Even before the play had begun, the very title of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure would have given its first audiences a reference point for the subsequent action: Jesus' words of caution in the Sermon on the Mount, "judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matt. 7:1- 2).¹ As the scriptural reference would suggest, the play's ostensible theme is "proper judgment," and its extension, justice, especially insofar as the notion of justice pertains to the relation of the individual to the state. Moreover, this theme is placed squarely in the context of religious debate—specifically politico-theological debate—highlighted by the reference to the Sermon. The play's commentary on the state/subject dyad has been given serious consideration in important recent work on Shakespeare and political theology, notably that of Debora Shuger and Julia Reinhard Lupton.² Such work extends a long line of commentary about the play's position on religion's role in the sovereign's delivery of good rule and the application of law.³ Specifically, recent work addresses how Measure for Measure might help clarify what early moderns saw as the proper balance between the application of earthly justice (the law of the world) and the distribution of mercy with its deferral of judgment to eternal justice (the eternal judgment of souls that is always to come).