, i., 196-7.)
Quid autem? Non proximum eis (dis) locum tenet is qui se ex deorum
natura gerit beneficus et largus et in melius potens? (I., xix., 9):--
Consider this,
That in the course of justice none of us
Should see salvation.
(_M. of V._, IV., i., 198-200.)
Cogitato ... quanta solitudo et vastitas futura sit si nihil
relinquitur nisi quod iudex severus absolverit (I., vi., 1).
This remarkable series of parallelisms does not affect the argument in
the text that Shakespeare, who reiterated Portia's pleas and
phraseology in Isabella's speeches, had a personal faith in the
declared sentiment. Whether the parallelism is to be explained as
conscious borrowing or accidental coincidence is an open question.]
Here are Isabella's words in _Measure for Measure_ (II., ii., 59
_seq._):--
No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.
How would you be
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are?
O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.
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