The general were put in mind of it.
Perhaps, he sees not; or his good-nature
Prizes the virtue that appears in Cassio,
And looks not on his evils; Is not this true?
Enter Roderigo.

Iago. How now, Roderigo?

I pray you, after the lieutenant; go. [Ext Rod.
Mont. 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
Unto 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!

Re-enter Cassio, driving in Roderigo.

[They fight.

Have you forgot all sense of place and duty? Hold, hold! the general speaks to you; hold, for shame!

[this? Oth. Why, how now, ho! from whence ariseth 5 Are we turn'd Turks; and to ourselves do that, Which heaven hath forbid the Ottomites? For Christian shame, put by this barbarous brawl: He that stirs next to carve forth his own rage, Holds his soul light; he dies upon his motion.10 Silence that dreadful bell, it frights the isle From her propriety ». What is the matter,

|15

masters?

Honest Iago, that look'st dead with grieving,
Speak, who began this? on thy love, I charge thee.
Iugo. I do not know; friends all but now,

even now,

6

In quarter and in terms like bride and groom
Divesting them for bed: and then, but now,
(As if some planet had unwitted men)

20 Swords out, and tilting one at other's breast,
In opposition bloody. I cannot speak
Any beginning to this peevish odds;
And 'would in action glorious I had lost
These legs, that brought me to a part of it!
Oth. How comes it, Michael, you are thus
forgot'?

25

Cas. I pray you, pardon me, I cannot speak.
Oth. Worthy Montano, you were wont be civil;
The gravity and stillness of your youth

30 The world hath noted, and your name is great
In mouths of wisest censure; What's the matter,
That you unlace your reputation thus,
And spend your rich opinion, for the name
Of a night-brawler? Give me answer to it.
Mont. Worthy Othello, I am hurt to danger:
Your officer, Iago, can inform you-
While I spare speech, which something now of
fends me,-

35

lago. Away, I say! go out, and cry-a mutiny. 40

[Aside to Rod. [Exit Roderigo. Nay, good lieutenant,-alas, gentlemen,Help,ho!-Lieutenant,-sir,-Montano,-sir;Help, masters! Here's a goodly watch, indeed!-45 Who's that that rings the bell?-Diablo, ho! [Bell rings. The town will rise: Fie, fie, lieutenant! hold;" You will be sham'd for ever.

Enter Othello, and Attendants.

Oth. What is the matter here?

Mont. I bleed still, I am hurt to the death;he dies +.

Oth. Hold, for your lives.

Of all that I do know: nor know I aught,
By me that's said or done amiss this night;
Unless self-charity 10 be sometime a vice:
And to defend ourselves it be a sin,
When violence assails us.

Oth. 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
50 How this foul rout began, who set it on;
And he that is approv'd 12 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 brim-full of fear,

Iago. Hold, hold, lieutenant,―sir,—Montano, 55 To manage private and domestic quarrel,

gentlemen,

In night, and on the court and guard of safety!

i. e. If he have no drink, he'll keep awake while the clock strikes two rounds, or four-and-twenty hours. 2i. e. an infirmity rooted, settled in his constitution. 'A twiggen bottle is a bottle covered with wicker. * i. e. he shall die. He may be supposed to say this as he renews the fight. i. e.

4

8

from her regular and proper state. i. e. in their quarters; at their lodging. 'i. e. you have thus forgot yourself. i. e. slacken, or loosen, put in danger of dropping; or perhaps strip of its ornaments. i. e. throw away and squander a reputation so valuable as yours. 10 Care of one's self. "Othello means, that passion has discoloured his judgement. To colly anciently signified to besmut, to blacken as with coal. The word is still used in the midland counties. i. c. he that is convicted, by proof, of having been engaged in this offence.

'Tis

'Tis monsterous.-Iago, who began 't?

Mon. If partially affin'd', or leagu'd in office,
Thou dost deliver more or less than truth,
Thou art no soldier.

Jago. 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 determin'd 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 out)
The town might fall in fright: he, swift of foot,
Out-ran 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,
1 ne'er might say before: When I came back,
(For 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 can I not 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, receiv'd,
From him that fled, some strange indignity,
Which patience could not pass.

Oth. I know, lago,

Thy honesty and love doth mince this matter,
Making it light to Cassio:-Cassio, I love thee;
But never more be officer of mine.-

Enter Desdemona, attended.

Look, if my gentle love be not rais'd up;-
I'll make thee an example.

Des. What is the matter, dear?

Oth. All's well now, sweeting: Come away to

bed.

Sir, for your hurts, myselfwill be your surgeon:-
Lead him off.- [To Montano, who is led of:
Iago, look with care about the town;

5

10

15

20

25

pute 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 despis'd, 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 theedevil!

Iago. What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you?

Cas. I know not.

Iago. Is it possible?

Cus. I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O, that men should put an enemy in their mouths, to steal away their brains! that we should, with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts!

Iago. Why, but you are now well enough; How came you thus recover'd?

Cas. It hath pleas'd the devil, drunkenness, to give place to the devil, wrath: one unperfectness shews me another, to make me frankly despise 30 myself.

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 35 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, 40 and presently a beast! O strange!-Every inordinate cup is unbless'd, and the ingredient is a devil.

And silence those whom this vile brawl distracted.--45
Come, Desdemona; 'tis the soldiers' life,
To have their balmy slumbers wak'd with strife.
[Exeunt. Manent Iago and Cassio.
lago. What, are you hurt, lieutenant?
Cas. Ay, past all surgery.
Jago. Marry, heaven forbid!

I

Cas. Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part, sir, of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation.

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 approv'd it, sir. -I drunk!

Iago. You, or any man living, may be drunk at some time, man. I tell you what you shall do. Our general's wife is now the general;-I may 50 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; she 'Il help to put you in your place again: she is of so 55 free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposition, that she holds it a vice in her goodness, not to do more than she is requested: This broken joint, between you and her husband, intreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any lay worth naming, this crack of your love shalf grow stronger than it was before.

lago. As I am an honest man, I had thought you had receiv'd some bodily wound; there is more offence in that, than in reputation. Repu tation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving: 60 You have lost no reputation at all, unless you re

' Affin'd, is bound by proximity of relationship; but here it means related by nearness of office. ? i. e. ejected in his anger. A phrase signifying to act foolishly and childishly.

3-Y

Cas

Cas. You advise me well.

Jago, 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 5 to undertake for me: I am desperate of my fortunes, if they check me here.

Jago. You are in the right. Good night, lieutenant; I must to the watch.

Cas. Good night, honest Iago.

[Exit Cassio. Iago. And what's he then, that says I play the

villain?

When this advice is free' I give, and honest,
Probable to thinking, and (indeed) the course
To win the Moor again? For 'tis most easy
The inclining Desdemona to subdue
In any honest suit; she's frain'd as fruitful
As the free elements: And then for her [tism,
To win the Moor,—were 't to renounce his bap-|
All seals and symbols of redeemed sin,-
His soul is so enfetter'd to her love,
That she may make, unmake, do what she list,
Even as her appetite shall play the god
With his weak function. How am I then a villain,
To counsel Cassio to this parallel' course,
Directly to his good? Divinity of hell!
When devils will their blackest sins put on,
They do suggest at first with heavenly shews,`
As I do now: For, while this honest fool
Plies Desdemona to repair his fortunes,
And she for him pleads strongly to the Moor,
I'll pour this pestilence into his ear,-
That she repeals him for her body's lust;
And, by how much she strives to do him good,

She shall undo her credit with the Moor.
So will I turn her virtue into pitch;
And out of her own goodness make the net
That shall enmesh' them all. How now, Roderigo?
Enter Roderigo.

Rod. I do follow here in the chace, not like a
hound that hunts, but one that fills up the cry.-
My money is almost spent; I have been to-night
exceedinglywell cudgell'd; and, I think, the issue
to will be-I shall have so much experience for my
pains: and so, with no money at all, and a little
more wit, return to Venice.
[tience!
Iago. How poor are they, that have not pa
What wound did ever heal, but by degrees?
15 Thou know'st, we work by wit, and not by
witchcraft;

And wit depends on dilatory time.

Does 't not go well? Cassio hath beaten thee, And thou,by that small hurt,hast cashier'd Cassio: 20 Though other things grow fair against the sun, Yet fruits, that blossom first, will first be ripe: Content thyself a while.-By the mass, 'tis morning:

Pleasure, and action, make the hours seem short.-25 Retire thee; go where thou art billeted: Away, I say; thou shalt know more hereafter: Nay, get thee gone.[Exit Roderigo.

Two things are to be done,-
My wife must move for Cassio to her mistress;
30 I'll set her on;

Myself, the while, will draw the Moor apart,
And bring him jump when he may Cassio find
Soliciting his wife:-Ay, that's the way;
Dull not device by coldness and delay.

[Erit.

III.

that I know. But, masters, here's money for you: and the general so likes your music, that he 45 desires you, of all loves, to iñake no more noise with it.

your pains, Something that's brief; and bid-good-morrow, [Musick plays, and enter Clown. 50 Clown. Why, masters, have your instruments been at Naples, that they speak i' the nose thus'? Mus. How, sir, how?

Clown. Are these, I pray you, call'd wind in

Mus. Well, sir, we will not.

Clown. 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.

Mus. We have none such, sir.

Clown. Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away: Go; vanish into air; away.

[Exeunt Mus. Cas. Dost thou hear, my honest friend? Clown. No, I hear not your honest friend; I hear you.

Cas. Pr'ythee, keep up thy quillets. There's a poor piece of gold for thee: if the gentlewoman

3

1i. e. has an appearance of honest openness, of frank good-will. elements, out of which all things are produced. "That is, recalls him.

Pestilence, for poison.

* Liberal, bountiful, as the

L. e. a course level, and even with his design.
A metaphor from taking birds in meshes.

? The venereal disease first appeared at the siege of Naples.

that

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?

Clown. She is stirring, sir; if she will stir hither, I shall seem to notify unto her. [Exit Clown.

Enter Iago.

Cas. Do, good my friend. In happy time, Iago.
Iago. You have not been a-bed then?
Cas. Why, no; the day had broke
Before we parted. I have made bold, Iago,
To send in for your wife: My suit to her
Is, that she will to virtuous Desdemona
Procure me some access.

Iago. I'll send her to you presently:
And I'll devise a mean to draw the Moor
Out of the way, that your converse and business
May be more free.

[Exit.

Cas. I humbly thank you for 't. I never knew
A Florentine more kind and honest.
Enter Emilia.

Emil. Good morrow, good lieutenant: I am

sorry

For your displeasure; but all will soon be well.
The general, and his wife, are talking of it;
And she speaks for you stoutly: The Moor replies, 25
That he, you hurt, is of great fame in Cyprus,
And great affinity; and that, in wholesome wisdom,
He might not but refuse you: but, he protests, he
loves you;

And needs no other suitor, but his likings,
To take the safest occasion by the front,
To bring you in again.

Cas. Yet, I beseech you,—

If you think fit, or that it may be done,-
Give me advantage of some brief discourse
With Desdemona alone.

Emil. Pray you, come in;

I will bestow you where you shall have time
To speak your bosom freely.

130

lord,

Cas. Ay, but, lady,

That policy may either last so long,

Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That, I being absent, and my place supply'd,
My general will forget my love and service.

Des. Do not doubt that; before Æmilia here,
give thee warrant of thy place: assure thee,
If I do vow a friendship, I'll perform it
To the last article: my lord shall never rest;
I'll watch him tame, and talk him out of pa
tience;

Cassio;

His bed shall seen a school, his board a shrift;
I'll intermingle every thing he does
With Cassio's suit: Therefore be
For thy solicitor shall rather die,
Than give thy cause away.

merry,

Enter Othello, and Iago, at a distance.
Emil. Madam, here comes my lord.
Cas. Madam, I'll take my leave.

Des. Why, stay, and hear me speak.

Cas. Madam, not now; I am very ill at ease,

35 Unfit for mine own purposes.

Des. Well, do your discretion.

Iago. Ha! I like not that.
Oth. What dost thou say?

[Exit Cassio.

[Exeunt.

40

II.

Iago. Nothing, my lord: or if I know not
Oth. Was not that Cassio parted from my wife?
Iago. Cassio, my lord? No, sure, I cannot

[what.

Cas. I am much bound to you.

SCENE

think it,

That he would steal away so guilty-like,
Seeing you coming.

Oth. I do believe, 'twas he.

Des. How now, my lord?

I have been talking with a suitor here,

A man that languishes in your displeasure.
Oth. Who is 't, you mean?

Des. Why, your lieutenant Cassio. Good my
lord,

If I have any grace, or power to move you,
His present reconciliation take;

For, if he be not one that truly loves you, 55 That errs in ignorance, and not in cunning?, I have no judgement in an honest face:

Emil. Good madam, do; I know it grieves my 60

As if the case were his.

I pr'ythee, call him back.

Oth. Went he hence now?

Des. Ay, sooth; so humbled,
That he hath left part of his grief with me,
To suffer with him: Good love all him back.

It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is sub

dued by keeping them from sleep.

Cunning, for design, or purpose, simply.

3Y 2

Oth.

Oth. Not now, sweet Desdemona; some other]

time.

Des. But shall 't be shortly?
Oth. The sooner, sweet, for you.
Des. Shall 't be to-night at supper?
Oth. No, not to-night.

Des. To-morrow dinner then?
Oth. I shall not dine at home.

I meet the captains at the citadel.

[morn;

5

Des. Why then, to-morrow night; or Tuesday 10 Or Tuesday noon, or night; or Wednesday morn; I pray thee, name the time; but let it not Exceed three days: in faith, he 's penitent; And yet his trespass, in our common reason, (Save that, they say, the wars must make ex-15 amples

Out of their best) is not almost a fault

To incur a private check: When shall he come?
Tell me, Othello. I wonder in my soul,
What you could ask me, that I should deny,
Or stand so mammering on'. What! Michael
Cassio,
[time,
That 'came a-wooing with you; and so many a
When I have spoke of you dispraisingly,
Hath ta'en your part; to have so much to do
To bring him in! Trust me, I could do much,-
Oth. Pr'ythee, no more: let him come when
he will;

I will deny thee nothing.

Des. Why, this is not a boon;

"Tis as I should entreat you wear your gloves,
Or feed on nourishing dishes, or keep you warm;
Or sue to you to do a peculiar profit
To your own person: Nay, when I have a suit,
Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed,
It shall be full of poize and difliculty,
And fearful to be granted.

Oth. I will deny thee nothing:
Whereon, I do beseech thee, grant me this,—
To leave me but a little to myself.

Des. Shall I deny you? no: Farewell, my lord.
Oth. Farewell, my Desdemona: I will come to
thee straight.
[teach you:

Des. Emilia, come:-) -Be it as your fancies
Whate'er you be, I am obedient.

[Exit with Æmil.

Oth. Excellent wretch 3! Perdition catch my soul, But I do love thee! and when I love thee not,

20I heard thee say but now,-Thou lik'dst not that,
When Cassio left my wife; What didst not like?
And, when I told thec-he was of my counsel
In my whole course of wooing, thou cry'dst,
Indeed!

25 And didst contract and purse thy brow together,
As if thou then hadst shut up in thy brain
Some horrible conceit. If thou dost love me,
Shew me thy thought.

30

Iago. My lord, you know I love you.

Oth. I think, thou do'st;

And, for I know thou art full of love and ho

nesty,

[breath,And weigh'st thy words before thou giv'st them Therefore these stops of thine fright me the more: 35 For such things, in a false disloyal knave,

Are tricks of custom; but, in a man that's just,
They are close delations', working from the heart,
That passion cannot rule.

lago. For Michael Cassio,

40I dare be sworn, I think that he is honest.
Oth. I think so too.

45

Iago. Men should be what they seem;
Or, those that be not, 'would they might seem

none'!

To hesitate, to stand in suspence. 2 i. e. of weight. 3 The word wretch, in some parts of England, is a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection. * i. e. When I cease to love thee, the world is at an end; i. e. there remains nothing va luable or important. i. e. occult and secret accusations, working involuntarily from the heart, which, though resolved to conceal the fault, cannot rule its passion of resentment. they might no longer seem, or bear the shape of men. '

i. e. would

Utter