That make ambition virtue! O, farewell!
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump,
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife,
The royal banner; and all quality,

Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war!
And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats.
The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit,
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!:

Iago. Is it possible?-My lord,—————

Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore; Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof;

[Taking him by the Throat. Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul,: Thou hadst been better have been born a dog, Than answer my wak'd wrath.

Iago.

Is it come to this?

Oth. Make me to see it; or (at the least) so
prove it,

That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop,
To hang a doubt on: or, woe upon thy life!
Iago. My noble lord,-

Oth. If thou dost slander her, and torture me, Never pray more: abandon all remorse;

On horror's head horrors accumulate:

5

Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd,
For nothing canst thou to damnation add,
Greater than that.

Iago,

O grace! O heaven defend me! Are you a man? have you a soul, or sense?God be wi' you; take mine office.-O wretched fool, That liv'st to make thine honesty a vice!

O monstrous world! Take note, take note, O world,
To be direct and honest, is not safe.-

I thank you for this profit; and, from hence,
I'll love no friend, since love breeds such offence.

abandon all remorse;] All tenderness of nature, all pity; in which sense the word was frequently used in Shakspeare's time.

Oth. Nay, stay :-Thou should'st be honest. Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool, And loses that it works for.

Oth. By the world, I think my wife be honest, and think she is not; I think that thou art just, and think thou art not; I'll have some proof: Her name, that was as fresh As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black As mine own face.-If there be cords, or knives, Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams,

I'll not endure it.-Would, I were satisfied!

Iago. I see, sir, you are eaten up with passion: I do repent me, that I put it to you.

You would be satisfied?

Oth.

Would? nay, I will.

Iago. And may: But, how? how satisfied, my

lord?

Would you, the supervisor, grossly gape on?
Behold her tupp'd?

Oth.

Death and damnation! O!

Iago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think,

To bring them to that prospect: Damn them then,
If ever mortal eyes do see them bolster,
More than their own! What then? how then?
What shall I say? Where's satisfaction?

It is impossible, you should see this,

6

Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys,
As salt as wolves in pride, and fools as gross
As ignorance made drunk. But yet, I say,
If imputation, and strong circumstances,-
Which lead directly to the door of truth,
Will give you satisfaction, you may have it.
Oth. Give me a living reason' she's disloyal.

Were they as prime as goats,] Prime is prompt.

7 Give me a living reason-] Living, for speaking, manifest, actual proof.

Iago. I do not like the office:

But, sith I am enter'd in this cause so far,-
Prick'd to it by foolish honesty and love,-
I will go on, I lay with Cassio lately;
And, being troubled with a raging tooth,
I could not sleep.

There are a kind of men so loose of soul,
That in their sleeps will mutter their affairs;
One of this kind is Cassio:

In sleep I heard him say,-Sweet Desdemona,
Let us be wary, let us hide our loves!

And then, sir, would he gripe, and wring my hand,
Cry,-O, sweet creature!" and then kiss me hard,
As if he pluck'd up kisses by the roots,
That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg

Over my thigh, and sigh'd, and kiss'd; and then
Cry'd, Cursed fate! that gave thee to the Moor!
Oth, O monstrous! monstrous!

8

Iago. Nay, this was but his dream. Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion; 'Tis a shrew'd doubt, though it be but a dream. Iago, And this may help to thicken other proofs, That do demonstrate thinly.

Oth.

I'll tear her all to pieces. Iago. Nay, but be wise: yet we see nothing done; She may be honest yet. Tell me but this, Have you not sometimes seen a handkerchief, Spotted with strawberries, in your wife's hand? Oth. I gave her such a one; 'twas my first gift. Iago. I know not that: but such a handkerchief, (I am sure it was your wife's,) did I to-day See Cassio wipe his beard with.

Oth.

If it be that,

Iago. If it be that, or any that was her's,

• a foregone conclusion;] A conclusion in Shakspeare's time meant an experiment or trial.

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 aspicks' tongues!

Iago. Pray, be content,

Oth.

O, blood, Iago, blood!

Iago. Patience, I say; your mind, perhaps, may

change.

Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontick sea,
Whose icy current and compulsive course
Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on
To the Propontick, 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 capable2 and wide revenge

Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven,
In the due reverence of a sacred vow

[Kneels.

Do not rise yet.—

[Kneels.

Witness, you ever-burning lights above!
You elements that clip us round about!
Witness, that here Iago doth give up
The execution of his wit, hands, heart,
To wrong'd Othello's service! let him command,

9 hearted throne,] Hearted throne, is the heart on which thou wast enthroned.

1

poison.

1

swell, bosom, &c.] i. e. swell, because the fraught is of

2- a capable-] Capable perhaps signifies ample, capacious. 3 The execution—] i. e. employment or exercise.

And to obey shall be in me remorse,
What bloody work soever.*

Oth.

I greet thy love,

Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounte

ous,

And will upon the instant put thee to't:
Within these three days let me hear thee
That Cassio's not alive.

say,

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. Iago. I am your own for ever.

SCENE IV.

The same.

[Exeunt.

Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and Clown.

Des. Do you know, sirrah, where lieutenant Cassio lies?

Clo. I dare not say, he lies any where.

Des. Why, man?

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.

— let him command,

And to obey shall be in me remorse,

What bloody work soever.] Iago devotes himself to wronged Othello, and says, Let him command whatever bloody business, and in me it shall be an act, not of cruelty, but of tenderness, to obey him; not of malice to others, but of tenderness for him.