VICE .

+

SCENE II.] OTHELLO, THE MOOR OF VENICE.

551
Re-enter GRATIANO.
Gra. What's 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, О 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!
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, 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 !-
O Desdemona! Desdemona! dead ?
Dead ? O! O! O!
Enter LODOVICO, MONTANO, Cassio, carried in a Chair, and

Officers with IAGO, prisoner.
Lod. Where is this rash and most unfortunate man?
Oth. That's he, that was Othello; here I am.
Lod. Where is that viper ? bring the villain forth,

Oth. I look down towards his feet;t-but that's a fable:
If that thou be'st a devil, I cannot kill thee.

[OTHELLO wounds Iago.
Lod. Wrench his sword from him.
Iago. I bleed, Sir; but not kill'd.

Oth. I am not sorry neither; I'd have thee live;
For, in my sense, 'tis happiness to die.

Lod. Oʻthou Othello, that was once so good,
Fallen in the practice of a cursed slave,
What shall be said to thee?

Oth. Why, anything:
An honourable murderer, if you will;
For nought I did in hate, but all in honour.

Lod. This wretch hath in part confess'd his villany :
Did you and he consent in Cassio's death?

Oth. Ay.
Cas. Dear general, I never gave you cause.

Oth. I do believe it, and I ask your pardon.
Will you, I pray you, demand that demi-devil,
Why he hath thus ensnared my soul and body ?

Iago. 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
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, Iago 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:
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 Iago, that he made him
Brave me on 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;
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 it;
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 cyes,
Albeit unused to the melting mood,
Drop tears as fast as the Arabian trees

Their medicínal gum: Set you down this:
And say, besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'a Turk
Beat a Venetian, and traduced the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him—thus.

[Stabs himself.
Lod. O bloody period !
Gra. All, that's spoke, is marrd.
Oth. I kiss'd thee, ere I kill'd thee;-No way but this.

[Falling upon DESDEMONA. Killing myself, to die upon a kiss.

[Dies. Cas. This did I fear, but thought he had no weapon; For he was great of heart.

Lod. O Spartan dog,
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea !
Look on the tragic loading of this bed;

[To Iago.
This is thy work: the object poisons sight;
Let it be hid.-Gratiano, keep the house,
And seize upon the fortunes of the Moor,
For they succeed to you.—To you, lord governor,
Remains the censure* of this hellish villain ;
The time, the place, the torture, - enforce it!
Myself will straight aboard ; and, to the state,
This heavy act with heavy heart relate.

[Exeunt. * Judgment.

Sope 26

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