But he, like you, would not have been so stern. Isab. I would to heaven I had your potency, Lucio. Ay, touch him: there's the vein. [Aside. 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? 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, 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. Ay, well said. Ang. The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept : Those many had not dar'd to do that evil, (1) When in season. Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils 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; Your brother dies to-morrow: be content. sentence: And he, that suffers: O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous Lucio. 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, Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, His glassy essence,-like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; He's coming, I perceive't. Pray heaven, she win him! Prov. Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself: Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them; But, in less, foul profanation. Lucio. Thou art 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. 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 skims the vice o' the top: Go to your bosom ; Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue Ang. 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. Ang. How! bribe me? Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you. Lucio. 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 in heaven, and enter there, Ere sun-rise; prayers from preserved2 souls, From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate To nothing temporal. Ang. To-morrow. Well; come to me Lucio. Go to; it is well; away. [Aside to Isab. Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe! Ang. (1) Attested, stamped. Amen: for I (2) Preserved from the corruption of the world. VOL. I. ૨ Am that way going to temptation, [Aside. At what hour to-morrow Shall I attend your lordship? Ang. At any time 'fore noon. Isab. Save your honour! [Exe. Luc. Isa. and Pro. That lying by the violet, in the sun, enough, Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary, And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on? To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet, 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 (1) See 2 Kings, x. 27. 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 Prov. I would do more than that, if more were needful. Enter Juliet. Look, here comes one; a gentlewoman of mine, Who falling in the flames of her own youth, Hath blister'd her report: She is with child; And he that got it, sentenc'd: a young man More fit to do another such offence, Than die for this. Duke. When must he die? Prov. As I do think, to-morrow. I have provided for you; stay a while. [To Juliet. Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry? 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. |