Page:Some Textual Difficulties in Shakespeare.djvu/44



I. An apartment in the Duke's palace.

Enter Duke, Escalus, Lords and Attendants

Duke. Escalus.

Escal. My lord.

Duke. Of government the properties to unfold,

Would seem in me to affect speech and discourse;

Since I am put to know that your own science

Exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice

My strength can give you: then no more remains,

But that to your sufficiency

as your worth is able,

And let them work. The nature of our people,

Our city's institutions, and the terms

For common justice, you're as pregnant in

As art and practice hath enriched any

That we remember. There is our commission,

From which we would not have you warp.

(Measure for Measure, i, 1, 8, Modern editions)

Then no more remains

But that, to your sufficiency, as your worth is able

And let them work.

(First Folio, 1623)

vacancy indicated by the row of dots does not occur in the original editions of Shakespeare. The passage is thus printed by modern editors upon the theory that part of the text is missing. Many attempts have been made to fill out the supposed lacuna by conjecture, but as none have proved successful, the most approved practice is to indicate a loss in the text.