Knock there; and ask your heart, what it doth know A natural guiltiness, such as is his, Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue Against my brother's life. Ang. She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it.- -Fare you well. Ang. I will bethink me :-Come again to-morrow. Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: Good my lord, turn back. Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you. Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested* gold, Or stones, whose rates are either rich, or poor, Ang. Well: come to me To-morrow. Lucio. Go to; it is well; away. Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe! Ang. Amen: for I Am that way going to temptation, Where prayers cross. Isab. At what hour to-morrow Shall I attend your lordship? Ang. At any time 'fore noon. [Aside to ISABELLA. Aside. Isab. Save your honour! [Exeunt LUCIO, ISAB., and PROV. Ang. From thee; even from thy virtue ! What's this? what's this? Is this her fault, or mine? The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Ha. Not she; nor doth she tempt: but it is I, That lying by the violet, in the sun, Do, as the carrion does, not as the flower, Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be, Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, And pitch our evils there ? O, fie, fie, fie! When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her, And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on ? * Attested, stamped. ↑ Preserved from the corruption of the world. * See 2 Kings x. 27. 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, When men were fond, I smiled, and wonder'd how. SCENE III.-A Room in a Prison. Enter DUKE, habited like a Friar, and PROVOST.' Here in the prison: do me the common right To let me see them; and to make me know The nature of their crimes, that I may minister To them accordingly, Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful. Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Who falling in the flames of her own youth, Than die for this. Duke. When must he die? Prov. As I do think, to-morrow. 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. [Exit. [To JULIET. 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. Duke. "Tis meet so, daughter: But lest you do repent, Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven; 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. * Spare to offend heaven. Your partner, as I hear, must die to-morrow, Juliet. Must die to-morrow! O, injurious love, That respites me a life, whose very comfort Prov. 'Tis pity of him. Is still a dying horror! [Exit. [Exeunt. SCENE IV-A Room in ANGELO's House. Enter ANGELO. Ang. When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words; As if I did but only chew his name; And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil O heavens! Why does my blood thus muster to my heart; And dispossessing all the other parts Of necessary fitness? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons, Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive: and even so The general, subject to a well-wish'd king, Quit their own part, and in obsequious fondness How now, fair maid? Enter ISABELLA. Isab. I am come to know your pleasure. [Exit SERV Ang. That you might know it, would much better please me, Than to demand what 'tis. Your brother cannot live. Isab. Even so ?-Heaven keep your honour! [Retiring. + People. Ang. Yet may he live awhile; and, it may be, As long as you, or I: Yet he must die. Isab. Under your sentence? Ang. Yea. Isab. When, I beseech you? that in his reprieve, Longer, or shorter, he may so be fitted, That his soul sicken not. Ang. Ha! Fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image As to put mettle in restrained means, Isab. "Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth. Isab. Sir, believe this, I had rather give my body than my soul. Ang. I talk not of your soul: Our compelled sins Stand more for number than accompt. Isab. How say you? Ang. Nay, I'll not warrant that; for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this; I, now the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother's life: Isab. Please you to do't, I'll take it as a peril to my soul, It is no sin at all, but charity. Ang. Pleased you to do't, at peril of your soul, Were equal poise of sin and charity. Isab. That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven, let me bear it! you granting of my suit, If that be sin I'll make it my morn prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer. Ang. Nay, but hear me: Your sense pursues not mine: either you are ignorant, Or seem so, craftily; and that's not good. Isab. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better. Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield* beauty ten times louder Than beauty could, display'd.-But mark me; * Enshielded, covered. To be received plain, I'll speak more gross: Isab. So. Ang. And his offence is so, as it appears Ang. Admit no other way to save his life Isab. As much for my poor brother, as myself: The impression of keen whips I'd wear as rubies, That longing I have been sick for, ere I'd yield Ang. Then must your brother die. Should die for ever. Ang. Were not you then as cruel as the sentence That you have slander'd so? Isab. Ignomy§ in ransom, and free pardon, Are of two houses: lawful mercy is Nothing akin to foul redemption. Ang. You seem'd of late to make the law a tyrant: And rather proved the sliding of your brother A merriment than a vice. Isab. O, pardon me, my lord; it oft falls out, To have what we'd have, we speak not what we mean; For his advantage that I dearly love. Ang. We are all frail. Isab. Else let my brother die, If not a feodary,|| but only he, Ang. Nay, women are frail too. Isab. Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves; Which are as easy broke as they make forms. And credulous to false prints.** |