I am dead, Horatio:-Wretched queen, adieu!

You that look pale and tremble at this chance,
That are but mutes or audience to this act,
Had I but time, (as this fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest,) O, I could tell you,-
But let it be :-Horatio, I am dead;
Thou liv'st; report me and my cause aright
To the unsatisfied.

Hor. Never believe it;

I am more an antique Roman than a Dane,
Here's yet some liquor left.

Hum. As thou'rt a man,

[it.Give me the cup; let go; by heaven I'll have O God!-Horatio, what a wounded name, Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me?

If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
Absent thee from felicity awhile, [pain,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in
To tell my story.-

[March afar off, and Shot within.

What warlike noise is this?
Osr. Young Fortinbras, with conquest come
from Poland,

To the ambassadors of England gives
This warlike volley.

Ham. O, I die, Horatio;

The potent poison quite o'er-crows+ my spirit;
I cannot live to hear the news from England:
But I do prophesy the election lights
On Fortinbras; he has my dying voice;
So tell him, with the occurrents, more or less,
Which have solicited,§-The rest is silence.
[Dies.
Hor. Now cracks a noble heart;-Good
night, sweet prince;
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!-
Why does the drum come hither?

[March within. Enter FORTINBRAS, the ENGLISH AMBASSADORS,

and others.

What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes, at a shot,
So bloodily hast struck?

1 Amb. The sight is dismal; And our affairs from England come too late : The ears are senseless, that should give us hearing,

To tell him, his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

Hor. Not from his mouth,*

Had it the ability of life to thank you;
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack; wars, and you from
England,

Are here arriv'd; give order, that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak, to the yet unknowing world,
How these things come about: So shall you
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts; [hear
Of accidental judgements, casual slaughters;
Of deaths put on by cunning, and forc'd cause;
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' heads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

Fort. Let us haste to hear it,

And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune;
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite

sage,

The soldier's music, and the rites of war,
Speak loudly for him.--

Take up the bodies:-Such a sight as this Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss. Go, bid the soldiers shoot. [A dead march. [Exeunt, bearing off the dead Bodies; after which, a Peal of Ordnance is shot off.

ACT I.

SCENE I-Venice.-A Street.

Enter RODERIGO and IAGO.

Rod. Tush, never tell me, I take it much unkindly,

That thou, Iago,-who hast had my purse, As if the strings were thine,-shouldst know of this.

Iago. 'Sblood, but you will not hear me :If ever I did dream of such a matter, Abhor me.

Rod. Thou told'st me, thou didst hold him in thy hate.

Iago. Despise me, if I do not. Three great ones of the city,

In personal suit to make me his lieutenant,
Oft capp'd to him;-and, by the faith of man,
I know my price, I am worth no worse a place:
But he, as loving his own pride and purposes,
Evades them, with a bombast circumstance,+
Horribly stuff'd with epithets of war;
And, in conclusion, nonsuits

My mediators; for, certes, says he,
I have already chose my officer.
And what was he?

Forsooth, a great arithmetician,
One Michael Cassio, a Florentine,
A fellow almost damn'd in a fair wife ;§
That never set a squadron in the field,
Nor the division of a battle knows
More than a spinster; unless the bookish
theoric,

• Saluted. + Circumlocution. + Certainly. For wife some read life, supposing it to allude to the denunciation in the Gospel, "Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you.' || Theory.

Wherein the toged consuls* can propose
As masterly as he: mere prattle, without prac-
tice,
[election :
Is all his soldiership. But he, Sir, had the
And I,-of whom his eyes had seen the proof,
At Rhodes, at Cyprus; and on other grounds
Christian and heathen,-must be be-lee'd and
calm'd

By debitor and creditor, this counter-caster ;+
He, in good time, must his lieutenant be,
And I,(God bless the mark!) his Moorship's
ancient.

Rod. By heaven, I rather would have been his hangman.

lago. But there's no remedy; 'tis the curse

of service;

Preferment goes by letter, and affection,
Not by the old gradation, where each second
Stood heir to the first. Now, Sir, be judge
yourself,

Whether I in any just term am affin'd‡
To love the Moor.

Rod. I would not follow him then.
Iago. O, Sir, content you;

I follow him to serve my turn upon him:
We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly follow'd. You shall mark
Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave,
That, doting on his own obsequious bondage,
Wears out his time, much like his master's ass,
For nought but provender; and, when he's
old, cashier'd;
[are,
Whip me such honest knaves: Others there
Who, trimm'd in forms and visages of duty,
Keep yet their hearts attending on themselves;

And, throwing but shows of service on their lords,

Do well thrive by them, and, when they have lin'd their coats,

Do themselves homage: these fellows have some soul;

And such a one do I profess myself.
For, Sir,

It is as sure as you are Roderigo,
Were I the Moor, I would not be Iago:
In following him, I follow but myself;
Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty,
But seeming so, for my peculiar end:
For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.
Rod. What a full fortune does the thick-lips
If he can carry't thus!

[owe,t

Iugo. Call up her father, Rouse him: make after him, poison his delight, Proclaim him in the streets; incense her kins

men,

And, though he in a fertile climate dwell, Plague him with flies: though that his joy be joy,

Yet throw such changes of vexation on't,
As it may lose some colour.

Rod. Here is her father's house; I'll call aloud.

lago. Do; with like timorous accent, and dire yell,

As when, by night and negligence, the fire
Is spied in populous cities.

Rod. What, ho! Brabantio! signior Brabantio, ho!

Iago. Awake! what, ho! Brabantio! thieves! thieves thieves! [bags! Look to your house, your daughter, and your Thieves! thieves!

BRABANTIO, above, at a Window.

Bra. What is the reason of this terrible sum[mons?

What is the matter there?

Rod. Signior, is all your family within? Iugo. Are your doors lock'd? Bra. Why? wherefore ask you this? Iago. 'Zounds, Sir, you are robb'd; for shame, put on your gown; [soul; Your heart is burst, you have lost half your Even now, very now, an old black ram Is tupping your white ewe. Arise, arise; Awake the snorting citizens with the bell, Or else the devil will make a grandsire of you: Arise, I say.

Bra. What, have you lost your wits?
Rod. Most reverend signior, do you know
my voice?

Bra. Not I; What are you?
Rod. My name is-Roderigo.
Bra. The worse welcome:

[doors:

I have charg'd thee, not to haunt about my In honest plainness thou hast heard me say, My daughter is not for thee; and now, in mad

Rod. Patience, good Sir.

Bra. What tell'st thou me of robbing? this is Venice;

My house is not a grange.*

Rod. Most grave Brabantio,

In simple and pure soul I come to you.

Iago. 'Zounds, Sir, you are one of those, that will not serve God, if the devil bid you. Because we come to do you service, you think we are ruffians: You'll have your daughter covered with a Barbary horse; you'll have your nephews neigh to you: you'll have coursers for cousins, and gennets for germans.t

Bra. What profane wretch art thou?

Iugo. I am one, Sir, that comes to tell you, your daughter and the Moor are now making the beast with two backs.

Bra. Thou art a villain. lago. You are-a senator.

Bra. This thou shalt answer: I know thee, Roderigo.

Rod. Sir, I will answer any thing. But I beseech you,

If't be your pleasure, and most wise consent, (As partly, I find, it is,) that your fair daugh

ter,

At this odd-event and dull watch o'the night,
Transported-with no worse nor better guard,
But with a knave of common hire, a gondo
lier,-

To the gross clasps of a lascivious Moor,-
If this be known to you, and your allowance,
We then have done you bold and saucy

wrongs;

{me,

But, if you know not this, my manners tell
We have your wrong rebuke. Do not believe,
That, from the sense of all civility, [ence:
I thus would play and trifle with your rever-
Your daughter, if you have not given her
leave,-

I say again, hath made a gross revolt;
Tying her duty, beauty, wit, and fortunes,
Of here and every where: Straight satisfy
In an extravagant¶ and wheeling stranger,
yourself:

If she be in her chamber, or your house,
Let loose on me the justice of the state
For thus deluding you.

Bra. Strike on the tinder, ho!
Give me a taper;-call up
This accident is not unlike my dream,
all my people :-
Belief of it oppresses me already:-
Light, I say! light!

[Exit from above. It seems not meet, nor wholesome to my place lago. Farewell; for I must leave you: To be produc'd (as, if I stay, I shall,) However this may gall him with some check,Against the Moor: For, I do know, the state,Cannot with safety cast him; for he's embark'd

With such loud reason to the Cyprus' wars,
(Which even now stand in act,) that, for their
souls,

To lead their business; in which regard,
Another of his fathom they have not,
Yet, for necessity of present life,
Though I do hate him as I do hell pains,

I must show out a flag and sign of love, Which is indeed but sign. That you shal surely find him,

Lead to the Sagittary the rais'd search; And there will I be with him. So, farewell. [Exit.

+ Own, possess.

{ Intoxicating.

A waterman. ¶ Wandering.

# Approbation. ** Dismiss.

Some one way, some another.-Do you know Where we may apprehend her and the Moor? Rod. I think, I can discover him; if you please

To get good guard, and go along with me.
Bra. Pray you, lead on. At every house I'll
call;

I may command at most;-Get weapons, ho!
And raise some special officers of night.—
On, good Roderigo;-I'll deserve your pains.
[Exeunt.

SCENE 11.-The same.-Another Street.
Enter OTHELLO, IAGO, and Attendants.
Iago. Though in the trade of war I have slain

men,

Yet do I hold it very stuff o'the conscience,
To do no contriv'd murder; I lack iniquity
Sometimes, to do me service: Nine or ten times
I had thought to have yerk'd him here under
the ribs.

Oth. 'Tis better as it is.

Iago. Nay, but he prated,

And spoke such scurvy and provoking terms Against your honour,

That, with the little godliness I have,

I did full hard forbear him. But, I pray, Sir,
Are you fast married? for, be sure of this,-
That the magnificot is much beloved;
And hath, in his effect, a voice potential
As double as the duke's; he will divorce you;
Or put upon you what restraint and grievance
The law (with all his might, to enforce it on,)
Will give him cable.

Oth. Let him do his spite:

My services, which I have done the signiory,
Shall out-tongue his complaints. "Tis yet to
know,
(Which, when I know that boasting is an hon-
Lour,
I shall promulgate,) I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege;t and my demerits§
May speak, unbonnetted,|| to as proud a for-

tune

As this that I have reach'd: For know, Iago,
But that I love the gentle Desdemona,
I would not my unhoused¶ free condition

Put into circumspection and confine For the sea's worth. But, look! what lights come yonder?

Enter CASSIO, at a distance, and certain Officers with Torches.

Iago. These are the raised father, and his You were best go in. [friends: My parts, my title, and my perfect soul, Oth. Not I: I must be found; Shall manifest me rightly. Is it they? Iugo. By Janus, I think no.

Oth. The servants of the duke, and my lieu-
tenant.

What is the news?
The goodness of the night upon you, friends!

And he requires your haste-post-haste ap-
Cas. The duke does greet you, general;
Even on the instant.
[pearance,
Oth. What is the matter, think you?
Cas. Something from Cyprus, as I may
divine;

It is a business of some heat: The gallies
This very night at one another's heels:
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
And many of the consuls, rais'd, and met,
Are at the duke's already: You have been
When, being not at your lodging to be found,
hotly call'd for;
The senate hath sent about three several
To search you out.
[quests,t

Oth. 'Tis well I am found by you.
I will but spend a word here in the house,
And go with you.

[Exit.

Cas. Ancient, what makes he here?
lago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land
carack;+

If it prove lawful prize, he's made for ever.
Cas. I do not understand.

Iago. He's married.

Cas. To who?

Re-enter OTHELLO.

Iago. Marry, to-Come, captain, will you go?

Oth. Have with you.

Cas. Here comes another troop to seek for you.

Enter BRABANTIO, RODERIGO, and Officers of
night, with Torches and Weapons.
Iago. It is Brabantio:-general, be advis'd;
He comes to bad intent.

Oth. Hola! stand there!
Rod. Signior, it is the Moor.
Bra. Down with him, thief!

[They draw on both sides. Iago. You, Roderigo! come, Sir, I am for you.

Oth. Keep up your bright swords, for the dew will rust them.[years, Good signior, you shall more command with Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou Damn'd as thou art, thou hast enchanted her: stow'd my daughter? For I'll refer me to all things of sense, If she in chains of magic were not bound, Whether a maid-so tender, fair, and happy; So opposite to marriage, that she shunn'd The wealthy curled darlings of our nation,Would ever have, to incur a general mock, Run from her guardage to the sooty bosom Of such a thing as thou: to fear, not to delight.