And that same prayer doth teach us all to render Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice Por. Is he not able to discharge the money? That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you, To do a great right, do a little wrong; Por. It must not be; there is no power in Venice 'Twill be recorded for a precedent; And many an error, by the same example, Will rush into the state: it cannot be. Shy. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel !— O wise young judge, how do I 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. Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: Shall I lay perjury upon my soul? tian doctrine of salvation, and the Lord's Prayer, is a little out of character. Blackstone. 6 My deeds upon my head!] An imprecation adopted from that of the Jews to Pilate: "His blood be on us, and our children!" Henley. 7 Yea, twice the sum:] We should read-thrice the sum.-Portia, a few lines below, says "Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee." And Shylock himself supports the emendation: "I take his offer then;-pay the bond thrice." The editions, indeed, read-this offer; but Mr. Steevens has already proposed the alteration we ought to adopt. Ritson. 8 malice bears down truth.] Malice oppresses honesty; a true man in old language is an honest man. We now call the jury good men and true. Johnson. No, not for Venice. Por. Why, this bond is forfeit; And lawfully by this the Jew may claim Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law, Ant. Most heartily I do beseech the court Por. Which here appeareth due upon the bond. Ay, his breast: Shy. 'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge! Shy. I have them ready. Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do 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. Come, merchant, have you any thing to say? 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 out-live his wealth, 9 Commend me to your honourable wife: Say, how I lov'd you, speak me fair in death; Bass. Antonio, I am married to a wife, Por. Your wife would give you little thanks for that, I would she were in heaven, so she could The wish would make else an unquiet house. Shy. These be the christian husbands; I have a daughter; 'Would, any of the stock of Barrabas1 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; Of such a misery-] The first folio destroys the measure by omitting the particle-a; which, nevertheless, is found in the corrected second folio, 1632. Steevens. 1- the stock of Barrabas-] The name of this robber is differently spelt as well as accented in The New Testament; [M τότον, ἀλλὰ τον Βαραββάν. ἦν δὲ ὁ Βαραββᾶς ληστής ;] but Shakspeare seems to have followed the pronunciation usual to the theatre, Barabbas being sounded Barabas throughout Marlowe's Jew of Malta. Our poet might otherwise have written: "Would any of Barabbas' stock had been "Her husband, rather than a Christian!" Steevens. The court awards it, and the law doth give it. 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, pre pare. Por. Tarry a little-there is something else.- One drop of christian blood, thy lands and goods Unto the state of Venice. Gra. O upright judge!-Mark, Jew;-O learned judge! Shy. Is that the law? Por. Thyself shalt 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 this offer then; 2-pay the bond thrice, And let the Christian go. Bass. Por. Soft; Here is the money. The Jew shall have all justice;-soft!-no haste;— Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge! 2 I take this offer then;] Perhaps we should read—his; i. e. Bassanio's, who offers twice the sum, &c. Steevens. This offer is right. Shylock specifies the offer he means, which is, "to have the bond paid thrice." M. Mason. He means, I think, to say, "I take this offer that has been made me." Bassanio had offered at first but twice the sum, but Portia had gone further-" Shylock, there's thrice thy money," &c. The Jew naturally insists on the larger sum. Malone. 3 Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.] This judgment is related by Gracian, the celebrated Spanish jesuit, in his Hero, with a reflection at the conclusion of it: "-Compite con la del Salomon la promptitud de aquel gran Turco. Pretendia un Judio cortar una onza de carne a un Christiano, pena sobre usura. Insistia en ello con igual terqueria a su Principe, que perfidia a su Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more, Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate. Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew! Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip. Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. Gra. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!- Shy. Why then the devil give him good of it! I'll stay no longer question. Por. Tarry, Jew; The law hath yet another hold on you. It is enacted in the laws of Venice, If it be prov'd against an alien, Dios. Mando el gran Juez traer peso, y cuchillo; conminole el deguello si cortava mas ni menos. Y fue dar agudo corte a la lid, y al mundo milagro del ingenio." El Heroe de Lorenzo Gracian. Primor. 3. Thus rendered by Sir John Skeffington, 1652: "The vivacity of that great Turke enters in competition with that of Solomon: a Few pretended to cut an ounce of the flesh of a Christian upon a penalty of usury; he urged it to the Prince, with as much obstinacy, as perfidiousness towards God. The great Judge comanded a pair of scales to be brought, threatening the few with death if he cut either more or less: And this was to give a sharp decision to a malicious process, and to the world a miracle of subtilty." The Heroe, p. 24, &c. Gregori Leti, in his Life of Sixtus V, has a similar story. The papacy of Sixtus began in 1583. He died Aug. 29, 1590. The reader will find an extract from Farneworth's translation, at the conclusion of the play. Steevens. |