Intents but merely thoughts.
MARIANA
Merely, my lord.
DUKE
Your suit’s unprofitable. Stand up, I say.
⌈Mariana and Isabella stand⌉
I have bethought me of another fault.
Provost, how came it Claudio was beheaded
At an unusual hour?
PROVOST It was commanded so.
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.
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 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.
Exit Provost
ESCALUS
I am sorry one so learned and so wise
As you, Lord Angelo, have still appeared,
Should slip so grossly, both in the heat of blood
And lack of tempered judgement 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.
Enter Barnardine and the Provost; Claudio, muffled, and Juliet
DUKE
Which is that Barnardine?
PROVOST
This, my lord.
DUKE
There was a friar told me of this man.
(To Barnardine) 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
For better times to come.—Friar, advise him.
I leave him to your hand. (To Provost) 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.
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.
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.
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 whipped.
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,
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 making me a cuckold.
DUKE
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 Slandering a prince deserves it.
⌈Exit Lucio guarded⌉
She, Claudio, that you wronged, look you restore.
Joy to you, Mariana. Love her, Angelo.
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.
Forgive him, Angelo, that brought you home
The head of Ragusine for Claudio’s.
Th’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.
(To all) So bring us to our palace, where we’ll show
What’s yet behind that’s meet you all should know.
Exeunt
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES
The text of Measure for Measure given in this edition is probably that of an adapted version made for Shakespeare’s company after his death. Adaptation seems to have affected two passages, printed below as we believe Shakespeare to have written them.
A. 1.2.0.1-116
A.2-9 (‘... by him’) are lines which the adapter (whom we believe to be Thomas Middleton) evidently intended to be replaced by 1.2.56-79 of the play as we print it. The adapter must have contributed all of 1.2.0.1-83, which in the earliest and subsequent printed texts precede the discussion between the Clown (Pompey) and the Bawd (Mistress Overdone) about Claudio’s arrest. Lucio’s entry alone at 1. 40.1 below, some eleven lines after his re-entry with the two Gentlemen and the Provost’s party in the adapted text, probably represents Shakespeare’s original intention. In his version, Juliet, present but silent in the adapted text both in 1.2 and 5.1, probably did not appear in either scene; accordingly, the words ‘and there’s Madam Juliet’ (1.2.107) must also be the reviser’s work, and do not appear below.