This page is referenced by:

• 1 2016-11-13T12:31:38-08:00 Act V 12 Measure for Measure Act V plain 2016-12-15T02:33:08-08:00 Scene 1
  Enter Duke, Varrius, Lords, Angelo, Escalus, Lucio,
  Provost, Officers, and Citizens at several doors.
   
  DUKE, to Angelo
  My very worthy cousin, fairly met.
  To Escalus. Our old and faithful friend, we are
  glad to see you.
  ANGELO, ESCALUS
  Happy return be to your royal Grace.
  DUKE
  Many and hearty thankings to you both.                                                 5
  We have made inquiry of you, and we hear
  Such goodness of your justice that our soul
  Cannot but yield you forth to public thanks,
  Forerunning more requital.
  ANGELO  You make my bonds still greater.                                          10
  DUKE
  O, your desert speaks loud, and I should wrong it
  To lock it in the wards of covert bosom
  When it deserves with characters of brass
  A forted residence ’gainst the tooth of time
  And razure of oblivion. Give me your hand                                         15
  And let the subject see, to make them know
  That outward courtesies would fain proclaim
  Favors that keep within.—Come, Escalus,
  You must walk by us on our other hand.
  And good supporters are you.                                                                 20
   
  Enter Friar Peter and Isabella.
   
  FRIAR PETER, to Isabella
  Now is your time. Speak loud, and kneel before him.
  ISABELLA, kneeling
  Justice, O royal duke. Vail your regard
  Upon a wronged—I would fain have said, a maid.
  O worthy prince, dishonor not your eye
  By throwing it on any other object                                                        25
  Till you have heard me in my true complaint
  And given me justice, justice, justice, justice.
  DUKE
  Relate your wrongs. In what, by whom? Be brief.
  Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice.
  Reveal yourself to him.                                                                            30
  ISABELLA  O worthy duke,
  You bid me seek redemption of the devil.
  Hear me yourself, for that which I must speak
  Must either punish me, not being believed,
  Or wring redress from you. Hear me, O hear me,                               35
  here.
   
  ANGELO
  My lord, her wits, I fear me, are not firm.
  She hath been a suitor to me for her brother
  Cut off by course of justice.
  ISABELLA, standing  By course of justice!                                            40
  ANGELO
  And she will speak most bitterly and strange.
  ISABELLA
  Most strange, but yet most truly will I speak.
  That Angelo’s forsworn, is it not strange?
  That Angelo’s a murderer, is ’t not strange?
  That Angelo is an adulterous thief,                                                        45
  An hypocrite, a virgin-violator,
  Is it not strange, and strange?
  DUKE  Nay, it is ten times strange.
  ISABELLA
  It is not truer he is Angelo
  Than this is all as true as it is strange.                                                   50
  Nay, it is ten times true, for truth is truth
  To th’ end of reck’ning.
  DUKE  Away with her. Poor soul,
  She speaks this in th’ infirmity of sense.
  ISABELLA
  O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believest                                            55
  There is another comfort than this world,
  That thou neglect me not with that opinion
  That I am touched with madness. Make not
  impossible
  That which but seems unlike. ’Tis not impossible                              60
  But one, the wicked’st caitiff on the ground,
  May seem as shy, as grave, as just, as absolute
  As Angelo. Even so may Angelo,
  In all his dressings, caracts, titles, forms,
  Be an archvillain. Believe it, royal prince,                                           65
  If he be less, he’s nothing, but he’s more,
  Had I more name for badness.
  DUKE  By mine honesty,
  If she be mad—as I believe no other—
  Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense,                                      70
  Such a dependency of thing on thing,
  As e’er I heard in madness.
  ISABELLA  O gracious duke,
  Harp not on that; nor do not banish reason
  For inequality, but let your reason serve                                               75
  To make the truth appear where it seems hid,
  And hide the false seems true.
  DUKE  Many that are not mad
  Have, sure, more lack of reason. What would you
  say?                                                                                                           80
  ISABELLA
  I am the sister of one Claudio,
  Condemned upon the act of fornication
  To lose his head, condemned by Angelo.
  I, in probation of a sisterhood,
  Was sent to by my brother; one Lucio                                                  85
  As then the messenger—
  LUCIO, to Duke  That’s I, an ’t like your Grace.
  I came to her from Claudio and desired her
  To try her gracious fortune with Lord Angelo
  For her poor brother’s pardon.                                                                90
  ISABELLA, to Duke  That’s he indeed.
  DUKE, to Lucio
  You were not bid to speak.
  LUCIO  No, my good lord,
  Nor wished to hold my peace.
  DUKE  I wish you now, then.                                                                     95
  Pray you take note of it, and when you have
  A business for yourself, pray heaven you then
  Be perfect.
  LUCIO  I warrant your Honor.
  DUKE
  The warrant’s for yourself. Take heed to ’t.                                      100
  ISABELLA
  This gentleman told somewhat of my tale.
  LUCIO  Right.
  DUKE
  It may be right, but you are i’ the wrong
  To speak before your time.—Proceed.
  ISABELLA  I went                                                                                     105
  To this pernicious caitiff deputy—
  DUKE
  That’s somewhat madly spoken.
  ISABELLA  Pardon it;
  The phrase is to the matter.
  DUKE
  Mended again. The matter; proceed.                                                   110
  ISABELLA In brief, to set the needless process by: How I persuaded, how I prayed and kneeled, How he refelled me, and how I replied— For this was of much length—the vile conclusion I now begin with grief and shame to utter. 115 He would not, but by gift of my chaste body To his concupiscible intemperate lust, Release my brother; and after much debatement, My sisterly remorse confutes mine honor, And I did yield to him. But the next morn betimes, 120 His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant For my poor brother’s head.
  DUKE  This is most likely!
  ISABELLA
  O, that it were as like as it is true!
  DUKE
  By heaven, fond wretch, thou know’st not what                               125
  thou speak’st,
  Or else thou art suborned against his honor
  In hateful practice. First, his integrity
  Stands without blemish; next, it imports no reason
  That with such vehemency he should pursue                                    130
  Faults proper to himself. If he had so offended,
  He would have weighed thy brother by himself
  And not have cut him off. Someone hath set you on.
  Confess the truth, and say by whose advice
  Thou cam’st here to complain.                                                             135
  ISABELLA  And is this all?
  Then, O you blessèd ministers above,
  Keep me in patience, and with ripened time
  Unfold the evil which is here wrapped up
  In countenance. Heaven shield your Grace from                              140
  woe,
  As I, thus wronged, hence unbelievèd go.
  DUKE
  I know you’d fain be gone.—An officer!
  An Officer comes forward.
  To prison with her. Shall we thus permit
  A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall                                          145
  On him so near us? This needs must be a practice.—
  Who knew of your intent and coming hither?
  ISABELLA
  One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick.
  Officer exits with Isabella.
  DUKE
  A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick?
  LUCIO
  My lord, I know him. ’Tis a meddling friar.                                      150
  I do not like the man. Had he been lay, my lord,
  For certain words he spake against your Grace
  In your retirement, I had swinged him soundly.
  DUKE
  Words against me? This’ a good friar, belike.
  And to set on this wretched woman here                                            155
  Against our substitute! Let this friar be found.
  LUCIO
  But yesternight, my lord, she and that friar,
  I saw them at the prison. A saucy friar,
  A very scurvy fellow.
  FRIAR PETER, to Duke  Blessed be your royal Grace.                      160
  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.                                                                          165
  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;                                                    170
  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,                                                 175
  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                                       180
  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 disprovèd to her eyes                                            185
  Till she herself confess it.
  DUKE  Good friar, let’s hear it.—
  Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo?
  O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools!—
  Give us some seats.—Come, cousin Angelo,                                    190
  In this I’ll be impartial. Be you judge
  Of your own cause.                                    Duke and Angelo are seated.
   
  Enter 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                                          195
  Until my husband bid me.
  DUKE  What, are you married?
  MARIANA  No, my lord.
  DUKE  Are you a maid?
  MARIANA  No, my lord.                                                                          200
  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                     205
  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,                                        210
  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                        215
  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                                                     220
  In selfsame 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?                                                  225
  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.                                   230
  ANGELO
  This is a strange abuse. Let’s see thy face.
  MARIANA
  My husband bids me. Now I will unmask.
  She removes her veil.
  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,                                235
  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?                                           240
  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 245 marriage Betwixt myself and her, which was broke off, Partly for that her promisèd proportions Came short of composition, but in chief For that her reputation was disvalued 250 In levity. Since which time of five years I never spake with her, saw her, nor heard from her, Upon my faith and honor.
  MARIANA, kneeling, to Duke  Noble prince,
  As there comes light from heaven and words from                          255
  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                                260
  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.                                                         265
  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,                                  270
  To find this practice out.
  DUKE  Ay, with my heart,
  And punish them to your height of pleasure.—
  Thou foolish friar, and thou pernicious woman,
  Compact with her that’s gone, think’st thou thy                               275
  oaths,
  Though they would swear down each particular
  saint,
  Were testimonies against his worth and credit
  That’s sealed in approbation?—You, Lord Escalus,                        280
  Sit with my cousin; lend him your kind pains
  To find out this abuse, whence ’tis derived.
  The Duke rises. Escalus is seated.
  There is another friar that set them on.
  Let him be sent for.
  FRIAR PETER
  Would he were here, my lord, for he indeed                                     285
  Hath set the women on to this complaint;
  Your provost knows the place where he abides,
  And he may fetch him.
  DUKE, to Provost  Go, do it instantly.
  Provost exits.
  To Angelo. And you, my noble and well-warranted                         290
  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                                    295
  Well determined upon these slanderers.
  ESCALUS  My lord, we’ll do it throughly.                               Duke exits.
  Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew that Friar
  Lodowick to be a dishonest person?
  LUCIO  Cucullus non facit monachum, honest in nothing                  300
  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.                                                                  305
  LUCIO  As any in Vienna, on my word.
  ESCALUS  Call that same Isabel here once again. I would
  speak with her.                                                          An Attendant exits.
  To Angelo. Pray you, my lord, give me leave to
  question. You shall see how I’ll handle her.                                  310
  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.                                                                                          315
  ESCALUS  I will go darkly to work with her.
  LUCIO  That’s the way, for women are light at midnight.
   
  Enter Duke as a Friar, Provost, and Isabella,
  with Officers.
   
  ESCALUS, to Isabella  Come on, mistress. Here’s a gentlewoman
  denies all that you have said.
  LUCIO  My lord, here comes the rascal I spoke of, here                    320
  with the Provost.
  ESCALUS  In very good time. Speak not you to him till
  we call upon you.
  LUCIO  Mum.
  ESCALUS, to disguised Duke  Come, sir, did you set                         325
  these women on to slander Lord Angelo? They have
  confessed you did.
  DUKE, as Friar
  ’Tis false.
  ESCALUS  How? Know you where you are?
  DUKE, as Friar
  Respect to your great place, and let the devil                                    330
  Be sometime honored for 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.
  DUKE, as Friar
  Boldly, at least.—But, O, poor souls,                                                 335
  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                                            340
  Which here you come to accuse.
  LUCIO
  This is the rascal; this is he I spoke of.
  ESCALUS, to disguised Duke
  Why, thou unreverend and unhallowed friar,
  Is ’t not enough thou hast suborned these women
  To accuse this worthy man, but, in foul mouth                                 345
  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
  him 350
  Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose.
  What? “Unjust”?
  DUKE, as Friar  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,                                            355
  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                          360
  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, to Lucio
  What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio?                            365
  Is this the man that you did tell us of?
  LUCIO  ’Tis he, my lord.—Come hither, Goodman Baldpate.
  Do you know me?
  DUKE, as Friar  I remember you, sir, by the sound of
  your voice. I met you at the prison in the absence of                    370
  the Duke.
  LUCIO  O, did you so? And do you remember what you
  said of the Duke?
  DUKE, as Friar  Most notedly, sir.
  LUCIO  Do you so, sir? And was the Duke a fleshmonger,               375
  a fool, and a coward, as you then reported him to
  be?
  DUKE, as Friar  You must, sir, change persons with me
  ere you make that my report. You indeed spoke so
  of him, and much more, much worse.                                             380
  LUCIO  O, thou damnable fellow! Did not I pluck thee by
  the nose for thy speeches?
  DUKE, as Friar  I protest I love the Duke as I love
  myself.
  ANGELO  Hark how the villain would close now, after                     385
  his treasonable abuses!
  ESCALUS  Such a fellow is not to be talked withal. Away
  with him to prison. Where is the Provost? Provost
  comes forward. Away with him to prison. Lay bolts
  enough upon him. Let him speak no more. Away                         390
  with those giglets too, and with the other confederate
  companion.
  Provost seizes the disguised Duke.
  DUKE, as Friar  Stay, sir, stay awhile.
  ANGELO  What, resists he?—Help him, Lucio.
  LUCIO, to the disguised Duke  Come, sir, come, sir,                          395
  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 reveals the Duke.
  Angelo and Escalus stand.
  DUKE
  Thou art the first knave that e’er mad’st a duke.—                          400
  First, provost, let me bail these gentle three.
  To Lucio. Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and
  you
  Must have a word anon.—Lay hold on him.
  LUCIO  This may prove worse than hanging.                                       405
  DUKE, to Escalus
  What you have spoke I pardon. Sit you down.
  We’ll borrow place of him. To Angelo. Sir, by your
  leave.
  Hast thou or word, or wit, or impudence
  That yet can do thee office? If thou hast,                                           410
  Rely upon it till my tale be heard,
  And hold no longer out.
  ANGELO  O my dread lord, I should be guiltier than my guiltiness To think I can be undiscernible,                                                           415 When I perceive your Grace, like power divine, Hath looked upon my passes. Then, good prince, No longer session hold upon my shame, But let my trial be mine own confession. Immediate sentence then and sequent death                                      420 Is all the grace I beg.
  DUKE  Come hither, Mariana.
  Mariana stands and comes forward.
  To Angelo. Say, wast thou e’er contracted to this
  woman?
  ANGELO  I was, my lord.                                                                        425
   
  DUKE
  Go take her hence and marry her instantly.
  To Friar Peter. Do you the office, friar, which
  consummate,
  Return him here again.—Go with him, provost.
  Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and Provost exit.
  ESCALUS
  My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonor                                      430
  Than at the strangeness of it.
  DUKE  Come hither, Isabel.
  Your friar is now your prince. As I was then
  Advertising and holy to your business,
  Not changing heart with habit, I am still                                            435
  Attorneyed at your service.
  ISABELLA  O, give me pardon
  That I, your vassal, have employed and pained
  Your unknown sovereignty.
  DUKE  You are pardoned,                                                                        440
  Isabel.
  And now, dear maid, be you as free to us.
  Your brother’s death, I know, sits at your heart,
  And you may marvel why I obscured myself,
  Laboring to save his life, and would not rather                                 445
  Make rash remonstrance of my hidden power
  Than let him so be lost. O most kind maid,
  It was the swift celerity of his death,
  Which I did think with slower foot came on,
  That brained my purpose. But peace be with him.                           450
  That life is better life past fearing death
  Than that which lives to fear. Make it your comfort,
  So happy is your brother.
  ISABELLA  I do, my lord.
   
  Enter Angelo, Mariana, Friar Peter, and Provost.
   
  DUKE
  For this new-married man approaching here,                                    455
  Whose salt imagination yet hath wronged
  Your well-defended honor, you must pardon
  For Mariana’s sake. But as he adjudged your
  brother—
  Being criminal in double violation                                                      460
  Of sacred chastity and of promise-breach
  Thereon dependent for your brother’s life—
  The very mercy of the law cries out
  Most audible, even from his proper tongue,
  “An Angelo for Claudio, death for death.”                                        465
  Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure;
  Like doth quit like, and measure still for
  measure.—
  Then, Angelo, thy fault’s thus manifested,
  Which, though thou wouldst deny, denies thee                                 470
  vantage.
  We do condemn thee to the very block
  Where Claudio stooped to death, and with like
  haste.—
  Away with him.                                                                                       475
  MARIANA  O my most gracious lord,
  I hope you will not mock me with a husband.
  DUKE
  It is your husband mocked you with a husband.
  Consenting to the safeguard of your honor,
  I thought your marriage fit. Else imputation,                                    480
  For that he knew you, might reproach your life
  And choke your good to come. For his possessions,
  Although by confiscation they are ours,
  We do instate and widow you with all
  To buy you a better husband.                                                               485
  MARIANA  O my dear lord,
  I crave no other nor no better man.
  DUKE
  Never crave him. We are definitive.
  MARIANA, kneeling
  Gentle my liege—
  DUKE  You do but lose your labor.—                                                    490
  Away with him to death. To Lucio. Now, sir, to
  you.
  MARIANA
  O, my good lord.—Sweet Isabel, take my part.
  Lend me your knees, and all my life to come
  I’ll lend you all my life to do you service.                                         495
  DUKE
  Against all sense you do importune her.
  Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact,
  Her brother’s ghost his pavèd bed would break
  And take her hence in horror.
  MARIANA Isabel, 500 Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me, Hold up your hands, say nothing. I’ll speak all. They say best men are molded out of faults, And, for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad. So may my husband. 505 O Isabel, will you not lend a knee?
  DUKE
  He dies for Claudio’s death.
  ISABELLA  [kneeling]  Most bountious sir,
  Look, if it please you, on this man condemned
  As if my brother lived.  I partly think                                                510
  A due sincerity governed his deeds,
  Till he look on me.  Since it is so,
  Let him not die.  My brother had but justice,
  In that he did nothing the thing for which he died.
  For Angelo,
  His act did not o'ertake his bad intent,
  And must be burned but as an intent
  That perished by the way.  Thoughts are no subjects,
  Intents but merely thoughts.
  
  MARIANA  Merely, my lord.                                                                  520
  DUKE
  Your suit’s unprofitable. Stand up, I say.
  They stand.
  I have bethought me of another fault.—
  Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded
  At an unusual hour?
  PROVOST  It was commanded so.                                                         525
  DUKE
  Had you a special warrant for the deed?
  PROVOST
  No, my good lord, it was by private message.
  DUKE
  For which I do discharge you of your office.
  Give up your keys.
  PROVOST  Pardon me, noble lord.                                                         530
  I thought it was a fault, but knew it not,
  Yet did repent me after more advice,
  For testimony whereof, one in the prison
  That should by private order else have died,
  I have reserved alive.                                                                             535
  DUKE  What’s he?
  PROVOST  His name is Barnardine.
  DUKE
  I would thou hadst done so by Claudio.
  Go fetch him hither. Let me look upon him.
  Provost exits.
  ESCALUS, to Angelo
  I am sorry one so learnèd and so wise                                                540
  As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared,
  Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood
  And lack of tempered judgment afterward.
  ANGELO
  I am sorry that such sorrow I procure;
  And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart                                         545
  That I crave death more willingly than mercy.
  ’Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it.
   
  Enter Barnardine and Provost, Claudio, muffled,
  and Juliet.
   
  DUKE, to Provost
  Which is that Barnardine?
  PROVOST  This, my lord.
  DUKE
  There was a friar told me of this man.—                                            550
  Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul
  That apprehends no further than this world,
  And squar’st thy life according. Thou ’rt condemned.
  But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all,
  And pray thee take this mercy to provide                                           555
  For better times to come.—Friar, advise him.
  I leave him to your hand.—What muffled fellow’s
  that?
  PROVOST
  This is another prisoner that I saved
  Who should have died when Claudio lost his head,                         560
  As like almost to Claudio as himself.
  He unmuffles Claudio.
  DUKE, to Isabella
  If he be like your brother, for his sake
  Is he pardoned; and for your lovely sake,
  Give me your hand and say you will be mine, He is my brother too. But fitter time for that.                                    565
  By this Lord Angelo perceives he’s safe;
  Methinks I see a quick’ning in his eye.—
  Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well.
  Look that you love your wife, her worth worth
  yours.                                                                                                     570
  I find an apt remission in myself.
  And yet here’s one in place I cannot pardon.
  To Lucio. You, sirrah, that knew me for a fool, a
  coward,
  One all of luxury, an ass, a madman.                                                  575
  Wherein have I so deserved of you
  That you extol me thus?
  LUCIO  Faith, my lord, I spoke it but according to the
  trick. If you will hang me for it, you may, but I had
  rather it would please you I might be whipped.                             580
  DUKE  Whipped first, sir, and hanged after.—
  Proclaim it, provost, round about the city,
  If any woman wronged by this lewd fellow—
  As I have heard him swear himself there’s one
  Whom he begot with child—let her appear,                                      585
  And he shall marry her. The nuptial finished,
  Let him be whipped and hanged.
  LUCIO  I beseech your Highness do not marry me to a
  whore. Your Highness said even now I made you a
  duke. Good my lord, do not recompense me in                             590
  making me a cuckold.
  DUKE
  Upon mine honor, thou shalt marry her.
  Thy slanders I forgive and therewithal
  Remit thy other forfeits.—Take him to prison,
  And see our pleasure herein executed.                                                595
  LUCIO  Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death,
  whipping, and hanging.
  DUKE  Slandering a prince deserves it.
  Officers take Lucio away.
  She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore.—
  Joy to you, Mariana.—Love her, Angelo.                                          600
  I have confessed her, and I know her virtue.—
  Thanks, good friend Escalus, for thy much goodness.
  There’s more behind that is more gratulate.—
  Thanks, provost, for thy care and secrecy.
  We shall employ thee in a worthier place.—                                     605
  Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
  The head of Ragozine for Claudio’s.
  Th’ offense pardons itself.—Dear Isabel,
  I have a motion much imports your good,
  Whereto if you’ll a willing ear incline,                                               610
  What’s mine is yours, and what is yours is mine.—
  So, bring us to our palace, where we’ll show
  What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
  They exit.