For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. O thou Othello, that wert once so good, Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave,

What shall be said to thee?

Oth.

An honourable murderer, if you will;

295

Why, any thing:

For nought did I in hate, but all in honour.

Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his villany:

Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?

300

Oth. Ay.

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.
Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.

Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil

Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body?

395

Iago. Demand me nothing; what you know, you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.

Lod. What, not to pray?

Gra.

Oth. Well, thou dost best.

Torments will ope your lips.

Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,

310

Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter

Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo,

And here another: the one of them imports

The death of Cassio to be undertook

Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;
But that, belike, Iago in the interim

Came in and satisfied him.

Oth.

320

O the pernicious caitiff!

I found it in my chamber:

How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief

That was my wife's?

Cas.

And he himself confess'd but even now

That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose
Which wrought to his desire.

Cas. There is besides in Roderigo's letter,
How he upbraids Iago, that he made him
Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came
That I was cast: and even but now he spake
After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him,
Iago set him on.

go

with us:

335

Lod. You must forsake this room, and
Your power and your command is taken off,
And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave,
If there be any cunning cruelty

That can torment him much and hold him long,
It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest,
Till that the nature of your fault be known.
To the Venetian state. Come, bring away.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two before you go.
I have done the state some service, and they know't.
No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,

340

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,

345

Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one that loved not wisely but too well;

Of one not easily jealous but, being wrought,

Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away

35°

Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued eyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their medicinal gum. Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog
And smote him, thus.

355

360

All that's spoke is marr'd.

Lod. O bloody period!
Gra.
Oth. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this,
Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; For he was great of heart.

Lod.

[To Iago] O Spartan dog,

More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,

For they succeed on you. To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure of this hellish villain,
The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard, and to the state

This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

[Exeunt.

369. seize] Ff. ceaze Qq.
370. on you] Ff. to you Qq.
371. censure] fensure Q (1695).
374. [Exeunt.] Ff. Exeunt omnes.

365.

370

NOTES.

NOTE I.

1. 1. 16. The punctuation in the text was first given by Steevens (1773). Most editors following Capell, including Steevens in his later editions, have supposed 'for, certes' to be part of Othello's speech. Mr Collier, omitting the comma, gives 'For certes' as the commencement of Othello's words. There is no comma in either Quartos or Folios, and the printing leaves it uncertain where the quotation is meant to begin.

NOTE II.

I. I. 20, 21. Theobald marks 'Certes...officer,' and 'the Florentine's...wife' with inverted commas, to indicate that they are Iago's report of Othello's speeches, and supposes Iago to be the 'fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife.' 'The Poet means,' he adds, 'Iago had so beautiful a Wife, that she was his Heaven on Earth; that he idoliz'd her; and forgot to think of Happiness in an After-state, as placing all his Views of Bliss in the single Enjoyment of her. In this sense, Beauty, when it can so seduce and ingross a Man's Thoughts, may be said almost to damn him.' Warburton's explanation agrees substantially with that of Theobald.

NOTE III.

I. 3. 370–374. The reading in the text is that of the second and third Quartos. The first Quarto has:

'Iag. Go to, farewell:-doe you heare Roderigo?

Rod. what say you?

Iag. No more of drowning, doe you heare?

Rod. I am chang'd.

Exit Roderigo.

Iag. Goe to, farewell, put money enough in your purse:
Thus doe I euer make my foole my purse :'

VOL. VIII.

Q Q