ACT III.

       Table of Contents

      SCENE I. A Room in the prison.

       [Enter DUKE, CLAUDIO, and PROVOST.]

       DUKE.

       So, then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

       CLAUDIO.

       The miserable have no other medicine

       But only hope:

       I have hope to live, and am prepar’d to die.

       DUKE.

       Be absolute for death; either death or life

       Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life,—

       If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing

       That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,

       Servile to all the skiey influences,

       That dost this habitation, where thou keep’st

       Hourly afflict; mere’y, thou art death’s fool;

       For him thou labour’st by thy flight to shun,

       And yet runn’st toward him still. Thou art not noble;

       For all the accommodations that thou bear’st

       Are nurs’d by baseness. Thou art by no means valiant;

       For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork

       Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,

       And that thou oft provok’st; yet grossly fear’st

       Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself:

       For thou exist’st on many a thousand grains

       That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not;

       For what thou hast not, still thou striv’st to get;

       And what thou hast, forgett’st. Thou art not certain;

       For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

       After the moon. If thou art rich, thou art poor;

       For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows,

       Thou bear’st thy heavy riches but a journey,

       And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none;

       For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,

       The mere effusion of thy proper loins,

       Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,

       For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age,

       But, as it were, an after-dinner’s sleep,

       Dreaming on both: for all thy blessed youth

       Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

       Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich

       Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,

       To make thy riches pleasant. What’s yet in this

       That bears the name of life? Yet in this life

       Lie hid more thousand deaths: yet death we fear,

       That makes these odds all even.

       CLAUDIO.

       I humbly thank you.

       To sue to live, I find I seek to die;

       And, seeking death, find life. Let it come on.

       ISABELLA.

       [Within.] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

       PROVOST.

       Who’s there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.

       DUKE.

       Dear sir, ere long I’ll visit you again.

       CLAUDIO.

       Most holy sir, I thank you.

       [Enter ISABELLA.]

       ISABELLA.

       My business is a word or two with Claudio.

       PROVOST.

       And very welcome. Look, signior, here’s your sister.

       DUKE.

       Provost, a word with you.

       PROVOST.

       As many as you please.

       DUKE.

       Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be conceal’d.

       [Exeunt DUKE and PROVOST.]

       CLAUDIO.

       Now, sister, what’s the comfort?

       ISABELLA.

       Why,

       As all comforts are; most good, most good, in deed:

       Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,

       Intends you for his swift ambassador,

       Where you shall be an everlasting leiger:

       Therefore, your best appointment make with speed;

       Tomorrow you set on.

       CLAUDIO.

       Is there no remedy?

       ISABELLA.

       None, but such remedy as, to save a head,

       To cleave a heart in twain.

       CLAUDIO.

       But is there any?

       ISABELLA.

       Yes, brother, you may live:

       There is a devilish mercy in the judge,

       If you’ll implore it, that will free your life,

       But fetter you till death.

       CLAUDIO.

       Perpetual durance?

       ISABELLA.

       Ay, just;