Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Iago. But you'll not hear me.

If ever I did dream of fuch a matter, abhor me. Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in Iago. Defpife me,

If I do

[thy hate.

not. Three great ones of this city,
In perfonal fuit to make me his lieutenant,
Off-capp'd to him: and, by the faith of man, (2)
I know my price, I'm worth no worse a place.
But he, as loving his own pride and purpofe,
Evades them with a bombaft circumllance,
Horribly ftuft with epithets of war,
And, in conclufion,

Non-fuits my mediators. "Certes," fays he,
"I have already chofe my officer."
And what was he?

Forfooth, a great arithmetician, (3)

drab, or fmallcoal wench; Shakespeare would provide him the daughter and heir of fome great lord, or privy-counfellor, and all the town fhould reckon it a very fuitable match. Yet the English are not bred up with that hatred and averhon to the Moors as are the Venetians, who fuffer by a perpetual hoftility from them: littora littoribus contraria. Nothing is more odious in nature than an improbable lie, and certainly never was any play fraught like this of Othello with improbabilities, &c."

Thus this critic goes on; but fuch reflexions require no ferious answer. This tragedy will continue to have lasting charms enough to make us blind to such abfurdities as the Poet thought were not worth his care.

(2) Oft capt to him :] Thus the oldeft Quarto, and some modern editions; but I have chofe to restore the reading of the first and fecond Folio impreflions off capt, i. e. stood cap in hand, foliciting him. So, in Antony;

held my cap off to thy fortunes.

And in Timmen;

I have ever

And let his very breath, whom thou'lt obferve,
Blow off thy cap.

(3) Forfouth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Caflio, a Florentine,

A fellow almost damed in a fair wife] Thus has this par

One Michael Caffio; ("the Florentine's "A fellow almot damn'd in a fair wife;").

fage ignorantly been corrupted, (as Mr Warburton likewife faw with me:) by falfe pointing, and an inadvertence to matter of fact, through the whole courfe of the editions. By the by, this play was not published even fingly, that I can find, till fix years after the Author's death; and by that interval became more liable to errors. I'll fubjoin the correction, and then the reafons for it:

And. in conclufion,

Nonfaits my mediators: "Certes," fays he,
"I have already chofe my officer;"-
And what was he?

Forfooth, a great arithmetician,

One Michael Caffio;-("the Florentine's

"A fellow almost damned in a fair wife;"- -)
That never, &c.

This pointing fets circumstances right, as I hall immediately explain; and it gives a variety in lago reporting the behaviour of Othello, to ftart into thee breaks; now, to make Othello speak; then, to interrupt what Othello fays, with his own private reflexions; ▬▬▬▬▬▬then again, to proceed with Othello's fpecches;-for this not only marks the inquietude of lago's mind upon the subject in hand, but likewife fhews the actor in the variation of tone and geftare, whilst he (in a breath, as 'twere) perfonates alternately Othello and himself. Besides, to come to the neceflity of the change made; lago, not Callio, was the Florentine; lago, not Caffio, was the manied man; lago's wife attends Defdemona to Cyprus; Cafio has a millefs there, a common ftrumpet; and lago telis him in the fourth act;

She gives it out that you thall marry her.

Which would be very abfurd, if Caffio had been already married at Venice. Befides, our Post follows the authority of his novel in giving the villainous enfign a fair wife. Havea fimilmente me ata quello Malvazio la fra Mogle in Cipri, la q sale era bella et honefta giovane. And it is a very good reafon for rejecting lago, because he was a married man, and might be thought too much governed by his wife to be capable of this charge. And this was a natural objection in an unmarried general, as Othello was when he chofe his officers. lago therefore was the fellow almost damned in a fair wife; which is an expreffion obfcure enough to deferve a fhort explanation. The Poet means, lago had fo beauti

That never fet a fquadron in the field,
Nor the divifion of a battle knows

More than a fpinfter; but the bookish theoric,
Wherein the toged counf lors can propose (4)

ful a wife, that fhe was his heaven on earth; that he idolized her, and forgot to think of happiness in an after state, as placing all his views of blifs in the fingle enjoyment of her. In this fenfe, beauty, when it can fo feduce and ingrofs a man's thoughts, may be faid almost to damn him. Jeffica, fpeaking of Baffanio's happiness in a wife, fays fomething almoft equal to this:

For having fuch a bleffing in his lady,

He finds the joys of heaven here no earth;
And if on earth he do not merit it,

In reafon he should never come to heaven.

Merchant of Venice. Beaumont and Fletcher likewife, in their King and no King, make Tigranes fpeak of fuch a degree of beauty fufficient to damn fouls;

-had the fo tempting fair,

That she could with it off for damning souls:

i. e. either, for that it did damn fouls, or for fear it fhould. (4) Wherein the tongued confuls] So the generality of the impreffions read; but the oldest Quarto has it, toged, (which gave the hint for my emendation) the fenators, that aflifted the duke in council, in their proper gowns.-lago, a little lower, fays to Brabantio;

Zounds, Sir, you're robbed; for shame, put on your

gown.

Now, I think, 'tis pretty certain that lago does not mean, Slip on your night gown, but your gown of office, your fenatorial gown; put on your authority, and pursue the thief who has ftole your daughter." Befides, there is not that contraft of terms betwixt tengued, as there is betwixt toged and foldierfhip. This reading is peculiarly proper here, and the fame oppofition is almoft for ever made by the Roman writers. For inftance;

Cicero, in offic:

Cedant arma toga..

Idem in Pifonem:

-Sed quod pacis eft infigne et otii, toga; contrà autem

arma, tumultus atque belli.

Vell. Paterculus de Scipione Emiliano :

As mafterly as he; mere prattle, without practice, Is all his foldierfhiphe had th' election; And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds Christian and Heathen (5) must be belee'd and calm'd -paternifque Lucii Pauli virtutibus fimillimus, omnibus belli ac toga dotibus, &c.

Caffius Ciceroni :

Etenim tuo toga amaium armis felicior.

Ovid. Metamo. lib. xv..

Cæfar in urte fua deus eft; quam Marte togaque,
Præcipuum, &c.

Idem in Epift. ex Ponto, li. 2. ep. 1.

――Jam nunc hai à me, juvenum belloque togeque
Maxime.

Juvenal, Sat. 10.

Militia.

-nocitura toga, nocitura petuntur

And in a great number of paffages more, that might be quoted. But now let me proceed to explain, why I have ventured to fubftitute counsellors in the room of confuls; and then, I hope, the alteration will not appear arbitrary. The Venetian nobility, 'tis well known, conftitute the great coun cil of the fenate, and are a part of the administration, and fummoned to affift and counfel the Doge, who is prince of the fenate; and, in that regard, has only precedency before the other magiftrates. So that, in this refpect, they may very properly be called counfellors. Again, when the officer comes from the Duke to Brabantio, in a subsequent feene of this act, he fays;

The Duke's in council, and your noble felf,

I'm fure, is fent for.

And when Brabantio comes into the fenate, the Duke fays to him;

We lacked your courfel, and your help to-night. Now Brabantio was a fenator, but no conful. Befides, though the government of Venice was democratic at first, under confuis and tribunes, that form of power has been totally abrogated fince Doges have been elected; and whatever confuls of other states may be refident there, yet they have no more a voice, or place, in the public councils, or in what concerns peace or war, than foreign ambaffadors can have in our parliament.

(5) Must be led and calmed] There is no confonance of

By Debitor and Creditor, this Counter-Cafter';` He, in good time, muft his lieutenant be, [cient. And I, (God bless the mark!) his Moorfhip's anRod. By Heaven, I would have rather been his hangman.

Iago. But there's no remedy, 'tis the curfe of ferPreferment goes by letter and affection, [vice; And not by old gradation, where each second Stood heir to the firft. Now, Sir, be judge your If I in any juft term am affigned

To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.

Iago. O Sir, content you;

[felf

I follow him to ferve my turn upon him.
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly followed. You fhall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doating on his own obfequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's aís,
For nought but provender; and when he's old, ca-
thiered:

Whip me fuch honeft knaves

-Others there are, Who trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,

Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves; And, throwing but fhows of fervice on their lords, Well thrive by them; and when they've lin'd their coats,

Do themselves homage. These folks have fome foul, And fuch a one do I profefs myself.

It is as fure as you are Rodorigo,

Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:

metaphor in these two terms. I have chofe to read with the first Folio, and feveral other of the old editions. Beleea is a fea term as well as calmed; and a fhip is faid to be beleed when the lyes clofe under the wind on the lee-shore, makes no fail.

« ZurückWeiter »