| ACT II SCENE I | A hall In ANGELO's house. | |
| | Enter ANGELO, ESCALUS, and a Justice, Provost,Officers, and other Attendants, behind | |
| 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. | 5 |
| 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, | 10 |
| | 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 attain'd the effect of your own purpose, | 15 |
| | Whether you had not sometime in your life | |
| | Err'd in this point which now you censure him, | |
| | And pull'd the law upon you. | |
| ANGELO | 'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, | |
| | Another thing to fall. I not deny, | 20 |
| | The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, | |
| | May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two | |
| | Guiltier than him they try. What's open made to justice, | |
| | That justice seizes: what know the laws | |
| | That thieves do pass on thieves? 'Tis very pregnant, | 25 |
| | 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, | 30 |
| | When I, that censure him, do so offend, | |
| | Let mine own judgment 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? | 35 |
| Provost | Here, if it like your honour. | |
| ANGELO | See that Claudio | |
| | Be executed by nine to-morrow morning: | |
| | Bring him his confessor, let him be prepared; | |
| | For that's the utmost of his pilgrimage. | 40 |
| | Exit Provost | |
| ESCALUS | Aside | |
| | Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall: | |
| | Some run from brakes of ice, and answer none: | |
| | And some condemned for a fault alone. | |
| | Enter ELBOW, and Officers with FROTH and POMPEY | |
| ELBOW | Come, bring them away: if these be good people in | |
| | a commonweal that do nothing but use their abuses in | 45 |
| | 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 | 50 |
| | honour two notorious benefactors. | |
| ANGELO | Benefactors? Well; 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 | 55 |
| | of; and void of all profanation in the world that | |
| | good Christians ought to have. | |
| ESCALUS | 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? | 60 |
| 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 | 65 |
| | 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,-- | 70 |
| ESCALUS | Dost thou detest her therefore? | |
| 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? | 75 |
| 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 | 80 |
| | spit in his face, so she defied him. | |
| POMPEY | Sir, if it please your honour, this is not so. | |
| ELBOW | Prove it before these varlets here, thou honourable | |
| | man; prove it. | |
| ESCALUS | Do you hear how he misplaces? | 85 |
| 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 three-pence; your honours have seen | 90 |
| | 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 | 95 |
| | 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 | 100 |
| | honestly; for, as you know, Master Froth, I could | |
| | not give you three-pence again. | |
| FROTH | No, indeed. | |
| POMPEY | Very well: you being then, if you be remembered, | |
| | cracking the stones of the foresaid prunes,-- | 105 |
| 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,-- | 110 |
| FROTH | All this is true. | |
| 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. | 115 |
| 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 four-score pound a year; whose | 120 |
| | father died at Hallowmas: was't not at Hallowmas, | |
| | Master Froth? | |
| FROTH | All-hallond eve. | |
| POMPEY | Why, very well; I hope here be truths. He, sir, | |
| | sitting, as I say, in a lower chair, sir; 'twas in | 125 |
| | 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, | 130 |
| | When nights are longest there: 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. | |
| | Exit ANGELO | |
| | Now, sir, come on: what was done to Elbow's wife, once more? | 135 |
| 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. | 140 |
| | 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. | 145 |
| 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 | 150 |
| | 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 | 155 |
| | mistress is a respected woman. | |
| POMPEY | 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 has yet to come that she was ever respected | 160 |
| | 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? Is | |
| | this true? | |
| ELBOW | O thou caitiff! O thou varlet! O thou wicked | 165 |
| | Hannibal! I respected with her before I was married | |
| | to her! If ever I was respected with her, or she | |
| | with me, let not your worship think me the poor | |
| | duke's officer. Prove this, thou wicked Hannibal, or | |
| | I'll have mine action of battery on thee. | 170 |
| ESCALUS | If he took you a box o' the 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 | 175 |
| | 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 | 180 |
| | to continue now, thou varlet; thou art to continue. | |
| ESCALUS | 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. | 185 |
| ESCALUS | So. What trade are you of, sir? | |
| POMPHEY | Tapster; a poor widow's tapster. | |
| ESCALUS | Your mistress' name? | |
| POMPHEY | Mistress Overdone. | |
| ESCALUS | Hath she had any more than one husband? | 190 |
| 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 | 195 |
| | 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. | 200 |
| | Exit FROTH | |
| | Come you hither to me, Master tapster. What's your | |
| | name, Master tapster? | |
| POMPEY | Pompey. | |
| ESCALUS | What else? | |
| POMPEY | Bum, sir. | 205 |
| 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. | 210 |
| 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 | 215 |
| | not be allowed in Vienna. | |
| POMPEY | Does your worship mean to geld and splay all the | |
| | youth of the city? | |
| ESCALUS | No, Pompey. | |
| POMPEY | Truly, sir, in my poor opinion, they will to't then. | 220 |
| | If your worship will take order for the drabs and | |
| | the knaves, you need not to fear the bawds. | |
| ESCALUS | There are 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 | 225 |
| | 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 three-pence a bay: if you live to see this | |
| | come to pass, say Pompey told you so. | 230 |
| 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 | 235 |
| | Caesar to you; in plain dealing, Pompey, I shall | |
| | have you whipt: so, for this time, Pompey, fare you well. | |
| POMPEY | I thank your worship for your good counsel: | |
| | Aside | |
| | but I shall follow it as the flesh and fortune shall | |
| | better determine. | 240 |
| | Whip me? No, no; let carman whip his jade: | |
| | The valiant heart is not whipt 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. | 245 |
| ESCALUS | I thought, by your 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 | 250 |
| | 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. | 255 |
| 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. | |
| | Exit ELBOW | |
| | What's o'clock, think you? | 260 |
| 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. | 265 |
| 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. | 270 |
| | Come, sir. | |
| | Exeunt | |