Gra. He's gone; but his wife's kill'd.

Mont. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this

weapon,

Which I have here recover'd from the Moor:

420

Come guard the door without; let him not pass,
But kill him rather: I'll after that same villain,
For 'tis a damned slave. [Exeunt MON. and GRA.

Oth. I am not valiant neither,

But every puny whipster gets my sword :-
But why should honour out-live honesty?
Let it go all.

Emil. What did thy song bode, lady?

Hark, can'st thou hear me? I will play the swan,
And die in musick. Willow, willow, willow!- 43*
Moor, she was chaste; she lov'd thee, cruel Moor:
So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true;
So speaking as I think, I die I die.

[Dies.

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber,
It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper ;—.
O, here it is :-Uncle, I must come forth.

Gra. [Within.] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee

dear;

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. Oth. Look in upon me then, and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee,

Re-enter GRATIANO,

Gra. What is the matter?

Oth. Behold! I have a weapon :

A better never did itself sustain

441

Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day,
That, with this little arm, and this good sword,
I have made my way through more impediments
Than twenty times your stop :-But, O vain boast!
Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now.—

Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd; 450
Here is my journey's end, here is my butt,
The very sea-mark of my utmost sail.
Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear;
Man but a rush against Othello's breast,

And he retires ;-Where should Othello go?
Now, how dost thou look now? O ill starr'd wench?
Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl?
Even like thy chastity.-

O cursed, cursed slave !-Whip me, ye devils,
From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire !—
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead?

Dead? O! O! O!

460

Enter LODOVICO, CASSIO brought in; MONTANO, with IAGO Prisoner; and Officers.

Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man? Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I am.

Lod. Where is that viper? bring the villain forth. Oth. I look down towards his feet;-but that's a

fable:

470

If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

[OTHELLO wounds IAGO.

Lod. Wrench his sword from him.

lago. I bleed, sir; but not kill'd.

Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live ; For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

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

What shall be said to thee?

Oth. Why, any thing:

An honourable murderer, if you will;

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

480

Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?

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

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 ensnar'd my soul and body?

lago. Demand me nothing: What you know, you

know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.

Lod. What? not to pray?

Gra. Torments will ope your lips.

Oth. Well, thou dost best.

490

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

Oth. O villain !

Cas. Most heathenish, and most gross!

Lod. Now here's another discontented paper, 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. O the pernicious caitiff !—

How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief

That was my wife's!

Cas. I found it in my chamber:

And he himself confess'd, but even now,

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

Oth. O fool! fool! fool!

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,
Lago set him on.

go

500

$10

520

with us;

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 him away.
Oth. Soft you; a word or two, before you go.

I have.

531

I have done the state some service, and they know it;
No more of that:-I pray you in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak
Of one, that lov'd 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 Judean, threw a pearl away

Richer than all his tribe; of one, whose subdu'd

eyes,

Albeit unused to the melting mood,

Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

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

Lod. O bloody period!

Gra. All, that is spoke, is marr'd.

540

[Stabs himself.

549

Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee ;-No way but

this,

[Falling upon DESDEM.

[Dies.

Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no wea

pon;

For he was great of heart.

Lod. O Spartan dog,

More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea!

Look on the tragic leading of this bed; [To IAGO.