Measure for Measure: Act II, Scene ii
Measure for Measure. Act 2, Scene 2. Angelo
(This text is featured in our interview with Tom Rooney).
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926 What’s this, what’s this? Is this her fault or mine?
927 The tempter or the tempted, who sins most?
928 Ha!
929 Not she: nor doth she tempt: but it is I
930 That, lying by the violet in the sun,
931 Do as the carrion does, not as the flower,
932 Corrupt with virtuous season. Can it be
933 That modesty may more betray our sense
934 Than woman’s lightness? Having waste ground enough,
935 Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary
936 And pitch our evils there? O, fie, fie, fie!
937 What dost thou, or what art thou, Angelo?
938 Dost thou desire her foully for those things
939 That make her good? O, let her brother live!
940 Thieves for their robbery have authority
941 When judges steal themselves. What, do I love her,
942 That I desire to hear her speak again,
943 And feast upon her eyes? What is’t I dream on?
944 O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint,
945 With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous
946 Is that temptation that doth goad us on
947 To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet,
948 With all her double vigour, art and nature,
949 Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid
950 Subdues me quite. Even till now,
951 When men were fond, I smiled and wonder’d how.