Page 1102 - Shakespeare - Vol. 3

ACT II IT

Scene I IT

[A Courtroom.]

Enter Angelo, Escalus and Servants, [a] Justice.

ANGELO
We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape till custom make it

Their perch, and not their terror.

ESCALUS
Ay, but yet
Let us be keen, and rather cut a little, [5]
Than fall, and bruise to death. Alas, this gentleman,

Whom I would save, had a most noble father.
Let but your honour know −
Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue −
That in the working of your own affections, [10]
Had time coher’d with place, or place with wishing,

Or that the resolute acting of your blood
Could have attain’d th’effect of your own purpose,
Whether you had not sometime in your life

Err’d in this point, which now you censure him, [15]
And pull’d the law upon you.

ANGELO
’Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus,
Another thing to fall. I not deny
The jury passing on the prisoner’s life