_Isab._ I have a brother is condemn'd to die:
I do beseech you, let it be his fault, 35
And not my brother.
_Prov._ [_Aside_] Heaven give thee moving graces!
_Ang._ Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault's condemn'd ere it be done:
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record, 40
And let go by the actor.
_Isab._ O just but severe law!
I had a brother, then.--Heaven keep your honour!
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._]
Give't not o'er so: to him again, entreat him;
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:
You are too cold; if you should need a pin, 45
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:
To him, I say!
_Isab._ Must he needs die?
_Ang._ Maiden, no remedy.
_Isab._ Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,
And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy. 50
_Ang._ I will not do't.
_Isab._ But can you, if you would?
_Ang._ Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.
_Isab._ But might you do't, and do the world no wrong,
If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse
As mine is to him.
_Ang._ He's sentenced; 'tis too late. 55
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] You are too cold.
_Isab._ Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word,
May call it back again. Well, believe this,
No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, 60
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
If he had been as you, and you as he,
You would have slipt like him; but he, like you, 65
Would not have been so stern.
_Ang._ Pray you, be gone.
_Isab._ I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Ay, touch him; there's the vein. 70
_Ang._ Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.
_Isab._ Alas, alas!
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, 75
If He, which is the top of judgement, 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 condemn your brother: 80
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 prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven 85
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 to Isab._] Ay, well said.
_Ang._ The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept: 90
Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first that did the 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, 95
Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,
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; 100
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. 105
_Isab._ So you must be the first that gives this sentence.
And he, that suffers. O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] That's well said.
_Isab._ Could great men thunder 110
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 115
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 assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape, 120
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] O, to him, to him, wench!
he will relent;
He's coming; I perceive't.
_Prov._ [_Aside_] Pray heaven she win him! 125
_Isab._ We cannot weigh our brother with ourself:
Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them.
But in the less foul profanation.
_Lucio._ Thou'rt i' the right, girl; more o' that.
_Isab._ That in the captain's but a choleric word, 130
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Art avised 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, 135
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 140
Against my brother's life.
_Ang._ [_Aside_] She speaks, and 'tis
Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. 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, turn back. 145
_Ang._ How? bribe me?
_Isab._ Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Yon had marr'd all else.
_Isab._ Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,
Or stones whose rates are either rich or poor 150
As fancy 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. 155
_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Go to; 'tis well; away!
_Isab._ Heaven keep your honour safe!
_Ang._ [_Aside_] Amen:
For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.
_Isab._ At what hour to-morrow
Shall I attend your lordship?
_Ang._ At any time 'fore noon. 160
_Isab._ 'Save your honour!
[_Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, 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?
Ha!
Not she; nor doth she tempt: but it is I 165
That, lying by the violet in the sun,
Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
That modesty may more betray our sense
Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, 170
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
And pitch our evils 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: 175
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, 180
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,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid 185
Subdues me quite. Ever till now,
When men were fond, I smiled, and wonder'd how. [_Exit._
NOTES: II, 2.
SCENE II.] SCENE VI. Pope.
[Transcriber's Note:
Pope's Scene VII is not identified. Scene VIII begins at
line 161.]
1: _he will_] _he'll_ Pope.
4: _but as offended_] _offended but as_ Grant White.
5: _sects_] _sorts_ S. Walker conj.
_of this_] _o' th'_ Hanmer.
9: _dost thou_] om. Hanmer.
12: _Go to_] om. Hanmer.
14: _honour's_] om. Pope.
17: _fitter_] _fitting_ Pope.
22: _Well_] om. Pope.
25: _for't_] _for it_ Pope.
_God save_] _'Save_ Ff.
26: _a little_] _yet a_ Pope.
28: _Please_] _'Please_ Ff.
_Well_] om. Pope.
30: _And most_] _And more_ Rowe.
32: _must not plead, but that_] _must plead, albeit_ Hanmer.
_must now plead, but yet_ Johnson conj.
40: _To fine_] _to find_ Theobald.
_faults_] _fault_ Dyce.
46: _more tame a_] _a more tame_ Rowe.
53: _might you_] _you might_ S. Walker conj.
55: _him._] _him?_ Ff.
56: _You are_] _Yo art_ F2. _Thou art_ Collier MS.
58: _back_] F2 F3 F4. om. F1.
_Well,_] _and_ Hanmer.
_Well, believe_] _Well believe_ Knight.
59: _'longs_] Theobald, _longs_ Ff. _belongs_ Pope.
73: _that were_] _that are_ Warburton.
76: _top_] _God_ Collier MS.
80: _condemn_] _condemns_ Rowe.
82: _must die_] _dies_ Pope.
83: Printed as two lines in Ff, the first ending _sudden_.
85: _shall we serve_] _serve we_ Pope.
92: _the first_] Ff. _the first man_ Pope.
_he, the first_ Capell (Tyrwhitt conj.).
_the first one_ Collier MS. _but the first_ Grant White.
_the first he_ Spedding conj.
_the first that_] _he who first_ Davenant's version.
_did the edict_] _the edict did_ Keightley conj.
95: _that shows what_] _which shews that_ Hanmer.
96: _Either now_] _Or new_ Pope. _Either new_ Dyce.
99: _ere_] Hanmer. _here_ Ff. _where_ Malone.
104: _Be_] _Then be_ Pope.
107: _it is_] _'tis_ Pope.
108: _it is_] om. Hanmer.
111: _ne'er_] _never_ F1.
113: _Would_] _Incessantly would_ Hanmer.
114: _Heaven_] _sweet Heaven_ Hanmer.
116: _Split'st_] _splits_ F1.
117: _but_] F1. _O but_ F2 F3 F4.
_proud_] _weak, proud_ Malone conj.
120: _glassy_] _grassy_ Lloyd conj.
126: _We_] _You_ Collier MS.
_cannot_] _can but_ Anon. conj.
_ourself_] _yourself_ Theobald (Warburton).
127: _saints_] _sins_ Anon. conj.
129: _i' the right_] _i' th right_ F1 F2. _i' right_ F3 F4.
_right_ Pope. _in the right_ Steevens.
132: _avised_] _avis'd_ F1 F2. _advis'd_ F3 F4. _thou advis'd_ Hanmer.
_more on't_] _more on't, yet more_ Hanmer.
140: _your_] _you_ F2.
142: _breeds_] _bleeds_ Pope.
149: _shekels_] Pope. _sickles_ Ff. _cycles_ Collier conj.
_circles_ Collier MS. See note (VII).
150: _rates are_] Johnson. _rate are_ Ff. _rate is_ Hanmer.
157: _Amen_] _Amen! I say_ Hanmer. See note (VIII).
159: _Where_] _Which your_ Johnson conj.
160: _your lordship_] _you lordship_ F2. _you_ Hanmer.
161: _'Save_] _God save_ Edd. conj.
161: SCENE VIII. Pope.
163: _Ha!_] om. Pope.
166: _by_] _with_ Capell.
172: _evils_] _offals_ Collier MS.
183: _never_] _ne'er_ Pope.
186: _Ever till now_] F1. _Even till now_ F2 F3 F4.
_Even till this very now_ Pope. _Ever till this very now_ Theobald.
_Even from youth till now_ Collier MS.
SCENE III. _A room in a prison._
_Enter, severally, DUKE disguised 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 blest order,
I come to visit the afflicted spirits
Here in the prison. Do me the common right 5
To let me see them, and to make me know
The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.
_Prov._ I would do more than that, if more were needful.
_Enter JULIET._
Look, here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine, 10
Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth,
Hath blister'd her report: she is with child;
And he that got it, sentenced; a young man
More fit to do another such offence
Than die for this. 15
_Duke._ When must he die?
_Prov._ As I do think, to-morrow.
I have provided for you: stay awhile, [_To Juliet._
And you shall be conducted.
_Duke._ Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?
_Jul._ I do; and bear the shame most patiently. 20
_Duke._ I'll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience,
And try your penitence, if it be sound,
Or hollowly put on.
_Jul._ I'll gladly learn.
_Duke._ Love you the man that wrong'd you?
_Jul._ Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him. 25
_Duke._ So, then, it seems your most offenceful act
Was mutually committed?
_Jul._ Mutually.
_Duke._ Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.
_Jul._ I do confess it, and repent it, father.
_Duke._ 'Tis meet so, daughter: but lest you do repent, 30
As that the sin hath brought you to this shame,
Which sorrow is always towards ourselves, not heaven,
Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it,
But as we stand in fear,--
_Jul._ I do repent me, as it is an evil, 35
And take the shame with joy.
_Duke._ There rest.
Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.
Grace go with you, _Benedicite!_ [_Exit._
_Jul._ Must die to-morrow! O injurious love, 40
That respites me a life, whose very comfort
Is still a dying horror!
_Prov._ 'Tis pity of him. [_Exeunt._
NOTES: II, 3.
SCENE III.] SCENE IX. Pope. Act III. SCENE I. Johnson conj.
7: _crimes that I may_] _several crimes that I May_ Seymour conj.
9: Enter JULIET] Transferred by Dyce to line 15.
11: _flaws_] F3 F4. _flawes_ F1 F2. _flames_ Warburton
(after Davenant).
26: _offenceful_] _offence full_ F1.
30: _lest you do repent_] F4. _least you do repent_ F1 F2 F3.
_repent you not_ Pope.
33: _we would not spare_] Ff. _we'd not seek_ Pope.
_we'd not spare_ Malone. _we would not serve_ Collier MS.
_we'd not appease_ Singer conj.
36: _There rest_] _Tis well; there rest_ Hammer.
39: _Grace_] _So grace_ Pope. _May grace_ Steevens conj.
_All grace_ Seymour conj. _Grace go with you_ is assigned to Juliet
by Dyce (Ritson conj.).
40: _love_] _law_ Hanmer.
SCENE IV. _A room in ANGELO'S house._
_Enter ANGELO._
_Ang._ When I would pray and think, I think and pray
To several subjects. Heaven hath my empty words;
Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue,
Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth,
As if I did but only chew his name; 5
And in my heart the strong and swelling evil
Of my conception. The state, whereon I studied,
Is like a good thing, being often read,
Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity,
Wherein--let no man hear me--I take pride, 10
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: 15
Let's write good angel on the devil's horn;
'Tis not the devil's crest.
_Enter a _Servant_._
How now! who's there?
_Serv._ One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
_Ang._ Teach her the way. O heavens!
Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, 20
Making both it unable for itself,
And dispossessing all my other parts
Of necessary fitness?
So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons:
Come all to help him, and so stop the air 25
By which he should revive: and even so
The general, subject to a well-wish'd king,
Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness
Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love
Must needs appear offence.
_Enter ISABELLA._
How now, fair maid? 30
_Isab._ I am come to know your pleasure.
_Ang._ That you might know it, would much better please me
Than to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live.
_Isab._ Even so.--Heaven keep your honour!
_Ang._ Yet may he live awhile; and, it may be, 35
As long as you or I: yet he must die.
_Isab._ Under your sentence?
_Ang._ Yea.
_Isab._ When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve,
Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted 40
That his soul sicken not.
_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 45
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. 50
_Ang._ Say you so? then I shall pose 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, 55
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:-- 60
I, now the voice of the recorded law,
Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:
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, 65
It is no sin at all, but charity.
_Ang._ Pleased you to do't at peril of your soul,
Were equal poise 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, 70
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, craftily; and that's not good. 75
_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 enshield beauty ten times louder 80
Than beauty could, display'd. But mark me;
To be received plain, I'll speak more gross:
Your brother is to die.
_Isab._ So.
_Ang._ And his offence is so, as it appears, 85
Accountant to the law upon that pain.
_Isab._ True.
_Ang._ Admit no other way to save his life,--
As I subscribe not that, nor any other,
But in the loss of question,--that you, his sister, 90
Finding yourself desired of such a person,
Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,
Could fetch your brother from the manacles
Of the all-building law; and that there were
No earthly mean to save him, but that either 95
You must lay down the treasures of your body
To this supposed, 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, 100
The impression of keen whips I'ld wear as rubies,
And strip myself to death, as to a bed
That longing have been sick for, ere I'ld yield
My body up to shame.
_Ang._ Then must your brother die.
_Isab._ And 'twere the cheaper way: 105
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? 110
_Isab._ Ignomy in ransom and free pardon
Are of two houses: lawful mercy
Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
_Ang._ You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant;
And rather proved the sliding of your brother 115
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 mean:
I something do excuse the thing I hate,
For his advantage that I dearly love. 120
_Ang._ We are all frail.
_Isab._ Else let my brother die,
If not a feodary, but only he
Owe and succeed thy weakness.
_Ang._ Nay, women are frail too.
_Isab._ Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves; 125
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.
_Ang._ I think it well: 130
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; 135
If you be one,--as you are well express'd
By all external warrants,--show it now,
By putting on the destined livery.
_Isab._ I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord,
Let me entreat you speak the former language. 140
_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 license in't, 145
Which seems a little fouler than it is,
To pluck on others.
_Ang._ Believe me, on mine honour,
My words express my purpose.
_Isab._ Ha! little honour to be much believed,
And most pernicious purpose!--Seeming, seeming!-- 150
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, 155
My 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: 160
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, 165
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._ 170
_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; 175
Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite,
To follow as it draws! I'll to my brother:
Though he hath fall'n by prompture of the blood,
Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour,
That, had he twenty heads to tender down 180
On twenty bloody blocks, he'ld 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. 185
I'll tell him yet of Angelo's request,
And fit his mind to death, for his soul's rest. [_Exit._
NOTES: II, 4.
SCENE IV.] SCENE X. Pope.
2: _empty_] om. Seymour conj.
3: _invention_] _intention_ Pope.
4: _Heaven_] _Heaven's_ Rowe. _Heaven is_ Capell.
5: _his_] _its_ Pope.
9: _fear'd_] _scar'd_ Hanmer. _sear_ Heath conj. _stale_ Anon. conj.
See note (IX).
10: _take_] _took_ Seymour conj.
12: _for vain. O place,_] F4. _for vaine. O place,_ F1 F2 F3.
_for vane. O place,_ or _for vane o' the place._ Manlone conj.
15: _thou art blood_] _thou art but blood_ Pope.
_thou still art blood_ Malone.
17: _'Tis not_] _Is't not_ Hanmer. _'Tis yet_ Johnson conj.
18: _desires_] _asks_ Pope.
21: _both it_] _both that_ Pope. _it both_ Collier MS.
22: _all_] om. Hanmer, who makes lines 19-23 end at
_blood, both that, dispossessing, fitness._
27: _subject_] F1 F2 F3. _subjects_ F4.
28: _part_] _path_ Collier MS.
31: SCENE XI. Pope.
33: _demand_] _declare_ Hanmer.
_Your brother_] _He_ Hanmer.
34: _your honour_] _you_ Hanmer.
45: _sweetness_] _lewdness_ Hanmer.
46: _easy_] _just_ Hanmer.
48: _metal_] Theobald. _mettle_ Ff.
_means_] _mints_ Steevens conj. _moulds_ Malone conj.
50: _'Tis ... earth_] _'Tis so set down in earth but not in heaven_
Johnson conj.
51: _Say_] _And say_ Pope. _Yea, say_ S. Walker conj. ending lines
50, 51 at _heaven, then I._
53: _or_] Rowe (after Davenant), _and_ Ff.
58: _for accompt_] _accompt_ Pope.
68: _Were ... charity._] _Were't ... charity?_ Hanmer.
_'Twere ... charity._ Seymour conj.
70: _of_] om. Pope.
71: _make it my morn prayer_] _make't my morning prayer_ Hanmer.
73: _your_] _yours_ Johnson conj.
75: _craftily_] Rowe (after Davenant). _crafty_ Ff.
76: _me_] om. F1.
80: _enshield_] _in-shell'd_ Tyrwhitt conj.
81: _mark me_] _mark me well_ Hanmer.
90: _loss_] _loose_ Singer MS. _toss_ Johnson conj. _list_ Heath conj.
_force_ Collier MS.
94: _all-building_] Ff. _all-holding_ Rowe. _all-binding_ Johnson.
See note (X).
97: _to let_] _let_ Hanmer.
103: _have_] _I've_ Rowe. _I have_ Capell. _had_ Knight.
See note (XI).
_sick_] _seek_ Johnson (a misprint).
104, 105: Capell (conj.) and Collier end the first line at _must_.
106: _at_] _for_ Johnson conj.
111: _Ignomy in_] _Ignomie in_ F1. _Ignominy in_ F2 F3 F4.
_An ignominious_ Pope.
112, 113: _mercy Is nothing kin_] Ff. _mercy sure
Is nothing kin_ Pope. _mercy is Nothing akin_ Steevens.
See note (XII).
117: _oft_] _very oft_ Hanmer, who ends lines 116, 117 at _me ...
have_.
118: _we would_] _we'd_ Steevens. This line printed as two in Ff.
122: _feodary_] F2 F3 F4. _fedarie_ F1.
123: _thy weakness_] _by weakness_ Rowe. _to weakness_ Capell.
_this weakness_ Harness (Malone conj.).
126: _make_] _take_ Johnson conj.
127: _their_] _thy_ Edd. conj.
135: _you be_] _you're_ Pope.
140: _former_] _formal_ Warburton.
143: _for it_] Pope. _for't_ Ff.
153: Pope ends the line at _world_.
163: _redeem_] _save_ Pope.
171: _should_] _shall_ Steevens.
172: _perilous_] _most perilous_ Theobald. _these perilous_
Seymour conj. _pernicious_ S. Walker conj.
175: _court'sy_] _curtsie_ Ff.
179: _mind_] _mine_ Jackson conj.
185: Inverted commas prefixed to this line in Ff.
ACT III.
SCENE I. _A room in the prison._
_Enter DUKE disguised as before, CLAUDIO, and PROVOST._
_Duke._ So, then, you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
_Claud._ The miserable have no other medicine
But only hope:
I've hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.
_Duke._ Be absolute for death; either death or life 5
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 dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, 10
Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool;
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun,
And yet runn'st toward him still. Thou art not noble;
For all the accommodations that thou bear'st
Are nursed by baseness. Thou'rt by no means valiant; 15
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provokest; yet grossly fear'st
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;
For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains 20
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not;
For what thou hast not, still thou strivest 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; 25
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, 30
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age.
But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep,
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms 35
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, 40
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._ [_within_] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!
_Prov._ Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome. 45
_Duke._ Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.
_Claud._ Most holy sir, I thank you.
_Enter ISABELLA._
_Isab._ My business is a word or two with Claudio.
_Prov._ And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your
sister. 50
_Duke._ Provost, a word with you.
_Prov._ As many as you please.
_Duke._ Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be
concealed. [_Exeunt Duke and Provost._
_Claud._ Now, sister, what's the comfort? 55
_Isab._ Why,
As all 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 leiger: 60
Therefore your best appointment make with speed;
To-morrow you set on.
_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: 65
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,
Though all the world's vastidity you had, 70
To a determined scope.
_Claud._ But in what nature?
_Isab._ In such a one as, you consenting to't,
Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,
And leave you naked.
_Claud._ Let me know the point.
_Isab._ O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, 75
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,
And six or seven winters more respect
Than a perpetual honour. Darest thou die?
The sense of death is most in apprehension; 75
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
_Claud._ Why give you me this shame?
Think you I can a resolution fetch
From flowery tenderness? If I must die, 80
I will encounter darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.
_Isab._ There spake my brother; there my father's grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:
Thou art too noble to conserve a life 85
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,
Whose settled visage and deliberate word
Nips youth i' the head, and follies doth emmew
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil;
His filth within being cast, he would appear 90
A pond as deep as hell.
_Claud._ The prenzie Angelo!
_Isab._ O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,
The damned'st body to invest and cover
In prenzie guards! Dost thou think, Claudio?--
If I would yield him my virginity, 95
Thou mightst be freed.
_Claud._ O heavens! it cannot be.
_Isab._ Yes, he would give't thee, from this rank offence,
So to offend him still. This night's the time
That I should do what I abhor to name,
Or else thou diest to-morrow.
_Claud._ Thou shalt not do't. 100
_Isab._ O, were it but my life,
I'ld throw it down for your deliverance
As frankly as a pin.
_Claud._ Thanks, dear Isabel.
_Isab._ Be ready, Claudio, for your death to-morrow.
_Claud._ Yes. Has he affections in him, 105
That thus can make him bite the law by the nose,
When he would force it? Sure, it is no sin;
Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
_Isab._ Which is the least?
_Claud._ If it were damnable, he being so wise, 110
Why would he for the momentary trick
Be perdurably fined?--O Isabel!
_Isab._ What says my brother?
_Claud._ Death is a fearful thing.
_Isab._ And shamed life a hateful.
_Claud._ Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; 115
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; 120
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of those that lawless and incertain thought
Imagine howling:--'tis too horrible! 125
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature is a paradise
To what we fear of death.
_Isab._ Alas, alas!
_Claud._ Sweet sister, let me live: 130
What sin you do to save a brother's life,
Nature dispenses with the deed so far
That it becomes a virtue.
_Isab._ O you beast!
O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!
Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice? 135
Is't not a kind of incest, to take life
From thine own sister's shame? What should I think?
Heaven shield my mother play'd my father fair!
For such a warped slip of wilderness
Ne'er issued from his blood. Take my defiance! 140
Die, perish! Might but my bending down
Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed:
I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death,
No word to save thee.
_Claud._ Nay, hear me, Isabel.
_Isab._ O, fie, fie, fie! 145
Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade.
Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:
'Tis best that thou diest quickly.
_Claud._ O, hear me, Isabella!
_Re-enter DUKE._
_Duke._ Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word.
_Isab._ What is your will? 150
_Duke._ Might you dispense with your leisure, I would
by and by have some speech with you: the satisfaction I
would require is likewise your own benefit.
_Isab._ I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be
stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you awhile. 155
[_Walks apart._
_Duke._ Son, I have overheard what hath passed between
you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose
to corrupt her; only he hath made an assay of her virtue
to practise his judgement with the disposition of natures:
she, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that 160
gracious denial which he is most glad to receive. I am
confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true; therefore
prepare yourself to death: do not satisfy your resolution
with hopes that are fallible: to-morrow you must die; go
to your knees, and make ready. 165
_Claud._ Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of
love with life, that I will sue to be rid of it.
_Duke._ Hold you there: farewell. [_Exit Claudio._] Provost,
a word with you!
_Re-enter PROVOST._
_Prov._ What's your will, father? 170
_Duke._ That now you are come, you will be gone.
Leave me awhile with the maid: my mind promises with
my habit no loss shall touch her by my company.
_Prov._ In good time. [_Exit Provost. Isabella comes forward._
_Duke._ The hand that hath made you fair hath made 175
you good: the goodness that is cheap in beauty makes
beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your
complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair. The assault
that Angelo hath made to you, fortune hath conveyed to
my understanding; and, but that frailty hath examples for 180
his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How will you do
to content this substitute, and to save your brother?
_Isab._ I am now going to resolve him: I had rather my
brother die by the law than my son should be unlawfully
born. But, O, how much is the good Duke deceived in 185
Angelo! If ever he return and I can speak to him, I will
open my lips in vain, or discover his government.
_Duke._ That shall not be much amiss: yet, as the matter
now stands, he will avoid your accusation; he made trial
of you only. Therefore fasten your ear on my advisings: to 190
the love I have in doing good a remedy presents itself. I
do make myself believe that you may most uprighteously
do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit; redeem your
brother from the angry law; do no stain to your own gracious
person; and much please the absent Duke, if peradventure 195
he shall ever return to have hearing of this business.
_Isab._ Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to
do any thing that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.
_Duke._ Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have
you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick the 200
great soldier who miscarried at sea?
_Isab._ I have heard of the lady, and good words went
with her name.
_Duke._ She should this Angelo have married; was affianced
to her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: between 205
which time of the contract and limit of the solemnity, her
brother Frederick was wrecked at sea, having in that perished
vessel the dowry of his sister. But mark how heavily
this befell to the poor gentlewoman: there she lost a noble
and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever most 210
kind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew of her
fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, her combinate
husband, this well-seeming Angelo.
_Isab._ Can this be so? did Angelo so leave her?
_Duke._ Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them 215
with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in
her discoveries of dishonour: in few, bestowed her on her
own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he,
a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.
_Isab._ What a merit were it in death to take this poor 220
maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it
will let this man live! But how out of this can she avail?
_Duke._ It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and
the cure of it not only saves your brother, but keeps you
from dishonour in doing it. 225
_Isab._ Show me how, good father.
_Duke._ This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance
of her first affection: his unjust unkindness, that in all
reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment
in the current, made it more violent and unruly. 230
Go you to Angelo; answer his requiring with a plausible
obedience; agree with his demands to the point; only refer
yourself to this advantage, first, that your stay with him
may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and
silence in it; and the place answer to convenience. This 235
being granted in course,--and now follows all,--we shall
advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go
in your place; if the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter,
it may compel him to her recompense: and here, by
this, is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor 240
Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt Deputy scaled. The
maid will I frame and make fit for his attempt. If you
think well to carry this as you may, the doubleness of
the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think
you of it? 245
_Isab._ The image of it gives me content already; and I
trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection.
_Duke._ It lies much in your holding up. Haste you
speedily to Angelo: if for this night he entreat you to his
bed, give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to 250
Saint Luke's: there, at the moated grange, resides this dejected
Mariana. At that place call upon me; and dispatch
with Angelo, that it may be quickly.
_Isab._ I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well,
good father.
[_Exeunt severally._ 255
NOTES: III, 1.
1: _of_] _for_ Hanmer.
4: _I've_] _I'have_ Ff.
5: _either_] _or_ Pope.
8: _keep_] _reck_ Warburton. _thou art_] om. Hanmer.
10: _dost_] Ff. _do_ Hanmer.
20: _exist'st_] Theobald. _exists_ Ff.
24: _effects_] _affects_ Johnson conj.
25: _If_] _Though_ Hanmer.
28: _unloads_] _unloadeth_ Pope.
29: _sire_] F4. _fire_ F1 F2 F3. See note (XIII).
31: _serpigo_] Rowe. _sapego_ F1. _sarpego_ F2 F3 F4.
34: _all thy blessed_] _pall'd, thy blazed_ Warburton.
_all thy blasted_ Johnson conj. _all thy boasted_ Collier MS.
35: _as aged_] _an indigent_ Hanmer. _assuaged_ Warburton.
_assieged_ Becket conj. _engaged_ Staunton conj.
_enaged_ Grant White conj. _abased_ Edd. conj.
37: _beauty_] _bounty_ Warburton.
38: _yet_] om. Pope.
40: _more_] _moe_ Ff. _a_ Hanmer.
46: _sir_] _son_ Mason conj.
49: _Look_] om. Pope.
53: _Bring me to hear them speak_] Malone (Steevens conj.).
_Bring them to hear me speak_ F1. _Bring them to speak_ F2 F3 F4.
_Bring me to stand_ Capell.
54: _concealed_] _conceal'd_ F1. _conceal'd, yet hear them_ F2 F3 F4.
_conceal'd, yet hear them speak_ Capell. _Bring me where I
conceal'd May hear them speak_ Davenant's version.
55: SCENE II. Pope.
_sister_] _good sister_ Hanmer.
57: _most good, most good indeed_] _most good indeed_ Pope.
_most good in speed_ Hanmer. _most good. Indeed_ Blackstone conj.
See note (XIV).
60: _leiger_] _ledger_ Capell. _lieger_ Staunton.
62: _set on_] _set out_ Pope.
64: _To_] _Must_ Hanmer.
70: _Though_] Pope. _Through_ Ff.
79: _can a resolution fetch_] _want a resolution fetch'd_ Hanmer.
80: _tenderness?_] _tenderness._ Dyce (Heath conj.).
86: _appliances_] _appliance_ Hanmer.
88: _head_] _bred_ Grey conj.
89: _falcon_] _falconer_ Grey conj.
90, 91: _filth ... pond_] _pond ... filth_ Upton conj.
91, 94: _prenzie_] F1. _princely_ F2 F3 F4. _priestly_ Hanmer.
_precise_ Knight (Tieck conj.). _rev'rend_ Staunton.
_saintly_ Hickson conj. _pensive_ Anon. (N. & Q.) conj.
_frenzy!--princely_ Knight conj. _printsy_ Taylor conj.
_pious_ Delius conj. _phrenzied_ Anon. (N. & Q.) conj.
_primsie_ Anon. (N. & Q.) conj. _pensie_ Bullock conj.
See note (XV).
93: _damned'st_] _damnest_ F1.
94: _guards_] _garb_ Collier MS.
97: _give't_] _grant_ Hanmer. _give_ Warburton.
_from_] _for_ Hanmer.
103: _dear_] _dearest_ Pope.
105: _he_] _he then_ Hanmer.
111: _Why_] _Why,_ Hanmer.
118: _delighted_] _dilated_ Hanmer. _benighted_ (Anon. conj.
ap. Johnson). _delinquent_ Upton conj. _alighted_ Anon. conj.
_delated_ Anon. conj. in Fras. Mag. See note (XVI).
119: _reside_] _recide_ F1 (and 249).
120: _region_] _regions_ Rowe.
124, 125: _those that ... thought Imagine_] _those, that ... thought,
Imagine_ Ff. _... thoughts ..._ Theobald. _those--that ...
thought--Imagine_ Hanmer. _those whom ... thought Imagines_
Heath conj. (after Davenant).
127: _penury_] F2 F3 F4. _periury_ F1.
_and_] om. Pope.
138: _shield_] F1. _shield:_ F2 F3 F4. _grant_ Pope.
141: _but my_] _my only_ Pope.
145: _Nay_] om. Pope.
148: [Going. Capell.
149: SCENE III. Pope.
Re-enter Duke] Capell. Duke steps in. F2. om. F1.
Enter Duke and Provost. Rowe.
155: [Walks apart] Capell.
163: _satisfy_] _falsify_ Hanmer.
168: [Exit C.] Exit. F2, after line 167, om. F1. See note (XVII).
174: Exit ... forward] Edd. [Exit. F2 om. F1.
176: _cheap_] _chief_ Collier MS.
177: _in goodness_] _in such goodness_ Hanmer.
179: _to you_] _on you_ Hanmer.
183: _him:_] _him,_ Dyce.
190, 191: _advisings: ... good_] Pope. _advisings,... good;_ Ff.
192: _uprighteously_] _uprightly_ Pope.
197: _farther_] _, father_ F4.
204: _She_] _Her_ Pope.
_was_] _he was_ Hanmer.
205: _by_] om. F1.
_and_] om. F4.
217: _few_] F1 F2. _few words_ F3 F4.
_her on_] _on her_ Capell conj.
219: _a marble_] _as marble_ Anon. conj.
_tears_] F1. _ears_ F2 F3 F4.
228: _unkindness_] _kindness_ Pope.
236: _granted in course,--and now_] _granted incourse, and now_ Ff.
_granted, in course now_ Pope.
241: _scaled_] _foiled_ Grant White.
244: _from_] _and_ Rowe.
255: [Exeunt severally] [Exit Ff.
SCENE II. _The street before the prison._
_Enter, on one side, DUKE disguised as before; on the other, ELBOW,
and _Officers_ with POMPEY._
_Elb._ Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that you
will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts, we
shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.
_Duke._ O heavens! what stuff is here?
_Pom._ 'Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, 5
the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by
order of law a furred gown to keep him warm; and furred
with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify, that craft,
being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.
_Elb._ Come your way, sir. 'Bless you, good father friar. 10
_Duke._ And you, good brother father. What offence
hath this man made you, sir?
_Elb._ Marry, sir, he hath offended the law: and, sir, we
take him to be a thief too, sir; for we have found upon him,
sir, a strange picklock, which we have sent to the Deputy. 15
_Duke._ Fie, sirrah! a bawd, a wicked bawd!
The evil that thou causest to be done,
That is thy means to live. Do thou but think
What 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a back
From such a filthy vice: say to thyself, 20
From their abominable and beastly touches
I drink, I eat, array myself, and live.
Canst thou believe thy living is a life,
So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.
_Pom._ Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet, 25
sir, I would prove--
_Duke._ Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin,
Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer:
Correction and instruction must both work
Ere this rude beast will profit. 30
_Elb._ He must before the Deputy, sir; he has given
him warning: the Deputy cannot abide a whoremaster: if
he be a whoremonger, and comes before him, he were as
good go a mile on his errand.
_Duke._ That we were all, as some would seem to be, 35
From our faults, as faults from seeming, free!
_Elb._ His neck will come to your waist,--a cord, sir.
_Pom._ I spy comfort; I cry bail. Here's a gentleman
and a friend of mine.
_Enter LUCIO._
_Lucio._ How now, noble Pompey! What, at the wheels 40
of Caesar? art thou led in triumph? What, is there none
of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to be had
now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting it
clutched? What reply, ha? What sayest thou to this tune,
matter and method? Is't not drowned i' the last rain, ha? 45
What sayest thou, Trot? Is the world as it was, man?
Which is the way? Is it sad, and few words? or how? The
trick of it?
_Duke._ Still thus, and thus; still worse!
_Lucio._ How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures 50
she still, ha?
_Pom._ Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and
she is herself in the tub.
_Lucio._ Why, 'tis good; it is the right of it; it must be
so: ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd: an 55
unshunned consequence; it must be so. Art going to
prison, Pompey?
_Pom._ Yes, faith, sir.
_Lucio._ Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey. Farewell: go,
say I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? or how? 60
_Elb._ For being a bawd, for being a bawd.
_Lucio._ Well, then, imprison him: if imprisonment be
the due of a bawd, why, 'tis his right: bawd is he doubtless,
and of antiquity too; bawd-born. Farewell, good Pompey.
Commend me to the prison, Pompey: you will turn good 65
husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house.
_Pom._ I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail.
_Lucio._ No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the
wear. I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage: if
you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. 70
Adieu, trusty Pompey. 'Bless you, friar.
_Duke._ And you.
_Lucio._ Does Bridget paint still, Pompey, ha?
_Elb._ Come your ways, sir; come.
_Pom._ You will not bail me, then, sir? 75
_Lucio._ Then, Pompey, nor now. What news abroad,
friar? what news?
_Elb._ Come your ways, sir; come.
