Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
spare him, spare him; he is not prepared for death. Even for our
kitchens we kill the fowl in season; shall we serve Heaven with less
respect than we minister to our gross selves? Good, good, my lord,
bethink you, none have died for my brother's offence, though many have
committed it. So you would be the first that gives this sentence, and he
the first that suffers it. Go to your own bosom, my lord; knock there,
and ask your heart what it does know that is like my brother's fault; if
it confess a natural guiltiness such as his is, let it not sound a
thought against my brother's life!" Her last words more moved Angelo
than all she had before said, for the beauty of Isabel had raised a
guilty passion in his heart, and he began to form thoughts of
dishonourable love, such as Claudio's crime had been; and the conflict
in his mind made him to turn away from Isabel; but she called him back,
saying, "Gentle my lord, turn back; hark, how I will bribe you. Good my
lord, turn back!"--"How, bribe me!" said Angelo, astonished that she
should think of offering him a bribe. "Ay," said Isabel, "with such
gifts that Heaven itself shall share with you; not with golden
treasures, or those glittering stones, whose price is either rich or
poor as fancy values them, but with true prayers that shall be up to
Heaven before sunrise,--prayers from preserved souls, from fasting
maids whose minds are dedicated to nothing temporal."--"Well, come to me
to-morrow," said Angelo. And for this short respite of her brother's
life, and for this permission that she might be heard again, she left
him with the joyful hope that she should at last prevail over his stern
nature: and as she went away she said, "Heaven keep your honour safe!
Heaven save your honour!" Which when Angelo heard, he said within his
heart, "Amen, I would be saved from thee and from thy virtues:" and
then, affrighted at his own evil thoughts, he said, "What is this? What
is this? Do I love her, that I desire to hear her speak again, and feast
upon her eyes? What is it I dream on? The cunning enemy of mankind, to
catch a saint, with saints does bait the hook. Never could an immodest
woman once stir my temper, but this virtuous woman subdues me quite.
Even till now, when men were fond, I smiled and wondered at them."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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