96 THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

And Shylock, in his fear, said, “Then I will take Bassanio’s offer.”

“No,” said Portia sternly, “you shall have nothing but your bond.
Take your pound of flesh, but remember, that if you take more or less,
even by the weight of a hair, you will lose your property and your life.”

Shylock now grew very frightened. “Give me back my three
thousand ducats that I lent him, and let him go.”

Bassanio would have paid it to him, but said Portia “No! He
shall have nothing but his bond.”

“You, a foreigner,” she added, “have sought to take the life of a
Venetian citizen, and thus by the Venetian law, your life and goods are
forfeited. Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.”

Thus were the tables turned, and no mercy would have been shown
to Shylock, had it not been for Antonio. As it was, the Jew forfeited
half his fortune to the State, and he had to settle the other half on his
daughter’s husband, while his life was only spared on condition of his
becoming a Christian.

Bassanio, in his gratitude to the clever lawyer, was induced to part
with the ring his wife gave him, and when on his return to Belmont, he
confessed as much to Portia, she seemed very angry, and vowed she
would not be friends with him until she had her ring again. But at last
she told him that it was she who, in the disguise of the lawyer, had
saved his friend’s life, and got the ring from him. So Bassanio was
forgiven, and made happier than ever, to know how rich a prize he had
drawn at the lottery of the caskets.