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November 24 - November 24, 2018
BAWD But what’s his offense? 86 POMPEY Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. 87
BAWD
But what’s his offense? 86
POMPEY
Groping for trouts in a peculiar river. 87
From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty. 122 As surfeit is the father of much fast, 123 So every scope by the immoderate use 124 Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, 125 Like rats that raven down their proper bane, 126 A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die.
CLAUDIO
From too much liberty, my Lucio, liberty. 122
As surfeit is the father of much fast, 123
So every scope by the immoderate use 124
Turns to restraint. Our natures do pursue, 125
Like rats that raven down their proper bane, 126
A thirsty evil, and when we drink, we die. 127
I had as lief have the foppery of 130 freedom as the mortality of imprisonment.
Our doubts are traitors 85 And makes us lose the good we oft might win 86 By fearing to attempt.
LUCIO
Our doubts are traitors 85
And makes us lose the good we oft might win 86
By fearing to attempt. Go to Lord Angelo 87
And let him learn to know, when maidens sue 88
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel, 89
All their petitions are as freely theirs 90
As they themselves would owe them. 91
’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, 18 Another thing to fall.
Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all. 41 Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall. 42 Some run from brakes of ice and answer none, 43 And some condemnèd for a fault alone.
ESCALUS
Well, heaven forgive him and forgive us all. 41
Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall. 42
Some run from brakes of ice and answer none, 43
And some condemnèd for a fault alone. 44
I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the 163 worst thing about him. Good, then, if his face be the 164 worst thing about him,
POMPEY
I’ll be supposed upon a book, his face is the 163
worst thing about him. Good, then, if his face be the 164
worst thing about him, how could Master Froth do 165
the Constable’s wife any harm? I would know that 166
of your Honor. 167
it is excellent 135 To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous 136 To use it like a giant.
But man, proud man, 146 Dressed in a little brief authority, 147 Most ignorant of what he’s most assured, 148 His glassy essence, like an angry ape 149 Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 150 As makes the angels weep, who with our spleens 151 Would all themselves laugh mortal.
ISABELLA
Could great men thunder 139
As Jove himself does, Jove would never be quiet, 140
For every pelting, petty officer 141
Would use his heaven for thunder, 142
Nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven, 143
Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt 144
Splits the unwedgeable and gnarlèd oak, 145
Than the soft myrtle. But man, proud man, 146
Dressed in a little brief authority, 147
Most ignorant of what he’s most assured, 148
His glassy essence, like an angry ape 149
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 150
As makes the angels weep, who with our spleens 151
Would all themselves laugh mortal. 152
That in the captain’s but a choleric word 160 Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.
ISABELLA
That in the captain’s but a choleric word 160
Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy. 161
Go to your bosom, 166 Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know
ISABELLA
Because authority, though it err like others, 164
Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself 165
That skins the vice o’ th’ top. Go to your bosom, 166
Knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know 167
That’s like my brother’s fault. If it confess 168
A natural guiltiness such as is his, 169
Let it not sound a thought upon your tongue 170
Against my brother’s life. 171
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine? 199 The tempter or the tempted, who sins most, ha?
ANGELO
From thee, even from thy virtue. 198
What’s this? What’s this? Is this her fault or mine? 199
The tempter or the tempted, who sins most, ha? 200
The miserable have no other medicine 2 But only hope. 3 I have hope to live and am prepared to die.
CLAUDIO
The miserable have no other medicine 2
But only hope. 3
I have hope to live and am prepared to die. 4
Merely, thou art death’s fool, 11 For him thou labor’st by thy flight to shun, 12 And yet runn’st toward him still.
DUKE, < as Friar > . . .
Merely, thou art death’s fool, 11
For him thou labor’st by thy flight to shun, 12
And yet runn’st toward him still. 13
Thy best of rest is sleep, 18 And that thou oft provok’st, yet grossly fear’st 19 Thy death, which is no more.
Thou hast nor youth nor 33 age, 34 But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep 35 Dreaming on both,
DUKE, < as Friar > . . .
Thou hast nor youth nor 33
age, 34 But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep 35
Dreaming on both, for all thy blessèd youth 36
Becomes as agèd and doth beg the alms 37
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, 38
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty 39
To make thy riches pleasant.
What’s yet in this 40 That bears the name of life? Yet in this life 41 Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear, 42 That makes these odds all even.
DUKE, < as Friar >
Be absolute for death. Either death or life 5
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life: 6
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing 7
That none but fools would keep. A breath thou art, 8
Servile to all the skyey influences 9
That < doth > this habitation where thou keep’st 10
Hourly afflict. Merely, thou art death’s fool, 11
For him thou labor’st by thy flight to shun, 12
And yet runn’st toward him still. Thou art not noble, 13
For all th’ accommodations that thou bear’st 14
Are nursed by baseness. Thou ’rt by no means 15
valiant, 16
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork 17
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep, 18
And that thou oft provok’st, yet grossly fear’st 19
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself, 20
For thou exists on many a thousand grains 21
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not, 22
For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get, 23
And what thou hast, forget’st. Thou art not certain, 24
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects 25
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou ’rt poor, 26
For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows, 27
Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey, 28
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none, 29
For thine own bowels which do call thee < sire, > 30
The mere effusion of thy proper loins, 31
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum 32
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor 33
age, 34
But as it were an after-dinner’s sleep 35
Dreaming on both, for all thy blessèd youth 36
Becomes as agèd and doth beg the alms 37
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich, 38
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty 39
To make thy riches pleasant. What’s yet in this 40
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life 41
Lie hid more thousand deaths; yet death we fear, 42
That makes these odds all even. 43
Footnotes
7. If I do lose thee: This begins a series of statements that Claudio is instructed to say to life. (See longer note to 3.1.7–40.)
9. Servile . . . influences: i.e., subject to weather and/ or influences from stars and planets (See Picture.)
10. doth: i.e., do; this . . . keep’st: i.e., the body keep’st: dwell
11. fool: (1) simpleton; (2) buffoon, jester (See Picture.)
13. still: always, continually
14. all . . . bear’st: i.e., everything you have about you
15. nursed: fed, supported; baseness: i.e., from base origins
17. fork: i.e., forked tongue
18. worm: perhaps, snake; or, maggot
19. provok’st: invoke; grossly: foolishly
22. That issue out of dust: See Genesis 2.7: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground . . .”
24. certain: constant
25–26. complexion . . . moon: i.e., you change as the moon changes complexion: temperament, nature After: in obedience to
26. If . . . poor: See Revelation 3.17: “For thou saist, ‘I am rich . . .’ and knowest not how thou art wretched & miserable, and poor.”
30–31. thine own . . . loins: i.e., your very offspring bowels: offspring, children proper: own
32. serpigo: spreading skin disease, i.e., ringworm; rheum: inflammation of nose or throat
33. nor . . . nor: i.e., neither . . . nor
36. Dreaming on both: i.e., dreaming about both youth and age
37. as agèd: i.e., as if old (because youth must beg for money)
38. eld: old age (See Picture.)
39. heat: ardor, passion; limb: i.e., use of the body (literally, an organ or body part)
42–43. death . . . even: Proverbial: “The end makes all equal.”
To sue to live, I find I seek to die, 45 And seeking death, find life.
CLAUDIO
I humbly thank you. 44
To sue to live, I find I seek to die, 45
And seeking death, find life. Let it come on. 46
And the poor beetle that we tread upon 88 In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 89 As when a giant dies.
ISABELLA
O, I do fear thee, Claudio, and I quake 83
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain, 84
And six or seven winters more respect 85
Than a perpetual honor. Dar’st thou die? 86
The sense of death is most in apprehension, 87
And the poor beetle that we tread upon 88
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great 89
As when a giant dies. 90
That age, ache, <penury,> and imprisonment 145 Can lay on nature is a paradise 146 To what we fear of death.
CLAUDIO
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where, 133
To lie in cold obstruction and to rot, 134
This sensible warm motion to become 135
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit 136
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 137
In thrilling region of thick-ribbèd ice, 138
To be imprisoned in the viewless winds 139
And blown with restless violence round about 140
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst 141
Of those that lawless and incertain thought 142
Imagine howling—’ tis too horrible. 143
The weariest and most loathèd worldly life 144
That age, ache, < penury, > and imprisonment 145
Can lay on nature is a paradise 146
To what we fear of death. 147
Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to 229 do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my 230 spirit.
ISABELLA
Let me hear you speak farther. I have spirit to 229
do anything that appears not foul in the truth of my 230
spirit. 231
He who the sword of heaven will bear 261 Should be as holy as severe, 262 Pattern in himself to know, 263 Grace to stand, and virtue go; 264 More nor less to others paying 265 Than by self-offenses weighing. 266 Shame to him whose cruel striking 267 Kills for faults of his own liking. 268 Twice treble shame on Angelo, 269 To weed my vice, and let his grow. 270 O, what may man within him hide, 271 Though angel on the outward side! 272 How may likeness made in crimes, 273 Making practice on the times, 274 To draw with idle spiders’ strings 275 Most ponderous and substantial things. 276 Craft
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< DUKE >
He who the sword of heaven will bear 261
Should be as holy as severe, 262
Pattern in himself to know, 263
Grace to stand, and virtue go; 264
More nor less to others paying 265
Than by self-offenses weighing. 266
Shame to him whose cruel striking 267
Kills for faults of his own liking. 268
Twice treble shame on Angelo, 269
To weed my vice, and let his grow. 270
O, what may man within him hide, 271
Though angel on the outward side! 272
How may likeness made in crimes, 273
Making practice on the times, 274
To draw with idle spiders’ strings 275
Most ponderous and substantial things. 276
Craft against vice I must apply. 277
With Angelo tonight shall lie 278
His old betrothèd but despisèd. 279
So disguise shall, by th’ disguisèd, 280
Pay with falsehood false exacting 281
And perform an old contracting. 282
Take, O take those lips away, 1 That so sweetly were forsworn, 2 And those eyes, the break of day, 3 Lights that do mislead the morn. 4 But my kisses bring again, bring again, 5 Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain.
ACT 4
Scene 1
Enter Mariana, and Boy singing.
Song.
Take, O take those lips away, 1
That so sweetly were forsworn, 2
And those eyes, the break of day, 3
Lights that do mislead the morn. 4
But my kisses bring again, bring again, 5
Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain. 6
Enter Duke < as a Friar. >
music oft hath such a charm 14 To make bad good and good provoke to harm.
Come hither, sirrah. Can you cut off a man’s 1 head?
’Tis now dead midnight, and by eight tomorrow 64 Thou must be made immortal.
Were he mealed with that 90 Which he corrects, then were he tyrannous, 91 But this being so, he’s just.
death’s a great disguiser,
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, 35 Nothing goes right. We would, and we would not.
ANGELO . . .
Alack, when once our grace we have forgot, 35
Nothing goes right. We would, and we would not. 36
He exits.
and let the devil 330 Be sometime honored for his burning throne.
DUKE, < as Friar >
Respect to your great place, and let the devil 330
Be sometime honored for his burning throne. 331
Where is the Duke? ’Tis he should hear me speak. 332
life is better life past fearing death 451 Than that which lives to fear.
