MEASURE FOR MEASURE

MEASURE FOR MEASURE BY SHAKESPEARE, ADAPTED BY THOMAS MIDDLETON Measure for Measure, first printed in the 1623 Folio, was performed at court on 26 December 1604. Plague had caused London’s theatres to be closed from May 1603 to April 1604; the play was probably written and first acted during this period. Dislocations and other features of the text as printed suggest that it may have undergone adaptation after Shakespeare’s death. Someone—perhaps Thomas Middleton, to judge by the style—seems to have supplied a new, seedy opening to Act I, Scene 2; and an adapter seems also to have altered 3.1. 517-4.1.63 by transposing the Duke’s two soliloquies, by introducing a stanza from a popular song, and supplying dialogue to follow it, and by adding other short passages. We print the text in what we believe to be its adapted form; a conjectured reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original version of the adapted sections is given in the Additional Passages. The story of a woman who, in seeking to save the life of a male relative, arouses the lust of a man in authority was an ancient one that reached literary form in the mid sixteenth century. Shakespeare may have known the prose version in Giambattista Cinzio Giraldi’s Gli Ecatommiti (1565, translated into French in 1583) and the same author’s play Epitia (1573, published in 1583), but his main source was George Whetstone’s unsuccessful, unperformed two-part tragicomedy Promos and Cassandra, published in 1578. Shakespeare’s title comes from St Matthew’s account of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount: ‘with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again’. The title is not expressive of the play’s morality, but it alerts the spectator to Shakespeare’s exploration of moral issues. His heroine, Isabella, is not merely, as in Whetstone, a virtuous young maiden: she is about to enter a nunnery. Her brother, Claudio, has not, as in Whetstone, been accused (however unjustly) of rape: his union with the girl (Juliet) he has made pregnant has been ratified by a betrothal ceremony, and lacks only the church’s formal blessing. So Angelo, deputizing for the absent Duke of Vienna, seems peculiarly harsh in attempting to enforce the city’s laws against fornication by insisting on Claudio’s execution; and Angelo’s hypocrisy in demanding Isabella’s chastity in return for her brother’s life seems correspondingly greater. By adding the character of Mariana, to whom Angelo himself had once been betrothed, and by employing the traditional motif of the ‘bed-trick’, by which Mariana substitutes for Isabella in Angelo’s bed, Shakespeare permits Isabella both to retain her virtue and to forgive Angelo without marrying him. Although Measure for Measure, like The Merchant of Venice, is much concerned with justice and mercy, its more explicit concern with sex and death along with the intense emotional reality, at least in the earlier part of the play, of its portrayal of Angelo, Isabella, and Claudio, creates a deeper seriousness of tone which takes it out of the world of romantic comedy into that of tragicomedy or, as the twentieth-century label has it, ‘problem play’. Its low-life characters inhabit a diseased world of brothels and prisons, but there is a life-enhancing quality in their frank acknowledgement of sexuality; and the Duke’s manipulation of events casts a tinge of romance over the play’s later scenes. Measure for Measure’s subtle and passionate exploration of issues of sexual morality, of the uses and abuses of power, gave it a special appeal in the later part of the twentieth century. Each of the ‘good’ characters fails in some respect; none of the ‘bad’ ones lacks some redeeming quality; all are, in the last analysis, ‘desperately mortal’ (4.2.148). THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY Vincentio, the DUKE of Vienna ANGELO, appointed his deputy ESCALUS, an old lord, appointed Angelo’s secondary

CLAUDIO, a young gentleman JULIET, betrothed to Claudio ISABELLA, Claudio’s sister, novice to a sisterhood of nuns

LUCIO, ‘a fantastic’ Two other such GENTLEMEN FROTH, a foolish gentleman MISTRESS OVERDONE, a bawd POMPEY, her clownish servant A PROVOST ELBOW, a simple constable A JUSTICE ABHORSON, an executioner BARNARDINE, a dissolute condemned prisoner MARIANA, betrothed to Angelo A BOY, attendant on Mariana FRIAR PETER FRANCESCA, a nun VARRIUS, a lord, friend to the Duke Lords, officers, citizens, servants

Measure for Measure

Atto 1, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, Escalus, and other lords DUKE Escalus.
ESCALUS	My lord.
DUKE	Of government the properties to unfold Would seem in me t’affect speech and discourse, Since I am put to know that your own science Exceeds in that the lists of all advice My strength can give you. Then no more remains But this: to your sufficiency, as your worth is able, And let them work. The nature of our people, Our city’s institutions and the terms For common justice, you’re as pregnant in As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember. He gives Escalus papers There is our commission, From which we would not have you warp. (To a lord) Call hither, I say bid come before us, Angelo. Exit lord (To Escalus) What figure of us think you he will bear?— For you must know we have with special soul Elected him our absence to supply, Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love, And given his deputation all the organs Of our own power. What think you of it?
ESCALUS	If any in Vienna be of worth To undergo such ample grace and honour, It is Lord Angelo.
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo
DUKE	Look where he comes.
ANGELO	Always obedient to your grace’s will, I come to know your pleasure.
DUKE	Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life That to th‘observer doth thy history Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched But to fine issues; nor nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Both thanks and use. But 1 do bend my speech To one that can my part in him advertise. Hold therefore, Angelo. In our remove be thou at full ourself. Mortality and mercy in Vienna Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus, Though first in question, is thy secondary. Take thy commission.
ANGELO	Now good my lord, Let there be some more test made of my metal Before so noble and so great a figure Be stamped upon it.
DUKE	No more evasion. We have with leavened and prepared choice Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
(didascalia)	Angelo takes his commission
DUKE	Our haste from hence is of so quick condition That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestioned Matters of needful value. We shall write to you As time and our concernings shall importune, How it goes with us; and do look to know What doth befall you here. So fare you well. To th’ hopeful execution do I leave you Of your commissions.
ANGELO	Yet give leave, my lord, That we may bring you something on the way.
DUKE	My haste may not admit it; Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do With any scruple. Your scope is as mine own, So to enforce or qualify the laws As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand. I’ll privily away. I love the people, But do not like to stage me to their eyes. Though it do well, I do not relish well Their loud applause and aves vehement; Nor do I think the man of safe discretion That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
ANGELO	The heavens give safety to your purposes!
ESCALUS	Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!
DUKE	I thank you. Fare you well.
(didascalia)	Exit
ESCALUS	I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave To have free speech with you; and it concerns me To look into the bottom of my place. A power I have, but of what strength and nature I am not yet instructed.
ANGELO	’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together, And we may soon our satisfaction have Touching that point.
ESCALUS	I’ll wait upon your honour.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 1, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio, and two other Gentlemen
LUCIO	If the Duke with the other dukes come not to composition with the King of Hungary, why then, all the dukes fall upon the King.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Heaven grant us its peace, but not the King of Hungary’s!
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Amen.
LUCIO	Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the table.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	‘Thou shalt not steal’?
LUCIO	Ay, that he razed.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Why, ’twas a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions: they put forth to steal. There’s not a soldier of us all that in the thanksgiving before meat do relish the petition well that prays for peace. 16
SECOND GENTLEMAN	I never heard any soldier dislike it.
LUCIO	I believe thee, for I think thou never wast where grace was said.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	No? A dozen times at least. 20
FIRST GENTLEMAN	What, in metre?
LUCIO	In any proportion, or in any language.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	I think, or in any religion.
LUCIO	Ay, why not? Grace is grace despite of all controversy; as for example, thou thyself art a wicked villain despite of all grace.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Well, there went but a pair of shears between us.
LUCIO	I grant—as there may between the lists and the velvet. Thou art the list.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	And thou the velvet. Thou art good velvet, thou’rt a three-piled piece, I warrant thee. I had as lief be a list of an English kersey as be piled as thou art pilled, for a French velvet. Do I speak feelingly now?
LUCIO	I think thou dost, and indeed with most painful feeling of thy speech. I will out of thine own confession learn to begin thy health, but whilst I live forget to drink after thee.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	I think I have done myself wrong, have I not? 40
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted or free.
(didascalia)	Enter Mistress Overdone
LUCIO	Behold, behold, where Madam Mitigation comes! I have purchased as many diseases under her roof as come to—45
SECOND GENTLEMAN	To what, I pray?
LUCIO	Judge.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	To three thousand dolours a year?
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Ay, and more.
LUCIO	A French crown more.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Thou art always figuring diseases in me, but thou art full of error—I am sound.
LUCIO	Nay not, as one would say, healthy, but so sound as things that are hollow—thy bones are hollow, impiety has made a feast of thee.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to Mistress Overdone) How now, which of your hips has the most profound sciatica?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Well, well! There’s one yonder arrested and carried to prison was worth five thousand of you all.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Who’s that, I pray thee?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Marry sir, that’s Claudio, Signor Claudio.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Claudio to prison? ’Tis not so.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Nay, but I know ’tis so. I saw him arrested, saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head to be chopped off.
LUCIO	But after all this fooling, I would not have it so. Art thou sure of this?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	I am too sure of it, and it is for getting Madame Julietta with child.
LUCIO	Believe me, this may be. He promised to meet me two hours since and he was ever precise in promise-keeping.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	But most of all agreeing with the proclamation.
LUCIO	Away; let’s go learn the truth of it.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk.
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey
MISTRESS OVERDONE	How now, what’s the news with you?
POMPEY	You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What proclamation, man?
POMPEY	All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	And what shall become of those in the city?
POMPEY	They shall stand for seed. They had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY	To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth. What shall become of me?
POMPEY	Come, fear not you. Good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade. I’ll be your tapster still. Courage, there will be pity taken on you. You that have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.
(didascalia)	A noise within
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster? Let’s withdraw!
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost, Claudio, Juliet, and officers; Lucio and the two Gentlemen
POMPEY	Here comes Signor Claudio, led by the Provost to prison; and there’s Madame Juliet.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mistress Overdone and Pompey
CLAUDIO	(to the Provost) Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world? Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST	I do it not in evil disposition, But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO	Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offence, by weight, The bonds of heaven. On whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
LUCIO	Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint?
CLAUDIO	From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty. As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope, by the immoderate use, Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, Like rats that raven down their proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die.
LUCIO	If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors. And yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment. What’s thy offence, Claudio?
CLAUDIO	What but to speak of would offend again.
LUCIO	What, is’t murder?
CLAUDIO	No.
LUCIO	Lechery?
CLAUDIO	Call it so.
PROVOST	Away, sir; you must go.
CLAUDIO	One word, good friend.
(didascalia)	The Provost shows assent
CLAUDIO	Lucio, a word with you.
LUCIO	A hundred, if they’ll do you any good.
(didascalia)	Claudio and Lucio speak apart
LUCIO	Is lechery so looked after?
CLAUDIO	Thus stands it with me. Upon a true contract, I got possession of Julietta’s bed. You know the lady; she is fast my wife, Save that we do the denunciation lack Of outward order. This we came not to Only for propagation of a dower Remaining in the coffer of her friends, From whom we thought it meet to hide our love Till time had made them for us. But it chances The stealth of our most mutual entertainment With character too gross is writ on Juliet.
LUCIO	With child, perhaps?
CLAUDIO	Unhapp’ly even so. And the new deputy now for the Duke— Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness, Or whether that the body public be A horse whereon the governor doth ride, Who, newly in the seat, that it may know He can command, lets it straight feel the spur— Whether the tyranny be in his place, Or in his eminence that fills it up— I stagger in. But this new governor Awakes me all the enrolled penalties Which have, like unscoured armour, hung by th’ wall So long that fourteen zodiacs have gone round, And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act Freshly on me. ’Tis surely for a name.
LUCIO	I warrant it is; and thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. Send after the Duke, and appeal to him.
CLAUDIO	I have done so, but he’s not to be found. I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service. This day my sister should the cloister enter, And there receive her approbation. Acquaint her with the danger of my state. Implore her in my voice that she make friends To the strict deputy. Bid herself assay him. I have great hope in that, for in her youth There is a prone and speechless dialect Such as move men; beside, she hath prosperous art When she will play with reason and discourse, And well she can persuade.
LUCIO	I pray she may—as well for the encouragement of thy like, which else would stand under grievous imposition, as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack. I’ll to her.
CLAUDIO	I thank you, good friend Lucio.
LUCIO	Within two hours.
CLAUDIO	Come, officer; away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Lucio and gentlemen at one door;
(didascalia)	Claudio, Juliet, Provost, and officers at another

Atto 1, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke and a Friar
DUKE	No, holy father, throw away that thought. Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee To give me secret harbour hath a purpose More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth.
FRIAR	May your grace speak of it?
DUKE	My holy sir, none better knows than you How I have ever loved the life removed, And held in idle price to haunt assemblies Where youth and cost a witless bravery keeps. I have delivered to Lord Angelo— A man of stricture and firm abstinence— My absolute power and place here in Vienna; And he supposes me travelled to Poland— For so I have strewed it in the common ear, And so it is received. Now, pious sir, You will demand of me why I do this.
FRIAR	Gladly, my lord.
DUKE	We have strict statutes and most biting laws, The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, Which for this fourteen years we have let slip; Even like an o‘ergrown lion in a cave That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers, Having bound up the threat’ning twigs of birch Only to stick it in their children’s sight For terror, not to use, in time the rod More mocked becomes than feared: so our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead; And Liberty plucks Justice by the nose, The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart Goes all decorum.
FRIAR	It rested in your grace To unloose this tied-up Justice when you pleased, And it in you more dreadful would have seemed Than in Lord Angelo.
DUKE	I do fear, too dreadful. Sith ‘twas my fault to give the people scope, ’Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them For what I bid them do—for we bid this be done When evil deeds have their permissive pass, And not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father, I have on Angelo imposed the office, Who may in th‘ambush of my name strike home, And yet my nature never in the fight T’allow in slander. And to behold his sway, I will as ’twere a brother of your order Visit both prince and people. Therefore, I prithee, Supply me with the habit, and instruct me How I may formally in person bear Like a true friar. More reasons for this action At our more leisure shall I render you. Only this one: Lord Angelo is precise, Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone. Hence shall we see If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 1, Scena 4

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella, and Francesca, a nun
ISABELLA	And have you nuns no farther privileges?
FRANCESCA	Are not these large enough?
ISABELLA	Yes, truly. I speak not as desiring more, But rather wishing a more strict restraint Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare.
LUCIO	(within) Ho, peace be in this place!
(didascalia)	ISABELLA to Francesca
LUCIO	Who’s that which calls?
FRANCESCA	It is a man’s voice. Gentle Isabella. Turn you the key, and know his business of him. You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn. When you have vowed, you must not speak with men But in the presence of the prioress. Then if you speak, you must not show your face; Or if you show your face, you must not speak. Lucio calls within He calls again. I pray you answer him.
(didascalia)	She stands asidel
ISABELLA	Peace and prosperity! Who is’t that calls? She opens the door.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
LUCIO	Hail, virgin, if you be—as those cheek-roses Proclaim you are no less. Can you so stead me As bring me to the sight of Isabella, A novice of this place, and the fair sister To her unhappy brother Claudio?
ISABELLA	Why her unhappy brother? Let me ask, The rather for I now must make you know I am that Isabella, and his sister.
LUCIO	Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you. Not to be weary with you, he’s in prison.
ISABELLA	Woe me! For what?
LUCIO	For that which, if myself might be his judge, He should receive his punishment in thanks. He hath got his friend with child.
ISABELLA	Sir, make me not your story.
LUCIO	‘Tis true. I would not—though ’tis my familiar sin With maids to seem the lapwing, and to jest Tongue far from heart—play with all virgins so. I hold you as a thing enskied and sainted By your renouncement, an immortal spirit, And to be talked with in sincerity As with a saint.
ISABELLA	You do blaspheme the good in mocking me.
LUCIO	Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, ’tis thus: Your brother and his lover have embraced. As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
ISABELLA	Someone with child by him? My cousin Juliet?
LUCIO	Is she your cousin?
ISABELLA	Adoptedly, as schoolmaids change their names By vain though apt affection.
LUCIO	She it is.
ISABELLA	O, let him marry her!
LUCIO	This is the point. The Duke is very strangely gone from hence; Bore many gentlemen—mysetf being one— In hand and hope of action; but we do learn, By those that know the very nerves of state, His giving out were of an infinite distance From his true-meant design. Upon his place, And with full line of his authority, Governs Lord Angelo—a man whose blood Is very snow-broth; one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense, But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge With profits of the mind, study, and fast. He, to give fear to use and liberty, Which have for long run by the hideous law As mice by lions, hath picked out an act Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life Falls into forfeit. He arrests him on it, And follows close the rigour of the statute To make him an example. All hope is gone, Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer To soften Angelo. And that’s my pith Of business ’twixt you and your poor brother.
ISABELLA	Doth he so seek his life?
LUCIO	Has censured him already, And, as I hear, the Provost hath a warrant For’s execution.
ISABELLA	Alas, what poor Ability’s in me to do him good?
LUCIO	Assay the power you have.
ISABELLA	My power? Alas, I doubt.
LUCIO	Our doubts are traitors, And makes us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo; And let him learn to know, when maidens sue, Men give like gods, but when they weep and kneel, All their petitions are as freely theirs As they themselves would owe them.
ISABELLA	I’ll see what I can do.
LUCIO	But speedily.
ISABELLA	I will about it straight, No longer staying but to give the Mother Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you. Commend me to my brother. Soon at night I’ll send him certain word of my success.
LUCIO	I take my leave of you.
ISABELLA	Good sir, adieu.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Isabella and Francesca at one door,
(didascalia)	Lucio at another door

Atto 2, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo, Escalus, and servants; a Justice
ANGELO	We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it Their perch, and not their terror.
ESCALUS	Ay, but yet Let us be keen, and rather cut a little Than fall and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman Whom I would save had a most noble father. Let but your honour know— Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue— That in the working of your own affections, Had time cohered with place, or place with wishing, Or that the resolute acting of your blood Could have attained th’effect of your own purpose— Whether you had not sometime in your life Erred in this point which now you censure him, And pulled the law upon you.
ANGELO	’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall. I not deny The jury passing on the prisoner’s life May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two Guiltier than him they try. What knows the law That thieves do pass on thieves? What’s open made to justice, That justice seizes. ’Tis very pregnant: The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t Because we see it, but what we do not see We tread upon and never think of it. You may not so extenuate his offence For I have had such faults; but rather tell me, When I that censure him do so offend, Let mine own judgement pattern out my death, And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
ESCALUS	Be it as your wisdom will.
ANGELO	Where is the Provost?
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Here, if it like your honour.
ANGELO	See that Claudio Be execute by nine tomorrow morning. Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared, For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
ESCALUS	Well, heaven forgive him, and forgive us all! Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. Some run from brakes of vice, and answer none; And some condemned for a fault alone.
(didascalia)	Enter Elbow, Froth, Pompey, and officers
ELBOW	Come, bring them away. If these be good people in a commonweal, that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses, I know no law. Bring them away.
ANGELO	How now, sir? What’s your name? And what’s the matter?
ELBOW	If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s constable, and my name is Elbow. I do lean upon justice, sir; and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.
ANGELO	Benefactors? Welll What benefactors are they? Are they not malefactors?
ELBOW	If it please your honour, I know not well what they are; but precise villains they are, that I am sure of, and void of all profanation in the world that good Christians ought to have.
ESCALUS	(to Angelo) This comes off well; here’s a wise officer!
ANGELO	Go to, what quality are they of? Elbow is your name? Why dost thou not speak, Elbow?
POMPEY	He cannot, sir; he’s out at elbow.
ANGELO	What are you, sir?
ELBOW	He, sir? A tapster, sir, parcel bawd; one that serves a bad woman whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which I think is a very ill house too.
ESCALUS	How know you that?
ELBOW	My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour—
ESCALUS	How, thy wife?
ELBOW	Ay, sir, whom I thank heaven is an honest woman—
ESCALUS	Dost thou detest her therefor?
ELBOW	I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she, that this house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house.
ESCALUS	How dost thou know that, constable?
ELBOW	Marry, sir, by my wife, who, if she had been a woman cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery, and all uncleanliness there.
ESCALUS	By the woman’s means?
ELBOW	Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means. But as she spit in his face, so she defied him.
POMPEY	(to Escalus) Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.
ELBOW	Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man, prove it.
ESCALUS	(to Angelo) Do you hear how he misplaces?
POMPEY	Sir, she came in great with child, and longing-saving your honour’s reverence—for stewed prunes. Sir, we had but two in the house, which at that very distant time stood, as it were, in a fruit dish—a dish of some threepence; your honours have seen such dishes; they are not china dishes, but very good dishes.
ESCALUS	Go to, go to, no matter for the dish, sir.
POMPEY	No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right. But to the point. As I say, this Mistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, and being great-bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and having but two in the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could not give you threepence again.
FROTH	No, indeed.
POMPEY	Very well. You being, then, if you be remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes—
FROTH	Ay, so I did indeed.
POMPEY	Why, very well.—I telling you then, if you be remembered, that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of, unless they kept very good diet, as I told you—
FROTH	All this is true. no
POMPEY	Why, very well then—
ESCALUS	Come, you are a tedious fool. To the purpose. What was done to Elbow’s wife that he hath cause to complain of? Come me to what was done to her.
POMPEY	Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
ESCALUS	No, sir, nor I mean it not.
POMPEY	Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s leave. And I beseech you, look into Master Froth here, sir, a man of fourscore pound a year, whose father died at Hallowmas—was’t not at Hallowmas, Master Froth?
FROTH	All Hallow Eve.
POMPEY	Why, very well. I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir—’twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where indeed you have a delight to sit, have you not?
FROTH	I have so, because it is an open room, and good for winter.
POMPEY	Why, very well then. I hope here be truths.
ANGELO	This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there. (To Escalus) I’ll take my leave, And leave you to the hearing of the cause, Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.
ESCALUS	I think no less. Good morrow to your lordship.
(didascalia)	Exit Angelo
ESCALUS	Now, sir, come on, what was done to Elbow’s wife, once more?
POMPEY	Once, sir? There was nothing done to her once.
ELBOW	I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.
POMPEY	I beseech your honour, ask me.
ESCALUS	Well, sir, what did this gentleman to her?
POMPEY	I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face. Good Master Froth, look upon his honour. ’Tis for a good purpose. Doth your honour mark his face?
ESCALUS	Ay, sir, very well.
POMPEY	Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
ESCALUS	Well, I do so.
POMPEY	Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
ESCALUS	Why, no.
POMPEY	I’ll be supposed upon a book his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then—if his face be the worst thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.
ESCALUS	He’s in the right, constable; what say you to it?
ELBOW	First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is a respected woman.
POMPEY	(to Escalus) By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any of us all.
ELBOW	Varlet, thou liest; thou liest, wicked varlet. The time is yet to come that she was ever respected with man, woman, or child.
POMPEY	Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.
ESCALUS	Which is the wiser here, justice or iniquity? (To Elbow) Is this true?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) O thou caitiff, O thou varlet, O thou wicked Hanniball I respected with her before I was married to her? (To Escalus) If ever I was respected with her, or she with me, let not your worship think me the poor Duke’s officer. (To Pompey) Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I’ll have mine action of battery on thee.
ESCALUS	If he took you a box o’th’ ear you might have your action of slander too.
ELBOW	Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What is’t your worship’s pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff?
ESCALUS	Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are.
ELBOW	Marry, I thank your worship for it.—Thou seest, thou wicked varlet now, what’s come upon thee. Thou art to continue now, thou varlet, thou art to continue.
ESCALUS	(to Froth) Where were you born, friend?
FROTH	Here in Vienna, sir.
ESCALUS	Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
FROTH	Yes, an’t please you, sir.
ESCALUS	So. (To Pompey) What trade are you of, sir?
POMPEY	A tapster, a poor widow’s tapster.
ESCALUS	Your mistress’s name?
POMPEY	Mistress Overdone.
ESCALUS	Hath she had any more than one husband?
POMPEY	Nine, sir—Overdone by the last.
ESCALUS	Nine?—Come hither to me, Master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters. They will draw you, Master Froth, and you will hang them. Get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.
FROTH	I thank your worship. For mine own part, I never come into any room in a tap-house but I am drawn in.
ESCALUS	Well, no more of it, Master Froth. Farewell.
(didascalia)	Exit Froth
ESCALUS	Come you hither to me, Master Tapster. What’s your name, Master Tapster?
POMPEY	Pompey.
ESCALUS	What else?
POMPEY	Bum, sir.
ESCALUS	Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a tapster, are you not? Come, tell me true; it shall be the better for you.
POMPEY	Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
ESCALUS	How would you live, Pompey? By being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a lawful trade?
POMPEY	If the law would allow it, sir.
ESCALUS	But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna.
POMPEY	Does your worship mean to geld and spay all the youth of the city?
ESCALUS	No, Pompey.
POMPEY	Truly, sir, in my poor opinion they will to’t then. If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.
ESCALUS	There is pretty orders beginning, I can tell you. It is but heading and hanging.
POMPEY	If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a commission for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay. If you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so.
ESCALUS	Thank you, good Pompey; and in requital of your prophecy, hark you. I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever; no, not for dwelling where you do. If I do, Pompey, I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd Caesar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you whipped. So for this time, Pompey, fare you well.
(didascalia)	POMPEY I thank your worship for your good counsel; aside but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine. Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade. The valiant heart’s not whipped out of his trade. Exit
ESCALUS	Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Master Constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?
ELBOW	Seven year and a half, sir.
ESCALUS	I thought, by the readiness in the office, you had continued in it some time. You say seven years together?
ELBOW	And a half, sir.
ESCALUS	Alas, it hath been great pains to you. They do you wrong to put you so oft upon’t. Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it?
ELBOW	Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters. As they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them. I do it for some piece of money, and go through with all.
ESCALUS	Look you bring me in the names of some six or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.
ELBOW	To your worship’s house, sir?
ESCALUS	To my house. Fare you well.
(didascalia)	Exit Elbow with officers
ESCALUS	What’s o’clock, think you?
JUSTICE	Eleven, sir.
ESCALUS	I pray you home to dinner with me.
JUSTICE	I humbly thank you.
ESCALUS	It grieves me for the death of Claudio, But there’s no remedy.
JUSTICE	Lord Angelo is severe.
ESCALUS	It is but needful. Mercy is not itself that oft looks so. Pardon is still the nurse of second woe. But yet, poor Claudio! There is no remedy. Come, sir.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 2, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and a Servant
SERVANT	He’s hearing of a cause; he will come straight. I’ll tell him of you.
PROVOST	Pray you do.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
PROVOST	I’ll know His pleasure; maybe he will relent. Alas, He hath but as offended in a dream. All sects, all ages, smack of this vice; and he To die for’t!
(didascalia)	Enter
PROVOST	Angelo
ANGELO	Now, what’s the matter, Provost?
PROVOST	Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?
ANGELO	Did not I tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order? Why dost thou ask again?
PROVOST	Lest I might be too rash. Under your good correction, I have seen When after execution judgement hath Repented o’er his doom.
ANGELO	Go to; let that be mine. Do you your office, or give up your place, And you shall well be spared.
PROVOST	I crave your honour’s pardon. What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet? She’s very near her hour.
ANGELO	Dispose of her To some more fitter place, and that with speed.
(didascalia)	Enter Servant
SERVANT	Here is the sister of the man condemned Desires access to you.
ANGELO	Hath he a sister?
PROVOST	Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a sisterhood, If not already.
ANGELO	Well, let her be admitted.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
ANGELO	See you the fornicatress be removed. Let her have needful but not lavish means. There shall be order for’t.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio and Isabella
PROVOST	God save your honour.
ANGELO	Stay a little while. (To Isabella) You’re welcome. What’s your will?
ISABELLA	I am a woeful suitor to your honour. Please but your honour hear me.
ANGELO	Well, what’s your suit?
ISABELLA	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.
ANGELO	Well, the matter?
ISABELLA	I have a brother is condemned to die. I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother.
PROVOST	(aside) Heaven give thee moving graces!
ANGELO	Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? Why, every fault’s condemned 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.
ISABELLA	O just but severe law! I had a brother, then. Heaven keep your honour.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Give’t not o’er so. To him again; entreat him. Kneel down before him; hang upon his gown. You are too cold. If you should need a pin, You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. To him, I say!
ISABELLA	(to Angelo) Must he needs die?
ANGELO	Maiden, no remedy.
ISABELLA	Yes, I do think that you might pardon him, And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
ANGELO	I will not do’t.
ISABELLA	But can you if you would?
ANGELO	Look what I will not, that I cannot do.
ISABELLA	But might you do’t, and do the world no wrong, If so your heart were touched with that remorse As mine is to him?
ANGELO	He’s sentenced; ’tis too late.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) You are too cold.
ISABELLA	Too late? Why, no; I that do speak a word May call it 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 slipped like him, but he, like you, Would not have been so stern.
ANGELO	Pray you be gone.
ISABELLA	I would to heaven I had your potency, And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus? No; I would tell what ’twere to be a judge, And what a prisoner.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.
ANGELO	Your brother is a forfeit of the law, And you but waste your words.
ISABELLA	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.
ANGELO	Be you content, fair maid. It is the law, not I, condemn your brother. Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow.
ISABELLA	Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him! He’s not prepared 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.
ANGELO	The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept. Those many had not dared to do that evil If the first that did th‘edict infringe Had answered 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 raw, or by remissness new conceived And so in progress to be hatched and born, Are now to have no successive degrees, But ere they live, to end.
ISABELLA	Yet show some pity.
ANGELO	I show it most of all when I show justice, For then I pity those I do not know Which a dismissed offence would after gall, And do him right that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied. Your brother dies tomorrow. Be content.
ISABELLA	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	(aside to Isabella) That’s well said.
ISABELLA	Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would never 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 gnarlèd oak Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man, Dressed in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assured, His glassy essence, like an angry ape Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep, who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent. He’s coming; I perceive’t.
PROVOST	(aside) Pray heaven she win him!
ISABELLA	We cannot weigh our brother with ourself. Great men may jest with saints; ’tis wit in them, But in the less, foul profanation.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Thou’rt i’th’ right, girl. More o’ that.
ISABELLA	That in the captain’s but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Art advised o’ that? More on’t.
ANGELO	Why do you put these sayings upon me?
ISABELLA	Because authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself That skins the vice o’th’ 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.
ANGELO	(aside) She speaks, and ’tis such sense That my sense breeds with it. (To Isabella) Fare you well.
ISABELLA	Gentle my lord, turn back.
ANGELO	I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow.
ISABELLA	Hark how I’ll bribe you; good my lord, turn back.
ANGELO	How, bribe me?
ISABELLA	Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) You had marred all else.
ISABELLA	Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rate 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.
ANGELO	Well, come to me tomorrow
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Go to; ’tis well; away.
ISABELLA	Heaven keep your honour safe.
ANGELO	(aside) Amen; For I am that way going to temptation, Where prayer is crossed.
ISABELLA	At what hour tomorrow Shall I attend your lordship?
ANGELO	At any time fore noon.
ISABELLA	God save your honour.
ANGELO	(aside) From thee; even from thy virtue. Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost 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 I 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? O 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 till now When men were fond, I smiled, and wondered how.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 2, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter at one door the Duke, disguised as a friar, and at another door the Provost
DUKE	Hail to you, Provost!—so I think you are.
PROVOST	I am the Provost. What’s your will, good friar?
DUKE	Bound by my charity and my blest 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.
PROVOST	I would do more than that, if more were needful.
(didascalia)	Enter Juliet
PROVOST	Look, here comes one, a gentlewoman of mine, Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth, Hath blistered her report. She is with child, And he that got it, sentenced—a young man More fit to do another such offence Than die for this.
DUKE	When must he die?
PROVOST	As I do think, tomorrow. (To Juliet) I have provided for you. Stay a while, And you shall be conducted.
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 conscience, And try your penitence if it be sound Or hollowly put on.
JULIET	I’ll gladly learn.
DUKE	Love you the man that wronged you?
JULIET	Yes, as I love the woman that wronged 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.
JULIET	I do confess it and repent it, father.
DUKE	’Tis meet so, daughter. But lest you do repent As that the sin hath brought you to this shame— Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven, Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it, But as we stand in fear—
JULIET	I do repent me as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy.
DUKE	There rest. Your partner, as I hear, must die tomorrow, And I am going with instruction to him. Grace go with you. Benedicite! Exit
JULIET	Must die tomorrow? O injurious law, That respites me a life whose very comfort Is still a dying horror!
PROVOST	’Tis pity of him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt
PROVOST	2.4 Enter Angelo
ANGELO	When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words, Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel; God in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name, And in my heart the strong and swelling evil Of my conception. The state whereon I studied Is like a good thing, being often read, Grown seared and tedious. Yea, my gravity, Wherein—let no man hear me—I take pride, Could I with boot change for an idle plume Which the air beats in vain. O place, O form, How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood. Let’s write ‘good angel’ on the devil’s horn— ’Tis now the devil’s crest.
(didascalia)	Enter Servant
ANGELO	How now? Who’s there?
SERVANT	One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
ANGELO	Teach her the way.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
ANGELO	O heavens, Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, Making both it unable for itself, And dispossessing all my other parts Of necessary fitness? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons— Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive—and even so The general subject to a well-wished king Quit their own part and, in obsequious fondness, Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love Must needs appear offence.
(didascalia)	Enter
ANGELO	Isabella How now, fair maid?
ISABELLA	I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO	(aside) That you might know it would much better please me Than to demand what ’tis. (To Isabella) Your brother cannot live.
ISABELLA	Even so. Heaven keep your honour.
ANGELO	Yet may he live a while, and it may be As long as you or I. Yet he must die.
ISABELLA	Under your sentence?
ANGELO	Yea.
ISABELLA	When, I beseech you?—that in his reprieve, Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO	Ha, fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness that do coin God’s image In stamps that are forbid. ’Tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made As to put metal in restrained moulds, To make a false one.
ISABELLA	’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
ANGELO	Say you so? Then I shall pose you quickly. Which had you rather: that the most just law Now took your brother’s life, or, to redeem him, Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness As she that he hath stained?
ISABELLA	Sir, believe this. I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO	I talk not of your soul. Our compelled sins Stand more for number than for account.
ISABELLA	How say you?
ANGELO	Nay, I’ll not warrant that, for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this. I now, the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life. Might there not be a charity in sin To save this brother’s life?
ISABELLA	Please you to do’t, I’ll take it as a peril to my soul It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO	Pleased you to do’t at peril of your soul Were equal poise of sin and charity.
ISABELLA	That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven let me bear it. You granting of my suit, If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer.
ANGELO	Nay, but hear me. Your sense pursues not mine. Either you are ignorant, Or seem so craftily, and that’s not good.
ISABELLA	Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good But graciously to know I am no better.
ANGELO	Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could, displayed. But mark me. To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross. Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA	So.
ANGELO	And his offence is so, as it appears, Accountant to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA	True.
ANGELO	Admit no other way to save his life— As I subscribe not that nor any other— But, in the loss of question, that you his sister, Finding yourself desired of such a person Whose credit with the judge, or own great place, Could fetch your brother from the manacles Of the all-binding law, and that there were No earthly mean to save him, but that either You must lay down the treasures of your body To this supposed, or else to let him suffer— What would you do?
ISABELLA	As much for my poor brother as myself. That is, were I under the terms of death, Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies, And strip myself to death as to a bed That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield My body up to shame.
ANGELO	Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA	And ’twere the cheaper way. Better it were a brother died at once Than that a sister, by redeeming him, Should die for ever.
ANGELO	Were not you then as cruel as the sentence That you have slandered so?
ISABELLA	Ignominy in ransom and free pardon Are of two houses; lawful mercy Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
ANGELO	You seemed of late to make the law a tyrant, And rather proved the sliding of your brother A merriment than a vice.
ISABELLA	O pardon me, my lord. It oft falls out To have what we would have, we speak not what we mean. I something do excuse the thing I hate For his advantage that I dearly love.
ANGELO	We are all frail.
ISABELLA	Else let my brother die— If not a federy, but only he, Owe and succeed thy weakness.
ANGELO	Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA	Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Women? Help, heaven! Men their creation mar In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail, For we are soft as our complexions are, And credulous to false prints.
ANGELO	I think it well, And from this testimony of your own sex, Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger Than faults may shake our frames, let me be bold. I do arrest your words. Be that you are; That is, a woman. If you be more, you’re none. If you be one, as you are well expressed By all external warrants, show it now, By putting on the destined livery.
ISABELLA	I have no tongue but one. Gentle my lord, Let me entreat you speak the former language.
ANGELO	Plainly conceive, I love you.
ISABELLA	My brother did love Juliet, And you tell me that he shall die for it.
ANGELO	He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA	I know your virtue hath a licence in’t, Which seems a little fouler than it is, To pluck on others.
ANGELO	Believe me, on mine honour, My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA	Ha, little honour to be much believed, And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming! I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t. Sign me a present pardon for my brother, Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud What man thou art.
ANGELO	Who will believe thee, Isabel? My unsoiled name, th‘austereness of my life, My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state, Will so your accusation overweigh That you shall stifle in your own report, And smell of calumny. I have begun, And now I give my sensual race the rein. Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite. Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother By yielding up thy body to my will, Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To ling‘ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow, Or by the affection that now guides me most, I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you, Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.
(didascalia)	Exit
ISABELLA	To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Who would believe me? O perilous mouths, That bear in them one and the selfsame tongue Either of condemnation or approof, Bidding the law make curtsy to their will, Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite, To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother. Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood, Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour That had he twenty heads to tender down On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up Before his sister should her body stoop To such abhorred pollution. Then Isabel live chaste, and brother die: More than our brother is our chastity. I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request, And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 3, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, Claudio, and the Provost
DUKE	So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO	The miserable have no other medicine But only hope. I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.
DUKE	Be absolute for death. Either death or life Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life. If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art, Servile to all the skyey influences That dost this habitation where thou keep‘st Hourly afflict. Merely thou art death’s fool, For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn‘st toward him still. Thou art not noble, For all th’accommodations that thou bear’t Are nursed by baseness. Thou’rt by no means valiant, For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok‘st, yet grossly fear’st Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself, For thou exist‘st on many a thousand grains That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not, For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get, And what thou hast, forget‘st. Thou art not certain, For thy complexion shifts to strange effects After the moon. If thou art rich, thou’rt poor, For like an ass whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey, And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none, For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, The mere effusion of thy proper loins, Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age, But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make thy riches pleasant. What’s in this That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear That makes these odds all even.
CLAUDIO	I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find I seek to die, And seeking death, find life. Let it come on.
ISABELLA	(within) What ho! Peace here, grace, and good company!
PROVOST	Who’s there? Come in; the wish deserves a welcome.
DUKE	(to Claudio) Dear sir, ere long I’ll visit you again.
CLAUDIO	Most holy sir, I thank you.
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
ISABELLA	My business is a word or two with Claudio.
PROVOST	And very welcome. Look, signor, here’s your sister.
DUKE	Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST	As many as you please. The Duke and Provost draw aside
DUKE	Bring me to hear them speak where I may be concealed. They conceal themselves
CLAUDIO	Now sister, what’s the comfort?
ISABELLA	Why, as all comforts are: most good, most good indeed. Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift ambassador, Where you shall be an everlasting leiger. Therefore your best appointment make with speed. Tomorrow you set on.
CLAUDIO	Is there no remedy?
ISABELLA	None but such remedy as, to save a head, To cleave a heart in twain.
CLAUDIO	But is there any?
ISABELLA	Yes, brother, you may live. There is a devilish mercy in the judge, If you’ll implore it, that will free your life, But fetter you till death.
CLAUDIO	Perpetual durance?
ISABELLA	Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Though all the world’s vastidity you had, To a determined scope.
CLAUDIO	But in what nature?
ISABELLA	In such a one as you consenting to’t Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked.
CLAUDIO	Let me know the point.
ISABELLA	O, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain, And six or seven winters more respect Than a perpetual honour. Dar’st thou die? The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle that we tread upon In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies.
CLAUDIO	Why give you me this shame? Think you I can a resolution fetch From flow’ry tenderness? If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, And hug it in mine arms.
ISABELLA	There spake my brother; there my father’s grave Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die. Thou art too noble to conserve a life In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy, Whose settled visage and deliberate word Nips youth i’th’ head and follies doth enew As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil. His filth within being cast, he would appear A pond as deep as hell.
CLAUDIO	The precise Angelo?
ISABELLA	O, ‘tis the cunning livery of hell The damnedest body to invest and cover In precise guards! Dost thou think, Claudio: If I would yield him my virginity, Thou might’st be freed!
CLAUDIO	O heavens, it cannot be!
ISABELLA	Yes, he would give’t thee, from this rank offence, So to offend him still. This night’s the time That I should do what I abhor to name, Or else thou diest tomorrow.
CLAUDIO	Thou shalt not do’t.
ISABELLA	O, were it but my life, I’d throw it down for your deliverance As frankly as a pin.
CLAUDIO	Thanks, dear Isabel.
ISABELLA	Be ready, Claudio, for your death tomorrow.
CLAUDIO	Yes. Has he affections in him That thus can make him bite the law by th’ nose When he would force it? Sure it is no sin, Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
ISABELLA	Which is the least?
CLAUDIO	If it were damnable, he being so wise, Why would he for the momentary trick Be perdurably fined? O Isabel!
ISABELLA	What says my brother?
CLAUDIO	Death is a fearful thing.
ISABELLA	And shamed life a hateful.
CLAUDIO	Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod, and the dilated spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless and incertain thought Imagine howling—’tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature is a paradise To what we fear of death.
ISABELLA	Alas, alas!
CLAUDIO	Sweet sister, let me live. What sin you do to save a brother’s life, Nature dispenses with the deed so far That it becomes a virtue.
ISABELLA	O, you beast! O faithless coward, O dishonest wretch, Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice? Is’t not a kind of incest to take life From thine own sister’s shame? What should I think? Heaven shield my mother played my father fair, For such a warped slip of wilderness Ne’er issued from his blood. Take my defiance, Die, perish! Might but my bending down Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed. I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death, No word to save thee.
CLAUDIO	Nay, hear me, Isabel.
ISABELLA	O fie, fie, fie! Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade. Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd. ’Tis best that thou diest quickly. She parts from Claudio
CLAUDIO	O hear me, Isabella.
DUKE	(coming forward to Isabella) Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word.
ISABELLA	What is your will?
DUKE	Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you. The satisfaction I would require is likewise your own benefit.
ISABELLA	I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.
DUKE	standing aside with Claudio Son, I have overheard what hath passed between you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an assay of her virtue, to practise his judgement with the disposition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive. I am confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true. Therefore prepare yourself to death. Do not falsify your resolution with hopes that are fallible. Tomorrow you must die. Go to your knees and make ready.
CLAUDIO	Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life that I will sue to be rid of it.
DUKE	Hold you there. Farewell.
(didascalia)	Claudio joins Isabella
DUKE	Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST	(coming forward) What’s your will, father?
DUKE	That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid. My mind promises with my habit no loss shall touch her by my company.
PROVOST	In good time. Exit with Claudio
DUKE	The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good. The goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you fortune hath conveyed to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How will you do to content this substitute, and to save your brother?
ISABELLA	I am now going to resolve him. I had rather my brother die by the law than my son should be unlawfully born. But O, how much is the good Duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he return and I can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his government.
DUKE	That shall not be much amiss. Yet as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accusation: he made trial of you only. Therefore fasten your ear on my advisings. To the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe that you may most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit, redeem your brother from the angry law, do no stain to your own gracious person, and much please the absent Duke, if peradventure he shall ever return to have hearing of this business.
ISABELLA	Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.
DUKE	Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick, the great soldier who miscarried at sea?
ISABELLA	I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.
DUKE	She should this Angelo have married, was affianced to her oath, and the nuptial appointed; between which time of the contract and limit of the solemnity, her brother Frederick was wrecked at sea, having in that perished vessel the dowry of his sister. But mark how heavily this befell to the poor gentlewoman. There she lost a noble and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever most kind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew of her fortune, her marriage dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo.
ISABELLA	Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her?
DUKE	Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonour; in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.
ISABELLA	What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live! But how out of this can she avail?
DUKE	It is a rupture that you may easily heal, and the cure of it not only saves your brother, but keeps you from dishonour in doing it.
ISABELLA	Show me how, good father.
DUKE	This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection. His unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo, answer his requiring with a plausible obedience, agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage: first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and silence in it; and the place answer to convenience. This being granted in course, and now follows all. We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place. If the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense; and hear, by this is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this, as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?
ISABELLA	The image of it gives me content already, and I trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection.
DUKE	It lies much in your holding up. Haste you speedily to Angelo. If for this night he entreat you to his bed, give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to Saint Luke’s; there at the moated grange resides this dejected Mariana. At that place call upon me; and dispatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly.
ISABELLA	I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Elbow, Clown, and officers
ELBOW	Nay, if there be no remedy for it but that you will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.
DUKE	O heavens, what stuff is here?
POMPEY	’Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by order of law, a furred gown to keep him warm—and furred with fox on lambskins too, to signify that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.
ELBOW	Come your way, sir.—Btess you, good father friar.
DUKE	And you, good brother father. What offence hath this man made you, sir?
ELBOW	Marry, sir, he hath offended the law; and, sir, we take him to be a thief, too, sir, for we have found upon him, sir, a strange picklock, which we have sent to the deputy.
DUKE	(to Pompey) Fie, sirrah, a bawd, a wicked bawd! The evil that thou causest to be done, That is thy means to live. Do thou but think What ‘tis to cram a maw or clothe a back From such a filthy vice. Say to thyself, ’From their abominable and beastly touches I drink, I eat, array myself, and live’. Canst thou believe thy living is a life, So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.
POMPEY	Indeed it does stink in some sort, sir. But yet, sir, I would prove—
DUKE	Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin, Thou wilt prove his.—Take him to prison, officer. Correction and instruction must both work Ere this rude beast will profit.
ELBOW	He must before the deputy, sir; he has given him warning. The deputy cannot abide a whoremaster. If he be a whoremonger and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand.
DUKE	That we were all as some would seem to be- Free from our faults, or faults from seeming free.
ELBOW	His neck will come to your waist: a cord, sir.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
POMPEY	I spy comfort, I cry bail. Here’s a gentleman, and a friend of mine.
LUCIO	How now, noble Pompey? What, at the wheels of Caesar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion’s images newly made woman to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting clutched? What reply, ha? What sayst thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is’t not drowned i’th’ last rain, ha? What sayst thou, trot? Is the world as it was, man? Which is the way? Is it sad and few words? Or how? The trick of it?
DUKE	Still thus and thus; still worse!
LUCIO	How doth my dear morsel thy mistress? Procures she still, ha?
POMPEY	Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.
LUCIO	Why, ’tis good, it is the right of it, it must be so. Ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd; an unshunned consequence, it must be so. Art going to prison, Pompey?
POMPEY	Yes, faith, sir.
LUCIO	Why ’tis not amiss, Pompey. Farewell. Go; say I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey, or how?
ELBOW	For being a bawd, for being a bawd.
LUCIO	Well then, imprison him. If imprisonment be the due of a bawd, why, ’tis his right. Bawd is he doubtless, and of antiquity too—bawd born. Farewell, good Pompey. Commend me to the prison, Pompey. You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house.
POMPEY	I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail?
LUCIO	No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear. I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage. If you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey.—Bless you, friar.
DUKE	And you.
LUCIO	Does Bridget paint still, Pompey, ha?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) Come your ways, sir, come.
POMPEY	(to Lucio) You will not bail me then, sir?
LUCIO	Then, Pompey, nor now.—What news abroad, friar, what news?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) Come your ways, sir, come.
LUCIO	Go to kennel, Pompey, go.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Elbow, Pompey, and officers
LUCIO	What news, friar, of the Duke?
DUKE	I know none. Can you tell me of any?
LUCIO	Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia; other some, he is in Rome. But where is he, think you?
DUKE	I know not where; but wheresoever, I wish him well.
LUCIO	It was a mad, fantastical trick of him to steal from the state, and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence; he puts transgression to’t. 361
DUKE	He does well in’t.
LUCIO	A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him. Something too crabbed that way, friar.
DUKE	It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.
LUCIO	Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred, it is well allied. But it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and drinking be put down. They say this Angelo was not made by man and woman, after this downright way of creation. Is it true, think you?
DUKE	How should he be made, then?
LUCIO	Some report a sea-maid spawned him, some that he was begot between two stockfishes. But it is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice; that I know to be true. And he is a motion ungenerative; that’s infallible.
DUKE	You are pleasant, sir, and speak apace.
LUCIO	Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of a codpiece to take away the life of a man! Would the Duke that is absent have done this? Ere he would have hanged a man for the getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing a thousand. He had some feeling of the sport, he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.
DUKE	I never heard the absent Duke much detected for women; he was not inclined that way.
LUCIO	O sir, you are deceived.
DUKE	’Tis not possible.
LUCIO	Who, not the Duke? Yes, your beggar of fifty; and his use was to put a ducat in her clack-dish. The Duke had crochets in him. He would be drunk too, that let me inform you.
DUKE	You do him wrong, surely.
LUCIO	Sir, I was an inward of his. A shy fellow was the Duke, and I believe I know the cause of his withdrawing.
DUKE	What, I prithee, might be the cause?
LUCIO	No, pardon, ’tis a secret must be locked within the teeth and the lips. But this I can let you understand. The greater file of the subject held the Duke to be wise.
DUKE	Wise? Why, no question but he was.
LUCIO	A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow.
DUKE	Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking. The very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed, must, upon a warranted need, give him a better proclamation. Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings-forth, and he shall appear to the envious a scholar, a statesman, and a soldier. Therefore you speak unskilfully, or, if your knowledge be more, it is much darkened in your malice.
LUCIO	Sir, I know him and I love him. 410
DUKE	Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love.
LUCIO	Come, sir, I know what I know.
DUKE	I can hardly believe that, since you know not what you speak. But if ever the Duke return, as our prayers are he may, let me desire you to make your answer before him. If it be honest you have spoke, you have courage to maintain it. I am bound to call upon you; and I pray you, your name?
LUCIO	Sir, my name is Lucio, well known to the Duke.
DUKE	He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to report you.
LUCIO	I fear you not.
DUKE	O, you hope the Duke will return no more, or you imagine me too unhurtful an opposite. But indeed I can do you little harm; you’ll forswear this again.
LUCIO	I’ll be hanged first. Thou art deceived in me, friar. But no more of this. Canst thou tell if Claudio die tomorrow or no?
DUKE	Why should he die, sir?
LUCIO	Why? For filling a bottle with a tundish. I would the Duke we talk of were returned again; this ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with continency. Sparrows must not build in his house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The Duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered: he would never bring them to light. Would he were returned. Marry, this Claudio is condemned for untrussing. Farewell, good friar. I prithee pray for me. The Duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He’s not past it yet, and, I say to thee, he would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt brown bread and garlic. Say that I said so. Farewell. Exit
DUKE	No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure scape; back-wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
(didascalia)	Enter Escalus, the Provost, and Mistress Overdone
DUKE	But who comes here?
ESCALUS	(to the Provost) Go, away with her to prison.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Good my lord, be good to me. Your honour is accounted a merciful man, good my lord.
ESCALUS	Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same kind! This would make mercy swear and play the tyrant.
PROVOST	A bawd of eleven years’ continuance, may it please your honour.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	My lord, this is one Lucio’s information against me. Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in the Duke’s time; he promised her marriage. His child is a year and a quarter old come Philip and Jacob. I have kept it myself; and see how he goes about to abuse me.
ESCALUS	That fellow is a fellow of much licence. Let him be called before us. Away with her to prison. Go to, no more words. Provost, my brother Angelo will not be altered; Claudio must die tomorrow. Let him be furnished with divines, and have all charitable preparation. If my brother wrought by my pity, it should not be so with him.
PROVOST	So please you, this friar hath been with him and advised him for th’entertainment of death. Exeunt Provost and Mistress Overdone
ESCALUS	Good even, good father.
DUKE	Bliss and goodness on you.
ESCALUS	Of whence are you?
DUKE	Not of this country, though my chance is now To use it for my time. I am a brother Of gracious order, late come from the See In special business from his Holiness.
ESCALUS	What news abroad i’th’ world?
DUKE	None, but that there is so great a fever on goodness that the dissolution of it must cure it. Novelty is only in request, and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course as it is virtuous to be inconstant in any undertaking. There is scarce truth enough alive to make societies secure, but security enough to make fellowships accursed. Much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world. This news is old enough, yet it is every day’s news. I pray you, sir, of what disposition was the Duke?
ESCALUS	One that, above all other strifes, contended especially to know himself.
DUKE	What pleasure was he given to?
ESCALUS	Rather rejoicing to see another merry than merry at anything which professed to make him rejoice; a gentleman of all temperance. But leave we him to his events, with a prayer they may prove prosperous, and let me desire to know how you find Claudio prepared. I am made to understand that you have lent him visitation.
DUKE	He professes to have received no sinister measure from his judge, but most willingly humbles himself to the determination of justice. Yet had he framed to himself, by the instruction of his frailty, many deceiving promises of life, which I, by my good leisure, have discredited to him; and now is he resolved to die.
ESCALUS	You have paid the heavens your function, and the prisoner the very debt of your calling. I have laboured for the poor gentleman to the extremest shore of my modesty, but my brother-justice have I found so severe that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed Justice.
DUKE	If his own life answer the straitness of his proceeding, it shall become him well; wherein if he chance to fail, he hath sentenced himself.
ESCALUS	I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
DUKE	Peace be with you. Exit Escalus He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe, Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go, More nor less to others paying Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking! Twice treble shame on Angelo, To weed my vice, and let his grow! O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! How may likeness made in crimes Make my practice on the times To draw with idle spiders’ strings Most ponderous and substantial things? Craft against vice I must apply. With Angelo tonight shall lie His old betrothed but despised. So disguise shall, by th’ disguised, Pay with falsehood false exacting, And perform an old contracting.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 4, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Mariana discoveredwith a Boy singing
BOY	Take, O take those lips away That so sweetly were forsworn, And those eyes, the break of day Lights that do mislead the morn; But my kisses bring again, bring again, Seals of love, though sealed in vain, sealed in vain.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
MARIANA	Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away. Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice Hath often stilled my brawling discontent. Exit Boy I cry you mercy, sir, and well could wish io You had not found me here so musical. Let me excuse me, and believe me so: My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.
DUKE	’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm To make bad good, and good provoke to harm. I pray you tell me, hath anybody enquired for me here today? Much upon this time have I promised here to meet.
MARIANA	You have not been enquired after; I have sat here all day.
(didascalia)	Enter
MARIANA	Isabella
DUKE	I do constantly believe you; the time is come even now. I shall crave your forbearance a little. Maybe I will call upon you anon, for some advantage to yourself.
MARIANA	I am always bound to you.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Very well met, and welcome. What is the news from this good deputy?
ISABELLA	He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed; And to that vineyard is a planked gate, That makes his opening with this bigger key. This other doth command a little door Which from the vineyard to the garden leads. There have I made my promise Upon the heavy middle of the night To call upon him.
DUKE	But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
ISABELLA	I have ta‘en a due and wary note upon’t. With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o’er.
DUKE	Are there no other tokens Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
ISABELLA	No, none, but only a repair i’th’ dark, And that I have possessed him my most stay Can be but brief, for I have made him know I have a servant comes with me along That stays upon me, whose persuasion is I come about my brother.
DUKE	’Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana
DUKE	(To Mariana) I pray you be acquainted with this maid. She comes to do you good.
ISABELLA	I do desire the like.
DUKE	(to Mariana) Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
MARIANA	Good friar, I know you do, and so have found it.
DUKE	Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear. I shall attend your leisure; but make haste, The vaporous night approaches.
MARIANA	(to Isabella) Will’t please you walk aside?
(didascalia)	Exeunt
MARIANA	Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	O place and greatness, millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report Run with their false and most contrarious quest Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit Make thee the father of their idle dream, And rack thee in their fancies.
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	Welcome. How agreed?
ISABELLA	She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, If you advise it.
DUKE	It is not my consent, But my entreaty too.
ISABELLA	(to Mariana) Little have you to say When you depart from him but, soft and low, ‘Remember now my brother’.
MARIANA	Fear me not.
DUKE	Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all. He is your husband on a pre-contract. To bring you thus together ’tis no sin, Sith that the justice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go. Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tilth’s to sow.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and Pompey
PROVOST	Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man’s head?
POMPEY	If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can; but if he be a married man, he’s his wife’s head, and I can never cut off a woman’s head.
PROVOST	Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer. Tomorrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine. Here is in our prison a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper. If you will take it on you to assist him, it shall redeem you from your gyves; if not, you shall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious bawd.
POMPEY	Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind, but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner.
PROVOST	What ho, Abhorson! Where’s Abhorson there? Enter Abhorson
ABHORSON	Do you call, sir?
PROVOST	Sirrah, here’s a fellow will help you tomorrow in your execution. If you think it meet, compound with him by the year, and let him abide here with you; if not, use him for the present, and dismiss him. He cannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd.
ABHORSON	A bawd, sir? Fie upon him, he will discredit our mystery.
PROVOST	Go to, sir, you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale. Exit
POMPEY	Pray, sir, by your good favour—for surely, sir, a good favour you have, but that you have a hanging look—do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
ABHORSON	Ay, sir, a mystery.
POMPEY	Painting, sir, I have heard say is a mystery; and your whores, sir, being members of my occupation, using painting, do prove my occupation a mystery. But what mystery there should be in hanging, if I should be hanged I cannot imagine.
ABHORSON	Sir, it is a mystery.
POMPEY	Proof.
ABHORSON	Every true man’s apparel fits your thief—
POMPEY	If it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough. If it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough. So every true man’s apparel fits your thief.
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Are you agreed?
POMPEY	Sir, I will serve him, for I do find your hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd—he doth oftener ask forgiveness.
PROVOST	(to Abhorson) You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe tomorrow, four o’clock.
ABHORSON	(to Pompey) Come on, bawd, I will instruct thee in my trade. Follow.
POMPEY	I do desire to learn, sir, and I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare. For truly, sir, for your kindness I owe you a good turn.
PROVOST	Call hither Barnardine and Claudio.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Abhorson and Pompey
PROVOST	Th’one has my pity; not a jot the other, Being a murderer, though he were my brother.
(didascalia)	Enter Claudio
PROVOST	Look, here’s the warrant, Claudio, for thy death. ’Tis now dead midnight, and by eight tomorrow Thou must be made immortal. Where’s Barnardine?
CLAUDIO	As fast locked up in sleep as guiltless labour When it lies starkly in the travailer’s bones. He will not wake.
PROVOST	Who can do good on him? Well, go prepare yourself.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
PROVOST	But hark, what noise? Heaven give your spirits comfort! Exit Claudio
(didascalia)	Knocking again
PROVOST	By and by! I hope it is some pardon or reprieve For the most gentle Claudio.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
PROVOST	Welcome, father.
DUKE	The best and wholesom’st spirits of the night Envelop you, good Provost! Who called here of late?
PROVOST	None since the curfew rung.
DUKE	Not Isabel?
PROVOST	No.
DUKE	They will then, ere’t be long.
PROVOST	What comfort is for Claudio?
DUKE	There’s some in hope.
PROVOST	It is a bitter deputy.
DUKE	Not so, not so; his life is paralleled Even with the stroke and line of his great justice. He doth with holy abstinence subdue That in himself which he spurs on his power To qualify in others. Were he mealed with that Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous; But this being so, he’s just.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
DUKE	Now are they come.
(didascalia)	The Provost goes to a door
DUKE	This is a gentle Provost. Seldom when The steeled jailer is the friend of men.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
DUKE	(To Provost) How now, what noise? That spirit’s possessed with haste That wounds th’unlisting postern with these strokes.
PROVOST	There he must stay until the officer Arise to let him in. He is called up.
DUKE	Have you no countermand for Claudio yet, But he must die tomorrow?
PROVOST	None, sir, none.
DUKE	As near the dawning, Provost, as it is, You shall hear more ere morning.
PROVOST	Happily You something know, yet I believe there comes No countermand. No such example have we; Besides, upon the very siege of justice Lord Angelo hath to the public ear Professed the contrary.
(didascalia)	Enter a Messenger
PROVOST	This is his lordship’s man.
(didascalia)	DUKE And here comes Claudio’s pardon.
MESSENGER	(giving a paper to Provost) My lord hath sent you this note, and by me this further charge: that you swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, it is almost day.
PROVOST	I shall obey him.
(didascalia)	Exit Messenger
DUKE	(aside) This is his pardon, purchased by such sin For which the pardoner himself is in. Hence hath offence his quick celerity, When it is borne in high authority. When vice makes mercy, mercy’s so extended That for the fault’s love is th’offender friended.— Now sir, what news?
PROVOST	I told you: Lord Angelo, belike thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting-on; methinks strangely, for he hath not used it before.
DUKE	Pray you let’s hear.
PROVOST	(reading the letter) ‘Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock, and in the afternoon Barnardine. For my better satisfaction, let me have Claudio’s head sent me by five. Let this be duly performed, with a thought that more depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail not to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.’ What say you to this, sir?
DUKE	What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed in th’afternoon?
PROVOST	A Bohemian born, but here nursed up and bred; one that is a prisoner nine years old.
DUKE	How came it that the absent Duke had not either delivered him to his liberty or executed him? I have heard it was ever his manner to do so.
PROVOST	His friends still wrought reprieves for him; and indeed his fact, till now in the government of Lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof.
DUKE	It is now apparent?
PROVOST	Most manifest, and not denied by himself.
DUKE	Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? How seems he to be touched?
PROVOST	A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully but as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what’s past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.
DUKE	He wants advice.
PROVOST	He will hear none. He hath evermore had the liberty of the prison. Give him leave to escape hence, he would not. Drunk many times a day, if not many days entirely drunk. We have very oft awaked him as if to carry him to execution, and showed him a seeming warrant for it; it hath not moved him at all.
DUKE	More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provost, honesty and constancy. If I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me. But in the boldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hath sentenced him. To make you understand this in a manifested effect, I crave but four days’ respite, for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.
PROVOST	Pray sir, in what?
DUKE	In the delaying death.
PROVOST	Alack, how may I do it, having the hour limited, and an express command under penalty to deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my case as Claudio’s to cross this in the smallest.
DUKE	By the vow of mine order, I warrant you, if my instructions may be your guide, let this Barnardine be this morning executed, and his head borne to Angelo.
PROVOST	Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour.
DUKE	O, death’s a great disguiser, and you may add to it. Shave the head and tie the beard, and say it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death; you know the course is common. If anything fall to you upon this more than thanks and good fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead against it with my life.
PROVOST	Pardon me, good father, it is against my oath.
DUKE	Were you sworn to the Duke or to the deputy?
PROVOST	To him and to his substitutes.
DUKE	You will think you have made no offence if the Duke avouch the justice of your dealing?
PROVOST	But what likelihood is in that?
DUKE	Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, nor persuasion can with ease attempt you, I will go further than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you. (Showing a letter) Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of the Duke. You know the character, I doubt not, and the signet is not strange to you?
PROVOST	I know them both.
DUKE	The contents of this is the return of the Duke. You shall anon over-read it at your pleasure, where you shall find within these two days he will be here. This is a thing that Angelo knows not, for he this very day receives letters of strange tenor, perchance of the Duke’s death, perchance entering into some monastery; but by chance nothing of what is writ. Look, th’unfolding star calls up the shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement how these things should be. All difficulties are but easy when they are known. Call your executioner, and off with Barnardine’s head. I will give him a present shrift, and advise him for a better place. Yet you are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you. Come away, it is almost clear dawn.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey
POMPEY	I am as well acquainted here as I was in our house of profession. One would think it were Mistress Overdone’s own house, for here be many of her old customers. First, here’s young Master Rash; he’s in for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger, nine score and seventeen pounds, of which he made five marks ready money. Marry, then ginger was not much in request, for the old women were all dead. Then is there here one Master Caper, at the suit of Master Threepile the mercer, for some four suits of peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a beggar. Then have we here young Dizzy, and young Master Deepvow, and Master Copperspur and Master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-hair that killed lusty Pudding, and Master Forthright the tilter, and brave Master Shoe-tie the great traveller, and wild Half-can that stabbed Pots, and I think forty more, all great doers in our trade, and are now ‘for the Lord’s sake’. Enter Abhorson
ABHORSON	Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither. 19
POMPEY	Master Barnardine! You must rise and be hanged, Master Barnardine!
ABHORSON	What ho, Barnardine!
BARNARDINE	(within) A pox o’ your throats! Who makes that noise there? What are you?
POMPEY	Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be so good, sir, to rise and be put to death.
BARNARDINE	Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy.
ABHORSON	Tell him he must awake, and that quickly too.
POMPEY	Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards.
ABHORSON	Go in to him and fetch him out.
POMPEY	He is coming, sir, he is coming. I hear his straw rustle.
ABHORSON	Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?
POMPEY	Very ready, sir.
(didascalia)	Enter Barnardine
BARNARDINE	How now, Abhorson, what’s the news with you?
ABHORSON	Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your prayers, for, look you, the warrant’s come.
BARNARDINE	You rogue, I have been drinking all night. I am not fitted for’t.
POMPEY	O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night, and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the sounder all the next day. Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
ABHORSON	(to Barnardine) Look you, sir, here comes your ghostly father. Do we jest now, think you?
DUKE	(to Barnardine) Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort you, and pray with you.
BARNARDINE	Friar, not I. I have been drinking hard all night, and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat out my brains with billets. I will not consent to die this day, that’s certain.
DUKE	O sir, you must; and therefore, I beseech you, Look forward on the journey you shall go.
BARNARDINE	I swear I will not die today, for any man’s persuasion.
DUKE	But hear you—
BARNARDINE	Not a word. If you have anything to say to me, come to my ward, for thence will not I today.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Unfit to live or die. O gravel heart! After him, fellows; bring him to the block.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Abhorson
DUKE	and Pompey
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner?
DUKE	A creature unprepared, unmeet for death; And to transport him in the mind he is Were damnable.
PROVOST	Here in the prison, father, There died this morning of a cruel fever One Ragusine, a most notorious pirate, A man of Claudio’s years, his beard and head Just of his colour. What if we do omit This reprobate till he were well inclined, And satisfy the deputy with the visage Of Ragusine, more like to Claudio?
DUKE	O, ’tis an accident that heaven provides. Dispatch it presently; the hour draws on Prefixed by Angelo. See this be done, And sent according to command, whiles I Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die.
PROVOST	This shall be done, good father, presently. But Barnardine must die this afternoon; And how shall we continue Claudio, To save me from the danger that might come If he were known alive?
DUKE	Let this be done: Put them in secret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio. Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting To yonder generation, you shall find Your safety manifested.
PROVOST	I am your free dependant.
DUKE	Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
DUKE	Now will I write letters to Angelo— The Provost, he shall bear them—whose contents Shall witness to him I am near at home, And that by great injunctions I am bound To enter publicly. Him I’ll desire To meet me at the consecrated fount A league below the city, and from thence, By cold gradation and well-balanced form, We shall proceed with Angelo.
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost, with Ragusine’s head
PROVOST	Here is the head; I’ll carry it myself.
DUKE	Convenient is it. Make a swift return, For I would commune with you of such things That want no ear but yours.
PROVOST	I’ll make all speed.
(didascalia)	Exit
ISABELLA	(within) Peace, ho, be here!
DUKE	The tongue of Isabel. She’s come to know If yet her brother’s pardon be come hither; But I will keep her ignorant of her good, To make her heavenly comforts of despair When it is least expected.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA within Ho, by your leave!
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
DUKE	Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.
ISABELLA	The better, given me by so holy a man. Hath yet the deputy sent my brother’s pardon?
DUKE	He hath released him, Isabel, from the world. His head is off and sent to Angelo.
ISABELLA	Nay, but it is not so.
DUKE	It is no other. Show your wisdom, daughter, in your close patience.
ISABELLA	O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!
DUKE	You shall not be admitted to his sight.
ISABELLA	(weeping) Unhappy Claudio! Wretched Isabel! Injurious world! Most damned Angelo!
DUKE	This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot. Forbear it, therefore; give your cause to heaven. Mark what I say, which you shall find By every syllable a faithful verity. The Duke comes home tomorrow—nay, dry your eyes— One of our convent, and his confessor, Gives me this instance. Already he hath carried Notice to Escalus and Angelo, Who do prepare to meet him at the gates, There to give up their power. If you can pace your wisdom In that good path that I would wish it go, And you shall have your bosom on this wretch, Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart, And general honour.
ISABELLA	I am directed by you.
DUKE	This letter, then, to Friar Peter give. ’Tis that he sent me of the Duke’s return. Say by this token I desire his company At Mariana’s house tonight. Her cause and yours I’ll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you Before the Duke, and to the head of Angelo Accuse him home and home. For my poor self, I am combined by a sacred vow, And shall be absent. (Giving the letter) Wend you with this letter. Command these fretting waters from your eyes With a light heart. Trust not my holy order If I pervert your course.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
DUKE	Who’s here?
LUCIO	Good even. Friar, where’s the Provost?
DUKE	Not within, sir.
(didascalia)	LUCIO O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see thine eyes so red. Thou must be patient. I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to’t. But they say the Duke will be here tomorrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother. If the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived. Exit Isabella
DUKE	Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.
LUCIO	Friar, thou knowest not the Duke so well as I do. He’s a better woodman than thou tak’st him for.
DUKE	Well, you’ll answer this one day. Fare ye well.
LUCIO	Nay, tarry, I’ll go along with thee. I can tell thee pretty tales of the Duke.
DUKE	You have told me too many of him already, sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough.
LUCIO	I was once before him for getting a wench with child.
DUKE	Did you such a thing?
LUCIO	Yes, marry, did I; but I was fain to forswear it. They would else have married me to the rotten medlar.
DUKE	Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.
LUCIO	By my troth, I’ll go with thee to the lane’s end. If bawdy talk offend you, we’ll have very little of it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 4

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo and Escalus
ESCALUS	Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.
ANGELO	In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness. Pray heaven his wisdom be not tainted. And why meet him at the gates, and redeliver our authorities there?
ESCALUS	I guess not.
ANGELO	And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?
ESCALUS	He shows his reason for that—to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.
ANGELO	Well, I beseech you let it be proclaimed. Betimes i’th’ morn I’ll call you at your house. Give notice to such men of sort and suit As are to meet him.
ESCALUS	I shall, sir. Fare you well.
ANGELO	Good night.
(didascalia)	Exit Escalus
ANGELO	This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant And dull to all proceedings. A deflowered maid, And by an eminent body that enforced The law against it! But that her tender shame Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no, For my authority bears off a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch But it confounds the breather. He should have lived, Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense, Might in the times to come have ta’en revenge By so receiving a dishonoured life With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived. Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right; we would, and we would not. Exit

Atto 4, Scena 5

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, in his own habit, and Friar Peter
DUKE	These letters at fit time deliver me. The Provost knows our purpose and our plot. The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, And hold you ever to our special drift, Though sometimes you do blench from this to that As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavio’s house, And tell him where I stay. Give the like notice To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus, And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate. But send me Flavius first.
FRIAR	It shall be speeded well.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Varrius
DUKE	I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste. Come, we will walk. There’s other of our friends Will greet us here anon. My gentle Varrius!
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 4, Scena 6

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella and Mariana
ISABELLA	To speak so indirectly I am loath— I would say the truth, but to accuse him so, That is your part—yet I am advised to do it, He says, to veil full purpose.
MARIANA	Be ruled by him.
ISABELLA	Besides, he tells me that if peradventure He speak against me on the adverse side, I should not think it strange, for ’tis a physic That’s bitter to sweet end.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter
MARIANA	I would Friar Peter—
ISABELLA	O, peace; the friar is come.
FRIAR PETER	Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the Duke He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded. The generous and gravest citizens Have hent the gates, and very near upon The Duke is ent’ring; therefore hence, away. Exeunt

Atto 5, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter at one door the Duke, Varrius, and lords, at another door Angelo, Escalus, Lucio, citizens, and officers
DUKE	(to Angelo) My very worthy cousin, fairly met. (To Escalus) Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.
ANGELO	and ESCALUS Happy return be to your royal grace.
DUKE	Many and hearty thankings to you both. We have made enquiry of you, and we hear Such goodness of your justice that our soul Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks, Forerunning more requital.
ANGELO	You make my bonds still greater.
DUKE	O, your desert speaks loud, and I should wrong it To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, When it deserves with characters of brass A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand, And let the subject see, to make them know That outward courtesies would fain proclaim Favours that keep within. Come, Escalus, You must walk by us on our other hand, And good supporters are you.
(didascalia)	They walk forward.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter and Isabella
FRIAR PETER	Now is your time. Speak loud, and kneel before him.
ISABELLA	(kneeling) Justice, O royal Duke! Vail your regard Upon a wronged—I would fain have said, a maid. O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye By throwing it on any other object, Till you have heard me in my true complaint, And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!
DUKE	Relate your wrongs. In what? By whom? Be brief. Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice. Reveal yourself to him.
ISABELLA	O worthy Duke, You bid me seek redemption of the devil. Hear me yourself, for that which I must speak Must either punish me, not being believed, Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me, hear!
ANGELO	My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm. She hath been a suitor to me for her brother, Cut off by course of justice.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA standing
ANGELO	By course of justice!
ANGELO	And she will speak most bitterly and strange.
ISABELLA	Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak. That Angelo’s forsworn, is it not strange? That Angelo’s a murderer, is’t not strange? That Angelo is an adulterous thief, An hypocrite, a virgin-violator, Is it not strange, and strange?
DUKE	Nay, it is ten times strange!
ISABELLA	It is not truer he is Angelo Than this is all as true as it is strange. Nay, it is ten times true, for truth is truth To th‘end of reck’ning.
DUKE	Away with her. Poor soul, She speaks this in th’infirmity of sense.
ISABELLA	O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ‘st There is another comfort than this world, That thou neglect me not with that opinion That I am touched with madness. Make not impossible That which but seems unlike. ’Tis not impossible But one, the wicked’st caitiff on the ground, May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute, As Angelo; even so may Angelo, In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, Be an arch-villain. Believe it, royal prince, If he be less, he’s nothing; but he’s more, Had I more name for badness.
DUKE	By mine honesty, If she be mad, as I believe no other, Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense, Such a dependency of thing on thing As e’er I heard in madness.
ISABELLA	O gracious Duke, Harp not on that, nor do not banish reason For inequality; but let your reason serve To make the truth appear where it seems hid, And hide the false seems true.
DUKE	Many that are not mad Have sure more lack of reason. What would you say?
ISABELLA	I am the sister of one Claudio, Condemned upon the act of fornication To lose his head, condemned by Angelo. I, in probation of a sisterhood, Was sent to by my brother, one Lucio As then the messenger.
LUCIO	That’s I, an’t like your grace. I came to her from Claudio, and desired her To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo For her poor brother’s pardon.
ISABELLA	That’s he indeed.
DUKE	(to Lucio) You were not bid to speak.
LUCIO	No, my good lord, Nor wished to hold my peace.
DUKE	I wish you now, then. Pray you take note of it; And when you have a business for yourself, Pray heaven you then be perfect.
LUCIO	I warrant your honour.
DUKE	The warrant’s for yourself; take heed to’t.
ISABELLA	This gentleman told somewhat of my tale—
LUCIO	Right.
DUKE	It may be right, but you are i’the wrong To speak before your time. (To Isabella) Proceed.
ISABELLA	I went To this pernicious caitiff deputy—
DUKE	That’s somewhat madly spoken.
ISABELLA	Pardon it; The phrase is to the matter.
DUKE	Mended again. The matter; proceed.
ISABELLA	In brief, to set the needless process by, How I persuaded, how I prayed and kneeled, How he refelled me, and how I replied— For this was of much length—the vile conclusion I now begin with grief and shame to utter. He would not, but by gift of my chaste body To his concupiscible intemperate lust, Release my brother; and after much debatement, My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour, And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes, His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant For my poor brother’s head.
DUKE	This is most likely!
ISABELLA	O, that it were as like as it is true!
DUKE	By heaven, fond wretch, thou know‘st not what thou speak’st, Or else thou art suborned against his honour In hateful practice. First, his integrity Stands without blemish. Next, it imports no reason That with such vehemency he should pursue Faults proper to himself. If he had so offended, He would have weighed thy brother by himself, And not have cut him off. Someone hath set you on. Confess the truth, and say by whose advice Thou cam’st here to complain.
ISABELLA	And is this all? Then, O you blessed ministers above, Keep me in patience, and with ripened time Unfold the evil which is here wrapped up In countenance! Heaven shield your grace from woe, As I, thus wronged, hence unbelievèd go.
DUKE	I know you’d fain be gone. An officer! To prison with her. An officer guards Isabella Shall we thus permit A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall On him so near us? This needs must be a practice. Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
ISABELLA	One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.
(didascalia)	Exit, guarded
DUKE	A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?
LUCIO	My lord, I know him. ’Tis a meddling friar; I do not like the man. Had he been lay, my lord, For certain words he spake against your grace In your retirement, I had swinged him soundly.
DUKE	Words against me? This’ a good friar, belike! And to set on this wretched woman here Against our substitute! Let this friar be found.
(didascalia)	Exit one or more
LUCIO	But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar, I saw them at the prison. A saucy friar, A very scurvy fellow.
FRIAR PETER	Blessed be your royal grace! I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard Your royal ear abused. First hath this woman Most wrongfully accused your substitute, Who is as free from touch or soil with her As she from one ungot.
DUKE	We did believe no less. Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of?
FRIAR PETER	I know him for a man divine and holy, Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler, As he’s reported by this gentleman; And, on my trust, a man that never yet Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.
LUCIO	My lord, most villainously; believe it.
FRIAR PETER	Well, he in time may come to clear himself; But at this instant he is sick, my lord, Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request, Being come to knowledge that there was complaint Intended ’gainst Lord Angelo, came I hither To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know Is true and false, and what he with his oath And all probation will make up full clear Whensoever he’s convented. First, for this woman: To justify this worthy nobleman, So vulgarly and personally accused, Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes, Till she herself confess it.
DUKE	Good friar, let’s hear it.
(didascalia)	Exit Friar Peter
DUKE	Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo? O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools! Give us some seats.
(didascalia)	Seats are brought in
DUKE	Come, cousin Angelo, In this I’ll be impartial; be you judge Of your own cause. The Duke and Angelo sit.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter, and Mariana, veiled
DUKE	Is this the witness, friar? First let her show her face, and after speak.
MARIANA	Pardon, my lord, I will not show my face Until my husband bid me.
DUKE	What, are you married?
MARIANA	No, my lord.
DUKE	Are you a maid?
MARIANA	No, my lord.
DUKE	A widow then?
MARIANA	Neither, my lord.
DUKE	Why, you are nothing then; neither maid, widow, nor wife!
LUCIO	My lord, she may be a punk, for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.
DUKE	Silence that fellow. I would he had some cause to prattle for himself.
LUCIO	Well, my lord.
MARIANA	My lord, I do confess I ne’er was married, And I confess besides, I am no maid. I have known my husband, yet my husband Knows not that ever he knew me.
LUCIO	He was drunk then, my lord, it can be no better.
DUKE	For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too.
LUCIO	Well, my lord.
DUKE	This is no witness for Lord Angelo.
MARIANA	Now I come to’t, my lord. She that accuses him of fornication In self-same manner doth accuse my husband, And charges him, my lord, with such a time When I’ll depose I had him in mine arms With all th’effect of love.
ANGELO	Charges she more than me?
MARIANA	Not that I know.
DUKE	No? You say your husband.
MARIANA	Why just, my lord, and that is Angelo, Who thinks he knows that he ne’er knew my body, But knows, he thinks, that he knows Isabel’s.
ANGELO	This is a strange abuse. Let’s see thy face.
MARIANA	(unveiling) My husband bids me; now I will unmask. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, Which once thou swor’st was worth the looking on. This is the hand which, with a vowed contract, Was fast belocked in thine. This is the body That took away the match from Isabel, And did supply thee at thy garden-house In her imagined person.
DUKE	(to Angelo) Know you this woman?
LUCIO	Carnally, she says.
DUKE	Sirrah, no more!
LUCIO	Enough, my lord.
ANGELO	My lord, I must confess I know this woman; And five years since there was some speech of marriage Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, Partly for that her promised proportions Came short of composition, but in chief For that her reputation was disvalued In levity; since which time of five years I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Upon my faith and honour.
(didascalia)	MARIANA kneeling before the Duke Noble prince,
ANGELO	As there comes light from heaven, and words from breath, As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue, I am affianced this man’s wife, as strongly As words could make up vows. And, my good lord, But Tuesday night last gone, in’s garden-house, He knew me as a wife. As this is true, Let me in safety raise me from my knees, Or else forever be confixèd here, A marble monument.
ANGELO	I did but smile till now. Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice. My patience here is touched. I do perceive These poor informal women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member That sets them on. Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.
DUKE	(standing) Ay, with my heart, And punish them even to your height of pleasure.— Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman Compact with her that’s gone, think‘st thou thy oaths, Though they would swear down each particular saint, Were testimonies against his worth and credit That’s sealed in approbation? You, Lord Escalus, Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains To find out this abuse, whence ’tis derived. There is another friar that set them on. Let him be sent for. Escalus sits
FRIAR PETER	Would he were here, my lord, for he indeed Hath set the women on to this complaint. Your Provost knows the place where he abides, And he may fetch him.
DUKE	(to one or more) Go, do it instantly.
(didascalia)	Exit one or more
DUKE	(To Angelo) And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin, Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, Do with your injuries as seems you best In any chastisement. I for a while will leave you, But stir not you till you have well determined Upon these slanderers.
ESCALUS	My lord, we’ll do it throughly.
(didascalia)	Exit Duke
ESCALUS	Signor Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person?
LUCIO	Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the Duke.
ESCALUS	We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him. We shall find this friar a notable fellow.
LUCIO	As any in Vienna, on my word.
ESCALUS	Call that same Isabel here once again; I would speak with her. Exit one or more (To Angelo) Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question. You shall see how I’ll handle her.
LUCIO	Not better than he, by her own report.
ESCALUS	Say you?
LUCIO	Marry, sir, I think if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess; perchance publicly she’ll be ashamed.
ESCALUS	I will go darkly to work with her.
LUCIO	That’s the way, for women are light at midnight. Enter Isabella, guarded
ESCALUS	(to Isabella) Come on, mistress, here’s a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, hooded, and the Provost
LUCIO	My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of, here with the Provost.
ESCALUS	In very good time. Speak not you to him till we call upon you.
LUCIO	Mum.
ESCALUS	(to the Duke) Come, sir, did you set these women on to slander Lord Angelo? They have confessed you did.
DUKE	’Tis false.
ESCALUS	How! Know you where you are?
DUKE	Respect to your great place, and let the devil Be sometime honoured fore his burning throne. Where is the Duke? ’Tis he should hear me speak.
ESCALUS	The Duke’s in us, and we will hear you speak. Look you speak justly.
DUKE	Boldly at least. (To Isabella and Mariana) But O, poor souls, Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox, Good night to your redress! Is the Duke gone? Then is your cause gone too. The Duke’s unjust Thus to retort your manifest appeal, And put your trial in the villain’s mouth Which here you come to accuse.
LUCIO	This is the rascal, this is he I spoke of.
ESCALUS	Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar, Is’t not enough thou hast suborned these women To accuse this worthy man but, in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear, To call him villain, and then to glance from him To th’ Duke himself, to tax him with injustice? Take him hence; to th’ rack with him. We’ll touse you Joint by joint—but we will know his purpose. What, ‘unjust’?
DUKE	Be not so hot. The Duke Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he Dare rack his own. His subject am I not, Nor here provincial. My business in this state Made me a looker-on here in Vienna, Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble Till it o’errun the stew; laws for all faults, But faults so countenanced that the strong statutes Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop, As much in mock as mark.
ESCALUS	Slander to th’ state! Away with him to prison.
ANGELO	What can you vouch against him, Signor Lucio? Is this the man that you did tell us of?
LUCIO	’Tis he, my lord.—Come hither, goodman Bald-pate. Do you know me?
DUKE	I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice. I met you at the prison, in the absence of the Duke.
LUCIO	O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the Duke?
DUKE	Most notedly, sir.
LUCIO	Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be?
DUKE	You must, sir, change persons with me ere you make that my report. You indeed spoke so of him, and much more, much worse.
LUCIO	O, thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches?
DUKE	I protest I love the Duke as I love myself.
ANGELO	Hark how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses.
ESCALUS	Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away with him to prison. Where is the Provost? Away with him to prison. Lay bolts enough upon him. Let him speak no more. Away with those giglets too, and with the other confederate companion.
(didascalia)	Mariana is raised to her feet, and is guarded
ESCALUS	The Provost makes to seize the Duke
DUKE	Stay, sir, stay a while.
ANGELO	What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.
LUCIO	(to the Duke) Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir! Foh, sir! Why, you bald-pated lying rascal, you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave’s visage, with a pox to you! Show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour! Will’t not off? He pulls off the friar’s hood, and discovers the Duke.
(didascalia)	Angelo and Escalus rise
DUKE	Thou art the first knave that e’er madest a duke. First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three. (To Lucio) Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and you Must have a word anon. (To one or more) Lay hold on him.
LUCIO	This may prove worse than hanging.
DUKE	(to Escalus) What you have spoke, I pardon. Sit you down. We’ll borrow place of him.
(didascalia)	Escalus sits
DUKE	(To Angelo) Sir, by your leave.
(didascalia)	He takes Angelo’s seat
DUKE	Hast thou or word or wit or impudence That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, Rely upon it till my tale be heard, And hold no longer out.
ANGELO	O my dread lord, I should be guiltier than my guiltiness To think I can be undiscernible, When I perceive your grace, like power divine, Hath looked upon my passes. Then, good prince, No longer session hold upon my shame, But let my trial be mine own confession. Immediate sentence then, and sequent death, Is all the grace I beg.
DUKE	Come hither, Mariana. (To Angelo) Say, wast thou e’er contracted to this woman?
ANGELO	I was, my lord.
DUKE	Go, take her hence and marry her instantly. Do you the office, friar; which consummate, Return him here again. Go with him, Provost.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and the
DUKE	Provost
ESCALUS	My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonour Than at the strangeness of it.
DUKE	Come hither, Isabel. Your friar is now your prince. As I was then Advertising and holy to your business, Not changing heart with habit I am still Attorneyed at your service.
ISABELLA	O, give me pardon, That I, your vassal, have employed and pained Your unknown sovereignty.
DUKE	You are pardoned, Isabel. And now, dear maid, be you as free to us. Your brother’s death I know sits at your heart, And you may marvel why I obscured myself, Labouring to save his life, and would not rather Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid, It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with slower foot came on, That brained my purpose. But peace be with him! That life is better life, past fearing death, Than that which lives to fear. Make it your comfort, So happy is your brother.
ISABELLA	I do, my lord.
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and the Provost
DUKE	For this new-married man approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wronged Your well-defended honour, you must pardon For Mariana’s sake; but as he adjudged your brother— Being criminal in double violation Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach, Thereon dependent, for your brother’s life— The very mercy of the law cries out Most audible, even from his proper tongue, ‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death’. Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure. Then, Angelo, thy fault’s thus manifested, Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage. We do condemn thee to the very block Where Claudio stooped to death, and with like haste. Away with him.
MARIANA	O my most gracious lord, I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
DUKE	It is your husband mocked you with a husband. Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, I thought your marriage fit; else imputation, For that he knew you, might reproach your life, And choke your good to come. For his possessions, Although by confiscation they are ours, We do enstate and widow you with all, To buy you a better husband.
MARIANA	O my dear lord, I crave no other, nor no better man.
DUKE	Never crave him; we are definitive.
MARIANA	Gentle my liege—
DUKE	You do but lose your labour.— Away with him to death. (To Lucio) Now, sir, to you.
MARIANA	(kneeling) O my good lord!—Sweet Isabel, take my part; Lend me your knees, and all my life to come I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.
DUKE	Against all sense you do importune her. Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact, Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break, And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA	Isabel, Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me. Hold up your hands; say nothing; I’ll speak all. They say best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad. So may my husband. O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?
DUKE	He dies for Claudio’s death.
ISABELLA	(kneeling) Most bounteous sir, Look, if it please you, on this man condemned As if my brother lived. I partly think A due sincerity governed his deeds, Till he did look on me. Since it is so, Let him not die. My brother had but justice, In that he did the thing for which he died. For Angelo, His act did not o’ertake his bad intent, And must be buried but as an intent That perished by the way. Thoughts are no subjects, Intents but merely thoughts.
MARIANA	Merely, my lord.
DUKE	Your suit’s unprofitable. Stand up, I say.
(didascalia)	Mariana
(didascalia)	and Isabella stand
DUKE	I have bethought me of another fault. Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded At an unusual hour?
PROVOST	It was commanded so.
DUKE	Had you a special warrant for the deed?
PROVOST	No, my good lord, it was by private message.
DUKE	For which I do discharge you of your office. Give up your keys.
PROVOST	Pardon me, noble lord. I thought it was a fault, but knew it not, Yet did repent me after more advice; For testimony whereof one in the prison That should by private order else have died I have reserved alive.
DUKE	What’s he?
PROVOST	His name is Barnardine.
DUKE	I would thou hadst done so by Claudio. Go fetch him hither. Let me look upon him.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
ESCALUS	I am sorry one so learned and so wise As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood And lack of tempered judgement afterward.
ANGELO	I am sorry that such sorrow I procure, And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart That I crave death more willingly than mercy. ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.
(didascalia)	Enter Barnardine and the Provost; Claudio, muffled, and Juliet
DUKE	Which is that Barnardine?
PROVOST	This, my lord.
DUKE	There was a friar told me of this man. (To Barnardine) Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul That apprehends no further than this world, And squar‘st thy life according. Thou’rt condemned; But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all, And pray thee take this mercy to provide For better times to come.—Friar, advise him. I leave him to your hand. (To Provost) What muffled fellow’s that?
PROVOST	This is another prisoner that I saved, Who should have died when Claudio lost his head, As like almost to Claudio as himself. He unmuffles Claudio
DUKE	(to Isabella) If he be like your brother, for his sake Is he pardoned; and for your lovely sake Give me your hand, and say you will be mine. He is my brother too. But fitter time for that. By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe. Methinks I see a quick’ning in his eye. Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well. Look that you love your wife, her worth worth yours. I find an apt remission in myself; And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon. (To Lucio) You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a coward, One all of luxury, an ass, a madman, Wherein have I so deserved of you That you extol me thus?
LUCIO	Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped.
DUKE	Whipped first, sir, and hanged after. Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city, If any woman wronged by this lewd fellow, As I have heard him swear himself there’s one Whom he begot with child, let her appear, And he shall marry her. The nuptial finished, Let him be whipped and hanged.
LUCIO	I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your highness said even now I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.
DUKE	Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her. Thy slanders I forgive, and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison, And see our pleasure herein executed.
LUCIO	Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.
DUKE	Slandering a prince deserves it.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Lucio
(didascalia)	guarded
DUKE	She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore. Joy to you, Mariana. Love her, Angelo. I have confessed her, and I know her virtue. Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness. There’s more behind that is more gratulate. Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy. We shall employ thee in a worthier place. Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home The head of Ragusine for Claudio’s. Th’offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel, I have a motion much imports your good, Whereto, if you’ll a willing ear incline, What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. (To all) So bring us to our palace, where we’ll show What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
(didascalia)	Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES	The text of Measure for Measure given in this edition is probably that of an adapted version made for Shakespeare’s company after his death. Adaptation seems to have affected two passages, printed below as we believe Shakespeare to have written them. A. 1.2.0.1-116 A.2-9 (‘… by him’) are lines which the adapter (whom we believe to be Thomas Middleton) evidently intended to be replaced by 1.2.56-79 of the play as we print it. The adapter must have contributed all of 1.2.0.1-83, which in the earliest and subsequent printed texts precede the discussion between the Clown (Pompey) and the Bawd (Mistress Overdone) about Claudio’s arrest. Lucio’s entry alone at 1. 40.1 below, some eleven lines after his re-entry with the two Gentlemen and the Provost’s party in the adapted text, probably represents Shakespeare’s original intention. In his version, Juliet, present but silent in the adapted text both in 1.2 and 5.1, probably did not appear in either scene; accordingly, the words ‘and there’s Madam Juliet’ (1.2.107) must also be the reviser’s work, and do not appear below.
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey and Mistress Overdone, meeting
MISTRESS OVERDONE	How now, what’s the news with you?
POMPEY	Yonder man is carried to prison.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Well! What has he done?
POMPEY	A woman.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But what’s his offence?
POMPEY	Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What, is there a maid with child by him?
POMPEY	No, but there’s a woman with maid by him: you have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What proclamation, man?
POMPEY	All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	And what shall become of those in the city?
POMPEY	They shall stand for seed. They had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY	To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth. What shall become of me?
POMPEY	Come, fear not you. Good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade. I’ll be your tapster still. Courage, there will be pity taken on you. You that have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.
(didascalia)	A noise within
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster? Let’s withdraw!
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and Claudio
POMPEY	Here comes Signor Claudio, led by the Provost to prison. Exeunt Mistress Overdone and Pompey
CLAUDIO	Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world? Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST	I do it not in evil disposition, But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO	Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offence, by weight, The bonds of heaven. On whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
LUCIO	Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint? B. 3.1.515-4.1.65 Before revision there would have been no act-break and no song; the lines immediately following the song would also have been absent. The Duke’s soliloquies ‘He who the sword of heaven will bear’ and ‘O place and greatness’ have evidently been transposed in revision; in the original, the end of ‘O place and greatness’ would have led straight on to the Duke’s meeting with Isabella and then Mariana.
ESCALUS	I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
DUKE	Peace be with you. Exit Escalus O place and greatness, millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report Run with their false and most contrarious quest Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit Make thee the father of their idle dream, And rack thee in their fancies.
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
DUKE	Very well met. What is the news from this good deputy?
ISABELLA	He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed; And to that vineyard is a planckèd gate, That makes his opening with this bigger key. This other doth command a little door Which from the vineyard to the garden leads. There have I made my promise Upon the heavy middle of the night To call upon him.
DUKE	But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
ISABELLA	I have ta‘en a due and wary note upon’t. With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o’er.
DUKE	Are there no other tokens Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
ISABELLA	No, none, but only a repair i’th’ dark, And that I have possessed him my most stay Can be but brief, for I have made him know I have a servant comes with me along That stays upon me, whose persuasion is I come about my brother.
DUKE	’Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana
DUKE	(To Mariana) I pray you be acquainted with this maid. She comes to do you good.
ISABELLA	I do desire the like.
DUKE	(to Mariana) Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
MARIANA	Good friar, I know you do, and so have found it.
DUKE	Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear. I shall attend your leisure; but make haste, The vaporous night approaches.
MARIANA	Will’t please you walk aside.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe, Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go, More nor less to others paying Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking! Twice treble shame on Angelo, To weed my vice, and let his grow! O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! How may likeness made in crimes Make my practice on the times To draw with idle spiders’ strings Most ponderous and substantial things? Craft against vice I must apply. With Angelo tonight shall lie His old betrothed but despised. So disguise shall, by th’ disguised, Pay with falsehood false exacting, And perform an old contracting.
(didascalia)	Enter
DUKE	Mariana
(didascalia)	and Isabella
DUKE	Welcome. How agreed?
ISABELLA	She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, If you advise it.
OTHELLO	Othello was given before James I in the Banqueting House at Whitehall on I November 1604. Information about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus appears to derive from Richard Knolles’s History of the Turks, published no earlier than 30 September 1603, so Shakespeare probably completed his play some time between that date and the summer of 1604. It first appeared in print in a quarto of 1622; the version printed in the 1623 Folio is about 160 lines longer, and has over a thousand differences in wording. It seems that Shakespeare partially revised his play, adding, for example, Desdemona’s willow song (4.3) and building up Emilia’s role in the closing scenes. We base our text on the Folio as that seems to represent Shakespeare’s second thoughts. Shakespeare’s decision to make a black man a tragic hero was bold and original: by an ancient tradition, blackness was associated with sin and death; and blackamoors in plays before Shakespeare are generally villainous (as is Aaron in Titus Andronicus). The story of a Moorish commander deluded by his ensign (standard-bearer) into believing that his young wife has been unfaithful to him with another soldier derives from a prose tale by the Italian Giambattista Cinzio Giraldi first published in 1565 in a collection of linked tales, Gli Ecatommiti (The Hundred Tales). Shakespeare must have read it either in Italian or in a French translation of 1584, he may have looked at both. Giraldi tells the tale in a few pages of compressed, matter-of-fact narrative interspersed with brief conversations. His main characters are a Moor of Venice (Othello), his Venetian wife (Desdemona), his ensign (Iago), his ensign’s wife (Emilia), and a corporal (Cassio) ‘who was very dear to the Moor’. Only Desdemona is named. Shakespeare’s invented characters include Roderigo, a young, disappointed suitor of Desdemona, and Brabanzio, Desdemona’s father, who opposes her marriage to Othello. Bianca, Cassio’s mistress, is developed from a few hints in the source. Shakespeare also introduces the military action between Turkey and Venice—infidels and Christians—which gives especial importance to Othello’s posting to Cyprus, a Venetian protectorate which the Turks attacked in 1570 and conquered in the following year. In the source, Othello and Desdemona are already happily settled into married life when they go to Cyprus; Shakespeare compresses the time-scheme and makes many changes to the narrative. Othello, a great success in Shakespeare’s time, was one of the first plays to be acted after the reopening of the theatres in 1660, and since that time has remained one of the most popular plays on the English stage.
THE PERSONS OF THE	PLAY OTHELLO, the Moor of Venice DESDEMONA, his wife Michael CASSIO, his lieutenant BIANCA, a courtesan, in love with Cassio IAGO, the Moor’s ensign EMILIA, Iago’s wife A CLOWN, a servant of Othello The DUKE of Venice BRABANZIO, Desdemona’s father, a Senator of Venice GRAZIANO, Brabanzio’s brother LODOVICO, kinsman of Brabanzio
SENATORS	of Venice RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman, in love with Desdemona MONTANO, Governor of Cyprus A HERALD A MESSENGER Attendants, officers, sailors, gentlemen of Cyprus, musicians

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, Escalus, and other lords DUKE Escalus.
ESCALUS	My lord.
DUKE	Of government the properties to unfold Would seem in me t’affect speech and discourse, Since I am put to know that your own science Exceeds in that the lists of all advice My strength can give you. Then no more remains But this: to your sufficiency, as your worth is able, And let them work. The nature of our people, Our city’s institutions and the terms For common justice, you’re as pregnant in As art and practice hath enriched any That we remember. He gives Escalus papers There is our commission, From which we would not have you warp. (To a lord) Call hither, I say bid come before us, Angelo. Exit lord (To Escalus) What figure of us think you he will bear?— For you must know we have with special soul Elected him our absence to supply, Lent him our terror, dressed him with our love, And given his deputation all the organs Of our own power. What think you of it?
ESCALUS	If any in Vienna be of worth To undergo such ample grace and honour, It is Lord Angelo.
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo
DUKE	Look where he comes.
ANGELO	Always obedient to your grace’s will, I come to know your pleasure.
DUKE	Angelo, There is a kind of character in thy life That to th‘observer doth thy history Fully unfold. Thyself and thy belongings Are not thine own so proper as to waste Thyself upon thy virtues, they on thee. Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touched But to fine issues; nor nature never lends The smallest scruple of her excellence But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines Herself the glory of a creditor, Both thanks and use. But 1 do bend my speech To one that can my part in him advertise. Hold therefore, Angelo. In our remove be thou at full ourself. Mortality and mercy in Vienna Live in thy tongue and heart. Old Escalus, Though first in question, is thy secondary. Take thy commission.
ANGELO	Now good my lord, Let there be some more test made of my metal Before so noble and so great a figure Be stamped upon it.
DUKE	No more evasion. We have with leavened and prepared choice Proceeded to you; therefore take your honours.
(didascalia)	Angelo takes his commission
DUKE	Our haste from hence is of so quick condition That it prefers itself, and leaves unquestioned Matters of needful value. We shall write to you As time and our concernings shall importune, How it goes with us; and do look to know What doth befall you here. So fare you well. To th’ hopeful execution do I leave you Of your commissions.
ANGELO	Yet give leave, my lord, That we may bring you something on the way.
DUKE	My haste may not admit it; Nor need you, on mine honour, have to do With any scruple. Your scope is as mine own, So to enforce or qualify the laws As to your soul seems good. Give me your hand. I’ll privily away. I love the people, But do not like to stage me to their eyes. Though it do well, I do not relish well Their loud applause and aves vehement; Nor do I think the man of safe discretion That does affect it. Once more, fare you well.
ANGELO	The heavens give safety to your purposes!
ESCALUS	Lead forth and bring you back in happiness!
DUKE	I thank you. Fare you well.
(didascalia)	Exit
ESCALUS	I shall desire you, sir, to give me leave To have free speech with you; and it concerns me To look into the bottom of my place. A power I have, but of what strength and nature I am not yet instructed.
ANGELO	’Tis so with me. Let us withdraw together, And we may soon our satisfaction have Touching that point.
ESCALUS	I’ll wait upon your honour.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Duca, Escalo e altri signori DUCA Escalo.
ESCALO	Mio signore.
DUCA	Del governo esporre le proprietà parrebbe in me ostentare eloquio e discorso, poiché mi è dato sapere che la vostra scienza in ciò eccede i confini d’ogni consiglio che la mia facoltà vi possa dare. Altro non resta che questo: alla vostra sufficienza, come il vostro merito consente, e lasciate che operino. La natura del nostro popolo, le istituzioni della nostra città e i termini della giustizia comune, ne siete gravido quanto arte ed esperienza n’hanno arricchito alcuno di cui serbiamo memoria. Consegna a Escalo delle carte Ecco la nostra commissione, dalla quale non vorremmo che deviaste. (A un signore) Chiamate qui, dico, fate venire innanzi a noi, Angelo. Esce il signore (A Escalo) Quale figura di noi credete ch’egli porterà?— Ché dovete sapere che con speciale animo l’abbiamo eletto a supplire la nostra assenza, gli abbiamo prestato il nostro terrore, vestito del nostro amore, e dato alla sua delega tutti gli organi del nostro proprio potere. Che ve ne pare?
ESCALO	Se alcuno in Vienna è degno di sostenere sì ampia grazia e onore, è il signor Angelo.
(didascalia)	Entra Angelo
DUCA	Ecco, guardate, viene.
ANGELO	Sempre obbediente al volere di vostra grazia, vengo a conoscere il vostro piacere.
DUCA	Angelo, v’è una sorta d’impronta nella tua vita che all’osservatore la tua storia pienamente dispiega. Te stesso e ciò che ti appartiene non son tuoi tanto propriamente da sprecare te sulle tue virtù, o quelle su di te. Il cielo fa con noi come noi con le torce, non le accende per se stesse; ché se le nostre virtù non uscissero da noi, sarebbe tutt’uno come se non le avessimo. Gli spiriti non son finemente tocchi se non a fini scopi; né mai la natura presta il più piccolo scrupolo della sua eccellenza senza che, dea parsimoniosa, ella si destini la gloria d’un creditore, e grazie e interesse. Ma 1 volgo il mio discorso a uno che sa in sé dichiarare la mia parte. Prendi dunque, Angelo. Nella nostra assenza sii pienamente noi stessi. Morte e misericordia in Vienna vivano nella tua lingua e nel tuo cuore. Il vecchio Escalo, benché primo interpellato, ti è secondo. Prendi la tua commissione.
ANGELO	Ora, mio buon signore, si faccia qualche altra prova del mio metallo prima che sì nobile e sì grande effigie vi sia impressa sopra.
DUCA	Basta con le evasioni. Con scelta matura e ponderata siam venuti a voi; prendete dunque i vostri onori.
(didascalia)	Angelo prende la sua commissione
DUCA	La nostra fretta di partire è di natura sì rapida che si antepone, e lascia inesaminate materie di necessario valore. Vi scriveremo, come il tempo e i nostri interessi c’incalzeranno, di come ci vada; e attendiamo di sapere che cosa qui vi accada. Dunque state bene. Alla speranzosa esecuzione vi lascio delle vostre commissioni.
ANGELO	Pure concedete, mio signore, che possiamo accompagnarvi un tratto di via.
DUCA	La mia fretta non lo consente; né v’occorre, sul mio onore, aver che fare con alcuno scrupolo. Il vostro potere è pari al mio, così da applicare o temperare le leggi come alla vostra anima parrà bene. Datemi la mano. Me n’andrò di nascosto. Amo il popolo, ma non mi piace esibirmi ai suoi occhi. Benché stia bene, non gusto bene i suoi rumorosi applausi e i veementi evviva; né stimo uomo di sicura discrezione colui che li ricerca. Ancora una volta, state bene.
ANGELO	I cieli diano sicurezza ai vostri disegni!
ESCALO	Vi guidino e vi riconducano in felicità!
DUCA	Vi ringrazio. State bene.
(didascalia)	Esce
ESCALO	Vi chiederò, signore, di concedermi licenza d’un libero colloquio con voi; e m’importa di guardare in fondo al mio ufficio. Un potere l’ho, ma di quale forza e natura non sono ancora istruito.
ANGELO	Così è per me. Ritiriamoci insieme, e presto potremo avere soddisfazione intorno a quel punto.
ESCALO	Sarò al servizio di vostro onore.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio, and two other Gentlemen
LUCIO	If the Duke with the other dukes come not to composition with the King of Hungary, why then, all the dukes fall upon the King.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Heaven grant us its peace, but not the King of Hungary’s!
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Amen.
LUCIO	Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the table.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	‘Thou shalt not steal’?
LUCIO	Ay, that he razed.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Why, ’twas a commandment to command the captain and all the rest from their functions: they put forth to steal. There’s not a soldier of us all that in the thanksgiving before meat do relish the petition well that prays for peace. 16
SECOND GENTLEMAN	I never heard any soldier dislike it.
LUCIO	I believe thee, for I think thou never wast where grace was said.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	No? A dozen times at least. 20
FIRST GENTLEMAN	What, in metre?
LUCIO	In any proportion, or in any language.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	I think, or in any religion.
LUCIO	Ay, why not? Grace is grace despite of all controversy; as for example, thou thyself art a wicked villain despite of all grace.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Well, there went but a pair of shears between us.
LUCIO	I grant—as there may between the lists and the velvet. Thou art the list.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	And thou the velvet. Thou art good velvet, thou’rt a three-piled piece, I warrant thee. I had as lief be a list of an English kersey as be piled as thou art pilled, for a French velvet. Do I speak feelingly now?
LUCIO	I think thou dost, and indeed with most painful feeling of thy speech. I will out of thine own confession learn to begin thy health, but whilst I live forget to drink after thee.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	I think I have done myself wrong, have I not? 40
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted or free.
(didascalia)	Enter Mistress Overdone
LUCIO	Behold, behold, where Madam Mitigation comes! I have purchased as many diseases under her roof as come to—45
SECOND GENTLEMAN	To what, I pray?
LUCIO	Judge.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	To three thousand dolours a year?
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Ay, and more.
LUCIO	A French crown more.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Thou art always figuring diseases in me, but thou art full of error—I am sound.
LUCIO	Nay not, as one would say, healthy, but so sound as things that are hollow—thy bones are hollow, impiety has made a feast of thee.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	(to Mistress Overdone) How now, which of your hips has the most profound sciatica?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Well, well! There’s one yonder arrested and carried to prison was worth five thousand of you all.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Who’s that, I pray thee?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Marry sir, that’s Claudio, Signor Claudio.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	Claudio to prison? ’Tis not so.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Nay, but I know ’tis so. I saw him arrested, saw him carried away; and, which is more, within these three days his head to be chopped off.
LUCIO	But after all this fooling, I would not have it so. Art thou sure of this?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	I am too sure of it, and it is for getting Madame Julietta with child.
LUCIO	Believe me, this may be. He promised to meet me two hours since and he was ever precise in promise-keeping.
SECOND GENTLEMAN	Besides, you know, it draws something near to the speech we had to such a purpose.
FIRST GENTLEMAN	But most of all agreeing with the proclamation.
LUCIO	Away; let’s go learn the truth of it.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Lucio and Gentlemen
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Thus, what with the war, what with the sweat, what with the gallows, and what with poverty, I am custom-shrunk.
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey
MISTRESS OVERDONE	How now, what’s the news with you?
POMPEY	You have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What proclamation, man?
POMPEY	All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	And what shall become of those in the city?
POMPEY	They shall stand for seed. They had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY	To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth. What shall become of me?
POMPEY	Come, fear not you. Good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade. I’ll be your tapster still. Courage, there will be pity taken on you. You that have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.
(didascalia)	A noise within
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster? Let’s withdraw!
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost, Claudio, Juliet, and officers; Lucio and the two Gentlemen
POMPEY	Here comes Signor Claudio, led by the Provost to prison; and there’s Madame Juliet.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mistress Overdone and Pompey
CLAUDIO	(to the Provost) Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world? Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST	I do it not in evil disposition, But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO	Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offence, by weight, The bonds of heaven. On whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
LUCIO	Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint?
CLAUDIO	From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty. As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope, by the immoderate use, Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, Like rats that raven down their proper bane, A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die.
LUCIO	If I could speak so wisely under an arrest, I would send for certain of my creditors. And yet, to say the truth, I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment. What’s thy offence, Claudio?
CLAUDIO	What but to speak of would offend again.
LUCIO	What, is’t murder?
CLAUDIO	No.
LUCIO	Lechery?
CLAUDIO	Call it so.
PROVOST	Away, sir; you must go.
CLAUDIO	One word, good friend.
(didascalia)	The Provost shows assent
CLAUDIO	Lucio, a word with you.
LUCIO	A hundred, if they’ll do you any good.
(didascalia)	Claudio and Lucio speak apart
LUCIO	Is lechery so looked after?
CLAUDIO	Thus stands it with me. Upon a true contract, I got possession of Julietta’s bed. You know the lady; she is fast my wife, Save that we do the denunciation lack Of outward order. This we came not to Only for propagation of a dower Remaining in the coffer of her friends, From whom we thought it meet to hide our love Till time had made them for us. But it chances The stealth of our most mutual entertainment With character too gross is writ on Juliet.
LUCIO	With child, perhaps?
CLAUDIO	Unhapp’ly even so. And the new deputy now for the Duke— Whether it be the fault and glimpse of newness, Or whether that the body public be A horse whereon the governor doth ride, Who, newly in the seat, that it may know He can command, lets it straight feel the spur— Whether the tyranny be in his place, Or in his eminence that fills it up— I stagger in. But this new governor Awakes me all the enrolled penalties Which have, like unscoured armour, hung by th’ wall So long that fourteen zodiacs have gone round, And none of them been worn; and, for a name, Now puts the drowsy and neglected act Freshly on me. ’Tis surely for a name.
LUCIO	I warrant it is; and thy head stands so tickle on thy shoulders that a milkmaid, if she be in love, may sigh it off. Send after the Duke, and appeal to him.
CLAUDIO	I have done so, but he’s not to be found. I prithee, Lucio, do me this kind service. This day my sister should the cloister enter, And there receive her approbation. Acquaint her with the danger of my state. Implore her in my voice that she make friends To the strict deputy. Bid herself assay him. I have great hope in that, for in her youth There is a prone and speechless dialect Such as move men; beside, she hath prosperous art When she will play with reason and discourse, And well she can persuade.
LUCIO	I pray she may—as well for the encouragement of thy like, which else would stand under grievous imposition, as for the enjoying of thy life, who I would be sorry should be thus foolishly lost at a game of tick-tack. I’ll to her.
CLAUDIO	I thank you, good friend Lucio.
LUCIO	Within two hours.
CLAUDIO	Come, officer; away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Lucio and gentlemen at one door;
(didascalia)	Claudio, Juliet, Provost, and officers at another

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Lucio e altri due Gentiluomini
LUCIO	Se il Duca con gli altri duchi non viene a patti col Re d’Ungheria, ebbene, tutti i duchi piomberanno addosso al Re.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Il cielo ci conceda la sua pace, ma non quella del Re d’Ungheria!
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	Amen.
LUCIO	Concludi come quel pirata bigotto che prese il mare coi Dieci Comandamenti, ma ne raschiò via uno dalla tavola.
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	‘Non rubare’?
LUCIO	Sì, proprio quello cancellò.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Già, era un comandamento che distoglieva il capitano e tutti gli altri dalle loro funzioni: prendevano il mare per rubare. Non c’è un soldato fra noi tutti che, nel ringraziamento prima del pasto, gusti bene la petizione che prega per la pace. 16
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	Non ho mai sentito un soldato che l’avesse in uggia.
LUCIO	Ti credo, ché penso tu non sia mai stato dove si dicesse il benedicite.
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	No? Una dozzina di volte almeno. 20
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Come, in metro?
LUCIO	In qualsiasi misura, o in qualsiasi lingua.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Penso, o in qualsiasi religione.
LUCIO	Sì, perché no? La grazia è grazia a dispetto d’ogni controversia; come per esempio, tu stesso sei un malvagio furfante a dispetto d’ogni grazia.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Bene, fra noi due non è passato che un paio di forbici.
LUCIO	Concedo—come può passare fra la cimosa e il velluto. Tu sei la cimosa.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	E tu il velluto. Sei buon velluto, sei una pezza a tre peli, te lo garantisco. Preferirei essere cimosa d’una rascia inglese che essere peloso come tu sei pelato, per un velluto francese. Parlo con sentimento, adesso?
LUCIO	Credo di sì, e invero con dolorosissimo sentimento del tuo stesso discorso. Dalla tua propria confessione imparerò a brindare alla tua salute, ma finché vivo mi scorderò di bere dopo di te.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Credo d’aver fatto torto a me stesso, non è vero? 40
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	Sì, l’hai fatto, che tu sia infetto o sano.
(didascalia)	Entra Mistress Overdone
LUCIO	Guardate, guardate, ecco che viene Madama Mitigazione! Ho comprato sotto il suo tetto tante malattie da arrivare a—45
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	A quanto, di grazia?
LUCIO	Indovina.
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	A tremila dolori l’anno?
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Sì, e di più.
LUCIO	Una corona francese di più.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Tu vai sempre figurandoti malattie in me, ma sei pieno d’errore—io sono sano.
LUCIO	No, non sano come si direbbe, ma sonoro come le cose che son vuote—le tue ossa son vuote, l’empietà ha fatto banchetto di te.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	(a Mistress Overdone) Ebbene, quale delle vostre anche ha la sciatica più profonda?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Bene, bene! Ce n’è uno laggiù, arrestato e portato in prigione, che valeva cinquemila di voi tutti.
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	Chi è, ti prego?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Perbacco, signore, è Claudio, messer Claudio.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Claudio in prigione? Non è così.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	No, ma io so che è così. L’ho visto arrestare, l’ho visto portar via; e per di più, entro tre giorni gli sarà mozzata la testa.
LUCIO	Ma dopo tutte queste burle, non vorrei che fosse così. Ne sei sicura?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ne sono fin troppo sicura, ed è per aver reso madonna Julietta gravida d’un figlio.
LUCIO	Credimi, può darsi. Aveva promesso d’incontrarmi due ore fa, ed è sempre stato preciso nel mantenere le promesse.
SECONDO GENTILUOMO	Inoltre, sapete, s’accorda assai col discorso che facemmo a tale proposito.
PRIMO GENTILUOMO	Ma soprattutto concorda con la proclamazione.
LUCIO	Via; andiamo a sapere la verità della cosa.
(didascalia)	Escono Lucio e i Gentiluomini
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Così, fra la guerra, fra il sudore, fra la forca e fra la povertà, mi si è ristretta la clientela.
(didascalia)	Entra Pompeo
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ebbene, che notizie porti?
POMPEO	Non avete sentito della proclamazione, vero?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Quale proclamazione, uomo?
POMPEO	Tutte le case nei sobborghi di Vienna devono essere abbattute.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	E che ne sarà di quelle in città?
POMPEO	Resteranno in piedi per far semenza. Sarebbero cadute anche quelle, se un savio borghese non avesse perorato per loro.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ma tutte le nostre case di ritrovo nei sobborghi saranno buttate giù?
POMPEO	Al suolo, padrona.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ecco davvero un bel cambiamento nello Stato. Che ne sarà di me?
POMPEO	Via, non temete. I buoni avvocati non mancano di clienti. Anche se cambiate luogo, non occorre che cambiate mestiere. Sarò ancora il vostro spillatore. Coraggio, avranno pietà di voi. Voi che vi siete consumata quasi gli occhi nel servizio, sarete presa in considerazione.
(didascalia)	Rumore all’interno
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Che c’è da fare qui, Tommaso Spillatore? Ritiriamoci!
(didascalia)	Entrano il Prevosto, Claudio, Giulietta e ufficiali; Lucio e i due Gentiluomini
POMPEO	Ecco che viene messer Claudio, condotto in prigione dal Prevosto; e là c’è madonna Giulietta.
(didascalia)	Escono Mistress Overdone e Pompeo
CLAUDIO	(al Prevosto) Amico, perché mi mostri così al mondo? Portami in prigione, dove sono consegnato.
PREVOSTO	Non lo faccio per mala disposizione, ma per speciale ordine del signor Angelo.
CLAUDIO	Così il semidio Autorità può farci pagare per la nostra colpa, a peso, i debiti del cielo. Su chi vuole, vuole; su chi non vuole, no; e pure è giusto.
LUCIO	Ebbene, come va, Claudio? Donde viene questa costrizione?
CLAUDIO	Da troppa libertà, mio Lucio, libertà. Come la crapula è padre di molto digiuno, così ogni licenza, per l’uso smodato, si volge in costrizione. Le nostre nature inseguono, come topi che divorano il proprio veleno, un male assetante; e quando beviamo, moriamo.
LUCIO	Se sapessi parlare così saggiamente sotto arresto, manderei a chiamare certi miei creditori. E tuttavia, a dire la verità, preferirei la scempiaggine della libertà alla moralità della prigionia. Qual è la tua colpa, Claudio?
CLAUDIO	Tale che il solo parlarne offenderebbe di nuovo.
LUCIO	Come, è omicidio?
CLAUDIO	No.
LUCIO	Lussuria?
CLAUDIO	Chiamala così.
PREVOSTO	Via, signore; dovete andare.
CLAUDIO	Una parola, buon amico.
(didascalia)	Il Prevosto acconsente
CLAUDIO	Lucio, una parola con te.
LUCIO	Cento, se ti faranno qualche bene.
(didascalia)	Claudio e Lucio parlano in disparte
LUCIO	La lussuria è così sorvegliata?
CLAUDIO	Ecco come sta con me. Per un vero contratto presi possesso del letto di Julietta. Conosci la donna; è saldamente mia moglie, salvo che ci manca la denunzia del rito esteriore. A questo non giungemmo solo per l’accrescimento d’una dote rimasta nel forziere dei suoi parenti, ai quali stimammo bene celare il nostro amore finché il tempo non li avesse resi a noi propizi. Ma accade che il furto del nostro reciprocissimo diletto con carattere troppo grosso è scritto su Giulietta.
LUCIO	Gravida d’un figlio, forse?
CLAUDIO	Purtroppo proprio così. E il nuovo vicario che ora fa per il Duca— sia colpa e bagliore della novità, o sia che il corpo pubblico sia un cavallo su cui il governante cavalca, il quale, appena in sella, perché sappia ch’egli sa comandare, gli fa subito sentir lo sprone— sia la tirannide nella sua carica, o in colui che con la sua eminenza la riempie— io vacillo. Ma questo nuovo governante ridesta contro di me tutte le pene registrate che, come armatura non forbita, sono state appese al muro tanto a lungo che quattordici zodiaci han compiuto il giro, e nessuna d’esse è stata indossata; e, per farsi un nome, ora l’assopita e trascurata legge mi rovescia addosso fresca fresca. È di certo per un nome.
LUCIO	Ci scommetto; e la tua testa sta così malferma sulle spalle che una lattaia, se è presa d’amore, può farla cadere con un sospiro. Manda dietro al Duca, e appèllati a lui.
CLAUDIO	L’ho fatto, ma non si riesce a trovarlo. Ti prego, Lucio, rendimi questo cortese servizio. Oggi mia sorella deve entrare in convento, e là ricevere la sua ammissione. Informala del pericolo del mio stato. Supplicala a nome mio che si faccia amico il rigido vicario. Dille di tentarlo lei stessa. Ho grande speranza in ciò, ché nella sua giovinezza v’è un linguaggio pronto e senza parole che muove gli uomini; inoltre ha felice arte quando voglia giocare di ragione e di discorso, e bene sa persuadere.
LUCIO	Prego che ci riesca—tanto per l’incoraggiamento di quelli come te, che altrimenti starebbero sotto grave imposta, quanto per il godimento della tua vita, che mi dorrebbe fosse così scioccamente perduta a una partita a tric-trac. Vado da lei.
CLAUDIO	Ti ringrazio, buon amico Lucio.
LUCIO	Entro due ore.
CLAUDIO	Andiamo, ufficiale; via.
(didascalia)	Escono Lucio e i gentiluomini da una porta;
(didascalia)	Claudio, Giulietta, il Prevosto e gli ufficiali da un’altra

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke and a Friar
DUKE	No, holy father, throw away that thought. Believe not that the dribbling dart of love Can pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire thee To give me secret harbour hath a purpose More grave and wrinkled than the aims and ends Of burning youth.
FRIAR	May your grace speak of it?
DUKE	My holy sir, none better knows than you How I have ever loved the life removed, And held in idle price to haunt assemblies Where youth and cost a witless bravery keeps. I have delivered to Lord Angelo— A man of stricture and firm abstinence— My absolute power and place here in Vienna; And he supposes me travelled to Poland— For so I have strewed it in the common ear, And so it is received. Now, pious sir, You will demand of me why I do this.
FRIAR	Gladly, my lord.
DUKE	We have strict statutes and most biting laws, The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds, Which for this fourteen years we have let slip; Even like an o‘ergrown lion in a cave That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers, Having bound up the threat’ning twigs of birch Only to stick it in their children’s sight For terror, not to use, in time the rod More mocked becomes than feared: so our decrees, Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead; And Liberty plucks Justice by the nose, The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart Goes all decorum.
FRIAR	It rested in your grace To unloose this tied-up Justice when you pleased, And it in you more dreadful would have seemed Than in Lord Angelo.
DUKE	I do fear, too dreadful. Sith ‘twas my fault to give the people scope, ’Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall them For what I bid them do—for we bid this be done When evil deeds have their permissive pass, And not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father, I have on Angelo imposed the office, Who may in th‘ambush of my name strike home, And yet my nature never in the fight T’allow in slander. And to behold his sway, I will as ’twere a brother of your order Visit both prince and people. Therefore, I prithee, Supply me with the habit, and instruct me How I may formally in person bear Like a true friar. More reasons for this action At our more leisure shall I render you. Only this one: Lord Angelo is precise, Stands at a guard with envy, scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone. Hence shall we see If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Duca e un Frate
DUCA	No, santo padre, scacciate quel pensiero. Non crediate che il fiacco dardo d’amore possa trafiggere un petto compiuto. Se desidero da voi un segreto rifugio, il fine ha uno scopo più grave e corrugato delle mire e dei fini dell’ardente giovinezza.
FRATE	Può vostra grazia parlarne?
DUCA	Mio santo signore, nessuno meglio di voi sa quanto io abbia sempre amato la vita appartata, e tenuto in vil pregio il frequentare adunanze dove giovinezza e sfarzo tengono un vano sfoggio. Ho consegnato al signor Angelo— uomo di rigore e ferma astinenza— il mio assoluto potere e il mio seggio qui in Vienna; ed egli mi suppone in viaggio verso la Polonia— ché così l’ho sparso all’orecchio comune, e così è accolto. Ora, pio signore, voi mi domanderete perché io faccia questo.
FRATE	Volentieri, mio signore.
DUCA	Abbiamo statuti severi e leggi mordacissime, i morsi e i freni necessari alle male erbe testarde, che per questi quattordici anni abbiamo lasciato correre; proprio come un leone invecchiato in una caverna che non esce a far preda. Ora, come i padri indulgenti, che avendo legato in fascio i minacciosi rami di betulla solo per piantarli sotto gli occhi dei figli a terrore, non a uso, col tempo la verga diventa più derisa che temuta: così i nostri decreti, morti all’applicazione, a se stessi son morti; e la Licenza prende la Giustizia per il naso, il bimbo batte la nutrice, e affatto a rovescio va ogni decoro.
FRATE	Stava in vostra grazia sciogliere questa Giustizia legata quando vi piacesse, e in voi sarebbe parsa più temibile che nel signor Angelo.
DUCA	Temo anzi, troppo temibile. Poiché fu mia colpa dar libertà al popolo, sarebbe mia tirannide colpirlo e straziarlo per ciò che io stesso comandai—ché comandiamo che ciò sia fatto quando le male azioni hanno il loro salvacondotto, e non la punizione. Perciò invero, padre mio, ho imposto ad Angelo l’ufficio, che nell’imboscata del mio nome può colpire a fondo, e pure la mia natura mai nella lotta lasciar esposta alla calunnia. E per osservare il suo governo, io, come fossi un frate del vostro ordine, visiterò e principe e popolo. Perciò, vi prego, fornitemi l’abito, e istruitemi come io possa in tutta forma portarmi da vero frate. Altre ragioni di quest’atto a più agio vi renderò. Solo questa: il signor Angelo è rigoroso, sta in guardia contro l’invidia, appena confessa che il suo sangue scorra, o che il suo appetito tenda più al pane che alla pietra. Di qui vedremo se il potere muta proposito, e che siano quelli che sembrano.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella, and Francesca, a nun
ISABELLA	And have you nuns no farther privileges?
FRANCESCA	Are not these large enough?
ISABELLA	Yes, truly. I speak not as desiring more, But rather wishing a more strict restraint Upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare.
LUCIO	(within) Ho, peace be in this place!
(didascalia)	ISABELLA to Francesca
LUCIO	Who’s that which calls?
FRANCESCA	It is a man’s voice. Gentle Isabella. Turn you the key, and know his business of him. You may, I may not; you are yet unsworn. When you have vowed, you must not speak with men But in the presence of the prioress. Then if you speak, you must not show your face; Or if you show your face, you must not speak. Lucio calls within He calls again. I pray you answer him.
(didascalia)	She stands asidel
ISABELLA	Peace and prosperity! Who is’t that calls? She opens the door.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
LUCIO	Hail, virgin, if you be—as those cheek-roses Proclaim you are no less. Can you so stead me As bring me to the sight of Isabella, A novice of this place, and the fair sister To her unhappy brother Claudio?
ISABELLA	Why her unhappy brother? Let me ask, The rather for I now must make you know I am that Isabella, and his sister.
LUCIO	Gentle and fair, your brother kindly greets you. Not to be weary with you, he’s in prison.
ISABELLA	Woe me! For what?
LUCIO	For that which, if myself might be his judge, He should receive his punishment in thanks. He hath got his friend with child.
ISABELLA	Sir, make me not your story.
LUCIO	‘Tis true. I would not—though ’tis my familiar sin With maids to seem the lapwing, and to jest Tongue far from heart—play with all virgins so. I hold you as a thing enskied and sainted By your renouncement, an immortal spirit, And to be talked with in sincerity As with a saint.
ISABELLA	You do blaspheme the good in mocking me.
LUCIO	Do not believe it. Fewness and truth, ’tis thus: Your brother and his lover have embraced. As those that feed grow full, as blossoming time That from the seedness the bare fallow brings To teeming foison, even so her plenteous womb Expresseth his full tilth and husbandry.
ISABELLA	Someone with child by him? My cousin Juliet?
LUCIO	Is she your cousin?
ISABELLA	Adoptedly, as schoolmaids change their names By vain though apt affection.
LUCIO	She it is.
ISABELLA	O, let him marry her!
LUCIO	This is the point. The Duke is very strangely gone from hence; Bore many gentlemen—mysetf being one— In hand and hope of action; but we do learn, By those that know the very nerves of state, His giving out were of an infinite distance From his true-meant design. Upon his place, And with full line of his authority, Governs Lord Angelo—a man whose blood Is very snow-broth; one who never feels The wanton stings and motions of the sense, But doth rebate and blunt his natural edge With profits of the mind, study, and fast. He, to give fear to use and liberty, Which have for long run by the hideous law As mice by lions, hath picked out an act Under whose heavy sense your brother’s life Falls into forfeit. He arrests him on it, And follows close the rigour of the statute To make him an example. All hope is gone, Unless you have the grace by your fair prayer To soften Angelo. And that’s my pith Of business ’twixt you and your poor brother.
ISABELLA	Doth he so seek his life?
LUCIO	Has censured him already, And, as I hear, the Provost hath a warrant For’s execution.
ISABELLA	Alas, what poor Ability’s in me to do him good?
LUCIO	Assay the power you have.
ISABELLA	My power? Alas, I doubt.
LUCIO	Our doubts are traitors, And makes us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo; And let him learn to know, when maidens sue, Men give like gods, but when they weep and kneel, All their petitions are as freely theirs As they themselves would owe them.
ISABELLA	I’ll see what I can do.
LUCIO	But speedily.
ISABELLA	I will about it straight, No longer staying but to give the Mother Notice of my affair. I humbly thank you. Commend me to my brother. Soon at night I’ll send him certain word of my success.
LUCIO	I take my leave of you.
ISABELLA	Good sir, adieu.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Isabella and Francesca at one door,
(didascalia)	Lucio at another door

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Isabella e Francesca, una monaca
ISABELLA	E voi monache non avete altri privilegi?
FRANCESCA	Non sono questi abbastanza ampi?
ISABELLA	Sì, davvero. Non parlo per desiderarne di più, ma piuttosto augurando una più stretta disciplina alla sorellanza, alle devote di Santa Chiara.
LUCIO	(dall’interno) Ohilà, pace sia in questo luogo!
(didascalia)	ISABELLA a Francesca
LUCIO	Chi è che chiama?
FRANCESCA	È voce d’uomo. Gentile Isabella, gira tu la chiave, e sappi da lui che cosa vuole. Tu puoi, io non posso; tu non hai ancor pronunciato i voti. Quando avrai votato, non dovrai parlare con uomini se non alla presenza della priora. Allora, se parli, non devi mostrare il volto; o se mostri il volto, non devi parlare. Lucio chiama dall’interno Chiama di nuovo. Ti prego, rispondigli.
(didascalia)	Si mette in dispartel
ISABELLA	Pace e prosperità! Chi è che chiama? Apre la porta.
(didascalia)	Entra Lucio
LUCIO	Salve, vergine, se tale siete—come quelle rose delle guance proclamano che non siete da meno. Potete assistermi tanto da condurmi al cospetto d’Isabella, novizia di questo luogo, e bella sorella del suo infelice fratello Claudio?
ISABELLA	Perché infelice suo fratello? Lasciate ch’io chieda, tanto più che ora devo farvi sapere ch’io sono quell’Isabella, e sua sorella.
LUCIO	Gentile e bella, vostro fratello vi saluta con affetto. Per non tediarvi: è in prigione.
ISABELLA	Povera me! Per che cosa?
LUCIO	Per ciò che, se io stesso ne fossi giudice, gli varrebbe come punizione un ringraziamento. Ha reso la sua amica gravida d’un figlio.
ISABELLA	Signore, non fate di me la vostra favola.
LUCIO	È vero. Non vorrei—benché sia mio peccato familiare fare con le fanciulle la pavoncella, e scherzare con la lingua lontana dal cuore—giocare così con tutte le vergini. Vi tengo per cosa incielata e santificata dalla vostra rinuncia, spirito immortale, da parlarvi in sincerità come a una santa.
ISABELLA	Bestemmiate il bene, schernendo me.
LUCIO	Non lo crediate. In breve e in verità, è così: vostro fratello e la sua amante si sono abbracciati. Come quelli che si nutrono si riempiono, come il tempo del fiorire che dalla semina reca il nudo maggese a fecondo raccolto, così il suo grembo ricolmo esprime la piena aratura e coltura di lui.
ISABELLA	Qualcuna gravida d’un figlio per opera sua? Mia cugina Giulietta?
LUCIO	È vostra cugina?
ISABELLA	Per adozione, come le scolarette si scambiano i nomi per vano ma appropriato affetto.
LUCIO	È lei.
ISABELLA	Oh, che la sposi!
LUCIO	Qui sta il punto. Il Duca è partito di qui assai stranamente; tenne molti gentiluomini—io stesso fra questi— in sospeso e in speranza d’impiego; ma apprendiamo, da quelli che conoscono i veri nervi dello Stato, che le sue dichiarazioni erano d’infinita distanza dal suo vero disegno. Al suo posto, e con pieno mandato della sua autorità, governa il signor Angelo—uomo il cui sangue è vera brodaglia di neve; uno che mai sente le lascive punture e i moti dei sensi, ma smussa e ottunde il suo naturale filo coi profitti della mente, lo studio e il digiuno. Egli, per dar paura al vizio e alla licenza, che a lungo hanno corso accanto all’orrenda legge come topi accanto ai leoni, ha ripescato un editto sotto il cui grave senso la vita di vostro fratello cade in penale. Lo arresta in base a quello, e segue da presso il rigore dello statuto per farne un esempio. Ogni speranza è perduta, se non avete la grazia con la vostra bella preghiera d’intenerire Angelo. E questo è il nocciolo della faccenda fra voi e il vostro povero fratello.
ISABELLA	Cerca dunque così la sua vita?
LUCIO	L’ha già condannato, e, per quanto sento, il Prevosto ha un mandato per la sua esecuzione.
ISABELLA	Ahimè, quale povera capacità è in me di fargli del bene?
LUCIO	Mettete alla prova il potere che avete.
ISABELLA	Il mio potere? Ahimè, ne dubito.
LUCIO	I nostri dubbi sono traditori, e ci fanno perdere il bene che spesso potremmo vincere, per il timore di tentare. Andate dal signor Angelo; e fategli imparare che, quando le fanciulle supplicano, gli uomini donano come dèi, ma quando esse piangono e s’inginocchiano, tutte le loro petizioni son loro concesse così largamente come se le possedessero già.
ISABELLA	Vedrò che cosa posso fare.
LUCIO	Ma presto.
ISABELLA	Mi ci metterò subito, senza indugiare che a dare alla Madre avviso della mia faccenda. Umilmente vi ringrazio. Raccomandatemi a mio fratello. Stasera sul far della notte gli manderò notizia certa del mio esito.
LUCIO	Prendo congedo da voi.
ISABELLA	Buon signore, addio.
(didascalia)	Escono Isabella e Francesca da una porta,
(didascalia)	Lucio da un’altra porta

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo, Escalus, and servants; a Justice
ANGELO	We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape till custom make it Their perch, and not their terror.
ESCALUS	Ay, but yet Let us be keen, and rather cut a little Than fall and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman Whom I would save had a most noble father. Let but your honour know— Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue— That in the working of your own affections, Had time cohered with place, or place with wishing, Or that the resolute acting of your blood Could have attained th’effect of your own purpose— Whether you had not sometime in your life Erred in this point which now you censure him, And pulled the law upon you.
ANGELO	’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall. I not deny The jury passing on the prisoner’s life May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two Guiltier than him they try. What knows the law That thieves do pass on thieves? What’s open made to justice, That justice seizes. ’Tis very pregnant: The jewel that we find, we stoop and take’t Because we see it, but what we do not see We tread upon and never think of it. You may not so extenuate his offence For I have had such faults; but rather tell me, When I that censure him do so offend, Let mine own judgement pattern out my death, And nothing come in partial. Sir, he must die.
ESCALUS	Be it as your wisdom will.
ANGELO	Where is the Provost?
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Here, if it like your honour.
ANGELO	See that Claudio Be execute by nine tomorrow morning. Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared, For that’s the utmost of his pilgrimage.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
ESCALUS	Well, heaven forgive him, and forgive us all! Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. Some run from brakes of vice, and answer none; And some condemned for a fault alone.
(didascalia)	Enter Elbow, Froth, Pompey, and officers
ELBOW	Come, bring them away. If these be good people in a commonweal, that do nothing but use their abuses in common houses, I know no law. Bring them away.
ANGELO	How now, sir? What’s your name? And what’s the matter?
ELBOW	If it please your honour, I am the poor Duke’s constable, and my name is Elbow. I do lean upon justice, sir; and do bring in here before your good honour two notorious benefactors.
ANGELO	Benefactors? Welll What benefactors are they? Are they not malefactors?
ELBOW	If it please your honour, I know not well what they are; but precise villains they are, that I am sure of, and void of all profanation in the world that good Christians ought to have.
ESCALUS	(to Angelo) This comes off well; here’s a wise officer!
ANGELO	Go to, what quality are they of? Elbow is your name? Why dost thou not speak, Elbow?
POMPEY	He cannot, sir; he’s out at elbow.
ANGELO	What are you, sir?
ELBOW	He, sir? A tapster, sir, parcel bawd; one that serves a bad woman whose house, sir, was, as they say, plucked down in the suburbs; and now she professes a hot-house, which I think is a very ill house too.
ESCALUS	How know you that?
ELBOW	My wife, sir, whom I detest before heaven and your honour—
ESCALUS	How, thy wife?
ELBOW	Ay, sir, whom I thank heaven is an honest woman—
ESCALUS	Dost thou detest her therefor?
ELBOW	I say, sir, I will detest myself also, as well as she, that this house, if it be not a bawd’s house, it is pity of her life, for it is a naughty house.
ESCALUS	How dost thou know that, constable?
ELBOW	Marry, sir, by my wife, who, if she had been a woman cardinally given, might have been accused in fornication, adultery, and all uncleanliness there.
ESCALUS	By the woman’s means?
ELBOW	Ay, sir, by Mistress Overdone’s means. But as she spit in his face, so she defied him.
POMPEY	(to Escalus) Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so.
ELBOW	Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable man, prove it.
ESCALUS	(to Angelo) Do you hear how he misplaces?
POMPEY	Sir, she came in great with child, and longing-saving your honour’s reverence—for stewed prunes. Sir, we had but two in the house, which at that very distant time stood, as it were, in a fruit dish—a dish of some threepence; your honours have seen such dishes; they are not china dishes, but very good dishes.
ESCALUS	Go to, go to, no matter for the dish, sir.
POMPEY	No, indeed, sir, not of a pin; you are therein in the right. But to the point. As I say, this Mistress Elbow, being, as I say, with child, and being great-bellied, and longing, as I said, for prunes; and having but two in the dish, as I said, Master Froth here, this very man, having eaten the rest, as I said, and, as I say, paying for them very honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could not give you threepence again.
FROTH	No, indeed.
POMPEY	Very well. You being, then, if you be remembered, cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes—
FROTH	Ay, so I did indeed.
POMPEY	Why, very well.—I telling you then, if you be remembered, that such a one and such a one were past cure of the thing you wot of, unless they kept very good diet, as I told you—
FROTH	All this is true. no
POMPEY	Why, very well then—
ESCALUS	Come, you are a tedious fool. To the purpose. What was done to Elbow’s wife that he hath cause to complain of? Come me to what was done to her.
POMPEY	Sir, your honour cannot come to that yet.
ESCALUS	No, sir, nor I mean it not.
POMPEY	Sir, but you shall come to it, by your honour’s leave. And I beseech you, look into Master Froth here, sir, a man of fourscore pound a year, whose father died at Hallowmas—was’t not at Hallowmas, Master Froth?
FROTH	All Hallow Eve.
POMPEY	Why, very well. I hope here be truths. He, sir, sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir—’twas in the Bunch of Grapes, where indeed you have a delight to sit, have you not?
FROTH	I have so, because it is an open room, and good for winter.
POMPEY	Why, very well then. I hope here be truths.
ANGELO	This will last out a night in Russia, When nights are longest there. (To Escalus) I’ll take my leave, And leave you to the hearing of the cause, Hoping you’ll find good cause to whip them all.
ESCALUS	I think no less. Good morrow to your lordship.
(didascalia)	Exit Angelo
ESCALUS	Now, sir, come on, what was done to Elbow’s wife, once more?
POMPEY	Once, sir? There was nothing done to her once.
ELBOW	I beseech you, sir, ask him what this man did to my wife.
POMPEY	I beseech your honour, ask me.
ESCALUS	Well, sir, what did this gentleman to her?
POMPEY	I beseech you, sir, look in this gentleman’s face. Good Master Froth, look upon his honour. ’Tis for a good purpose. Doth your honour mark his face?
ESCALUS	Ay, sir, very well.
POMPEY	Nay, I beseech you, mark it well.
ESCALUS	Well, I do so.
POMPEY	Doth your honour see any harm in his face?
ESCALUS	Why, no.
POMPEY	I’ll be supposed upon a book his face is the worst thing about him. Good, then—if his face be the worst thing about him, how could Master Froth do the constable’s wife any harm? I would know that of your honour.
ESCALUS	He’s in the right, constable; what say you to it?
ELBOW	First, an it like you, the house is a respected house; next, this is a respected fellow; and his mistress is a respected woman.
POMPEY	(to Escalus) By this hand, sir, his wife is a more respected person than any of us all.
ELBOW	Varlet, thou liest; thou liest, wicked varlet. The time is yet to come that she was ever respected with man, woman, or child.
POMPEY	Sir, she was respected with him before he married with her.
ESCALUS	Which is the wiser here, justice or iniquity? (To Elbow) Is this true?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) O thou caitiff, O thou varlet, O thou wicked Hanniball I respected with her before I was married to her? (To Escalus) If ever I was respected with her, or she with me, let not your worship think me the poor Duke’s officer. (To Pompey) Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or I’ll have mine action of battery on thee.
ESCALUS	If he took you a box o’th’ ear you might have your action of slander too.
ELBOW	Marry, I thank your good worship for it. What is’t your worship’s pleasure I shall do with this wicked caitiff?
ESCALUS	Truly, officer, because he hath some offences in him that thou wouldst discover if thou couldst, let him continue in his courses till thou knowest what they are.
ELBOW	Marry, I thank your worship for it.—Thou seest, thou wicked varlet now, what’s come upon thee. Thou art to continue now, thou varlet, thou art to continue.
ESCALUS	(to Froth) Where were you born, friend?
FROTH	Here in Vienna, sir.
ESCALUS	Are you of fourscore pounds a year?
FROTH	Yes, an’t please you, sir.
ESCALUS	So. (To Pompey) What trade are you of, sir?
POMPEY	A tapster, a poor widow’s tapster.
ESCALUS	Your mistress’s name?
POMPEY	Mistress Overdone.
ESCALUS	Hath she had any more than one husband?
POMPEY	Nine, sir—Overdone by the last.
ESCALUS	Nine?—Come hither to me, Master Froth. Master Froth, I would not have you acquainted with tapsters. They will draw you, Master Froth, and you will hang them. Get you gone, and let me hear no more of you.
FROTH	I thank your worship. For mine own part, I never come into any room in a tap-house but I am drawn in.
ESCALUS	Well, no more of it, Master Froth. Farewell.
(didascalia)	Exit Froth
ESCALUS	Come you hither to me, Master Tapster. What’s your name, Master Tapster?
POMPEY	Pompey.
ESCALUS	What else?
POMPEY	Bum, sir.
ESCALUS	Troth, and your bum is the greatest thing about you; so that, in the beastliest sense, you are Pompey the Great. Pompey, you are partly a bawd, Pompey, howsoever you colour it in being a tapster, are you not? Come, tell me true; it shall be the better for you.
POMPEY	Truly, sir, I am a poor fellow that would live.
ESCALUS	How would you live, Pompey? By being a bawd? What do you think of the trade, Pompey? Is it a lawful trade?
POMPEY	If the law would allow it, sir.
ESCALUS	But the law will not allow it, Pompey; nor it shall not be allowed in Vienna.
POMPEY	Does your worship mean to geld and spay all the youth of the city?
ESCALUS	No, Pompey.
POMPEY	Truly, sir, in my poor opinion they will to’t then. If your worship will take order for the drabs and the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds.
ESCALUS	There is pretty orders beginning, I can tell you. It is but heading and hanging.
POMPEY	If you head and hang all that offend that way but for ten year together, you’ll be glad to give out a commission for more heads. If this law hold in Vienna ten year, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay. If you live to see this come to pass, say Pompey told you so.
ESCALUS	Thank you, good Pompey; and in requital of your prophecy, hark you. I advise you, let me not find you before me again upon any complaint whatsoever; no, not for dwelling where you do. If I do, Pompey, I shall beat you to your tent, and prove a shrewd Caesar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall have you whipped. So for this time, Pompey, fare you well.
(didascalia)	POMPEY I thank your worship for your good counsel; aside but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall better determine. Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade. The valiant heart’s not whipped out of his trade. Exit
ESCALUS	Come hither to me, Master Elbow; come hither, Master Constable. How long have you been in this place of constable?
ELBOW	Seven year and a half, sir.
ESCALUS	I thought, by the readiness in the office, you had continued in it some time. You say seven years together?
ELBOW	And a half, sir.
ESCALUS	Alas, it hath been great pains to you. They do you wrong to put you so oft upon’t. Are there not men in your ward sufficient to serve it?
ELBOW	Faith, sir, few of any wit in such matters. As they are chosen, they are glad to choose me for them. I do it for some piece of money, and go through with all.
ESCALUS	Look you bring me in the names of some six or seven, the most sufficient of your parish.
ELBOW	To your worship’s house, sir?
ESCALUS	To my house. Fare you well.
(didascalia)	Exit Elbow with officers
ESCALUS	What’s o’clock, think you?
JUSTICE	Eleven, sir.
ESCALUS	I pray you home to dinner with me.
JUSTICE	I humbly thank you.
ESCALUS	It grieves me for the death of Claudio, But there’s no remedy.
JUSTICE	Lord Angelo is severe.
ESCALUS	It is but needful. Mercy is not itself that oft looks so. Pardon is still the nurse of second woe. But yet, poor Claudio! There is no remedy. Come, sir.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Angelo, Escalo e servi; un Giudice
ANGELO	Non dobbiamo fare della legge uno spauracchio, drizzandola a spaventare gli uccelli rapaci, e lasciarle una sola forma finché l’uso la faccia loro posatoio, e non loro terrore.
ESCALO	Sì, eppure siamo affilati, e tagliamo piuttosto un poco che piombare e ammaccare a morte. Ahimè, questo gentiluomo che vorrei salvare ebbe un padre nobilissimo. Sappia solo vostro onore— che credo rettissimo nella virtù— che nell’operare dei vostri propri affetti, se il tempo avesse coinciso col luogo, o il luogo col volere, o se il risoluto agire del vostro sangue avesse potuto raggiungere l’effetto del vostro proposito— se voi non abbiate qualche volta nella vita errato in quel punto per cui ora lo condannate, e tirata la legge su di voi.
ANGELO	Una cosa è essere tentati, Escalo, altra cosa è cadere. Non nego che la giuria che giudica la vita del prigioniero possa fra i dodici giurati avere un ladro o due più colpevoli di colui che processa. Che ne sa la legge che ladri giudichino ladri? Ciò che è messo allo scoperto della giustizia, quello la giustizia afferra. È cosa evidentissima: il gioiello che troviamo, ci chiniamo e lo prendiamo perché lo vediamo, ma ciò che non vediamo lo calpestiamo e mai vi pensiamo. Non potete così attenuare la sua colpa perché io abbia avuto tali difetti; ma piuttosto ditemi, quando io che lo condanno commetta la stessa offesa, che il mio proprio giudizio tracci il modello della mia morte, e nulla intervenga per parzialità. Signore, deve morire.
ESCALO	Sia come vuole la vostra saggezza.
ANGELO	Dov’è il Prevosto?
(didascalia)	Entra il Prevosto
PREVOSTO	Qui, se piace a vostro onore.
ANGELO	Badate che Claudio sia giustiziato per le nove di domattina. Portategli il suo confessore, sia preparato, ché quello è l’estremo del suo pellegrinaggio.
(didascalia)	Esce il Prevosto
ESCALO	Bene, il cielo perdoni lui, e perdoni tutti noi! Alcuni salgono col peccato, e altri per virtù cadono. Alcuni corrono per i roveti del vizio, e non ne rispondono; e altri son condannati per un solo fallo.
(didascalia)	Entrano Elbow, Froth, Pompeo e ufficiali
ELBOW	Su, portateli via. Se questa è brava gente in uno Stato, che non fa altro che usare i suoi abusi in case comuni, allora io non conosco legge. Portateli via.
ANGELO	Ebbene, signore? Qual è il vostro nome? E di che si tratta?
ELBOW	Con licenza di vostro onore, io sono il povero conestabile del Duca, e il mio nome è Elbow. Io mi appoggio sulla giustizia, signore; e conduco qui davanti al vostro buon onore due notori benefattori.
ANGELO	Benefattori? Bene! Che benefattori sono? Non sono piuttosto malefattori?
ELBOW	Con licenza di vostro onore, non so bene che cosa siano; ma che siano precisi furfanti, di questo son certo, e privi d’ogni profanazione al mondo che i buoni cristiani dovrebbero avere.
ESCALO	(ad Angelo) Questa vien fuori bene; ecco un savio ufficiale!
ANGELO	Andiamo, di che qualità sono? Elbow è il tuo nome? Perché non parli, Elbow?
POMPEO	Non può, signore; è scucito al gomito.
ANGELO	Che cosa siete voi, signore?
ELBOW	Lui, signore? Uno spillatore, signore, mezzo ruffiano; uno che serve una cattiva donna la cui casa, signore, fu, a quanto dicono, abbattuta nei sobborghi; e ora ella professa una casa di bagni caldi, che credo sia anch’essa una pessima casa.
ESCALO	Come lo sapete?
ELBOW	Mia moglie, signore, che io detesto davanti al cielo e a vostro onore—
ESCALO	Come, tua moglie?
ELBOW	Sì, signore, la quale, ringrazio il cielo, è donna onesta—
ESCALO	E la detesti per questo?
ELBOW	Io dico, signore, che detesterò anche me stesso, così bene come lei, che questa casa, se non è casa di ruffiana, è un peccato per la sua vita, ché è una casa sconcia.
ESCALO	E come lo sai, conestabile?
ELBOW	Perbacco, signore, da mia moglie, la quale, se fosse stata donna cardinalmente inclinata, avrebbe potuto essere accusata là dentro di fornicazione, adulterio e ogni immondezza.
ESCALO	Per opera di quella donna?
ELBOW	Sì, signore, per opera di Mistress Overdone. Ma come lei gli sputò in faccia, così lo sfidò.
POMPEO	(a Escalo) Signore, con licenza di vostro onore, non è così.
ELBOW	Provalo davanti a questi manigoldi qui, tu uomo onorevole, provalo.
ESCALO	(ad Angelo) Sentite come sposta le parole?
POMPEO	Signore, ella entrò grossa d’un figlio, e con voglia—salva la riverenza di vostro onore—di prugne cotte. Signore, non ne avevamo che due in casa, le quali in quel medesimo distante tempo stavano, per così dire, in un piatto da frutta—un piatto da tre soldi; le vostre signorie hanno visto piatti simili; non son piatti di porcellana, ma piatti buonissimi.
ESCALO	Andiamo, andiamo, non importa del piatto, signore.
POMPEO	No, davvero, signore, non vale uno spillo; in questo avete ragione. Ma veniamo al punto. Come dico, questa Mistress Elbow, essendo, come dico, gravida d’un figlio, e avendo la pancia grossa, e avendo voglia, come ho detto, di prugne; e non essendocene che due nel piatto, come ho detto, avendone messer Froth qui, quest’uomo medesimo, mangiato il resto, come ho detto, e, come dico, pagandole assai onestamente; ché, come sapete, messer Froth, io non potevo rendervi i tre soldi.
FROTH	No, davvero.
POMPEO	Molto bene. Voi essendo allora, se ben vi ricordate, a schiacciare i noccioli delle suddette prugne—
FROTH	Sì, così facevo davvero.
POMPEO	Ecco, molto bene.—Io dicendovi allora, se ben vi ricordate, che il tale e il tal altro erano inguaribili di quella cosa che sapete, se non tenevano ottima dieta, come vi dissi—
FROTH	Tutto questo è vero. no
POMPEO	Ecco, molto bene allora—
ESCALO	Su, sei un tedioso sciocco. Al punto. Che cosa fu fatto alla moglie di Elbow, di cui egli abbia motivo di lagnarsi? Vieni a ciò che le fu fatto.
POMPEO	Signore, vostro onore non può ancora venire a quello.
ESCALO	No, signore, né lo intendo.
POMPEO	Signore, ma ci verrete, con licenza di vostro onore. E vi supplico, guardate bene messer Froth qui, signore, uomo da ottanta sterline l’anno, il cui padre morì a Ognissanti—non fu a Ognissanti, messer Froth?
FROTH	La vigilia d’Ognissanti.
POMPEO	Ecco, molto bene. Spero che qui ci siano verità. Egli, signore, sedendo, come dico, in una sedia bassa, signore—era al Grappolo d’Uva, dove invero avete diletto di sedere, non è vero?
FROTH	Sì, l’ho, perché è una stanza aperta, e buona per l’inverno.
POMPEO	Ecco, molto bene allora. Spero che qui ci siano verità.
ANGELO	Questo durerà quanto una notte in Russia, quando là le notti son più lunghe. (A Escalo) Prendo congedo, e vi lascio all’udienza della causa, sperando che troverete buona causa di farli frustare tutti.
ESCALO	Non penso di meno. Buon giorno a vostra signoria.
(didascalia)	Esce Angelo
ESCALO	Ora, signore, avanti, che cosa fu fatto alla moglie di Elbow, ancora una volta?
POMPEO	Una volta, signore? Non le fu fatto niente una volta.
ELBOW	Vi supplico, signore, chiedetegli che cosa quest’uomo fece a mia moglie.
POMPEO	Supplico vostro onore, chiedetelo a me.
ESCALO	Bene, signore, che le fece questo gentiluomo?
POMPEO	Vi supplico, signore, guardate in faccia questo gentiluomo. Buon messer Froth, guardate il suo onore. È per un buon fine. Nota vostro onore la sua faccia?
ESCALO	Sì, signore, molto bene.
POMPEO	No, vi supplico, notatela bene.
ESCALO	Bene, lo faccio.
POMPEO	Vede vostro onore alcun male nella sua faccia?
ESCALO	Ma no.
POMPEO	Sarò supposto sopra un libro che la sua faccia è la cosa peggiore che abbia. Bene, dunque—se la sua faccia è la cosa peggiore che abbia, come poteva messer Froth fare alcun male alla moglie del conestabile? Vorrei saperlo da vostro onore.
ESCALO	Ha ragione, conestabile; che ne dite?
ELBOW	Primo, con vostra licenza, la casa è una casa rispettata; secondo, costui è un tipo rispettato; e la sua padrona è una donna rispettata.
POMPEO	(a Escalo) Per questa mano, signore, sua moglie è persona più rispettata di tutti noi.
ELBOW	Manigoldo, tu menti; tu menti, malvagio manigoldo. Deve ancora venire il tempo in cui ella sia mai stata rispettata con uomo, donna o fanciullo.
POMPEO	Signore, ella fu rispettata con lui prima ch’egli la sposasse.
ESCALO	Chi è il più savio qui, la giustizia o l’iniquità? (A Elbow) È vero questo?
ELBOW	(a Pompeo) O tu scellerato, o tu manigoldo, o tu malvagio Annibale! Io rispettato con lei prima d’esserle sposato? (A Escalo) Se mai fui rispettato con lei, o lei con me, non mi tenga vossignoria per il povero ufficiale del Duca. (A Pompeo) Prova questo, malvagio Annibale, o intenterò contro di te la mia azione per percosse.
ESCALO	Se ti desse uno schiaffo sull’orecchio, potresti avere anche la tua azione per calunnia.
ELBOW	Perbacco, ne ringrazio la vostra buona signoria. Che cosa piace a vossignoria ch’io faccia di questo malvagio scellerato?
ESCALO	In verità, ufficiale, poiché egli ha in sé certe colpe che tu scopriresti se potessi, lascialo continuare nelle sue pratiche finché tu non sappia quali sono.
ELBOW	Perbacco, ne ringrazio vossignoria.—Vedi, malvagio manigoldo, ora, che cosa t’è capitato. Tu devi continuare adesso, manigoldo, tu devi continuare.
ESCALO	(a Froth) Dove siete nato, amico?
FROTH	Qui in Vienna, signore.
ESCALO	Avete ottanta sterline l’anno?
FROTH	Sì, con vostra licenza, signore.
ESCALO	Bene. (A Pompeo) Di che mestiere siete, signore?
POMPEO	Spillatore, spillatore d’una povera vedova.
ESCALO	Il nome della vostra padrona?
POMPEO	Mistress Overdone.
ESCALO	Ha avuto più d’un marito?
POMPEO	Nove, signore—Overdone dall’ultimo.
ESCALO	Nove?—Venite qui da me, messer Froth. Messer Froth, non vorrei che frequentaste spillatori. Essi vi spilleranno, messer Froth, e voi li farete impiccare. Andatevene, e ch’io non senta più parlare di voi.
FROTH	Ringrazio vossignoria. Per parte mia, non entro mai in una stanza d’una casa da spillare senza esservi tirato dentro.
ESCALO	Bene, basta così, messer Froth. Addio.
(didascalia)	Esce Froth
ESCALO	Venite qui da me, messer Spillatore. Qual è il vostro nome, messer Spillatore?
POMPEO	Pompeo.
ESCALO	E poi?
POMPEO	Culo, signore.
ESCALO	In fede, e il tuo culo è la cosa più grande che tu abbia; sicché, nel senso più bestiale, sei Pompeo il Grande. Pompeo, sei in parte un ruffiano, Pompeo, comunque tu lo colori con l’essere spillatore, non è vero? Su, dimmi il vero; sarà meglio per te.
POMPEO	In verità, signore, sono un pover’uomo che vorrebbe vivere.
ESCALO	E come vorresti vivere, Pompeo? Facendo il ruffiano? Che pensi del mestiere, Pompeo? È un mestiere lecito?
POMPEO	Se la legge lo permettesse, signore.
ESCALO	Ma la legge non lo permetterà, Pompeo; né sarà permesso in Vienna.
POMPEO	Intende vossignoria castrare e sterilizzare tutta la gioventù della città?
ESCALO	No, Pompeo.
POMPEO	In verità, signore, a mio povero parere ci si metteranno allora. Se vossignoria provvederà alle sgualdrine e ai furfanti, non c’è bisogno di temere i ruffiani.
ESCALO	Cominciano dei bei provvedimenti, ve lo posso dire. Non c’è che decapitare e impiccare.
POMPEO	Se decapitate e impiccate tutti quelli che offendono per quella via anche solo per dieci anni di fila, sarete lieti di emanare una commissione per aver altre teste. Se questa legge dura in Vienna dieci anni, affitterò la più bella casa della città a tre soldi la campata. Se vivrete tanto da veder ciò accadere, dite che Pompeo ve l’aveva detto.
ESCALO	Grazie, buon Pompeo; e in ricompensa della tua profezia, ascolta. Ti avverto: che io non ti trovi più davanti a me per qualsivoglia denuncia; no, neppure per abitare dove abiti. Se accade, Pompeo, ti ricaccerò a bastonate nella tua tenda, e sarò per te un accorto Cesare; a parlar chiaro, Pompeo, ti farò frustare. Dunque per questa volta, Pompeo, sta’ bene.
(didascalia)	POMPEO Ringrazio vossignoria del buon consiglio; a parte ma lo seguirò come la carne e la fortuna meglio determineranno. Frustarmi? No, no; il carrettiere frusti la sua rozza. Il cuore valoroso non si lascia frustare fuori dal suo mestiere. Esce
ESCALO	Venite qui da me, messer Elbow; venite qui, messer Conestabile. Da quanto tempo siete in questo posto di conestabile?
ELBOW	Sette anni e mezzo, signore.
ESCALO	Pensavo, dalla prontezza nell’ufficio, che vi foste rimasto qualche tempo. Dite sette anni di fila?
ELBOW	E mezzo, signore.
ESCALO	Ahimè, è stata gran fatica per voi. Vi fanno torto a mettervici così spesso. Non ci sono uomini nel vostro quartiere capaci di servirlo?
ELBOW	In fede, signore, pochi con un po’ d’ingegno in tali materie. Quando son scelti, sono ben contenti di scegliere me al posto loro. Lo faccio per qualche pezzo di denaro, e sbrigo tutto.
ESCALO	Badate di portarmi i nomi di sei o sette, i più capaci della vostra parrocchia.
ELBOW	Alla casa di vossignoria, signore?
ESCALO	Alla mia casa. State bene.
(didascalia)	Esce Elbow con gli ufficiali
ESCALO	Che ora è, secondo voi?
GIUDICE	Le undici, signore.
ESCALO	Vi prego a casa a pranzo con me.
GIUDICE	Umilmente vi ringrazio.
ESCALO	Mi duole per la morte di Claudio, ma non c’è rimedio.
GIUDICE	Il signor Angelo è severo.
ESCALO	È solo necessario. La clemenza non è tale, quella che spesso lo sembra. Il perdono è sempre la nutrice d’una seconda sciagura. Eppure, povero Claudio! Non c’è rimedio. Venite, signore.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and a Servant
SERVANT	He’s hearing of a cause; he will come straight. I’ll tell him of you.
PROVOST	Pray you do.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
PROVOST	I’ll know His pleasure; maybe he will relent. Alas, He hath but as offended in a dream. All sects, all ages, smack of this vice; and he To die for’t!
(didascalia)	Enter
PROVOST	Angelo
ANGELO	Now, what’s the matter, Provost?
PROVOST	Is it your will Claudio shall die tomorrow?
ANGELO	Did not I tell thee yea? Hadst thou not order? Why dost thou ask again?
PROVOST	Lest I might be too rash. Under your good correction, I have seen When after execution judgement hath Repented o’er his doom.
ANGELO	Go to; let that be mine. Do you your office, or give up your place, And you shall well be spared.
PROVOST	I crave your honour’s pardon. What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet? She’s very near her hour.
ANGELO	Dispose of her To some more fitter place, and that with speed.
(didascalia)	Enter Servant
SERVANT	Here is the sister of the man condemned Desires access to you.
ANGELO	Hath he a sister?
PROVOST	Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a sisterhood, If not already.
ANGELO	Well, let her be admitted.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
ANGELO	See you the fornicatress be removed. Let her have needful but not lavish means. There shall be order for’t.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio and Isabella
PROVOST	God save your honour.
ANGELO	Stay a little while. (To Isabella) You’re welcome. What’s your will?
ISABELLA	I am a woeful suitor to your honour. Please but your honour hear me.
ANGELO	Well, what’s your suit?
ISABELLA	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.
ANGELO	Well, the matter?
ISABELLA	I have a brother is condemned to die. I do beseech you, let it be his fault, And not my brother.
PROVOST	(aside) Heaven give thee moving graces!
ANGELO	Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? Why, every fault’s condemned 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.
ISABELLA	O just but severe law! I had a brother, then. Heaven keep your honour.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Give’t not o’er so. To him again; entreat him. Kneel down before him; hang upon his gown. You are too cold. If you should need a pin, You could not with more tame a tongue desire it. To him, I say!
ISABELLA	(to Angelo) Must he needs die?
ANGELO	Maiden, no remedy.
ISABELLA	Yes, I do think that you might pardon him, And neither heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.
ANGELO	I will not do’t.
ISABELLA	But can you if you would?
ANGELO	Look what I will not, that I cannot do.
ISABELLA	But might you do’t, and do the world no wrong, If so your heart were touched with that remorse As mine is to him?
ANGELO	He’s sentenced; ’tis too late.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) You are too cold.
ISABELLA	Too late? Why, no; I that do speak a word May call it 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 slipped like him, but he, like you, Would not have been so stern.
ANGELO	Pray you be gone.
ISABELLA	I would to heaven I had your potency, And you were Isabel! Should it then be thus? No; I would tell what ’twere to be a judge, And what a prisoner.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Ay, touch him; there’s the vein.
ANGELO	Your brother is a forfeit of the law, And you but waste your words.
ISABELLA	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.
ANGELO	Be you content, fair maid. It is the law, not I, condemn your brother. Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son, It should be thus with him. He must die tomorrow.
ISABELLA	Tomorrow? O, that’s sudden! Spare him, spare him! He’s not prepared 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.
ANGELO	The law hath not been dead, though it hath slept. Those many had not dared to do that evil If the first that did th‘edict infringe Had answered 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 raw, or by remissness new conceived And so in progress to be hatched and born, Are now to have no successive degrees, But ere they live, to end.
ISABELLA	Yet show some pity.
ANGELO	I show it most of all when I show justice, For then I pity those I do not know Which a dismissed offence would after gall, And do him right that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied. Your brother dies tomorrow. Be content.
ISABELLA	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	(aside to Isabella) That’s well said.
ISABELLA	Could great men thunder As Jove himself does, Jove would never 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 gnarlèd oak Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man, Dressed in a little brief authority, Most ignorant of what he’s most assured, His glassy essence, like an angry ape Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven As makes the angels weep, who, with our spleens, Would all themselves laugh mortal.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) O, to him, to him, wench! He will relent. He’s coming; I perceive’t.
PROVOST	(aside) Pray heaven she win him!
ISABELLA	We cannot weigh our brother with ourself. Great men may jest with saints; ’tis wit in them, But in the less, foul profanation.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Thou’rt i’th’ right, girl. More o’ that.
ISABELLA	That in the captain’s but a choleric word, Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Art advised o’ that? More on’t.
ANGELO	Why do you put these sayings upon me?
ISABELLA	Because authority, though it err like others, Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself That skins the vice o’th’ 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.
ANGELO	(aside) She speaks, and ’tis such sense That my sense breeds with it. (To Isabella) Fare you well.
ISABELLA	Gentle my lord, turn back.
ANGELO	I will bethink me. Come again tomorrow.
ISABELLA	Hark how I’ll bribe you; good my lord, turn back.
ANGELO	How, bribe me?
ISABELLA	Ay, with such gifts that heaven shall share with you.
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) You had marred all else.
ISABELLA	Not with fond shekels of the tested gold, Or stones, whose rate 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.
ANGELO	Well, come to me tomorrow
LUCIO	(aside to Isabella) Go to; ’tis well; away.
ISABELLA	Heaven keep your honour safe.
ANGELO	(aside) Amen; For I am that way going to temptation, Where prayer is crossed.
ISABELLA	At what hour tomorrow Shall I attend your lordship?
ANGELO	At any time fore noon.
ISABELLA	God save your honour.
ANGELO	(aside) From thee; even from thy virtue. Exeunt Isabella, Lucio, and Provost 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 I 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? O 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 till now When men were fond, I smiled, and wondered how.
(didascalia)	Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Prevosto e un Servo
SERVO	Sta ascoltando una causa; verrà subito. Gli dirò di voi.
PREVOSTO	Fatelo, vi prego.
(didascalia)	Esce il Servo
PREVOSTO	Conoscerò il suo piacere; forse s’intenerirà. Ahimè, egli non ha peccato che in un sogno. Ogni setta, ogni età sa di questo vizio; ed egli morire per questo!
(didascalia)	Entra
PREVOSTO	Angelo
ANGELO	Dunque, che c’è, Prevosto?
PREVOSTO	È vostra volontà che Claudio muoia domani?
ANGELO	Non ti dissi di sì? Non avesti l’ordine? Perché lo domandi di nuovo?
PREVOSTO	Per non essere troppo avventato. Con vostra buona correzione, ho veduto che dopo l’esecuzione il giudizio si è pentito della sua condanna.
ANGELO	Andiamo; quello sia affar mio. Fate il vostro ufficio, o cedete il vostro posto, e sarete bene risparmiato.
PREVOSTO	Imploro il perdono di vostro onore. Che si farà, signore, della gemente Giulietta? È vicinissima alla sua ora.
ANGELO	Disponetela in qualche luogo più adatto, e questo con prestezza.
(didascalia)	Entra il Servo
SERVO	C’è qui la sorella del condannato che desidera accesso a voi.
ANGELO	Ha una sorella?
PREVOSTO	Sì, mio buon signore; fanciulla virtuosissima, e fra poco di una sorellanza, se già non lo è.
ANGELO	Bene, sia ammessa.
(didascalia)	Esce il Servo
ANGELO	Badate che la fornicatrice sia trasferita. Abbia il necessario ma non mezzi larghi. Se ne darà ordine.
(didascalia)	Entrano Lucio e Isabella
PREVOSTO	Dio salvi vostro onore.
ANGELO	Trattenetevi un poco. (A Isabella) Siate la benvenuta. Qual è la vostra volontà?
ISABELLA	Sono una dolente supplice a vostro onore. Piaccia solo a vostro onore ascoltarmi.
ANGELO	Bene, qual è la vostra supplica?
ISABELLA	V’è un vizio che sopra ogni altro aborro, e sopra ogni altro desidero incontri il colpo della giustizia, per il quale non vorrei perorare, se non dovessi; per il quale non devo perorare, se non fossi in guerra fra il volere e il non volere.
ANGELO	Bene, la faccenda?
ISABELLA	Ho un fratello ch’è condannato a morire. Vi supplico, sia condannata la sua colpa, e non mio fratello.
PREVOSTO	(a parte) Il cielo ti dia grazie che commuovano!
ANGELO	Condannare la colpa, e non chi l’ha commessa? Ma ogni colpa è condannata prima ancora d’esser fatta. La mia sarebbe la cifra vuota d’un ufficio, multare le colpe la cui multa sta scritta nei registri, e lasciar correre chi le compie.
ISABELLA	O legge giusta ma severa! Avevo un fratello, dunque. Il cielo custodisca vostro onore.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Non cedete così. Da lui di nuovo; supplicatelo. Inginocchiatevi davanti a lui; aggrappatevi alla sua veste. Siete troppo fredda. Se vi occorresse uno spillo, non lo chiedereste con lingua più mansueta. Da lui, vi dico!
ISABELLA	(ad Angelo) Deve proprio morire?
ANGELO	Fanciulla, non c’è rimedio.
ISABELLA	Sì, io penso che potreste perdonarlo, e né cielo né uomo si dorrebbe di quella clemenza.
ANGELO	Non lo farò.
ISABELLA	Ma potreste, se voleste?
ANGELO	Vedete, ciò che non voglio, quello non posso fare.
ISABELLA	Ma potreste farlo, e non fare torto al mondo, se il vostro cuore fosse tocco da quella pietà di cui il mio è tocco per lui?
ANGELO	È sentenziato; è troppo tardi.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Siete troppo fredda.
ISABELLA	Troppo tardi? Ma no; io che pronuncio una parola posso richiamarla. Bene, credete a questo, nessuna cerimonia che ai grandi appartenga, non la corona del re, né la spada delegata, il bastone del maresciallo, né la toga del giudice, li adorna con grazia neppure a metà così bella come fa la clemenza. Se egli fosse stato come voi e voi come lui, voi sareste scivolato al pari suo, ma egli, come voi, non sarebbe stato così duro.
ANGELO	Vi prego, andatevene.
ISABELLA	Volesse il cielo ch’io avessi la vostra potenza, e voi foste Isabella! Sarebbe allora così? No; io direi che cosa è essere giudice, e che cosa prigioniero.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Sì, toccatelo; là è la vena.
ANGELO	Vostro fratello è confiscato dalla legge, e voi non fate che sprecare parole.
ISABELLA	Ahimè, ahimè! Ma tutte le anime che furono, furono un tempo confiscate, e Colui che meglio d’ogni altro poteva prenderne vantaggio trovò il rimedio. Che sarebbe di voi se Colui ch’è il sommo del giudizio vi giudicasse quale voi siete? Oh, pensate a questo, e la clemenza allora spirerà entro le vostre labbra, come d’uomo rifatto nuovo.
ANGELO	Rassegnatevi, bella fanciulla. È la legge, non io, che condanna vostro fratello. Fosse mio parente, mio fratello, o mio figlio, gli andrebbe così. Deve morire domani.
ISABELLA	Domani? Oh, è troppo improvviso! Risparmiatelo, risparmiatelo! Non è preparato alla morte. Persino per le nostre cucine uccidiamo il volatile a stagione. Serviremo il cielo con minor riguardo di quanto provvediamo al nostro grossolano corpo? Buono, buon signore, pensateci: chi è mai morto per questa colpa? Molti l’hanno commessa.
LUCIO	(a parte) Sì, ben detto.
ANGELO	La legge non è stata morta, benché abbia dormito. Quei molti non avrebbero osato compiere quel male se il primo che infranse l’editto ne avesse risposto. Ora essa è desta, prende nota di ciò che si fa, e, come un profeta, guarda in uno specchio che mostra quali mali futuri, o non ancor formati, o per negligenza appena concepiti e così in cammino per essere covati e nati, ora non avranno gradi successivi, ma prima di vivere finiranno.
ISABELLA	Mostrate pure un po’ di pietà.
ANGELO	La mostro più di tutto quando mostro giustizia, ché allora ho pietà di quelli che non conosco e che una colpa impunita poi strazierebbe, e rendo giustizia a colui che, pagando un solo turpe torto, non vive a commetterne un altro. Rassegnatevi. Vostro fratello muore domani. Datevi pace.
ISABELLA	Così voi dovete essere il primo a dare questa sentenza, ed egli il primo a subirla. Oh, è cosa eccellente avere la forza d’un gigante, ma è tirannico usarla da gigante.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Questo è ben detto.
ISABELLA	Se i grandi potessero tuonare come Giove stesso, Giove non avrebbe mai quiete, ché ogni meschino piccolo ufficiale userebbe il suo cielo per tuonare, nient’altro che tuonare. Cielo misericordioso, tu piuttosto col tuo acuto e sulfureo fulmine spacchi la quercia nodosa e inspaccabile che il tenero mirto. Ma l’uomo, l’uomo superbo, vestito d’una piccola e breve autorità, ignorantissimo di ciò di cui è più certo, la sua vitrea essenza, come una scimmia adirata fa tali fantastiche buffonate davanti all’alto cielo da far piangere gli angeli, i quali, avendo la nostra milza, riderebbero tutti fino a farsi mortali.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Oh, addosso, addosso a lui, ragazza! Cederà. Sta venendo; me n’accorgo.
PREVOSTO	(a parte) Voglia il cielo ch’ella lo vinca!
ISABELLA	Non possiamo pesare nostro fratello con noi stessi. I grandi possono scherzare coi santi; in loro è arguzia, ma nei minori, turpe profanazione.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Hai ragione, ragazza. Ancora di questo.
ISABELLA	Ciò che nel capitano è solo parola collerica, nel soldato è bella e buona bestemmia.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Te ne intendi? Ancora su questo.
ANGELO	Perché mi rovesciate addosso queste sentenze?
ISABELLA	Perché l’autorità, benché erri come gli altri, ha pure in sé una specie di medicina che cicatrizza il vizio in superficie. Andate al vostro petto; bussate là, e chiedete al vostro cuore che cosa sappia di simile alla colpa di mio fratello. Se esso confessa una naturale colpevolezza, quale è la sua, non lasci risonare un solo pensiero sulla vostra lingua contro la vita di mio fratello.
ANGELO	(a parte) Ella parla, ed è tale senso che il mio senso ne germina. (A Isabella) State bene.
ISABELLA	Gentile mio signore, tornate indietro.
ANGELO	Ci penserò. Tornate domani.
ISABELLA	Udite come vi corromperò; buon signore, tornate indietro.
ANGELO	Come, corrompermi?
ISABELLA	Sì, con doni tali che il cielo li dividerà con voi.
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Altrimenti avreste rovinato tutto.
ISABELLA	Non con vani sicli d’oro saggiato, o con gemme, il cui prezzo è ricco o povero secondo che il capriccio le valuti; ma con vere preghiere, che saranno lassù in cielo ed entreranno là prima del levar del sole, preghiere d’anime preservate, di fanciulle digiune le cui menti son dedicate a nulla di temporale.
ANGELO	Bene, venite da me domani
LUCIO	(a parte, a Isabella) Andiamo; va bene; via.
ISABELLA	Il cielo tenga salvo vostro onore.
ANGELO	(a parte) Amen; ché per quella via io vado alla tentazione, dove la preghiera è contrastata.
ISABELLA	A quale ora domani dovrò presentarmi a vostra signoria?
ANGELO	A qualunque ora prima di mezzogiorno.
ISABELLA	Dio salvi vostro onore.
ANGELO	(a parte) Da te; proprio dalla tua virtù. Escono Isabella, Lucio e il Prevosto Che è questo? Che è questo? È sua colpa o mia? Il tentatore o il tentato, chi pecca di più, eh? Non lei; né ella tenta; ma sono io che, giacendo accanto alla violetta al sole, faccio come la carogna, non come il fiore, e mi corrompo alla virtuosa stagione. Può essere che la modestia tradisca i nostri sensi più della leggerezza d’una donna? Avendo terra incolta a sufficienza, desidereremo radere al suolo il santuario, e piantarvi le nostre latrine? Oh, vergogna, vergogna, vergogna! Che fai tu, o che sei tu, Angelo? La desideri turpemente per quelle cose che la fanno buona? Oh, viva pure suo fratello! I ladri hanno licenza per la loro rapina, quando i giudici rubano essi stessi. Come, l’amo io, che desidero udirla parlare ancora, e banchettare sui suoi occhi? Che cos’è che sogno? O astuto nemico, che per catturare un santo coi santi eschi il tuo amo! Pericolosissima è quella tentazione che ci sprona a peccare amando la virtù. Mai la meretrice, con tutto il suo doppio vigore—arte e natura— poté smuovere una volta il mio umore; ma questa virtuosa fanciulla mi soggioga del tutto. Sempre, fino a ora, quando gli uomini s’infatuavano, io sorridevo, e mi chiedevo come.
(didascalia)	Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter at one door the Duke, disguised as a friar, and at another door the Provost
DUKE	Hail to you, Provost!—so I think you are.
PROVOST	I am the Provost. What’s your will, good friar?
DUKE	Bound by my charity and my blest 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.
PROVOST	I would do more than that, if more were needful.
(didascalia)	Enter Juliet
PROVOST	Look, here comes one, a gentlewoman of mine, Who, falling in the flaws of her own youth, Hath blistered her report. She is with child, And he that got it, sentenced—a young man More fit to do another such offence Than die for this.
DUKE	When must he die?
PROVOST	As I do think, tomorrow. (To Juliet) I have provided for you. Stay a while, And you shall be conducted.
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 conscience, And try your penitence if it be sound Or hollowly put on.
JULIET	I’ll gladly learn.
DUKE	Love you the man that wronged you?
JULIET	Yes, as I love the woman that wronged 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.
JULIET	I do confess it and repent it, father.
DUKE	’Tis meet so, daughter. But lest you do repent As that the sin hath brought you to this shame— Which sorrow is always toward ourselves, not heaven, Showing we would not spare heaven as we love it, But as we stand in fear—
JULIET	I do repent me as it is an evil, And take the shame with joy.
DUKE	There rest. Your partner, as I hear, must die tomorrow, And I am going with instruction to him. Grace go with you. Benedicite! Exit
JULIET	Must die tomorrow? O injurious law, That respites me a life whose very comfort Is still a dying horror!
PROVOST	’Tis pity of him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt
PROVOST	2.4 Enter Angelo
ANGELO	When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words, Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel; God in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name, And in my heart the strong and swelling evil Of my conception. The state whereon I studied Is like a good thing, being often read, Grown seared and tedious. Yea, my gravity, Wherein—let no man hear me—I take pride, Could I with boot change for an idle plume Which the air beats in vain. O place, O form, How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood. Let’s write ‘good angel’ on the devil’s horn— ’Tis now the devil’s crest.
(didascalia)	Enter Servant
ANGELO	How now? Who’s there?
SERVANT	One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
ANGELO	Teach her the way.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
ANGELO	O heavens, Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, Making both it unable for itself, And dispossessing all my other parts Of necessary fitness? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons— Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive—and even so The general subject to a well-wished king Quit their own part and, in obsequious fondness, Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love Must needs appear offence.
(didascalia)	Enter
ANGELO	Isabella How now, fair maid?
ISABELLA	I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO	(aside) That you might know it would much better please me Than to demand what ’tis. (To Isabella) Your brother cannot live.
ISABELLA	Even so. Heaven keep your honour.
ANGELO	Yet may he live a while, and it may be As long as you or I. Yet he must die.
ISABELLA	Under your sentence?
ANGELO	Yea.
ISABELLA	When, I beseech you?—that in his reprieve, Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO	Ha, fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness that do coin God’s image In stamps that are forbid. ’Tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made As to put metal in restrained moulds, To make a false one.
ISABELLA	’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
ANGELO	Say you so? Then I shall pose you quickly. Which had you rather: that the most just law Now took your brother’s life, or, to redeem him, Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness As she that he hath stained?
ISABELLA	Sir, believe this. I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO	I talk not of your soul. Our compelled sins Stand more for number than for account.
ISABELLA	How say you?
ANGELO	Nay, I’ll not warrant that, for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this. I now, the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life. Might there not be a charity in sin To save this brother’s life?
ISABELLA	Please you to do’t, I’ll take it as a peril to my soul It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO	Pleased you to do’t at peril of your soul Were equal poise of sin and charity.
ISABELLA	That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven let me bear it. You granting of my suit, If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer.
ANGELO	Nay, but hear me. Your sense pursues not mine. Either you are ignorant, Or seem so craftily, and that’s not good.
ISABELLA	Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good But graciously to know I am no better.
ANGELO	Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could, displayed. But mark me. To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross. Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA	So.
ANGELO	And his offence is so, as it appears, Accountant to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA	True.
ANGELO	Admit no other way to save his life— As I subscribe not that nor any other— But, in the loss of question, that you his sister, Finding yourself desired of such a person Whose credit with the judge, or own great place, Could fetch your brother from the manacles Of the all-binding law, and that there were No earthly mean to save him, but that either You must lay down the treasures of your body To this supposed, or else to let him suffer— What would you do?
ISABELLA	As much for my poor brother as myself. That is, were I under the terms of death, Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies, And strip myself to death as to a bed That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield My body up to shame.
ANGELO	Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA	And ’twere the cheaper way. Better it were a brother died at once Than that a sister, by redeeming him, Should die for ever.
ANGELO	Were not you then as cruel as the sentence That you have slandered so?
ISABELLA	Ignominy in ransom and free pardon Are of two houses; lawful mercy Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
ANGELO	You seemed of late to make the law a tyrant, And rather proved the sliding of your brother A merriment than a vice.
ISABELLA	O pardon me, my lord. It oft falls out To have what we would have, we speak not what we mean. I something do excuse the thing I hate For his advantage that I dearly love.
ANGELO	We are all frail.
ISABELLA	Else let my brother die— If not a federy, but only he, Owe and succeed thy weakness.
ANGELO	Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA	Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Women? Help, heaven! Men their creation mar In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail, For we are soft as our complexions are, And credulous to false prints.
ANGELO	I think it well, And from this testimony of your own sex, Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger Than faults may shake our frames, let me be bold. I do arrest your words. Be that you are; That is, a woman. If you be more, you’re none. If you be one, as you are well expressed By all external warrants, show it now, By putting on the destined livery.
ISABELLA	I have no tongue but one. Gentle my lord, Let me entreat you speak the former language.
ANGELO	Plainly conceive, I love you.
ISABELLA	My brother did love Juliet, And you tell me that he shall die for it.
ANGELO	He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA	I know your virtue hath a licence in’t, Which seems a little fouler than it is, To pluck on others.
ANGELO	Believe me, on mine honour, My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA	Ha, little honour to be much believed, And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming! I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t. Sign me a present pardon for my brother, Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud What man thou art.
ANGELO	Who will believe thee, Isabel? My unsoiled name, th‘austereness of my life, My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state, Will so your accusation overweigh That you shall stifle in your own report, And smell of calumny. I have begun, And now I give my sensual race the rein. Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite. Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother By yielding up thy body to my will, Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To ling‘ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow, Or by the affection that now guides me most, I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you, Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.
(didascalia)	Exit
ISABELLA	To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Who would believe me? O perilous mouths, That bear in them one and the selfsame tongue Either of condemnation or approof, Bidding the law make curtsy to their will, Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite, To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother. Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood, Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour That had he twenty heads to tender down On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up Before his sister should her body stoop To such abhorred pollution. Then Isabel live chaste, and brother die: More than our brother is our chastity. I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request, And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
(didascalia)	Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano da una porta il Duca, travestito da frate, e da un’altra porta il Prevosto
DUCA	Salute a voi, Prevosto!—tale credo che siate.
PREVOSTO	Sono il Prevosto. Qual è il vostro volere, buon frate?
DUCA	Obbligato dalla mia carità e dal mio benedetto ordine, vengo a visitare gli spiriti afflitti qui nella prigione. Fatemi il comune diritto di lasciarmeli vedere, e di farmi conoscere la natura dei loro delitti, ch’io possa provvedere a loro di conseguenza.
PREVOSTO	Farei più di questo, se più fosse necessario.
(didascalia)	Entra Giulietta
PREVOSTO	Guardate, ne viene una, una gentildonna mia, che, caduta nelle crepe della propria giovinezza, ha bruciato la sua fama. È gravida d’un figlio, e colui che glielo diede è condannato—un giovane più adatto a commettere un’altra simile colpa che a morire per questa.
DUCA	Quando deve morire?
PREVOSTO	Domani, credo. (A Giulietta) Ho provveduto per voi. Attendete un poco, e sarete accompagnata.
DUCA	Vi pentite, bella, del peccato che portate?
GIULIETTA	Sì, e ne sopporto pazientissimamente la vergogna.
DUCA	V’insegnerò come chiamare in giudizio la vostra coscienza, e provare la vostra penitenza, se sia salda o vanamente indossata.
GIULIETTA	Volentieri imparerò.
DUCA	Amate l’uomo che vi ha fatto torto?
GIULIETTA	Sì, come amo la donna che a lui fece torto.
DUCA	Pare dunque che il vostro atto colpevolissimo fu commesso di mutuo accordo?
GIULIETTA	Di mutuo accordo.
DUCA	Allora il vostro peccato fu di specie più grave del suo.
GIULIETTA	Lo confesso e me ne pento, padre.
DUCA	Così conviene, figliola. Ma badate di non pentirvi solo perché il peccato v’ha portato a questa vergogna— quale dolore è sempre volto a noi stessi, non al cielo, e mostra che non risparmieremmo il cielo perché l’amiamo, ma perché ne abbiamo paura—
GIULIETTA	Me ne pento in quanto è un male, e accolgo la vergogna con gioia.
DUCA	Restate in questo. Il vostro compagno, a quanto sento, deve morire domani, e io vado a lui con istruzione. La grazia sia con voi. Benedicite! Esce
GIULIETTA	Deve morire domani? O legge ingiuriosa, che mi concede una vita il cui stesso conforto è ancora un orrore che muore!
PREVOSTO	Fa pietà per lui.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo
ANGELO	When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words, Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel; God in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name, And in my heart the strong and swelling evil Of my conception. The state whereon I studied Is like a good thing, being often read, Grown seared and tedious. Yea, my gravity, Wherein—let no man hear me—I take pride, Could I with boot change for an idle plume Which the air beats in vain. O place, O form, How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming! Blood, thou art blood. Let’s write ‘good angel’ on the devil’s horn— ’Tis now the devil’s crest.
(didascalia)	Enter Servant
ANGELO	How now? Who’s there?
SERVANT	One Isabel, a sister, desires access to you.
ANGELO	Teach her the way.
(didascalia)	Exit Servant
ANGELO	O heavens, Why does my blood thus muster to my heart, Making both it unable for itself, And dispossessing all my other parts Of necessary fitness? So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons— Come all to help him, and so stop the air By which he should revive—and even so The general subject to a well-wished king Quit their own part and, in obsequious fondness, Crowd to his presence, where their untaught love Must needs appear offence.
(didascalia)	Enter
ANGELO	Isabella How now, fair maid?
ISABELLA	I am come to know your pleasure.
ANGELO	(aside) That you might know it would much better please me Than to demand what ’tis. (To Isabella) Your brother cannot live.
ISABELLA	Even so. Heaven keep your honour.
ANGELO	Yet may he live a while, and it may be As long as you or I. Yet he must die.
ISABELLA	Under your sentence?
ANGELO	Yea.
ISABELLA	When, I beseech you?—that in his reprieve, Longer or shorter, he may be so fitted That his soul sicken not.
ANGELO	Ha, fie, these filthy vices! It were as good To pardon him that hath from nature stolen A man already made, as to remit Their saucy sweetness that do coin God’s image In stamps that are forbid. ’Tis all as easy Falsely to take away a life true made As to put metal in restrained moulds, To make a false one.
ISABELLA	’Tis set down so in heaven, but not in earth.
ANGELO	Say you so? Then I shall pose you quickly. Which had you rather: that the most just law Now took your brother’s life, or, to redeem him, Give up your body to such sweet uncleanness As she that he hath stained?
ISABELLA	Sir, believe this. I had rather give my body than my soul.
ANGELO	I talk not of your soul. Our compelled sins Stand more for number than for account.
ISABELLA	How say you?
ANGELO	Nay, I’ll not warrant that, for I can speak Against the thing I say. Answer to this. I now, the voice of the recorded law, Pronounce a sentence on your brother’s life. Might there not be a charity in sin To save this brother’s life?
ISABELLA	Please you to do’t, I’ll take it as a peril to my soul It is no sin at all, but charity.
ANGELO	Pleased you to do’t at peril of your soul Were equal poise of sin and charity.
ISABELLA	That I do beg his life, if it be sin, Heaven let me bear it. You granting of my suit, If that be sin, I’ll make it my morn prayer To have it added to the faults of mine, And nothing of your answer.
ANGELO	Nay, but hear me. Your sense pursues not mine. Either you are ignorant, Or seem so craftily, and that’s not good.
ISABELLA	Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good But graciously to know I am no better.
ANGELO	Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright When it doth tax itself: as these black masks Proclaim an enshield beauty ten times louder Than beauty could, displayed. But mark me. To be received plain, I’ll speak more gross. Your brother is to die.
ISABELLA	So.
ANGELO	And his offence is so, as it appears, Accountant to the law upon that pain.
ISABELLA	True.
ANGELO	Admit no other way to save his life— As I subscribe not that nor any other— But, in the loss of question, that you his sister, Finding yourself desired of such a person Whose credit with the judge, or own great place, Could fetch your brother from the manacles Of the all-binding law, and that there were No earthly mean to save him, but that either You must lay down the treasures of your body To this supposed, or else to let him suffer— What would you do?
ISABELLA	As much for my poor brother as myself. That is, were I under the terms of death, Th’impression of keen whips I’d wear as rubies, And strip myself to death as to a bed That longing have been sick for, ere I’d yield My body up to shame.
ANGELO	Then must your brother die.
ISABELLA	And ’twere the cheaper way. Better it were a brother died at once Than that a sister, by redeeming him, Should die for ever.
ANGELO	Were not you then as cruel as the sentence That you have slandered so?
ISABELLA	Ignominy in ransom and free pardon Are of two houses; lawful mercy Is nothing kin to foul redemption.
ANGELO	You seemed of late to make the law a tyrant, And rather proved the sliding of your brother A merriment than a vice.
ISABELLA	O pardon me, my lord. It oft falls out To have what we would have, we speak not what we mean. I something do excuse the thing I hate For his advantage that I dearly love.
ANGELO	We are all frail.
ISABELLA	Else let my brother die— If not a federy, but only he, Owe and succeed thy weakness.
ANGELO	Nay, women are frail too.
ISABELLA	Ay, as the glasses where they view themselves, Which are as easy broke as they make forms. Women? Help, heaven! Men their creation mar In profiting by them. Nay, call us ten times frail, For we are soft as our complexions are, And credulous to false prints.
ANGELO	I think it well, And from this testimony of your own sex, Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger Than faults may shake our frames, let me be bold. I do arrest your words. Be that you are; That is, a woman. If you be more, you’re none. If you be one, as you are well expressed By all external warrants, show it now, By putting on the destined livery.
ISABELLA	I have no tongue but one. Gentle my lord, Let me entreat you speak the former language.
ANGELO	Plainly conceive, I love you.
ISABELLA	My brother did love Juliet, And you tell me that he shall die for it.
ANGELO	He shall not, Isabel, if you give me love.
ISABELLA	I know your virtue hath a licence in’t, Which seems a little fouler than it is, To pluck on others.
ANGELO	Believe me, on mine honour, My words express my purpose.
ISABELLA	Ha, little honour to be much believed, And most pernicious purpose! Seeming, seeming! I will proclaim thee, Angelo; look for’t. Sign me a present pardon for my brother, Or with an outstretched throat I’ll tell the world aloud What man thou art.
ANGELO	Who will believe thee, Isabel? My unsoiled name, th‘austereness of my life, My vouch against you, and my place i’th’ state, Will so your accusation overweigh That you shall stifle in your own report, And smell of calumny. I have begun, And now I give my sensual race the rein. Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite. Lay by all nicety and prolixious blushes That banish what they sue for. Redeem thy brother By yielding up thy body to my will, Or else he must not only die the death, But thy unkindness shall his death draw out To ling‘ring sufferance. Answer me tomorrow, Or by the affection that now guides me most, I’ll prove a tyrant to him. As for you, Say what you can, my false o’erweighs your true.
(didascalia)	Exit
ISABELLA	To whom should I complain? Did I tell this, Who would believe me? O perilous mouths, That bear in them one and the selfsame tongue Either of condemnation or approof, Bidding the law make curtsy to their will, Hooking both right and wrong to th’appetite, To follow as it draws! I’ll to my brother. Though he hath fall’n by prompture of the blood, Yet hath he in him such a mind of honour That had he twenty heads to tender down On twenty bloody blocks, he’d yield them up Before his sister should her body stoop To such abhorred pollution. Then Isabel live chaste, and brother die: More than our brother is our chastity. I’ll tell him yet of Angelo’s request, And fit his mind to death, for his soul’s rest.
(didascalia)	Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Angelo
ANGELO	Quando vorrei pregare e pensare, penso e prego a soggetti diversi: il cielo ha le mie parole vuote, mentre la mia immaginazione, non udendo la mia lingua, getta l’àncora su Isabella; Dio nella mia bocca, come se solo masticassi il suo nome, e nel mio cuore il forte e gonfio male del mio pensiero. Lo Stato su cui ho studiato è come una cosa buona che, letta troppo spesso, diventa arida e tediosa. Sì, la mia gravità, della quale—nessuno mi senta—vado fiero, la cambierei con vantaggio per un’oziosa piuma che l’aria batte invano. O carica, o forma, quante volte col tuo involucro, col tuo abito, strappi riverenza agli sciocchi, e leghi le anime più sagge al tuo falso sembiante! Sangue, tu sei sangue. Scriviamo pure ‘angelo buono’ sul corno del diavolo— è ormai il cimiero del diavolo.
(didascalia)	Entra il Servo
ANGELO	Ebbene? Chi è là?
SERVO	Una Isabella, una suora, desidera accesso a voi.
ANGELO	Insegnatele la via.
(didascalia)	Esce il Servo
ANGELO	O cieli, perché il mio sangue così s’aduna al mio cuore, rendendolo insieme incapace di se stesso, e spogliando tutte le altre mie parti della necessaria attitudine? Così fanno le folle sciocche con uno che sviene— tutti accorrono ad aiutarlo, e così tolgono l’aria con la quale dovrebbe rinvenire—e proprio così i sudditi tutti d’un re benamato lasciano il proprio posto e, con ossequiosa smania, s’accalcano alla sua presenza, dove il loro rozzo amore deve per forza apparire offesa.
(didascalia)	Entra
ANGELO	Isabella Ebbene, bella fanciulla?
ISABELLA	Vengo a conoscere il vostro piacere.
ANGELO	(a parte) Che voi lo conosceste mi piacerebbe assai più che sentirmelo domandare. (A Isabella) Vostro fratello non può vivere.
ISABELLA	Sia dunque. Il cielo custodisca vostro onore.
ANGELO	Eppure può vivere ancora un poco, e forse quanto voi o me. Pure deve morire.
ISABELLA	Per vostra sentenza?
ANGELO	Sì.
ISABELLA	Quando, vi supplico?—che nella sua dilazione, più lunga o più breve, egli sia così preparato che la sua anima non s’ammali.
ANGELO	Ah, vergogna, questi sozzi vizi! Tanto varrebbe perdonare colui che ha rubato alla natura un uomo già fatto, quanto rimettere l’insolente dolcezza di chi conia l’immagine di Dio in stampi proibiti. È tutt’uno, ed è ugualmente facile, togliere falsamente una vita fatta secondo verità e mettere metallo in stampi vietati per farne una falsa.
ISABELLA	Così è scritto in cielo, ma non in terra.
ANGELO	Dite così? Allora vi metterò subito alla prova. Che preferireste: che la giustissima legge prendesse ora la vita di vostro fratello, o, per riscattarlo, dare il vostro corpo a una dolce impurità quale quella di colei ch’egli ha macchiata?
ISABELLA	Signore, credete a questo. Darei piuttosto il mio corpo che la mia anima.
ANGELO	Non parlo della vostra anima. I peccati che ci sono imposti contano per numero più che per rendiconto.
ISABELLA	Che dite?
ANGELO	No, non lo garantisco, ché so parlare contro ciò che dico. Rispondete a questo. Io ora, voce della legge scritta, pronuncio sentenza sulla vita di vostro fratello. Non potrebbe esservi una carità nel peccato per salvare la vita di questo fratello?
ISABELLA	Se vi piace farlo, lo prenderò a rischio della mia anima: non è peccato affatto, ma carità.
ANGELO	Se vi piacesse farlo a rischio della vostra anima, sarebbe pari bilancia di peccato e di carità.
ISABELLA	Se io imploro la sua vita, e se è peccato, il cielo me lo lasci portare. Se voi concedete la mia supplica, e se quello è peccato, ne farò la mia preghiera del mattino perché sia aggiunto alle mie colpe, e nulla al vostro conto.
ANGELO	No, ma ascoltatemi. Il vostro senso non insegue il mio. O voi siete ignara, o astutamente lo sembrate, e ciò non va bene.
ISABELLA	Ch’io sia ignara, e in nulla buona se non nel sapere per grazia che non son migliore.
ANGELO	Così la saggezza desidera apparire più fulgida quando accusa se stessa: come queste nere maschere proclamano una bellezza velata dieci volte più forte di quanto potrebbe la bellezza scoperta. Ma ascoltatemi. Per essere inteso chiaramente, parlerò più crudo. Vostro fratello deve morire.
ISABELLA	Sia.
ANGELO	E la sua colpa è tale, a quanto appare, da doverne rispondere alla legge con quella pena.
ISABELLA	Vero.
ANGELO	Ammettete che non vi sia altro modo di salvargli la vita— ché io non sottoscrivo né questo né altro— se non che, perduta ogni altra questione, voi sua sorella, trovandovi desiderata da una tal persona il cui credito presso il giudice, o la cui alta carica, potesse strappare vostro fratello alle manette della legge che tutti lega, e che non vi fosse mezzo terreno di salvarlo, se non che o voi doveste deporre i tesori del vostro corpo a costui supposto, o lasciarlo patire— che cosa fareste?
ISABELLA	Tanto per il mio povero fratello quanto per me. Cioè: fossi io sotto sentenza di morte, porterei l’impronta di sferze acute come rubini, e mi spoglierei per la morte come per un letto desiderato fino a esserne malata, prima di cedere il mio corpo alla vergogna.
ANGELO	Allora vostro fratello deve morire.
ISABELLA	E sarebbe la via meno cara. Meglio che un fratello muoia una volta sola che una sorella, per riscattarlo, muoia in eterno.
ANGELO	Non sareste allora crudele quanto la sentenza che avete tanto calunniata?
ISABELLA	L’ignominia nel riscatto e il libero perdono sono di due casate diverse; la clemenza legittima non è affatto parente d’una turpe redenzione.
ANGELO	Poco fa mostravate di fare della legge un tiranno, e provavate anzi che lo sdrucciolo di vostro fratello era uno scherzo più che un vizio.
ISABELLA	Oh perdonatemi, mio signore. Spesso accade che, per ottenere quel che vogliamo, non diciamo ciò che intendiamo. Io in qualche modo scuso la cosa che odio a vantaggio di colui che teneramente amo.
ANGELO	Siamo tutti fragili.
ISABELLA	Altrimenti muoia mio fratello— se nessun complice, ma egli solo, possiede ed eredita la tua debolezza.
ANGELO	Anzi, anche le donne sono fragili.
ISABELLA	Sì, come gli specchi in cui si guardano, che si rompono con la stessa facilità con cui formano immagini. Le donne? Aiuto, cielo! Gli uomini guastano la creazione di quelle traendone profitto. Sì, chiamateci dieci volte fragili, ché siamo tenere quanto le nostre carnagioni, e credule a impronte false.
ANGELO	Lo credo bene, e da questa testimonianza del vostro stesso sesso, poiché suppongo che non siamo fatti più forti di quanto le colpe possano scuotere il nostro telaio, lasciate ch’io osi. Prendo in arresto le vostre parole. Siate quel che siete; cioè, una donna. Se siete di più, non siete nulla. Se siete tale, come bene siete espressa da ogni segno esteriore, mostratelo ora, indossando la livrea che v’è destinata.
ISABELLA	Non ho che una sola lingua. Gentile mio signore, lasciate ch’io vi preghi di parlare la lingua di prima.
ANGELO	Intendete chiaramente: vi amo.
ISABELLA	Mio fratello amò Giulietta, e voi mi dite che per questo deve morire.
ANGELO	Non morrà, Isabella, se voi mi date amore.
ISABELLA	So che la vostra virtù ha in sé una licenza che sembra un po’ più turpe di quel che è, per tirare in trappola gli altri.
ANGELO	Credetemi, sul mio onore, le mie parole esprimono il mio proposito.
ISABELLA	Ah, poco onore per esser molto creduto, e proposito perniciosissimo! Sembiante, sembiante! Ti denuncerò, Angelo; aspettatelo. Firmami subito un perdono per mio fratello, o a gola spiegata dirò forte al mondo che uomo tu sia.
ANGELO	Chi ti crederà, Isabella? Il mio nome immacolato, l’austerità della mia vita, la mia parola contro di voi, e il mio posto nello Stato peseranno tanto sulla vostra accusa che soffocherete nella vostra stessa denuncia, e puzzerete di calunnia. Ho cominciato, e ora do le briglie alla mia corsa sensuale. Adatta il tuo consenso al mio acuto appetito. Deponi ogni ritrosia e i prolissi rossori che scacciano ciò che invocano. Riscatta tuo fratello cedendo il tuo corpo al mio volere, o altrimenti egli non solo morrà di morte, ma la tua durezza gli protrarrà la morte in lento patire. Rispondimi domani, o per l’affetto che ora più mi guida, sarò un tiranno per lui. Quanto a voi, dite quel che potete, il mio falso pesa più del vostro vero.
(didascalia)	Esce
ISABELLA	A chi dovrei lagnarmi? Se raccontassi questo, chi mi crederebbe? O bocche pericolose, che portano in sé una sola e medesima lingua o di condanna o d’approvazione, e comandano alla legge di far riverenza al loro volere, agganciando il giusto e l’ingiusto all’appetito, perché seguano dove esso tira! Andrò da mio fratello. Benché sia caduto per l’impulso del sangue, pure ha in sé tale animo d’onore che, avesse venti teste da porgere su venti ceppi insanguinati, le cederebbe prima che sua sorella pieghi il suo corpo a tale aborrita contaminazione. Dunque viva Isabella casta, e muoia il fratello: più di nostro fratello vale la nostra castità. Pure gli dirò della richiesta d’Angelo, e disporrò il suo animo alla morte, per la pace della sua anima.
(didascalia)	Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, Claudio, and the Provost
DUKE	So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?
CLAUDIO	The miserable have no other medicine But only hope. I’ve hope to live, and am prepared to die.
DUKE	Be absolute for death. Either death or life Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life. If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art, Servile to all the skyey influences That dost this habitation where thou keep‘st Hourly afflict. Merely thou art death’s fool, For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun, And yet runn‘st toward him still. Thou art not noble, For all th’accommodations that thou bear’t Are nursed by baseness. Thou’rt by no means valiant, For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, And that thou oft provok‘st, yet grossly fear’st Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself, For thou exist‘st on many a thousand grains That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not, For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get, And what thou hast, forget‘st. Thou art not certain, For thy complexion shifts to strange effects After the moon. If thou art rich, thou’rt poor, For like an ass whose back with ingots bows, Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey, And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none, For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire, The mere effusion of thy proper loins, Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age, But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty, To make thy riches pleasant. What’s in this That bears the name of life? Yet in this life Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear That makes these odds all even.
CLAUDIO	I humbly thank you. To sue to live, I find I seek to die, And seeking death, find life. Let it come on.
ISABELLA	(within) What ho! Peace here, grace, and good company!
PROVOST	Who’s there? Come in; the wish deserves a welcome.
DUKE	(to Claudio) Dear sir, ere long I’ll visit you again.
CLAUDIO	Most holy sir, I thank you.
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
ISABELLA	My business is a word or two with Claudio.
PROVOST	And very welcome. Look, signor, here’s your sister.
DUKE	Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST	As many as you please. The Duke and Provost draw aside
DUKE	Bring me to hear them speak where I may be concealed. They conceal themselves
CLAUDIO	Now sister, what’s the comfort?
ISABELLA	Why, as all comforts are: most good, most good indeed. Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven, Intends you for his swift ambassador, Where you shall be an everlasting leiger. Therefore your best appointment make with speed. Tomorrow you set on.
CLAUDIO	Is there no remedy?
ISABELLA	None but such remedy as, to save a head, To cleave a heart in twain.
CLAUDIO	But is there any?
ISABELLA	Yes, brother, you may live. There is a devilish mercy in the judge, If you’ll implore it, that will free your life, But fetter you till death.
CLAUDIO	Perpetual durance?
ISABELLA	Ay, just, perpetual durance; a restraint, Though all the world’s vastidity you had, To a determined scope.
CLAUDIO	But in what nature?
ISABELLA	In such a one as you consenting to’t Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear, And leave you naked.
CLAUDIO	Let me know the point.
ISABELLA	O, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain, And six or seven winters more respect Than a perpetual honour. Dar’st thou die? The sense of death is most in apprehension, And the poor beetle that we tread upon In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great As when a giant dies.
CLAUDIO	Why give you me this shame? Think you I can a resolution fetch From flow’ry tenderness? If I must die, I will encounter darkness as a bride, And hug it in mine arms.
ISABELLA	There spake my brother; there my father’s grave Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die. Thou art too noble to conserve a life In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy, Whose settled visage and deliberate word Nips youth i’th’ head and follies doth enew As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil. His filth within being cast, he would appear A pond as deep as hell.
CLAUDIO	The precise Angelo?
ISABELLA	O, ‘tis the cunning livery of hell The damnedest body to invest and cover In precise guards! Dost thou think, Claudio: If I would yield him my virginity, Thou might’st be freed!
CLAUDIO	O heavens, it cannot be!
ISABELLA	Yes, he would give’t thee, from this rank offence, So to offend him still. This night’s the time That I should do what I abhor to name, Or else thou diest tomorrow.
CLAUDIO	Thou shalt not do’t.
ISABELLA	O, were it but my life, I’d throw it down for your deliverance As frankly as a pin.
CLAUDIO	Thanks, dear Isabel.
ISABELLA	Be ready, Claudio, for your death tomorrow.
CLAUDIO	Yes. Has he affections in him That thus can make him bite the law by th’ nose When he would force it? Sure it is no sin, Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
ISABELLA	Which is the least?
CLAUDIO	If it were damnable, he being so wise, Why would he for the momentary trick Be perdurably fined? O Isabel!
ISABELLA	What says my brother?
CLAUDIO	Death is a fearful thing.
ISABELLA	And shamed life a hateful.
CLAUDIO	Ay, but to die, and go we know not where; To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; This sensible warm motion to become A kneaded clod, and the dilated spirit To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside In thrilling region of thick-ribbed ice; To be imprisoned in the viewless winds, And blown with restless violence round about The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those that lawless and incertain thought Imagine howling—’tis too horrible! The weariest and most loathed worldly life That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment Can lay on nature is a paradise To what we fear of death.
ISABELLA	Alas, alas!
CLAUDIO	Sweet sister, let me live. What sin you do to save a brother’s life, Nature dispenses with the deed so far That it becomes a virtue.
ISABELLA	O, you beast! O faithless coward, O dishonest wretch, Wilt thou be made a man out of my vice? Is’t not a kind of incest to take life From thine own sister’s shame? What should I think? Heaven shield my mother played my father fair, For such a warped slip of wilderness Ne’er issued from his blood. Take my defiance, Die, perish! Might but my bending down Reprieve thee from thy fate, it should proceed. I’ll pray a thousand prayers for thy death, No word to save thee.
CLAUDIO	Nay, hear me, Isabel.
ISABELLA	O fie, fie, fie! Thy sin’s not accidental, but a trade. Mercy to thee would prove itself a bawd. ’Tis best that thou diest quickly. She parts from Claudio
CLAUDIO	O hear me, Isabella.
DUKE	(coming forward to Isabella) Vouchsafe a word, young sister, but one word.
ISABELLA	What is your will?
DUKE	Might you dispense with your leisure, I would by and by have some speech with you. The satisfaction I would require is likewise your own benefit.
ISABELLA	I have no superfluous leisure; my stay must be stolen out of other affairs; but I will attend you a while.
DUKE	standing aside with Claudio Son, I have overheard what hath passed between you and your sister. Angelo had never the purpose to corrupt her; only he hath made an assay of her virtue, to practise his judgement with the disposition of natures. She, having the truth of honour in her, hath made him that gracious denial which he is most glad to receive. I am confessor to Angelo, and I know this to be true. Therefore prepare yourself to death. Do not falsify your resolution with hopes that are fallible. Tomorrow you must die. Go to your knees and make ready.
CLAUDIO	Let me ask my sister pardon. I am so out of love with life that I will sue to be rid of it.
DUKE	Hold you there. Farewell.
(didascalia)	Claudio joins Isabella
DUKE	Provost, a word with you.
PROVOST	(coming forward) What’s your will, father?
DUKE	That now you are come, you will be gone. Leave me a while with the maid. My mind promises with my habit no loss shall touch her by my company.
PROVOST	In good time. Exit with Claudio
DUKE	The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good. The goodness that is cheap in beauty makes beauty brief in goodness; but grace, being the soul of your complexion, shall keep the body of it ever fair. The assault that Angelo hath made to you fortune hath conveyed to my understanding; and but that frailty hath examples for his falling, I should wonder at Angelo. How will you do to content this substitute, and to save your brother?
ISABELLA	I am now going to resolve him. I had rather my brother die by the law than my son should be unlawfully born. But O, how much is the good Duke deceived in Angelo! If ever he return and I can speak to him, I will open my lips in vain, or discover his government.
DUKE	That shall not be much amiss. Yet as the matter now stands, he will avoid your accusation: he made trial of you only. Therefore fasten your ear on my advisings. To the love I have in doing good, a remedy presents itself. I do make myself believe that you may most uprighteously do a poor wronged lady a merited benefit, redeem your brother from the angry law, do no stain to your own gracious person, and much please the absent Duke, if peradventure he shall ever return to have hearing of this business.
ISABELLA	Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my spirit.
DUKE	Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful. Have you not heard speak of Mariana, the sister of Frederick, the great soldier who miscarried at sea?
ISABELLA	I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name.
DUKE	She should this Angelo have married, was affianced to her oath, and the nuptial appointed; between which time of the contract and limit of the solemnity, her brother Frederick was wrecked at sea, having in that perished vessel the dowry of his sister. But mark how heavily this befell to the poor gentlewoman. There she lost a noble and renowned brother, in his love toward her ever most kind and natural; with him, the portion and sinew of her fortune, her marriage dowry; with both, her combinate husband, this well-seeming Angelo.
ISABELLA	Can this be so? Did Angelo so leave her?
DUKE	Left her in her tears, and dried not one of them with his comfort; swallowed his vows whole, pretending in her discoveries of dishonour; in few, bestowed her on her own lamentation, which she yet wears for his sake; and he, a marble to her tears, is washed with them, but relents not.
ISABELLA	What a merit were it in death to take this poor maid from the world! What corruption in this life, that it will let this man live! But how out of this can she avail?
DUKE	It is a rupture that you may easily heal, and the cure of it not only saves your brother, but keeps you from dishonour in doing it.
ISABELLA	Show me how, good father.
DUKE	This forenamed maid hath yet in her the continuance of her first affection. His unjust unkindness, that in all reason should have quenched her love, hath, like an impediment in the current, made it more violent and unruly. Go you to Angelo, answer his requiring with a plausible obedience, agree with his demands to the point; only refer yourself to this advantage: first, that your stay with him may not be long; that the time may have all shadow and silence in it; and the place answer to convenience. This being granted in course, and now follows all. We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place. If the encounter acknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him to her recompense; and hear, by this is your brother saved, your honour untainted, the poor Mariana advantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. The maid will I frame and make fit for his attempt. If you think well to carry this, as you may, the doubleness of the benefit defends the deceit from reproof. What think you of it?
ISABELLA	The image of it gives me content already, and I trust it will grow to a most prosperous perfection.
DUKE	It lies much in your holding up. Haste you speedily to Angelo. If for this night he entreat you to his bed, give him promise of satisfaction. I will presently to Saint Luke’s; there at the moated grange resides this dejected Mariana. At that place call upon me; and dispatch with Angelo, that it may be quickly.
ISABELLA	I thank you for this comfort. Fare you well, good father.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Elbow, Clown, and officers
ELBOW	Nay, if there be no remedy for it but that you will needs buy and sell men and women like beasts, we shall have all the world drink brown and white bastard.
DUKE	O heavens, what stuff is here?
POMPEY	’Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by order of law, a furred gown to keep him warm—and furred with fox on lambskins too, to signify that craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.
ELBOW	Come your way, sir.—Btess you, good father friar.
DUKE	And you, good brother father. What offence hath this man made you, sir?
ELBOW	Marry, sir, he hath offended the law; and, sir, we take him to be a thief, too, sir, for we have found upon him, sir, a strange picklock, which we have sent to the deputy.
DUKE	(to Pompey) Fie, sirrah, a bawd, a wicked bawd! The evil that thou causest to be done, That is thy means to live. Do thou but think What ‘tis to cram a maw or clothe a back From such a filthy vice. Say to thyself, ’From their abominable and beastly touches I drink, I eat, array myself, and live’. Canst thou believe thy living is a life, So stinkingly depending? Go mend, go mend.
POMPEY	Indeed it does stink in some sort, sir. But yet, sir, I would prove—
DUKE	Nay, if the devil have given thee proofs for sin, Thou wilt prove his.—Take him to prison, officer. Correction and instruction must both work Ere this rude beast will profit.
ELBOW	He must before the deputy, sir; he has given him warning. The deputy cannot abide a whoremaster. If he be a whoremonger and comes before him, he were as good go a mile on his errand.
DUKE	That we were all as some would seem to be- Free from our faults, or faults from seeming free.
ELBOW	His neck will come to your waist: a cord, sir.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
POMPEY	I spy comfort, I cry bail. Here’s a gentleman, and a friend of mine.
LUCIO	How now, noble Pompey? What, at the wheels of Caesar? Art thou led in triumph? What, is there none of Pygmalion’s images newly made woman to be had now, for putting the hand in the pocket and extracting clutched? What reply, ha? What sayst thou to this tune, matter, and method? Is’t not drowned i’th’ last rain, ha? What sayst thou, trot? Is the world as it was, man? Which is the way? Is it sad and few words? Or how? The trick of it?
DUKE	Still thus and thus; still worse!
LUCIO	How doth my dear morsel thy mistress? Procures she still, ha?
POMPEY	Troth, sir, she hath eaten up all her beef, and she is herself in the tub.
LUCIO	Why, ’tis good, it is the right of it, it must be so. Ever your fresh whore and your powdered bawd; an unshunned consequence, it must be so. Art going to prison, Pompey?
POMPEY	Yes, faith, sir.
LUCIO	Why ’tis not amiss, Pompey. Farewell. Go; say I sent thee thither. For debt, Pompey, or how?
ELBOW	For being a bawd, for being a bawd.
LUCIO	Well then, imprison him. If imprisonment be the due of a bawd, why, ’tis his right. Bawd is he doubtless, and of antiquity too—bawd born. Farewell, good Pompey. Commend me to the prison, Pompey. You will turn good husband now, Pompey; you will keep the house.
POMPEY	I hope, sir, your good worship will be my bail?
LUCIO	No, indeed, will I not, Pompey; it is not the wear. I will pray, Pompey, to increase your bondage. If you take it not patiently, why, your mettle is the more. Adieu, trusty Pompey.—Bless you, friar.
DUKE	And you.
LUCIO	Does Bridget paint still, Pompey, ha?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) Come your ways, sir, come.
POMPEY	(to Lucio) You will not bail me then, sir?
LUCIO	Then, Pompey, nor now.—What news abroad, friar, what news?
ELBOW	(to Pompey) Come your ways, sir, come.
LUCIO	Go to kennel, Pompey, go.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Elbow, Pompey, and officers
LUCIO	What news, friar, of the Duke?
DUKE	I know none. Can you tell me of any?
LUCIO	Some say he is with the Emperor of Russia; other some, he is in Rome. But where is he, think you?
DUKE	I know not where; but wheresoever, I wish him well.
LUCIO	It was a mad, fantastical trick of him to steal from the state, and usurp the beggary he was never born to. Lord Angelo dukes it well in his absence; he puts transgression to’t. 361
DUKE	He does well in’t.
LUCIO	A little more lenity to lechery would do no harm in him. Something too crabbed that way, friar.
DUKE	It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.
LUCIO	Yes, in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred, it is well allied. But it is impossible to extirp it quite, friar, till eating and drinking be put down. They say this Angelo was not made by man and woman, after this downright way of creation. Is it true, think you?
DUKE	How should he be made, then?
LUCIO	Some report a sea-maid spawned him, some that he was begot between two stockfishes. But it is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice; that I know to be true. And he is a motion ungenerative; that’s infallible.
DUKE	You are pleasant, sir, and speak apace.
LUCIO	Why, what a ruthless thing is this in him, for the rebellion of a codpiece to take away the life of a man! Would the Duke that is absent have done this? Ere he would have hanged a man for the getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing a thousand. He had some feeling of the sport, he knew the service, and that instructed him to mercy.
DUKE	I never heard the absent Duke much detected for women; he was not inclined that way.
LUCIO	O sir, you are deceived.
DUKE	’Tis not possible.
LUCIO	Who, not the Duke? Yes, your beggar of fifty; and his use was to put a ducat in her clack-dish. The Duke had crochets in him. He would be drunk too, that let me inform you.
DUKE	You do him wrong, surely.
LUCIO	Sir, I was an inward of his. A shy fellow was the Duke, and I believe I know the cause of his withdrawing.
DUKE	What, I prithee, might be the cause?
LUCIO	No, pardon, ’tis a secret must be locked within the teeth and the lips. But this I can let you understand. The greater file of the subject held the Duke to be wise.
DUKE	Wise? Why, no question but he was.
LUCIO	A very superficial, ignorant, unweighing fellow.
DUKE	Either this is envy in you, folly, or mistaking. The very stream of his life, and the business he hath helmed, must, upon a warranted need, give him a better proclamation. Let him be but testimonied in his own bringings-forth, and he shall appear to the envious a scholar, a statesman, and a soldier. Therefore you speak unskilfully, or, if your knowledge be more, it is much darkened in your malice.
LUCIO	Sir, I know him and I love him. 410
DUKE	Love talks with better knowledge, and knowledge with dearer love.
LUCIO	Come, sir, I know what I know.
DUKE	I can hardly believe that, since you know not what you speak. But if ever the Duke return, as our prayers are he may, let me desire you to make your answer before him. If it be honest you have spoke, you have courage to maintain it. I am bound to call upon you; and I pray you, your name?
LUCIO	Sir, my name is Lucio, well known to the Duke.
DUKE	He shall know you better, sir, if I may live to report you.
LUCIO	I fear you not.
DUKE	O, you hope the Duke will return no more, or you imagine me too unhurtful an opposite. But indeed I can do you little harm; you’ll forswear this again.
LUCIO	I’ll be hanged first. Thou art deceived in me, friar. But no more of this. Canst thou tell if Claudio die tomorrow or no?
DUKE	Why should he die, sir?
LUCIO	Why? For filling a bottle with a tundish. I would the Duke we talk of were returned again; this ungenitured agent will unpeople the province with continency. Sparrows must not build in his house-eaves, because they are lecherous. The Duke yet would have dark deeds darkly answered: he would never bring them to light. Would he were returned. Marry, this Claudio is condemned for untrussing. Farewell, good friar. I prithee pray for me. The Duke, I say to thee again, would eat mutton on Fridays. He’s not past it yet, and, I say to thee, he would mouth with a beggar, though she smelt brown bread and garlic. Say that I said so. Farewell. Exit
DUKE	No might nor greatness in mortality Can censure scape; back-wounding calumny The whitest virtue strikes. What king so strong Can tie the gall up in the slanderous tongue?
(didascalia)	Enter Escalus, the Provost, and Mistress Overdone
DUKE	But who comes here?
ESCALUS	(to the Provost) Go, away with her to prison.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Good my lord, be good to me. Your honour is accounted a merciful man, good my lord.
ESCALUS	Double and treble admonition, and still forfeit in the same kind! This would make mercy swear and play the tyrant.
PROVOST	A bawd of eleven years’ continuance, may it please your honour.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	My lord, this is one Lucio’s information against me. Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in the Duke’s time; he promised her marriage. His child is a year and a quarter old come Philip and Jacob. I have kept it myself; and see how he goes about to abuse me.
ESCALUS	That fellow is a fellow of much licence. Let him be called before us. Away with her to prison. Go to, no more words. Provost, my brother Angelo will not be altered; Claudio must die tomorrow. Let him be furnished with divines, and have all charitable preparation. If my brother wrought by my pity, it should not be so with him.
PROVOST	So please you, this friar hath been with him and advised him for th’entertainment of death. Exeunt Provost and Mistress Overdone
ESCALUS	Good even, good father.
DUKE	Bliss and goodness on you.
ESCALUS	Of whence are you?
DUKE	Not of this country, though my chance is now To use it for my time. I am a brother Of gracious order, late come from the See In special business from his Holiness.
ESCALUS	What news abroad i’th’ world?
DUKE	None, but that there is so great a fever on goodness that the dissolution of it must cure it. Novelty is only in request, and it is as dangerous to be aged in any kind of course as it is virtuous to be inconstant in any undertaking. There is scarce truth enough alive to make societies secure, but security enough to make fellowships accursed. Much upon this riddle runs the wisdom of the world. This news is old enough, yet it is every day’s news. I pray you, sir, of what disposition was the Duke?
ESCALUS	One that, above all other strifes, contended especially to know himself.
DUKE	What pleasure was he given to?
ESCALUS	Rather rejoicing to see another merry than merry at anything which professed to make him rejoice; a gentleman of all temperance. But leave we him to his events, with a prayer they may prove prosperous, and let me desire to know how you find Claudio prepared. I am made to understand that you have lent him visitation.
DUKE	He professes to have received no sinister measure from his judge, but most willingly humbles himself to the determination of justice. Yet had he framed to himself, by the instruction of his frailty, many deceiving promises of life, which I, by my good leisure, have discredited to him; and now is he resolved to die.
ESCALUS	You have paid the heavens your function, and the prisoner the very debt of your calling. I have laboured for the poor gentleman to the extremest shore of my modesty, but my brother-justice have I found so severe that he hath forced me to tell him he is indeed Justice.
DUKE	If his own life answer the straitness of his proceeding, it shall become him well; wherein if he chance to fail, he hath sentenced himself.
ESCALUS	I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
DUKE	Peace be with you. Exit Escalus He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe, Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go, More nor less to others paying Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking! Twice treble shame on Angelo, To weed my vice, and let his grow! O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! How may likeness made in crimes Make my practice on the times To draw with idle spiders’ strings Most ponderous and substantial things? Craft against vice I must apply. With Angelo tonight shall lie His old betrothed but despised. So disguise shall, by th’ disguised, Pay with falsehood false exacting, And perform an old contracting.
(didascalia)	Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Duca, travestito da frate, Claudio e il Prevosto
DUCA	Dunque sperate perdono dal signor Angelo?
CLAUDIO	I miseri non hanno altra medicina che la sola speranza. Ho speranza di vivere, e sono preparato a morire.
DUCA	Sii risoluto per la morte. O morte o vita ne saranno più dolci. Ragiona così con la vita. Se ti perdo, perdo una cosa che nessuno se non gli sciocchi vorrebbe tenere. Un soffio tu sei, servo di tutti gli influssi del cielo che questa dimora dove tu stai affliggono a ogni ora. Non sei che il buffone della morte, ché ti affatichi a fuggirla con la corsa, e pure verso di lei corri sempre. Non sei nobile, ché tutte le comodità che porti sono allevate dalla bassezza. Non sei affatto valoroso, ché temi la molle e tenera forcella d’un povero verme. Il tuo miglior riposo è il sonno, e quello spesso provochi, eppure grossolanamente temi la tua morte, che non è altro. Non sei te stesso, ché esisti su molte migliaia di granelli che escono dalla polvere. Felice non sei, ché ciò che non hai, sempre ti sforzi d’ottenere, e ciò che hai, dimentichi. Non sei costante, ché il tuo umore muta in strani effetti secondo la luna. Se sei ricco, sei povero, ché come un asino la cui schiena si piega sotto i lingotti, porti le tue pesanti ricchezze solo per un viaggio, e la morte ti scarica. Amici non ne hai, ché le tue stesse viscere, che ti chiamano padre, mera effusione dei tuoi propri lombi, maledicono la gotta, la serpigine e il catarro perché non t’han finito prima. Non hai né giovinezza né vecchiaia, ma come un sonno di dopo pranzo che sogna d’entrambe; ché tutta la tua benedetta giovinezza si fa come vecchia, e mendica l’elemosina della paralitica età; e quando sei vecchio e ricco, non hai né calore, né affetto, né membra, né bellezza per render gradite le tue ricchezze. Che c’è in questo che porti il nome di vita? Eppure in questa vita stanno nascoste altre mille morti; e pure la morte temiamo, che pareggia tutte queste disparità.
CLAUDIO	Umilmente vi ringrazio. Chiedendo di vivere, trovo che cerco di morire, e cercando la morte, trovo la vita. Che venga pure.
ISABELLA	(dall’interno) Ohilà! Pace qui, grazia e buona compagnia!
PREVOSTO	Chi è là? Entrate; l’augurio merita accoglienza.
DUCA	(a Claudio) Caro signore, fra poco verrò a rivedervi.
CLAUDIO	Santissimo signore, vi ringrazio.
(didascalia)	Entra Isabella
ISABELLA	La mia faccenda è una parola o due con Claudio.
PREVOSTO	E siate benvenuta. Guardate, messere, ecco vostra sorella.
DUCA	Prevosto, una parola con voi.
PREVOSTO	Quante ne volete. Il Duca e il Prevosto si traggono in disparte
DUCA	Portatemi a udirli parlare dove io possa restare nascosto. Si nascondono
CLAUDIO	Ora, sorella, qual è il conforto?
ISABELLA	Ma quale son tutti i conforti: ottimo, ottimo davvero. Il signor Angelo, avendo affari col cielo, ti destina a suo rapido ambasciatore, dove sarai residente in eterno. Perciò fa’ con prestezza il tuo miglior apprestamento. Domani ti metti in cammino.
CLAUDIO	Non c’è rimedio?
ISABELLA	Nessuno, se non tale rimedio che, per salvare una testa, spacca in due un cuore.
CLAUDIO	Ma ce n’è qualcuno?
ISABELLA	Sì, fratello, puoi vivere. V’è una diabolica clemenza nel giudice, se vorrai implorarla, che libererà la tua vita, ma t’incatenerà fino alla morte.
CLAUDIO	Prigionia perpetua?
ISABELLA	Sì, proprio, prigionia perpetua; una costrizione, anche se avessi tutta la vastità del mondo, entro uno spazio determinato.
CLAUDIO	Ma di che natura?
ISABELLA	Di tale che, tu acconsentendovi, scorticheresti il tuo onore da quel tronco che porti, e ti lasceresti nudo.
CLAUDIO	Fammi sapere il punto.
ISABELLA	Oh, io ti temo, Claudio, e tremo che tu voglia accogliere una vita febbricitante, e stimare sei o sette inverni di più d’un onore perpetuo. Osi morire? Il senso della morte sta più nell’apprensione, e il povero scarafaggio che calpestiamo prova nella sofferenza corporea uno spasimo grande quanto quando muore un gigante.
CLAUDIO	Perché mi date questa vergogna? Credete ch’io possa trarre una risoluzione da fiorita tenerezza? Se devo morire, affronterò le tenebre come una sposa, e le stringerò fra le mie braccia.
ISABELLA	Là parlò mio fratello; là la tomba di mio padre mandò fuori una voce. Sì, tu devi morire. Sei troppo nobile per conservare una vita con vili espedienti. Questo vicario santo di fuori, il cui composto sembiante e la parola misurata tronca la giovinezza al capo e insegue le follie come il falcone l’uccello, è pure un demonio. Se gli si vuotasse dentro il fango, apparirebbe uno stagno profondo come l’inferno.
CLAUDIO	Il rigoroso Angelo?
ISABELLA	Oh, è l’astuta livrea dell’inferno investire e coprire il corpo più dannato di guarnizioni rigorose! Pensa un po’, Claudio: se io gli cedessi la mia verginità, tu potresti essere liberato!
CLAUDIO	O cieli, non può essere!
ISABELLA	Sì, egli te la darebbe, per questa turpe colpa, così da poter offendere ancora. Questa notte è il tempo in cui io dovrei fare ciò che aborro di nominare, o altrimenti tu muori domani.
CLAUDIO	Tu non lo farai.
ISABELLA	Oh, se fosse solo la mia vita, la getterei per la tua liberazione con la stessa franchezza d’uno spillo.
CLAUDIO	Grazie, cara Isabella.
ISABELLA	Sii pronto, Claudio, per la tua morte domani.
CLAUDIO	Sì. Ha dunque in sé passioni tali da fargli mordere la legge sul naso quando vorrebbe forzarla? Certo non è peccato, o dei sette mortali è il minore.
ISABELLA	Quale è il minore?
CLAUDIO	Se fosse dannabile, essendo egli così saggio, perché mai per il momentaneo trastullo si farebbe punire in eterno? O Isabella!
ISABELLA	Che dice mio fratello?
CLAUDIO	La morte è cosa spaventosa.
ISABELLA	E una vita svergognata è cosa odiosa.
CLAUDIO	Sì, ma morire, e andare non sappiamo dove; giacere in fredda ostruzione, e marcire; questo caldo moto senziente diventare una zolla impastata, e lo spirito dilatato bagnarsi in fiumi di fuoco, o risiedere in regione agghiacciante di ghiaccio dalle spesse costole; essere imprigionato nei venti invisibili, e soffiato con incessante violenza tutt’intorno al mondo sospeso; o essere peggio del peggio di quelli che il pensiero sregolato e incerto immagina urlanti—è troppo orribile! La più stanca e più odiata vita terrena che vecchiaia, dolore, miseria e prigionia possano imporre alla natura è un paradiso rispetto a ciò che temiamo della morte.
ISABELLA	Ahimè, ahimè!
CLAUDIO	Dolce sorella, lasciami vivere. Il peccato che commetti per salvare la vita d’un fratello, la natura tanto lo dispensa dall’atto che diventa una virtù.
ISABELLA	Oh, tu bestia! O vile senza fede, o disonesto miserabile, vuoi esser fatto uomo dal mio vizio? Non è una specie d’incesto prendere la vita dalla vergogna della tua stessa sorella? Che devo pensare? Il cielo non voglia che mia madre sia stata leale a mio padre, ché un tal germoglio storto di selvatico non uscì mai dal suo sangue. Prendi la mia sfida, muori, perisci! Bastasse il mio piegarmi a strapparti al tuo destino, si farebbe. Pregherò mille preghiere per la tua morte, non una parola per salvarti.
CLAUDIO	No, ascoltami, Isabella.
ISABELLA	Oh vergogna, vergogna, vergogna! Il tuo peccato non è accidentale, ma un mestiere. La clemenza verso di te si farebbe ruffiana. È meglio che tu muoia presto. Si stacca da Claudio
CLAUDIO	Oh ascoltami, Isabella.
DUCA	(facendosi avanti verso Isabella) Concedetemi una parola, giovane sorella, una parola soltanto.
ISABELLA	Qual è il vostro volere?
DUCA	Se poteste disporre del vostro tempo, vorrei fra poco parlare con voi. La soddisfazione che vi chiedo è del pari a vostro vantaggio.
ISABELLA	Non ho tempo che avanzi; il mio trattenermi va rubato ad altre faccende; ma vi darò retta per un poco.
DUCA	tenendosi in disparte con Claudio Figlio, ho udito quel che è passato fra te e tua sorella. Angelo non ebbe mai il proposito di corromperla; ha soltanto fatto un saggio della sua virtù, per esercitare il proprio giudizio sulla disposizione delle nature. Ella, avendo in sé la verità dell’onore, gli ha opposto quel grazioso rifiuto ch’egli è lietissimo di ricevere. Io sono confessore di Angelo, e so che questo è vero. Perciò preparati alla morte. Non falsare la tua risoluzione con speranze fallaci. Domani devi morire. Mettiti in ginocchio e preparati.
CLAUDIO	Lasciate ch’io chieda perdono a mia sorella. Sono così fuori d’amore con la vita che supplicherò d’esserne liberato.
DUCA	Tienti a questo. Addio.
(didascalia)	Claudio raggiunge Isabella
DUCA	Prevosto, una parola con voi.
PREVOSTO	(facendosi avanti) Qual è il vostro volere, padre?
DUCA	Che, ora che siete venuto, ve ne andiate. Lasciatemi un poco con la fanciulla. Il mio animo promette, insieme col mio abito, che nessun danno le verrà dalla mia compagnia.
PREVOSTO	In buon tempo. Esce con Claudio
DUCA	La mano che vi ha fatta bella vi ha fatta buona. La bontà che nella bellezza costa poco rende la bellezza breve nella bontà; ma la grazia, essendo l’anima del vostro aspetto, ne manterrà il corpo sempre bello. L’assalto che Angelo vi ha portato, la sorte l’ha recato alla mia conoscenza; e se la fragilità non avesse esempi per la sua caduta, mi stupirei di Angelo. Che farete per contentare questo sostituto e salvare vostro fratello?
ISABELLA	Vado ora a dargli risposta. Preferisco che mio fratello muoia per la legge, piuttosto che mio figlio nasca fuori legge. Ma oh, quanto s’inganna il buon Duca intorno ad Angelo! Se mai ritorna e io posso parlargli, aprirò le mie labbra invano, o svelerò il suo governo.
DUCA	Non sarebbe cosa fuor di luogo. Eppure, come stanno ora le cose, egli schiverà la vostra accusa: dirà che vi metteva solo alla prova. Perciò porgete l’orecchio ai miei consigli. Per l’amore ch’io ho di fare il bene, mi si presenta un rimedio. Mi persuado che voi possiate rettissimamente rendere a una povera dama offesa un beneficio meritato, riscattare vostro fratello dalla legge adirata, non recare macchia alla vostra graziosa persona, e piacere assai al Duca assente, se per caso mai tornasse a udire di questa faccenda.
ISABELLA	Lasciate ch’io vi ascolti oltre. Ho animo di fare qualunque cosa non appaia turpe alla verità del mio spirito.
DUCA	La virtù è ardita, e la bontà mai paurosa. Non avete udito parlare di Mariana, la sorella di Federico, il grande soldato che perì in mare?
ISABELLA	Ho sentito parlare della dama, e buone parole accompagnavano il suo nome.
DUCA	Costei doveva sposare questo Angelo, gli era promessa per giuramento, e fissato il matrimonio; fra quel tempo del contratto e il termine della solennità, suo fratello Federico naufragò in mare, avendo su quella nave perduta la dote della sorella. Ma badate quanto gravemente ciò cadde sulla povera gentildonna. Là ella perse un fratello nobile e famoso, nel suo amore verso di lei sempre gentilissimo e naturale; con lui, la parte e il nerbo della sua fortuna, la dote del suo matrimonio; con entrambi, il marito a lei congiunto, questo ben sembiante Angelo.
ISABELLA	Può essere così? Angelo la lasciò a quel modo?
DUCA	La lasciò nelle sue lacrime, e non ne asciugò una sola col suo conforto; ingoiò intere le sue promesse, adducendo di aver scoperto in lei disonore; in breve, la consegnò al suo proprio lamento, che ella ancora porta per amor suo; ed egli, marmo alle sue lacrime, ne è bagnato, ma non s’intenerisce.
ISABELLA	Che merito sarebbe nella morte togliere dal mondo questa povera fanciulla! Che corruzione in questa vita, che lasci vivere quest’uomo! Ma come può ella trarne vantaggio?
DUCA	È una rottura che voi potete facilmente sanare, e la cura non solo salva vostro fratello, ma vi tiene dal disonore nel farlo.
ISABELLA	Mostratemi come, buon padre.
DUCA	Questa fanciulla che ho nominato ha ancora in sé la durata del suo primo affetto. L’ingiusta durezza di lui, che in ogni ragione avrebbe dovuto spegnere il suo amore, l’ha, come un ostacolo nella corrente, reso più violento e indomabile. Andate da Angelo, rispondete alla sua richiesta con una plausibile obbedienza, accordatevi ai suoi termini fino in fondo; solo riservatevi questo vantaggio: primo, che la vostra permanenza con lui non sia lunga; che il tempo abbia in sé tutta l’ombra e il silenzio; e che il luogo risponda alla convenienza. Concesso questo per naturale conseguenza, ecco il resto. Consiglieremo questa fanciulla offesa di prendere il vostro posto all’appuntamento, di andare in vece vostra. Se l’incontro poi si viene a risapere, potrà costringerlo a risarcirla; e sentite: per questa via vostro fratello è salvo, il vostro onore intatto, la povera Mariana avvantaggiata, e il corrotto vicario smascherato. La fanciulla la preparerò e la renderò adatta al suo tentativo. Se vi par bene condurre questa cosa, come potete, la doppiezza del beneficio difende l’inganno dal biasimo. Che ne pensate?
ISABELLA	La sola immagine me ne dà già contentezza, e confido che crescerà a felicissima perfezione.
DUCA	Sta molto nel vostro sostenerla. Affrettatevi in fretta da Angelo. Se per questa notte vi supplica nel suo letto, dategli promessa di soddisfazione. Io andrò subito a San Luca; là, alla fattoria cinta dal fossato, dimora questa avvilita Mariana. In quel luogo venite a cercarmi; e sbrigatevi con Angelo, che sia presto.
ISABELLA	Vi ringrazio di questo conforto. State bene, buon padre.
(didascalia)	Esce
(didascalia)	Entrano Elbow, il Buffone e ufficiali
ELBOW	Eh, se non c’è altro rimedio se non che vogliate proprio comprare e vendere uomini e donne come bestie, avremo tutto il mondo a bere bastardo bianco e bruno.
DUCA	O cieli, che roba è questa?
POMPEO	Il mondo non è più allegro da quando, di due usure, la più allegra fu abbattuta e la peggiore permessa per ordine di legge, con una veste foderata a tenerla calda—e foderata di volpe su pelli d’agnello per giunta, a significare che l’astuzia, essendo più ricca dell’innocenza, sta a far da mostra.
ELBOW	Fate la vostra strada, signore.—Bnedica voi, buon padre frate.
DUCA	E voi, buon fratello padre. Che offesa vi ha fatto quest’uomo, signore?
ELBOW	Perbacco, signore, ha offeso la legge; e, signore, lo teniamo anche per ladro, signore, ché gli abbiamo trovato addosso, signore, uno strano grimaldello, che abbiamo mandato al vicario.
DUCA	(a Pompeo) Vergogna, briccone, un ruffiano, un malvagio ruffiano! Il male che tu fai commettere, quello è il tuo mezzo di vivere. Pensa un poco che cos’è rimpinzare un ventre o vestire una schiena con un vizio così sozzo. Di’ a te stesso: ‘Dai loro abominevoli e bestiali contatti io bevo, mangio, mi vesto e vivo’. Puoi credere che il tuo vivere sia una vita, così puzzolentemente dipendente? Va’ a emendarti, va’ a emendarti.
POMPEO	In verità puzza in un certo modo, signore. Ma pure, signore, io proverei—
DUCA	No, se il diavolo t’ha dato prove per il peccato, tu sarai prova sua.—Portalo in prigione, ufficiale. Correzione e istruzione devono lavorare insieme prima che questa rozza bestia ne tragga profitto.
ELBOW	Deve andare davanti al vicario, signore; gli ha dato l’avvertimento. Il vicario non può soffrire un puttaniere. Se uno è mercante di puttane e gli va davanti, farebbe meglio a farsi un miglio per la sua commissione.
DUCA	Fossimo tutti quali alcuni vogliono sembrare— liberi dalle nostre colpe, o le colpe libere dal sembrare.
ELBOW	Il suo collo verrà alla vostra cintura: una corda, signore.
(didascalia)	Entra Lucio
POMPEO	Fiuto conforto, grido cauzione. Ecco un gentiluomo, e un amico mio.
LUCIO	Ebbene, nobile Pompeo? Come, alle ruote di Cesare? Sei condotto in trionfo? Come, non c’è più nessuna di quelle statue di Pigmalione fatte donna di fresco, da avere adesso, mettendo la mano in tasca e cavandola stretta? Che rispondi, eh? Che dici a quest’aria, a questo tema, a questo metodo? Non è annegato nell’ultima pioggia, eh? Che dici, vecchia mia? Il mondo è come era, amico? Qual è la moda? È tristezza e poche parole? O come? Qual è il trucco?
DUCA	Sempre così e così; sempre peggio!
LUCIO	Come sta il mio caro bocconcino, la tua padrona? Fa ancora da mezzana, eh?
POMPEO	In fede, signore, ha finito di mangiare tutto il suo manzo, ed è lei stessa nel tino.
LUCIO	Ma è giusto, è nell’ordine delle cose, dev’essere così. Sempre puttana fresca e ruffiana in salamoia; conseguenza inevitabile, dev’essere così. Vai in prigione, Pompeo?
POMPEO	Sì, in fede, signore.
LUCIO	Non c’è male, Pompeo. Addio. Va’; di’ che t’ho mandato io là. Per debiti, Pompeo, o come?
ELBOW	Per essere ruffiano, per essere ruffiano.
LUCIO	Bene, allora imprigionatelo. Se la prigionia è il dovuto d’un ruffiano, ebbene, gli spetta di diritto. Ruffiano lo è senza dubbio, e d’antichità pure—ruffiano nato. Addio, buon Pompeo. Raccomandami alla prigione, Pompeo. Diventerai un buon massaio ora, Pompeo; starai in casa.
POMPEO	Spero, signore, che vossignoria mi farà da garante?
LUCIO	No, davvero, non lo farò, Pompeo; non è di moda. Pregherò, Pompeo, che ti si accresca la prigionia. Se non la prendi con pazienza, ebbene, tanto più fegato hai. Addio, fido Pompeo.—Dio vi benedica, frate.
DUCA	E voi.
LUCIO	Bridget si dipinge ancora la faccia, Pompeo, eh?
ELBOW	(a Pompeo) Fate la vostra strada, signore, andiamo.
POMPEO	(a Lucio) Non mi farete dunque da garante, signore?
LUCIO	Né allora, Pompeo, né adesso.—Che notizie corrono, frate, che notizie?
ELBOW	(a Pompeo) Fate la vostra strada, signore, andiamo.
LUCIO	Va’ al canile, Pompeo, va’.
(didascalia)	Escono Elbow, Pompeo e gli ufficiali
LUCIO	Che notizie, frate, del Duca?
DUCA	Non ne so nessuna. Potete darmene voi?
LUCIO	Alcuni dicono ch’è con l’Imperatore di Russia; altri, ch’è a Roma. Ma dov’è, secondo voi?
DUCA	Non so dove; ma dovunque sia, gli auguro bene.
LUCIO	Fu una trovata pazza e stravagante la sua, sgusciar via dallo Stato e usurpare una pezzenteria alla quale non era nato. Il signor Angelo fa bene il duca in sua assenza; dà addosso alla trasgressione. 361
DUCA	Ci riesce bene.
LUCIO	Un po’ più d’indulgenza per la lussuria non gli farebbe male. Un po’ troppo arcigno da quel lato, frate.
DUCA	È vizio troppo generale, e la severità deve guarirlo.
LUCIO	Sì, in buona fede, il vizio è d’una gran parentela, è bene imparentato. Ma è impossibile estirparlo del tutto, frate, finché non si aboliscano il mangiare e il bere. Dicono che questo Angelo non fu fatto da uomo e donna, secondo questa schietta via della creazione. È vero, secondo voi?
DUCA	E come sarebbe stato fatto, allora?
LUCIO	Alcuni riferiscono che lo depose una sirena, altri che fu generato fra due stoccafissi. Ma è certo che quando fa acqua la sua orina è ghiaccio congelato; questo lo so per vero. Ed è un fantoccio ingenerante; questo è infallibile.
DUCA	Siete spiritoso, signore, e parlate spedito.
LUCIO	Ma che cosa spietata è in lui, per la ribellione d’una brachetta togliere la vita a un uomo! L’avrebbe fatto il Duca che è assente? Prima d’impiccare un uomo per aver messo al mondo cento bastardi, avrebbe pagato l’allevamento di mille. Aveva un po’ di sentimento per quel gioco, conosceva il servizio, e questo l’istruiva alla clemenza.
DUCA	Non ho mai sentito accusare il Duca assente di gran cose con le donne; non era inclinato da quel lato.
LUCIO	Oh signore, v’ingannate.
DUCA	Non è possibile.
LUCIO	Chi, il Duca no? Sì, la vostra mendicante di cinquant’anni; e la sua usanza era di mettere un ducato nella sua ciotola. Il Duca aveva le sue fisime. Si sbronzava pure, questo ve lo posso informare.
DUCA	Gli fate torto, certamente.
LUCIO	Signore, ero un suo intimo. Un tipo schivo era il Duca, e credo di conoscere la causa del suo ritirarsi.
DUCA	Quale, di grazia, potrebbe essere la causa?
LUCIO	No, perdonate, è un segreto che dev’essere chiuso fra i denti e le labbra. Ma questo ve lo posso far capire. La maggior parte dei sudditi teneva il Duca per savio.
DUCA	Savio? Ma non c’è dubbio che lo fosse.
LUCIO	Un tipo assai superficiale, ignorante, senza discernimento.
DUCA	O questa è invidia in voi, o follia, o errore. Il corso stesso della sua vita, e gli affari di cui ha tenuto il timone, devono, a giusto bisogno, dargli miglior proclamazione. Lo si testimoni pure con le sue proprie opere, e apparirà agli invidiosi uno studioso, un uomo di stato e un soldato. Perciò parlate senza cognizione, o, se la vostra conoscenza è maggiore, è molto oscurata dalla vostra malizia.
LUCIO	Signore, io lo conosco e l’amo. 410
DUCA	L’amore parla con miglior conoscenza, e la conoscenza con più caro amore.
LUCIO	Suvvia, signore, io so quel che so.
DUCA	Stento a crederlo, dal momento che non sapete quel che dite. Ma se mai il Duca ritorna, come sono le nostre preghiere, lasciate ch’io vi inviti a rispondere davanti a lui. Se ciò che avete detto è onesto, avrete il coraggio di sostenerlo. Sono tenuto a chiamarvi in causa; e vi prego, il vostro nome?
LUCIO	Signore, il mio nome è Lucio, ben noto al Duca.
DUCA	Vi conoscerà meglio, signore, se vivrò per riferire di voi.
LUCIO	Non vi temo.
DUCA	Oh, voi sperate che il Duca non ritorni più, o m’immaginate un avversario troppo innocuo. Ma in verità posso farvi poco male; voi lo negherete con giuramento.
LUCIO	M’impicchino prima. T’inganni sul mio conto, frate. Ma basta di questo. Sai dirmi se Claudio muore domani o no?
DUCA	Perché dovrebbe morire, signore?
LUCIO	Perché? Per aver riempito una bottiglia con un imbuto. Vorrei che il Duca di cui parliamo fosse tornato; questo agente senza genitali spopolerà la provincia a forza di continenza. I passeri non devono nidificare sotto le sue grondaie di casa, perché sono lussuriosi. Il Duca almeno voleva che le opere buie fossero pagate al buio: non le avrebbe mai portate alla luce. Fosse tornato. Perbacco, questo Claudio è condannato per essersi slacciato le brache. Addio, buon frate. Ti prego, prega per me. Il Duca, te lo ripeto, mangerebbe montone di venerdì. Non ne è ancora passato, e, te lo dico, bacerebbe in bocca una mendicante, anche se puzzasse di pan nero e d’aglio. Di’ pure che l’ho detto io. Addio. Esce
DUCA	Né potenza né grandezza nella mortalità può sfuggire al biasimo; la calunnia che ferisce alle spalle colpisce la virtù più candida. Quale re è tanto forte da legare il fiele nella lingua calunniatrice?
(didascalia)	Entrano Escalo, il Prevosto e Mistress Overdone
DUCA	Ma chi viene qui?
ESCALO	(al Prevosto) Andate, portatela in prigione.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Buon mio signore, siate buono con me. Vostro onore è reputato uomo misericordioso, buon mio signore.
ESCALO	Doppia e tripla ammonizione, e sempre ricaduta nella stessa colpa! Questo farebbe bestemmiare la clemenza e farle fare il tiranno.
PREVOSTO	Ruffiana da undici anni di seguito, se piace a vostro onore.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Signore, questa è una denuncia contro di me d’un certo Lucio. Mistress Kate Keepdown fu resa gravida d’un figlio da lui al tempo del Duca; le promise matrimonio. Il suo figlio compie un anno e un quarto a san Filippo e Giacomo. L’ho tenuto io stessa; e vedete come si dà da fare per rovinarmi.
ESCALO	Quel tale è un tale di molta licenza. Sia chiamato davanti a noi. Portatela in prigione. Andiamo, basta parole. Prevosto, mio fratello Angelo non muterà; Claudio deve morire domani. Gli siano forniti sacerdoti, e abbia ogni caritatevole preparazione. Se mio fratello operasse secondo la mia pietà, non gli andrebbe così.
PREVOSTO	Con vostra licenza, questo frate è stato da lui e l’ha consigliato ad accogliere la morte. Escono il Prevosto e Mistress Overdone
ESCALO	Buona sera, buon padre.
DUCA	Beatitudine e bontà su di voi.
ESCALO	Di dove siete?
DUCA	Non di questo paese, benché la mia sorte ora sia di servirmene per il mio tempo. Sono un fratello di grazioso ordine, giunto or ora dalla Sede per speciale incarico di Sua Santità.
ESCALO	Che notizie corrono nel mondo?
DUCA	Nessuna, se non che c’è una febbre così grande sulla bontà che solo la sua dissoluzione può guarirla. Non si richiede che novità, ed è tanto pericoloso invecchiare in qualsiasi via quanto è virtuoso essere incostanti in qualsiasi impresa. C’è appena tanta verità in vita da render sicure le società, ma abbastanza garanzia da render maledette le compagnie. Su questo enigma corre gran parte della saggezza del mondo. Questa notizia è vecchia abbastanza, eppure è notizia d’ogni giorno. Ditemi, signore, di quale indole era il Duca?
ESCALO	Uno che, sopra ogni altro sforzo, s’adoperava specialmente a conoscere se stesso.
DUCA	A quale piacere era dato?
ESCALO	Piuttosto godeva di veder allegro un altro che d’essere allegro per qualcosa che pretendesse di rallegrarlo; gentiluomo d’ogni temperanza. Ma lasciamolo ai suoi casi, con una preghiera che riescano prosperi, e lasciate ch’io desideri sapere come trovate preparato Claudio. Mi si è dato a intendere che gli avete concesso una visita.
DUCA	Dichiara di non aver ricevuto misura iniqua dal suo giudice, ma si umilia volentierissimo alla determinazione della giustizia. Pure s’era foggiato da sé, per suggerimento della sua fragilità, molte ingannevoli promesse di vita, ch’io, col mio buon agio, gli ho screditate; e ora è risoluto a morire.
ESCALO	Avete pagato ai cieli il vostro ufficio, e al prigioniero il debito stesso della vostra vocazione. Io mi sono adoperato per il povero gentiluomo fino all’estrema riva del mio ritegno, ma il mio fratello-giustizia l’ho trovato così severo che m’ha costretto a dirgli ch’egli è invero la Giustizia.
DUCA	Se la sua stessa vita risponde al rigore del suo procedere, gli starà bene; e se in ciò gli avvenga di mancare, s’è condannato da sé.
ESCALO	Vado a visitare il prigioniero. State bene.
DUCA	La pace sia con voi. Esce Escalo Chi la spada del cielo vorrà portare santo dev’essere quanto severo, modello in sé per conoscere, grazia per stare, e virtù per andare, né più né meno agli altri pagando di quanto pesano le colpe di sé. Vergogna a colui che col crudele colpire uccide per colpe di suo gradire! Due volte tripla vergogna su Angelo, che sarchia il mio vizio e lascia crescere il suo! Oh, che può l’uomo nascondere in sé, pur angelo dalla parte di fuori! Come può la somiglianza fatta di delitti far sì che il mio artificio sui tempi tragga con oziosi fili di ragno le cose più ponderose e sostanziali? Astuzia contro vizio devo applicare. Con Angelo stanotte giacerà la sua antica promessa ma disprezzata. Così il travestimento, per mezzo della travestita, pagherà con falsità la falsa esazione, e compirà un vecchio contratto.
(didascalia)	Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Mariana discoveredwith a Boy singing
BOY	Take, O take those lips away That so sweetly were forsworn, And those eyes, the break of day Lights that do mislead the morn; But my kisses bring again, bring again, Seals of love, though sealed in vain, sealed in vain.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
MARIANA	Break off thy song, and haste thee quick away. Here comes a man of comfort, whose advice Hath often stilled my brawling discontent. Exit Boy I cry you mercy, sir, and well could wish io You had not found me here so musical. Let me excuse me, and believe me so: My mirth it much displeased, but pleased my woe.
DUKE	’Tis good; though music oft hath such a charm To make bad good, and good provoke to harm. I pray you tell me, hath anybody enquired for me here today? Much upon this time have I promised here to meet.
MARIANA	You have not been enquired after; I have sat here all day.
(didascalia)	Enter
MARIANA	Isabella
DUKE	I do constantly believe you; the time is come even now. I shall crave your forbearance a little. Maybe I will call upon you anon, for some advantage to yourself.
MARIANA	I am always bound to you.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Very well met, and welcome. What is the news from this good deputy?
ISABELLA	He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed; And to that vineyard is a planked gate, That makes his opening with this bigger key. This other doth command a little door Which from the vineyard to the garden leads. There have I made my promise Upon the heavy middle of the night To call upon him.
DUKE	But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
ISABELLA	I have ta‘en a due and wary note upon’t. With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o’er.
DUKE	Are there no other tokens Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
ISABELLA	No, none, but only a repair i’th’ dark, And that I have possessed him my most stay Can be but brief, for I have made him know I have a servant comes with me along That stays upon me, whose persuasion is I come about my brother.
DUKE	’Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana
DUKE	(To Mariana) I pray you be acquainted with this maid. She comes to do you good.
ISABELLA	I do desire the like.
DUKE	(to Mariana) Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
MARIANA	Good friar, I know you do, and so have found it.
DUKE	Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear. I shall attend your leisure; but make haste, The vaporous night approaches.
MARIANA	(to Isabella) Will’t please you walk aside?
(didascalia)	Exeunt
MARIANA	Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	O place and greatness, millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report Run with their false and most contrarious quest Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit Make thee the father of their idle dream, And rack thee in their fancies.
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	Welcome. How agreed?
ISABELLA	She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, If you advise it.
DUKE	It is not my consent, But my entreaty too.
ISABELLA	(to Mariana) Little have you to say When you depart from him but, soft and low, ‘Remember now my brother’.
MARIANA	Fear me not.
DUKE	Nor, gentle daughter, fear you not at all. He is your husband on a pre-contract. To bring you thus together ’tis no sin, Sith that the justice of your title to him Doth flourish the deceit. Come, let us go. Our corn’s to reap, for yet our tilth’s to sow.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Si scopre Mariana con un Fanciullo che canta
FANCIULLO	Toglimi, oh toglimi quelle labbra che così dolcemente spergiurarono, e quegli occhi, luci del rompere del giorno che sviano il mattino; ma i miei baci rendimi, rendimi, sigilli d’amore, benché sigillati invano, sigillati invano.
(didascalia)	Entra il Duca, travestito da frate
MARIANA	Tronca il tuo canto, e affrettati via di qui. Ecco viene un uomo di conforto, il cui consiglio ha spesso acquietato il mio querulo scontento. Esce il Fanciullo Vi chiedo perdono, signore, e ben vorrei io che non m’aveste trovata qui così in musica. Lasciate ch’io mi scusi, e credetemi così: la mia allegria molto mi dispiacque, ma piacque al mio dolore.
DUCA	Sta bene; benché la musica abbia spesso tale incanto da far buono il cattivo, e provocare il buono al danno. Vi prego, ditemi: qualcuno ha chiesto di me qui oggi? Proprio a quest’ora avevo promesso qui d’incontrarmi.
MARIANA	Nessuno ha chiesto di voi; sono stata seduta qui tutto il giorno.
(didascalia)	Entra
MARIANA	Isabella
DUCA	Vi credo fermamente; il momento è venuto proprio ora. Chiederò la vostra pazienza per un poco. Forse vi chiamerò fra breve, per qualche vostro vantaggio.
MARIANA	Vi sono sempre obbligata.
(didascalia)	Esce
DUCA	Molto ben trovata, e benvenuta. Quali notizie da questo buon sostituto?
ISABELLA	Ha un giardino tutto murato di mattoni, il cui lato occidentale è fiancheggiato da una vigna; e a quella vigna è un cancello di tavole, che si apre con questa chiave più grande. Quest’altra comanda una porticina che dalla vigna conduce al giardino. Là ho fatto la mia promessa sulla greve mezzeria della notte di venire da lui.
DUCA	Ma saprete voi con sicurezza trovare questa via?
ISABELLA	Ne ho preso debita e guardinga nota. Con sussurri e diligenza colpevolissima, tutto in atto di precetto, egli mi mostrò due volte la strada.
DUCA	Non ci sono altri segni convenuti fra voi circa il modo di comportarsi di lei?
ISABELLA	No, nessuno, se non solo un venire al buio, e che l’ho ben persuaso che la mia sosta non può essere che breve, ché gli ho fatto sapere ch’io ho un servo che viene con me e mi aspetta, la cui persuasione è che io venga per mio fratello.
DUCA	È ben condotta. Non ho ancora fatto sapere a Mariana una parola di questo.—Ehi là, dentro! Venite fuori!
(didascalia)	Entra Mariana
DUCA	(a Mariana) Vi prego, fate conoscenza con questa fanciulla. Viene a farvi del bene.
ISABELLA	Io desidero altrettanto.
DUCA	(a Mariana) Vi persuadete voi ch’io abbia riguardo per voi?
MARIANA	Buon frate, so che l’avete, e così l’ho trovato.
DUCA	Prendete dunque per mano questa vostra compagna, che ha una storia pronta per il vostro orecchio. Attenderò il vostro comodo; ma fate presto, la vaporosa notte s’avvicina.
MARIANA	(a Isabella) Vi piace venire in disparte?
(didascalia)	Escono
MARIANA	Mariana e Isabella
DUCA	O carica e grandezza, milioni di occhi falsi sono confitti su di te; volumi di dicerie corrono con la loro falsa e contrarissima caccia sulle tue azioni; mille sortite d’ingegno ti fanno padre del loro ozioso sogno, e ti torturano nelle loro fantasie.
(didascalia)	Entrano Mariana e Isabella
DUCA	Benvenute. Come vi siete accordate?
ISABELLA	Prenderà su di sé l’impresa, padre, se voi lo consigliate.
DUCA	Non è solo il mio consenso, ma anche la mia preghiera.
ISABELLA	(a Mariana) Poco avete da dire quando vi staccherete da lui, se non, piano e sommesso: ‘Ricòrdati ora di mio fratello’.
MARIANA	Non Fear per me.
DUCA	Né voi, gentile figliola, temete affatto. Egli è vostro marito per un contratto anteriore. Congiungervi così non è peccato, poiché la giustizia del vostro titolo su di lui abbellisce l’inganno. Venite, andiamo. C’è il nostro grano da mietere, ché il campo è ancora da seminare.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and Pompey
PROVOST	Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man’s head?
POMPEY	If the man be a bachelor, sir, I can; but if he be a married man, he’s his wife’s head, and I can never cut off a woman’s head.
PROVOST	Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer. Tomorrow morning are to die Claudio and Barnardine. Here is in our prison a common executioner, who in his office lacks a helper. If you will take it on you to assist him, it shall redeem you from your gyves; if not, you shall have your full time of imprisonment, and your deliverance with an unpitied whipping; for you have been a notorious bawd.
POMPEY	Sir, I have been an unlawful bawd time out of mind, but yet I will be content to be a lawful hangman. I would be glad to receive some instruction from my fellow partner.
PROVOST	What ho, Abhorson! Where’s Abhorson there? Enter Abhorson
ABHORSON	Do you call, sir?
PROVOST	Sirrah, here’s a fellow will help you tomorrow in your execution. If you think it meet, compound with him by the year, and let him abide here with you; if not, use him for the present, and dismiss him. He cannot plead his estimation with you; he hath been a bawd.
ABHORSON	A bawd, sir? Fie upon him, he will discredit our mystery.
PROVOST	Go to, sir, you weigh equally; a feather will turn the scale. Exit
POMPEY	Pray, sir, by your good favour—for surely, sir, a good favour you have, but that you have a hanging look—do you call, sir, your occupation a mystery?
ABHORSON	Ay, sir, a mystery.
POMPEY	Painting, sir, I have heard say is a mystery; and your whores, sir, being members of my occupation, using painting, do prove my occupation a mystery. But what mystery there should be in hanging, if I should be hanged I cannot imagine.
ABHORSON	Sir, it is a mystery.
POMPEY	Proof.
ABHORSON	Every true man’s apparel fits your thief—
POMPEY	If it be too little for your thief, your true man thinks it big enough. If it be too big for your thief, your thief thinks it little enough. So every true man’s apparel fits your thief.
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Are you agreed?
POMPEY	Sir, I will serve him, for I do find your hangman is a more penitent trade than your bawd—he doth oftener ask forgiveness.
PROVOST	(to Abhorson) You, sirrah, provide your block and your axe tomorrow, four o’clock.
ABHORSON	(to Pompey) Come on, bawd, I will instruct thee in my trade. Follow.
POMPEY	I do desire to learn, sir, and I hope, if you have occasion to use me for your own turn, you shall find me yare. For truly, sir, for your kindness I owe you a good turn.
PROVOST	Call hither Barnardine and Claudio.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Abhorson and Pompey
PROVOST	Th’one has my pity; not a jot the other, Being a murderer, though he were my brother.
(didascalia)	Enter Claudio
PROVOST	Look, here’s the warrant, Claudio, for thy death. ’Tis now dead midnight, and by eight tomorrow Thou must be made immortal. Where’s Barnardine?
CLAUDIO	As fast locked up in sleep as guiltless labour When it lies starkly in the travailer’s bones. He will not wake.
PROVOST	Who can do good on him? Well, go prepare yourself.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
PROVOST	But hark, what noise? Heaven give your spirits comfort! Exit Claudio
(didascalia)	Knocking again
PROVOST	By and by! I hope it is some pardon or reprieve For the most gentle Claudio.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
PROVOST	Welcome, father.
DUKE	The best and wholesom’st spirits of the night Envelop you, good Provost! Who called here of late?
PROVOST	None since the curfew rung.
DUKE	Not Isabel?
PROVOST	No.
DUKE	They will then, ere’t be long.
PROVOST	What comfort is for Claudio?
DUKE	There’s some in hope.
PROVOST	It is a bitter deputy.
DUKE	Not so, not so; his life is paralleled Even with the stroke and line of his great justice. He doth with holy abstinence subdue That in himself which he spurs on his power To qualify in others. Were he mealed with that Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous; But this being so, he’s just.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
DUKE	Now are they come.
(didascalia)	The Provost goes to a door
DUKE	This is a gentle Provost. Seldom when The steeled jailer is the friend of men.
(didascalia)	Knocking within
DUKE	(To Provost) How now, what noise? That spirit’s possessed with haste That wounds th’unlisting postern with these strokes.
PROVOST	There he must stay until the officer Arise to let him in. He is called up.
DUKE	Have you no countermand for Claudio yet, But he must die tomorrow?
PROVOST	None, sir, none.
DUKE	As near the dawning, Provost, as it is, You shall hear more ere morning.
PROVOST	Happily You something know, yet I believe there comes No countermand. No such example have we; Besides, upon the very siege of justice Lord Angelo hath to the public ear Professed the contrary.
(didascalia)	Enter a Messenger
PROVOST	This is his lordship’s man.
(didascalia)	DUKE And here comes Claudio’s pardon.
MESSENGER	(giving a paper to Provost) My lord hath sent you this note, and by me this further charge: that you swerve not from the smallest article of it, neither in time, matter, or other circumstance. Good morrow; for, as I take it, it is almost day.
PROVOST	I shall obey him.
(didascalia)	Exit Messenger
DUKE	(aside) This is his pardon, purchased by such sin For which the pardoner himself is in. Hence hath offence his quick celerity, When it is borne in high authority. When vice makes mercy, mercy’s so extended That for the fault’s love is th’offender friended.— Now sir, what news?
PROVOST	I told you: Lord Angelo, belike thinking me remiss in mine office, awakens me with this unwonted putting-on; methinks strangely, for he hath not used it before.
DUKE	Pray you let’s hear.
PROVOST	(reading the letter) ‘Whatsoever you may hear to the contrary, let Claudio be executed by four of the clock, and in the afternoon Barnardine. For my better satisfaction, let me have Claudio’s head sent me by five. Let this be duly performed, with a thought that more depends on it than we must yet deliver. Thus fail not to do your office, as you will answer it at your peril.’ What say you to this, sir?
DUKE	What is that Barnardine, who is to be executed in th’afternoon?
PROVOST	A Bohemian born, but here nursed up and bred; one that is a prisoner nine years old.
DUKE	How came it that the absent Duke had not either delivered him to his liberty or executed him? I have heard it was ever his manner to do so.
PROVOST	His friends still wrought reprieves for him; and indeed his fact, till now in the government of Lord Angelo, came not to an undoubtful proof.
DUKE	It is now apparent?
PROVOST	Most manifest, and not denied by himself.
DUKE	Hath he borne himself penitently in prison? How seems he to be touched?
PROVOST	A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully but as a drunken sleep; careless, reckless, and fearless of what’s past, present, or to come; insensible of mortality, and desperately mortal.
DUKE	He wants advice.
PROVOST	He will hear none. He hath evermore had the liberty of the prison. Give him leave to escape hence, he would not. Drunk many times a day, if not many days entirely drunk. We have very oft awaked him as if to carry him to execution, and showed him a seeming warrant for it; it hath not moved him at all.
DUKE	More of him anon. There is written in your brow, Provost, honesty and constancy. If I read it not truly, my ancient skill beguiles me. But in the boldness of my cunning, I will lay myself in hazard. Claudio, whom here you have warrant to execute, is no greater forfeit to the law than Angelo who hath sentenced him. To make you understand this in a manifested effect, I crave but four days’ respite, for the which you are to do me both a present and a dangerous courtesy.
PROVOST	Pray sir, in what?
DUKE	In the delaying death.
PROVOST	Alack, how may I do it, having the hour limited, and an express command under penalty to deliver his head in the view of Angelo? I may make my case as Claudio’s to cross this in the smallest.
DUKE	By the vow of mine order, I warrant you, if my instructions may be your guide, let this Barnardine be this morning executed, and his head borne to Angelo.
PROVOST	Angelo hath seen them both, and will discover the favour.
DUKE	O, death’s a great disguiser, and you may add to it. Shave the head and tie the beard, and say it was the desire of the penitent to be so bared before his death; you know the course is common. If anything fall to you upon this more than thanks and good fortune, by the saint whom I profess, I will plead against it with my life.
PROVOST	Pardon me, good father, it is against my oath.
DUKE	Were you sworn to the Duke or to the deputy?
PROVOST	To him and to his substitutes.
DUKE	You will think you have made no offence if the Duke avouch the justice of your dealing?
PROVOST	But what likelihood is in that?
DUKE	Not a resemblance, but a certainty. Yet since I see you fearful, that neither my coat, integrity, nor persuasion can with ease attempt you, I will go further than I meant, to pluck all fears out of you. (Showing a letter) Look you, sir, here is the hand and seal of the Duke. You know the character, I doubt not, and the signet is not strange to you?
PROVOST	I know them both.
DUKE	The contents of this is the return of the Duke. You shall anon over-read it at your pleasure, where you shall find within these two days he will be here. This is a thing that Angelo knows not, for he this very day receives letters of strange tenor, perchance of the Duke’s death, perchance entering into some monastery; but by chance nothing of what is writ. Look, th’unfolding star calls up the shepherd. Put not yourself into amazement how these things should be. All difficulties are but easy when they are known. Call your executioner, and off with Barnardine’s head. I will give him a present shrift, and advise him for a better place. Yet you are amazed; but this shall absolutely resolve you. Come away, it is almost clear dawn.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Prevosto e Pompeo
PREVOSTO	Vieni qua, messere. Sai tagliare la testa a un uomo?
POMPEO	Se l’uomo è scapolo, signore, sì; ma se è ammogliato, egli è il capo di sua moglie, e io non posso mai tagliare il capo a una donna.
PREVOSTO	Andiamo, messere, lascia stare le tue arguzie e dammi una risposta diretta. Domattina devono morire Claudio e Barnardine. C’è qui nella nostra prigione un boia ordinario, che nel suo ufficio manca d’un aiutante. Se ti prendi l’incarico d’assisterlo, ti riscatterà dai tuoi ferri; se no, sconterai tutto il tuo tempo di prigionia, e la tua liberazione sarà con una frustata senza pietà; ché sei stato un ruffiano notorio.
POMPEO	Signore, sono stato ruffiano illegale da tempo immemorabile, ma pure mi contenterò d’essere un impiccatore legale. Sarei lieto di ricevere qualche istruzione dal mio compagno di mestiere.
PREVOSTO	Ehi là, Abhorson! Dov’è Abhorson? Entra Abhorson
ABHORSON	Chiamate, signore?
PREVOSTO	Messere, ecco un tale che vi aiuterà domani nella vostra esecuzione. Se lo trovate conveniente, accordatevi con lui a anno, e lasciatelo stare qui con voi; se no, servitevene per il momento e congedatelo. Non può accampare con voi la sua reputazione: è stato ruffiano.
ABHORSON	Un ruffiano, signore? Vergogna su di lui, screditerà il nostro mistero.
PREVOSTO	Suvvia, signore, pesate uguale; una piuma farà pendere la bilancia. Esce
POMPEO	Di grazia, signore, con vostra buona cera—ché certo, signore, buona cera l’avete, se non che avete un’aria da forca—chiamate voi, signore, mistero la vostra occupazione?
ABHORSON	Sì, signore, un mistero.
POMPEO	La pittura, signore, ho sentito dire ch’è un mistero; e le vostre puttane, signore, essendo membri della mia occupazione, usando la pittura, provano che la mia occupazione è un mistero. Ma che mistero ci debba essere nell’impiccare, dovessero impiccare me, non riesco a immaginarlo.
ABHORSON	Signore, è un mistero.
POMPEO	La prova.
ABHORSON	I panni d’ogni uomo onesto stanno bene al ladro—
POMPEO	Se sono troppo piccoli per il ladro, l’uomo onesto li giudica abbastanza grandi. Se sono troppo grandi per il ladro, il ladro li giudica abbastanza piccoli. Così i panni d’ogni uomo onesto stanno bene al ladro.
(didascalia)	Entra il Prevosto
PREVOSTO	Vi siete accordati?
POMPEO	Signore, lo servirò, ché trovo che il boia è mestiere più penitente del ruffiano: chiede perdono più spesso.
PREVOSTO	(a Abhorson) Tu, messere, prepara il tuo ceppo e la tua scure per domani, alle quattro dell’orologio.
ABHORSON	(a Pompeo) Andiamo, ruffiano, t’istruirò nel mio mestiere. Seguimi.
POMPEO	Desidero imparare, signore, e spero, se avrete occasione d’usarmi per il vostro turno, di trovarmi pronto. Ché in verità, signore, per la vostra cortesia vi devo un buon servizio.
PREVOSTO	Chiamate qui Barnardine e Claudio.
(didascalia)	Escono Abhorson e Pompeo
PREVOSTO	L’uno ha la mia pietà; non un briciolo l’altro, essendo un assassino, foss’anche mio fratello.
(didascalia)	Entra Claudio
PREVOSTO	Guarda, ecco il mandato, Claudio, per la tua morte. È ora piena mezzanotte, e per le otto di domani dovrai essere fatto immortale. Dov’è Barnardine?
CLAUDIO	Chiuso stretto nel sonno come l’innocente fatica quando giace irrigidita nelle ossa di chi ha faticato. Non si sveglierà.
PREVOSTO	Chi può fargli del bene? Bene, va’ a prepararti.
(didascalia)	Bussano dall’interno
PREVOSTO	Ma ascolta, che rumore? Il cielo dia conforto al tuo spirito! Esce Claudio
(didascalia)	Bussano di nuovo
PREVOSTO	Subito! Spero che sia qualche perdono o rinvio per il gentilissimo Claudio.
(didascalia)	Entra il Duca, travestito da frate
PREVOSTO	Benvenuto, padre.
DUCA	I migliori e più salubri spiriti della notte vi avvolgano, buon Prevosto! Chi ha chiamato qui di recente?
PREVOSTO	Nessuno da quando è suonato il coprifuoco.
DUCA	Non Isabel?
PREVOSTO	No.
DUCA	Verranno allora, fra non molto.
PREVOSTO	Che conforto c’è per Claudio?
DUCA	Ce n’è un poco nella speranza.
PREVOSTO	È un vicario amaro.
DUCA	Non è così, non è così; la sua vita corre parallela proprio al tratto e alla linea della sua grande giustizia. Egli con santa astinenza soggioga ciò che in se stesso sprona il suo potere a moderare negli altri. Fosse impastato di quello che corregge, allora sarebbe tirannico; ma essendo così, è giusto.
(didascalia)	Bussano dall’interno
DUCA	Ora sono venuti.
(didascalia)	Il Prevosto va a una porta
DUCA	Questo è un Prevosto gentile. Di rado accade che il carceriere d’acciaio sia amico degli uomini.
(didascalia)	Bussano dall’interno
DUCA	(al Prevosto) Ebbene, che rumore? Quello spirito è posseduto dalla fretta che ferisce con tali colpi la postierla che non ascolta.
PREVOSTO	Là deve restare finché l’ufficiale si alzi per farlo entrare. È stato chiamato.
DUCA	Non avete ancora nessuna contromanda per Claudio, ma deve morire domani?
PREVOSTO	Nessuna, signore, nessuna.
DUCA	Per quanto vicina sia l’alba, Prevosto, udrete altro prima del mattino.
PREVOSTO	Forse voi sapete qualcosa; pure credo che non venga nessuna contromanda. Di tale esempio non ne abbiamo; oltre a ciò, sul seggio stesso della giustizia il signor Angelo ha all’orecchio pubblico professato il contrario.
(didascalia)	Entra un Messo
PREVOSTO	Questo è l’uomo di sua signoria.
(didascalia)	DUCA Ed ecco che viene il perdono di Claudio.
MESSO	(consegnando una carta al Prevosto) Il mio signore vi ha mandato questo biglietto, e per mio mezzo quest’ulteriore incarico: che non deviate dal minimo articolo di esso, né nel tempo, né nella materia, né in altra circostanza. Buon giorno; ché, per quanto vedo, è quasi giorno.
PREVOSTO	Gli obbedirò.
(didascalia)	Esce il Messo
DUCA	(a parte) Questo è il suo perdono, comprato con quel peccato nel quale il perdonatore stesso è caduto. Di qui l’offesa ha la sua rapida celerità, quando è sostenuta da alta autorità. Quando il vizio fa clemenza, la clemenza è tanto estesa che per l’amore della colpa l’offensore ha un amico.— Ora, signore, che notizie?
PREVOSTO	Ve l’ho detto: il signor Angelo, credendomi forse negligente nel mio ufficio, mi ridesta con questo insolito sollecito; e mi pare strano, ché non l’ha mai fatto prima.
DUCA	Di grazia, sentiamo.
PREVOSTO	(leggendo la lettera) ‘Qualunque cosa possiate udire in contrario, sia Claudio giustiziato alle quattro dell’orologio, e nel pomeriggio Barnardine. Per mia maggiore soddisfazione, mi sia mandata la testa di Claudio entro le cinque. Sia questo debitamente eseguito, col pensiero che più dipende da ciò di quanto ancora dobbiamo dire. Così non mancate di fare il vostro ufficio, come ne risponderete a vostro rischio.’ Che ne dite di questo, signore?
DUCA	Chi è quel Barnardine, che dev’essere giustiziato nel pomeriggio?
PREVOSTO	Un boemo di nascita, ma qui allevato e cresciuto; uno che è prigioniero da nove anni.
DUCA	Come mai il Duca assente non l’ha né rimesso in libertà né giustiziato? Ho sentito che era sempre suo costume fare così.
PREVOSTO	I suoi amici gli hanno sempre procurato rinvii; e in verità il suo fatto, fino ad ora sotto il governo del signor Angelo, non era giunto a prova indubitabile.
DUCA	Ora è manifesto?
PREVOSTO	Manifestissimo, e non negato da lui stesso.
DUCA	S’è comportato con pentimento in prigione? Come pare toccato?
PREVOSTO	Un uomo che comprende la morte non più spaventosamente che come un sonno d’ubriaco; incurante, temerario e senza timore di ciò che è passato, presente o venturo; insensibile alla mortalità, e disperatamente mortale.
DUCA	Ha bisogno di consiglio.
PREVOSTO	Non ne vuole udire nessuno. Ha sempre avuto la libertà della prigione. Dategli licenza di fuggire di qui, non vorrebbe. Ubriaco molte volte al giorno, se non ubriaco per giorni interi. L’abbiamo svegliato spesso come per portarlo all’esecuzione, e gli abbiamo mostrato un finto mandato; non l’ha mosso affatto.
DUCA	Di lui parleremo poi. C’è scritto sulla vostra fronte, Prevosto, onestà e costanza. Se non leggo bene, la mia antica perizia m’inganna. Ma nell’ardire della mia astuzia, mi metterò a rischio. Claudio, che qui avete mandato di giustiziare, non è più in debito con la legge di quanto lo sia Angelo che l’ha condannato. Per farvi comprendere questo in un effetto manifesto, non chiedo che quattro giorni di respiro, per i quali dovete farmi una cortesia insieme immediata e pericolosa.
PREVOSTO	Di grazia, signore, in che?
DUCA	Nel differire la morte.
PREVOSTO	Ahimè, come posso farlo, avendo l’ora fissata, e un ordine espresso sotto pena di consegnare la sua testa al cospetto di Angelo? Farei del mio caso quello di Claudio, a contrariare questo anche nel minimo.
DUCA	Per il voto del mio ordine, ve ne rispondo io, se le mie istruzioni vi possono guidare: sia questo Barnardine giustiziato stamattina, e la sua testa portata ad Angelo.
PREVOSTO	Angelo li ha visti entrambi, e riconoscerà i lineamenti.
DUCA	Oh, la morte è un gran travestitore, e voi potete aggiungervi del vostro. Radete il capo e legate la barba, e dite che fu desiderio del penitente essere così scoperto prima della sua morte; sapete che l’usanza è comune. Se da questo vi tocca qualcosa più di ringraziamenti e buona fortuna, per il santo che professo, perorerò contro di ciò con la mia vita.
PREVOSTO	Perdonatemi, buon padre, è contro il mio giuramento.
DUCA	Avete giurato al Duca o al vicario?
PREVOSTO	A lui e ai suoi sostituti.
DUCA	Penserete di non aver commesso offesa, se il Duca garantisce la giustizia del vostro operato?
PREVOSTO	Ma che probabilità c’è in questo?
DUCA	Non una somiglianza, ma una certezza. Pure, poiché vi vedo timoroso, e né la mia veste, né l’integrità, né la persuasione possono facilmente muovervi, andrò più oltre di quanto intendessi, per strapparvi ogni timore. (Mostrando una lettera) Guardate, signore, ecco la mano e il sigillo del Duca. Conoscete la scrittura, non ne dubito, e il sigillo non vi è estraneo?
PREVOSTO	Li conosco entrambi.
DUCA	Il contenuto di questa è il ritorno del Duca. La leggerete fra poco a vostro piacere, e vi troverete che entro questi due giorni egli sarà qui. Questa è cosa che Angelo non sa, ché egli proprio oggi riceve lettere di strano tenore, forse della morte del Duca, forse del suo entrare in qualche monastero; ma per caso nulla di ciò che è scritto. Guardate, la stella che dischiude chiama su il pastore. Non gettatevi nello stupore su come queste cose possano essere. Tutte le difficoltà sono facili quando sono note. Chiamate il vostro boia, e via la testa di Barnardine. Gli darò subito confessione, e lo consiglierò per un luogo migliore. Ancora siete stupito; ma questo vi risolverà del tutto. Venite via, è quasi chiara l’alba.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey
POMPEY	I am as well acquainted here as I was in our house of profession. One would think it were Mistress Overdone’s own house, for here be many of her old customers. First, here’s young Master Rash; he’s in for a commodity of brown paper and old ginger, nine score and seventeen pounds, of which he made five marks ready money. Marry, then ginger was not much in request, for the old women were all dead. Then is there here one Master Caper, at the suit of Master Threepile the mercer, for some four suits of peach-coloured satin, which now peaches him a beggar. Then have we here young Dizzy, and young Master Deepvow, and Master Copperspur and Master Starve-lackey the rapier and dagger man, and young Drop-hair that killed lusty Pudding, and Master Forthright the tilter, and brave Master Shoe-tie the great traveller, and wild Half-can that stabbed Pots, and I think forty more, all great doers in our trade, and are now ‘for the Lord’s sake’. Enter Abhorson
ABHORSON	Sirrah, bring Barnardine hither. 19
POMPEY	Master Barnardine! You must rise and be hanged, Master Barnardine!
ABHORSON	What ho, Barnardine!
BARNARDINE	(within) A pox o’ your throats! Who makes that noise there? What are you?
POMPEY	Your friends, sir; the hangman. You must be so good, sir, to rise and be put to death.
BARNARDINE	Away, you rogue, away! I am sleepy.
ABHORSON	Tell him he must awake, and that quickly too.
POMPEY	Pray, Master Barnardine, awake till you are executed, and sleep afterwards.
ABHORSON	Go in to him and fetch him out.
POMPEY	He is coming, sir, he is coming. I hear his straw rustle.
ABHORSON	Is the axe upon the block, sirrah?
POMPEY	Very ready, sir.
(didascalia)	Enter Barnardine
BARNARDINE	How now, Abhorson, what’s the news with you?
ABHORSON	Truly, sir, I would desire you to clap into your prayers, for, look you, the warrant’s come.
BARNARDINE	You rogue, I have been drinking all night. I am not fitted for’t.
POMPEY	O, the better, sir; for he that drinks all night, and is hanged betimes in the morning, may sleep the sounder all the next day. Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar
ABHORSON	(to Barnardine) Look you, sir, here comes your ghostly father. Do we jest now, think you?
DUKE	(to Barnardine) Sir, induced by my charity, and hearing how hastily you are to depart, I am come to advise you, comfort you, and pray with you.
BARNARDINE	Friar, not I. I have been drinking hard all night, and I will have more time to prepare me, or they shall beat out my brains with billets. I will not consent to die this day, that’s certain.
DUKE	O sir, you must; and therefore, I beseech you, Look forward on the journey you shall go.
BARNARDINE	I swear I will not die today, for any man’s persuasion.
DUKE	But hear you—
BARNARDINE	Not a word. If you have anything to say to me, come to my ward, for thence will not I today.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Unfit to live or die. O gravel heart! After him, fellows; bring him to the block.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Abhorson
DUKE	and Pompey
(didascalia)	Enter Provost
PROVOST	Now, sir, how do you find the prisoner?
DUKE	A creature unprepared, unmeet for death; And to transport him in the mind he is Were damnable.
PROVOST	Here in the prison, father, There died this morning of a cruel fever One Ragusine, a most notorious pirate, A man of Claudio’s years, his beard and head Just of his colour. What if we do omit This reprobate till he were well inclined, And satisfy the deputy with the visage Of Ragusine, more like to Claudio?
DUKE	O, ’tis an accident that heaven provides. Dispatch it presently; the hour draws on Prefixed by Angelo. See this be done, And sent according to command, whiles I Persuade this rude wretch willingly to die.
PROVOST	This shall be done, good father, presently. But Barnardine must die this afternoon; And how shall we continue Claudio, To save me from the danger that might come If he were known alive?
DUKE	Let this be done: Put them in secret holds, both Barnardine and Claudio. Ere twice the sun hath made his journal greeting To yonder generation, you shall find Your safety manifested.
PROVOST	I am your free dependant.
DUKE	Quick, dispatch, and send the head to Angelo.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
DUKE	Now will I write letters to Angelo— The Provost, he shall bear them—whose contents Shall witness to him I am near at home, And that by great injunctions I am bound To enter publicly. Him I’ll desire To meet me at the consecrated fount A league below the city, and from thence, By cold gradation and well-balanced form, We shall proceed with Angelo.
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost, with Ragusine’s head
PROVOST	Here is the head; I’ll carry it myself.
DUKE	Convenient is it. Make a swift return, For I would commune with you of such things That want no ear but yours.
PROVOST	I’ll make all speed.
(didascalia)	Exit
ISABELLA	(within) Peace, ho, be here!
DUKE	The tongue of Isabel. She’s come to know If yet her brother’s pardon be come hither; But I will keep her ignorant of her good, To make her heavenly comforts of despair When it is least expected.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA within Ho, by your leave!
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
DUKE	Good morning to you, fair and gracious daughter.
ISABELLA	The better, given me by so holy a man. Hath yet the deputy sent my brother’s pardon?
DUKE	He hath released him, Isabel, from the world. His head is off and sent to Angelo.
ISABELLA	Nay, but it is not so.
DUKE	It is no other. Show your wisdom, daughter, in your close patience.
ISABELLA	O, I will to him and pluck out his eyes!
DUKE	You shall not be admitted to his sight.
ISABELLA	(weeping) Unhappy Claudio! Wretched Isabel! Injurious world! Most damned Angelo!
DUKE	This nor hurts him, nor profits you a jot. Forbear it, therefore; give your cause to heaven. Mark what I say, which you shall find By every syllable a faithful verity. The Duke comes home tomorrow—nay, dry your eyes— One of our convent, and his confessor, Gives me this instance. Already he hath carried Notice to Escalus and Angelo, Who do prepare to meet him at the gates, There to give up their power. If you can pace your wisdom In that good path that I would wish it go, And you shall have your bosom on this wretch, Grace of the Duke, revenges to your heart, And general honour.
ISABELLA	I am directed by you.
DUKE	This letter, then, to Friar Peter give. ’Tis that he sent me of the Duke’s return. Say by this token I desire his company At Mariana’s house tonight. Her cause and yours I’ll perfect him withal, and he shall bring you Before the Duke, and to the head of Angelo Accuse him home and home. For my poor self, I am combined by a sacred vow, And shall be absent. (Giving the letter) Wend you with this letter. Command these fretting waters from your eyes With a light heart. Trust not my holy order If I pervert your course.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
DUKE	Who’s here?
LUCIO	Good even. Friar, where’s the Provost?
DUKE	Not within, sir.
(didascalia)	LUCIO O pretty Isabella, I am pale at mine heart to see thine eyes so red. Thou must be patient. I am fain to dine and sup with water and bran; I dare not for my head fill my belly; one fruitful meal would set me to’t. But they say the Duke will be here tomorrow. By my troth, Isabel, I loved thy brother. If the old fantastical Duke of dark corners had been at home, he had lived. Exit Isabella
DUKE	Sir, the Duke is marvellous little beholden to your reports; but the best is, he lives not in them.
LUCIO	Friar, thou knowest not the Duke so well as I do. He’s a better woodman than thou tak’st him for.
DUKE	Well, you’ll answer this one day. Fare ye well.
LUCIO	Nay, tarry, I’ll go along with thee. I can tell thee pretty tales of the Duke.
DUKE	You have told me too many of him already, sir, if they be true; if not true, none were enough.
LUCIO	I was once before him for getting a wench with child.
DUKE	Did you such a thing?
LUCIO	Yes, marry, did I; but I was fain to forswear it. They would else have married me to the rotten medlar.
DUKE	Sir, your company is fairer than honest. Rest you well.
LUCIO	By my troth, I’ll go with thee to the lane’s end. If bawdy talk offend you, we’ll have very little of it. Nay, friar, I am a kind of burr; I shall stick.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Pompeo
POMPEO	Sono qui altrettanto ben conosciuto quanto lo ero nella nostra casa di professione. Uno penserebbe che questa sia la casa stessa di Mistress Overdone, ché qui ci sono molti dei suoi vecchi clienti. Primo, ecco il giovane messer Rash; è dentro per una partita di carta straccia e zenzero vecchio, centonovantasette sterline, delle quali fece cinque marchi in contanti. Perbacco, allora lo zenzero non era molto richiesto, ché le vecchie erano tutte morte. Poi c’è qui un messer Caper, per la causa di messer Threepile il merciaio, per quattro abiti di raso color pesca, che ora lo pescano pezzente. Poi abbiamo qui il giovane Dizzy, e il giovane messer Deepvow, e messer Copperspur e messer Starve-lackey l’uomo di stocco e pugnale, e il giovane Drop-hair che ammazzò il gagliardo Pudding, e messer Forthright il giostratore, e il bravo messer Shoe-tie il gran viaggiatore, e il selvatico Half-can che pugnalò Pots, e credo altri quaranta, tutti grandi lavoratori nel nostro mestiere, e ora stanno a chiedere ‘per amor del Signore’. Entra Abhorson
ABHORSON	Messere, porta qua Barnardine. 19
POMPEO	Messer Barnardine! Dovete alzarvi ed essere impiccato, messer Barnardine!
ABHORSON	Ehi là, Barnardine!
BARNARDINE	(dall’interno) Un accidente alle vostre gole! Chi fa quel rumore là? Chi siete?
POMPEO	I vostri amici, signore; il boia. Dovete essere così buono, signore, da alzarvi ed essere messo a morte.
BARNARDINE	Via, furfante, via! Ho sonno.
ABHORSON	Digli che deve svegliarsi, e anche presto.
POMPEO	Di grazia, messer Barnardine, state sveglio finché siate giustiziato, e dormite dopo.
ABHORSON	Entra da lui e tiralo fuori.
POMPEO	Viene, signore, viene. Sento frusciare la sua paglia.
ABHORSON	La scure è sul ceppo, messere?
POMPEO	Prontissima, signore.
(didascalia)	Entra Barnardine
BARNARDINE	Ebbene, Abhorson, che notizie mi portate?
ABHORSON	In verità, signore, vorrei che vi buttaste nelle vostre preghiere, ché, vedete, il mandato è arrivato.
BARNARDINE	Furfante, ho bevuto tutta la notte. Non sono in condizione.
POMPEO	Oh, tanto meglio, signore; ché chi beve tutta la notte ed è impiccato di buon’ora al mattino può dormire più saldo tutto il giorno dopo. Entra il Duca, travestito da frate
ABHORSON	(a Barnardine) Guardate, signore, ecco che viene il vostro padre spirituale. Scherziamo ora, che ne dite?
DUCA	(a Barnardine) Signore, indotto dalla mia carità, e udendo con quanta fretta dovete partire, sono venuto a consigliarvi, confortarvi e pregare con voi.
BARNARDINE	Frate, io no. Ho bevuto forte tutta la notte, e voglio più tempo per prepararmi, o mi facciano schizzare le cervella a randellate. Non acconsentirò a morire oggi, questo è certo.
DUCA	Oh signore, dovete; e perciò, vi supplico, guardate avanti al viaggio che dovrete fare.
BARNARDINE	Giuro che non morirò oggi, per la persuasione di nessun uomo.
DUCA	Ma ascoltate—
BARNARDINE	Non una parola. Se avete qualcosa da dirmi, venite nella mia cella, ché di là oggi non mi muovo.
(didascalia)	Esce
DUCA	Inadatto a vivere o a morire. O cuore di ghiaia! Dietro a lui, ragazzi; portatelo al ceppo.
(didascalia)	Escono Abhorson
DUCA	e Pompeo
(didascalia)	Entra il Prevosto
PREVOSTO	Ebbene, signore, come trovate il prigioniero?
DUCA	Una creatura impreparata, non adatta alla morte; e trasportarlo nell’animo in cui è sarebbe cosa dannabile.
PREVOSTO	Qui nella prigione, padre, è morto stamattina d’una febbre crudele un certo Ragusine, pirata notorissimo, uomo dell’età di Claudio, con barba e capelli proprio del suo colore. Che ne dite se tralasciamo questo reprobo finché sia ben disposto, e soddisfiamo il vicario col volto di Ragusine, più simile a Claudio?
DUCA	Oh, è un caso che il cielo provvede. Sbrigatelo subito; s’avvicina l’ora prefissa da Angelo. Badate che sia fatto, e mandato secondo il comando, mentre io persuado questo rozzo miserabile a morire di buon grado.
PREVOSTO	Sarà fatto, buon padre, subito. Ma Barnardine deve morire questo pomeriggio; e come faremo a continuare Claudio, per salvarmi dal pericolo che potrebbe venire se si sapesse ch’è vivo?
DUCA	Si faccia così: metteteli in celle segrete, sia Barnardine sia Claudio. Prima che due volte il sole abbia dato il suo saluto diurno a codesta generazione, troverete la vostra sicurezza manifesta.
PREVOSTO	Sono al vostro libero servizio.
DUCA	Presto, sbrigatevi, e mandate la testa ad Angelo.
(didascalia)	Esce il Prevosto
DUCA	Ora scriverò lettere ad Angelo— il Prevosto le porterà—il cui contenuto gli attesterà che sono vicino a casa, e che per grandi ingiunzioni sono tenuto a entrare pubblicamente. Lo inviterò a incontrarmi alla fonte consacrata una lega sotto la città, e di là, per fredda gradazione e forma ben bilanciata, procederemo con Angelo.
(didascalia)	Entra il Prevosto, con la testa di Ragusine
PREVOSTO	Ecco la testa; la porterò io stesso.
DUCA	È conveniente. Fate rapido ritorno, ché vorrei conferire con voi di cose tali che non vogliono altro orecchio che il vostro.
PREVOSTO	Farò ogni prestezza.
(didascalia)	Esce
ISABELLA	(dall’interno) Pace, oh, sia qui!
DUCA	La voce d’Isabel. Viene a sapere se il perdono di suo fratello sia giunto qui; ma la terrò ignara del suo bene, per farle celesti conforti dalla disperazione quando meno se l’aspetta.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA dall’interno Ehi, con vostra licenza!
(didascalia)	Entra Isabella
DUCA	Buon giorno a voi, bella e graziosa figliola.
ISABELLA	Tanto migliore, datomi da un uomo così santo. Ha già mandato il vicario il perdono di mio fratello?
DUCA	L’ha liberato, Isabel, dal mondo. La sua testa è mozzata e mandata ad Angelo.
ISABELLA	No, non è così.
DUCA	Non è altrimenti. Mostrate la vostra saggezza, figliola, in una chiusa pazienza.
ISABELLA	Oh, andrò da lui e gli caverò gli occhi!
DUCA	Non sarete ammessa alla sua vista.
ISABELLA	(piangendo) Infelice Claudio! Misera Isabel! Mondo ingiurioso! Dannatissimo Angelo!
DUCA	Questo non gli giova né vi profitta d’un briciolo. Astenetevene, dunque; date la vostra causa al cielo. Notate ciò che dico, e troverete in ogni sillaba una fedele verità. Il Duca torna a casa domani—no, asciugate i vostri occhi— uno del nostro convento, e suo confessore, me ne dà notizia. Già ha portato l’avviso a Escalo e ad Angelo, che si preparano a incontrarlo alle porte, per rendergli là il loro potere. Se saprete misurare la vostra saggezza su quel buon sentiero per cui vorrei che andasse, avrete il vostro sfogo su questo miserabile, la grazia del Duca, vendette a vostro cuore, e onore generale.
ISABELLA	Mi lascio guidare da voi.
DUCA	Questa lettera, dunque, datela a frate Pietro. È quella che mi mandò del ritorno del Duca. Ditegli che con questo segno desidero la sua compagnia in casa di Mariana stanotte. La sua causa e la vostra gliele farò conoscere appieno, ed egli vi condurrà davanti al Duca, e in faccia ad Angelo lo accuserà a fondo e a fondo. Quanto al mio povero io, sono legato da un voto sacro, e sarò assente. (Dandole la lettera) Andate con questa lettera. Comandate a queste acque roditrici dei vostri occhi con cuore leggero. Non fidatevi del mio santo ordine se travio il vostro cammino.
(didascalia)	Entra Lucio
DUCA	Chi c’è qui?
LUCIO	Buona sera. Frate, dov’è il Prevosto?
DUCA	Non è dentro, signore.
(didascalia)	LUCIO Oh graziosa Isabella, mi si sbianca il cuore a vederti gli occhi così rossi. Devi aver pazienza. Io sono ridotto a pranzare e cenare con acqua e crusca; non oso, sulla mia testa, riempirmi la pancia; un pasto sostanzioso mi ci rimetterebbe. Ma dicono che il Duca sarà qui domani. In fede mia, Isabel, amavo tuo fratello. Se il vecchio fantastico Duca dei cantucci bui fosse stato a casa, sarebbe vivo. Esce Isabella
DUCA	Signore, il Duca è meravigliosamente poco obbligato ai vostri racconti; ma il bello è che non vive in essi.
LUCIO	Frate, tu non conosci il Duca così bene come lo conosco io. È un cacciatore migliore di quanto tu lo prenda.
DUCA	Bene, un giorno ne risponderete. State bene.
LUCIO	No, fermati, verrò con te. Ti posso raccontare graziose storie del Duca.
DUCA	Me ne avete già raccontate troppe di lui, signore, se sono vere; se non vere, nessuna sarebbe abbastanza.
LUCIO	Una volta fui davanti a lui per aver reso una ragazza gravida d’un figlio.
DUCA	Faceste una cosa simile?
LUCIO	Sì, perbacco, la feci; ma fui costretto a spergiurarla. Altrimenti m’avrebbero sposato a quella nespola marcia.
DUCA	Signore, la vostra compagnia è più bella che onesta. State bene.
LUCIO	In fede mia, verrò con te fino in fondo al vicolo. Se i discorsi osceni t’offendono, ne faremo pochissimi. No, frate, io sono una specie di lappola; resterò attaccato.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo and Escalus
ESCALUS	Every letter he hath writ hath disvouched other.
ANGELO	In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness. Pray heaven his wisdom be not tainted. And why meet him at the gates, and redeliver our authorities there?
ESCALUS	I guess not.
ANGELO	And why should we proclaim it in an hour before his entering, that if any crave redress of injustice, they should exhibit their petitions in the street?
ESCALUS	He shows his reason for that—to have a dispatch of complaints, and to deliver us from devices hereafter, which shall then have no power to stand against us.
ANGELO	Well, I beseech you let it be proclaimed. Betimes i’th’ morn I’ll call you at your house. Give notice to such men of sort and suit As are to meet him.
ESCALUS	I shall, sir. Fare you well.
ANGELO	Good night.
(didascalia)	Exit Escalus
ANGELO	This deed unshapes me quite, makes me unpregnant And dull to all proceedings. A deflowered maid, And by an eminent body that enforced The law against it! But that her tender shame Will not proclaim against her maiden loss, How might she tongue me! Yet reason dares her no, For my authority bears off a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch But it confounds the breather. He should have lived, Save that his riotous youth, with dangerous sense, Might in the times to come have ta’en revenge By so receiving a dishonoured life With ransom of such shame. Would yet he had lived. Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, Nothing goes right; we would, and we would not. Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Angelo e Escalo
ESCALO	Ogni lettera che ha scritto ha smentito l’altra.
ANGELO	In modo quanto mai disuguale e sconvolto. Le sue azioni somigliano assai alla follia. Voglia il cielo che la sua saggezza non sia guasta. E perché incontrarlo alle porte, e riconsegnare là le nostre autorità?
ESCALO	Non lo indovino.
ANGELO	E perché dovremmo proclamare, un’ora prima del suo ingresso, che se qualcuno chiede riparazione d’ingiustizia esibisca la sua petizione per strada?
ESCALO	Ne mostra la ragione: per avere uno sbrigo delle lagnanze, e per liberarci dagli intrighi futuri, che allora non avranno più forza di reggere contro di noi.
ANGELO	Bene, vi supplico, si faccia proclamare. Di buon’ora al mattino vi chiamerò alla vostra casa. Date avviso a quegli uomini di rango e di seguito che devono incontrarlo.
ESCALO	Lo farò, signore. State bene.
ANGELO	Buona notte.
(didascalia)	Esce Escalo
ANGELO	Quest’atto mi disfa del tutto, mi rende sterile e ottuso a ogni faccenda. Una vergine deflorata, e da un corpo eminente che imponeva la legge contro ciò! Se non fosse che il suo tenero pudore non vorrà proclamare la sua perdita verginale, come potrebbe accusarmi! Pure la ragione le dice di no, ché la mia autorità porta una mole così accreditata che nessuno scandalo particolare può toccarla senza confondere chi lo spira. Egli doveva vivere, se non che la sua giovinezza sfrenata, con senso pericoloso, avrebbe potuto nei tempi a venire prendersi vendetta per aver così ricevuto una vita disonorata col riscatto di tale vergogna. Vorrei pure che fosse vissuto. Ahimè, quando una volta abbiamo dimenticato la nostra grazia, nulla va per il diritto; vogliamo, e non vogliamo. Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, in his own habit, and Friar Peter
DUKE	These letters at fit time deliver me. The Provost knows our purpose and our plot. The matter being afoot, keep your instruction, And hold you ever to our special drift, Though sometimes you do blench from this to that As cause doth minister. Go call at Flavio’s house, And tell him where I stay. Give the like notice To Valentinus, Rowland, and to Crassus, And bid them bring the trumpets to the gate. But send me Flavius first.
FRIAR	It shall be speeded well.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Varrius
DUKE	I thank thee, Varrius; thou hast made good haste. Come, we will walk. There’s other of our friends Will greet us here anon. My gentle Varrius!
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano il Duca, nel suo proprio abito, e frate Pietro
DUCA	Queste lettere consegnatemele al tempo opportuno. Il Prevosto conosce il nostro proposito e il nostro disegno. Essendo la cosa avviata, tenetevi alla vostra istruzione, e attenetevi sempre alla nostra mira particolare, benché talvolta scartiate da questo a quello secondo che la causa lo richieda. Andate a chiamare alla casa di Flavio, e ditegli dove mi trattengo. Date lo stesso avviso a Valentino, a Rowland e a Crasso, e ordinate loro di portare le trombe alla porta. Ma mandatemi prima Flavio.
FRATE	Sarà spedito bene.
(didascalia)	Esce
(didascalia)	Entra Varrio
DUCA	Ti ringrazio, Varrio; hai fatto buona fretta. Vieni, andremo a passeggio. Ci sono altri dei nostri amici che ci saluteranno qui fra poco. Mio gentile Varrio!
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella and Mariana
ISABELLA	To speak so indirectly I am loath— I would say the truth, but to accuse him so, That is your part—yet I am advised to do it, He says, to veil full purpose.
MARIANA	Be ruled by him.
ISABELLA	Besides, he tells me that if peradventure He speak against me on the adverse side, I should not think it strange, for ’tis a physic That’s bitter to sweet end.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter
MARIANA	I would Friar Peter—
ISABELLA	O, peace; the friar is come.
FRIAR PETER	Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, Where you may have such vantage on the Duke He shall not pass you. Twice have the trumpets sounded. The generous and gravest citizens Have hent the gates, and very near upon The Duke is ent’ring; therefore hence, away. Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Isabella e Mariana
ISABELLA	Parlare così obliquamente mi ripugna— vorrei dire la verità, ma accusarlo a quel modo, quella è la vostra parte—pure mi si consiglia di farlo, dice lui, per velare il pieno proposito.
MARIANA	Lasciatevi guidare da lui.
ISABELLA	Inoltre mi dice che se per avventura egli parlerà contro di me dalla parte avversa, non dovrò trovarlo strano, ché è una medicina amara per dolce fine.
(didascalia)	Entra frate Pietro
MARIANA	Vorrei che frate Pietro—
ISABELLA	Oh, silenzio; il frate è venuto.
FRATE PIETRO	Venite, vi ho trovato un posto adattissimo, dove potrete avere tale vantaggio sul Duca ch’egli non vi sfuggirà. Due volte hanno suonato le trombe. I più ragguardevoli e gravi cittadini han preso le porte, e proprio adesso il Duca sta entrando; perciò via di qui, andiamo. Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter at one door the Duke, Varrius, and lords, at another door Angelo, Escalus, Lucio, citizens, and officers
DUKE	(to Angelo) My very worthy cousin, fairly met. (To Escalus) Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you.
ANGELO	and ESCALUS Happy return be to your royal grace.
DUKE	Many and hearty thankings to you both. We have made enquiry of you, and we hear Such goodness of your justice that our soul Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks, Forerunning more requital.
ANGELO	You make my bonds still greater.
DUKE	O, your desert speaks loud, and I should wrong it To lock it in the wards of covert bosom, When it deserves with characters of brass A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand, And let the subject see, to make them know That outward courtesies would fain proclaim Favours that keep within. Come, Escalus, You must walk by us on our other hand, And good supporters are you.
(didascalia)	They walk forward.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter and Isabella
FRIAR PETER	Now is your time. Speak loud, and kneel before him.
ISABELLA	(kneeling) Justice, O royal Duke! Vail your regard Upon a wronged—I would fain have said, a maid. O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye By throwing it on any other object, Till you have heard me in my true complaint, And given me justice, justice, justice, justice!
DUKE	Relate your wrongs. In what? By whom? Be brief. Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice. Reveal yourself to him.
ISABELLA	O worthy Duke, You bid me seek redemption of the devil. Hear me yourself, for that which I must speak Must either punish me, not being believed, Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me, hear!
ANGELO	My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm. She hath been a suitor to me for her brother, Cut off by course of justice.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA standing
ANGELO	By course of justice!
ANGELO	And she will speak most bitterly and strange.
ISABELLA	Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak. That Angelo’s forsworn, is it not strange? That Angelo’s a murderer, is’t not strange? That Angelo is an adulterous thief, An hypocrite, a virgin-violator, Is it not strange, and strange?
DUKE	Nay, it is ten times strange!
ISABELLA	It is not truer he is Angelo Than this is all as true as it is strange. Nay, it is ten times true, for truth is truth To th‘end of reck’ning.
DUKE	Away with her. Poor soul, She speaks this in th’infirmity of sense.
ISABELLA	O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believ‘st There is another comfort than this world, That thou neglect me not with that opinion That I am touched with madness. Make not impossible That which but seems unlike. ’Tis not impossible But one, the wicked’st caitiff on the ground, May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute, As Angelo; even so may Angelo, In all his dressings, characts, titles, forms, Be an arch-villain. Believe it, royal prince, If he be less, he’s nothing; but he’s more, Had I more name for badness.
DUKE	By mine honesty, If she be mad, as I believe no other, Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense, Such a dependency of thing on thing As e’er I heard in madness.
ISABELLA	O gracious Duke, Harp not on that, nor do not banish reason For inequality; but let your reason serve To make the truth appear where it seems hid, And hide the false seems true.
DUKE	Many that are not mad Have sure more lack of reason. What would you say?
ISABELLA	I am the sister of one Claudio, Condemned upon the act of fornication To lose his head, condemned by Angelo. I, in probation of a sisterhood, Was sent to by my brother, one Lucio As then the messenger.
LUCIO	That’s I, an’t like your grace. I came to her from Claudio, and desired her To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo For her poor brother’s pardon.
ISABELLA	That’s he indeed.
DUKE	(to Lucio) You were not bid to speak.
LUCIO	No, my good lord, Nor wished to hold my peace.
DUKE	I wish you now, then. Pray you take note of it; And when you have a business for yourself, Pray heaven you then be perfect.
LUCIO	I warrant your honour.
DUKE	The warrant’s for yourself; take heed to’t.
ISABELLA	This gentleman told somewhat of my tale—
LUCIO	Right.
DUKE	It may be right, but you are i’the wrong To speak before your time. (To Isabella) Proceed.
ISABELLA	I went To this pernicious caitiff deputy—
DUKE	That’s somewhat madly spoken.
ISABELLA	Pardon it; The phrase is to the matter.
DUKE	Mended again. The matter; proceed.
ISABELLA	In brief, to set the needless process by, How I persuaded, how I prayed and kneeled, How he refelled me, and how I replied— For this was of much length—the vile conclusion I now begin with grief and shame to utter. He would not, but by gift of my chaste body To his concupiscible intemperate lust, Release my brother; and after much debatement, My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour, And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes, His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant For my poor brother’s head.
DUKE	This is most likely!
ISABELLA	O, that it were as like as it is true!
DUKE	By heaven, fond wretch, thou know‘st not what thou speak’st, Or else thou art suborned against his honour In hateful practice. First, his integrity Stands without blemish. Next, it imports no reason That with such vehemency he should pursue Faults proper to himself. If he had so offended, He would have weighed thy brother by himself, And not have cut him off. Someone hath set you on. Confess the truth, and say by whose advice Thou cam’st here to complain.
ISABELLA	And is this all? Then, O you blessed ministers above, Keep me in patience, and with ripened time Unfold the evil which is here wrapped up In countenance! Heaven shield your grace from woe, As I, thus wronged, hence unbelievèd go.
DUKE	I know you’d fain be gone. An officer! To prison with her. An officer guards Isabella Shall we thus permit A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall On him so near us? This needs must be a practice. Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
ISABELLA	One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.
(didascalia)	Exit, guarded
DUKE	A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?
LUCIO	My lord, I know him. ’Tis a meddling friar; I do not like the man. Had he been lay, my lord, For certain words he spake against your grace In your retirement, I had swinged him soundly.
DUKE	Words against me? This’ a good friar, belike! And to set on this wretched woman here Against our substitute! Let this friar be found.
(didascalia)	Exit one or more
LUCIO	But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar, I saw them at the prison. A saucy friar, A very scurvy fellow.
FRIAR PETER	Blessed be your royal grace! I have stood by, my lord, and I have heard Your royal ear abused. First hath this woman Most wrongfully accused your substitute, Who is as free from touch or soil with her As she from one ungot.
DUKE	We did believe no less. Know you that Friar Lodowick that she speaks of?
FRIAR PETER	I know him for a man divine and holy, Not scurvy, nor a temporary meddler, As he’s reported by this gentleman; And, on my trust, a man that never yet Did, as he vouches, misreport your grace.
LUCIO	My lord, most villainously; believe it.
FRIAR PETER	Well, he in time may come to clear himself; But at this instant he is sick, my lord, Of a strange fever. Upon his mere request, Being come to knowledge that there was complaint Intended ’gainst Lord Angelo, came I hither To speak, as from his mouth, what he doth know Is true and false, and what he with his oath And all probation will make up full clear Whensoever he’s convented. First, for this woman: To justify this worthy nobleman, So vulgarly and personally accused, Her shall you hear disproved to her eyes, Till she herself confess it.
DUKE	Good friar, let’s hear it.
(didascalia)	Exit Friar Peter
DUKE	Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo? O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools! Give us some seats.
(didascalia)	Seats are brought in
DUKE	Come, cousin Angelo, In this I’ll be impartial; be you judge Of your own cause. The Duke and Angelo sit.
(didascalia)	Enter Friar Peter, and Mariana, veiled
DUKE	Is this the witness, friar? First let her show her face, and after speak.
MARIANA	Pardon, my lord, I will not show my face Until my husband bid me.
DUKE	What, are you married?
MARIANA	No, my lord.
DUKE	Are you a maid?
MARIANA	No, my lord.
DUKE	A widow then?
MARIANA	Neither, my lord.
DUKE	Why, you are nothing then; neither maid, widow, nor wife!
LUCIO	My lord, she may be a punk, for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.
DUKE	Silence that fellow. I would he had some cause to prattle for himself.
LUCIO	Well, my lord.
MARIANA	My lord, I do confess I ne’er was married, And I confess besides, I am no maid. I have known my husband, yet my husband Knows not that ever he knew me.
LUCIO	He was drunk then, my lord, it can be no better.
DUKE	For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too.
LUCIO	Well, my lord.
DUKE	This is no witness for Lord Angelo.
MARIANA	Now I come to’t, my lord. She that accuses him of fornication In self-same manner doth accuse my husband, And charges him, my lord, with such a time When I’ll depose I had him in mine arms With all th’effect of love.
ANGELO	Charges she more than me?
MARIANA	Not that I know.
DUKE	No? You say your husband.
MARIANA	Why just, my lord, and that is Angelo, Who thinks he knows that he ne’er knew my body, But knows, he thinks, that he knows Isabel’s.
ANGELO	This is a strange abuse. Let’s see thy face.
MARIANA	(unveiling) My husband bids me; now I will unmask. This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, Which once thou swor’st was worth the looking on. This is the hand which, with a vowed contract, Was fast belocked in thine. This is the body That took away the match from Isabel, And did supply thee at thy garden-house In her imagined person.
DUKE	(to Angelo) Know you this woman?
LUCIO	Carnally, she says.
DUKE	Sirrah, no more!
LUCIO	Enough, my lord.
ANGELO	My lord, I must confess I know this woman; And five years since there was some speech of marriage Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, Partly for that her promised proportions Came short of composition, but in chief For that her reputation was disvalued In levity; since which time of five years I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Upon my faith and honour.
(didascalia)	MARIANA kneeling before the Duke Noble prince,
ANGELO	As there comes light from heaven, and words from breath, As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue, I am affianced this man’s wife, as strongly As words could make up vows. And, my good lord, But Tuesday night last gone, in’s garden-house, He knew me as a wife. As this is true, Let me in safety raise me from my knees, Or else forever be confixèd here, A marble monument.
ANGELO	I did but smile till now. Now, good my lord, give me the scope of justice. My patience here is touched. I do perceive These poor informal women are no more But instruments of some more mightier member That sets them on. Let me have way, my lord, To find this practice out.
DUKE	(standing) Ay, with my heart, And punish them even to your height of pleasure.— Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman Compact with her that’s gone, think‘st thou thy oaths, Though they would swear down each particular saint, Were testimonies against his worth and credit That’s sealed in approbation? You, Lord Escalus, Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains To find out this abuse, whence ’tis derived. There is another friar that set them on. Let him be sent for. Escalus sits
FRIAR PETER	Would he were here, my lord, for he indeed Hath set the women on to this complaint. Your Provost knows the place where he abides, And he may fetch him.
DUKE	(to one or more) Go, do it instantly.
(didascalia)	Exit one or more
DUKE	(To Angelo) And you, my noble and well-warranted cousin, Whom it concerns to hear this matter forth, Do with your injuries as seems you best In any chastisement. I for a while will leave you, But stir not you till you have well determined Upon these slanderers.
ESCALUS	My lord, we’ll do it throughly.
(didascalia)	Exit Duke
ESCALUS	Signor Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person?
LUCIO	Cucullus non facit monachum: honest in nothing but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most villainous speeches of the Duke.
ESCALUS	We shall entreat you to abide here till he come, and enforce them against him. We shall find this friar a notable fellow.
LUCIO	As any in Vienna, on my word.
ESCALUS	Call that same Isabel here once again; I would speak with her. Exit one or more (To Angelo) Pray you, my lord, give me leave to question. You shall see how I’ll handle her.
LUCIO	Not better than he, by her own report.
ESCALUS	Say you?
LUCIO	Marry, sir, I think if you handled her privately, she would sooner confess; perchance publicly she’ll be ashamed.
ESCALUS	I will go darkly to work with her.
LUCIO	That’s the way, for women are light at midnight. Enter Isabella, guarded
ESCALUS	(to Isabella) Come on, mistress, here’s a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.
(didascalia)	Enter the Duke, disguised as a friar, hooded, and the Provost
LUCIO	My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of, here with the Provost.
ESCALUS	In very good time. Speak not you to him till we call upon you.
LUCIO	Mum.
ESCALUS	(to the Duke) Come, sir, did you set these women on to slander Lord Angelo? They have confessed you did.
DUKE	’Tis false.
ESCALUS	How! Know you where you are?
DUKE	Respect to your great place, and let the devil Be sometime honoured fore his burning throne. Where is the Duke? ’Tis he should hear me speak.
ESCALUS	The Duke’s in us, and we will hear you speak. Look you speak justly.
DUKE	Boldly at least. (To Isabella and Mariana) But O, poor souls, Come you to seek the lamb here of the fox, Good night to your redress! Is the Duke gone? Then is your cause gone too. The Duke’s unjust Thus to retort your manifest appeal, And put your trial in the villain’s mouth Which here you come to accuse.
LUCIO	This is the rascal, this is he I spoke of.
ESCALUS	Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar, Is’t not enough thou hast suborned these women To accuse this worthy man but, in foul mouth, And in the witness of his proper ear, To call him villain, and then to glance from him To th’ Duke himself, to tax him with injustice? Take him hence; to th’ rack with him. We’ll touse you Joint by joint—but we will know his purpose. What, ‘unjust’?
DUKE	Be not so hot. The Duke Dare no more stretch this finger of mine than he Dare rack his own. His subject am I not, Nor here provincial. My business in this state Made me a looker-on here in Vienna, Where I have seen corruption boil and bubble Till it o’errun the stew; laws for all faults, But faults so countenanced that the strong statutes Stand like the forfeits in a barber’s shop, As much in mock as mark.
ESCALUS	Slander to th’ state! Away with him to prison.
ANGELO	What can you vouch against him, Signor Lucio? Is this the man that you did tell us of?
LUCIO	’Tis he, my lord.—Come hither, goodman Bald-pate. Do you know me?
DUKE	I remember you, sir, by the sound of your voice. I met you at the prison, in the absence of the Duke.
LUCIO	O, did you so? And do you remember what you said of the Duke?
DUKE	Most notedly, sir.
LUCIO	Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a fleshmonger, a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to be?
DUKE	You must, sir, change persons with me ere you make that my report. You indeed spoke so of him, and much more, much worse.
LUCIO	O, thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by the nose for thy speeches?
DUKE	I protest I love the Duke as I love myself.
ANGELO	Hark how the villain would close now, after his treasonable abuses.
ESCALUS	Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away with him to prison. Where is the Provost? Away with him to prison. Lay bolts enough upon him. Let him speak no more. Away with those giglets too, and with the other confederate companion.
(didascalia)	Mariana is raised to her feet, and is guarded
ESCALUS	The Provost makes to seize the Duke
DUKE	Stay, sir, stay a while.
ANGELO	What, resists he? Help him, Lucio.
LUCIO	(to the Duke) Come, sir; come, sir; come, sir! Foh, sir! Why, you bald-pated lying rascal, you must be hooded, must you? Show your knave’s visage, with a pox to you! Show your sheep-biting face, and be hanged an hour! Will’t not off? He pulls off the friar’s hood, and discovers the Duke.
(didascalia)	Angelo and Escalus rise
DUKE	Thou art the first knave that e’er madest a duke. First, Provost, let me bail these gentle three. (To Lucio) Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and you Must have a word anon. (To one or more) Lay hold on him.
LUCIO	This may prove worse than hanging.
DUKE	(to Escalus) What you have spoke, I pardon. Sit you down. We’ll borrow place of him.
(didascalia)	Escalus sits
DUKE	(To Angelo) Sir, by your leave.
(didascalia)	He takes Angelo’s seat
DUKE	Hast thou or word or wit or impudence That yet can do thee office? If thou hast, Rely upon it till my tale be heard, And hold no longer out.
ANGELO	O my dread lord, I should be guiltier than my guiltiness To think I can be undiscernible, When I perceive your grace, like power divine, Hath looked upon my passes. Then, good prince, No longer session hold upon my shame, But let my trial be mine own confession. Immediate sentence then, and sequent death, Is all the grace I beg.
DUKE	Come hither, Mariana. (To Angelo) Say, wast thou e’er contracted to this woman?
ANGELO	I was, my lord.
DUKE	Go, take her hence and marry her instantly. Do you the office, friar; which consummate, Return him here again. Go with him, Provost.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and the
DUKE	Provost
ESCALUS	My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonour Than at the strangeness of it.
DUKE	Come hither, Isabel. Your friar is now your prince. As I was then Advertising and holy to your business, Not changing heart with habit I am still Attorneyed at your service.
ISABELLA	O, give me pardon, That I, your vassal, have employed and pained Your unknown sovereignty.
DUKE	You are pardoned, Isabel. And now, dear maid, be you as free to us. Your brother’s death I know sits at your heart, And you may marvel why I obscured myself, Labouring to save his life, and would not rather Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid, It was the swift celerity of his death, Which I did think with slower foot came on, That brained my purpose. But peace be with him! That life is better life, past fearing death, Than that which lives to fear. Make it your comfort, So happy is your brother.
ISABELLA	I do, my lord.
(didascalia)	Enter Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and the Provost
DUKE	For this new-married man approaching here, Whose salt imagination yet hath wronged Your well-defended honour, you must pardon For Mariana’s sake; but as he adjudged your brother— Being criminal in double violation Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach, Thereon dependent, for your brother’s life— The very mercy of the law cries out Most audible, even from his proper tongue, ‘An Angelo for Claudio, death for death’. Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; Like doth quit like, and measure still for measure. Then, Angelo, thy fault’s thus manifested, Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee vantage. We do condemn thee to the very block Where Claudio stooped to death, and with like haste. Away with him.
MARIANA	O my most gracious lord, I hope you will not mock me with a husband!
DUKE	It is your husband mocked you with a husband. Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, I thought your marriage fit; else imputation, For that he knew you, might reproach your life, And choke your good to come. For his possessions, Although by confiscation they are ours, We do enstate and widow you with all, To buy you a better husband.
MARIANA	O my dear lord, I crave no other, nor no better man.
DUKE	Never crave him; we are definitive.
MARIANA	Gentle my liege—
DUKE	You do but lose your labour.— Away with him to death. (To Lucio) Now, sir, to you.
MARIANA	(kneeling) O my good lord!—Sweet Isabel, take my part; Lend me your knees, and all my life to come I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.
DUKE	Against all sense you do importune her. Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact, Her brother’s ghost his paved bed would break, And take her hence in horror.
MARIANA	Isabel, Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me. Hold up your hands; say nothing; I’ll speak all. They say best men are moulded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad. So may my husband. O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?
DUKE	He dies for Claudio’s death.
ISABELLA	(kneeling) Most bounteous sir, Look, if it please you, on this man condemned As if my brother lived. I partly think A due sincerity governed his deeds, Till he did look on me. Since it is so, Let him not die. My brother had but justice, In that he did the thing for which he died. For Angelo, His act did not o’ertake his bad intent, And must be buried but as an intent That perished by the way. Thoughts are no subjects, Intents but merely thoughts.
MARIANA	Merely, my lord.
DUKE	Your suit’s unprofitable. Stand up, I say.
(didascalia)	Mariana
(didascalia)	and Isabella stand
DUKE	I have bethought me of another fault. Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded At an unusual hour?
PROVOST	It was commanded so.
DUKE	Had you a special warrant for the deed?
PROVOST	No, my good lord, it was by private message.
DUKE	For which I do discharge you of your office. Give up your keys.
PROVOST	Pardon me, noble lord. I thought it was a fault, but knew it not, Yet did repent me after more advice; For testimony whereof one in the prison That should by private order else have died I have reserved alive.
DUKE	What’s he?
PROVOST	His name is Barnardine.
DUKE	I would thou hadst done so by Claudio. Go fetch him hither. Let me look upon him.
(didascalia)	Exit Provost
ESCALUS	I am sorry one so learned and so wise As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared, Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood And lack of tempered judgement afterward.
ANGELO	I am sorry that such sorrow I procure, And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart That I crave death more willingly than mercy. ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.
(didascalia)	Enter Barnardine and the Provost; Claudio, muffled, and Juliet
DUKE	Which is that Barnardine?
PROVOST	This, my lord.
DUKE	There was a friar told me of this man. (To Barnardine) Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul That apprehends no further than this world, And squar‘st thy life according. Thou’rt condemned; But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all, And pray thee take this mercy to provide For better times to come.—Friar, advise him. I leave him to your hand. (To Provost) What muffled fellow’s that?
PROVOST	This is another prisoner that I saved, Who should have died when Claudio lost his head, As like almost to Claudio as himself. He unmuffles Claudio
DUKE	(to Isabella) If he be like your brother, for his sake Is he pardoned; and for your lovely sake Give me your hand, and say you will be mine. He is my brother too. But fitter time for that. By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe. Methinks I see a quick’ning in his eye. Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well. Look that you love your wife, her worth worth yours. I find an apt remission in myself; And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon. (To Lucio) You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a coward, One all of luxury, an ass, a madman, Wherein have I so deserved of you That you extol me thus?
LUCIO	Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the trick. If you will hang me for it, you may; but I had rather it would please you I might be whipped.
DUKE	Whipped first, sir, and hanged after. Proclaim it, Provost, round about the city, If any woman wronged by this lewd fellow, As I have heard him swear himself there’s one Whom he begot with child, let her appear, And he shall marry her. The nuptial finished, Let him be whipped and hanged.
LUCIO	I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore. Your highness said even now I made you a duke; good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold.
DUKE	Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her. Thy slanders I forgive, and therewithal Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison, And see our pleasure herein executed.
LUCIO	Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, whipping, and hanging.
DUKE	Slandering a prince deserves it.
(didascalia)	Exit
DUKE	Lucio
(didascalia)	guarded
DUKE	She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore. Joy to you, Mariana. Love her, Angelo. I have confessed her, and I know her virtue. Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness. There’s more behind that is more gratulate. Thanks, Provost, for thy care and secrecy. We shall employ thee in a worthier place. Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home The head of Ragusine for Claudio’s. Th’offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel, I have a motion much imports your good, Whereto, if you’ll a willing ear incline, What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine. (To all) So bring us to our palace, where we’ll show What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
(didascalia)	Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES	The text of Measure for Measure given in this edition is probably that of an adapted version made for Shakespeare’s company after his death. Adaptation seems to have affected two passages, printed below as we believe Shakespeare to have written them. A. 1.2.0.1-116 A.2-9 (‘… by him’) are lines which the adapter (whom we believe to be Thomas Middleton) evidently intended to be replaced by 1.2.56-79 of the play as we print it. The adapter must have contributed all of 1.2.0.1-83, which in the earliest and subsequent printed texts precede the discussion between the Clown (Pompey) and the Bawd (Mistress Overdone) about Claudio’s arrest. Lucio’s entry alone at 1. 40.1 below, some eleven lines after his re-entry with the two Gentlemen and the Provost’s party in the adapted text, probably represents Shakespeare’s original intention. In his version, Juliet, present but silent in the adapted text both in 1.2 and 5.1, probably did not appear in either scene; accordingly, the words ‘and there’s Madam Juliet’ (1.2.107) must also be the reviser’s work, and do not appear below.
(didascalia)	Enter Pompey and Mistress Overdone, meeting
MISTRESS OVERDONE	How now, what’s the news with you?
POMPEY	Yonder man is carried to prison.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Well! What has he done?
POMPEY	A woman.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But what’s his offence?
POMPEY	Groping for trouts in a peculiar river.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What, is there a maid with child by him?
POMPEY	No, but there’s a woman with maid by him: you have not heard of the proclamation, have you?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What proclamation, man?
POMPEY	All houses in the suburbs of Vienna must be plucked down.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	And what shall become of those in the city?
POMPEY	They shall stand for seed. They had gone down too, but that a wise burgher put in for them.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	But shall all our houses of resort in the suburbs be pulled down?
POMPEY	To the ground, mistress.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Why, here’s a change indeed in the commonwealth. What shall become of me?
POMPEY	Come, fear not you. Good counsellors lack no clients. Though you change your place, you need not change your trade. I’ll be your tapster still. Courage, there will be pity taken on you. You that have worn your eyes almost out in the service, you will be considered.
(didascalia)	A noise within
MISTRESS OVERDONE	What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster? Let’s withdraw!
(didascalia)	Enter the Provost and Claudio
POMPEY	Here comes Signor Claudio, led by the Provost to prison. Exeunt Mistress Overdone and Pompey
CLAUDIO	Fellow, why dost thou show me thus to th’ world? Bear me to prison, where I am committed.
PROVOST	I do it not in evil disposition, But from Lord Angelo by special charge.
CLAUDIO	Thus can the demigod Authority Make us pay down for our offence, by weight, The bonds of heaven. On whom it will, it will; On whom it will not, so; yet still ’tis just.
(didascalia)	Enter Lucio
LUCIO	Why, how now, Claudio? Whence comes this restraint? B. 3.1.515-4.1.65 Before revision there would have been no act-break and no song; the lines immediately following the song would also have been absent. The Duke’s soliloquies ‘He who the sword of heaven will bear’ and ‘O place and greatness’ have evidently been transposed in revision; in the original, the end of ‘O place and greatness’ would have led straight on to the Duke’s meeting with Isabella and then Mariana.
ESCALUS	I am going to visit the prisoner. Fare you well.
DUKE	Peace be with you. Exit Escalus O place and greatness, millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee; volumes of report Run with their false and most contrarious quest Upon thy doings; thousand escapes of wit Make thee the father of their idle dream, And rack thee in their fancies.
(didascalia)	Enter Isabella
DUKE	Very well met. What is the news from this good deputy?
ISABELLA	He hath a garden circummured with brick, Whose western side is with a vineyard backed; And to that vineyard is a planckèd gate, That makes his opening with this bigger key. This other doth command a little door Which from the vineyard to the garden leads. There have I made my promise Upon the heavy middle of the night To call upon him.
DUKE	But shall you on your knowledge find this way?
ISABELLA	I have ta‘en a due and wary note upon’t. With whispering and most guilty diligence, In action all of precept, he did show me The way twice o’er.
DUKE	Are there no other tokens Between you ’greed concerning her observance?
ISABELLA	No, none, but only a repair i’th’ dark, And that I have possessed him my most stay Can be but brief, for I have made him know I have a servant comes with me along That stays upon me, whose persuasion is I come about my brother.
DUKE	’Tis well borne up. I have not yet made known to Mariana A word of this.—What ho, within! Come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariana
DUKE	(To Mariana) I pray you be acquainted with this maid. She comes to do you good.
ISABELLA	I do desire the like.
DUKE	(to Mariana) Do you persuade yourself that I respect you?
MARIANA	Good friar, I know you do, and so have found it.
DUKE	Take then this your companion by the hand, Who hath a story ready for your ear. I shall attend your leisure; but make haste, The vaporous night approaches.
MARIANA	Will’t please you walk aside.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariana and Isabella
DUKE	He who the sword of heaven will bear Should be as holy as severe, Pattern in himself to know, Grace to stand, and virtue go, More nor less to others paying Than by self-offences weighing. Shame to him whose cruel striking Kills for faults of his own liking! Twice treble shame on Angelo, To weed my vice, and let his grow! O, what may man within him hide, Though angel on the outward side! How may likeness made in crimes Make my practice on the times To draw with idle spiders’ strings Most ponderous and substantial things? Craft against vice I must apply. With Angelo tonight shall lie His old betrothed but despised. So disguise shall, by th’ disguised, Pay with falsehood false exacting, And perform an old contracting.
(didascalia)	Enter
DUKE	Mariana
(didascalia)	and Isabella
DUKE	Welcome. How agreed?
ISABELLA	She’ll take the enterprise upon her, father, If you advise it.
OTHELLO	Othello was given before James I in the Banqueting House at Whitehall on I November 1604. Information about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus appears to derive from Richard Knolles’s History of the Turks, published no earlier than 30 September 1603, so Shakespeare probably completed his play some time between that date and the summer of 1604. It first appeared in print in a quarto of 1622; the version printed in the 1623 Folio is about 160 lines longer, and has over a thousand differences in wording. It seems that Shakespeare partially revised his play, adding, for example, Desdemona’s willow song (4.3) and building up Emilia’s role in the closing scenes. We base our text on the Folio as that seems to represent Shakespeare’s second thoughts. Shakespeare’s decision to make a black man a tragic hero was bold and original: by an ancient tradition, blackness was associated with sin and death; and blackamoors in plays before Shakespeare are generally villainous (as is Aaron in Titus Andronicus). The story of a Moorish commander deluded by his ensign (standard-bearer) into believing that his young wife has been unfaithful to him with another soldier derives from a prose tale by the Italian Giambattista Cinzio Giraldi first published in 1565 in a collection of linked tales, Gli Ecatommiti (The Hundred Tales). Shakespeare must have read it either in Italian or in a French translation of 1584, he may have looked at both. Giraldi tells the tale in a few pages of compressed, matter-of-fact narrative interspersed with brief conversations. His main characters are a Moor of Venice (Othello), his Venetian wife (Desdemona), his ensign (Iago), his ensign’s wife (Emilia), and a corporal (Cassio) ‘who was very dear to the Moor’. Only Desdemona is named. Shakespeare’s invented characters include Roderigo, a young, disappointed suitor of Desdemona, and Brabanzio, Desdemona’s father, who opposes her marriage to Othello. Bianca, Cassio’s mistress, is developed from a few hints in the source. Shakespeare also introduces the military action between Turkey and Venice—infidels and Christians—which gives especial importance to Othello’s posting to Cyprus, a Venetian protectorate which the Turks attacked in 1570 and conquered in the following year. In the source, Othello and Desdemona are already happily settled into married life when they go to Cyprus; Shakespeare compresses the time-scheme and makes many changes to the narrative. Othello, a great success in Shakespeare’s time, was one of the first plays to be acted after the reopening of the theatres in 1660, and since that time has remained one of the most popular plays on the English stage.
THE PERSONS OF THE	PLAY OTHELLO, the Moor of Venice DESDEMONA, his wife Michael CASSIO, his lieutenant BIANCA, a courtesan, in love with Cassio IAGO, the Moor’s ensign EMILIA, Iago’s wife A CLOWN, a servant of Othello The DUKE of Venice BRABANZIO, Desdemona’s father, a Senator of Venice GRAZIANO, Brabanzio’s brother LODOVICO, kinsman of Brabanzio
SENATORS	of Venice RODERIGO, a Venetian gentleman, in love with Desdemona MONTANO, Governor of Cyprus A HERALD A MESSENGER Attendants, officers, sailors, gentlemen of Cyprus, musicians

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano da una porta il Duca, Varrio e signori, da un’altra porta Angelo, Escalo, Lucio, cittadini e ufficiali
DUCA	(a Angelo) Mio degnissimo cugino, ben trovato. (A Escalo) Nostro vecchio e fedele amico, siamo lieti di vedervi.
ANGELO	e ESCALO Felice ritorno sia alla vostra grazia reale.
DUCA	Molti e cordiali ringraziamenti a voi entrambi. Abbiamo chiesto informazioni di voi, e udiamo tale bontà della vostra giustizia che la nostra anima non può che offrirvi ai pubblici ringraziamenti, precorrendo maggiore ricompensa.
ANGELO	Rendete i miei obblighi ancor più grandi.
DUCA	Oh, il vostro merito parla forte, e gli farei torto a chiuderlo nelle celle d’un petto coperto, quando merita, con caratteri di bronzo, una residenza fortificata contro il dente del tempo e la rasura dell’oblio. Datemi la vostra mano, e che i sudditi vedano, per far loro sapere che le cortesie esteriori vorrebbero proclamare i favori che stanno dentro. Venite, Escalo, dovete camminare accanto a noi dall’altra mano, e buoni sostegni siete.
(didascalia)	Camminano innanzi.
(didascalia)	Entrano frate Pietro e Isabella
FRATE PIETRO	Ora è il vostro momento. Parlate forte, e inginocchiatevi davanti a lui.
ISABELLA	(inginocchiandosi) Giustizia, o regale Duca! Abbassate il vostro sguardo su un’offesa—avrei voluto dire, una vergine. O degno principe, non disonorate il vostro occhio gettandolo su altro oggetto, finché non m’abbiate udita nella mia vera querela, e datomi giustizia, giustizia, giustizia, giustizia!
DUCA	Esponete i vostri torti. In che? Da chi? Siate breve. Ecco il signor Angelo che vi darà giustizia. Rivelatevi a lui.
ISABELLA	O degno Duca, mi dite di cercare redenzione dal diavolo. Uditemi voi stesso, ché ciò che devo dire o deve punirmi, non essendo creduta, o strapparvi riparazione. Uditemi, oh uditemi, udite!
ANGELO	Mio signore, il suo senno, temo, non è saldo. È stata supplice presso di me per suo fratello, reciso per corso di giustizia.
(didascalia)	ISABELLA alzandosi
ANGELO	Per corso di giustizia!
ANGELO	E parlerà in modo amarissimo e strano.
ISABELLA	Stranissimo, ma pure verissimo, sarà il mio parlare. Che Angelo sia spergiuro, non è strano? Che Angelo sia un assassino, non è strano? Che Angelo sia un ladro adultero, un ipocrita, un violatore di vergini, non è strano, e strano?
DUCA	No, è dieci volte strano!
ISABELLA	Non è più vero ch’egli sia Angelo di quanto tutto questo sia vero quanto è strano. Anzi, è dieci volte vero, ché la verità è verità fino alla fine del computo.
DUCA	Portatela via. Povera anima, parla così nell’infermità del senno.
ISABELLA	O principe, ti scongiuro, per quanto credi che ci sia altro conforto oltre questo mondo, di non trascurarmi con quell’opinione ch’io sia toccata da follia. Non fate impossibile ciò che solo sembra inverosimile. Non è impossibile che uno, il più scellerato miserabile della terra, possa sembrare schivo, grave, giusto, assoluto come Angelo; e così può Angelo, in tutti i suoi paludamenti, insegne, titoli, forme, essere un arci-scellerato. Credetelo, regale principe, se è meno di questo, non è nulla; ma è di più, avessi io più nomi per la malvagità.
DUCA	Per la mia onestà, se è pazza, come non credo altro, la sua follia ha la più strana armatura di senno, tale dipendenza di cosa da cosa quale mai udii in follia.
ISABELLA	O grazioso Duca, non insistete su questo, né bandite la ragione per una disuguaglianza; ma la vostra ragione serva a far apparire la verità dove pare nascosta, e a nascondere il falso che pare vero.
DUCA	Molti che non son pazzi hanno certo più mancanza di ragione. Che vorreste dire?
ISABELLA	Sono la sorella d’un certo Claudio, condannato per l’atto di fornicazione a perdere la testa, condannato da Angelo. Io, in noviziato d’una sorellanza, fui mandata a chiamare da mio fratello, essendo un certo Lucio allora il messaggero.
LUCIO	Quello son io, se piace a vostra grazia. Venni da lei da parte di Claudio, e la pregai di tentare la sua graziosa fortuna col signor Angelo per il perdono del povero fratello.
ISABELLA	È lui davvero.
DUCA	(a Lucio) Non vi fu detto di parlare.
LUCIO	No, mio buon signore, né mi fu chiesto di tacere.
DUCA	Ve lo chiedo ora, allora. Vi prego, prendetene nota; e quando avrete una faccenda per voi stesso, voglia il cielo che allora siate perfetto.
LUCIO	Ve ne rispondo, vostro onore.
DUCA	La risposta è per voi stesso; badateci.
ISABELLA	Questo gentiluomo ha raccontato qualcosa della mia storia—
LUCIO	Giusto.
DUCA	Può essere giusto, ma voi siete in torto a parlare prima del vostro turno. (A Isabella) Proseguite.
ISABELLA	Andai da questo pernicioso miserabile vicario—
DUCA	Questo è parlare un po’ pazzamente.
ISABELLA	Perdonatelo; la frase è conforme alla materia.
DUCA	Corretto di nuovo. La materia; proseguite.
ISABELLA	In breve, mettendo da parte il processo superfluo, come persuasi, come pregai e m’inginocchiai, come mi respinse, e come replicai— ché questo fu assai lungo—la vile conclusione comincio ora con dolore e vergogna a pronunciare. Non voleva, se non col dono del mio casto corpo alla sua concupiscente intemperante libidine, liberare mio fratello; e dopo molto dibattere, il mio rimorso di sorella confuta il mio onore, e a lui cedetti. Ma l’indomani di buon’ora, sazio il suo proposito, manda un mandato per la testa del mio povero fratello.
DUCA	Questo è verosimilissimo!
ISABELLA	Oh, fosse verosimile quanto è vero!
DUCA	Per il cielo, sciocca infelice, non sai ciò che dici, o sei subornata contro il suo onore in odiosa macchinazione. Primo, la sua integrità sta senza macchia. Poi, non ha ragione alcuna ch’egli con tanta veemenza perseguiti colpe proprie di lui stesso. Se avesse così offeso, avrebbe pesato tuo fratello su se stesso, e non l’avrebbe reciso. Qualcuno t’ha istigata. Confessa la verità, e di’ per consiglio di chi sei venuta qui a lagnarti.
ISABELLA	E questo è tutto? Allora, o voi benedetti ministri lassù, tenetemi in pazienza, e col tempo maturo svelate il male che qui sta ravvolto in un bel sembiante! Il cielo scudi la vostra grazia dal dolore, mentre io, così offesa, me ne vado di qui non creduta.
DUCA	So che vorreste andarvene. Un ufficiale! In prigione con lei. Un ufficiale fa la guardia a Isabella Permetteremo noi così che un fiato pestifero e scandaloso cada su uno tanto a noi vicino? Questa dev’essere una macchinazione. Chi sapeva del vostro intento e del vostro venire qui?
ISABELLA	Uno che vorrei fosse qui, frate Lodovico.
(didascalia)	Esce, sotto scorta
DUCA	Un padre spirituale, si direbbe. Chi conosce quel Lodovico?
LUCIO	Mio signore, io lo conosco. È un frate impiccione; non mi piace quell’uomo. Fosse stato laico, mio signore, per certe parole che disse contro vostra grazia durante il vostro ritiro, l’avrei bastonato di santa ragione.
DUCA	Parole contro di me? Un bel frate, si direbbe! E istigare qui questa misera donna contro il nostro sostituto! Si trovi questo frate.
(didascalia)	Esce uno o più
LUCIO	Non più tardi di ieri sera, mio signore, lei e quel frate, li vidi alla prigione. Un frate impertinente, un tipo proprio scurrile.
FRATE PIETRO	Benedetta sia la vostra regale grazia! Sono stato in disparte, mio signore, e ho udito abusare del vostro regale orecchio. Primo, questa donna ha accusato molto ingiustamente il vostro sostituto, che è tanto libero da contatto o macchia con lei quanto lei da uno non generato.
DUCA	Non credevamo di meno. Conoscete quel frate Lodovico di cui parla?
FRATE PIETRO	Lo conosco per uomo divino e santo, non scurrile, né impiccione mondano, come lo riferisce questo gentiluomo; e, sulla mia fede, uomo che mai finora ha, come egli afferma, sparlato di vostra grazia.
LUCIO	Mio signore, in modo scelleratissimo; credetelo.
FRATE PIETRO	Bene, egli col tempo potrà venire a discolparsi; ma in questo momento è malato, mio signore, d’una strana febbre. Per sua sola richiesta, essendo venuto a sapere che c’era una querela intentata contro il signor Angelo, son venuto qui a dire, come dalla sua bocca, ciò ch’egli sa esser vero e falso, e ciò che col suo giuramento e ogni prova renderà pienamente chiaro quando sarà convocato. Primo, quanto a questa donna: per giustificare questo degno nobiluomo, così volgarmente e personalmente accusato, la udrete smentita davanti ai suoi occhi, finché ella stessa lo confessi.
DUCA	Buon frate, sentiamo.
(didascalia)	Esce frate Pietro
DUCA	Non ne sorridete, signor Angelo? O cielo, la vanità dei miseri sciocchi! Dateci dei seggi.
(didascalia)	Vengono portati dei seggi
DUCA	Venite, cugino Angelo, in questo sarò imparziale; siate voi giudice della vostra propria causa. Il Duca e Angelo siedono.
(didascalia)	Entrano frate Pietro e Mariana, velata
DUCA	È questa la testimone, frate? Prima mostri il volto, e dopo parli.
MARIANA	Perdono, mio signore, non mostrerò il mio volto finché mio marito me lo comandi.
DUCA	Come, siete maritata?
MARIANA	No, mio signore.
DUCA	Siete vergine?
MARIANA	No, mio signore.
DUCA	Vedova, allora?
MARIANA	Nemmeno, mio signore.
DUCA	Ma allora non siete nulla: né vergine, né vedova, né moglie!
LUCIO	Mio signore, potrebbe essere una bagascia, ché molte di loro non sono né vergini, né vedove, né mogli.
DUCA	Zittite quel tale. Vorrei che avesse qualche motivo di ciarlare per sé.
LUCIO	Bene, mio signore.
MARIANA	Mio signore, confesso che non fui mai maritata, e confesso inoltre che non son vergine. Ho conosciuto mio marito, eppure mio marito non sa d’avermi mai conosciuta.
LUCIO	Era ubriaco, allora, mio signore, non può essere altrimenti.
DUCA	Per il beneficio del silenzio, vorrei che lo fossi anche tu.
LUCIO	Bene, mio signore.
DUCA	Questa non è testimone per il signor Angelo.
MARIANA	Ora ci arrivo, mio signore. Colei che l’accusa di fornicazione nel medesimo modo accusa mio marito, e gli imputa, mio signore, un momento tale nel quale deporrò che l’avevo fra le braccia con tutto l’effetto d’amore.
ANGELO	Accusa altri oltre me?
MARIANA	Non ch’io sappia.
DUCA	No? Dite vostro marito.
MARIANA	Ma appunto, mio signore, e quello è Angelo, che crede di sapere che non conobbe mai il mio corpo, ma sa, crede lui, di conoscere quello d’Isabel.
ANGELO	Questo è uno strano inganno. Vediamo il tuo volto.
MARIANA	(togliendosi il velo) Mio marito me lo comanda; ora mi smaschero. Questo è quel volto, crudele Angelo, che una volta giurasti degno d’essere guardato. Questa è la mano che, con un contratto giurato, fu stretta forte nella tua. Questo è il corpo che tolse a Isabel l’incontro, e ti supplì nella tua casa del giardino nella persona di lei immaginata.
DUCA	(a Angelo) Conoscete questa donna?
LUCIO	Carnalmente, dice lei.
DUCA	Messere, basta!
LUCIO	Basta, mio signore.
ANGELO	Mio signore, devo confessare che conosco questa donna; e cinque anni fa ci fu qualche discorso di matrimonio fra me e lei, che fu rotto, in parte perché le sue promesse proporzioni vennero meno all’accordo, ma soprattutto perché la sua reputazione era svalutata per leggerezza; da quel tempo di cinque anni non le ho mai parlato, né l’ho vista, né ho avuto sue nuove, sulla mia fede e sul mio onore.
(didascalia)	MARIANA inginocchiandosi davanti al Duca Nobile principe,
ANGELO	Come viene luce dal cielo, e parole dal fiato, come c’è senso nella verità, e verità nella virtù, io sono per fidanzamento moglie di quest’uomo, tanto saldamente quanto le parole possano fare i voti. E, mio buon signore, non più tardi di martedì notte scorso, nella sua casa del giardino, egli mi conobbe come moglie. Se questo è vero, lasciate ch’io mi rialzi salva dalle ginocchia, o altrimenti sia per sempre qui confitta, monumento di marmo.
ANGELO	Fin qui non ho fatto che sorridere. Ora, mio buon signore, datemi il campo della giustizia. La mia pazienza qui è toccata. Ben m’accorgo che queste povere donne senza forma non sono che strumenti di qualche membro più potente che le istiga. Datemi via libera, mio signore, per scoprire questa macchinazione.
DUCA	(alzandosi) Sì, con tutto il cuore, e punitele fino al colmo del vostro piacere.— Tu, sciocco frate, e tu, perniciosa donna d’accordo con quella che se n’è andata, credi tu che i tuoi giuramenti, foss’anche a scongiurare ogni singolo santo, fossero testimonianze contro il suo valore e il suo credito che è sigillato nell’approvazione? Voi, signor Escalo, sedete con mio cugino; prestategli la vostra benevola fatica per scoprire donde derivi quest’abuso. C’è un altro frate che le ha istigate. Sia mandato a chiamare. Escalo siede
FRATE PIETRO	Vorrei che fosse qui, mio signore, ché egli davvero ha istigato le donne a questa querela. Il vostro Prevosto conosce il luogo dove dimora, e può andarlo a prendere.
DUCA	(a uno o più) Andate, fatelo all’istante.
(didascalia)	Esce uno o più
DUCA	(A Angelo) E voi, mio nobile e ben garantito cugino, a cui tocca udire questa materia fino in fondo, fate delle vostre offese come vi par meglio in qualunque castigo. Io per un poco vi lascerò, ma non muovetevi finché non abbiate ben deciso su questi calunniatori.
ESCALO	Mio signore, lo faremo a fondo.
(didascalia)	Esce il Duca
ESCALO	Signor Lucio, non diceste voi di sapere che quel frate Lodovico era persona disonesta?
LUCIO	Cucullus non facit monachum: onesto in nulla se non nei suoi panni; e uno che ha tenuto discorsi scelleratissimi sul Duca.
ESCALO	Vi pregheremo di restare qui finché venga, e di sostenerli contro di lui. Troveremo che questo frate è un bel tipo.
LUCIO	Come nessun altro a Vienna, sulla mia parola.
ESCALO	Chiamate di nuovo qui quella stessa Isabel; vorrei parlare con lei. Esce uno o più (A Angelo) Di grazia, mio signore, permettetemi d’interrogarla. Vedrete come la maneggerò.
LUCIO	Non meglio di lui, a suo stesso dire.
ESCALO	Che dite?
LUCIO	Perbacco, signore, credo che se la maneggiaste in privato, confesserebbe più presto; in pubblico forse si vergognerà.
ESCALO	Lavorerò con lei al buio.
LUCIO	Questa è la via, ché le donne son leggere a mezzanotte. Entra Isabella, sotto scorta
ESCALO	(a Isabella) Avanti, madonna, ecco una gentildonna che nega tutto ciò che avete detto.
(didascalia)	Entrano il Duca, travestito da frate, incappucciato, e il Prevosto
LUCIO	Mio signore, ecco che viene il furfante di cui parlavo, qui col Prevosto.
ESCALO	Proprio a buon punto. Non parlategli finché non vi chiamiamo.
LUCIO	Zitto.
ESCALO	(al Duca) Su, signore, avete istigato queste donne a calunniare il signor Angelo? Hanno confessato che l’avete fatto.
DUCA	È falso.
ESCALO	Come! Sapete dove siete?
DUCA	Rispetto al vostro alto seggio, e si lasci che il diavolo sia talvolta onorato davanti al suo trono ardente. Dov’è il Duca? È lui che dovrebbe udirmi parlare.
ESCALO	Il Duca è in noi, e noi vi udremo parlare. Badate di parlare con giustizia.
DUCA	Con ardire, almeno. (A Isabella e Mariana) Ma oh, povere anime, venite a cercare qui l’agnello dalla volpe? Buona notte alla vostra riparazione! Il Duca se n’è andato? Allora se n’è andata anche la vostra causa. Il Duca è ingiusto a rimandare così il vostro manifesto appello, e a mettere il vostro giudizio in bocca allo scellerato che qui venite ad accusare.
LUCIO	Questo è il furfante, questo è quello di cui parlavo.
ESCALO	Come, tu irriverente e sconsacrato frate, non ti basta d’aver subornato queste donne ad accusare quest’uomo degno, ma, con bocca sozza, e alla testimonianza del suo proprio orecchio, chiamarlo scellerato, e poi passare da lui al Duca stesso, per tacciarlo d’ingiustizia? Portatelo via; alla corda con lui. Ti stireremo giunto per giunto—ma sapremo il suo scopo. Come, ‘ingiusto’?
DUCA	Non tanto calore. Il Duca non osa stirare questo mio dito più di quanto osi stirare il proprio. Suddito suo non sono, né qui provinciale. I miei affari in questo stato m’han fatto spettatore qui a Vienna, dove ho visto la corruzione bollire e gorgogliare fino a traboccare dal paiolo; leggi per ogni colpa, ma colpe così tollerate che i forti statuti stanno come le tariffe di penitenza in bottega da barbiere, tanto per burla quanto per norma.
ESCALO	Calunnia allo stato! Via con lui in prigione.
ANGELO	Che potete attestare contro di lui, signor Lucio? È questo l’uomo di cui ci parlaste?
LUCIO	È lui, mio signore.—Vieni qua, messer Zucca Pelata. Mi conosci?
DUCA	Vi ricordo, signore, dal suono della vostra voce. V’incontrai alla prigione, durante l’assenza del Duca.
LUCIO	Oh, davvero? E ti ricordi che cosa dicesti del Duca?
DUCA	Benissimo, signore.
LUCIO	Davvero, signore? E il Duca era un mercante di carne, un buffone e un vigliacco, come allora lo riferisti?
DUCA	Dovete, signore, scambiare le persone con me prima di fare di quello il mio racconto. Foste voi a parlare così di lui, e molto di più, molto di peggio.
LUCIO	Oh, tipo dannabile! Non ti tirai forse per il naso per i tuoi discorsi?
DUCA	Protesto ch’io amo il Duca come amo me stesso.
ANGELO	Sentite come lo scellerato vorrebbe rappezzarla ora, dopo i suoi abusi da traditore.
ESCALO	Con un tale non si può parlare. Via con lui in prigione. Dov’è il Prevosto? Via con lui in prigione. Mettetegli addosso ceppi a sufficienza. Non lo si lasci parlare più. Via anche con quelle sgualdrinelle, e con l’altro compagno complice.
(didascalia)	Mariana viene fatta alzare in piedi, ed è sotto scorta
ESCALO	Il Prevosto fa per afferrare il Duca
DUCA	Fermo, signore, fermo un poco.
ANGELO	Come, resiste? Aiutalo, Lucio.
LUCIO	(al Duca) Vieni, signore; vieni, signore; vieni, signore! Puah, signore! Ah, furfante bugiardo dalla zucca pelata, dovete restare incappucciato, eh? Mostrate la vostra faccia da ribaldo, un accidente a voi! Mostrate la vostra faccia da ladro di pecore, e siate impiccato per un’ora! Non viene via? Gli strappa il cappuccio da frate, e scopre il Duca.
(didascalia)	Angelo e Escalo si alzano
DUCA	Tu sei il primo ribaldo che abbia mai fatto un duca. Prima, Prevosto, lasciate ch’io liberi questi tre gentili. (A Lucio) Non svignatevela, signore, ché il frate e voi dobbiamo fra poco scambiare una parola. (A uno o più) Prendetelo.
LUCIO	Questo potrebbe risultare peggio dell’impiccagione.
DUCA	(a Escalo) Ciò che avete detto, lo perdono. Sedetevi. Prenderemo in prestito il posto da lui.
(didascalia)	Escalo siede
DUCA	(A Angelo) Signore, con vostra licenza.
(didascalia)	Prende il seggio di Angelo
DUCA	Hai tu parola o ingegno o impudenza che possa ancora servirti? Se l’hai, affidatici finché il mio racconto sia udito, e non resistere più a lungo.
ANGELO	O mio temuto signore, sarei più colpevole della mia colpevolezza se pensassi di poter restare indiscernibile, quando m’accorgo che vostra grazia, come potere divino, ha guardato ai miei passi. Dunque, buon principe, non tenete più a lungo sessione sulla mia vergogna, ma sia il mio processo la mia stessa confessione. Sentenza immediata allora, e conseguente morte, è tutta la grazia che chiedo.
DUCA	Vieni qua, Mariana. (A Angelo) Di’, fosti mai promesso a questa donna?
ANGELO	Lo fui, mio signore.
DUCA	Andate, portatela via e sposatela all’istante. Fate voi l’ufficio, frate; e compiuto ciò, riportatelo qui di nuovo. Andate con lui, Prevosto.
(didascalia)	Escono Angelo, Mariana, frate Pietro e il
DUCA	Prevosto
ESCALO	Mio signore, sono più stupito del suo disonore che della stranezza di esso.
DUCA	Vieni qua, Isabel. Il tuo frate è ora il tuo principe. Come allora ero consigliero e devoto ai tuoi affari, senza mutare cuore con l’abito sono ancora avvocato al tuo servizio.
ISABELLA	Oh, datemi perdono, ch’io, vostra vassalla, ho impiegato e affaticato la vostra ignota sovranità.
DUCA	Siete perdonata, Isabel. E ora, cara fanciulla, siate altrettanto libera con noi. So che la morte di vostro fratello vi sta sul cuore, e potrete meravigliarvi perché mi sia oscurato, adoperandomi a salvargli la vita, e non abbia piuttosto fatto avventata ostensione del mio potere nascosto invece di lasciarlo così perire. O gentilissima fanciulla, fu la rapida celerità della sua morte, che pensavo venisse con piede più lento, a mandare a monte il mio disegno. Ma pace sia con lui! Quella vita è vita migliore, che non teme più la morte, di quella che vive per temere. Fatene il vostro conforto, tanto è felice vostro fratello.
ISABELLA	Lo faccio, mio signore.
(didascalia)	Entrano Angelo, Mariana, frate Pietro e il Prevosto
DUCA	Quanto a quest’uomo appena sposato che s’avvicina qui, la cui salace immaginazione ha pur fatto torto al vostro ben difeso onore, dovete perdonarlo per amore di Mariana; ma poiché egli condannò vostro fratello— essendo criminale in doppia violazione di sacra castità e di rottura di promessa, da ciò dipendente, per la vita di vostro fratello— la clemenza stessa della legge grida udibilissima, proprio dalla sua propria lingua: ‘Un Angelo per Claudio, morte per morte’. La fretta paga sempre la fretta, e l’agio risponde all’agio; il simile compensa il simile, e sempre misura per misura. Dunque, Angelo, la tua colpa è così manifestata, e, benché tu volessi negarla, essa ti nega ogni vantaggio. Ti condanniamo a quello stesso ceppo dove Claudio si chinò alla morte, e con pari fretta. Via con lui.
MARIANA	O mio graziosissimo signore, spero che non vorrete beffarmi con un marito!
DUCA	È vostro marito che v’ha beffata con un marito. Acconsentendo alla salvaguardia del vostro onore, ho creduto opportuno il vostro matrimonio; altrimenti l’imputazione, per avervi egli conosciuta, avrebbe potuto rimproverare la vostra vita e soffocare il vostro bene avvenire. Quanto ai suoi possessi, benché per confisca siano nostri, ve ne investiamo e vi facciamo vedova ricca, per comprarvi un marito migliore.
MARIANA	O mio caro signore, non ne chiedo altro, né uomo migliore.
DUCA	Non lo chiedete mai; siamo risoluti.
MARIANA	Gentile mio sovrano—
DUCA	Non fate che perdere la vostra fatica.— Via con lui alla morte. (A Lucio) Ora, signore, a voi.
MARIANA	(inginocchiandosi) O mio buon signore!—Dolce Isabel, prendete le mie parti; prestatemi le vostre ginocchia, e per tutta la vita a venire vi presterò tutta la mia vita per servirvi.
DUCA	Contro ogni senno voi l’importunate. Se ella s’inginocchiasse per clemenza di questo fatto, il fantasma di suo fratello romperebbe il suo letto lastricato, e la porterebbe via nell’orrore.
MARIANA	Isabel, dolce Isabel, inginocchiatevi almeno accanto a me. Alzate le mani; non dite nulla; parlerò io per tutto. Dicono che i migliori uomini son plasmati dalle colpe, e, per lo più, diventano assai migliori per essere stati un poco cattivi. Così può essere di mio marito. O Isabel, non volete prestare un ginocchio?
DUCA	Egli muore per la morte di Claudio.
ISABELLA	(inginocchiandosi) Munificentissimo signore, guardate, se vi piace, a quest’uomo condannato come se mio fratello vivesse. In parte credo che una debita sincerità governasse le sue azioni, finché non pose gli occhi su di me. Poiché è così, non lo si lasci morire. Mio fratello ebbe solo giustizia, in quanto fece la cosa per cui morì. Quanto ad Angelo, il suo atto non raggiunse la sua cattiva intenzione, e dev’essere sepolto solo come un’intenzione perita per via. I pensieri non sono sudditi, le intenzioni non sono che pensieri.
MARIANA	Solo pensieri, mio signore.
DUCA	La vostra supplica è inutile. Alzatevi, dico.
(didascalia)	Mariana
(didascalia)	e Isabella si alzano
DUCA	M’è venuta in mente un’altra colpa. Prevosto, come mai Claudio fu decapitato a un’ora insolita?
PREVOSTO	Fu così comandato.
DUCA	Avevate un mandato speciale per il fatto?
PREVOSTO	No, mio buon signore, fu per messaggio privato.
DUCA	Per il che vi destituisco dal vostro ufficio. Consegnate le vostre chiavi.
PREVOSTO	Perdonatemi, nobile signore. Pensai che fosse una colpa, ma non ne ero certo, pure me ne pentii dopo maggior riflessione; a testimonianza di che, uno nella prigione che per ordine privato sarebbe altrimenti morto l’ho conservato vivo.
DUCA	Chi è?
PREVOSTO	Il suo nome è Barnardine.
DUCA	Vorrei che aveste fatto così con Claudio. Andate a prenderlo qua. Ch’io lo guardi.
(didascalia)	Esce il Prevosto
ESCALO	Mi duole che uno così dotto e così saggio quale voi, signor Angelo, siete sempre apparso, abbia scivolato tanto grossolanamente, sia nel calore del sangue sia nella mancanza di temperato giudizio poi.
ANGELO	Mi duole di procurare tale dolore, e così a fondo mi si conficca nel cuore penitente ch’io chiedo la morte più volentieri della clemenza. È il mio merito, e la imploro.
(didascalia)	Entrano Barnardine e il Prevosto; Claudio, incappucciato, e Giulietta
DUCA	Chi è quel Barnardine?
PREVOSTO	Questi, mio signore.
DUCA	C’era un frate che mi parlò di quest’uomo. (A Barnardine) Messere, si dice che tu abbia un’anima ostinata che non comprende più in là di questo mondo, e squadri la tua vita di conseguenza. Sei condannato; ma, quanto a quelle colpe terrene, te le rimetto tutte, e ti prego di prendere questa clemenza per provvedere a tempi migliori a venire.—Frate, consigliatelo. Lo lascio alla vostra mano. (Al Prevosto) Chi è quell’uomo incappucciato?
PREVOSTO	Questo è un altro prigioniero che ho salvato, che sarebbe dovuto morire quando Claudio perse la testa, simile a Claudio quasi quanto lui stesso. Toglie il cappuccio a Claudio
DUCA	(a Isabella) S’egli è simile a vostro fratello, per amor suo è perdonato; e per il vostro amabile amore datemi la vostra mano, e dite che sarete mia. Egli è anche mio fratello. Ma a tempo più adatto questo. Da ciò il signor Angelo s’accorge d’esser salvo. Mi pare di vedere un ravvivarsi nel suo occhio. Bene, Angelo, il vostro male vi rende bene. Badate d’amare vostra moglie, il cui valore vale il vostro. Trovo in me una pronta indulgenza; eppure ce n’è qui uno che non posso perdonare. (A Lucio) Voi, messere, che mi sapevate un buffone, un vigliacco, tutto lussuria, un asino, un pazzo, in che cosa ho così meritato di voi che voi mi esaltiate a quel modo?
LUCIO	In fede, mio signore, l’ho detto solo secondo l’andazzo. Se volete impiccarmi per questo, potete; ma preferirei che vi piacesse ch’io fossi frustato.
DUCA	Frustato prima, signore, e impiccato dopo. Proclamate, Prevosto, per tutta la città, che se qualche donna è stata offesa da questo lascivo individuo, come l’ho udito giurare lui stesso che ce n’è una ch’egli ha reso gravida d’un figlio, si presenti, ed egli la sposerà. Finite le nozze, sia frustato e impiccato.
LUCIO	Supplico vostra altezza, non mi sposate a una puttana. Vostra altezza ha detto or ora ch’io v’ho fatto duca; mio buon signore, non mi ricompensate facendomi cornuto.
DUCA	Sul mio onore, tu la sposerai. Le tue calunnie perdono, e con esse rimetto le altre tue pene.—Portatelo in prigione, e badate che il nostro piacere in ciò sia eseguito.
LUCIO	Sposare una bagascia, mio signore, è schiacciamento a morte, frusta e forca.
DUCA	Calunniare un principe lo merita.
(didascalia)	Esce
DUCA	Lucio
(didascalia)	sotto scorta
DUCA	Colei, Claudio, cui facesti torto, badate di restituirla nell’onore. Gioia a voi, Mariana. Amatela, Angelo. L’ho confessata, e ne conosco la virtù. Grazie, buon amico Escalo, per la tua molta bontà. C’è dell’altro in serbo che è più gradito. Grazie, Prevosto, per la tua cura e la tua segretezza. T’impiegheremo in un posto più degno. Perdonagli, Angelo, d’averti portato a casa la testa di Ragusine invece di quella di Claudio. L’offesa si perdona da sé. Cara Isabel, ho una proposta che molto importa al vostro bene, alla quale, se vorrete piegare un orecchio consenziente, ciò che è mio è vostro, e ciò che è vostro è mio. (A tutti) Conduceteci dunque al nostro palazzo, dove mostreremo ciò che ancora resta ed è giusto che tutti sappiate.
(didascalia)	Escono
BRANI AGGIUNTIVI	Il testo di Misura per misura dato in questa edizione è probabilmente quello di una versione adattata fatta per la compagnia di Shakespeare dopo la sua morte. L’adattamento sembra aver interessato due passi, stampati qui sotto come crediamo che Shakespeare li abbia scritti. A. 1.2.0.1-116 A.2-9 (‘… by him’) sono versi che l’adattatore (che crediamo sia Thomas Middleton) intendeva evidentemente far sostituire da 1.2.56-79 del dramma come lo stampiamo. L’adattatore deve aver contribuito tutto 1.2.0.1-83, che nei testi a stampa più antichi e successivi precede la discussione fra il Buffone (Pompeo) e la Ruffiana (Mistress Overdone) sull’arresto di Claudio. L’entrata di Lucio solo al v. 40.1 qui sotto, una decina di versi dopo il suo rientro con i due Gentiluomini e il seguito del Prevosto nel testo adattato, rappresenta probabilmente l’intenzione originale di Shakespeare. Nella sua versione, Giulietta, presente ma silenziosa nel testo adattato sia in 1.2 sia in 5.1, probabilmente non compariva in nessuna delle due scene; di conseguenza, le parole ‘e c’è madonna Giulietta’ (1.2.107) devono essere anch’esse opera del revisore, e non compaiono qui sotto.
(didascalia)	Entrano Pompeo e Mistress Overdone, incontrandosi
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ebbene, che notizie mi porti?
POMPEO	Quell’uomo laggiù è condotto in prigione.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Bene! Che cos’ha fatto?
POMPEO	Una donna.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ma qual è la sua offesa?
POMPEO	Andar tastando trote in un fiume altrui.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Come, c’è una vergine gravida d’un figlio per opera sua?
POMPEO	No, ma c’è una donna con una vergine dentro per opera sua: non avete sentito del proclama, vero?
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Che proclama, uomo?
POMPEO	Tutte le case nei sobborghi di Vienna devono essere abbattute.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	E che ne sarà di quelle nella città?
POMPEO	Resteranno per la semenza. Sarebbero cadute anche loro, se non che un saggio borghese ha parlato per esse.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ma saranno abbattute tutte le nostre case di ritrovo nei sobborghi?
POMPEO	Rase al suolo, padrona.
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Ma questo sì che è un cambiamento nello stato. Che sarà di me?
POMPEO	Suvvia, non temete. I buoni consiglieri non mancano di clienti. Anche se cambiate luogo, non avete da cambiare mestiere. Sarò ancora il vostro spillatore. Coraggio, si avrà pietà di voi. Voi che vi siete quasi consumata gli occhi nel servizio, sarete considerata.
(didascalia)	Rumore dall’interno
MISTRESS OVERDONE	Che succede qui, Tommaso Spillatore? Ritiriamoci!
(didascalia)	Entrano il Prevosto e Claudio
POMPEO	Ecco che viene il signor Claudio, condotto dal Prevosto in prigione. Escono Mistress Overdone e Pompeo
CLAUDIO	Amico, perché mi mostri così al mondo? Portami in prigione, dove sono consegnato.
PREVOSTO	Non lo faccio per cattiva disposizione, ma per speciale incarico del signor Angelo.
CLAUDIO	Così può il semidio Autorità farci pagare per la nostra offesa, a peso, i debiti del cielo. Su chi vuole, vuole; su chi non vuole, così; eppure è sempre giusto.
(didascalia)	Entra Lucio
LUCIO	Ebbene, Claudio? Donde viene questa costrizione? B. 3.1.515-4.1.65 Prima della revisione non ci sarebbe stata interruzione d’atto né canzone; anche i versi immediatamente seguenti alla canzone sarebbero mancati. I soliloqui del Duca ‘Chi la spada del cielo vorrà portare’ e ‘O carica e grandezza’ sono stati evidentemente trasposti nella revisione; nell’originale, la fine di ‘O carica e grandezza’ avrebbe condotto direttamente all’incontro del Duca con Isabella e poi con Mariana.
ESCALO	Vado a visitare il prigioniero. State bene.
DUCA	La pace sia con voi. Esce Escalo O carica e grandezza, milioni di occhi falsi sono confitti su di te; volumi di dicerie corrono con la loro falsa e contrarissima caccia sulle tue azioni; mille sortite d’ingegno ti fanno padre del loro ozioso sogno, e ti torturano nelle loro fantasie.
(didascalia)	Entra Isabella
DUCA	Molto ben trovata. Quali notizie da questo buon sostituto?
ISABELLA	Ha un giardino tutto murato di mattoni, il cui lato occidentale è fiancheggiato da una vigna; e a quella vigna è un cancello di tavole, che si apre con questa chiave più grande. Quest’altra comanda una porticina che dalla vigna conduce al giardino. Là ho fatto la mia promessa sulla greve mezzeria della notte di venire da lui.
DUCA	Ma saprete voi con sicurezza trovare questa via?
ISABELLA	Ne ho preso debita e guardinga nota. Con sussurri e diligenza colpevolissima, tutto in atto di precetto, egli mi mostrò due volte la strada.
DUCA	Non ci sono altri segni convenuti fra voi circa il modo di comportarsi di lei?
ISABELLA	No, nessuno, se non solo un venire al buio, e che l’ho ben persuaso che la mia sosta non può essere che breve, ché gli ho fatto sapere ch’io ho un servo che viene con me e mi aspetta, la cui persuasione è che io venga per mio fratello.
DUCA	È ben condotta. Non ho ancora fatto sapere a Mariana una parola di questo.—Ehi là, dentro! Venite fuori!
(didascalia)	Entra Mariana
DUCA	(A Mariana) Vi prego, fate conoscenza con questa fanciulla. Viene a farvi del bene.
ISABELLA	Io desidero altrettanto.
DUCA	(a Mariana) Vi persuadete voi ch’io abbia riguardo per voi?
MARIANA	Buon frate, so che l’avete, e così l’ho trovato.
DUCA	Prendete dunque per mano questa vostra compagna, che ha una storia pronta per il vostro orecchio. Attenderò il vostro comodo; ma fate presto, la vaporosa notte s’avvicina.
MARIANA	Vi piace venire in disparte.
(didascalia)	Escono Mariana e Isabella
DUCA	Chi la spada del cielo vorrà portare santo dev’essere quanto severo, modello in sé per conoscere, grazia per stare, e virtù per andare, né più né meno agli altri pagando di quanto pesano le colpe di sé. Vergogna a colui che col crudele colpire uccide per colpe di suo gradire! Due volte tripla vergogna su Angelo, che sarchia il mio vizio e lascia crescere il suo! Oh, che può l’uomo nascondere in sé, pur angelo dalla parte di fuori! Come può la somiglianza fatta di delitti far sì che il mio artificio sui tempi tragga con oziosi fili di ragno le cose più ponderose e sostanziali? Astuzia contro vizio devo applicare. Con Angelo stanotte giacerà la sua antica promessa ma disprezzata. Così il travestimento, per mezzo della travestita, pagherà con falsità la falsa esazione, e compirà un vecchio contratto.
(didascalia)	Entrano
DUCA	Mariana
(didascalia)	e Isabella
DUCA	Benvenute. Come vi siete accordate?
ISABELLA	Prenderà su di sé l’impresa, padre, se voi lo consigliate.