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, 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 spar'd.

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

Ang. Dispose of her

To some more fitting place; and that with speed.
Enter THOMAS.

Tho. 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, And to be shortly of a sisterhood,

If not already.

Ang. Well, let her be admitted.

See you, the fornicatress be remov'd;

[Exit THOMAS.

Let her have needful, but not lavish, means;
There shall be order for it.

Enter ISABELLA, and Lucio.

[Exit Provost.

Ang. You are 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;

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,

And not my brother.

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, And let go by the actor.

Isab. O just, but severe law!

I had a brother then.-Heaven keep your honour!

[Retiring.] Lucio. Give't not o'er so: to him again, entreat him; Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown; You are too cold.

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. 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 sentenc'd; 'tis too late.

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,
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.

B

Ang. Pray you,

be gone.

sab. I would to heaven I had your potency, And you were Isabel! should it then be thus ? No; I would tell what 't were to be a judge, And what a prisoner.

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 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, hot I, condemns your brother:
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 prepar'd for death!

Good, good my lord, bethink you:

Who is it that hath died for this offence?

There's many have committed it.

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

Those many had not dar'd to do that evil,

If the first man that did infringe the edict,
Had answer'd for his deed.

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 satisfy'd;

Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

Isab. So you must be the first, that gives this sen

tence;

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,
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,

Than the soft myrtle :-O, but man, proud man,—
Dress'd in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,

His glassy essence,-like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastick tricks before high heaven,

As make the angels weep!

Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; He's coming; I perceive 't.

Isab. We cannot weigh our brother with ourself: Great men may jest with saints: 't is wit in them; But, in the less, foul profanation.

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
Against my brother's life.

Ang. She speaks, and 't is

Such sense, that my sense breeds with it.-Fare you well.-[Going.]

Isab. Gentle my lord, turn back.

Ang. I will bethink me :-Come again to-morrow.

Isab. Hark, how I'll bribe you,

Ang. How! bribe me?

[Going.]

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 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;

Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe! [Retiring.] Ang. 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.

Isab. 'Save your honour!

[Exeunt Lucio, and ISABELLA.

Ang. From thee; even from thy virtue!

What's this? what's this? Is this her fault, or mine?

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?

O, fie, fie, fie!

What dost thou ? or what art thou, Angelo?

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? This virtuous maid
Subdues me quite :-Ever, till now,

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

[Exit.