The very head and front of my offending And little bless'd with the soft phrase of peace: In speaking for myself. Yet, by your gracious patience, I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic,- BRA. A maiden never bold; Of spirit so still and quiet, that her motion Blush'd at herself: and she,-in spite of nature, Of years, of country, credit, every thing,To fall in love with what she fear'd to look on! It is a judgment maim'd* and most imperfect, That will confess perfection so could err Against all rules of nature; and must be driven To find out practices of cunning hell, Why this should be. I therefore vouch again, That with some mixtures powerful o'er the blood, Or with some dram conjur'd to this effect, He wrought upon her. (*) First folio, main'd. Отн. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year, the battles,* sieges, fortunes,† I ran it through, even from my boyish days, Of hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent-deadly breach; Of being taken by the insolent foe And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, It was my hint to speak,-such was the ** Took once a pliant hour, and found good means 'Twas pitiful, 't was wondrous pitiful :— She wish'd she had not heard it ;-yet she wish'd That heaven had made her such a man ;-she thank'd me; And bade me, if I had a friend that lov'd her, Enter DESDEMONA, IAGO, and Attendants. DUKE. I think this tale would win my daughter too.Good Brabantio, I do perceive here a divided duty: And so much duty as my mother show'd BRA. God be with you!-I have done.- b The trust, the office, I do hold of you,-] This line is not found in the earlier quarto. c Do grow beneath-] The folio reads, "Grew beneath," &c. d This to hear-] In the folio, "These things to hear," &c. my hearta I here do give thee that with all my heart, a Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart-] A line wanting in the earlier quarto. VOL. III. 657 The robb'd that smiles, steals something from the thief; He robs himself that spends a bootless grief. BRA. So let the Turk of Cyprus us beguile, He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears DUKE. The Turk with a most mighty preparation makes for Cyprus:-Othello, the fortitude of the place is best known to you; and though we have there a substitute of most allowed sufficiency, yet opinion, a* sovereign mistress of effects, throws a more safer voice on you: you must therefore be content to slubber the gloss of your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous expedition. Отн. The tyrant custom, most grave senators, I find in hardness; and do undertake DUKE. Be 't at her father's. BRA. If you please, I'll not have it so. my heart's subdu'd Even to the very quality of my lord :] "Quality here means profession. I am so much enamoured of And let me find a charter in your voice, To assist my simpleness. e DUKE. What would you, Desdemona? DES. That I did love the Moor to live with him, My downright violence and storm * of fortunes May trumpet to the world: my heart's subdu'd Even to the very quality of my lord: * I saw Othello's visage in his mind; And to his honours and his valiant parts Did I my soul and fortunes consecrate. So that, dear lords, if I be left behind, A moth of peace, and he go to the war, The rites for which I love him are bereft me, And I a heavy interim shall suppert By his dearf absence. Let me go with him. Отн. Let her have your voice. Vouch with me, heaven, I therefore beg it not, To please the palate of my appetite; Nor to comply with heat (the young affects In me defunct) and proper satisfaction; But to be free and bounteous to her mind: And heaven defend your good souls, that you think I will your serious and great business scant Fors she is with me: no, when light-wing'd toys Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dulness My speculative and offic'd instruments, That my disports corrupt and taint my business, Let housewives make a skillet of my helm, And all indign and base adversities Make head against my estimation! DUKE. Be it as you shall privately determine, Either for her stay or going: the affair cries haste, And speed must answer it. 1 SEN. You must away to-night.' Отн. With all my heart. DUKE. At nine i' the morning here we 'll meet and action. i You must away to-night.] In the quartos, "You must hence to-night," which words are given to the Duke, and the dialogue proceeds as follows, "Des. To-night my lord? Du. This night. Oth. With all my heart." To his conveyance I assign my wife, Let it be so. DUKE. Good night to every one.-And, noble signior, [TO BRABANTIO. If virtue no delighted" beauty lack, Your son-in-law is far more fair than black. 1 SEN. Adieu, brave Moor! use Desdemona well. BRA. Look to her, Moor, if thou hast eyes to see; b She has deceiv'd her father, and may thee. [Exeunt DUKE, Senators, Officers, &c. Отн. My life upon her faith!-Honest Iago, My Desdemona must I leave to thee: I pr'ythee, let thy wife attend on her; And bring them after in the best advantage.Come, Desdemona, I have but an hour Of love, of worldly matter, and direction, To spend with thee: we must obey the time. [Exeunt OTHELLO and DESDEMona. ROD. Iago, IAGO. What say'st thou, noble heart? IAGO. Why, go to bed, and sleep. ROD. It is silliness to live when to live is torment; and then have we a prescription to die, when death is our physician. IAGO. O, villanous ! I have looked upon the world for four times seven years; and since I could distinguish betwixt a benefit and an injury, I never found man that knew how to love himself. Ere I would say, I would drown myself for the love of a Guinea-hen, I would change my humanity with a baboon. ROD. What should I do? I confess it is my shame to be so fond; but it is not in my virtue to amend it. IAGO. Virtue! a fig! 'tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens; to the which our wills are gardeners: so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce; set hyssop, and weed up thyme; supply it with one gender of herbs, or distract it with many; either to have it sterile with idleness, or manured with industry; why, the power and corrigible authority of this lies in our wills. If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most preposterous conclusions: but we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts; whereof I take this, that you call love, to be a sect or scion. ROD. It cannot be. c d IAGO. It is merely a lust of the blood and a permission of the will. Come, be a man: drown thyself! drown cats and blind puppies. I have professed me thy friend, and I confess me knit to thy deserving with cables of perdurable toughness. I could never better stead thee than now. Put money in thy purse; follow thou the wars; defeat thy favour with an usurped beard; I say, put money in thy purse. It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor, -put money in thy purse,-nor he his to her: it was a violent commencement, and thou shalt see an answerable sequestration ;-put but money in thy purse. These Moors are changeable in their wills;-fill thy purse with money: the food that to him now is as luscious as locusts, shall be to him shortly as bitter as coloquintida.(5) She must change for youth when she is sated with his body, she will find the error of her choice: she must have change, she must: therefore put money in thy purse. If thou wilt needs damn thyself, do it a more delicate way than drowning. Make all the money thou canst: if sanctimony and a frail vow, betwixt an erring barbarian and a super-subtle Venetian, be not too hard for my wits and all the tribe of hell, thou shalt enjoy her; therefore make money. A pox of drowning thyself! it is clean out of the way: seek thou rather to be hanged in compassing thy joy, than to be drowned and go without her. e ROD. Wilt thou be fast to my hopes, if I depend on the issue? IAGO. Thou art sure of me ;-go, make money: -I have told thee often, and I re-tell thee again and again, I hate the Moor: my cause is hearted, thine hath no less reason; let us be conjunctive in our revenge against him. If thou canst cuckold him, thou dost thyself a pleasure, me a sport. There are many events in the womb of time, which will be delivered. Traverse! go; provide thy money. Adieu. We will have more of this to-morrow. ROD. Where shall we meet i' the morning? ROD. I'll be with thee betimes. IAGO. Go to; farewell. Do you hear, Roderigo? (*) First folio omits, a. d It cannot be that Desdemona should long continue her love to the Moor,-] In the folio, "It cannot be long that Desdemona should continue," &c. e she must have change, she must;] These words are not in the folio. 659 U v 2 |