Duke.
You are welcome: take your place.
Are you acquainted with the cause in question ?
Por. I am informed thoroughly of the cause.
Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?

Are you acquainted, &c., do you know the particulars and

case before the Court.

Duke. Antonio and o'd Shylock, both stand forth. the nature of the
Por. Is your name Shylock?
Shy.
Shylock is my name.
Por. (to Ant.) You stand within his danger,* do
you not?

Ant. Ay, so he says.

Por.

Ant. I do.

Por.

*

Within his danger, in his power as a captive.

Do you confess the bond? Confess, acknow.
ledge or own it.

Then must the Jew be merciful.
Shy. On what compulsion must I? Tell me

that.

*

Por. The quality of mercy is not strain'd;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heav'n
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesses him that gives, and him that takes.
125 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest : it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly pow'r doth then show* likest God's
130 When mercy seasons* justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render '

135 The deeds of mercy.

*

Twice blest, it has a double blessing.

Show, appear.
Seasons, tempers,
modifies.
Render, to give or
bestow.

My deeds, &c.,
he determines to
bear the respon-
sibility of
his
actions.

Crave, demand, insist upon.

Shy. My deeds upon my head! I crave* the law, Equity, justice,

The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

Bass. For once I beg the court to bend the law
To equity.* 'Tis worth a little wrong

140 To curb this cruel savage of his will.

that

fairness.
Precedent,
which may serve
as an example or
rule in the future.

Por. It must not be. There is no power in Daniel, the pro

Venice

Can alter a decree established:

"Twill be recorded as a precedent,*

And many an error by the same example

145 Will rush into the state. It cannot be.

150

phet mentioned in the Old Testament, who was the means of preventing the carrying out of an unjust sentence on the

Shy. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! chaste Susannah.

O wise young judge, how do 1 honour thee!
Por. I pray you, let me look upon the bond.
Shy. Here 'tis, most reverend doctor; here it is.
Por. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd
thee.

Perjury,

Shy. An oath, an oath! I have an oath in
heaven!

false Shall I lay perjury* upon my soul?
No, not for Venice.

swearing, the violation of an oath.

Por.
Why, this bond is forfeit,
And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off
Nearest the merchant's heart. Be merciful;
Take thrice thy money. Bid me tear the bond.
Shy. When it is paid according to the tenor.*
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me: I stay upon my bond.

Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment.

Por.

Why, then, thus it is:
You must prepare your bosom for his knife.
Shy. Ay, his breast;

So saith the bond; doth it not, noble judge?
Nearest his heart; those are the very words.
Por. It is so. Are there balance *

flesh?

Shy. I have them ready.

155

160

165

to weigh the

170

Por. Have by* a surgeon, Shylock, at your charge,*
To stop his wounds, lest he should 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. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is

thine;

The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
Shy. Most rightful judge!

175

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his 180

breast:

The law allows it, and the court awards it.

Shy. Most learned judge! A sentence! come, pre

pare.

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.*

185

Gra. O upright judge! Mark, Jew! O learned 190

195

Por.

Thyself shalt see the act:*
For, as thou urgest justice, be assured
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 sum thrice;
And let the Christian go.

Bass.

Por.

Here is the money.

Soft!

200 The Jew shall have all justice; soft!-no haste:
He shall have nothing but the penalty.
Gra. A second Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have full hold of thee.
Por. Why doth the Jew pause?

205

Take the for

feiture.
Shy. Give me my principal,* and let me go.
Bass. I have it ready for thee. Here it is.
Por. He hath refused it in the open court.
He shall have merely justice and his bond.

Gra. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!
210 I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
Shy. Shall I not barely have my principal?
Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

The law hath yet another hold on you.

215 It is enacted by the laws of Venice,
If it be proved against an alien*
That by direct or indirect attempts
He seek the life of any citizen,

The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive 220 Shall seize one half his goods; the other half Goes to the privy coffer of the state;

And the offender's life lies in the

mercy

Of the Duke only, 'gainst all other voice.*
In which predicament,* I say, thou stand'st;
225 For it appears by manifest proceeding,
That indirectly, and directly too,

Thou hast contrived against the

very

life

Of the defendant;* and thou hast incurr'd
The danger formerly * by me rehears'd.

230 Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.

235

Alien, foreigner.
Persons admit-
ted by law to
the privileges of
a foreign country
are said to be
naturalised sub-
jects of that
country.
Privy coffer, pri-
vate chest for
holding money.
Other voice, other
decision.
Predicament,
position, state.
Defendant, the
name given in
law to the person
who is charged
with an offence,

and who has,
therefore, to de-

Duke. That thou may'st see the difference of our fend himself.

spirit,

I pardon thee thy life, before thou ask it.
Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:*

You take my life, taking whereon I live.

Formerly, previously.

Pardon, &c., do not remit the sentence of death if you take my

Por. What mercy can you render him, Antonio? wealth.

Quit the fine, &c.
Antonio said
that he would
give up his share
of Shylock's
wealth if a deed
was signed by the
Jew, making it
over to his daugh-
ter and her hus-
band, Lorenzo, a
friend of An-
tonio's.
Recant. recall,
revoke.

Ant. So please my lord the Duke and all the court, To quit the fine * for one half of his goods;

I shall be well contented if I have

The other half in use until his death.

Duke. He shall do this, or else do I recant
The pardon that I late pronounced here.

Por. Art thou contented, Jew, What dost thou say?
Shy. I pray you give me leave to go from hence;
I am not well. Send the deed after me,

And I will sign it.

240

245

THE isles of Greece! the isles of Greece !
Where burning Sappho * loved and sung,—
Where grew the arts of war and peace,
Where Delos * rose and Phoebus sprung!
Eternal summer gilds them yet,—
But all,* except their sun, is set.

*

The Scian and the Teian* muse,

The hero's harp, the lover's lute,
Have found the fame your shores refuse:
Their place of birth, alone, is mute
To sounds that echo farther west
Than your sires' "Islands of the Blest." *
The mountains look on Marathon,*
And Marathon looks on the sea:

And musing there an hour alone,

I dreamed that Greece might still be free:
For standing on the Persians' grave,
I could not deem myself a slave.

A king sate on the rocky brow

Which looks o'er sea-born Salamis,*
And ships by thousands lay below,

And men in nations ;-all were his !
He counted them at break of day,
And when the sun set where were they?

And where are they? and where art thou,
My country? On thy voiceless shore
The heroic lay is tuneless now-
The heroic bosom beats no more!

5

10

15

20

25

Greece, a mountainous country in the south of Europe. With the aid of England, France, and Russia, it threw off the Turkish yoke in 1829, and became an independer: kingdom.

55 You have the Pyrrhic dance as yet Where is the Pyrrhic phalanx * gone? Of two such lessons, why forget

The nobler and the manlier one? You have the letters Cadmus * gave60 Think ye he meant them for a slave?

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
We will not think of themes like these !
It made Anacreon's song divine:

He served but served Polycrates 65 A tyrant; but our masters then Were still, at least, our countrymen.

70

The tyrant of the Chersonese

Was freedom's best and bravest friend :
That tyrant was Miltiades !

Oh that the present hour would lend

Thy lyre. Poetry is here likened to the music of a lyre or harp. The ancient Greeks excelled in poetry.

Dearth, scarcity. Patriot, one who truly loves and serves his fatherland.

Remnant, a part. Sparta, a town in the Morea, famous for the bravery of its inhabitants.

Of the three hundred. At Thermopylæ, a famous pass in the north-east of Greece, 10,000 Persians, under Xerxes, were engaged by 300 Spartans, under Leonidas, whose followers were all slain.

Samian wine! Samos, an island on the coast of Asia Minor, opposite Ionia, famous for its wine.

And shed, &c. Make wine from the juice of the grape that grows on the island of Scio, off the coast of Asia Minor.

Bacchanal, a worship. per of Bacchus, one who indulges in drink. Pyrrhic phalanx, a compact body of soldiers formed in the shape of a wedge. Cadmus, the inventor of letters, and king of Thebes, which city he founded. He came to Greece B. C. 1550. Polycrates, a king of Samos.

The Chersonese, the peninsula of the Morea, Greece. The inhabitants invested Miltiades, the hero of Marathon, with the sovereign power.