feit advantages, though true advantage never present itself; a devilish knave. Besides, the knave is handsome, young, and hath all those requisites in him that folly and green minds look after: a pestilent complete knave; and the woman hath found him already. Rod. I cannot believe that in her; she's full of most blessed condition. lago. Blessed fig's-end! the wine she drinks is made of grapes: if she had been blessed, she would never have loved the Moor. Blessed pudding! Didst thou not see her paddle with the palm of his hand? didst not mark that? 260 Rod. Yes, that I did; but that was but courtesy. Iago. Lechery, by this hand; an index and obscure prologue to the history of lust and foul thoughts. They met so near with their lips that their breaths embraced together. Villanous thoughts, Roderigo! when these mutualities so marshal the way, hard at hand comes the master and main exercise, the incorporate conclusion, Pish! But, sir, be you ruled by me: I have brought you from Venice. Watch you to-night; for the command, I'll lay't upon you. Cassio knows you not. I'll not be far from you: do you find some occasion to anger Cassio, either by speaking too loud, or tainting his discipline; or from what other course you please, which the time shall more favourably minister. Rod. Well. Iago. Sir, he is rash and very sudden in choler, and haply may strike at you: provoke him, that he may; for even out of that will I cause these of Cyprus to mutiny; whose qualification shall come into no true taste again but by the displanting of Cassio. So shall you have a shorter journey to your desires by the means I shall then have to prefer them; and the impediment most profitably removed, without the which there were no expectation of our prosperity. Rod. I will do this, if I can bring it to any opportunity. 290 lago. I warrant thee. Meet me by and by at the citadel: I must fetch his necessaries ashore. Farewell. [Exit. Rod. Adieu. That she loves him, 'tis apt and of great credit: 310 Enter a Herald with a proclamation; People following. Her. It is Othello's pleasure, our noble and valiant general, that, upon certain tidings now arrived, importing the mere perdition of the Turkish fleet, every man put himself into triumph; some to dance, some to make bonfires, each man to what sport and revels his addiction leads him: for, besides these beneficial news, it is the celebration of his nuptial. So much was his pleasure should be proclaimed. All offices are open, and there is full liberty of feasting from this present hour of five till the bell have told eleven. Heaven bless the isle of Cyprus and our noble general Othello! [Exeunt. SCENE III. A hall in the castle. Enter OTHELLO, Desdemona, CASSIO, and Attendants. Oth. Good Michael, look you to the guard tonight: Let's teach ourselves that honourable stop, Cas. Iago hath direction what to do; Oth. liest Iago. Here at the door; I pray you, call them in. Whom love hath turn'd almost the wrong side out, 60 Iago. I learned it in England, where, indeed, they are most potent in potting: your Dane, your German, and your swag-bellied HollanderDrink, ho!-are nothing to your English. 81 Cas. Is your Englishman so expert in his drinking? Tago. Why, he drinks you, with facility, your Dane dead drunk; he sweats not to overthrow your Almain; he gives your Hollander a vomit, ere the next pottle can be filled. Cas. To the health of our general! Mon. I am for it, lieutenant; and I'll do you justice. Iago. O sweet England! King Stephen was a worthy peer, His breeches cost him but a crown; With that he call'd the tailor lown. 90 Cas. Why, this is a more exquisite song than the other. Iago. Will you hear 't again? Cas. No; for I hold him to be unworthy of his place that does those things. Well, God's above all; and there be souls must be saved, and there be souls must not be saved. Iago. It's true, good lieutenant. Cas. For mine own part,-no offence to the general, nor any man of quality,-I hope to be saved. Iago. And so do I too, lieutenant. III Cas. Why, very well then; you must not think then that I am drunk. [Exit. Mon. To the platform, masters; come, let's set the watch. Iago. You see this fellow that is gone before; He is a soldier fit to stand by Cæsar And give direction: and do but see his vice; 'Tis to his virtue a just equinox, The one as long as the other: 'tis pity of him. 130 Mon. But is he often thus? Iago. 'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep: He'll watch the horologe a double set, If drink rock not his cradle. Mon. It were well The general were put in mind of it. Perhaps he sees it not; or his good nature Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio, And looks not on his evils: is not this true? Enter RODERIGO. 140 Iago. [Aside to him] How now, Roderigo! I pray you, after the lieutenant; go. [Exit Roderigo. Mon. And 'tis great pity that the noble Moor Should hazard such a place as his own second With one of an ingraft infirmity: It were an honest action to say So to the Moor. Iago. Not I, for this fair island: I do love Cassio well; and would do much To cure him of this evil-But, hark! what noise? [Cry within: 'Help! help!' And to defend ourselves it be a sin When violence assails us. Or I'll knock you o'er the mazzard. Come, come, you're drunk. Re-enter OTHELLO and Attendants. Oth. What is the matter here? Mon. 'Zounds, I bleed still; I am hurt to the death. [Faints. Oth. Hold, for your lives! Iago. Hold, ho! Lieutenant, sir,-Montano, -gentlemen,— Have you forgot all sense of place and duty? Hold! the general speaks to you; hold, hold, for shame! Oth. Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth this? 171 Are we turn'd Turks, and to ourselves do that Iago. I do not know: friends all but now, even now, In quarter, and in terms like bride and groom Oth. How comes it, Michael, you are thus forgot? Cas. I pray you, pardon me; I cannot speak. Oth. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil; 190 The gravity and stillness of your youth Mon. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger: Your officer, Iago, can inform you, While I spare speech, which something now offends me, Of all that I do know: nor know I aught 200 Oth. 210 Now, by heaven, My blood begins my safer guides to rule; And passion, having my best judgement collied, Assays to lead the way: if I once stir, Or do but lift this arm, the best of you Shall sink in my rebuke. Give me to know How this foul rout began, who set it on ; And he that is approved in this offence, Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth, Shall lose me. What! in a town of war, Yet wild, the people's hearts brimful of fear, To manage private and domestic quarrel, In night, and on the court and guard of safety! 'Tis monstrous. Iago, who began 't? Mon. If partially affined, or leagued in office, Thou dost deliver more or less than truth, Thou art no soldier. 220 230 Iago. Touch me not so near: I had rather have this tongue cut from my mouth Than it should do offence to Michael Cassio; Yet, I persuade myself, to speak the truth Shall nothing wrong him. Thus it is, general. Montano and myself being in speech, There comes a fellow crying out for help; And Cassio following him with determined sword, To execute upon him. Sir, this gentleman Steps in to Cassio, and entreats his pause: Myself the crying fellow did pursue, Lest by his clamour-as it so fell outThe town might fall in fright: he, swift of foot, Outran my purpose; and I return'd the rather For that I heard the clink and fall of swords, And Cassio high in oath; which till to-night I ne'er might say before. When I came backFor this was brief-I found them close together, At blow and thrust; even as again they were When you yourself did part them. More of this matter cannot I report: But men are men; the best sometimes forget: Though Cassio did some little wrong to him, As men in rage strike those that wish them best, Yet surely Cassio, I believe, received From him that fled some strange indignity, Which patience could not pass. Oth. I know, Iago, Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter, Making it light to Cassio. Cassio, I love thee; But never more be officer of mine. Re-enter DESDEMONA, attended. Look, if my gentle love be not raised up ! I'll make thee an example. 240 250 Des. Sir, for your hurts, myself will be your surgeon: Iago. Marry, heaven forbid! 260 Cas. Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the im mortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation! Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound; there is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition: oft got without merit, and lost without deserving: you have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. What, man! there are ways to recover the general again: you are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more in policy than in malice; even so as one would beat his offenceless dog to affright an imperious lion: sue to him again, and he's yours. Cas. I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so slight, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk? and speak parrot? and squabble? swagger? swear? and discourse fustian with one's own shadow? O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil! Iago. What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you? Cas. I know not. Iago. Why, but you are now well enough: how came you thus recovered? Cas. It hath pleased the devil drunkenness to give place to the devil wrath: one unperfectness shows me another, to make me frankly despise myself. 300 Iago. Come, you are too severe a moraler: as the time, the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could heartily wish this had not befallen; but, since it is as it is, mend it for your own good. Cas. I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all. To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast! O strange! Every inordinate cup is unblessed and the ingredient is a devil. Iago. Come, come, good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used: exclaim no more against it. And, good lieutenant, I think you think I love you. Cas. I have well approved it, sir. I drunk! Iago. You or any man living may be drunk at a time, man. I'll tell you what you shall do. Our general's wife is now the general: I may say so in this respect, for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces: confess yourself freely to her; importune her help to put you in your place again: she is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition, she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested this broken joint between you and her husband entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any lay worth naming, this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was before. Cas. You advise me well. 331 Iago. I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness. Cas. I think it freely; and betimes in the morning I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me: I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here. Good night, 340 [Exit. Iago. You are in the right. lieutenant; I must to the watch. Cas. Good night, honest Iago. Iago. And what's he then that says I play the villain? When this advice is free I give and honest, To counsel Cassio to this parallel course, Re-enter RODERIGO. 360 How now, Roderigo! Rod. I do follow here in the chase, not like a hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry. My money is almost spent; I have been to-night exceedingly well cudgelled; and I think the issue will be, I shall have so much experience for my pains, and so, with no money at all and a little more wit, return again to Venice. Iago. How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees? And wit depends on dilatory time. ing; Pleasure and action make the hours seem short My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress; Myself the while to draw the Moor apart, 390 Clo. Why, masters, have your instruments been in Naples, that they speak i' the nose thus? First Mus. How, sir, how! Clo. Are these, I pray you, wind-instruments? First Mus. Whereby hangs a tale, sir? 9 Clo. Marry, sir, by many a wind-instrument that I know. But, masters, here's money for you and the general so likes your music, that he desires you, for love's sake, to make no more noise with it. First Mus. Well, sir, we will not. Clo. If you have any music that may not be heard, to't again: but, as they say, to hear music the general does not greatly care. First Mus. We have none such, sir. Clo. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away: go; vanish into air; away! 21 [Exeunt Musicians. Cas. Dost thou hear, my honest friend? Clo. No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you. Cas. Prithee, keep up thy quillets. There's a poor piece of gold for thee: if the gentlewoman that attends the general's wife be stirring, tell her there's one Cassio entreats her a little favour of speech wilt thou do this? Clo. She is stirring, sir: if she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto her. Cas. Do, good my friend. Enter IAGO. 31 [Exit Clown. You have known him long; and be you well assured He shall in strangeness stand no further off Cas. Ay, but, lady, Des. Do not doubt that; before Emilia here I give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee, 20 With Cassio's suit: therefore be merry, Cassio; Emil. Madam, here comes my lord. 30 |