Page:Some Textual Difficulties in Shakespeare.djvu/47

Rh this all corresponds to the three requirements which I have mentioned. In a democracy, the people must have these qualities in order to choose officers rightly; in a monarchy, such as Shakespeare is considering, these must be the qualities of the ruler himself if government is to prosper—power, intellect and character.

Now if Shakespeare is writing a drama which deals with the problems of government, and if he has given deep and able consideration to his theme, we may expect him to keep strictly in view this fundamental truth. Let us *see whether he does.

The first scene opens with the venerable Escalus stepping upon the stage and the Duke coming in to confer with him. As the Duke steps into view we see that he bears in his hand two rolls of parchment—"commissions" (see lines 14 and 48). These important-looking documents are intended to catch the eye and arouse our curiosity at once: They represent the power which the Duke is going to confer upon Escalus and Angelo, each in his respec- tive station; and the conferring of this power is the particular business of the opening scene. The Duke in a few words makes it clear that Escalus is a man of great experience and ability, his "science" of government being so great that the Duke considers advice un- necessary. Escalus' mental equipment, as thus described, is shown to be sufficient. But how about the other qualifications? The Duke is