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Shakespeare

Measure for Measure

Act 1

#Scene 1

An apartment in the DUKE'S palace.

#Vincentio. Escalus.

#Escalus. My lord.

#Vincentio. Of government the properties to unfold,Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;Since I am put to know that your own scienceExceeds, in that, the lists of all adviceMy strength can give you: then no more remains,But that to your sufficiency [--][--] as your Worth is able,]And let them work. The nature of our people,Our city's institutions, and the termsFor common justice, you're as pregnant inAs art and practise hath enriched anyThat we remember. There is our commission,From which we would not have you warp. Call hither,I say, bid come before us Angelo.[Exit an Attendant]What figure of us Think you he will bear?For you must know, we have with special soulElected him our absence to supply,Lent him our terror, dress'd him with our love,And given his deputation all the organsOf our own power: what think you of it?

#Escalus. If any in Vienna be of worthTo undergo such ample grace and honour,It is Lord Angelo.

#Vincentio. Look where he comes.

#[Enter ANGELO]

#Angelo. Always obedient to your grace's will,I come to know your pleasure.

#Vincentio. Angelo,There is a kind of character in thy life,That to the observer doth thy historyFully unfold. Thyself and thy belongingsAre not thine own so proper as to wasteThyself upon thy virtues, they on thee.Heaven doth with us as we with torches do,Not light them for themselves; for if our virtuesDid not go forth of us, 'twere all alikeAs if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'dBut to fine issues, nor Nature never lendsThe smallest scruple of her excellenceBut, like a thrifty goddess, she determinesHerself the glory of a creditor,Both thanks and use. But I do bend my speechTo one that can my part in him advertise;Hold therefore, Angelo:--In our remove be thou at full ourself;Mortality and mercy in ViennaLive in thy tongue and heart: old Escalus,Though first in question, is thy secondary.Take thy commission.

#Angelo. Now, good my lord,Let there be some more test made of my metal,Before so noble and so great a figureBe stamp'd upon it.

#Vincentio. No more evasion:We have with a leaven'd and prepared choiceProceeded to you; therefore take your honours.Our haste from hence is of so quick conditionThat it prefers itself and leaves unquestion'dMatters of needful value. We shall write to you,As time and our concernings shall importune,How it goes with us, and do look to knowWhat doth befall you here. So, fare you well;To the hopeful execution do I leave youOf your commissions.

#Angelo. Yet give leave, my lord,That we may bring you something on the way.

#Vincentio. My haste may not admit it;Nor need you, on mine honour, have to doWith any scruple; your scope is as mine ownSo to enforce or qualify the lawsAs to your soul seems good. Give me your hand:I'll privily away. I love the people,But do not like to stage me to their eyes:Through it do well, I do not relish wellTheir loud applause and Aves vehement;Nor do I think the man of safe discretionThat does affect it. Once more, fare you well.

#Angelo. The heavens give safety to your purposes!

#Escalus. Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!

#Vincentio. I thank you. Fare you well.

#[Exit]

#Escalus. I shall desire you, sir, to give me leaveTo have free speech with you; and it concerns meTo look into the bottom of my place:A power I have, but of what strength and natureI am not yet instructed.

#Angelo. 'Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together,And we may soon our satisfaction haveTouching that point.

#Escalus. I'll wait upon your honour.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 2

A Street.

#[Enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen]

#Lucio. If the duke with the other dukes come not tocomposition with the King of Hungary, why then allthe dukes fall upon the king.

#First Gentleman. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the King ofHungary's!

#Second Gentleman. Amen.

#Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, thatwent to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scrapedone out of the table.

#Second Gentleman. 'Thou shalt not steal'?

#Lucio. Ay, that he razed.

#First Gentleman. Why, 'twas a commandment to command the captain andall the rest from their functions: they put forthto steal. There's not a soldier of us all, that, inthe thanksgiving before meat, do relish the petitionwell that prays for peace.

#Second Gentleman. I never heard any soldier dislike it.

#Lucio. I believe thee; for I think thou never wast wheregrace was said.

#Second Gentleman. No? a dozen times at least.

#First Gentleman. What, in metre?

#Lucio. In any proportion or in any language.

#First Gentleman. I think, or in any religion.

#Lucio. Ay, why not? Grace is grace, despite of allcontroversy: as, for example, thou thyself art awicked villain, despite of all grace.

#First Gentleman. Well, there went but a pair of shears between us.

#Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lists and thevelvet. Thou art the list.

#First Gentleman. And thou the velvet: thou art good velvet; thou'rta three-piled piece, I warrant thee: I had as liefbe a list of an English kersey as be piled, as thouart piled, for a French velvet. Do I speakfeelingly now?

#Lucio. I think thou dost; and, indeed, with most painfulfeeling of thy speech: I will, out of thine ownconfession, learn to begin thy health; but, whilst Ilive, forget to drink after thee.

#First Gentleman. I think I have done myself wrong, have I not?

#Second Gentleman. Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted or free.

#Lucio. Behold, behold. where Madam Mitigation comes! Ihave purchased as many diseases under her roof as come to--

#Second Gentleman. To what, I pray?

#Lucio. Judge.

#Second Gentleman. To three thousand dolours a year.

#First Gentleman. Ay, and more.

#Lucio. A French crown more.

#First Gentleman. Thou art always figuring diseases in me; but thouart full of error; I am sound.

#Lucio. Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound asthings that are hollow: thy bones are hollow;impiety has made a feast of thee.

#[Enter MISTRESS OVERDONE]

#First Gentleman. How now! which of your hips has the most profound sciatica?

#Mistress Overdone. Well, well; there's one yonder arrested and carriedto prison was worth five thousand of you all.

#Second Gentleman. Who's that, I pray thee?

#Mistress Overdone. Marry, sir, that's Claudio, Signior Claudio.

#First Gentleman. Claudio to prison? 'tis not so.

#Mistress Overdone. Nay, but I know 'tis so: I saw him arrested, sawhim carried away; and, which is more, within thesethree days his head to be chopped off.

#Lucio. But, after all this fooling, I would not have it so.Art thou sure of this?

#Mistress Overdone. I am too sure of it: and it is for getting MadamJulietta with child.

#Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me twohours since, and he was ever precise inpromise-keeping.

#Second Gentleman. Besides, you know, it draws something near to thespeech we had to such a purpose.

#First Gentleman. But, most of all, agreeing with the proclamation.

#Lucio. Away! let's go learn the truth of it.

#[Exeunt LUCIO and Gentlemen]

#Mistress Overdone. Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, whatwith the gallows and what with poverty, I amcustom-shrunk.[Enter POMPEY]How now! what's the news with you?

#Pompey. Yonder man is carried to prison.

#Mistress Overdone. Well; what has he done?

#Pompey. A woman.

#Mistress Overdone. But what's his offence?

#Pompey. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.

#Mistress Overdone. What, is there a maid with child by him?

#Pompey. No, but there's a woman with maid by him. You havenot heard of the proclamation, have you?

#Mistress Overdone. What proclamation, man?

#Pompey. All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.

#Mistress Overdone. And what shall become of those in the city?

#Pompey. They shall stand for seed: they had gone down too,but that a wise burgher put in for them.

#Mistress Overdone. But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs bepulled down?

#Pompey. To the ground, mistress.

#Mistress Overdone. Why, here's a change indeed in the commonwealth!What shall become of me?

#Pompey. Come; fear you not: good counsellors lack noclients: though you change your place, you need notchange your trade; I'll be your tapster still.Courage! there will be pity taken on you: you thathave worn your eyes almost out in the service, youwill be considered.

#Mistress Overdone. What's to do here, Thomas tapster? let's withdraw.

#Pompey. Here comes Signior Claudio, led by the provost toprison; and there's Madam Juliet.

#[Exeunt]

#[Enter Provost, CLAUDIO, JULIET, and Officers]

#Claudio. Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to the world?Bear me to prison, where I am committed.

#Provost. I do it not in evil disposition,But from Lord Angelo by special charge.

#Claudio. Thus can the demigod AuthorityMake us pay down for our offence by weightThe words of heaven; on whom it will, it will;On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just.

#[Re-enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen]

#Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio! whence comes this restraint?

#Claudio. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:As surfeit is the father of much fast,So every scope by the immoderate useTurns to restraint. Our natures do pursue,Like rats that ravin down their proper bane,A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.

#Lucio. If could speak so wisely under an arrest, I wouldsend for certain of my creditors: and yet, to saythe truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedomas the morality of imprisonment. What's thyoffence, Claudio?

#Claudio. What but to speak of would offend again.

#Lucio. What, is't murder?

#Claudio. No.

#Lucio. Lechery?

#Claudio. Call it so.

#Provost. Away, sir! you must go.

#Claudio. One word, good friend. Lucio, a word with you.

#Lucio. A hundred, if they'll do you any good.Is lechery so look'd after?

#Claudio. Thus stands it with me: upon a true contractI got possession of Julietta's bed:You know the lady; she is fast my wife,Save that we do the denunciation lackOf outward order: this we came not to,Only for propagation of a dowerRemaining in the coffer of her friends,From whom we thought it meet to hide our loveTill time had made them for us. But it chancesThe stealth of our most mutual entertainmentWith character too gross is writ on Juliet.

#Lucio. With child, perhaps?

#Claudio. Unhappily, even so.And the new deputy now for the duke--Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness,Or whether that the body public beA horse whereon the governor doth ride,Who, newly in the seat, that it may knowHe can command, lets it straight feel the spur;Whether the tyranny be in his place,Or in his emmence that fills it up,I stagger in:--but this new governorAwakes me all the enrolled penaltiesWhich have, like unscour'd armour, hung by the wallSo long that nineteen zodiacs have gone roundAnd none of them been worn; and, for a name,Now puts the drowsy and neglected actFreshly on me: 'tis surely for a name.

#Lucio. I warrant it is: and thy head stands so tickle onthy shoulders that a milkmaid, if she be in love,may sigh it off. Send after the duke and appeal tohim.

#Claudio. I have done so, but he's not to be found.I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service:This day my sister should the cloister enterAnd there receive her approbation:Acquaint her with the danger of my state:Implore her, in my voice, that she make friendsTo the strict deputy; bid herself assay him:I have great hope in that; for in her youthThere is a prone and speechless dialect,Such as move men; beside, she hath prosperous artWhen she will play with reason and discourse,And well she can persuade.

#Lucio. I pray she may; as well for the encouragement of thelike, which else would stand under grievousimposition, as for the enjoying of thy life, who Iwould be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at agame of tick-tack. I'll to her.

#Claudio. I thank you, good friend Lucio.

#Lucio. Within two hours.

#Claudio. Come, officer, away!

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 3

A monastery.

#[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO and FRIAR THOMAS]

#Vincentio. No, holy father; throw away that thought;Believe not that the dribbling dart of loveCan pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire theeTo give me secret harbour, hath a purposeMore grave and wrinkled than the aims and endsOf burning youth.

#Friar Thomas. May your grace speak of it?

#Vincentio. My holy sir, none better knows than youHow I have ever loved the life removedAnd held in idle price to haunt assembliesWhere youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps.I have deliver'd to Lord Angelo,A man of stricture and firm abstinence,My absolute power and place here in Vienna,And he supposes me travell'd to Poland;For so I have strew'd it in the common ear,And so it is received. Now, pious sir,You will demand of me why I do this?

#Friar Thomas. Gladly, my lord.

#Vincentio. We have strict statutes and most biting laws.The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,Which for this nineteen years we have let slip;Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave,That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,Only to stick it in their children's sightFor terror, not to use, in time the rodBecomes more mock'd than fear'd; so our decrees,Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;And liberty plucks justice by the nose;The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwartGoes all decorum.

#Friar Thomas. It rested in your graceTo unloose this tied-up justice when you pleased:And it in you more dreadful would have seem'dThan in Lord Angelo.

#Vincentio. I do fear, too dreadful:Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall themFor what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,When evil deeds have their permissive passAnd not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father,I have on Angelo imposed the office;Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home,And yet my nature never in the fightTo do in slander. And to behold his sway,I will, as 'twere a brother of your order,Visit both prince and people: therefore, I prithee,Supply me with the habit and instruct meHow I may formally in person bear meLike a true friar. More reasons for this actionAt our more leisure shall I render you;Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confessesThat his blood flows, or that his appetiteIs more to bread than stone: hence shall we see,If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 4

A nunnery.

#[Enter ISABELLA and FRANCISCA]

#Isabella. And have you nuns no farther privileges?

#Francisca. Are not these large enough?

#Isabella. Yes, truly; I speak not as desiring more;But rather wishing a more strict restraintUpon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare.

#Lucio. [Within] Ho! Peace be in this place!

#Isabella. Who's that which calls?

#Francisca. It is a man's voice. Gentle Isabella,Turn you the key, and know his business of him;You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn.When you have vow'd, you must not speak with menBut in the presence of the prioress:Then, if you speak, you must not show your face,Or, if you show your face, you must not speak.He calls again; I pray you, answer him.

#[Exit]

#Isabella. Peace and prosperity! Who is't that calls

#[Enter LUCIO]

#Lucio. Hail, virgin, if you be, as those cheek-rosesProclaim you are no less! Can you so stead meAs bring me to the sight of Isabella,A novice of this place and the fair sisterTo her unhappy brother Claudio?

#Isabella. Why 'her unhappy brother'? let me ask,The rather for I now must make you knowI am that Isabella and his sister.

#Lucio. Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you:Not to be weary with you, he's in prison.

#Isabella. Woe me! for what?

#Lucio. For that which, if myself might be his judge,He should receive his punishment in thanks:He hath got his friend with child.

#Isabella. Sir, make me not your story.

#Lucio. It is true.I would not--though 'tis my familiar sinWith maids to seem the lapwing and to jest,Tongue far from heart--play with all virgins so:I hold you as a thing ensky'd and sainted.By your renouncement an immortal spirit,And to be talk'd with in sincerity,As with a saint.

#Isabella. You do blaspheme the good in mocking me.

#Lucio. Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, 'tis thus:Your brother and his lover have embraced:As those that feed grow full, as blossoming timeThat from the seedness the bare fallow bringsTo teeming foison, even so her plenteous wombExpresseth his full tilth and husbandry.

#Isabella. Some one with child by him? My cousin Juliet?

#Lucio. Is she your cousin?

#Isabella. Adoptedly; as school-maids change their namesBy vain though apt affection.

#Lucio. She it is.

#Isabella. O, let him marry her.

#Lucio. This is the point.The duke is very strangely gone from hence;Bore many gentlemen, myself being one,In hand and hope of action: but we do learnBy those that know the very nerves of state,His givings-out were of an infinite distanceFrom his true-meant design. Upon his place,And with full line of his authority,Governs Lord Angelo; a man whose bloodIs very snow-broth; one who never feelsThe wanton stings and motions of the sense,But doth rebate and blunt his natural edgeWith profits of the mind, study and fast.He--to give fear to use and liberty,Which have for long run by the hideous law,As mice by lions--hath pick'd out an act,Under whose heavy sense your brother's lifeFalls into forfeit: he arrests him on it;And follows close the rigour of the statute,To make him an example. All hope is gone,Unless you have the grace by your fair prayerTo soften Angelo: and that's my pith of business'Twixt you and your poor brother.

#Isabella. Doth he so seek his life?

#Lucio. Has censured himAlready; and, as I hear, the provost hathA warrant for his execution.

#Isabella. Alas! what poor ability's in meTo do him good?

#Lucio. Assay the power you have.

#Isabella. My power? Alas, I doubt--

#Lucio. Our doubts are traitorsAnd make us lose the good we oft might winBy fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo,And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,All their petitions are as freely theirsAs they themselves would owe them.

#Isabella. I'll see what I can do.

#Lucio. But speedily.

#Isabella. I will about it straight;No longer staying but to give the motherNotice of my affair. I humbly thank you:Commend me to my brother: soon at nightI'll send him certain word of my success.

#Lucio. I take my leave of you.

#Isabella. Good sir, adieu.

#[Exeunt] [Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS, and a Justice, Provost,] Officers, and other Attendants, behind]

Act 2

#Scene 1

A hall In ANGELO's house.

#Angelo. We must not make a scarecrow of the law,Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,And let it keep one shape, till custom make itTheir perch and not their terror.

#Escalus. Ay, but yetLet us be keen, and rather cut a little,Than fall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentlemanWhom I would save, had a most noble father!Let but your honour know,Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue,That, in the working of your own affections,Had time cohered with place or place with wishing,Or that the resolute acting of your bloodCould have attain'd the effect of your own purpose,Whether you had not sometime in your lifeErr'd in this point which now you censure him,And pull'd the law upon you.

#Angelo. 'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,Another thing to fall. I not deny,The jury, passing on the prisoner's life,May in the sworn twelve have a thief or twoGuiltier than him they try. What's open made to justice,That justice seizes: what know the lawsThat thieves do pass on thieves? 'Tis very pregnant,The jewel that we find, we stoop and take'tBecause we see it; but what we do not seeWe tread upon, and never think of it.You may not so extenuate his offenceFor I have had such faults; but rather tell me,When I, that censure him, do so offend,Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.

#Escalus. Be it as your wisdom will.

#Angelo. Where is the provost?

#Provost. Here, if it like your honour.

#Angelo. See that ClaudioBe executed by nine to-morrow morning:Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared;For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage.

#[Exit Provost]

#Escalus. [Aside] Well, heaven forgive him! and forgive us all!Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall:Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none:And some condemned for a fault alone.

#[Enter ELBOW, and Officers with FROTH and POMPEY]

#Elbow. Come, bring them away: if these be good people ina commonweal that do nothing but use their abuses incommon houses, I know no law: bring them away.

#Angelo. How now, sir! What's your name? and what's the matter?

#Elbow. If it Please your honour, I am the poor duke'sconstable, and my name is Elbow: I do lean uponjustice, sir, and do bring in here before your goodhonour two notorious benefactors.

#Angelo. Benefactors? Well; what benefactors are they? arethey not malefactors?

#Elbow. If it? please your honour, I know not well what theyare: but precise villains they are, that I am sureof; and void of all profanation in the world thatgood Christians ought to have.

#Escalus. This comes off well; here's a wise officer.

#Angelo. Go to: what quality are they of? Elbow is yourname? why dost thou not speak, Elbow?

#Pompey. He cannot, sir; he's out at elbow.

#Angelo. What are you, sir?

#Elbow. He, sir! a tapster, sir; parcel-bawd; one thatserves a bad woman; whose house, sir, was, as theysay, plucked down in the suburbs; and now sheprofesses a hot-house, which, I think, is a very ill house too.

#Escalus. How know you that?

#Elbow. My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour,--

#Escalus. How? thy wife?

#Elbow. Ay, sir; whom, I thank heaven, is an honest woman,--

#Escalus. Dost thou detest her therefore?

#Elbow. I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well asshe, that this house, if it be not a bawd's house,it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house.

#Escalus. How dost thou know that, constable?

#Elbow. Marry, sir, by my wife; who, if she had been a womancardinally given, might have been accused infornication, adultery, and all uncleanliness there.

#Escalus. By the woman's means?

#Elbow. Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone's means: but as shespit in his face, so she defied him.

#Pompey. Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.

#Elbow. Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourableman; prove it.

#Escalus. Do you hear how he misplaces?

#Pompey. Sir, she came in great with child; and longing,saving your honour's reverence, for stewed prunes;sir, we had but two in the house, which at that verydistant time stood, as it were, in a fruit-dish, adish of some three-pence; your honours have seensuch dishes; they are not China dishes, but verygood dishes,--

#Escalus. Go to, go to: no matter for the dish, sir.

#Pompey. No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein inthe right: but to the point. As I say, thisMistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, andbeing great-bellied, and longing, as I said, forprunes; and having but two in the dish, as I said,Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten therest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them veryhonestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I couldnot give you three-pence again.

#Froth. No, indeed.

#Pompey. Very well: you being then, if you be remembered,cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes,--

#Froth. Ay, so I did indeed.

#Pompey. Why, very well; I telling you then, if you beremembered, that such a one and such a one were pastcure of the thing you wot of, unless they kept verygood diet, as I told you,--

#Froth. All this is true.

#Pompey. Why, very well, then,--

#Escalus. Come, you are a tedious fool: to the purpose. Whatwas done to Elbow's wife, that he hath cause tocomplain of? Come me to what was done to her.

#Pompey. Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.

#Escalus. No, sir, nor I mean it not.

#Pompey. Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour'sleave. And, I beseech you, look into Master Frothhere, sir; a man of four-score pound a year; whosefather died at Hallowmas: was't not at Hallowmas,Master Froth?

#Froth. All-hallond eve.

#Pompey. Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir,sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir; 'twas inthe Bunch of Grapes, where indeed you have a delightto sit, have you not?

#Froth. I have so; because it is an open room and good for winter.

#Pompey. Why, very well, then; I hope here be truths.

#Angelo. This will last out a night in Russia,When nights are longest there: I'll take my leave.And leave you to the hearing of the cause;Hoping you'll find good cause to whip them all.

#Escalus. I think no less. Good morrow to your lordship.[Exit ANGELO]Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow's wife, once more?

#Pompey. Once, sir? there was nothing done to her once.

#Elbow. I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.

#Pompey. I beseech your honour, ask me.

#Escalus. Well, sir; what did this gentleman to her?

#Pompey. I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman's face.Good Master Froth, look upon his honour; 'tis for agood purpose. Doth your honour mark his face?

#Escalus. Ay, sir, very well.

#Pompey. Nay; I beseech you, mark it well.

#Escalus. Well, I do so.

#Pompey. Doth your honour see any harm in his face?

#Escalus. Why, no.

#Pompey. I'll be supposed upon a book, his face is the worstthing about him. Good, then; if his face be theworst thing about him, how could Master Froth do theconstable's wife any harm? I would know that ofyour honour.

#Escalus. He's in the right. Constable, what say you to it?

#Elbow. First, an it like you, the house is a respectedhouse; next, this is a respected fellow; and hismistress is a respected woman.

#Pompey. By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respectedperson than any of us all.

#Elbow. Varlet, thou liest; thou liest, wicked varlet! thetime has yet to come that she was ever respectedwith man, woman, or child.

#Pompey. Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.

#Escalus. Which is the wiser here? Justice or Iniquity? Isthis true?

#Elbow. O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wickedHannibal! I respected with her before I was marriedto her! If ever I was respected with her, or shewith me, let not your worship think me the poorduke's officer. Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, orI'll have mine action of battery on thee.

#Escalus. If he took you a box o' the ear, you might have youraction of slander too.

#Elbow. Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What is'tyour worship's pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff?

#Escalus. Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in himthat thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let himcontinue in his courses till thou knowest what theyare.

#Elbow. Marry, I thank your worship for it. Thou seest, thouwicked varlet, now, what's come upon thee: thou artto continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue.

#Escalus. Where were you born, friend?

#Froth. Here in Vienna, sir.

#Escalus. Are you of fourscore pounds a year?

#Froth. Yes, an't please you, sir.

#Escalus. So. What trade are you of, sir?

#Pompey. Tapster; a poor widow's tapster.

#Escalus. Your mistress' name?

#Pompey. Mistress Overdone.

#Escalus. Hath she had any more than one husband?

#Pompey. Nine, sir; Overdone by the last.

#Escalus. Nine! Come hither to me, Master Froth. MasterFroth, I would not have you acquainted withtapsters: they will draw you, Master Froth, and youwill hang them. Get you gone, and let me hear nomore of you.

#Froth. I thank your worship. For mine own part, I nevercome into any room in a tap-house, but I am drawnin.

#Escalus. Well, no more of it, Master Froth: farewell.[Exit FROTH]Come you hither to me, Master tapster. What's yourname, Master tapster?

#Pompey. Pompey.

#Escalus. What else?

#Pompey. Bum, sir.

#Escalus. Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you;so that in the beastliest sense you are Pompey theGreat. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey,howsoever you colour it in being a tapster, are younot? come, tell me true: it shall be the better for you.

#Pompey. Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.

#Escalus. How would you live, Pompey? by being a bawd? Whatdo you think of the trade, Pompey? is it a lawful trade?

#Pompey. If the law would allow it, sir.

#Escalus. But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it shallnot be allowed in Vienna.

#Pompey. Does your worship mean to geld and splay all theyouth of the city?

#Escalus. No, Pompey.

#Pompey. Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to't then.If your worship will take order for the drabs andthe knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.

#Escalus. There are pretty orders beginning, I can tell you:it is but heading and hanging.

#Pompey. If you head and hang all that offend that way butfor ten year together, you'll be glad to give out acommission for more heads: if this law hold inVienna ten year, I'll rent the fairest house in itafter three-pence a bay: if you live to see thiscome to pass, say Pompey told you so.

#Escalus. Thank you, good Pompey; and, in requital of yourprophecy, hark you: I advise you, let me not findyou before me again upon any complaint whatsoever;no, not for dwelling where you do: if I do, Pompey,I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewdCaesar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shallhave you whipt: so, for this time, Pompey, fare you well.

#Pompey. I thank your worship for your good counsel:[Aside]but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shallbetter determine.Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade:The valiant heart is not whipt out of his trade.

#[Exit]

#Escalus. Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Masterconstable. How long have you been in this place of constable?

#Elbow. Seven year and a half, sir.

#Escalus. I thought, by your readiness in the office, you hadcontinued in it some time. You say, seven years together?

#Elbow. And a half, sir.

#Escalus. Alas, it hath been great pains to you. They do youwrong to put you so oft upon 't: are there not menin your ward sufficient to serve it?

#Elbow. Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters: as theyare chosen, they are glad to choose me for them; Ido it for some piece of money, and go through withall.

#Escalus. Look you bring me in the names of some six or seven,the most sufficient of your parish.

#Elbow. To your worship's house, sir?

#Escalus. To my house. Fare you well.[Exit ELBOW]What's o'clock, think you?

#Justice. Eleven, sir.

#Escalus. I pray you home to dinner with me.

#Justice. I humbly thank you.

#Escalus. It grieves me for the death of Claudio;But there's no remedy.

#Justice. Lord Angelo is severe.

#Escalus. It is but needful:Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so;Pardon is still the nurse of second woe:But yet,--poor Claudio! There is no remedy.Come, sir.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 2

Another room in the same.

#[Enter Provost and a Servant]

#Servant. He's hearing of a cause; he will come straightI'll tell him of you.

#Provost. Pray you, do.[Exit Servant]I'll knowHis pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,He hath but as offended in a dream!All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and heTo die for't!

#[Enter ANGELO]

#Angelo. Now, what's the matter. Provost?

#Provost. Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?

#Angelo. Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?Why dost thou ask again?

#Provost. Lest I might be too rash:Under your good correction, I have seen,When, after execution, judgment hathRepented o'er his doom.

#Angelo. Go to; let that be mine:Do you your office, or give up your place,And you shall well be spared.

#Provost. I crave your honour's pardon.What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?She's very near her hour.

#Angelo. Dispose of herTo some more fitter place, and that with speed.

#[Re-enter Servant]

#Servant. Here is the sister of the man condemn'dDesires access to you.

#Angelo. Hath he a sister?

#Provost. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,And to be shortly of a sisterhood,If not already.

#Angelo. Well, let her be admitted.[Exit Servant]See you the fornicatress be removed:Let have needful, but not lavish, means;There shall be order for't.

#[Enter ISABELLA and LUCIO]

#Provost. God save your honour!

#Angelo. Stay a little while.[To ISABELLA]You're welcome: what's your will?

#Isabella. I am a woeful suitor to your honour,Please but your honour hear me.

#Angelo. Well; what's your suit?

#Isabella. There is a vice that most I do abhor,And most desire should meet the blow of justice;For which I would not plead, but that I must;For which I must not plead, but that I amAt war 'twixt will and will not.

#Angelo. Well; the matter?

#Isabella. I have a brother is condemn'd to die:I do beseech you, let it be his fault,And not my brother.

#Provost. [Aside] Heaven give thee moving graces!

#Angelo. 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,And let go by the actor.

#Isabella. O just but severe law!I had a brother, then. Heaven keep your honour!

#Lucio. [Aside to ISABELLA] Give't not o'er so: to himagain, entreat him;Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:You are too cold; if you should need a pin,You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:To him, I say!

#Isabella. Must he needs die?

#Angelo. Maiden, no remedy.

#Isabella. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.

#Angelo. I will not do't.

#Isabella. But can you, if you would?

#Angelo. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.

#Isabella. But might you do't, and do the world no wrong,If so your heart were touch'd with that remorseAs mine is to him?

#Angelo. He's sentenced; 'tis too late.

#Lucio. [Aside to ISABELLA] You are too cold.

#Isabella. 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,The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,Become them with one half so good a graceAs mercy does.If he had been as you and you as he,You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,Would not have been so stern.

#Angelo. Pray you, be gone.

#Isabella. 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 ISABELLA]Ay, touch him; there's the vein.

#Angelo. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,And you but waste your words.

#Isabella. Alas, alas!Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;And He that might the vantage best have tookFound out the remedy. How would you be,If He, which is the top of judgment, shouldBut judge you as you are? O, think on that;And mercy then will breathe within your lips,Like man new made.

#Angelo. Be you content, fair maid;It is the law, not I condemn your brother:Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,It should be thus with him: he must die tomorrow.

#Isabella. To-morrow! O, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him!He's not prepared for death. Even for our kitchensWe kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heavenWith less respect than we do ministerTo 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 ISABELLA] Ay, well said.

#Angelo. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:Those many had not dared to do that evil,If the first that did the edict infringeHad answer'd for his deed: now 'tis awakeTakes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils,Either new, 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.

#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 suffer's. O, it is excellentTo have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannousTo use it like a giant.

#Lucio. [Aside to ISABELLA] That's well said.

#Isabella. Could great men thunderAs Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,For every pelting, petty officerWould use his heaven for thunder;Nothing but thunder! Merciful Heaven,Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous boltSplit'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oakThan 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,Plays such fantastic tricks before high heavenAs make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,Would all themselves laugh mortal.

#Lucio. [Aside to ISABELLA] O, to him, to him, wench! hewill 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. Thou'rt i' the right, girl; more o, that.

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

#Lucio. [Aside to ISABELLA] Art avised 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' the top. Go to your bosom;Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth knowThat's like my brother's fault: if it confessA natural guiltiness such as is his,Let it not sound a thought upon your tongueAgainst my brother's life.

#Angelo. [Aside] She speaks, and 'tisSuch sense, that my sense breeds with it. Fare you well.

#Isabella. Gentle my lord, turn back.

#Angelo. I will bethink me: come again tomorrow.

#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. [Aside to ISABELLA] You had marr'd all else.

#Isabella. Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,Or stones whose rates are either rich or poorAs fancy values them; but with true prayersThat shall be up at heaven and enter thereEre sun-rise, prayers from preserved souls,From fasting maids whose minds are dedicateTo nothing temporal.

#Angelo. Well; come to me to-morrow.

#Lucio. [Aside 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-morrowShall I attend your lordship?

#Angelo. At any time 'fore noon.

#Isabella. 'Save your honour!

#[Exeunt ISABELLA, LUCIO, and Provost]

#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 IThat, lying by the violet in the sun,Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it beThat modesty may more betray our senseThan woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough,Shall we desire to raze the sanctuaryAnd pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?Dost thou desire her foully for those thingsThat make her good? O, let her brother live!Thieves for their robbery have authorityWhen 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 dangerousIs that temptation that doth goad us onTo sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,With all her double vigour, art and nature,Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maidSubdues me quite. Even till now,When men were fond, I smiled and wonder'd how.

#[Exit] [Enter, severally, DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as a] friar, and Provost]

#Scene 3

A room in a prison.

#Vincentio. Hail to you, provost! so I think you are.

#Provost. I am the provost. What's your will, good friar?

#Vincentio. Bound by my charity and my blest order,I come to visit the afflicted spiritsHere in the prison. Do me the common rightTo let me see them and to make me knowThe nature of their crimes, that I may ministerTo 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, sentenced; a young manMore fit to do another such offenceThan die for this.

#Vincentio. When must he die?

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

#Vincentio. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry?

#Juliet. I do; and bear the shame most patiently.

#Vincentio. 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.

#Vincentio. Love you the man that wrong'd you?

#Juliet. Yes, as I love the woman that wrong'd him.

#Vincentio. So then it seems your most offenceful actWas mutually committed?

#Juliet. Mutually.

#Vincentio. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his.

#Juliet. I do confess it, and repent it, father.

#Vincentio. 'Tis meet so, daughter: but lest you do repent,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,--

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

#Vincentio. 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 love,That respites me a life, whose very comfortIs still a dying horror!

#Provost. 'Tis pity of him.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 4

A room in ANGELO's house.

#[Enter ANGELO]

#Angelo. When I would pray and think, I think and prayTo 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 evilOf my conception. The state, whereon I studiedIs like a good thing, being often read,Grown fear'd 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 soulsTo thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood:Let's write good angel on the devil's horn:'Tis not the devil's crest.[Enter a 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 partsOf necessary fitness?So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons;Come all to help him, and so stop the airBy which he should revive: and even soThe general, subject to a well-wish'd king,Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondnessCrowd to his presence, where their untaught loveMust needs appear offence.[Enter ISABELLA]How now, fair maid?

#Isabella. I am come to know your pleasure.

#Angelo. That you might know it, would much better please meThan to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live.

#Isabella. Even so. Heaven keep your honour!

#Angelo. Yet may he live awhile; and, it may be,As long as you or I. yet he must die.

#Isabella. Under your sentence?

#Angelo. Yea.

#Isabella. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve,Longer or shorter, he may be so fittedThat his soul sicken not.

#Angelo. Ha! fie, these filthy vices! It were as goodTo pardon him that hath from nature stolenA man already made, as to remitTheir saucy sweetness that do coin heaven's imageIn stamps that are forbid: 'tis all as easyFalsely to take away a life true madeAs to put metal in restrained meansTo make a false one.

#Isabella. 'Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.

#Angelo. Say you so? then I shall pose you quickly.Which had you rather, that the most just lawNow took your brother's life; or, to redeem him,Give up your body to such sweet uncleannessAs she that he hath stain'd?

#Isabella. Sir, believe this,I had rather give my body than my soul.

#Angelo. I talk not of your soul: our compell'd sinsStand more for number than for accompt.

#Isabella. How say you?

#Angelo. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speakAgainst the thing I say. Answer to this:I, now the voice of the recorded law,Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life:Might there not be a charity in sinTo save this brother's life?

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

#Angelo. Pleased you to do't at peril of your soul,Were equal poise of sin and charity.

#Isabella. 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 prayerTo have it added to the faults of mine,And nothing of your answer.

#Angelo. Nay, but hear me.Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant,Or seem so craftily; and that's not good.

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

#Angelo. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most brightWhen it doth tax itself; as these black masksProclaim an enshield beauty ten times louderThan beauty could, display'd. But mark me;To be received plain, I'll speak more gross:Your brother is to die.

#Isabella. So.

#Angelo. And his offence is so, as it appears,Accountant to the law upon that pain.

#Isabella. True.

#Angelo. 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,Finding yourself desired of such a person,Whose credit with the judge, or own great place,Could fetch your brother from the manaclesOf the all-building law; and that there wereNo earthly mean to save him, but that eitherYou must lay down the treasures of your bodyTo this supposed, or else to let him suffer;What would you do?

#Isabella. As much for my poor brother as myself:That is, were I under the terms of death,The impression of keen whips I'ld wear as rubies,And strip myself to death, as to a bedThat longing have been sick for, ere I'ld yieldMy body up to shame.

#Angelo. Then must your brother die.

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

#Angelo. Were not you then as cruel as the sentenceThat you have slander'd so?

#Isabella. Ignomy in ransom and free pardonAre of two houses: lawful mercyIs nothing kin to foul redemption.

#Angelo. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant;And rather proved the sliding of your brotherA merriment than a vice.

#Isabella. 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.

#Angelo. We are all frail.

#Isabella. Else let my brother die,If not a feodary, but only heOwe and succeed thy weakness.

#Angelo. Nay, women are frail too.

#Isabella. Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves;Which are as easy broke as they make forms.Women! Help Heaven! men their creation marIn profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail;For we are soft as our complexions are,And credulous to false prints.

#Angelo. I think it well:And from this testimony of your own sex,--Since I suppose we are made to be no strongerThan 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'dBy all external warrants, show it now,By putting on the destined livery.

#Isabella. I have no tongue but one: gentle my lord,Let me entreat you speak the former language.

#Angelo. Plainly conceive, I love you.

#Isabella. My brother did love Juliet,And you tell me that he shall die for it.

#Angelo. He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.

#Isabella. I know your virtue hath a licence in't,Which seems a little fouler than it is,To pluck on others.

#Angelo. Believe me, on mine honour,My words express my purpose.

#Isabella. Ha! little honour to be much believed,And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming!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 aloudWhat man thou art.

#Angelo. Who will believe thee, Isabel?My unsoil'd name, the austereness of my life,My vouch against you, and my place i' the state,Will so your accusation overweigh,That you shall stifle in your own reportAnd 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 brotherBy yielding up thy body to my will;Or else he must not only die the death,But thy unkindness shall his death draw outTo 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]

#Isabella. 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 the 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 honour.That, had he twenty heads to tender downOn twenty bloody blocks, he'ld yield them up,Before his sister should her body stoopTo 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] [Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before, CLAUDIO,] and Provost]

Act 3

#Scene 1

A room in the prison.

#Vincentio. So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

#Claudio. The miserable have no other medicineBut only hope:I've hope to live, and am prepared to die.

#Vincentio. Be absolute for death; either death or lifeShall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:If I do lose thee, I do lose a thingThat none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,Servile to all the skyey influences,That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st,Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool;For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shunAnd yet runn'st toward him still. Thou art not noble;For all the accommodations that thou bear'stAre nursed by baseness. Thou'rt by no means valiant;For thou dost fear the soft and tender forkOf a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,And that thou oft provokest; yet grossly fear'stThy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;For thou exist'st on many a thousand grainsThat 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;For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows,Thou bear's 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,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 youthBecomes as aged, and doth beg the almsOf 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 thisThat bears the name of life? Yet in this lifeLie hid moe thousand deaths: yet death we fear,That makes these odds all even.

#Claudio. I humbly thank you.To sue to live, I find I seek to die;And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.

#Isabella. [Within] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

#Provost. Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.

#Vincentio. Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.

#Claudio. Most holy sir, I thank you.

#[Enter ISABELLA]

#Isabella. My business is a word or two with Claudio.

#Provost. And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister.

#Vincentio. Provost, a word with you.

#Provost. As many as you please.

#Vincentio. Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be concealed.

#[Exeunt DUKE VINCENTIO and Provost]

#Claudio. Now, sister, what's the comfort?

#Isabella. 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:Therefore your best appointment make with speed;To-morrow you set on.

#Claudio. Is there no remedy?

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

#Claudio. But is there any?

#Isabella. 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.

#Claudio. Perpetual durance?

#Isabella. Ay, just; perpetual durance, a restraint,Though all the world's vastidity you had,To a determined scope.

#Claudio. But in what nature?

#Isabella. In such a one as, you consenting to't,Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,And leave you naked.

#Claudio. Let me know the point.

#Isabella. O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,And six or seven winters more respectThan a perpetual honour. Darest 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 greatAs when a giant dies.

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

#Isabella. There spake my brother; there my father's graveDid utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:Thou art too noble to conserve a lifeIn base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,Whose settled visage and deliberate wordNips youth i' the head and follies doth emmewAs falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devilHis filth within being cast, he would appearA pond as deep as hell.

#Claudio. The prenzie Angelo!

#Isabella. O, 'tis the cunning livery of hell,The damned'st body to invest and coverIn prenzie guards! Dost thou think, Claudio?If I would yield him my virginity,Thou mightst be freed.

#Claudio. O heavens! it cannot be.

#Isabella. Yes, he would give't thee, from this rank offence,So to offend him still. This night's the timeThat I should do what I abhor to name,Or else thou diest to-morrow.

#Claudio. Thou shalt not do't.

#Isabella. O, were it but my life,I'ld throw it down for your deliveranceAs frankly as a pin.

#Claudio. Thanks, dear Isabel.

#Isabella. Be ready, Claudio, for your death tomorrow.

#Claudio. Yes. Has he affections in him,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.

#Isabella. Which is the least?

#Claudio. If it were damnable, he being so wise,Why would he for the momentary trickBe perdurably fined? O Isabel!

#Isabella. What says my brother?

#Claudio. Death is a fearful thing.

#Isabella. And shamed life a hateful.

#Claudio. Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;To lie in cold obstruction and to rot;This sensible warm motion to becomeA kneaded clod; and the delighted spiritTo bathe in fiery floods, or to resideIn thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice;To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,And blown with restless violence round aboutThe pendent world; or to be worse than worstOf those that lawless and incertain thoughtImagine howling: 'tis too horrible!The weariest and most loathed worldly lifeThat age, ache, penury and imprisonmentCan lay on nature is a paradiseTo what we fear of death.

#Isabella. Alas, alas!

#Claudio. Sweet sister, let me live:What sin you do to save a brother's life,Nature dispenses with the deed so farThat it becomes a virtue.

#Isabella. O you beast!O faithless coward! O dishonest wretch!Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice?Is't not a kind of incest, to take lifeFrom thine own sister's shame? What should I think?Heaven shield my mother play'd my father fair!For such a warped slip of wildernessNe'er issued from his blood. Take my defiance!Die, perish! Might but my bending downReprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed:I'll pray a thousand prayers for thy death,No word to save thee.

#Claudio. Nay, hear me, Isabel.

#Isabella. O, fie, fie, fie!Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade.Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd:'Tis best thou diest quickly.

#Claudio. O hear me, Isabella!

#[Re-enter DUKE VINCENTIO]

#Vincentio. Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word.

#Isabella. What is your will?

#Vincentio. Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by andby have some speech with you: the satisfaction Iwould require is likewise your own benefit.

#Isabella. I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must bestolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you awhile.

#[Walks apart]

#Vincentio. Son, I have overheard what hath passed between youand your sister. Angelo had never the purpose tocorrupt her; only he hath made an essay of hervirtue to practise his judgment with the dispositionof natures: she, having the truth of honour in her,hath made him that gracious denial which he is mostglad to receive. I am confessor to Angelo, and Iknow this to be true; therefore prepare yourself todeath: do not satisfy your resolution with hopesthat are fallible: tomorrow you must die; go toyour knees and make ready.

#Claudio. Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of lovewith life that I will sue to be rid of it.

#Vincentio. Hold you there: farewell.[Exit CLAUDIO]Provost, a word with you!

#[Re-enter Provost]

#Provost. What's your will, father

#Vincentio. That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave meawhile with the maid: my mind promises with myhabit no loss shall touch her by my company.

#Provost. In good time.

#[Exit Provost. ISABELLA comes forward]

#Vincentio. The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good:the goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beautybrief in goodness; but grace, being the soul ofyour complexion, shall keep the body of it everfair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you,fortune hath conveyed to my understanding; and, butthat frailty hath examples for his falling, I shouldwonder at Angelo. How will you do to content thissubstitute, and to save your brother?

#Isabella. I am now going to resolve him: I had rather mybrother die by the law than my son should beunlawfully born. But, O, how much is the good dukedeceived in Angelo! If ever he return and I canspeak to him, I will open my lips in vain, ordiscover his government.

#Vincentio. That shall not be much amiss: Yet, as the matternow stands, he will avoid your accusation; he madetrial of you only. Therefore fasten your ear on myadvisings: to the love I have in doing good aremedy presents itself. I do make myself believethat you may most uprighteously do a poor wrongedlady a merited benefit; redeem your brother fromthe angry law; do no stain to your own graciousperson; and much please the absent duke, ifperadventure he shall ever return to have hearing ofthis business.

#Isabella. Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to doanything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.

#Vincentio. Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Haveyou not heard speak of Mariana, the sister ofFrederick the great soldier who miscarried at sea?

#Isabella. I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.

#Vincentio. She should this Angelo have married; was affiancedto her by oath, and the nuptial appointed: betweenwhich time of the contract and limit of thesolemnity, her brother Frederick was wrecked at sea,having in that perished vessel the dowry of hissister. But mark how heavily this befell to thepoor gentlewoman: there she lost a noble andrenowned brother, in his love toward her ever mostkind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew ofher fortune, her marriage-dowry; with both, hercombinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo.

#Isabella. Can this be so? did Angelo so leave her?

#Vincentio. Left her in her tears, and dried not one of themwith his comfort; swallowed his vows whole,pretending in her discoveries of dishonour: in few,bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yetwears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears,is washed with them, but relents not.

#Isabella. What a merit were it in death to take this poor maidfrom the world! What corruption in this life, thatit will let this man live! But how out of this can she avail?

#Vincentio. It is a rupture that you may easily heal: and thecure of it not only saves your brother, but keepsyou from dishonour in doing it.

#Isabella. Show me how, good father.

#Vincentio. This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuanceof her first affection: his unjust unkindness, thatin all reason should have quenched her love, hath,like an impediment in the current, made it moreviolent and unruly. Go you to Angelo; answer hisrequiring with a plausible obedience; agree withhis demands to the point; only refer yourself tothis advantage, first, that your stay with him maynot be long; that the time may have all shadow andsilence in it; and the place answer to convenience.This being granted in course,--and now followsall,--we shall advise this wronged maid to stead upyour appointment, go in your place; if the encounteracknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him toher recompense: and here, by this, is your brothersaved, your honour untainted, the poor Marianaadvantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maidwill I frame and make fit for his attempt. If youthink well to carry this as you may, the doublenessof the benefit defends the deceit from reproof.What think you of it?

#Isabella. The image of it gives me content already; and Itrust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection.

#Vincentio. It lies much in your holding up. Haste you speedilyto Angelo: if for this night he entreat you to hisbed, give him promise of satisfaction. I willpresently to Saint Luke's: there, at the moatedgrange, resides this dejected Mariana. At thatplace call upon me; and dispatch with Angelo, thatit may be quickly.

#Isabella. I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father.

#[Exeunt severally] [Enter, on one side, DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as] before; on the other, ELBOW, and Officers with POMPEY]

#Scene 2

The street before the prison.

#Elbow. Nay, if there be no remedy for it, but that you willneeds buy and sell men and women like beasts, weshall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.

#Vincentio. O heavens! what stuff is here

#Pompey. 'Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, themerriest was put down, and the worser allowed byorder of law a furred gown to keep him warm; andfurred with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify, thatcraft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.

#Elbow. Come your way, sir. 'Bless you, good father friar.

#Vincentio. And you, good brother father. What offence haththis man made you, sir?

#Elbow. Marry, sir, he hath offended the law: and, sir, wetake him to be a thief too, sir; for we have foundupon him, sir, a strange picklock, which we havesent to the deputy.

#Vincentio. Fie, sirrah! a bawd, a wicked bawd!The evil that thou causest to be done,That is thy means to live. Do thou but thinkWhat 'tis to cram a maw or clothe a backFrom such a filthy vice: say to thyself,From their abominable and beastly touchesI drink, I eat, array myself, and live.Canst thou believe thy living is a life,So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.

#Pompey. Indeed, it does stink in some sort, sir; but yet,sir, I would prove--

#Vincentio. Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin,Thou wilt prove his. Take him to prison, officer:Correction and instruction must both workEre this rude beast will profit.

#Elbow. He must before the deputy, sir; he has given himwarning: the deputy cannot abide a whoremaster: ifhe be a whoremonger, and comes before him, he wereas good go a mile on his errand.

#Vincentio. That we were all, as some would seem to be,From our faults, as faults from seeming, free!

#Elbow. His neck will come to your waist,--a cord, sir.

#Pompey. I spy comfort; I cry bail. Here's a gentleman and afriend of mine.

#[Enter LUCIO]

#Lucio. How now, noble Pompey! What, at the wheels ofCaesar? art thou led in triumph? What, is therenone of Pygmalion's images, newly made woman, to behad now, for putting the hand in the pocket andextracting it clutch'd? What reply, ha? Whatsayest thou to this tune, matter and method? Is'tnot drowned i' the last rain, ha? What sayestthou, Trot? Is the world as it was, man? Which isthe way? Is it sad, and few words? or how? Thetrick of it?

#Vincentio. Still thus, and thus; still worse!

#Lucio. How doth my dear morsel, thy mistress? Procures shestill, ha?

#Pompey. Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and sheis herself in the tub.

#Lucio. Why, 'tis good; it is the right of it; it must beso: ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd:an unshunned consequence; it must be so. Art goingto prison, Pompey?

#Pompey. Yes, faith, sir.

#Lucio. Why, 'tis not amiss, Pompey. Farewell: go, say Isent thee thither. For debt, Pompey? or how?

#Elbow. For being a bawd, for being a bawd.

#Lucio. Well, then, imprison him: if imprisonment be thedue of a bawd, why, 'tis his right: bawd is hedoubtless, and of antiquity too; bawd-born.Farewell, good Pompey. Commend me to the prison,Pompey: you will turn good husband now, Pompey; youwill keep the house.

#Pompey. 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: Ifyou take it not patiently, why, your mettle is themore. Adieu, trusty Pompey. 'Bless you, friar.

#Vincentio. And you.

#Lucio. Does Bridget paint still, Pompey, ha?

#Elbow. Come your ways, sir; come.

#Pompey. You will not bail me, then, sir?

#Lucio. Then, Pompey, nor now. What news abroad, friar?what news?

#Elbow. Come your ways, sir; come.

#Lucio. Go to kennel, Pompey; go.[Exeunt ELBOW, POMPEY and Officers]What news, friar, of the duke?

#Vincentio. I know none. Can you tell me of any?

#Lucio. Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia; othersome, he is in Rome: but where is he, think you?

#Vincentio. I know not where; but wheresoever, I wish him well.

#Lucio. It was a mad fantastical trick of him to steal fromthe state, and usurp the beggary he was never bornto. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence; heputs transgression to 't.

#Vincentio. He does well in 't.

#Lucio. A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm inhim: something too crabbed that way, friar.

#Vincentio. It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.

#Lucio. Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred;it is well allied: but it is impossible to extirpit quite, friar, till eating and drinking be putdown. They say this Angelo was not made by man andwoman after this downright way of creation: is ittrue, think you?

#Vincentio. How should he be made, then?

#Lucio. Some report a sea-maid spawned him; some, that hewas begot between two stock-fishes. But it iscertain that when he makes water his urine iscongealed ice; that I know to be true: and he is amotion generative; that's infallible.

#Vincentio. You are pleasant, sir, and speak apace.

#Lucio. Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for therebellion of a codpiece to take away the life of aman! Would the duke that is absent have done this?Ere he would have hanged a man for the getting ahundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursinga thousand: he had some feeling of the sport: heknew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.

#Vincentio. I never heard the absent duke much detected forwomen; he was not inclined that way.

#Lucio. O, sir, you are deceived.

#Vincentio. 'Tis not possible.

#Lucio. Who, not the duke? yes, your beggar of fifty; andhis use was to put a ducat in her clack-dish: theduke had crotchets in him. He would be drunk too;that let me inform you.

#Vincentio. You do him wrong, surely.

#Lucio. Sir, I was an inward of his. A shy fellow was theduke: and I believe I know the cause of hiswithdrawing.

#Vincentio. What, I prithee, might be the cause?

#Lucio. No, pardon; 'tis a secret must be locked within theteeth and the lips: but this I can let youunderstand, the greater file of the subject held theduke to be wise.

#Vincentio. Wise! why, no question but he was.

#Lucio. A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow.

#Vincentio. Either this is the envy in you, folly, or mistaking:the very stream of his life and the business he hathhelmed must upon a warranted need give him a betterproclamation. Let him be but testimonied in his ownbringings-forth, and he shall appear to theenvious a scholar, a statesman and a soldier.Therefore you speak unskilfully: or if yourknowledge be more it is much darkened in your malice.

#Lucio. Sir, I know him, and I love him.

#Vincentio. Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge withdearer love.

#Lucio. Come, sir, I know what I know.

#Vincentio. I can hardly believe that, since you know not whatyou speak. But, if ever the duke return, as ourprayers are he may, let me desire you to make youranswer before him. If it be honest you have spoke,you have courage to maintain it: I am bound to callupon you; and, I pray you, your name?

#Lucio. Sir, my name is Lucio; well known to the duke.

#Vincentio. He shall know you better, sir, if I may live toreport you.

#Lucio. I fear you not.

#Vincentio. O, you hope the duke will return no more; or youimagine me too unhurtful an opposite. But indeed Ican do you little harm; you'll forswear this again.

#Lucio. I'll be hanged first: thou art deceived in me,friar. But no more of this. Canst thou tell ifClaudio die to-morrow or no?

#Vincentio. Why should he die, sir?

#Lucio. Why? For filling a bottle with a tundish. I wouldthe duke we talk of were returned again: theungenitured agent will unpeople the province withcontinency; sparrows must not build in hishouse-eaves, because they are lecherous. The dukeyet would have dark deeds darkly answered; he wouldnever bring them to light: would he were returned!Marry, this Claudio is condemned for untrussing.Farewell, good friar: I prithee, pray for me. Theduke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton onFridays. He's not past it yet, and I say to thee,he would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt brownbread and garlic: say that I said so. Farewell.

#[Exit]

#Vincentio. No might nor greatness in mortalityCan censure 'scape; back-wounding calumnyThe whitest virtue strikes. What king so strongCan tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?But who comes here?

#[Enter ESCALUS, Provost, and Officers with MISTRESS OVERDONE]

#Escalus. Go; away with her to prison!

#Mistress Overdone. Good my lord, be good to me; your honour is accounteda merciful man; good my lord.

#Escalus. Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit inthe same kind! This would make mercy swear and playthe tyrant.

#Provost. A bawd of eleven years' continuance, may it pleaseyour honour.

#Mistress Overdone. My lord, this is one Lucio's information against me.Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in theduke's time; he promised her marriage: his childis a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob:I have kept it myself; and see how he goes about to abuse me!

#Escalus. That fellow is a fellow of much licence: let him becalled before us. Away with her to prison! Go to;no more words.[Exeunt Officers with MISTRESS OVERDONE]Provost, my brother Angelo will not be altered;Claudio must die to-morrow: let him be furnishedwith divines, and have all charitable preparation.if my brother wrought by my pity, it should not beso with him.

#Provost. So please you, this friar hath been with him, andadvised him for the entertainment of death.

#Escalus. Good even, good father.

#Vincentio. Bliss and goodness on you!

#Escalus. Of whence are you?

#Vincentio. Not of this country, though my chance is nowTo use it for my time: I am a brotherOf gracious order, late come from the SeeIn special business from his holiness.

#Escalus. What news abroad i' the world?

#Vincentio. None, but that there is so great a fever ongoodness, that the dissolution of it must cure it:novelty is only in request; and it is as dangerousto be aged in any kind of course, as it is virtuousto be constant in any undertaking. There is scarcetruth enough alive to make societies secure; butsecurity enough to make fellowships accurst: muchupon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world. Thisnews is old enough, yet it is every day's news. Ipray you, sir, of what disposition was the duke?

#Escalus. One that, above all other strifes, contendedespecially to know himself.

#Vincentio. What pleasure was he given to?

#Escalus. Rather rejoicing to see another merry, than merry atany thing which professed to make him rejoice: agentleman of all temperance. But leave we him tohis events, with a prayer they may prove prosperous;and let me desire to know how you find Claudioprepared. I am made to understand that you havelent him visitation.

#Vincentio. He professes to have received no sinister measurefrom his judge, but most willingly humbles himselfto the determination of justice: yet had he framedto himself, by the instruction of his frailty, manydeceiving promises of life; which I by my goodleisure have discredited to him, and now is heresolved to die.

#Escalus. You have paid the heavens your function, and theprisoner the very debt of your calling. I havelaboured for the poor gentleman to the extremestshore of my modesty: but my brother justice have Ifound so severe, that he hath forced me to tell himhe is indeed Justice.

#Vincentio. If his own life answer the straitness of hisproceeding, it shall become him well; wherein if hechance to fail, he hath sentenced himself.

#Escalus. I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.

#Vincentio. Peace be with you![Exeunt ESCALUS and Provost]He who the sword of heaven will bearShould be as holy as severe;Pattern in himself to know,Grace to stand, and virtue go;More nor less to others payingThan by self-offences weighing.Shame to him whose cruel strikingKills for faults of his own liking!Twice treble shame on Angelo,To weed my vice and let his grow!O, what may man within him hide,Though angel on the outward side!How may likeness made in crimes,Making practise on the times,To draw with idle spiders' stringsMost ponderous and substantial things!Craft against vice I must apply:With Angelo to-night shall lieHis old betrothed but despised;So disguise shall, by the disguised,Pay with falsehood false exacting,And perform an old contracting.

#[Exit] [Enter MARIANA and a Boy] [Boy sings] Take, O, take those lips away, That so sweetly were forsworn; And those eyes, the break of day, Lights that do mislead the morn: But my kisses bring again, bring again; Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.

Act 4

#Scene 1

The moated grange at ST. LUKE's.

#Mariana. Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away:Here comes a man of comfort, whose adviceHath often still'd my brawling discontent.[Exit Boy][Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]I cry you mercy, sir; and well could wishYou had not found me here so musical:Let me excuse me, and believe me so,My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.

#Vincentio. 'Tis good; though music oft hath such a charmTo make bad good, and good provoke to harm.I pray, you, tell me, hath any body inquiredfor me here to-day? much upon this time haveI promised here to meet.

#Mariana. You have not been inquired after:I have sat here all day.

#[Enter ISABELLA]

#Vincentio. I do constantly believe you. The time is come evennow. I shall crave your forbearance a little: maybe I will call upon you anon, for some advantage to yourself.

#Mariana. I am always bound to you.

#[Exit]

#Vincentio. Very well met, and well come.What is the news from this good deputy?

#Isabella. He hath a garden circummured with brick,Whose western side is with a vineyard back'd;And to that vineyard is a planched gate,That makes his opening with this bigger key:This other doth command a little doorWhich from the vineyard to the garden leads;There have I made my promiseUpon the heavy middle of the nightTo call upon him.

#Vincentio. But shall you on your knowledge find this way?

#Isabella. I have ta'en a due and wary note upon't:With whispering and most guilty diligence,In action all of precept, he did show meThe way twice o'er.

#Vincentio. Are there no other tokensBetween you 'greed concerning her observance?

#Isabella. No, none, but only a repair i' the dark;And that I have possess'd him my most stayCan be but brief; for I have made him knowI have a servant comes with me along,That stays upon me, whose persuasion isI come about my brother.

#Vincentio. 'Tis well borne up.I have not yet made known to MarianaA word of this. What, ho! within! come forth![Re-enter MARIANA]I pray you, be acquainted with this maid;She comes to do you good.

#Isabella. I do desire the like.

#Vincentio. Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?

#Mariana. Good friar, I know you do, and have found it.

#Vincentio. Take, then, this your companion by the hand,Who hath a story ready for your ear.I shall attend your leisure: but make haste;The vaporous night approaches.

#Mariana. Will't please you walk aside?

#[Exeunt MARIANA and ISABELLA]

#Vincentio. O place and greatness! millions of false eyesAre stuck upon thee: volumes of reportRun with these false and most contrarious questsUpon thy doings: thousand escapes of witMake thee the father of their idle dreamsAnd rack thee in their fancies.[Re-enter MARIANA and ISABELLA]Welcome, how agreed?

#Isabella. She'll take the enterprise upon her, father,If you advise it.

#Vincentio. It is not my consent,But my entreaty too.

#Isabella. Little have you to sayWhen you depart from him, but, soft and low,'Remember now my brother.'

#Mariana. Fear me not.

#Vincentio. Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all.He is your husband on a pre-contract:To bring you thus together, 'tis no sin,Sith that the justice of your title to himDoth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go:Our corn's to reap, for yet our tithe's to sow.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 2

A room in the prison.

#[Enter Provost and POMPEY]

#Provost. Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man's head?

#Pompey. If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can; but if he be amarried man, he's his wife's head, and I can nevercut off a woman's head.

#Provost. Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me adirect answer. To-morrow morning are to die Claudioand Barnardine. Here is in our prison a commonexecutioner, who in his office lacks a helper: ifyou will take it on you to assist him, it shallredeem you from your gyves; if not, you shall haveyour full time of imprisonment and your deliverancewith an unpitied whipping, for you have been anotorious bawd.

#Pompey. Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind;but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. Iwould be glad to receive some instruction from myfellow partner.

#Provost. What, ho! Abhorson! Where's Abhorson, there?

#[Enter ABHORSON]

#Abhorson. Do you call, sir?

#Provost. Sirrah, here's a fellow will help you to-morrow inyour execution. If you think it meet, compound withhim by the year, and let him abide here with you; ifnot, use him for the present and dismiss him. Hecannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd.

#Abhorson. A bawd, sir? fie upon him! he will discredit our mystery.

#Provost. Go to, sir; you weigh equally; a feather will turnthe scale.

#[Exit]

#Pompey. Pray, sir, by your good favour,--for surely, sir, agood favour you have, but that you have a hanginglook,--do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?

#Abhorson. Ay, sir; a mystery

#Pompey. Painting, sir, I have heard say, is a mystery; andyour whores, sir, being members of my occupation,using painting, do prove my occupation a mystery:but what mystery there should be in hanging, if Ishould be hanged, I cannot imagine.

#Abhorson. Sir, it is a mystery.

#Pompey. Proof?

#Abhorson. Every true man's apparel fits your thief: if it betoo little for your thief, your true man thinks itbig enough; if it be too big for your thief, yourthief thinks it little enough: so every true man'sapparel fits your thief.

#[Re-enter Provost]

#Provost. Are you agreed?

#Pompey. Sir, I will serve him; for I do find your hangman isa more penitent trade than your bawd; he dothoftener ask forgiveness.

#Provost. You, sirrah, provide your block and your axeto-morrow four o'clock.

#Abhorson. Come on, bawd; I will instruct thee in my trade; follow.

#Pompey. I do desire to learn, sir: and I hope, if you haveoccasion to use me for your own turn, you shall findme yare; for truly, sir, for your kindness I owe youa good turn.

#Provost. Call hither Barnardine and Claudio:[Exeunt POMPEY and ABHORSON]The one has my pity; not a jot the other,Being a murderer, though he were my brother.[Enter CLAUDIO]Look, here's the warrant, Claudio, for thy death:'Tis now dead midnight, and by eight to-morrowThou must be made immortal. Where's Barnardine?

#Claudio. As fast lock'd up in sleep as guiltless labourWhen it lies starkly in the traveller's bones:He will not wake.

#Provost. Who can do good on him?Well, go, prepare yourself.[Knocking within]But, hark, what noise?Heaven give your spirits comfort![Exit CLAUDIO]By and by.I hope it is some pardon or reprieveFor the most gentle Claudio.[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]Welcome father.

#Vincentio. The best and wholesomest spirts of the nightEnvelope you, good Provost! Who call'd here of late?

#Provost. None, since the curfew rung.

#Vincentio. Not Isabel?

#Provost. No.

#Vincentio. They will, then, ere't be long.

#Provost. What comfort is for Claudio?

#Vincentio. There's some in hope.

#Provost. It is a bitter deputy.

#Vincentio. Not so, not so; his life is parallel'dEven with the stroke and line of his great justice:He doth with holy abstinence subdueThat in himself which he spurs on his powerTo qualify in others: were he meal'd with thatWhich he corrects, then were he tyrannous;But this being so, he's just.[Knocking within]Now are they come.[Exit Provost]This is a gentle provost: seldom whenThe steeled gaoler is the friend of men.[Knocking within]How now! what noise? That spirit's possessed with hasteThat wounds the unsisting postern with these strokes.

#[Re-enter Provost]

#Provost. There he must stay until the officerArise to let him in: he is call'd up.

#Vincentio. Have you no countermand for Claudio yet,But he must die to-morrow?

#Provost. None, sir, none.

#Vincentio. As near the dawning, provost, as it is,You shall hear more ere morning.

#Provost. HappilyYou something know; yet I believe there comesNo countermand; no such example have we:Besides, upon the very siege of justiceLord Angelo hath to the public earProfess'd the contrary.[Enter a Messenger]This is his lordship's man.

#Vincentio. And here comes Claudio's pardon.

#Messenger. [Giving a paper]My lord hath sent you this note; and by me thisfurther charge, that you swerve not from thesmallest article of it, neither in time, matter, orother circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it,it is almost day.

#Provost. I shall obey him.

#[Exit Messenger]

#Vincentio. [Aside] This is his pardon, purchased by such sinFor which the pardoner himself is in.Hence hath offence his quick celerity,When it is born in high authority:When vice makes mercy, mercy's so extended,That for the fault's love is the offender friended.Now, sir, what news?

#Provost. I told you. Lord Angelo, belike thinking me remissin mine office, awakens me with this unwontedputting-on; methinks strangely, for he hath not used it before.

#Vincentio. Pray you, let's hear.

#Provost. [Reads]'Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, letClaudio be executed by four of the clock; and in theafternoon Barnardine: for my better satisfaction,let me have Claudio's head sent me by five. Letthis be duly performed; with a thought that moredepends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus failnot to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.'What say you to this, sir?

#Vincentio. What is that Barnardine who is to be executed in theafternoon?

#Provost. A Bohemian born, but here nursed un and bred; onethat is a prisoner nine years old.

#Vincentio. How came it that the absent duke had not eitherdelivered him to his liberty or executed him? Ihave heard it was ever his manner to do so.

#Provost. His friends still wrought reprieves for him: and,indeed, his fact, till now in the government of LordAngelo, came not to an undoubtful proof.

#Vincentio. It is now apparent?

#Provost. Most manifest, and not denied by himself.

#Vincentio. Hath he born himself penitently in prison? howseems he to be touched?

#Provost. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully butas a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearlessof what's past, present, or to come; insensible ofmortality, and desperately mortal.

#Vincentio. He wants advice.

#Provost. He will hear none: he hath evermore had the libertyof the prison; give him leave to escape hence, hewould not: drunk many times a day, if not many daysentirely drunk. We have very oft awaked him, as ifto carry him to execution, and showed him a seemingwarrant for it: it hath not moved him at all.

#Vincentio. More of him anon. There is written in your brow,provost, honesty and constancy: if I read it nottruly, my ancient skill beguiles me; but, in theboldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard.Claudio, whom here you have warrant to execute, isno greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hathsentenced him. To make you understand this in amanifested effect, I crave but four days' respite;for the which you are to do me both a present and adangerous courtesy.

#Provost. Pray, sir, in what?

#Vincentio. In the delaying death.

#Provost. A lack, how may I do it, having the hour limited,and an express command, under penalty, to deliverhis head in the view of Angelo? I may make my caseas Claudio's, to cross this in the smallest.

#Vincentio. By the vow of mine order I warrant you, if myinstructions may be your guide. Let this Barnardinebe this morning executed, and his head born to Angelo.

#Provost. Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour.

#Vincentio. O, death's a great disguiser; and you may add to it.Shave the head, and tie the beard; and say it wasthe desire of the penitent to be so bared before hisdeath: you know the course is common. If any thingfall to you upon this, more than thanks and goodfortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will pleadagainst it with my life.

#Provost. Pardon me, good father; it is against my oath.

#Vincentio. Were you sworn to the duke, or to the deputy?

#Provost. To him, and to his substitutes.

#Vincentio. You will think you have made no offence, if the dukeavouch the justice of your dealing?

#Provost. But what likelihood is in that?

#Vincentio. Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I seeyou fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, norpersuasion can with ease attempt you, I will gofurther than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you.Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of theduke: you know the character, I doubt not; and thesignet is not strange to you.

#Provost. I know them both.

#Vincentio. The contents of this is the return of the duke: youshall anon over-read it at your pleasure; where youshall find, within these two days he will be here.This is a thing that Angelo knows not; for he thisvery day receives letters of strange tenor;perchance of the duke's death; perchance enteringinto some monastery; but, by chance, nothing of whatis writ. Look, the unfolding star calls up theshepherd. Put not yourself into amazement how thesethings should be: all difficulties are but easywhen they are known. Call your executioner, and offwith Barnardine's head: I will give him a presentshrift and advise him for a better place. Yet youare amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you.Come away; it is almost clear dawn.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 3

Another room in the same.

#[Enter POMPEY]

#Pompey. I am as well acquainted here as I was in our houseof profession: one would think it were MistressOverdone's own house, for here be many of her oldcustomers. First, here's young Master Rash; he's infor a commodity of brown paper and old ginger,ninescore and seventeen pounds; of which he madefive marks, ready money: marry, then ginger was notmuch in request, for the old women were all dead.Then is there here one Master Caper, at the suit ofMaster Three-pile the mercer, for some four suits ofpeach-coloured satin, which now peaches him abeggar. Then have we here young Dizy, and youngMaster Deep-vow, and Master Copperspur, and MasterStarve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and youngDrop-heir that killed lusty Pudding, and MasterForthlight the tilter, and brave Master Shooty thegreat traveller, and wild Half-can that stabbedPots, and, I think, forty more; all great doers inour trade, and are now 'for the Lord's sake.'

#[Enter ABHORSON]

#Abhorson. Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither.

#Pompey. Master Barnardine! you must rise and be hanged.Master Barnardine!

#Abhorson. What, ho, Barnardine!

#Barnardine. [Within] A pox o' your throats! Who makes thatnoise there? What are you?

#Pompey. Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be sogood, sir, to rise and be put to death.

#Barnardine. [Within] Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy.

#Abhorson. Tell him he must awake, and that quickly too.

#Pompey. Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you areexecuted, and sleep afterwards.

#Abhorson. Go in to him, and fetch him out.

#Pompey. He is coming, sir, he is coming; I hear his straw rustle.

#Abhorson. Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?

#Pompey. Very ready, sir.

#[Enter BARNARDINE]

#Barnardine. How now, Abhorson? what's the news with you?

#Abhorson. Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into yourprayers; for, look you, the warrant's come.

#Barnardine. You rogue, I have been drinking all night; I am notfitted for 't.

#Pompey. O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night,and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep thesounder all the next day.

#Abhorson. Look you, sir; here comes your ghostly father: dowe jest now, think you?

#[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before]

#Vincentio. Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastilyyou are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfortyou and pray with you.

#Barnardine. Friar, not I. I have been drinking hard all night,and I will have more time to prepare me, or theyshall beat out my brains with billets: I will notconsent to die this day, that's certain.

#Vincentio. O, sir, you must: and therefore I beseech youLook forward on the journey you shall go.

#Barnardine. I swear I will not die to-day for any man'spersuasion.

#Vincentio. But hear you.

#Barnardine. Not a word: if you have any thing to say to me,come to my ward; for thence will not I to-day.

#[Exit]

#Vincentio. Unfit to live or die: O gravel heart!After him, fellows; bring him to the block.

#[Exeunt ABHORSON and POMPEY]

#[Re-enter Provost]

#Provost. Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner?

#Vincentio. A creature unprepared, unmeet for death;And to transport him in the mind he isWere damnable.

#Provost. Here in the prison, father,There died this morning of a cruel feverOne Ragozine, a most notorious pirate,A man of Claudio's years; his beard and headJust of his colour. What if we do omitThis reprobate till he were well inclined;And satisfy the deputy with the visageOf Ragozine, more like to Claudio?

#Vincentio. O, 'tis an accident that heaven provides!Dispatch it presently; the hour draws onPrefix'd by Angelo: see this be done,And sent according to command; whiles IPersuade this rude wretch willingly to die.

#Provost. This shall be done, good father, presently.But Barnardine must die this afternoon:And how shall we continue Claudio,To save me from the danger that might comeIf he were known alive?

#Vincentio. Let this be done.Put them in secret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio:Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greetingTo the under generation, you shall findYour safety manifested.

#Provost. I am your free dependant.

#Vincentio. Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.[Exit Provost]Now will I write letters to Angelo,--The provost, he shall bear them, whose contentsShall witness to him I am near at home,And that, by great injunctions, I am boundTo enter publicly: him I'll desireTo meet me at the consecrated fountA league below the city; and from thence,By cold gradation and well-balanced form,We shall proceed with Angelo.

#[Re-enter Provost]

#Provost. Here is the head; I'll carry it myself.

#Vincentio. Convenient is it. Make a swift return;For I would commune with you of such thingsThat want no ear but yours.

#Provost. I'll make all speed.

#[Exit]

#Isabella. [Within] Peace, ho, be here!

#Vincentio. The tongue of Isabel. She's come to knowIf yet her brother's pardon be come hither:But I will keep her ignorant of her good,To make her heavenly comforts of despair,When it is least expected.

#[Enter ISABELLA]

#Isabella. Ho, by your leave!

#Vincentio. Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.

#Isabella. The better, given me by so holy a man.Hath yet the deputy sent my brother's pardon?

#Vincentio. He hath released him, Isabel, from the world:His head is off and sent to Angelo.

#Isabella. Nay, but it is not so.

#Vincentio. It is no other: show your wisdom, daughter,In your close patience.

#Isabella. O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!

#Vincentio. You shall not be admitted to his sight.

#Isabella. Unhappy Claudio! wretched Isabel!Injurious world! most damned Angelo!

#Vincentio. This nor hurts him nor profits you a jot;Forbear it therefore; give your cause to heaven.Mark what I say, which you shall findBy every syllable a faithful verity:The duke comes home to-morrow; nay, dry your eyes;One of our convent, and his confessor,Gives me this instance: already he hath carriedNotice to Escalus and Angelo,Who do prepare to meet him at the gates,There to give up their power. If you can, pace your wisdomIn that good path that I would wish it go,And you shall have your bosom on this wretch,Grace of the duke, revenges to your heart,And general honour.

#Isabella. I am directed by you.

#Vincentio. This letter, then, to Friar Peter give;'Tis that he sent me of the duke's return:Say, by this token, I desire his companyAt Mariana's house to-night. Her cause and yoursI'll perfect him withal, and he shall bring youBefore the duke, and to the head of AngeloAccuse him home and home. For my poor self,I am combined by a sacred vowAnd shall be absent. Wend you with this letter:Command these fretting waters from your eyesWith a light heart; trust not my holy order,If I pervert your course. Who's here?

#[Enter LUCIO]

#Lucio. Good even. Friar, where's the provost?

#Vincentio. Not within, sir.

#Lucio. O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to seethine eyes so red: thou must be patient. I am fainto dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not formy head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would setme to 't. But they say the duke will be hereto-morrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother:if the old fantastical duke of dark corners had beenat home, he had lived.

#[Exit ISABELLA]

#Vincentio. Sir, the duke is marvellous little beholding to yourreports; but the best is, he lives not in them.

#Lucio. Friar, thou knowest not the duke so well as I do:he's a better woodman than thou takest him for.

#Vincentio. Well, you'll answer this one day. Fare ye well.

#Lucio. Nay, tarry; I'll go along with theeI can tell thee pretty tales of the duke.

#Vincentio. You have told me too many of him already, sir, ifthey be true; if not true, none were enough.

#Lucio. I was once before him for getting a wench with child.

#Vincentio. Did you such a thing?

#Lucio. Yes, marry, did I. but I was fain to forswear it;they would else have married me to the rotten medlar.

#Vincentio. Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.

#Lucio. By my troth, I'll go with thee to the lane's end:if bawdy talk offend you, we'll have very little ofit. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 4

A room in ANGELO's house.

#[Enter ANGELO and ESCALUS]

#Escalus. Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.

#Angelo. In most uneven and distracted manner. His actionsshow much like to madness: pray heaven his wisdom benot tainted! And why meet him at the gates, andredeliver our authorities there

#Escalus. I guess not.

#Angelo. And why should we proclaim it in an hour before hisentering, that if any crave redress of injustice,they should exhibit their petitions in the street?

#Escalus. He shows his reason for that: to have a dispatch ofcomplaints, and to deliver us from deviceshereafter, which shall then have no power to standagainst us.

#Angelo. Well, I beseech you, let it be proclaimed betimesi' the morn; I'll call you at your house: givenotice to such men of sort and suit as are to meethim.

#Escalus. I shall, sir. Fare you well.

#Angelo. Good night.[Exit ESCALUS]This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnantAnd dull to all proceedings. A deflower'd maid!And by an eminent body that enforcedThe law against it! But that her tender shameWill not proclaim against her maiden loss,How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no;For my authority bears of a credent bulk,That no particular scandal once can touchBut it confounds the breather. He should have lived,Save that riotous youth, with dangerous sense,Might in the times to come have ta'en revenge,By so receiving a dishonour'd lifeWith ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived!A lack, when once our grace we have forgot,Nothing goes right: we would, and we would not.

#[Exit]

#Scene 5

Fields without the town.

#[Enter DUKE VINCENTIO in his own habit, and FRIAR PETER]

#Vincentio. These letters at fit time deliver me[Giving letters]The provost knows our purpose and our plot.The matter being afoot, keep your instruction,And hold you ever to our special drift;Though sometimes you do blench from this to that,As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavius' house,And tell him where I stay: give the like noticeTo Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus,And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate;But send me Flavius first.

#Friar Peter. It shall be speeded well.

#[Exit]

#[Enter VARRIUS]

#Vincentio. I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste:Come, we will walk. There's other of our friendsWill greet us here anon, my gentle Varrius.

#[Exeunt]

#Scene 6

Street near the city gate.

#[Enter ISABELLA and MARIANA]

#Isabella. To speak so indirectly I am loath:I would say the truth; but to accuse him so,That is your part: yet I am advised to do it;He says, to veil full purpose.

#Mariana. Be ruled by him.

#Isabella. Besides, he tells me that, if peradventureHe speak against me on the adverse side,I should not think it strange; for 'tis a physicThat's bitter to sweet end.

#Mariana. I would Friar Peter--

#Isabella. O, peace! the friar is come.

#[Enter FRIAR PETER]

#Friar Peter. Come, I have found you out a stand most fit,Where you may have such vantage on the duke,He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded;The generous and gravest citizensHave hent the gates, and very near uponThe duke is entering: therefore, hence, away!

#[Exeunt] [MARIANA veiled, ISABELLA, and FRIAR PETER, at their] stand. Enter DUKE VINCENTIO, VARRIUS, Lords, ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens, at several doors]

Act 5

#Scene 1

The city gate.

#Vincentio. My very worthy cousin, fairly met!Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.

#Angelo. [with Escalus] Happy return be to your royal grace!

#Vincentio. Many and hearty thankings to you both.We have made inquiry of you; and we hearSuch goodness of your justice, that our soulCannot but yield you forth to public thanks,Forerunning more requital.

#Angelo. You make my bonds still greater.

#Vincentio. O, your desert speaks loud; and I should wrong it,To lock it in the wards of covert bosom,When it deserves, with characters of brass,A forted residence 'gainst the tooth of timeAnd razure of oblivion. Give me your hand,And let the subject see, to make them knowThat outward courtesies would fain proclaimFavours that keep within. Come, Escalus,You must walk by us on our other hand;And good supporters are you.

#[FRIAR PETER and ISABELLA come forward]

#Friar Peter. Now is your time: speak loud and kneel before him.

#Isabella. Justice, O royal duke! Vail your regardUpon a wrong'd, I would fain have said, a maid!O worthy prince, dishonour not your eyeBy throwing it on any other objectTill you have heard me in my true complaintAnd given me justice, justice, justice, justice!

#Vincentio. Relate your wrongs; in what? by whom? be brief.Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice:Reveal yourself to him.

#Isabella. O worthy duke,You bid me seek redemption of the devil:Hear me yourself; for that which I must speakMust either punish me, not being believed,Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me, here!

#Angelo. My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm:She hath been a suitor to me for her brotherCut off by course of justice,--

#Isabella. By course of justice!

#Angelo. And she will speak most bitterly and strange.

#Isabella. Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak:That Angelo's forsworn; is it not strange?That Angelo's a murderer; is 't not strange?That Angelo is an adulterous thief,An hypocrite, a virgin-violator;Is it not strange and strange?

#Vincentio. Nay, it is ten times strange.

#Isabella. It is not truer he is AngeloThan this is all as true as it is strange:Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truthTo the end of reckoning.

#Vincentio. Away with her! Poor soul,She speaks this in the infirmity of sense.

#Isabella. O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believestThere is another comfort than this world,That thou neglect me not, with that opinionThat I am touch'd with madness! Make not impossibleThat which but seems unlike: 'tis not impossibleBut one, the wicked'st caitiff on the ground,May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absoluteAs Angelo; even so may Angelo,In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms,Be an arch-villain; believe it, royal prince:If he be less, he's nothing; but he's more,Had I more name for badness.

#Vincentio. By mine honesty,If she be mad,--as I believe no other,--Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,Such a dependency of thing on thing,As e'er I heard in madness.

#Isabella. O gracious duke,Harp not on that, nor do not banish reasonFor inequality; but let your reason serveTo make the truth appear where it seems hid,And hide the false seems true.

#Vincentio. Many that are not madHave, sure, more lack of reason. What would you say?

#Isabella. I am the sister of one Claudio,Condemn'd upon the act of fornicationTo lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo:I, in probation of a sisterhood,Was sent to by my brother; one LucioAs then the messenger,--

#Lucio. That's I, an't like your grace:I came to her from Claudio, and desired herTo try her gracious fortune with Lord AngeloFor her poor brother's pardon.

#Isabella. That's he indeed.

#Vincentio. You were not bid to speak.

#Lucio. No, my good lord;Nor wish'd to hold my peace.

#Vincentio. I wish you now, then;Pray you, take note of it: and when you haveA business for yourself, pray heaven you thenBe perfect.

#Lucio. I warrant your honour.

#Vincentio. The warrants for yourself; take heed to't.

#Isabella. This gentleman told somewhat of my tale,--

#Lucio. Right.

#Vincentio. It may be right; but you are i' the wrongTo speak before your time. Proceed.

#Isabella. I wentTo this pernicious caitiff deputy,--

#Vincentio. That's somewhat madly spoken.

#Isabella. Pardon it;The phrase is to the matter.

#Vincentio. Mended again. The matter; proceed.

#Isabella. In brief, to set the needless process by,How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd,How he refell'd me, and how I replied,--For this was of much length,--the vile conclusionI now begin with grief and shame to utter:He would not, but by gift of my chaste bodyTo his concupiscible intemperate lust,Release my brother; and, after much debatement,My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour,And I did yield to him: but the next morn betimes,His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrantFor my poor brother's head.

#Vincentio. This is most likely!

#Isabella. O, that it were as like as it is true!

#Vincentio. By heaven, fond wretch, thou knowist not what thou speak'st,Or else thou art suborn'd against his honourIn hateful practise. First, his integrityStands without blemish. Next, it imports no reasonThat with such vehemency he should pursueFaults proper to himself: if he had so offended,He would have weigh'd thy brother by himselfAnd not have cut him off. Some one hath set you on:Confess the truth, and say by whose adviceThou camest here to complain.

#Isabella. And is this all?Then, O you blessed ministers above,Keep me in patience, and with ripen'd timeUnfold the evil which is here wrapt upIn countenance! Heaven shield your grace from woe,As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go!

#Vincentio. I know you'ld fain be gone. An officer!To prison with her! Shall we thus permitA blasting and a scandalous breath to fallOn him so near us? This needs must be a practise.Who knew of Your intent and coming hither?

#Isabella. One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.

#Vincentio. A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?

#Lucio. My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar;I do not like the man: had he been lay, my lordFor certain words he spake against your graceIn your retirement, I had swinged him soundly.

#Vincentio. Words against me? this is a good friar, belike!And to set on this wretched woman hereAgainst our substitute! Let this friar be found.

#Lucio. But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar,I saw them at the prison: a saucy friar,A very scurvy fellow.

#Friar Peter. Blessed be your royal grace!I have stood by, my lord, and I have heardYour royal ear abused. First, hath this womanMost wrongfully accused your substitute,Who is as free from touch or soil with herAs she from one ungot.

#Vincentio. We did believe no less.Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of?

#Friar Peter. I know him for a man divine and holy;Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler,As he's reported by this gentleman;And, on my trust, a man that never yetDid, as he vouches, misreport your grace.

#Lucio. My lord, most villanously; believe it.

#Friar Peter. Well, he in time may come to clear himself;But at this instant he is sick my lord,Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request,Being come to knowledge that there was complaintIntended 'gainst Lord Angelo, came I hither,To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth knowIs true and false; and what he with his oathAnd all probation will make up full clear,Whensoever he's convented. First, for this woman.To justify this worthy nobleman,So vulgarly and personally accused,Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes,Till she herself confess it.

#Vincentio. Good friar, let's hear it.[ISABELLA is carried off guarded; and MARIANA comes forward]Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo?O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!Give us some seats. Come, cousin Angelo;In this I'll be impartial; be you judgeOf your own cause. Is this the witness, friar?First, let her show her face, and after speak.

#Mariana. Pardon, my lord; I will not show my faceUntil my husband bid me.

#Vincentio. What, are you married?

#Mariana. No, my lord.

#Vincentio. Are you a maid?

#Mariana. No, my lord.

#Vincentio. A widow, then?

#Mariana. Neither, my lord.

#Vincentio. Why, you are nothing then: neither maid, widow, nor wife?

#Lucio. My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them areneither maid, widow, nor wife.

#Vincentio. Silence that fellow: I would he had some causeTo prattle for himself.

#Lucio. Well, my lord.

#Mariana. My lord; I do confess I ne'er was married;And I confess besides I am no maid:I have known my husband; yet my husbandKnows not that ever he knew me.

#Lucio. He was drunk then, my lord: it can be no better.

#Vincentio. For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too!

#Lucio. Well, my lord.

#Vincentio. This is no witness for Lord Angelo.

#Mariana. Now I come to't my lordShe that accuses him of fornication,In self-same manner doth accuse my husband,And charges him my lord, with such a timeWhen I'll depose I had him in mine armsWith all the effect of love.

#Angelo. Charges she more than me?

#Mariana. Not that I know.

#Vincentio. No? you say your husband.

#Mariana. Why, just, my lord, and that is Angelo,Who thinks he knows that he ne'er knew my body,But knows he thinks that he knows Isabel's.

#Angelo. This is a strange abuse. Let's see thy face.

#Mariana. My husband bids me; now I will unmask.[Unveiling]This is that face, thou cruel Angelo,Which once thou sworest was worth the looking on;This is the hand which, with a vow'd contract,Was fast belock'd in thine; this is the bodyThat took away the match from Isabel,And did supply thee at thy garden-houseIn her imagined person.

#Vincentio. Know you this woman?

#Lucio. Carnally, she says.

#Vincentio. Sirrah, no more!

#Lucio. Enough, my lord.

#Angelo. My lord, I must confess I know this woman:And five years since there was some speech of marriageBetwixt myself and her; which was broke off,Partly for that her promised proportionsCame short of composition, but in chiefFor that her reputation was disvaluedIn levity: since which time of five yearsI never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her,Upon my faith and honour.

#Mariana. Noble prince,As there comes light from heaven and words from breath,As there is sense in truth and truth in virtue,I am affianced this man's wife as stronglyAs words could make up vows: and, my good lord,But Tuesday night last gone in's garden-houseHe knew me as a wife. As this is true,Let me in safety raise me from my kneesOr else for ever be confixed here,A marble monument!

#Angelo. I did but smile till now:Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justiceMy patience here is touch'd. I do perceiveThese poor informal women are no moreBut instruments of some more mightier memberThat sets them on: let me have way, my lord,To find this practise out.

#Vincentio. Ay, with my heartAnd punish them to your height of pleasure.Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman,Compact with her that's gone, think'st thou thy oaths,Though they would swear down each particular saint,Were testimonies against his worth and creditThat's seal'd in approbation? You, Lord Escalus,Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind painsTo find out this abuse, whence 'tis derived.There is another friar that set them on;Let him be sent for.

#Friar Peter. Would he were here, my lord! for he indeedHath set the women on to this complaint:Your provost knows the place where he abidesAnd he may fetch him.

#Vincentio. Go do it instantly.[Exit Provost]And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin,Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth,Do with your injuries as seems you best,In any chastisement: I for a while will leave you;But stir not you till you have well determinedUpon these slanderers.

#Escalus. My lord, we'll do it throughly.[Exit DUKE]Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew thatFriar Lodowick to be a dishonest person?

#Lucio. 'Cucullus non facit monachum:' honest in nothingbut in his clothes; and one that hath spoke mostvillanous speeches of the duke.

#Escalus. We shall entreat you to abide here till he come andenforce them against him: we shall find this friar anotable fellow.

#Lucio. As any in Vienna, on my word.

#Escalus. Call that same Isabel here once again; I would speak with her.[Exit an Attendant]Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question; youshall see how I'll handle her.

#Lucio. Not better than he, by her own report.

#Escalus. Say you?

#Lucio. Marry, sir, I think, if you handled her privately,she would sooner confess: perchance, publicly,she'll be ashamed.

#Escalus. I will go darkly to work with her.

#Lucio. That's the way; for women are light at midnight.[Re-enter Officers with ISABELLA; and Provost with]the DUKE VINCENTIO in his friar's habit]

#Escalus. Come on, mistress: here's a gentlewoman denies allthat you have said.

#Lucio. My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of; here withthe provost.

#Escalus. In very good time: speak not you to him till wecall upon you.

#Lucio. Mum.

#Escalus. Come, sir: did you set these women on to slanderLord Angelo? they have confessed you did.

#Vincentio. 'Tis false.

#Escalus. How! know you where you are?

#Vincentio. Respect to your great place! and let the devilBe sometime honour'd for his burning throne!Where is the duke? 'tis he should hear me speak.

#Escalus. The duke's in us; and we will hear you speak:Look you speak justly.

#Vincentio. Boldly, at least. But, O, poor souls,Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox?Good night to your redress! Is the duke gone?Then is your cause gone too. The duke's unjust,Thus to retort your manifest appeal,And put your trial in the villain's mouthWhich here you come to accuse.

#Lucio. This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of.

#Escalus. Why, thou unreverend and unhallow'd friar,Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd these womenTo accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouthAnd in the witness of his proper ear,To call him villain? and then to glance from himTo the duke himself, to tax him with injustice?Take him hence; to the rack with him! We'll touse youJoint by joint, but we will know his purpose.What 'unjust'!

#Vincentio. Be not so hot; the dukeDare no more stretch this finger of mine than heDare rack his own: his subject am I not,Nor here provincial. My business in this stateMade me a looker on here in Vienna,Where I have seen corruption boil and bubbleTill it o'er-run the stew; laws for all faults,But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutesStand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,As much in mock as mark.

#Escalus. Slander to the state! Away with him to prison!

#Angelo. What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?Is this the man that you did tell us of?

#Lucio. 'Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodman baldpate:do you know me?

#Vincentio. I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice: Imet you at the prison, in the absence of the duke.

#Lucio. O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the duke?

#Vincentio. Most notedly, sir.

#Lucio. Do you so, sir? And was the duke a fleshmonger, afool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be?

#Vincentio. You must, sir, change persons with me, ere you makethat my report: you, indeed, spoke so of him; andmuch more, much worse.

#Lucio. O thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by thenose for thy speeches?

#Vincentio. I protest I love the duke as I love myself.

#Angelo. Hark, how the villain would close now, after histreasonable abuses!

#Escalus. Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away withhim to prison! Where is the provost? Away with himto prison! lay bolts enough upon him: let himspeak no more. Away with those giglots too, andwith the other confederate companion!

#Vincentio. [To Provost] Stay, sir; stay awhile.

#Angelo. What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.

#Lucio. Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir; foh, sir! Why, youbald-pated, lying rascal, you must be hooded, mustyou? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to you!show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour!Will't not off?

#[Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers DUKE VINCENTIO]

#Vincentio. Thou art the first knave that e'er madest a duke.First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.[To LUCIO]Sneak not away, sir; for the friar and youMust have a word anon. Lay hold on him.

#Lucio. This may prove worse than hanging.

#Vincentio. [To ESCALUS] What you have spoke I pardon: sit you down:We'll borrow place of him.[To ANGELO]Sir, by your leave.Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence,That yet can do thee office? If thou hast,Rely upon it till my tale be heard,And hold no longer out.

#Angelo. O my dread lord,I should be guiltier than my guiltiness,To think I can be undiscernible,When I perceive your grace, like power divine,. Hath look'd upon my passes. Then, good prince,No longer session hold upon my shame,But let my trial be mine own confession:Immediate sentence then and sequent deathIs all the grace I beg.

#Vincentio. Come hither, Mariana.Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman?

#Angelo. I was, my lord.

#Vincentio. Go take her hence, and marry her instantly.Do you the office, friar; which consummate,Return him here again. Go with him, provost.

#[Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER and Provost]

#Escalus. My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonourThan at the strangeness of it.

#Vincentio. Come hither, Isabel.Your friar is now your prince: as I was thenAdvertising and holy to your business,Not changing heart with habit, I am stillAttorney'd at your service.

#Isabella. O, give me pardon,That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'dYour unknown sovereignty!

#Vincentio. You are pardon'd, Isabel:And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.Your brother's death, I know, sits at your heart;And you may marvel why I obscured myself,Labouring to save his life, and would not ratherMake rash remonstrance of my hidden powerThan let him so be lost. O most kind maid,It was the swift celerity of his death,Which I did think with slower foot came on,That brain'd my purpose. But, peace be with him!That life is better life, past fearing death,Than that which lives to fear: make it your comfort,So happy is your brother.

#Isabella. I do, my lord.

#[Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and Provost]

#Vincentio. For this new-married man approaching here,Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'dYour well defended honour, you must pardonFor Mariana's sake: but as he adjudged your brother,--Being criminal, in double violationOf sacred chastity and of promise-breachThereon dependent, for your brother's life,--The very mercy of the law cries outMost audible, even from his proper tongue,'An Angelo for Claudio, death for death!'Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;Like doth quit like, and MEASURE still FOR MEASURE.Then, Angelo, thy fault's thus manifested;Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage.We do condemn thee to the very blockWhere Claudio stoop'd to death, and with like haste.Away with him!

#Mariana. O my most gracious lord,I hope you will not mock me with a husband.

#Vincentio. It is your husband mock'd you with a husband.Consenting to the safeguard of your honour,I thought your marriage fit; else imputation,For that he knew you, might reproach your lifeAnd choke your good to come; for his possessions,Although by confiscation they are ours,We do instate and widow you withal,To buy you a better husband.

#Mariana. O my dear lord,I crave no other, nor no better man.

#Vincentio. Never crave him; we are definitive.

#Mariana. Gentle my liege,--

#[Kneeling]

#Vincentio. You do but lose your labour.Away with him to death![To LUCIO]Now, sir, to you.

#Mariana. O my good lord! Sweet Isabel, take my part;Lend me your knees, and all my life to comeI'll lend you all my life to do you service.

#Vincentio. Against all sense you do importune her:Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break,And take her hence in horror.

#Mariana. Isabel,Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me;Hold up your hands, say nothing; I'll speak all.They say, best men are moulded out of faults;And, for the most, become much more the betterFor being a little bad: so may my husband.O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?

#Vincentio. He dies for Claudio's death.

#Isabella. Most bounteous sir,[Kneeling]Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd,As if my brother lived: I partly thinkA due sincerity govern'd his deeds,Till he did look on me: since it is so,Let him not die. My brother had but justice,In that he did the thing for which he died:For Angelo,His act did not o'ertake his bad intent,And must be buried but as an intentThat perish'd by the way: thoughts are no subjects;Intents but merely thoughts.

#Mariana. Merely, my lord.

#Vincentio. Your suit's unprofitable; stand up, I say.I have bethought me of another fault.Provost, how came it Claudio was beheadedAt an unusual hour?

#Provost. It was commanded so.

#Vincentio. Had you a special warrant for the deed?

#Provost. No, my good lord; it was by private message.

#Vincentio. For which I do discharge you of your office:Give up your keys.

#Provost. Pardon me, noble lord:I thought it was a fault, but knew it not;Yet did repent me, after more advice;For testimony whereof, one in the prison,That should by private order else have died,I have reserved alive.

#Vincentio. What's he?

#Provost. His name is Barnardine.

#Vincentio. I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him.

#[Exit Provost]

#Escalus. I am sorry, one so learned and so wiseAs you, Lord Angelo, have still appear'd,Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood.And lack of temper'd judgment afterward.

#Angelo. I am sorry that such sorrow I procure:And so deep sticks it in my penitent heartThat I crave death more willingly than mercy;'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.[Re-enter Provost, with BARNARDINE, CLAUDIO muffled,]and JULIET]

#Vincentio. Which is that Barnardine?

#Provost. This, my lord.

#Vincentio. There was a friar told me of this man.Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul.That apprehends no further than this world,And squarest thy life according. Thou'rt condemn'd:But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all;And pray thee take this mercy to provideFor better times to come. Friar, advise him;I leave him to your hand. What muffled fellow's that?

#Provost. This is another prisoner that I saved.Who should have died when Claudio lost his head;As like almost to Claudio as himself.

#[Unmuffles CLAUDIO]

#Vincentio. [To ISABELLA] If he be like your brother, for his sakeIs he pardon'd; and, for your lovely sake,Give me your hand and say you will be mine.He is my brother too: but fitter time for that.By this Lord Angelo perceives he's safe;Methinks I see a quickening in his eye.Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well:Look that you love your wife; her worth worth yours.I find an apt remission in myself;And yet here's one in place I cannot pardon.[To LUCIO]You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a coward,One all of luxury, an ass, a madman;Wherein have I so deserved of you,That you extol me thus?

#Lucio. 'Faith, my lord. I spoke it but according to thetrick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but Ihad rather it would please you I might be whipt.

#Vincentio. Whipt first, sir, and hanged after.Proclaim it, provost, round about the city.Is any woman wrong'd by this lewd fellow,As I have heard him swear himself there's oneWhom he begot with child, let her appear,And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd,Let him be whipt and hang'd.

#Lucio. I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore.Your highness said even now, I made you a duke:good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.

#Vincentio. Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her.Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithalRemit thy other forfeits. Take him to prison;And see our pleasure herein executed.

#Lucio. Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death,whipping, and hanging.

#Vincentio. Slandering a prince deserves it.[Exit Officers with LUCIO]She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore.Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo:I have confess'd her and I know her virtue.Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness:There's more behind that is more gratulate.Thanks, provost, for thy care and secrecy:We shill employ thee in a worthier place.Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you homeThe head of Ragozine for Claudio's:The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel,I have a motion much imports your good;Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline,What's mine is yours and what is yours is mine.So, bring us to our palace; where we'll showWhat's yet behind, that's meet you all should know.

#[Exeunt]