William Shakespeare - The Complete Works

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MEASURE FOR MEASURE Act 2 Scene 2 (Enter the Provost and a Servant) l1l Servant HeÆs hearing of a cause; he will come straight. l2l IÆll tell him of you. Provost Pray you do. (Exit Servant) IÆll know l3l His pleasure; maybe he will relent. Alas, l4l He hath but as offended in a dream. l5l All sects, all ages, smack of this vice; and he l6l To die for Æt! (Enter Angelo) Angelo Now, whatÆs the matter, Provost? l7l Provost Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow? l8l Angelo Did not I tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order? l9l Why dost thou ask again? Provost Lest I might be too rash. l10l Under your good correction, I have seen l11l When after execution judgement hath l12l Repented oÆer his doom. Angelo Go to; let that be mine. l13l Do you your office, or give up your place, l14l And you shall well be spared. Provost I crave your honourÆs pardon. l15l What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet? l16l SheÆs very near her hour. Angelo Dispose of her l17l To some more fitter place, and that with speed. (Enter Servant) l18l Servant Here is the sister of the man condemned l19l Desires access to you. Angelo Hath he a sister? l20l Provost Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, l21l And to be shortly of a sisterhood, l22l If not already. Angelo Well, let her be admitted. (Exit Servant) l23l See you the fornicatress be removed. l24l Let her have needful but not lavish means. l25l There shall be order for Æt. (Enter Lucio and Isabella) Provost God save your honour. l26l Angelo Stay a little while. (To Isabella) YouÆre welcome. WhatÆs your will? l27l Isabella I am a woeful suitor to your honour. l28l Please but your honour hear me. Angelo Well, whatÆs your suit? l29l Isabella There is a vice that most I do abhor, l30l And most desire should meet the blow of justice, l31l For which I would not plead, but that I must; l32l For which I must not plead, but that I am l33l At war Ætwixt will and will not. Angelo Well, the matter? l34l Isabella I have a brother is condemned to die. l35l I do beseech you, let it be his fault, l36l And not my brother. Provost (aside) Heaven give thee moving graces! l37l Angelo Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? l38l Why, every faultÆs condemned ere it be done. l39l Mine were the very cipher of a function, l40l To fine the faults whose fine stands in record, l41l And let go by the actor. Isabella O just but severe law! l42l I had a brother, then. Heaven keep your honour. Lucio (aside to Isabella) l43l Give Æt not oÆer so. To him again; entreat him. l44l Kneel down before him; hang upon his gown. l45l You are too cold. If you should need a pin, l46l You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. l47l To him, I say! l48l Isabella (to Angelo) Must he needs die? l49l Angelo Maiden, no remedy. l50l Isabella Yes, I do think that you might pardon him, l51l And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy. l52l Angelo I will not do Æt. Isabella But can you if you would? l53l Angelo Look what I will not, that I cannot do. l54l Isabella But might you do Æt, and do the world no wrong, l55l If so your heart were touched with that remorse l56l As mine is to him? l57l Angelo HeÆs sentenced; Ætis too late. l58l Lucio (aside to Isabella) You are too cold. l59l Isabella Too late? Why, no; I that do speak a word l60l May call it again. Well, believe this, l61l No ceremony that to great ones Ælongs, l62l Not the kingÆs crown, nor the deputed sword, l63l The marshalÆs truncheon, nor the judgeÆs robe, l64l Become them with one half so good a grace l65l As mercy does. l66l If he had been as you and you as he, l67l You would have slipped like him, but he, like you, l68l Would not have been so stern. Angelo Pray you be gone. l69l Isabella I would to heaven I had your potency, l70l And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus? l71l No; I would tell what Ætwere to be a judge, l72l And what a prisoner. Lucio (aside to Isabella) Ay, touch him; thereÆs the vein. l73l Angelo Your brother is a forfeit of the law, l74l And you but waste your words. Isabella Alas, alas! l75l Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once, l76l And He that might the vantage best have took l77l Found out the remedy. How would you be l78l If He which is the top of judgement should l79l But judge you as you are? O, think on that, l80l And mercy then will breathe within your lips, l81l Like man new made. Angelo Be you content, fair maid. l82l It is the law, not I, condemn your brother. l83l Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, l84l It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow. l85l Isabella Tomorrow? O, thatÆs sudden! Spare him, spare him! l86l HeÆs not prepared for death. Even for our kitchens l87l We kill the fowl of season. Shall we serve heaven l88l With less respect than we do minister l89l To our gross selves? Good good my lord, bethink you: l90l Who is it that hath died for this offence? l91l ThereÆs many have committed it. Lucio (aside) Ay, well said. l92l Angelo The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept. l93l Those many had not dared to do that evil l94l If the first that did thÆ edict infringe l95l Had answered for his deed. Now Ætis awake, l96l Takes note of what is done, and, like a prophet, l97l Looks in a glass that shows what future evils, l98l Either raw, or by remissness new conceived l99l And so in progress to be hatched and born, l100l Are now to have no successive degrees, l101l But ere they live, to end. Isabella Yet show some pity. l102l Angelo I show it most of all when I show justice, l103l For then I pity those I do not know l104l Which a dismissed offence would after gall, l105l And do him right that, answering one foul wrong, l106l Lives not to act another. Be satisfied. l107l Your brother dies tomorrow. Be content. l108l Isabella So you must be the first that gives this sentence, l109l And he that suffers. O, it is excellent l110l To have a giantÆs strength, but it is tyrannous l111l To use it like a giant. l112l Lucio (aside to Isabella) ThatÆs well said. l113l Isabella Could great men thunder l114l As Jove himself does, Jove would never be quiet, l115l For every pelting petty officer l116l Would use his heaven for thunder, nothing but thunder. l117l Merciful heaven, l118l Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt l119l SplitÆst the unwedgeable and gnarlΦd oak l120l Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man, l121l Dressed in a little brief authority, l122l Most ignorant of what heÆs most assured, l123l His glassy essence, like an angry ape l124l Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven l125l As makes the angels weep, who, with our spleens, l126l Would all themselves laugh mortal. l127l Lucio (aside to Isabella) O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent. l128l HeÆs coming; I perceive Æt. Provost (aside) Pray heaven she win him! l129l Isabella We cannot weigh our brother with ourself. l130l Great men may jest with saints; Ætis wit in them, l131l But in the less, foul profanation. l132l Lucio (aside to Isabella) ThouÆrt iÆ thÆ right, girl. More oÆ l133l that. l134l Isabella That in the captainÆs but a choleric word, l135l Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. l136l Lucio (aside to Isabella) Art advised oÆ that? More on Æt. l137l Angelo Why do you put these sayings upon me? l138l Isabella Because authority, though it err like others, l139l Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself l140l That skins the vice oÆ thÆ top. Go to your bosom; l141l Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know l142l ThatÆs like my brotherÆs fault. If it confess l143l A natural guiltiness, such as is his, l144l Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue l145l Against my brotherÆs life. Angelo (aside) She speaks, and Ætis such sense l146l That my sense breeds with it. (To Isabella) Fare you well. l147l Isabella Gentle my lord, turn back. l148l Angelo I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow. l149l Isabella Hark how IÆll bribe you; good my lord, turn back. l150l Angelo How, bribe me? l151l Isabella Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you. l152l Lucio (aside to Isabella) You had marred all else. l153l Isabella Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, l154l Or stones, whose rate are either rich or poor l155l As fancy values them; but with true prayers, l156l That shall be up at heaven and enter there l157l Ere sunrise, prayers from preservΦd souls, l158l From fasting maids whose minds are dedicate l159l To nothing temporal. l160l Angelo Well, come to me tomorrow. l161l Lucio (aside to Isabella) Go to; Ætis well; away. l162l Isabella Heaven keep your honour safe. l163l Angelo (aside) Amen; l164l For I am that way going to temptation, l165l Where prayer is crossed. Isabella At what hour tomorrow l166l Shall I attend your lordship? Angelo At any time fore noon. l167l Isabella God save your honour. Angelo (aside) From thee; even from thy virtue. (Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost) l168l WhatÆs this? WhatÆs this? Is this her fault or mine? l169l The tempter or the tempted, who sins most, ha? l170l Not she; nor doth she tempt; but it is I l171l That, lying by the violet in the sun, l172l Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower, l173l Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be l174l That modesty may more betray our sense l175l Than womanÆs lightness? Having waste ground enough, l176l Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary, l177l And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie! l178l What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo? l179l Dost thou desire her foully for those things l180l That make her good? O, let her brother live! l181l Thieves for their robbery have authority, l182l When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her, l183l That I desire to hear her speak again, l184l And feast upon her eyes? What is Æt I dream on? l185l O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint, l186l With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous l187l Is that temptation that doth goad us on l188l To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet, l189l With all her double vigourùart and natureù l190l Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid l191l Subdues me quite. Ever till now l192l When men were fond, I smiled, and wondered how. (Exit)