With any scruple: your scope is as mine own,
So to enforce, or qualify the laws

20

As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand;
I'll privily away: I love the people,
But do not like to stage 21 me to their eyes.
Though it do well, 22 I do not relish well
Their loud applause, and aves vehement,
Nor do I think the man of safe discretion,
That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.

Ang. The heavens give safety to your purposes !
Escal. Lead forth, and bring you back in happiness!
Duke. I thank you. Fare you well.

Escal. I shall desire you, Sir, to give me leave
To have free speech with you; and it concerns me
To look into the bottom of my place: 23

A power I have, but of what strength and nature

I am not yet instructed.

Ang. 'T is so with me. Let us withdraw together, And we may soon our satisfaction have

[Exit.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Street.

Enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen.

Lucio. If the duke, with the other dukes, come not to composition with the king of Hungary, why then, all the dukes fall upon the king.

1 Gent. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the king of Hungary's! 2 Gent.

Amen.

Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the ten commandments, but scraped one out of the table.

2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal?

Lucio. Ay, that he razed.

1 Gent. Why 't was a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions: they put forth to steal. There 's not a soldier

20) Ihr habt denselben freien Spielraum in der schärferen oder milderen Handhabung der Gesetze, je nach Eurem Gutdünken, wie ich ihn habe.

21) to stage = auf die Bühne stellen, zur Schau stellen.

Man hat in diesem Passus eine

Anspielung auf den Charakter König Jakobs I. finden wollen. Vgl. Einleitung pag 1. 22) Wenn es auch gut sein mag, dass das Volk lauten Beifall und stürmischen Segensgruss spendet.

23) mir liegt daran, mein Amt gründlich durch und durch kennen zu lernen.

of us all, that, in the thanksgiving before meat, doth relish the petition well that prays for peace.

2 Gent. I never heard any soldier dislike it. 2
Lucio. I believe thee; for, I think thou

was said.

2 Gent. No? a dozen times at least.

1 Gent. What, in metre? 3

Lucio. In any proportion, or in any language.

1 Gent. I think, or in any religion.

never wast where grace

Lucio. Ay; why not? Grace is grace, despite of all controversy: as for example; thou thyself art a wicked villain, despite of all grace. +

4

1 Gent. Well, there went but a pair of sheers between us. 5 Lucio. I grant; as there may between the lists and the velvet: thou art the list.

1 Gent. And thou the velvet: thou art good velvet: thou art a threepil'd piece, I warrant thee. I had as lief be a list of an English kersey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French velvet. Do I speak feelingly now? Lucio. I think thou dost; and, indeed, with most painful feeling of thy speech: 7 I will, out of thine own confession, learn to begin thy health; but, whilst I live, forget to drink after thee.

1 Gent. I think, I have done myself wrong, have I not?

2 Gent. Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted, or free. Lucio. Behold, behold, where madam Mitigation 8 comes!

1) do in der Fol., was auch Rowe noch beibehielt. Die vorher von dem ersten Edelmann gebrauchten Worte Heaven grant us ils peace sind wörtlich aus dem Ritual alter Tischgebete entnommen.

2) to dislike:

=

sein Missfallen laut bezeugen, tadeln. So in As you like it (A. 5, Sc. 4.) I did dislike the cut of a certain courtier's beard. 3) grace in metre ein Tischgebet in Versen.

--

Lucio in seiner Antwort, welche

Ritson dem zweiten Edelmann zuertheilen wollte, fasst metre als synonym mit proportion Mass, Verhältniss, im Allgemeinen.

4) grace === Tischgebet, und Frömmigkeit. Ein ähnliches Wortspiel mit grace findet sich in Titus Andronicus (A. 4, Sc. 3.)

5) Eine sprichwörtliche Redensart: wir sind aus demselben Stoffe, den eine Scheere in zwei Stücke zerschnitten hat. So in Marston's Malcontent: There goes but a pair of sheers between an emperor and the son of a bag-piper; only the dying, dressing, pressing and glossing makes the difference.

6) Wortspiel zwischen three-pil'd von Sammet, und = geschoren, von dem Haar, das man in Folge der Lustseuche einbüsste. pil'd für pill'd. Auf die Lustseuche (French sickness) spielt auch French velvet an. 7) Lucio giebt dem ersten Edelmann die Insinuation zurück, indem er sagt: Du fühlest den Sinn Deiner Anspielung auf die Lustseuche schmerzlich genug an Dir selber, so dass ich künftig, Deinem eigenen Geständniss gemäss, wohl Dir zutrinken, auf Dein Wohl trinken werde, nicht aber aus demselben Becher Dir Bescheid thun will, um nicht so von Dir angesteckt zu werden.

8) So betitelt Lucio scherzhaft die Kupplerin, weil sie die Schmerzen der hoffnungslosen Liebe lindert. Die Fol. theilt auch noch die folgende Rede I have purchased bis

1 Gent. I have purchased as many diseases under her roof, as come to 2 Gent. To what, I pray?

Lucio. Judge.

2 Gent. To three thousand dollars a-year.

1 Gent. Ay, and more.

Lucio. A French crown more. 10

2 Gent. Thou art always figuring diseases in me; but thou art full of error: I am sound.

Lucio. Nay, not as one would say, healthy; but so sound 11 as things that are hollow: thy bones are hollow; impiety has made a feast of thee.

Enter Bawd.

1 Gent. How now? Which of your hips has the most profound sciatica? Bawd. Well, well; there's one yonder arrested, and carried to prison, was worth five thousand of you all.

2 Gent. Who 's that, I pray thee?

Bawd. Marry, Sir, that 's Claudio; signior Claudio.

Bawd. Nay, but I know, 't is so: I saw him arrested; saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head 12 to be chopped off.

Lucio. But, after all this fooling, 13 I would not have it so. Art thou sure of this?

Bawd. I am too sure of it; and it is for getting madam Julietta with child. Lucio. Believe me, this may be: he promised to meet me two hours since, and he was ever precise in promise-keeping.

2 Gent. Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose.

1 Gent. But most of all, agreeing with the proclamation. Lucio. Away: let's go learn the truth of it.

[Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen.

come to dem Lucio zu, obwohl sie offenbar dem ersten Edelmann angehört. Manche Hgg. legen mit Pope die ganze Rede von Behold bis come to dem ersten Edelmann bei, ebenso das folgende Judge.

9) Die Fol. schreibt Dollours, um das hier beabsichtigte Wortspiel zwischen dolours und dollars, das Sh. auch in Tempest (A. 2, Sc. 1) und in K. Lear (A. 2, Sc. 4) hat, deutlicher hervorzuheben.

10) Dasselbe Wortspiel von French crown

ein Schädel, der in Folge der Lustseuche kahl geworden ist, und französische Goldmünze, findet sich in MidsummerNight's Dream (A. 1, Sc. 2.)

11) sound = gesund, und tönend, wie ein hohles Gefäss, hier von den durch Aus

schweifungen ausgehöhlten marklosen Knochen.

12) So die Fol. Rowe fügte is hinter head ein, andre Hgg. setzen head's.

13) fooling geht auf das Witzgefecht, das Lucio mit seinen Freunden vollführt hat.

Bawd. Thus: what with the war, what with the sweat, 14 what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk. How now? what 's the news with you?

Enter Clown. 15

Clo. Yonder man is carried to prison.

Bawd. Well: what has he done?

Clo. A woman. 16

Bawd. But what 's his offence?

Clo. Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. 17

Bawd. What, is there a maid with child by him?

Clo. No; but there's a woman with maid by him. You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?

Bawd. What proclamation, man?

Clo. All houses 18 in the suburbs of Vienna must be pluck'd down.
Bawd. And what shall become of those in the city?

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

Bawd. But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pull'd down?
Clo. To the ground, mistress.

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

Clo. Come; fear not you: 19 good counsellors lack no clients: though you change your place, you need not change your trade; I'll be your tapster still. Courage! there will be pity taken on you; you that have worn your eyes almost out in the service: you will be considered.

1) sweat die Schwitzkur, der sich manche sonstige Kunden der Kupplerin zur Kur von der Lustseuche unterwerfen mussten, scheint zugleich für diese Lustseuche selbst gebraucht zu sein; so in K. Henry IV. Second Part, Epilogue: Falstaff shall die of a sweat.

15) Der Clown dieses Dramas steht wie der entsprechende Charakter in Timon of Athens (A. 2, Sc. 2) im Dienste der Kupplerin.

16) Der Clown fasst to do in obscönem Sinn, wie in Titus Andronicus (A. 4, Sc. 2) wo auf Chirons Vorwurf: Thou hast undone our mother Aaron versetzt: Villain, I've done thy mother.

17) peculiar im Privatbesitz befindlich, Etwas dessen Benutzung also verboten ist. Dasselbe Gleichniss kehrt wieder in Winter's Tale (A. 1, Sc. 2): And many a man there is, even at this present || Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm, || That little thinks, she has been sluic'd in his absence || And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour.

-18) Tyrwhitt schlug vor bawdy-houses oder houses of resort zu setzen. Indess ist house in Verbindung mit in the suburbs als euphemistischer Ausdruck für Bordell deutlich genug. So steht in Beaumont und Fletcher men wiederholt euphemistisch

suburb ladies - liederliche Weibsbilder.

19) seid um Eurentwillen unbesorgt.

Bawd. What 's to do here, Thomas Tapster? 20 Let's withdraw. Clo. Here comes signior Claudio, led by the provost to prison: and there 's madam Juliet.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

The Same.

Enter Provost, CLAUDIO, JULIET, and Officers. 1

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

Prov. I do it not in evil disposition, But from lord Angelo by special charge.

2

Claud. Thus can the demi-god Authority
Make us pay down for our offence by weight.
The words of heaven; on whom it will, it will;
On whom it will not, so: yet still 't is just.

Enter LUCIO and two Gentlemen.

Lucio. Why, how now, Claudio? whence comes this restraint?
Claud. From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty:

As surfeit is the father of much fast,

So every scope by the immoderate use

Turns to restraint: Our natures do pursue,

Like rats that ravin down their proper bane, “

A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die.

20) Der eigentliche Name des Clown ist, wie sich später ergiebt, Pompey. Thomas oder Tom ist nur die herkömmliche Bezeichnung eines Zapfers Tom Tapster.

-

1) Die Fol. und nach ihr die meisten Ausgaben beginnen hier eine neue dritte Scene, obgleich die Handlung ununterbrochen auf demselben Platze weitergeht. Wegen der Uebereinstimmung in Citiren ist es rathsam, von dieser einmal hergebrachten Sceneneintheilung nicht wieder abzuweichen. Die Fol. lässt Lucio und die beiden Edelleute zugleich mit den Uebrigen auftreten oder nennt sie doch hier zu Anfang der Scene, in deren Verlauf sie erst erscheinen sollen. Ein ähnliches Verfahren beobachtet die Fol. auch bei andern Dramen, z. B. in Two Gentlemen of Verona. 2) Die Amtsgewalt, die wie ein Halbgott über den Menschen thront, zwingt uns für unsere Vergehungen nach dem vollen Gewicht zu zahlen, legt uns Bussen auf, ebenso schwer sind, wie unsere Vergehungen.

die

3) Die Worte des Himmels, welche Sh. hier im Sinne hat, stehen in dem Römerbriel des Apostels Paulus (Cap. 9, Vers 15 und 18.) und lauten in der Englichen Bibel: For he saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy und Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy. Erwägenswerth ist Roberts' Con

jectur sword für words, die Staunton in den Text gesetzt hat.

*) wie Ratten, die das ihnen bestimmte Gift niederschlingen. Steevens citirt dazu aus Chapman's Revenge for Honour: Like poison'd rats, which, when they

have swallowed || The pleasing bane, rest not until they drink; || And can rest then much less until they burst.