SCENE I. The city gate. Measure for Measure  Shakespeare homepage  |  Measure for Measure  | Act 5, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  SCENE I. The city gate. 

 MARIANA veiled, ISABELLA, and FRIAR PETER, at their  stand. Enter DUKE VINCENTIO, VARRIUS, Lords,  ANGELO, ESCALUS, LUCIO, Provost, Officers, and Citizens, at several doors  DUKE VINCENTIO  My very worthy cousin, fairly met! 

 Our old and faithful friend, we are glad to see you. 

 ANGELO  ESCALUS  Happy return be to your royal grace! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Many and hearty thankings to you both. 

 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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, 

 And let the subject see, to make them know 

 That outward courtesies would fain proclaim 

 Favours that keep within. Come, Escalus, 

 You must walk by us on our other hand; 

 And good supporters are you. 



 FRIAR PETER and ISABELLA come forward  FRIAR PETER  Now is your time: speak loud and kneel before him. 

 ISABELLA  Justice, O royal duke! Vail your regard 

 Upon a wrong'd, I would fain have said, a maid! 

 O worthy prince, dishonour not your eye 

 By throwing it on any other object 

 Till you have heard me in my true complaint 

 And given me justice, justice, justice, justice! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Relate your wrongs; in what? by whom? be brief. 

 Here is Lord Angelo shall give you justice: 

 Reveal yourself to him. 

 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, 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  By course of justice! 

 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, 

 An hypocrite, a virgin-violator; 

 Is it not strange and strange? 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Nay, it is ten times strange. 

 ISABELLA  It is not truer he is Angelo 

 Than this is all as true as it is strange: 

 Nay, it is ten times true; for truth is truth 

 To the end of reckoning. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Away with her! Poor soul, 

 She speaks this in the infirmity of sense. 

 ISABELLA  O prince, I conjure thee, as thou believest 

 There is another comfort than this world, 

 That thou neglect me not, with that opinion 

 That I am touch'd with madness! Make not impossible 

 That which but seems unlike: 'tis not impossible 

 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, characts, titles, forms, 

 Be an arch-villain; believe it, royal prince: 

 If he be less, he's nothing; but he's more, 

 Had I more name for badness. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  By mine honesty, 

 If she be mad,--as I believe no other,-- 

 Her madness hath the oddest frame of sense, 

 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 

 To make the truth appear where it seems hid, 

 And hide the false seems true. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Many that are not mad 

 Have, sure, more lack of reason. What would you say? 

 ISABELLA  I am the sister of one Claudio, 

 Condemn'd upon the act of fornication 

 To lose his head; condemn'd by Angelo: 

 I, in probation of a sisterhood, 

 Was sent to by my brother; one Lucio 

 As then the messenger,-- 

 LUCIO  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. 

 ISABELLA  That's he indeed. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  You were not bid to speak. 

 LUCIO  No, my good lord; 

 Nor wish'd to hold my peace. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  I wish you now, then; 

 Pray you, take note of it: and when you have 

 A business for yourself, pray heaven you then 

 Be perfect. 

 LUCIO  I warrant your honour. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  The warrants for yourself; take heed to't. 

 ISABELLA  This gentleman told somewhat of my tale,-- 

 LUCIO  Right. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  It may be right; but you are i' the wrong 

 To speak before your time. Proceed. 

 ISABELLA  I went 

 To this pernicious caitiff deputy,-- 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  That's somewhat madly spoken. 

 ISABELLA  Pardon it; 

 The phrase is to the matter. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Mended again. The matter; proceed. 

 ISABELLA  In brief, to set the needless process by, 

 How I persuaded, how I pray'd, and kneel'd, 

 How he refell'd me, and how I replied,-- 

 For this was of much length,--the vile conclusion 

 I now begin with grief and shame to utter: 

 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 honour, 

 And I did yield to him: but the next morn betimes, 

 His purpose surfeiting, he sends a warrant 

 For my poor brother's head. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  This is most likely! 

 ISABELLA  O, that it were as like as it is true! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  By heaven, fond wretch, thou knowist not what thou speak'st, 

 Or else thou art suborn'd against his honour 

 In hateful practise. First, his integrity 

 Stands without blemish. Next, it imports no reason 

 That with such vehemency he should pursue 

 Faults proper to himself: if he had so offended, 

 He would have weigh'd thy brother by himself 

 And not have cut him off. Some one hath set you on: 

 Confess the truth, and say by whose advice 

 Thou camest here to complain. 

 ISABELLA  And is this all? 

 Then, O you blessed ministers above, 

 Keep me in patience, and with ripen'd time 

 Unfold the evil which is here wrapt up 

 In countenance! Heaven shield your grace from woe, 

 As I, thus wrong'd, hence unbelieved go! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  I know you'ld fain be gone. An officer! 

 To prison with her! Shall we thus permit 

 A blasting and a scandalous breath to fall 

 On him so near us? This needs must be a practise. 

 Who knew of Your intent and coming hither? 

 ISABELLA  One that I would were here, Friar Lodowick. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  A ghostly father, belike. Who knows that Lodowick? 

 LUCIO  My lord, I know him; 'tis a meddling friar; 

 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 VINCENTIO  Words against me? this is a good friar, belike! 

 And to set on this wretched woman here 

 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  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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 villanously; 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Good friar, let's hear it. 



 ISABELLA is carried off guarded; and MARIANA comes forward  Do you not smile at this, Lord Angelo? 

 O heaven, the vanity of wretched fools! 

 Give us some seats. Come, cousin Angelo; 

 In this I'll be impartial; be you judge 

 Of your own cause. 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  What, are you married? 

 MARIANA  No, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Are you a maid? 

 MARIANA  No, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  A widow, then? 

 MARIANA  Neither, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 VINCENTIO  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. 

 LUCIO  He was drunk then, my lord: it can be no better. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  For the benefit of silence, would thou wert so too! 

 LUCIO  Well, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 the effect of love. 

 ANGELO  Charges she more than me? 

 MARIANA  Not that I know. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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. 

 ANGELO  This is a strange abuse. Let's see thy face. 

 MARIANA  My husband bids me; now I will unmask. 



 Unveiling  This is that face, thou cruel Angelo, 

 Which once thou sworest was worth the looking on; 

 This is the hand which, with a vow'd contract, 

 Was fast belock'd 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 VINCENTIO  Know you this woman? 

 LUCIO  Carnally, she says. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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. 

 MARIANA  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 for ever be confixed 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 touch'd. 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 practise out. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 oaths, 

 Though they would swear down each particular saint, 

 Were testimonies against his worth and credit 

 That's seal'd 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. 

 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Go do it instantly. 



 Exit Provost  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  Signior Lucio, did not you say you knew that 

 Friar Lodowick to be a dishonest person? 

 LUCIO  'Cucullus non facit monachum:' honest in nothing 

 but in his clothes; and one that hath spoke most 

 villanous 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 an Attendant  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. 



 Re-enter Officers with ISABELLA; and Provost with the DUKE VINCENTIO in his friar's habit  ESCALUS  Come on, mistress: here's a gentlewoman denies all 

 that you have said. 

 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  Come, sir: did you set these women on to slander 

 Lord Angelo? they have confessed you did. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  'Tis false. 

 ESCALUS  How! know you where you are? 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Respect to your great place! and let the devil 

 Be sometime honour'd 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 VINCENTIO  Boldly, at least. 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 unhallow'd friar, 

 Is't not enough thou hast suborn'd 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 the duke himself, to tax him with injustice? 

 Take him hence; to the rack with him! We'll touse you 

 Joint by joint, but we will know his purpose. 

 What 'unjust'! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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'er-run 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 the state! Away with him to prison! 

 ANGELO  What can you vouch against him, Signior Lucio? 

 Is this the man that you did tell us of? 

 LUCIO  'Tis he, my lord. Come hither, goodman baldpate: 

 do you know me? 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 VINCENTIO  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 VINCENTIO  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 VINCENTIO  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 giglots too, and 

 with the other confederate companion! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  [To Provost]  Stay, sir; stay awhile. 

 ANGELO  What, resists he? Help him, Lucio. 

 LUCIO  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? 



 Pulls off the friar's hood, and discovers DUKE VINCENTIO  DUKE VINCENTIO  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. Lay hold on him. 

 LUCIO  This may prove worse than hanging. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  [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, 

 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, 

 When I perceive your grace, like power divine, 

 Hath look'd 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 

 Is all the grace I beg. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Come hither, Mariana. 

 Say, wast thou e'er contracted to this woman? 

 ANGELO  I was, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Go take her hence, and marry her instantly. 

 Do you the office, friar; which consummate, 

 Return him here again. Go with him, provost. 



 Exeunt ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER and Provost  ESCALUS  My lord, I am more amazed at his dishonour 

 Than at the strangeness of it. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  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 

 Attorney'd at your service. 

 ISABELLA  O, give me pardon, 

 That I, your vassal, have employ'd and pain'd 

 Your unknown sovereignty! 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  You are pardon'd, 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, 

 Labouring to save his life, and would not rather 

 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 brain'd my purpose. But, peace be with him! 

 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. 



 Re-enter ANGELO, MARIANA, FRIAR PETER, and Provost  DUKE VINCENTIO  For this new-married man approaching here, 

 Whose salt imagination yet hath wrong'd 

 Your well defended honour, you must pardon 

 For Mariana's sake: but as he adjudged your brother,-- 

 Being criminal, in double violation 

 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!' 

 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 vantage. 

 We do condemn thee to the very block 

 Where Claudio stoop'd to death, and with like haste. 

 Away with him! 

 MARIANA  O my most gracious lord, 

 I hope you will not mock me with a husband. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  It is your husband mock'd you with a husband. 

 Consenting to the safeguard of your honour, 

 I thought your marriage fit; else imputation, 

 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 withal, 

 To buy you a better husband. 

 MARIANA  O my dear lord, 

 I crave no other, nor no better man. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Never crave him; we are definitive. 

 MARIANA  Gentle my liege,-- 



 Kneeling  DUKE VINCENTIO  You do but lose your labour. 

 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Against all sense you do importune her: 

 Should she kneel down in mercy of this fact, 

 Her brother's ghost his paved bed would break, 

 And take her hence in horror. 

 MARIANA  Isabel, 

 Sweet Isabel, do yet but kneel by me; 

 Hold up your hands, say nothing; I'll speak all. 

 They say, best men are moulded out of faults; 

 And, for the most, become much more the better 

 For being a little bad: so may my husband. 

 O Isabel, will you not lend a knee? 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  He dies for Claudio's death. 

 ISABELLA  Most bounteous sir, 



 Kneeling  Look, if it please you, on this man condemn'd, 

 As if my brother lived: I partly think 

 A due sincerity govern'd his deeds, 

 Till he did look on me: since it is so, 

 Let him not die. My brother had but justice, 

 In that he did the thing for which he died: 

 For Angelo, 

 His act did not o'ertake his bad intent, 

 And must be buried but as an intent 

 That perish'd by the way: thoughts are no subjects; 

 Intents but merely thoughts. 

 MARIANA  Merely, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Your suit's unprofitable; stand up, I say. 

 I have bethought me of another fault. 

 Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded 

 At an unusual hour? 

 Provost  It was commanded so. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Had you a special warrant for the deed? 

 Provost  No, my good lord; it was by private message. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  For which I do discharge you of your office: 

 Give up your keys. 

 Provost  Pardon me, noble lord: 

 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. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  What's he? 

 Provost  His name is Barnardine. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  I would thou hadst done so by Claudio. 

 Go fetch him hither; let me look upon him. 



 Exit Provost  ESCALUS  I am sorry, one so learned and so wise 

 As you, Lord Angelo, have still appear'd, 

 Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood. 

 And lack of temper'd judgment afterward. 

 ANGELO  I am sorry that such sorrow I procure: 

 And so deep sticks it in my penitent heart 

 That I crave death more willingly than mercy; 

 'Tis my deserving, and I do entreat it. 



 Re-enter Provost, with BARNARDINE, CLAUDIO muffled, and JULIET  DUKE VINCENTIO  Which is that Barnardine? 

 Provost  This, my lord. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  There was a friar told me of this man. 

 Sirrah, thou art said to have a stubborn soul. 

 That apprehends no further than this world, 

 And squarest thy life according. Thou'rt condemn'd: 

 But, for those earthly faults, I quit them all; 

 And pray thee take this mercy to provide 

 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; 

 As like almost to Claudio as himself. 



 Unmuffles CLAUDIO  DUKE VINCENTIO  [To ISABELLA]  If he be like your brother, for his sake 

 Is he pardon'd; 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. 

 By this Lord Angelo perceives he's safe; 

 Methinks I see a quickening in his eye. 

 Well, Angelo, your evil quits you well: 

 Look that you love your wife; her worth worth yours. 

 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; 

 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 whipt. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Whipt first, sir, and hanged after. 

 Proclaim it, provost, round about the city. 

 Is any woman wrong'd by this lewd fellow, 

 As I have heard him swear himself there's one 

 Whom he begot with child, let her appear, 

 And he shall marry her: the nuptial finish'd, 

 Let him be whipt and hang'd. 

 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 making me a cuckold. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Upon mine honour, thou shalt marry her. 

 Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal 

 Remit thy other forfeits. Take him to prison; 

 And see our pleasure herein executed. 

 LUCIO  Marrying a punk, my lord, is pressing to death, 

 whipping, and hanging. 

 DUKE VINCENTIO  Slandering a prince deserves it. 



 Exit Officers with LUCIO  She, Claudio, that you wrong'd, look you restore. 

 Joy to you, Mariana! Love her, Angelo: 

 I have confess'd 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 shill employ thee in a worthier place. 

 Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home 

 The head of Ragozine for Claudio's: 

 The offence pardons itself. Dear Isabel, 

 I have a motion much imports your good; 

 Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline, 

 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. 



 Exeunt 