Ang. Look; what I will not, that I cannot do.
Isab. But might you do 't, and do the world no
wrong,

If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse
As mine is to him?

Ang.

He's sentenc'd: 't is too late.

Lucio. [To ISAB.] Thou art' too cold.

Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again: Well believe this,

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,

Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace

As mercy does. If he had been as you, and you as he,2
You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,
Would not have been so stern.

Ang.
Pray you, begone.
Isab. I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus ?
No; I would tell what 't were to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.

Lucio. [Aside.] Ay, touch him; there's the vein.
Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,
And you but waste your words.

Isab.
Alas! alas!
Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once;
And he that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If he, which is the God3 of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that,
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made!

Ang.
Be you content, fair maid.
It is the law, not I, condemns your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,

It should be thus with him: he must die to-morrow. Isab. To-morrow? O, that's sudden! Spare him, spare him!

He's not prepar'd for death. Even for our kitchens We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven

1 You are in f. e. 2 Knight reads:

If he had been as you,

And you as he, you would have slipp'd like him;

But he, &c.

3 top: in f. e.

With less respect than we do minister

To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you? Who is it that hath died for this offence?

There's many have committed it.

Lucio.

[Aside.] Ay, well said.

Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath

slept :

Those many had not dar'd to do that evil,
If the first one that did th' edict infringe,
Had answer'd for his deed: now, 't is awake;
Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils
Either new, or by remissness new-conceiv'd,
And so in progress to be hatch'd and born,
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But ere they live to end.

Isab.

Yet show some pity.

Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know,

Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall,

And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong,

Lives not to act another. Be satisfied:

Your brother dies to-morrow: be content.

Isab. So you must be the first that gives this sentence,

And he that suffers. O! it is excellent

To have a giant's strength; but tyrannous

To use it like a giant.

Lucio.

[Aside.] That's well said.

Isab. Could great men thunder,

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty officer

Would use his heaven for thunder;

Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven!

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt

Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,

Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man!

Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he 's most assur'd,

His glassy essence, like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,

As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

1 Not in f. e. 2 f. e. here. Knight reads-where.

Lucio. [To ISAB.] O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent:

He's coming; I perceive 't.

Prov.

[Aside.] Pray heaven, she win him! Isab. You cannot weigh our brother with yourself: Great men may jest with saints: 't is wit in them, But in the less foul profanation.

Lucio. [To ISAB.] Thou 'rt in the right, girl: more o' that.

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

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

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

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

Ang.

[Aside.] She speaks, and 't is Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. [To hers] Fare you well.

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me.-Come again to-morrow. Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you. Good my lord,

turn back.

Ang. How! bribe me?

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

Well;

; come to me to-morrow.

Ang.
Lucio. [To ISAB.] Go to; 't is well away!
Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe! [Going.

Ang.

For I am that way going to temptation,

[Aside.] Amen:

2

1 shekels in f. e. 2 Not in f. e.

Where prayers cross.

Isab.

At what hour to-morrow

Shall I attend your lordship?
Ang.

Isab. Save your honour!

Ang.

At any time 'fore noon.

[Exeunt LUCIO, ISABELLA, and Provost. From thee; even from thy virtue !

What's this? what's this? Is this her fault or mine?

The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Ha! Not she, nor doth she tempt; but it is I,

That lying by the violet in the sun,

Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower,
Corrupt with virtuous season.
Can it be,

That modesty may more betray our sense

Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough,
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,

And pitch our offals' there? O, fie, fie, fie!
What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
Dost thou desire her foully for those things
That make her good? O, let her brother live!
Thieves for their robbery have authority,

When judges steal themselves. What! do I love her,
That I desire to hear her speak again,

And feast upon her eyes? What is 't I dream on ?
O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,

With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
Is that temptation, that doth goad us on

To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet,
With all her double vigour, art and nature,
Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
Subdues me quite.-Even from youth till now,
When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how.

SCENE III.-A Room in a Prison.

Enter DUKE, as a Friar, and Provost.

[Exit.

Duke. Hail to you, provost; so I think you are. Prov. I am the provost. What's your will, good friar?

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

Here in the prison: do me the common right

To let me see them, and to make me know

1 evils: in f. e.

The nature of their crimes, that I may minister
To them accordingly.

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

Enter JULIET.

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

Than die for this.

Duke. When must he die?

Prov.

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

Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry? Juliet. I do, and bear the shame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your conscience,

And try your penitence, if it be sound,

Or hollowly put on.

Juliet.

I'll gladly learn.

Duke. Love you the man that wrong'd you?

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

Juliet.

Mutually.

Duke. Then was your sin of heavier kind than his. Juliet. I do confess it, and repent it, father.

Duke. 'Tis meet so, daughter: but least you do repent,

As that the sin hath brought you to this shame; Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven, Showing, we would not serve3 heaven, as we love it, But as we stand in fear.

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

Duke.

There rest.

Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow,
And I am going with instruction to him.

Grace go with you! Benedicite!

[Exit.

Juliet. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious love,

'Knight, with the old eds., reads: flaws. 2 Most modern eds.

read: lest. 3 spare in f. e.