Then the great Duke, judge of the court, speaks to Shylock:
"That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,
I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it;
For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's,
The other half comes to the general state!"
Shylock bravely replies:
"Take my life and all, pardon not that;
You take my house, when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house; you take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live!"
Then Antonio says if the Jew will give up all his property to Lorenzo and his daughter Jessica, and become a Christian, he the "Merchant of Venice," will be content.
Portia then triumphantly asks:
"Art thou content, Jew, what dost thou say?"
And poor old Shylock gasps:
"I am content."
Thus ends one of the most barefaced swindles of the ages; and my friend William is responsible for the nefarious and systematic machinery of roguery and persecution injected into the play to satisfy Christian hate against the wandering Jew.