Act I · Scene III
A monastery.
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Enter DUKE VINCENTIO and FRIAR THOMAS
DUKE VINCENTIO
No, holy father; throw away that thought;Believe not that the dribbling dart of loveCan pierce a complete bosom. Why I desire theeTo give me secret harbour, hath a purposeMore grave and wrinkled than the aims and endsOf burning youth.
FRIAR THOMAS
May your grace speak of it?
DUKE VINCENTIO
My holy sir, none better knows than youHow I have ever loved the life removedAnd held in idle price to haunt assembliesWhere youth, and cost, and witless bravery keeps.I have deliver'd to Lord Angelo,A man of stricture and firm abstinence,My absolute power and place here in Vienna,And he supposes me travell'd to Poland;For so I have strew'd it in the common ear,And so it is received. Now, pious sir,You will demand of me why I do this?
FRIAR THOMAS
Gladly, my lord.
DUKE VINCENTIO
We have strict statutes and most biting laws.The needful bits and curbs to headstrong weeds,Which for this nineteen years we have let slip;Even like an o'ergrown lion in a cave,That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,Only to stick it in their children's sightFor terror, not to use, in time the rodBecomes more mock'd than fear'd; so our decrees,Dead to infliction, to themselves are dead;And liberty plucks justice by the nose;The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwartGoes all decorum.
FRIAR THOMAS
It rested in your graceTo unloose this tied-up justice when you pleased:And it in you more dreadful would have seem'dThan in Lord Angelo.
DUKE VINCENTIO
I do fear, too dreadful:Sith 'twas my fault to give the people scope,'Twould be my tyranny to strike and gall themFor what I bid them do: for we bid this be done,When evil deeds have their permissive passAnd not the punishment. Therefore indeed, my father,I have on Angelo imposed the office;Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home,And yet my nature never in the fightTo do in slander. And to behold his sway,I will, as 'twere a brother of your order,Visit both prince and people: therefore, I prithee,Supply me with the habit and instruct meHow I may formally in person bear meLike a true friar. More reasons for this actionAt our more leisure shall I render you;Only, this one: Lord Angelo is precise;Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confessesThat his blood flows, or that his appetiteIs more to bread than stone: hence shall we see,If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
Exeunt