Page:Some Textual Difficulties in Shakespeare.djvu/50

32 equipment; and the word "sufficiency" refers back to that meaning. Power is being con- ferred upon him by the commission or parch- ment; and his "worth," by being mentioned as distinct from his intellectual equipment and his authority, can only mean his moral nature or character. The significance of the words, besides carrying their meanings in themselves, is made very exact by their apposition; and it will be noted that the greatest weight is put upon the moral qualification by the word chosen to express it—"worth." " Sufficiency " is merely that which suffices; it is enough in its kind. This is the word chosen to express Escalus' great intellectual attainments. Now this serves to throw our principal attention upon what is called his worth—a much larger thing.

The passage as a whole makes temporal power and intellectual power wholly dependent upon a man's moral nature, or intrinsic worth, for good results. Now this is just what the play shows us in the end. Angelo failed, with Escalus as chief adviser, not because he was not a good reasoner, or inexperienced, or be- cause he lacked power, but because his moral nature was at fault.

As to the acting of this opening scene. In the opening scene of a play, where the action may not rise to any great height because there cannot be the accumulated interest to build up a tense situation, a dramatist has to use great