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." Prov. Heaven give thee moving graces! 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 find 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. [To ISAB.] Giv't not o'er so: to him again, intreat him; Kneel down before him, hang upon his gown; 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 5 let it be his fault, And not my brother.] i. e. let his fault be condemned, or extirpated, but let not my brother himself suffer. 6 touch'd with that remorse-] Remorse, for pity. Isab. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a word, Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword, 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. Alas! alas! Isab 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 ? And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made.] As amiable as a man come fresh out of the hands of his Creator; or, as tender-hearted and merciful as the first man was in his days of innocence, immediately after his creation. 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 : 8 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. 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 8 like a prophet, 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. Lucio. That's well said. Isab. Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, 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 fantastick tricks before high heaven, Lucio. O, to him, to him, wench: he will relent; He's coming, I perceive't. 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. 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. pelting,] i. e. paltry. gnarled oak,] Gnarre is the old English word for a knot 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. That skins 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 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. 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. To-morrow. Well: come to me Lucio. Go to; it is well; away. Isab. Heaven keep your honour safe! Ang. Am that way going to temptation, 6 [Aside to ISABEl. Amen for I [Aside. 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. |