Repented o'er his doom.

Ang.

Go to; let that be mine:

Do you your office, or give up your place,

And you shall well be spared.

Pro.

I crave your honor's pardon.

What shall be done, sir, with the groaning Juliet ? She's very near her hour.

Ang.

Dispose of her

To some more fitter place; and that with speed.

Re-enter SERVANT.

Ser. Here is the sister of the man condemn'd, Desires access to you.

Ang.

Hath he a sister?

Pro. Ay, my good lord; a very virtuous maid, And to be shortly of a sisterhood,

If not already.

Ang.

Well, let her be admitted.

See you, the fornicatress be removed;

[Exit Servant.

Let her have needful, but not lavish means;

There shall be order for it.

Enter LUCIO and ISABELLA.

Pro. Save your honor!

[offering to retire.

Ang. Stay a little while.-[to Isabella.] You are

welcome. What's your will?

Isa. I am a woful suitor to your honor,

Please but your honor hear me.

Ang.

Well; what's your suit?

Isa. There is a vice, that most I do abhor,
And most desire should meet the blow of justice;
For which I would not plead, but that I must;

For which I must not plead, but that I am

At war, 'twixt will, and will not.

Ang.

Well; the matter?

Isa. I have a brother is condemn'd to die :

I do beseech you, let it be his fault,

And not my brother.

Pro.

Heaven give thee moving graces!

Ang. Condemn the fault, and not the actor of it? Why, every fault's condemn'd, ere it be done: Mine were the very cipher of a function,

To fine the faults,1 whose fine stands in record,
And let go by the actor.

Isa.

O just, but severe law!

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

[retiring.

Lucio. [to Isa.] 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.

Isa. Must he needs die?

Ang.

Maiden, no remedy.

Isa. Yes; I do think that you might pardon him, And neither Heaven nor man grieve at the mercy.

To pronounce the fine or sentence of the law, appointed for certain crimes.

Ang. I will not do 't.

Isa.

But can you, if you would? Ang. Look, what I will not, that I cannot do.

Isa. But might you do 't, and do the world no

wrong,

If so your heart were touch'd with that remorse 1
As mine is to him?

Ang.

He's sentenced; 'tis too late.

[to Isabella.

Lucio. You are too cold.

Isa. Too late? why, no; I, that do speak a

word,

May call it back again. Well, believe this: 2
No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,

Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace

As mercy does. If he had been as you, and you as he,

You would have slipp'd like him; but he, like you, Would not have been so stern.

Ang.

Pray you, begone.

Isa. 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. Ay, touch him: there's the vein. [aside. Ang. Your brother is a forfeit of the law,

And

you but waste your words.

1 Pity.

2 Be assured of this.

Isa.

Alas! alas!

Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,

If he, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.1

Ang.

Be you content, fair maid;
It is the law, not I, condemns your brother:
Were he my kinsman, brother, or my son,
It should be thus with him;

morrow.

he must die to

Isa. To-morrow? O, that's sudden! Spare him,

spare him:

He's not prepared for death! Even for our kitchens We kill the fowl of season; 2 shall we serve Heaven

With less respect than we do minister

To our gross selves? Good, good my lord, bethink

you :

Who is it that hath died for this offence?

There's many have committed it.

Lucio.

Ay, well said.

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

slept :

Those many had not dared to do that evil,
If the first man that did the edict infringe,
Had answer'd for his deed: now, 'tis awake;

1 As man regenerate.

2 When it is in season.

Takes note of what is done; and, like a prophet,
Looks in a glass, that shows what future evils
(Either now, or by remissness new-conceived,
And so in progress to be hatch'd and born)
Are now to have no successive degrees,
But, where they live, to end.

Isa.

Yet show some pity.

Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know,

Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;

And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;

Your brother dies to-morrow: be content.

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

tence;

And he, that suffers! O, it is excellent

To have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Lucio.

That's well said.

Isa. Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet,

For every pelting,1 petty officer,

Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder.

Merciful Heaven!

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,

Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak

Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man!