No; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge,
And what a prisoner.

Lucio. (Aside.] Ay, touch him : there's the vein.

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,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are ?

0! 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, condemns your brother :
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him :- he must die to-mor-

row.

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
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 : 6 Those many had not dar'd 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, ere they live, to end.
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,8
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 : 0! it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is 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,
For every pelting, petty officer
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

! Dress'd in a little brief authority,

12

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,
Would all themselves laugh mortal."
Lucio. [TO ISAB.] 0, to him, to him, wench! he

will relent:
He's coming, I perceive't.

Prov. [Aside.] Pray Heaven, she win him! Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with your

self : Great men may jest with saints: 'tis 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 advis’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: 13 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.

Ang. [Aside.] She speaks, and 'tis 11 That is, his brittle, fragile being.

H.

Such
sense, that

my sense breeds with it.14 [To her.] Fare you well. Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back. Ang. I will brthink me: Come again to-mor

row.

Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you: Good my lord,

turn back. Ang. How! bribe me? Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that Heaven shall share

with you.

Lucio. [Aside.] You had marr'd all else.

Isab. 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. Ang.

Well : come to me
To-morrow.

Lucio. [Aside to ISAB.] Go to; it is well : away.
Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe !
Ang.

[Aside.] Amen ;
For I am that way going to temptation,
Where prayers cross.
Isab.

16

16

Ang.

At any time 'fore uoon. Isab. Save

your

honour !

[Exeunt Lucio, ISABELLA, 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 1, 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? 0! 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, When men were fond, I smil'd, and wonder'd how!

[Erit.

till now,