William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (393 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
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BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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LUCIO
But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar,
I saw them at the prison. A saucy friar,
A very scurvy fellow.
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.
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.
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.
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.
⌈
Exit
Friar
Peter
⌉
Exit
Friar
Peter
⌉
Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo?
O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!
Give us some seats.
O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!
Give us some seats.
⌈
Seats
are brought
in
⌉
Come, cousin Angelo,
In this I’ll be impartial; be you judge
Of your own cause.
Of your own cause.
The Duke
and Angelo
sit.
Enter ⌈
Friar
Peter,
and
⌉ Mariana, veiled
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
)
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.
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?
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.
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.
MARIANA ⌈
kneeling
before the
Duke
⌉ Noble prince,
kneeling
before the
Duke
⌉ Noble prince,
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.
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.
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
)
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.
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.
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
)
to one or more
)
Go, do it instantly.
Exit one or more
(
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.
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.
Exit Duke
Signor Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar
Lodowick to be a dishonest person?
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.
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.
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
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.
Isabella
) Come on, mistress, here’s a gentlewoman denies all that you have said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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’?
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.
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?
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.
⌈
Mariana is raised to her feet, and is guarded
⌉
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.
⌈
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.
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.
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