William Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

ISABELLA.

Yes; I do think that you might pardon him,

And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.

ANGELO.

I will not do’t.

ISABELLA.

But can you, if you would?

ANGELO.

Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.

ISABELLA.

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?

ANGELO.

He’s sentenc’d; ‘tis too late.

LUCIO.

[To ISABELLA.] You are too cold.

ISABELLA.

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,

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 slipp’d like him;

But he, like you, would not have been so stern.

ANGELO.

Pray you, be gone.

ISABELLA.

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.] Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.

ANGELO.

Your brother is a forfeit of the law,

And you but waste your words.

ISABELLA.

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

If He, which is the top of judgment, should

But judge you as you are? O, think on that;

And mercy then will breathe within your lips,

Like man new made.

ANGELO.

Be you content, fair maid:

It is the law, not I, condemns your brother:

Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,

It should be thus with him;—he must die tomorrow.

ISABELLA.

Tomorrow! 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

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.

Ay, well said.

ANGELO.

The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept:

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,—

Either now, or by remissness new conceiv’d,

And so in progress to be hatch’d and born,—

Are now to have no successive degrees,

But, where they live, to end.

ISABELLA.

Yet show some pity.

ANGELO.

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 tomorrow; be content.

ISABELLA.

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.

That’s well said.

ISABELLA.

Could great men thunder

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,

Splits the unwedgeable and gnarled oak

Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man!

Dress’d in a little brief authority,—

Most ignorant of what he’s most assured,

His glassy essence,—like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven

As makes the angels weep; who, with our spleens,

Would all themselves laugh mortal.

LUCIO.

O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent;

He’s coming; I perceive ‘t.

PROVOST.

Pray heaven she win him!

ISABELLA.

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.

ISABELLA.

That in the captain’s but a choleric word

Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.

LUCIO.

Art advised o’ that? more on’t.

ANGELO.

Why do you put these sayings upon me?

ISABELLA.

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;

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

Against my brother’s life.

ANGELO.

She speaks, and ‘tis

Such sense that my sense breeds with it.—

Fare you well.

ISABELLA.

Gentle my lord, turn back.

ANGELO.

I will bethink me:—Come again tomorrow.

ISABELLA.

Hark how I’ll bribe you. Good my lord, turn back.

ANGELO.

How! bribe me?

ISABELLA.

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

LUCIO.

You had marr’d all else.

ISABELLA.

Not with fond shekels 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 sunrise: prayers from preserved souls,

From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate

To nothing temporal.

ANGELO.

Well; come to me

Tomorrow.

LUCIO.

[Aside to ISABELLA.] Go to; ‘tis well; away.

ISABELLA.

Heaven keep your honour safe!

ANGELO.

[Aside.] Amen: for I

Am that way going to temptation,

Where prayers cross.

ISABELLA.

At what hour tomorrow

Shall I attend your lordship?

ANGELO.

At any time ‘fore noon.

ISABELLA.

Save your honour!

[Exeunt LUCIO, ISABELLA, PROVOST.]

ANGELO.

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

That modesty may more betray our sense

Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,

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;

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,

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

Subdues me quite.—Ever till now,

When men were fond, I smil’d and wonder’d how.

[Exit.]

SCENE III. A Room in a prison.

[Enter DUKE, habited like a Friar, and PROVOST.]

DUKE.

Hail to you, provost! so I think you are.

PROVOST.

I am the provost. What’s your will, good friar?

DUKE.