Ang. 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 prepar'd for death! Even for our kitchens To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink you: 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, 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; And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied; Your brother dies to-morrow; be content. Looks in a glass,] This alludes to the fopperies of the beril, a kind of crystal, which hath a weak tincture of red in it. Among other tricks of astrologers, the discovery of past or future events was supposed to be the consequence of looking into it. 9 But, where they live, to end.] i. e. they should end WHERE they began, i. e. with the criminal. 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. 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, Than the soft myrtle;-0, but man, proud man t! Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, His glassy essence,-like an angry ape, Plays such fantastick tricks before high heaven, Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; Prov. Pray heaven, she win him! 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 in the right, girl; more o'that. Isab. That in the captain's but a cholerick word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. 2 1 - pelling,] i. e. paltry. in wood. 3 gnarled oak,] Gnarre is the old English word for a knot "But man, proud man!" who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.] By spleens, Shakspeare means that peculiar turn of the human mind, that always inclines it to a spiteful, unseasonable mirth. Had the angels that, says Shakspeare, they would laugh themselves out of their immortality, by indulging a passion which does not deserve that prerogative. 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 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 Ang. She speaks, and 'tis Such sense, that my sense breeds with it.Fare you 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, Ang. To-morrow. Well come to me [Aside to ISABEL. Lucio. Go to; it is well away. fond shekels] Fond means very frequently in our author, foolish. It signifies in this place valued or prized by folly. tested gold,] i. e. brought to the test, or cupelled. preserved souls,] i. e. preserved from the corruption of 6 the world. Ang. [Exeunt LUCIO, ISABELLA, and Provost. What's this? what's this? Is this her fault, or mine? Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, And pitch our evils there? O, fy, fy, fy! When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her, 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 To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet, 7 I am that way going to temptation, Where prayers cross.] This appointment of his for the morrow's meeting, being a premeditated exposure of himself to temptation, which it was the general object of prayer to thwart. 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. 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 To let me see them; and to make me know The nature of their crimes, that I may minister To them accordingly. 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, Than die for this. Duke. When must he die? Prov. As I do think, to-morrow. I have provided for you; stay a while, And you shall be conducted. [To JULIET. Duke. Repent you, fair one, of the sin you carry! Juliet. I do; and bear the shame most patiently. Duke. I'll teach you how you shall arraign your con science, And try your penitence, if it be sound, Or hollowly put on. |