Chapter: SCENE II.

_Another room in the same._

  _Enter PROVOST and a _Servant_._

_Serv._ He's hearing of a cause; he will come straight:
I'll tell him of you.

_Prov._             Pray you, do. [_Exit Servant._] I'll know
His pleasure; may be he will relent. Alas,
He hath but as offended in a dream!
All sects, all ages smack of this vice; and he                       5
To die for 't!

  _Enter ANGELO._

_Ang._       Now, what's the matter, provost?

_Prov._ Is it your will Claudio shall die to-morrow?

_Ang._ Did not I tell thee yea? hadst thou not order?
Why dost thou ask again?

_Prov._                Lest I might be too rash:
Under your good correction, I have seen,                            10
When, after execution, Judgement hath
Repented o'er his doom.

_Ang._                Go to; let that be mine:
Do you your office, or give up your place,
And you shall well be spared.

_Prov._                     I crave your honour's pardon.
What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet?                  15
She's very near her hour.

_Ang._                  Dispose of her
To some more fitter place, and that with speed.

  _Re-enter _Servant_._

_Serv._ Here is the sister of the man condemn'd
Desires access to you.

_Ang._               Hath he a sister?

_Prov._ Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid,                     20
And to be shortly of a sisterhood,
If not already.

_Ang._        Well, let her be admitted.    [_Exit Servant._
See you the fornicatress be removed:
Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;
There shall be order for 't.

  _Enter ISABELLA and LUCIO._

_Prov._                    God save your honour!                    25

_Ang._ Stay a little while. [_To Isab._]
      You're welcome: what's your will?

_Isab._ I am a woeful suitor to your honour,
Please but your honour hear me.

_Ang._                        Well; what's your suit?

_Isab._ There is a vice that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice;                    30
For which I would not plead, but that I must;
For which I must not plead, but that I am
At war 'twixt will and will not.

_Ang._                         Well; the matter?

_Isab._ I have a brother is condemn'd to die:
I do beseech you, let it be his fault,                              35
And not my brother.

_Prov._ [_Aside_] Heaven give thee moving graces!

_Ang._ Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it?
Why, every fault's condemn'd ere it be done:
Mine were the very cipher of a function,
To fine the faults whose fine stands in record,                     40
And let go by the actor.

_Isab._                O just but severe law!
I had a brother, then.--Heaven keep your honour!

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._]
      Give't not o'er so: to him again, entreat him;
Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown:
You are too cold; if you should need a pin,                         45
You could not with more tame a tongue desire it:
To him, I say!

_Isab._ Must he needs die?

_Ang._                   Maiden, no remedy.

_Isab._ Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,
And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.                     50

_Ang._ I will not do't.

_Isab._               But can you, if you would?

_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 sentenced; 'tis too late.                     55

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] You are 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,                        60
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,
You would have slipt like him; but he, like you,                    65
Would not have been so stern.

_Ang._                      Pray you, be gone.

_Isab._ I would to heaven I had your potency,
And you were Isabel! should it then be thus?
No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Ay, touch him; there's the vein.        70

_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,                             75
If He, which is the top of judgement, 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 condemn your brother:                          80
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 prepared for death. Even for our kitchens
We kill the fowl of season: shall we serve heaven                   85
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 to Isab._] Ay, well said.

_Ang._ The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:            90
Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first that did the edict infringe
Had answer'd for his deed: now 'tis awake,
Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils,                     95
Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,
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;                  100
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.                           105

_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 it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] That's well said.

_Isab._ Could great men thunder                                    110
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                     115
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 assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,                             120
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] O, to him, to him, wench!
      he will relent;
He's coming; I perceive't.

_Prov._ [_Aside_] Pray heaven she win him!                         125

_Isab._ We cannot weigh our brother with ourself:
Great men may jest with saints; 'tis wit in them.
But in the less foul profanation.

_Lucio._ Thou'rt i' the right, girl; more o' that.

_Isab._ That in the captain's but a choleric word,                 130
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Art avised 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,                             135
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                        140
Against my brother's life.

_Ang._ [_Aside_] She speaks, and 'tis
Such sense, that my sense breeds with it. 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.          145

_Ang._ How? bribe me?

_Isab._ Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Yon had marr'd all else.

_Isab._ Not with fond shekels of the tested gold,
Or stones whose rates are either rich or poor                      150
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.

_Ang._             Well; come to me to-morrow.                     155

_Lucio._ [_Aside to Isab._] Go to; 'tis well; away!

_Isab._ Heaven keep your honour safe!

_Ang._ [_Aside_] 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.                160

_Isab._ 'Save your honour!

    [_Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost._

_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                           165
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,                170
Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary,
And pitch our evils 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:                       175
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,                           180
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                        185
Subdues me quite. Ever till now,
When men were fond, I smiled, and wonder'd how. [_Exit._


  NOTES: II, 2.

  SCENE II.] SCENE VI. Pope.

    [Transcriber's Note:
    Pope's Scene VII is not identified. Scene VIII begins at
    line 161.]

  1: _he will_] _he'll_ Pope.
  4: _but as offended_] _offended but as_ Grant White.
  5: _sects_] _sorts_ S. Walker conj.
  _of this_] _o' th'_ Hanmer.
  9: _dost thou_] om. Hanmer.
  12: _Go to_] om. Hanmer.
  14: _honour's_] om. Pope.
  17: _fitter_] _fitting_ Pope.
  22: _Well_] om. Pope.
  25: _for't_] _for it_ Pope.
  _God save_] _'Save_ Ff.
  26: _a little_] _yet a_ Pope.
  28: _Please_] _'Please_ Ff.
  _Well_] om. Pope.
  30: _And most_] _And more_ Rowe.
  32: _must not plead, but that_] _must plead, albeit_ Hanmer.
    _must now plead, but yet_ Johnson conj.
  40: _To fine_] _to find_ Theobald.
  _faults_] _fault_ Dyce.
  46: _more tame a_] _a more tame_ Rowe.
  53: _might you_] _you might_ S. Walker conj.
  55: _him._] _him?_ Ff.
  56: _You are_] _Yo art_ F2. _Thou art_ Collier MS.
  58: _back_] F2 F3 F4. om. F1.
  _Well,_] _and_ Hanmer.
  _Well, believe_] _Well believe_ Knight.
  59: _'longs_] Theobald, _longs_ Ff. _belongs_ Pope.
  73: _that were_] _that are_ Warburton.
  76: _top_] _God_ Collier MS.
  80: _condemn_] _condemns_ Rowe.
  82: _must die_] _dies_ Pope.
  83: Printed as two lines in Ff, the first ending _sudden_.
  85: _shall we serve_] _serve we_ Pope.
  92: _the first_] Ff. _the first man_ Pope.
    _he, the first_ Capell (Tyrwhitt conj.).
    _the first one_ Collier MS. _but the first_ Grant White.
    _the first he_ Spedding conj.
  _the first that_] _he who first_ Davenant's version.
  _did the edict_] _the edict did_ Keightley conj.
  95: _that shows what_] _which shews that_ Hanmer.
  96: _Either now_] _Or new_ Pope. _Either new_ Dyce.
  99: _ere_] Hanmer. _here_ Ff. _where_ Malone.
  104: _Be_] _Then be_ Pope.
  107: _it is_] _'tis_ Pope.
  108: _it is_] om. Hanmer.
  111: _ne'er_] _never_ F1.
  113: _Would_] _Incessantly would_ Hanmer.
  114: _Heaven_] _sweet Heaven_ Hanmer.
  116: _Split'st_] _splits_ F1.
  117: _but_] F1. _O but_ F2 F3 F4.
  _proud_] _weak, proud_ Malone conj.
  120: _glassy_] _grassy_ Lloyd conj.
  126: _We_] _You_ Collier MS.
  _cannot_] _can but_ Anon. conj.
  _ourself_] _yourself_ Theobald (Warburton).
  127: _saints_] _sins_ Anon. conj.
  129: _i' the right_] _i' th right_ F1 F2. _i' right_ F3 F4.
    _right_ Pope. _in the right_ Steevens.
  132: _avised_] _avis'd_ F1 F2. _advis'd_ F3 F4. _thou advis'd_ Hanmer.
  _more on't_] _more on't, yet more_ Hanmer.
  140: _your_] _you_ F2.
  142: _breeds_] _bleeds_ Pope.
  149: _shekels_] Pope. _sickles_ Ff. _cycles_ Collier conj.
    _circles_ Collier MS. See note (VII).
  150: _rates are_] Johnson. _rate are_ Ff. _rate is_ Hanmer.
  157: _Amen_] _Amen! I say_ Hanmer. See note (VIII).
  159: _Where_] _Which your_ Johnson conj.
  160: _your lordship_] _you lordship_ F2. _you_ Hanmer.
  161: _'Save_] _God save_ Edd. conj.
  161: SCENE VIII. Pope.
  163: _Ha!_] om. Pope.
  166: _by_] _with_ Capell.
  172: _evils_] _offals_ Collier MS.
  183: _never_] _ne'er_ Pope.
  186: _Ever till now_] F1. _Even till now_ F2 F3 F4.
    _Even till this very now_ Pope. _Ever till this very now_ Theobald.
    _Even from youth till now_ Collier MS.

 The Provost arrives at a room at the Court and asks Angelo if he's absolutely certain that Claudio should be put to death. Angelo tells him to scram. The Provost wants to know what he should do with Juliet, who's about to give birth to her illegitimate child. Angelo orders the Provost to make the "fornicatress" disappear to some "more fitter place." on her chest.) Isabella shows up and says she's sorry about her brother being a sexual criminal and all but could Angelo please revoke his death sentence? Isabella admits she thinks the law is "just" , but it's also too "severe." Isabella proceeds to try persuading Angelo to be merciful. As she does, Lucio stands in the background providing commentary and whispering words of advice like Isabella should stop being so "cold" and should use her feminine wiles to change Angelo's mind. Angelo insists that it's "the law" and not him that condemns Claudius to die. Isabella wants to know why her brother is being singled out. Plenty of others have committed the same crime and nobody else has been punished. Angelo reasons that the law has been taking a brief cat nap but, now that it's "awake," all those other fornicators better watch out. Isabella begs Angelo to be merciful and he replies that he's showing his mercy by implementing the law. Isabella declares that men who go around playing God are as ridiculous as apes who go around imitating man's behavior. Angelo says he'll think about sparing Claudio's life and that Isabella should come back tomorrow. Isabella says she wants to offer Angelo a bribe and Angelo is all "Really, what kind of bribe do you have in mind?" Isabella explains that her bribe is a heavenly gift. She's going to...pray for Angelo. There's nothing better than a virgin's prayers, insists Isabella. Not even gold. Angelo, who is clearly disappointed that Isabella didn't offer him some other kind of "heavenly" gift , tells Isabella to return the next day so they can talk about it some more. When Isabella leaves, Angelo reveals to the audience that he's in lust with Isabella and that his desire makes him a lot like a piece of smelly road kill rotting in the sun. .) Angelo realizes that Isabella's virtue is what turns him on. If she wasn't so chaste, he probably wouldn't be so hot for her. A "strumpet" would never get him this worked up. In fact, Angelo never understood until now why people are so interested in sex.

