Ang. Look; what I will not, that I cannot do. If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse 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, As mercy does. If he had been as you, and you as he,2 Ang. Lucio. [Aside.] Ay, touch him; there's the vein. Isab. Ang. 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, 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, 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, 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 ; Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue 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. 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? 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, That modesty may more betray our sense Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, And pitch our offals' 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 ? With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous To sin in loving virtue. Never could the strumpet, 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 Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful. Enter JULIET. Look; here comes one: a gentlewoman of mine, 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, 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. |