I humbly do desire your Grace of pardon.
2330 I must away this night toward Padua,
2331 And it is meet I presently set forth.
DUKE
2332 I am sorry that your leisure serves you not.—
2333 Antonio, gratify this gentleman,
2334 425 For in my mind you are much bound to him.
The Duke and his train exit.
BASSANIO, ⌜to Portia as Balthazar⌝
2335 Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend
2336 Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted
2337 Of grievous penalties, in lieu whereof
2338 Three thousand ducats due unto the Jew
2339 430 We freely cope your courteous pains withal.
ANTONIO
2340 And stand indebted, over and above,
2341 In love and service to you evermore.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2342 He is well paid that is well satisfied,
2343 And I, delivering you, am satisfied,
2344 435 And therein do account myself well paid.
2345 My mind was never yet more mercenary.
2346 I pray you know me when we meet again.
2347 I wish you well, and so I take my leave.
⌜She begins to exit.⌝
BASSANIO
2348 Dear sir, of force I must attempt you further.
2349 440 Take some remembrance of us as a tribute,
2351 Not to deny me, and to pardon me.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2352 You press me far, and therefore I will yield.
2353 Give me your gloves; I’ll wear them for your sake—
2354 445 And for your love I’ll take this ring from you.
2355 Do not draw back your hand; I’ll take no more,
2356 And you in love shall not deny me this.
BASSANIO
2357 This ring, good sir? Alas, it is a trifle.
2358 I will not shame myself to give you this.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2359 450 I will have nothing else but only this.
2360 And now methinks I have a mind to it.
BASSANIO
2361 There’s more depends on this than on the value.
2362 The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
2363 And find it out by proclamation.
2364 455 Only for this, I pray you pardon me.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2365 I see, sir, you are liberal in offers.
2366 You taught me first to beg, and now methinks
2367 You teach me how a beggar should be answered.
BASSANIO
2368 Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife,
2369 460 And when she put it on, she made me vow
2370 That I should neither sell nor give nor lose it.
PORTIA, ⌜as Balthazar⌝
2371 That ’scuse serves many men to save their gifts.
2372 And if your wife be not a madwoman,
2373 And know how well I have deserved this ring,
2374 465 She would not hold out enemy forever
2375 For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you.
⌜Portia and Nerissa⌝ exit.
ANTONIO
2376 My Lord Bassanio, let him have the ring.
2378 Be valued ’gainst your wife’s commandment.
BASSANIO
2379 470 Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him.
2380 Give him the ring, and bring him if thou canst
2381 Unto Antonio’s house. Away, make haste.
Gratiano exits.
2382 Come, you and I will thither presently,
2383 And in the morning early will we both
2384 475 Fly toward Belmont.—Come, Antonio.
They exit.