The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 328

There's many have committed it.

LUCIO. [Aside] Ay, well said.

ANGELO. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept.

Those many had not dar'd to do that evil If the first 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 gla.s.s that shows what future evils- Either now or by remissness new conceiv'd, And so in progress to be hatch'd and born- Are now to have no successive degrees, But here they live to end.

ISABELLA. Yet show some pity.

ANGELO. 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.

ISABELLA. 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. [To ISABELLA] That's well said.

ISABELLA. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would never 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, Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man, Dress'd in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he's most a.s.sur'd, His gla.s.sy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep; who, with our speens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.

LUCIO. [To ISABELLA] O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent; He's coming; I perceive 't.

PROVOST. [Aside] Pray heaven she win him.

ISABELLA. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself.

Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them; But in the less foul profanation.

LUCIO. [To ISABELLA] Thou'rt i' th' right, girl; more o' that.

ISABELLA. That in the captain's but a choleric word Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

LUCIO. [To ISABELLA] Art avis'd o' that? More on't.

ANGELO. Why do you put these sayings upon me?

ISABELLA. Because authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself That skins the vice o' th' 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.

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

ISABELLA. Gentle my lord, turn back.

ANGELO. I will bethink me. Come again to-morrow.

ISABELLA. Hark how I'll bribe you; good my lord, turn back.

ANGELO. How, bribe me?

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

LUCIO. [To ISABELLA) You had marr'd all else.

ISABELLA. Not with fond sicles of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rate are either rich or poor 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.

ANGELO. Well; come to me to-morrow.

LUCIO. [To ISABELLA] Go to; 'tis well; away.

ISABELLA. Heaven keep your honour safe!

ANGELO. [Aside] Amen; for I Am that way going to temptation Where prayers cross.

ISABELLA. At what hour to-morrow Shall I attend your lordship?

ANGELO. At any time 'fore noon.

ISABELLA. Save your honour! Exeunt all but ANGELO ANGELO. 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 That, lying by the violet in the sun, Do as the carrion does, not as the flow'r, Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, 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!

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, With all her double vigour, art and nature, Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid Subdues me quite. Ever till now, When men were fond, I smil'd and wond'red how. Exit

SCENE III.

A prison

Enter, severally, DUKE, disguised as a FRIAR, and PROVOST

DUKE. Hail to you, Provost! so I think you are.

PROVOST. 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 To let me see them, and to make me know The nature of their crimes, that I may minister To them accordingly.

PROVOST. I would do more than that, if more were needful.

Enter JULIET

Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Who, falling in the flaws 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?

PROVOST. 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 conscience, And try your penitence, if it be sound 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 lest 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 spare 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.

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 JULIET. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious law, That respites me a life whose very comfort Is still a dying horror!

PROVOST. 'Tis pity of him. Exeunt

SCENE IV.

ANGELO'S house

Enter ANGELO

ANGELO. 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, 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 sere 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.

Enter SERVANT

How now, who's there?

SERVANT. One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.

ANGELO. Teach her the way. [Exit SERVANT] O heavens!

Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, 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 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?

ISABELLA. I am come to know your pleasure.