Oth. She turn'd to folly, and she was a whore. Emil. Thou dost belie her, and thou art a devil.

Oth. She was false as water. Emil. Thou art rash as fire, to say That she was false: O, she was heavenly true! Oth. Cassio did tup her; ask thy husband else. O, I were damn'd beneath all depth in hell, But that I did proceed upon just grounds To this extremity. Thy husband knew it all. Emil. My husband!

Oth. Thy husband.

140

Emil. Do thy worst:

This deed of thine is no more worthy heaven 160
Than thou wast worthy her,
Oth.
Peace, you were best.
Emil. Thou hast not half that power to do
me harm

As I have to be hurt. O gull! O dolt!
As ignorant as dirt! thou hast done a deed-
I care not for thy sword; I'll make thee known,
Though I lost twenty lives.-Help! help, ho!
help!

The Moor hath kill'd my mistress! Murder! murder!

Enter MONTANO, GRATIANO, IAGO, and others.

Mon. What is the matter? How now, general!

Emil. O, are you come, Iago? You have done well,

That men must lay their murders on your neck. Gra. What is the matter? 171

Emil. Disprove this villain, if thou be'st a man: He says thou told'st him that his wife was false: I know thou did'st not, thou'rt not such a villain : Speak, for my heart is full.

Iago. I told him what I thought, and told no

Emil. I will not charm my tongue; I am bound to speak:

My mistress here lies murder'd in her bed,-
Ail. O heavens forfend!

Emil. And your reports have set the murder on.
Oth. Nay, stare not, masters; it is true, indeed.
Gra. 'Tis a strange truth.
Mon. O monstrous act!

Emil.

Villany, villany, villany! 190 I think upon't, I think: I smell't: O villany!I thought so then :-I'll kill myself for grief:O villany, villany!

Iago. What, are you mad? I charge you, get you home.

Emil. Good gentlemen, let me have leave to speak:

'Tis proper I obey him, but not now.
Perchance, Iago, I will ne'er go home.
Oth. O! O! O!
He falls on the bed.
Emil.
Nay, lay thee down and roar;
For thou hast kill'd the sweetest innocent
That e'er did lift up eye.

Oth.

[Rising] O, she was foul! 200 I scarce did know you, uncle: there lies your niece,

Whose breath, indeed, these hands have newly stopp'd:

I know this act shows horrible and grim.

Gra. Poor Desdemona! I am glad thy father's dead:

Thy match was mortal to him, and pure grief
Shore his old thread in twain: did he live now,
This sight would make him do a desperate turn,
Yea, curse his better angel from his side,
And fall to reprobation.

210

Oth. 'Tis pitiful: but yet lago knows
That she with Cassio hath the act of shame
A thousand times committed. Cassio confess'dit:
And she did gratify his amcrous works
With that recognizance and pledge of love
Which I first gave her; I saw it in his hand:
It was a handkerchief, an antique token
My father gave my mother.

Emil. O heaven! O heavenly powers!
lago. Come, hold your peace.
Emil.

220

'Twill out, 'twill out: I peace! No, I will speak as liberal as the north: Let heaven and men and devils, let them all, All, all, cry shame against me, yet I'll speak. lago. Be wise, and get you home. Emil. I will not. [lago offers to stab Emilia. Gra. Fie! Your sword upon a woman?

Emil. O thou dull Moor! that handkerchief thou speak'st of

I found by fortune, and did give my husband;
For often, with a solemn earnestness,
More than indeed belong'd to such a trifle,
He begg'd of me to steal it.
lago.

Villanous whore! 229 Emil. She give it Cassio! no, alas! I found it, And I did give't my husband.

Iago.

Filth, thou liest! Emil. By heaven, I do not, I do not, gentlemen.

O murderous coxcomb! what should such a fool
Do with so good a woman?
Oth.

Are there no stones in heaven

But what serve for the thunder?- Precious villain! [He runs at Iago; Iago, from behind, stabs Emilia, and exit. Gra. The woman falls; sure, he hath kill'd his wife.

Emil. Ay, ay: O, lay me by my mistress' side.

Gra. He's gone, but his wife's kill'd.
Mon. 'Tis a notorious villain. Take you this

weapon,

Which I have here recover'd from the Moor: 240 Come, guard the door without; let him not pass, But kill him rather. I'll after that same villain, For 'tis a damned slave.

[Exeunt Montano and Gratiano. Oth. I am not valiant neither, But every puny whipster gets my sword: But why should honor outlive honesty? Let it go all.

Emil. What did thy song bode, lady? Hark, canst thou hear me? I will play the swan, And die in music. [Singing] Willow, willow, willow.

Moor, she was chaste; she loved thee, cruel Moor:

So come my soul to bliss, as I speak true; 250 So speaking as I think, I die, I die. Dies

Oth. I have another weapon in this chamber; It is a sword of Spain, the ice-brook's temper:O, here it is. Uncle, I must come forth.

Gra. Within] If thou attempt it, it will cost thee dear:

Thou hast no weapon, and perforce must suffer. Oth. Look in upon me then and speak with me, Or, naked as I am, I will assault thee.

Re-enter GRATIANO.

260

Gra. What is the matter? Oth. Behold, I have a weapon; A better never did itself sustain Upon a soldier's thigh: I have seen the day, That, with this little arm and this good sword, I have made my way through more impediments Than twenty times your stop: but. O vain boast! Who can control his fate? 'tis not so now. Be not afraid, though you do see me weapon'd; Here is my journey's end, here is my butt, And very sea-mark of my utmost sail. Do you go back dismay'd? 'tis a lost fear; Man but a rush against Othello's breast, And he retires. Where should Othello go? Now, how dost thou look now? O ill-starr'd wench!

270

Pale as thy smock! when we shall meet at compt,
This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven,
And fiends will snatch at it. Cold, cold, my girl!
Even like thy chastity. O cursed slave!
Whip me, ye devils,

From the possession of this heavenly sight!
Blow me about in winds! roast me in sulphur!
Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire! 280
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead!

Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, CASSIO carried in a chair, and Officers with 1AGO, prisoner.

Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?

Lod. O thou Othello, that wert once so good,
Fall'n in the practice of a damned slave,
What shall be said to thee?
Oth.
Why, any thing:
An honorable murderer, if you will;
For nought I did in hate, but all in honor.
Lod. This wretch hath part confess'd his
villany:

Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?
Oth. Ay.

301

Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause. Oth. I do believe it, and I ask you pardon. Will you, I pray, demand that demi-devil Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body? lago. Demand me nothing: what you know, you know:

From this time forth I never will speak word.
Lod. What, not to pray?
Gra.

Torments will ope your lips.
Oth. Well, thou dost best.

Lod. Sir, you shall understand what hath befall'n,

Which, as I think, you know not. Here is a letter
Found in the pocket of the slain Roderigo;
And here another: the one of them imports 310
The death of Cassio to be undertook
By Roderigo.

Oth. O villain!
Cas.
Most heathenish and most gross!
Lod. Now here's another discontented paper,
Found in his pocket too; and this, it seems,
Roderigo meant to have sent this damned villain;
But that belike lago in the interim
Came in and satisfied him.

Oth

O the pernicious caitiff! How came you, Cassio, by that handkerchief That was my wife's? Cas. I found it in my chamber: 320 And he himself confess'd but even now That there he dropp'd it for a special purpose Which wrought to his desire. Oth. O fool! fool! fool! Cas. There is besides in Roderigo's letter, How he upbraids lago, that he made him Brave me upon the watch; whereon it came That I was cast; and even but now he spake, After long seeming dead, Iago hurt him," Iago set him on.

Lod. You must forsake this room, and go with us: 330 Your power and your command is taken off, And Cassio rules in Cyprus. For this slave, If there be any cunning cruelty That can torment him much and hold him long It shall be his. You shall close prisoner rest, Till that the nature of your fault be known To the Venetian state. Come, bring him away.

Oth. Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't.

339

No more of that. I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice: then must you
speak

Of one that loved not wisely but too well;
Of one not easily jealous, but being wrought
Perplex'd in the extreme; of one whose hand,
Like the base Indian, threw a pearl away
Richer than all his tribe; of one whose subdued
eyes,

Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees
Their medicinal gum. Set you down this:
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,

350

[Stabs himself.

All that's spoke is marr'd.

Oth. I kiss'd thee ere I kill'd thee: no way but this;

Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

[Falls on the bed, and dies. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no 360

weapon;

For he was great of heart.

Lod. To lage] O Spartan dog, More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea! Look on the tragic loading of this bed; This is thy work: the object poisons sight; Let it be hid. Gratiano, keep the house, And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor, Forthey succeed on you. To you, lord governor, Remains the censure of this hellish villain; The time, the place, the torture: O, enforce it! Myself will straight aboard; and to the state 370 This heavy act with heavy heartrelate. [Exeunt.

The office and devotion of their view
Upon a tawny front: his captain's heart,
Which in the scuffles of great fights hath burst
The buckles on his breast, reneges all temper,
And is become the bellows and the fan
To cool a gypsy's lust.

Flourish. Enter ANTONY, CLEOPATRA, her Ladies, the train, with Eunuchs fanning her.

Look, where they come: 10 Take but good note, and you shall see in him The triple pillar of the world transform'd Into a strumpet's fool: behold and see.

Cleo. If it be love indeed, tell me how much. Ant. There's beggary in the love that can be reckon'd.

Cleo. I'll set a bourn how far to be beloved. Ant. Then must thou needs find out new heaven, new earth.

Enter an Attendant. Att. News, my good lord, from Rome. Ant. Grates me: the sum. Cleo. Nay, hear them, Antony: Fulvia perchance is angry; or, who knows If the scarce-bearded Cæsar hath not sent His powerful mandate to you, 'Do this, or this; Take in that kingdom, and enfranchise that;

20

Perform't, or else we damn thee.'
Ant.
How, my love!
Cico. Perchance! nav, and most like:
You must not stay here longer, your dismission
Is come from Cæsar: therefore hear it, Antony.
Where's Fulvia's process? Cæsar's, I would say?
both?

Call in the messengers. As I am Egypt's queen,
Thou blushest, Antony; and that blood of thine
Is Cæsar's homager: else so thy cheek pays

shame

31

When shrill-tongued Fulvia scolds. The mes

sengers!

Ant. Let Rome in Tiber melt, and the wide arch

Of the ranged empire fall! Here is my space.
Kingdoms are clay: our dungy earth alike
Feeds beast as man: the nobleness of life
Is to do thus; when such a mutual pair
[Embracing.
And such a twain can do't, in which I bind,
On pain of punishment, the world to weet
We stand up peerless.
Cleo.
Excellent falsehood! 40
Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her?
I'll seem the fool I am not; Antony
Will be himself.

Ant.

But stirr'd by Cleopatra. Now, for the love of Love and her soft hours, Let's not confound the time with conference harsh:

There's not a minute of our lives should stretch Without some pleasure now. What sport to

night?

Cleo. Hear the ambassadors. Ant. Fie, wrangling queen! Whom every thing becomes, to chide, to laugh, To weep; whose every passion fully strives 50 To make itself, in thee, fair and admired! No messenger, but thine; and all alone