Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;
And he that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If he, which is the 'God of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made!

Ang.
Be you content, fair maid.
It is the law, not I, condemns your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him: he must die to-morrow.
Isab. To-morrow? O, that's sudden! Spare him,
spare him!

He's not prepar'd for death. Even for our kitchens
We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven
With less respect than we do minister

To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you:
Who is it that hath died for this offence?
There's many have committed it.
Lucio.
[Aside.] Ay, well said.
Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath
Those many had not dar'd to do that evil, [slept:
If the first one, that did th' edict infringe,
Had answer'd for his deed: now, 'tis awake;
Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils
Either new, or by remissness new-conceiv'd,
And so in progress to be hatch'd and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But ere they live to end.
Isab.
Yet show some pity.
Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall,
And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied:
Your brother dies to-morrow: be content.
Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sen-
And he that suffers. O! it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Lucio.

[tence,

[Aside.] That's well said. Isab. Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer
Would use his heaven for thunder;
Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven!
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

d

■"Like man new made," i. e., like the first man in his days of innocence.- Alluding to fortune-tellers, who pretended to see future events in a glass. Paltry. Ill-humor; unseasonable mirth.- "Laugh mortal," i. e., laugh themselves out of their immortality.

Lucio. [To ISAB.] O, to him, to him, wench! He He's coming; I perceive't. [will relent: Prov. [Aside.] Pray heaven, she win him! Isab. You cannot weigh our brother with yourself: Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them, But in the less foul profanation. [o' that. Lucio. [To ISAB.] Thou'rt in the right, girl: more Isab. That in the captain's but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

Lucio. [Aside.] Art avis'd o' that? more on't. Ang. Why do you put these sayings upon me? Isab. Because authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' the top. Go to your bosom; Knock there, and ask your heart, what it doth know That's like my brother's fault: if it confess

A natural guiltiness, such as is his,

Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue
Against my brother's life.

Ang.

[Aside.] She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. [To her.] Fare you well.

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me.-Come again to-morrow.
Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you. Good my lord,
Ang. How! bribe me?
[turn back.

Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you.

Lucio. [Aside.] You had marr'd all else.
Isab. Not with fond circles of the tested gold,
Or stones, whose rates are either rich or poor
As funcy values them; but with true prayers,
That shall be up at heaven, and enter there
Ere sun-rise: prayers from preserved souls,
From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate
To nothing temporal.

Ang.
Well; come to me to-morrow.
Lucio. [To ISAB.] Go to; 'tis well: away!
Isab. Heaven keep your honor safe! 8 [Going.
Ang.
[Aside.] Amen:

For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.

Isab.

At what hour to-morrow

[Exeunt LUCIO, ISABELLA, and Provost. Ang. From thee; even from thy virtue !— What's this? what's this? Is this her fault, or mine? The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Not she, nor doth she tempt; but it is I, That lying by the violet in the sun,

Ha!

Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be,
That modesty may more betray our sense [enough,
Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
And pitch our offals there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When judges steal themselves. What! do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,
And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation, that doth goad us on
To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet,

'Overvalued. Attested; stamped.- "Preserved" from the corruptions of the world. The carrion grows putrid by those beams that increase the fragrance of the violet."Sense" for sensual appetite.

With all her doable vigor, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite. Even from youth till now,
When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how.
[Exit.

SCENE III-A Room in a Prison.
Enter DUKE, as a Friar, and Provost.
Duke. Hail to you, provost; so I think you are.
Prov. I am the provost. What's your will, good
friar?

Duke. Bound by my charity, and my bless'd order, I come to visit the afflicted spirits

Here in the prison: do me the common right
To let me see them, and to make me know
The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.

[needful.

Prov. I would do more than that, if more were
Enter JULIET.

Look; here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine,
Who, falling in the flames of her own youth,
Hath blister'd her report. She is with child,
And he that got it, sentenc'd-a young man
More fit to do another such offence,
Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?
Prov.

As I do think, to-morrow.[To JULIET.] I have provided for you: stay awhile, And you shall be conducted.

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry? Juliet. I do, and bear the shame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your And try your penitence, if it be sound, [conscience, Or hollowly put on.

Juliet.

I'll gladly learn.

Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you? Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. Duke. So then, it seems, your most offenceful act Was mutually committed?

Juliet.

Mutually.

Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.
Juliet. I do confess it, and repent it, father.
Duke. 'Tis meet so, daughter: but least you do
repent,

As that the sin hath brought you to this shame;
Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven,
Showing, we would not 3 serve heaven, as we love it,
But as we stand in fear.

Juliet. I do repent me, as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy.

Is like a good thing, being often read,
Grown 5 sear and tedious; yea, my gravity,
Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride,
Could I, with boot, change for an idle plume,
Which the air beats for vain. O place! O form!
How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit,
Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls
To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood:
Let's write good angel on the devil's horn,
'Tis not the devil's crest.

h

Ang. Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image In stamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made, As to put metal in restrained means, To make a false one.

Isab. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth. Ang. Say you so? then, I shall poze you quickly. Which had you rather, that the most just law Now took your brother's life, or to redeem him Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness As she that he hath stain'd?

Isab.

Sir, believe this, I had rather give my body than my soul. Ang. I talk not of your soul. Our compell'd sins Stand more for number than for accompt. Isab. How say you? Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this:I, now the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:

b Profit." For vain," i. e., for being vain.-d Outside."Let's write good angel," &c.; i. e., Though we should write good angel on the devil's horn, it will not change his nature, or give him a right to exhibit an angel for his crest.

Crowds.-"The general," i. e., the people; the multitude.-hi, e., that hath killed a man- i, e., sins of compulsion are not imputed to us by Heaven as crimes.

Might there not be a charity in sin, To save this brother's life?

Isab.

Please you to do't,
I'll take it as a peril to my soul:
It is no sin at all, but charity.

Ang. Pleas'd you to do't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poize of sin and charity.

Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven, let me bear it! you granting of my suit, If that be sin, I'll make it my morn-prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer. Ang. Nay, but hear me. Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant, Or seem so, crafty; and that is not good.

b

Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better.

Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an 1inshell'd beauty ten times louder Than beauty could displayed.-But mark me: To be received plain, I'll speak more gross. Your brother is to die.

Ang. Admit no other way to save his life, (As I subscribe not that, nor any other, But in the force of question) that you, his sister, Finding yourself desir'd of such a person, Whose credit with the judge, or own great place, Could fetch your brother from the manacles Of the all-binding law; and that there were No earthly mean to save him, but that either You must lay down the treasures of your body To this suppos'd, or else to let him suffer, What would you do?

Isab. As much for my poor brother, as myself:
That is, were I under the terms of death,
Th' impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed

That longing I've been sick for, ere I'd yield
My body up to shame.

Ang.

Your brother die.

Then must

Isab. And 'twere the cheaper way. Better it were, a brother died at once, Than that a sister, by redeeming him, Should die for ever.

Ang. Were not you, then, as cruel, as the sentence That you have slander'd so?

Isab. Ignomy in ransom, and free pardon,
Are of two houses: lawful mercy is
Nothing akin to foul redemption.

Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant;
And rather prov'd the sliding of your brother
A merriment, than a vice.

Isab. O, pardon me, my lord! it oft falls out, To have what we would have, we speak not what we I something do excuse the thing I hate, [mean. For his advantage that I dearly love. Ang. We are all frail. Isab.

Else let my brother die, If not a feodary, but only he, Owe, and succeed this weakness.

"Of your answer," i. e., for you to answer-b" Crafty," ie., being crafty. Accuse." Inshell'd," i e., hidden.Penalty."Subscribe not," i. e., agree not to.-"In the force of question," i. e., in the way of supposition.- Supposed person. Ignominy. The meaning of this obscure passage seems to be: "If we are not all frail, let my brother die; if he alone offend, and have no feodary (companion) in

this weakness.

Ang.

Nay, women are frail too. Isab. Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Women!-Help heaven! men their creation mar In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail, For we are soft as our complexions are, And credulous to false prints.

m

Ang. I think it well; And from this testimony of your own sex, (Since, I suppose, we are made to be no stronger, Than faults may shake our frames,) let me be bold: I do arrest your words. Be that you are, That is, a woman; if you be more, you're none; If you be one, (as you are well express'd By all external warrants,) show it now, By putting on the destin'd livery.

Isab. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord, Let me intreat you speak the former language. Ang. Plainly, conceive I love you.

Isab. My brother did love Juliet; and you tell me,

That he shall die for it.

Ang. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love. Isab. I know, your virtue hath a licence in't, Which seems a little fouler than it is,

To pluck on "others. Ang.

Believe me, on mine honor, My words express my purpose.

Isab. Ha! little honor to be much believ'd, And most pernicious purpose!-Seeming, seem

[ing!—

I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for't:
Sign me a present pardon for my brother,
Or with an outstretch'd throat I'll tell the world
Aloud what man thou art.

Ang.
Who will believe thee, Isabel?
My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,
3 May P vouch against you, and my place i' the state,
Will so your accusation overweigh,
That you shall stifle in your own report,
And smell of calumny. I have begun,
And now I give my sensual race the rein:
Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite;
Lay by all nicety, and prolixious blushes,
That banish what they sue for; redeem thy brother
By yielding up thy body to my will,

Or else he must not only die the death,

But thy unkindness shall his death draw out

To lingering sufferance. Answer me to-morrow,

Or, by the affection that now guides me most,

I'll prove a tyrant to him. As for you,
Say what you can, my false o'erweighs your true.

[Exit.

Isab. To whom should I complain? Did I tell this,
Who would believe me? O perilous mouths!
That bear in them one and the self-same tongue,
Either of condemnation or approof,
Bidding the law make court'sy to their will,
Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite,
To follow as it draws. I'll to my brother:
Though he hath fallen by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honor,
That had he twenty heads to tender down
On twenty bloody blocks, he'd yield them up,
Before his sister should her body stoop
To such abhorr'd pollution.

Then, Isabel, live chaste, and, brother, die :
More than our brother is our chastity.
I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. [Exit.

1i. e., "Men debase their natures by taking advantage of women's weakness."- Impressions.-i. e., You are privi leged to assume an air of licentiousness, in order to detect others."-Hypocrisy.-P Declare.- Dilatory; tedious.Approval.-Temptation; instigation.

I have hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.
Duke. Be absolute for death; either death, or life,
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:-
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing

That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,
Servile to all the skyey influences,

That 'do this habitation, where thou keep'st,
Hourly afflict. Merely, thou art death's fool;
For him thou labor'st by thy flight to shun,

And yet run'st toward him still: thou art not noble ;
For all th' accommodations that thou bear'st,

Are nurs'd by baseness: thou art by no means valiant;
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm: thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provok'st, yet grossly fear'st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;

e

For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust: happy thou art not;
For what thou hast not, still thou striv'st to get,
And what thou hast forget'st. Thou art not certain;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,
After the moon: if thou art rich, thou'rt poor;
For, like an ass, whose back with ingots bows,
Thou bear'st thy heavy riches but a journey,
And death unloads thee: friend hast thou none;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,
Do curse the gout, 'serpigo, and the rheum, [age,
For ending thee no sooner: thou hast nor youth, nor
But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy boasted youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Of palsied eld: and when thou art old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,
To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this,
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid more thousand deaths, yet death we fear,
That makes these odds all even.
Claud.

I humbly thank you.
To sue to live, I find, I seek to die,
And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.
Isab. [Without.] What, ho! Peace here; grace
and good company!
[a welcome.
Prov. Who's there? come in the wish deserves
Enter ISABELLA.

Duke. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again. Claud. Most holy sir, I thank you. Isab. My business is a word or two with Claudio. Prov. And very welcome. Look, signior; here's Duke. Provost, a word with you. [your sister. Prov. As many as you please. Duke. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be conceal'd. [Exeunt DUKE and Provost. Claud. Now, sister, what's the comfort? Isab. Comforts are; most good, most good, indeed. Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift ambassador, Where you shall be an everlasting lieger:

Why, as all

Claud.

Is there no remedy?

Isab. None, but such remedy, as to save a head To cleave a heart in twain.

Claud.

But is there any?

Isab. Yes, brother, you may live: There is a devilish mercy in the judge, If you'll implore it, that will free your life. But fetter you till death.

Claud.

Perpetual durance? Isab. Ay, just; perpetual durance: a restraint, To a determin'd scope. Though all the world's vastidity you had,

Claud.

But in what nature? Isab. In such a one as, you consenting to it, Would bark your honor from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked. Claud. Let me know the point. Lest thou a feverous life 3 would'st entertain, Isab. O! I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, And six or seven winters more respect, Than a perpetual honor. Dar'st thou die? The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle, that we tread upon, In corporal sufferance finds a pang, as great As when a giant dies.

Claud.

Think you I can a resolution fetch
Why give you me this shame?
From flowery tenderness? If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

[grave

Isab. There spake my brother: there my father's
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:
Thou art too noble to conserve a life

Whose settled visage and deliberate word
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy
Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth "enmew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;
His filth within being cast, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.

Claud.

The priestly Angelo?
Isab. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In 5 priestly garb! Dost thou think, Claudio,
If I would yield him my virginity,
Thou might'st be freed.

Claud.
O, heavens! it cannot be.
Isab. Yes, he would give 't thee from this rank
So to offend him still. This night's the time ["offence,
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou diest to-morrow.
Claud.

Thou shalt not do't.

Isab. O! were it but my life, I'd throw it down for your deliverance As frankly as a pin.

Claud.

Thanks, dear Isabel.

Freely. Enforce.- Lastingly.