I will in Cassio's lodging lose this napkin, Burn like the mines of sulphur.-I did say so:- Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Oth. Re-enter OTHELLO. Ha ha! false to me? Iago. Why, how now, general! no more of that. Oth. Avaunt! be gone! thou hast set me on the rack :— I swear 'tis better to be much abus'd Than but to know't a little. Iago. How now, my lord! Oth. What sense had I of her stol'n hours of lust? He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stol'n, Oth. I had been happy if the general camp, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! Iago. Is't possible, my lord?— Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore,— Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof; Thou hadst been better have been born a dog Iago. Is't come to this? Oth. Make me to see't; 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; Do deeds to make heaven weep, all earth amaz'd; lago. O grace! O heaven forgive me! Are you a man? have you a soul or sense?— God b' 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, sith love breeds such offence. Oth. By the world, I think my wife be honest, and think she is not; I'll not endure't.-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? It is impossible you should see this, Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, But, sith I am enter'd 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, Oth. Oth. If it be that,- It speaks against her with the other proofs. All my fond love thus do I blow to heaven: VOL. VI. 2 B "Tis gone. Arise, black vengeance, from the hollow hell! Iago. Yet be content. Oth. O, blood, Iago, blood! Iago. Patience, I say; your mind perhaps may change. Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontic sea, Whose icy current and compulsive course Even so my bloody thoughts, with violent pace, Swallow them up.-Now, by yond marble heaven, I here engage my words. Iago. To wrong'd Othello's service! Let him command, What bloody business ever. Oth. I greet thy love, [Kneels. [Kneels. 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: Oth. SCENE IV.-CYPRUS. Before the Castle. Enter DESDEMONA, EMILIA, and Clown. [Exeunt. Des. Do you know, sirrah, where Lieutenant Cassio lies? Clo. I dare not say he lies anywhere. Des. Why, man? Clo. He's a soldier; and for one 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 anything 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 mine 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. Des. Seek him, bid him come hither: tell him I have moved my lord on 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. Enter OTHELLO. How is't with you, my lord? Oth. Well, my good lady. -[Aside.] O, hardness to dissemble! How do you, Desdemona? Des. Well, my good lord. Oth. Give me your hand: this hand is moist, my lady. For here's a young and sweating devil here Des. You may indeed say so; For 'twas that hand that gave away my heart. |