Enter OTHEllo. Look, where he comes! Not poppy, nor mandra 2 gora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Oth. To me? 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 stolen hours of lust? I saw it not, thought it not, it harm'd not me: He that is robb'd, not wanting what is stolen, Oth. I had been happy, if the general camp, 2 nor mandragora,] The mandragoras or mandrake has a soporifick quality, and the ancients used it when they wanted an opiate of the most powerful kind. 3 Which thou ow'dst yesterday] To owe is, in our author, oftener to possess, than to be indebted, and such is its meaning here. • Pioneers and all,] That is, the most abject and vilest of the camp. Pioneers were generally degraded soldiers, appointed to the office of pioneer, as a punishment for misbehaviour. That make ambition virtue! O, farewell! Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The royal banner; and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war! And O you mortal engines, whose rude throats The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit, Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone! Iago. Is it possible?—My lord, Oth. Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore; Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof; [Taking him by the Throat. Or, by the worth of mine eternal soul, Thou hadst been better have been born a dog, Than answer my wak'd wrath. Iago. Is it come to this? Oth. Make me to see it; or (at the least) so prove it, That the probation bear no hinge, nor loop, 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, For nothing canst thou to damnation add, Greater than that. Iago. O grace! O heaven defend me! Are you a man? have you a soul, or sense?— God be 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, since love breeds such offence. 5 abandon all remorse;] All tenderness of nature, all pity; in which sense the word was frequently used in Shakspeare's time. Oth. Nay, stay:-Thou should'st be honest. Iago. I should be wise; for honesty's a fool, And loses that it works for. Oth. I think my wife be honest, By the world, and think she is not; I think that thou art just, and think thou art not; I'll have some proof: Her name, that was as fresh As Dian's visage, is now begrim'd and black As mine own face.-If there be cords, or knives, Poison, or fire, or suffocating streams, I'll not endure it.-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? Oth. Death and damnation! O! Iago. It were a tedious difficulty, I think, To bring them to that prospect: Damn them then, More than their own! What then? how then? It is impossible, you should see this, 6 Were they as prime as goats, as hot as monkeys, 6 Were they as prime as goats,] Prime is prompt. Give me a living reason-] Living, for speaking, manifest, actual proof. Iago. I do not like the office: 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, That grew upon my lips: then laid his leg Iago. 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,Iago. If it be that, or any that was her's, a foregone conclusion;] A conclusion in Shakspeare's time meant an experiment or trial. It speaks against her with the other proofs. Oth. O, that the slave had forty thousand lives; One is too poor, too weak for my revenge! Now do I see 'tis true.-Look here, Iago; my fond love thus I do blow to heaven: 'Tis gone. All Arise, black vengeance, from thy hollow cell! Yield up, O love, thy crown, and hearted throne, To tyrannous hate! swell, bosom, with thy fraught,' For 'tis of aspicks' tongues! Iago. Pray, be content. Oth. O, blood, Iago, blood! Iago. Patience, I say; your mind, perhaps, may change. Oth. Never, Iago. Like to the Pontick sea, Swallow them up.-Now, by yond' marble heaven, I here engage my words. Iago. [Kneels. [Kneels. Do not rise yet.— Witness, you ever-burning lights above! To wrong'd Othello's service! let him command, 9 hearted throne,] Hearted throne, is the heart on which thou wast enthroned. poison. 2 swell, bosom, &c.] i. e. swell, because the fraught is of a capable-] Capable perhaps signifies ample, capacious. The execution-] i. e. employment or exercise. |