Iago. If it be that, or any that was hers,
It speaks against her, with the other proofs.
Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives;
One is too poor, too weak for my revenge!
Now do I see 'tis true.-Look here, Iago;
All my fond love thus I do blow to heaven:
"Tis gone.-

Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell!
Yield up, O love, thy crown, and hearted throne,
To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom, with thy fraught,
For 'tis of aspic's tongues!

Iago. Pray, be content.

Oth.

O, blood, Iago, blood! lago. Patience, I say; your mind, perhaps, may change. Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic, and the Hellespont; Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Shall ne'er look back, ne'er ebb to humble love, Till that a capable and wide revenge

[Kneels.

Swallow them up.-Now, by yond marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow
I here engage my words.

lago.
Do not rise yet.- [Kneels.
Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements that clip us round about!
Witness, that here lago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,

To wrong'd Othello's service! let him command,
And to obey shall be in me remorse,

What bloody work soever.

Oth.

I greet thy love,

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous,

And will upon the instant put thee to't:

Within these three days let me hear thee say,

That Cassio's not alive.

Iago. My friend is dead; 'tis done, at your request: But let her live.

Oth.

Damn her, lewd minx! O, damn her!

Come, go with me apart; I will withdraw,

To furnish me with some swift means of death For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant. lago. I am your own for ever.

SCENE IV. The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and Clown. Des. Do you know, sirrah, where lieutenant Cassio

lie's?

Clo. I dare not say,

Des. Why, man?

he lies any where.

Clo. He is a soldier; and for me to say a soldier lies, is stabbing.

Des. Go to; Where lodges he?

Clo. To tell you where he lodges, is to tell you where

I lie.

Des. Can any thing be made of this? Clo. know not where he lodges; devise a lodging, and say—he lies here, were to lie in my own throat.

and for me to or he lies there,

Des. Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report?

Clo. I will catechise the world for him; that is, make questions, and by them answer.

Des. Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him, I have moved my lord in his behalf, and hope, all will be well. Clo. To do this, is within the compass of man's wit; and therefore I will attempt the doing it.

[Exit. Des. Where should I lose that handkerchief, Emilia? Emil. I know not, madam.

Des. Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse Full of crusadoes. And, but my noble Moor Is true of mind, and made of no such baseness As jealous creatures are, it were enough

To put him to ill-thinking.

Emil.

Is he not jealous?

Des. Who, he? I think, the sun, where he was born, Drew all such humours from him.

Emil. Look, where he comes. Des. I will not leave him now, till Cassio Be call'd to him.-How is't with you, my lord?

Enter OTHELLO.

Oth. Well, my good lady:-[Aside] O, hardness to
How do you, Desdemona?
[dissemble!
Des.
Well, my good lord.
Oth. Give me your hand: This hand is moist, my lady.
Des. It yet has felt no age, nor known no sorrow.
Oth. This argues fruitfulness, and liberal heart;-
Hot, hot, and moist: This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty, fasting and prayer,
Much castigation, exercise devout;

For here's a young and sweating devil here,
That commonly rebels. 'Tis a good hand,
A frank one.

Des.

You may, indeed, say so; For 'twas that hand that gave away my heart. Oth. A liberal hand: The hearts, of old, gave hands; But our new heraldry is--hands, not hearts.

Des. I cannot speak of this.

Come now, your pro

Oth. What promise, chuck? [mise. Des. I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you. Oth. I have a salt and sullen rheum offends me; Lend me thy handkerchief.

Des.

Here, my lord.

I have it not about me.

That is a fault:

No, indeed, my lord.

That handkerchief

Did an Egyptian to my mother give;

She was a charmer, and could almost read

The thoughts of people: she told her, while she kept it, "Twould make her amiable, and subdue my father

Entirely to her love; but if she lost it,

Or made a gift of it, my father's eye

Should hold her loathly, and his spirits should hunt
After new fancies: She, dying, gave it me;
And bid me, when my fate would have me wive,
To give it her. I did so: and take heed of't,
Make it a darling like your precious eye;

To lose or give't away, were such perdition,
As nothing else could match.

Des.

Is it possible?
Oth. "Tis true; there's magic in the web of it:
A sibyl, that had number'd in the world
The sun to make two hundred compasses,
In her prophetic fury sew'd the work:

The worms were hallow'd, that did breed the silk;
And it was died in mummy, which the skilful
Conserv'd of maidens' hearts.

Des.

Indeed! is't true?

Oth. Most veritable; therefore look to't well.
Des. Then 'would to heaven, that I had never seen it.
Oth. Ha! wherefore?

Des. Why do you speak so startingly and rash?
Oth. Is't lost? is't gone? speak, is it out of the way?
Des. Heaven bless us!

Oth.

Say you?

Des. It is not lost; But what an if it were?

Fetch't, let me see it.

Des. Why, so I can, sir; but I will not now:

This is a trick, to put me from my suit;

I pray, let Cassio be receiv'd again.

Oth. Fetch me that handkerchief; my mind misgives.

Des. Come, come;

You'll never meet a more sufficient man.

Oth. The handkerchief,

Des.

Oth. The handkerchief,

Des.

I pray, talk to me of Cassio.

A man that, all his time,

Hath founded his good fortune on your love;

Shar'd dangers with you ;—

Oth.

Des. In sooth,

You are to blame.

The handkerchief,

[Exit Othello.

Emil.

Is not this man jealous?

Des. I ne'er saw this before.

Sure, there's some wonder in this handkerchief:
I am most unhappy in the loss of it.

Emil. "Tis not a year or two shows us a man:
They are all but stomachs, and we all but food;
They eat us hungerly, and when they are full,
They belch us. Look you! Cassio, and my husband.
Enter IAGO and CASSIO.

Iago. There is no other way; 'tis she must do't;
And, lo, the happiness! go, and impórtune her. [you?
Des. How now? good Cassio? what's the news with
Cas. Madam, my former suit: I do beseech you,
That, by your virtuous means, I may again
Exist, and be a member of his love,
Whom I, with all the duty of my heart,
Entirely honour; I would not be delay'd:
If my offence be of such mortal kind,
That neither service past, nor present sorrows,
Nor purpos'd merit in futurity,

Can ransom me into his love again,
But to know so must be my benefit;

So shall I clothe me in a forc'd content,
And shut myself up in some other course,

To fortune's alms.

Des.

Alas! thrice-gentle Cassio,

My advocation is not now in tune;

My lord is not my lord; nor should I know him,
Were he in favour, as in humour, alter'd.

So help me, every spirit sanctified,

As I have spoken for you all my best;

And stood within the blank of his displeasure,
For my free speech! You must awhile be patient:
What I can do, I will; and more I will,

Than for myself I dare: let that suffice you.

Iago. Is my lord angry?

Emil.

He went hence but now,

And, certainly, in strange unquietness.

lago. Can he be angry? I have seen the cannon, When it hath blown his ranks into the air;

And, like the devil, from his very arm