To bring them to that prospect. Damn them, then, Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, 1 But, sith I am entered in this cause so far,— There are a kind of men so loose of soul, In sleep I heard him say,-Sweet Desdemona, And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand, Iago. 2 Nay, this was but his dream. Oth. But this denoted a foregone conclusion; 'Tis a shrewd doubt, though it be but a dream.3 Iago. And this may help to thicken other proofs, That do demonstrate thinly. 1 A living reason is a reason founded on fact and experience. 2 A foregone conclusion is some former experience. Conclusion is used for erperiment or trial in several other places of these plays. 3 The old quarto gives this line to Iago, as well as the two which in the folio it is given to Othello. follow; 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,- Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell! Iago. Pray, be content. Oth. Iago. Patience, I say; change. O blood, Iago, blood! your mind, perhaps, may Oth. Never, lago. Like to the Pontic sea, 1 The quarto reads, "Now do I see 'tis tune." 2 The heart on which thou wast enthroned. 3 i. e. swell, because the fraught thou art charged with is of poison. 4 From the word Like to marble heaven, inclusively, is not found in the quarto 1622. Pope thinks that it would be better omitted, as an unnatural excursion in this place. Shakspeare probably derived his knowledge upon this subject from the second book and ninety-seventh chapter of Pliny's Natural History, 1601 :-" and the sea Pontus evermore floweth and runneth out into Propontis; but the sea never retireth backe againe within Pontus." 5 Capable seems to be here used for capacious, comprehensive. Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven, In the due reverence of a sacred vow I here engage my words. [Kneels. Witness, you ever-burning lights above! To wronged Othello's service! Let him command, What bloody work soever. Oth. I greet thy love, Not with vain thanks, but with acceptance bounteous, Within these three days let me hear thee say Iago. My friend is dead; 'tis done, at your request. But let her live. Oth. Damn her, lewd minx; O, damn her! with me apart; I will withdraw Come, go with me apart; To furnish me with some swift means of death For the fair devil. Now art thou my lieutenant. 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? 1 The first quarto reads excellency. By execution Shakspeare meant employment or exercise. "Let Shakspeare always uses remorse for pity or commiseration. him command whatever bloody business, and in me it shall be an act not of cruelty but of pity or commiseration to obey him." The quarto reads, "What bloody business ever." 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.1 Des. Can any thing be made of this? Clo. I know not where he lodges; and for me to devise a lodging, and say-he lies here, or he lies there, were to lie in my own throat. Des. Can you inquire him out, and be edified by report? Clo. I will catechize the world for him; that is, make questions, and by them answer.2 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. 3 Des. Believe me, I had rather have lost my purse Full of cruzadoes. 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 humors from him. Look, where he comes. Emil. 1 This and the following speech are wanting in the first quarto. 2 i. e. and by them, when answered, form my own answer to you. 3 Cruzadoes were of gold, and weighed from two-pennyweights six grains, to two pennyweights sixteen grains, and differed in value from six shillings and eight pence to nine shillings. The sovereigns who struck these coins were Emanuel and his son John of Portugal. Enter OTHELlo. Oth. Well, my good lady. [Aside.] O, hardness to dissemble! 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. For here's a young and sweating devil here, Des. You may, indeed, say so; 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 promise. Oth. What promise, chuck? Des. I have sent to bid Cassio come speak with you. Oth. I have a salt and sullen1 rheum offends me ; Lend me thy handkerchief. Did an Egyptian to my mother give: She was a charmer, and could almost read 1 The folio reads "sorry." Rider explains sullen by acerbus (Latin). 2 Charmer, for enchanter, is of common occurrence in Scripture. |