The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (433 page)

Enter DUKE VINCENTIO disguised as before, CLAUDIO, and Provost

DUKE VINCENTIO

So then you hope of pardon from Lord Angelo?

So then you hope for a pardon from Lord Angelo?

CLAUDIO

The miserable have no other medicine

Miserable people have no other medicine
But only hope:

Except hope:
I've hope to live, and am prepared to die.

I hope to live, but am prepared to die.

DUKE VINCENTIO

Be absolute for death; either death or life

Be set on for death; then either death or life
Shall thereby be the sweeter. Reason thus with life:

Will be sweeter. Reason with life like this:
If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing

If I lose you, I lose a thing
That none but fools would keep: a breath thou art,
That no one but a fool wants to keep: you are a breath

Servile to all the skyey influences,

Servant to all the planetary influences
That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st,

That this body where you are kept
Hourly afflict: merely, thou art death's fool;

Is troubled by hourly: you are entirely death’s fool;
For him thou labour'st by thy flight to shun

You labor to try and run from him
And yet runn'st toward him still. Thou art not noble;

And yet you still run towards him. You are not noble;
For all the accommodations that thou bear'st

Because all the comforts that you bring
Are nursed by baseness. Thou'rt by no means valiant;

Come from dishonorable beginnings. You are by no means brave;
For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork

Because you fear the soft and tender forked tongue
Of a poor worm. Thy best of rest is sleep,

Of a poor snake. Thy best way to rest is sleep,
And that thou oft provokest; yet grossly fear'st

And that you often produce; but excessively fear
Thy death, which is no more. Thou art not thyself;

Your death, which is no more than sleep.  You are not yourself;
For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains

Because you exist in thousands of things
That issue out of dust. Happy thou art not;

That grow from the earth.  You are not happy;
For what thou hast not, still thou strivest to get,

Because what you don’t have, you try to get,
And what thou hast, forget'st. Thou art not certain;

And what you have, you forget.  You are not consistant;
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects,

For your character changes in strange ways,
After the moon. If thou art rich, thou'rt poor;

Taking after the moon.  If you are rich, then you are poor;
For, like an ass whose back with ingots bows,

Because, like a donkey whose back is weighed down with gold bars
Thou bear's thy heavy riches but a journey,

You carry your heavy riches only on a journey,
And death unloads thee. Friend hast thou none;

And death takes it away from you.  You have no friends;
For thine own bowels, which do call thee sire,

Because your own children, who call you father,
The mere effusion of thy proper loins,

The very product of your own lions,
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,

Curse at sicknesses like gout, skin diseases and head colds
For ending thee no sooner. Thou hast nor youth nor age,

For not ending you sooner.  You have neither youth nor age,
But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep,

But instead an evening nap,
Dreaming on both; for all thy blessed youth

Dreaming of both; because all your blessed youth
Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms

Becomes elderly, and begs for the riches
Of palsied eld; and when thou art old and rich,

Of old age; and when you are old and rich,
Thou hast neither heat, affection, limb, nor beauty,

You have neither passion, nor love, nor an able body,
To make thy riches pleasant. What's yet in this

To make you riches pleasant.  What’s is still here
That bears the name of life? Yet in this life

That is worth the name of life? Yet in this life
Lie hid moe thousand deaths: yet death we fear,

More than a thousand deaths lie hidden: yet it is death that we fear,
That makes these odds all even.

That makes everything even.

CLAUDIO

I humbly thank you.

I humbly thank you.
To sue to live, I find I seek to die;

By begging to live, I find I seek to die;
And, seeking death, find life: let it come on.

And in seeking death I find life: let death come.

ISABELLA

[Within] What, ho! Peace here; grace and good company!

[Inside] Well, hello! I wish you peace, mercy and good company!

Provost

Who's there? come in: the wish deserves a welcome.

Who’s there? Come in: the well-wishes deserve a welcome.

DUKE VINCENTIO

Dear sir, ere long I'll visit you again.

Dear sir, before long I’ll visit you again.

CLAUDIO

Most holy sir, I thank you.

Most holy sir, thank you.

Enter ISABELLA

ISABELLA

My business is a word or two with Claudio.

I am here to have a word or two with Claudio.

PROVOST

And very welcome. Look, signior, here's your sister.

And you’re very welcome to do so.  Look, mister, here’s your sister.

DUKE VINCENTIO

Provost, a word with you.

Provost, may I have a word with you?

PROVOST

As many as you please.

You may have as many words as you please.

DUKE VINCENTIO

Bring me to hear them speak, where I may be concealed.

Bring me to where I may hear them speak but not be seen.

Exeunt DUKE VINCENTIO and PROVOST

CLAUDIO

Now, sister, what's the comfort?

Now, sister, what’s the consolation?

ISABELLA

Why,

Why,
As all comforts are; most good, most good indeed.

The same as all consolations are; very good, very good indeed.
Lord Angelo, having affairs to heaven,

Lord Angelo has business with heaven,
Intends you for his swift ambassador,

And intends you to be his ambassador soon,
Where you shall be an everlasting leiger:

Where you will be an everlasting resident as ambassador:
Therefore your best appointment make with speed;

Therefore you must make your preparations quickly;
To-morrow you set on.

Tomorrow you leave for heaven.

CLAUDIO

Is there no remedy?

Is there no solution?

ISABELLA

None, but such remedy as, to save a head,

None, but such a solution that would, in order to save a head,
To cleave a heart in twain.

Sever a heart in two.

CLAUDIO

But is there any?

But is there any?

ISABELLA

Yes, brother, you may live:

Yes, brother, you may live:
There is a devilish mercy in the judge,

The judge’s mercy is evil,
If you'll implore it, that will free your life,

If you’ll take it, it will save your life,
But fetter you till death.

But burden you till death.

CLAUDIO

Perpetual durance?

Life in prison?

ISABELLA

Ay, just; perpetual durance, a restraint,

Yes, exactly; live in prison, a restraint,
Though all the world's vastidity you had,

But with all the vastness of the world, you will
To a determined scope.

Be limited to a fixed reach.

CLAUDIO

But in what nature?

But what kind?

ISABELLA

In such a one as, you consenting to't,

The kind that if you agreed to it,
Would bark your honour from that trunk you bear,

Would strip your honor from your body,
And leave you naked.

And leave you naked.

CLAUDIO

Let me know the point.

Tell me what it is.

ISABELLA

O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake,

Oh, I am afraid of you, Claudio; and I shiver with fright,
Lest thou a feverous life shouldst entertain,

That you might cherish your feverish life,
And six or seven winters more respect

And might value six or seven more year more
Than a perpetual honour. Darest thou die?

Than you do continuous honor. Do you fear death?
The sense of death is most in apprehension;

The fearfulness of death is mostly in anticipation;
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,

And the poor bug that we step on,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great

In bodily suffering experiences a pain as great
As when a giant dies.

As when a giant dies.

CLAUDIO

Why give you me this shame?

Why do you shame me like this this?
Think you I can a resolution fetch

Do you think I can find determination
From flowery tenderness? If I must die,

In words of comfort?  If I must die,
I will encounter darkness as a bride,

I will meet death’s darkness as a bride,
And hug it in mine arms.

And hug it in my arms.

ISABELLA

There spake my brother; there my father's grave

My brother spoke; and my father’s grave
Did utter forth a voice. Yes, thou must die:

Did utter a voice.  Yes, you must die:
Thou art too noble to conserve a life

You are too noble to save a life
In base appliances. This outward-sainted deputy,

With a dishonorable solution.  This seemingly holy agent,
Whose settled visage and deliberate word

Whose unchanging appearance and carefully calculated words
Nips youth i' the head and follies doth emmew

Grips youth by the head and with foolish acts drives it into the water
As falcon doth the fowl, is yet a devil

As a falcon does with its prey, is still a devil;
His filth within being cast, he would appear

If his filth were to be vomited up, he would appear
A pond as deep as hell.