1113Ang. Then must your brother die.

1114Isa. And 'twer the cheaper way:

1115Better it were a brother dide at once,

1116Then that a sister, by redeeming him

1117Should die for euer.

1118Ang. Were not you then as cruell as the Sentence,

1119That you haue slander'd so?

1120Isa. Ignomie in ransome, and free pardon

1121Are of two houses: lawfull mercie,

1122Is nothing kin to fowle redemption.

1123Ang. You seem'd of late to make the Law a tirant,

1124And rather prou'd the sliding of your brother

1125A merriment, then a vice.

1126Isa. Oh pardon me my Lord, it oft fals out

1127To haue, what we would haue,

1128We speake not what vve meane;

1129I something do excuse the thing I hate,

1130For his aduantage that I dearely loue.

1131Ang. We are all fraile.

1132Isa. Else let my brother die,

1133If not a fedarie but onely he

1134Owe, and succeed thy weaknesse.

1135Ang. Nay, women are fraile too.

1136Isa. I, as the glasses where they view themselues,

1137Which are as easie broke as they make formes:

1138Women? Helpe heauen; men their creation marre

1139In profiting by them: Nay, call vs ten times fraile,

1140For we are soft, as our complexions are,

1141And credulous to false prints.

1142Ang. I thinke it well:

1143And from this testimonie of your owne sex

1144(Since I suppose we are made to be no stronger

1145Then faults may shake our frames) let me be bold;

1146I do arrest your words. Be that you are,

1147That is a woman; if you be more, you'r none.

1148If you be one (as you are well exprest

1149By all externall warrants) shew it now,

1150By putting on the destin'd Liuerie.

1151Isa. I haue no tongue but one; gentle my Lord,

1152Let me entreate you speake the former language.

1153Ang. Plainlie conceiue I loue you.

1154Isa. My brother did loue Iuliet,

1155And you tell me that he shall die for't.

1156Ang. He shall not Isabell if you giue me loue.

1157Isa. I know your vertue hath a licence in't,

1158Which seemes a little fouler then it is,

1159To plucke on others.

1160Ang. Beleeue me on mine Honor,

1161My words expresse my purpose.

1162Isa. Ha? Little honor, to be much beleeu'd,

1163And most pernitious purpose: Seeming, seeming.

1164I will proclaime thee Angelo, looke for't.

1165Signe me a present pardon for my brother,

1166Or with an out-stretcht throate Ile tell the world aloud

1167What man thou art.

1168Ang. Who will beleeue thee Isabell?

1169My vnsoild name, th' austeerenesse of my life,

1170My vouch against you, and my place i'th State,

1171Will so your accusation ouer-weigh,

1172That you shall stifle in your owne reporr,

1173And smell of calumnie. I haue begun,

1174And now I giue my sensuall race, the reine,

1175Fit thy consent to my sharpe appetite,

1176Lay by all nicetie, and prolixious blushes

1177That banish what they sue for: Redeeme thy brother,

1178By yeelding vp thy bodie to my will,

1179Or else he must not onelie die the death,

1180But thy vnkindnesse shall his death draw out

1181To lingring sufferance: Answer me to morrow,

1182Or by the affection that now guides me most,

1183Ile proue a Tirant to him. As for you,

1184Say what you can; my false, ore-weighs your true. Exit

1185Isa. To whom should I complaine? Did I tell this,

1186Who would beleeue me? O perilous mouthes

1187That beare in them, one and the selfesame tongue,

1188Either of condemnation, or approofe,

1189Bidding the Law make curtsie to their will,

1190Hooking both right and wrong to th' appetite,

1191To follow as it drawes. Ile to my brother,

1192Though he hath falne by prompture of the blood,

1193Yet hath he in him such a minde of Honor,

1194That had he twentie heads to tender downe

1195On twentie bloodie blockes, hee'ld yeeld them vp,

1196Before his sister should her bodie stoope

1197To such abhord pollution.

1198Then Isabell liue chaste, and brother die;

1199"More then our Brother, is our Chastitie.

1200Ile tell him yet of Angelo's request,

1201And fit his minde to death, for his soules rest. Exit.

1204Du. So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

1205Cla. The miserable haue no other medicine

1206But onely hope: I'haue hope to liue, and am prepar'd to

1207die.

1208Duke. Be absolute for death: either death or life

1209Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:

1210If I do loose thee, I do loose a thing

1211That none but fooles would keepe: a breath thou art,

1212Seruile to all the skyie-influences

1213That dost this habitation where thou keepst

1214Hourely afflict: Meerely, thou art deaths foole,

1215For him thou labourst by thy flight to shun,

1216And yet runst toward him still. Thou art not noble,

1217For all th' accommodations that thou bearst,

1218Are nurst by basenesse: Thou'rt by no meanes valiant,

1219For thou dost feare the soft and tender forke

1220Of a poore worme: thy best of rest is sleepe,

1221And that thou oft prouoakst, yet grosselie fearst

1222Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thy selfe,

1223For thou exists on manie a thousand graines

1224That issue out of dust. Happie thou art not,

1225For what thou hast not, still thou striu'st to get,

1226And what thou hast forgetst. Thou art not certaine,

1227For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

1228After the Moone: If thou art rich, thou'rt poore,

1229For like an Asse, whose backe with Ingots bowes;

1230Thou bearst thy heauie riches but a iournie,

1231And death vnloads thee; Friend hast thou none.

1232For thine owne bowels which do call thee, fire

1233The meere effusion of thy proper loines

1234Do curse the Gowt, Sapego, and the Rheume

1235For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth, nor age

1236But as it were an after-dinners sleepe

1237Dreaming on both, for all thy blessed youth

1238Becomes as aged, and doth begge the almes

1239Of palsied-Eld: and when thou art old, and rich