The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  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

  1.1 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.

  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.

  ⌈Angelo takes his commission⌉

  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.

  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.

  Exeunt

  1.2 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 ha
ve done myself wrong, have I not? 40

  SECOND GENTLEMAN Yes, that thou hast, whether thou art tainted or free.

  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.

  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.

  Enter Pompey

  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.

  ⌈A noise within⌉

  MISTRESS OVERDONE What’s to do here, Thomas Tapster?

  Let’s withdraw!

  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.

  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.

  ⌈The Provost shows assent⌉

  Lucio, a word with you.

  LUCIO A hundred, if they’ll do you any good.

  ⌈Claudio and Lucio speak apart⌉

  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.

  Exeunt ⌈Lucio and gentlemen at one door;

  Claudio, Juliet, Provost, and officers at another⌉r />
  1.3 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