ELLO,

-oof,

THE MOOR OF VENICE

Act I. Sc. iii.

Wherein I spake of most disastrous chances,

Of moving accidents by flood and field,

Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach,

Of being taken by the insolent foe,

And sold to slavery, of my redemption thence,

110

And portance in my travels' history:

Wherein of antres vast and deserts idle,

?

140

Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch

heaven,

It was my hint to speak,-such was the process;
And of the Cannibals that each other eat,
The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads
Do grow beneath their shoulders. This to hear
Would Desdemona seriously incline :

ce.

120

adants.

130

But still the house-affairs would draw her thence;

Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

She'ld come again, and with a greedy ear

Devour up my discourse: which I observing,
Took once a pliant hour, and found good means
To draw from her a prayer of earnest heart
That I would all my pilgrimage dilate,

150

Whereof by parcels she had something heard,
But not intentively: I did consent,

And often did beguile her of her tears

When I did speak of some distressful stroke
That my youth suffer'd. My story being done,

She gave me for my pains a world of sighs:

She swore, in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing

strange;

'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful:

160

She wish'd she had not heard it, yet she wish'd
That heaven had made her such a man: she thank'd me,

이

Act I. Sc. iii.

:

TRAGEDY OF OTH:

And bade me, if I had a friend that loved her
I should but teach him how to tell my story,
And that would woo her. Upon this hint Is
She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd,
And I loved her that she did pity them.
This only is the witchcraft I have used.
Here comes the lady; let her witness it.

Enter Desdemona, Iago, and Attendants.

Duke. I think this tale would win my daughter too
Good Brabantio,

Bra.

Des.

Bra.

Take up this mangled matter at the best :
Men do their broken weapons rather use
Than their bare hands.

I pray you, hear her sp

If she confess that she was half the wooer,
Destruction on my head, if my bad blame
Light on the man! Come hither, gentle mist
Do you perceive in all this noble company
Where most you owe obedience?

My noble fathe

I do perceive here a divided duty :
To you I am bound for life and education;
My life and education both do learn me
How to respect you; you are the lord of dut
I am hitherto your daughter: but here's my l
And so much duty as my mother show'd
To you, preferring you before her father,
So much I challenge that I may profess
Due to the Moor my lord.

God be with you! I ha
Please it your grace, on to the state-affairs :

ELLO,

Dake:

170

THE MOOR OF VENICE

I had rather to adopt a child than get it.
Come hither, Moor:

Act I. Sc. iii.

I here do give thee that with all my heart,
Which, but thou hast already, with all my heart
I would keep from thee. For your sake, jewel,
I am glad at soul I have no other child;
For thy escape would teach me tyranny,
To hang clogs on them. I have done, my lord.

Duke. Let me speak like yourself, and lay a sentence

Which, as a grise or step, may help these lovers 200
Into your favour.

When remedies are past, the griefs are ended

By seeing the worst, which late on hopes depended.

k:

To mourn a mischief that is past and gone
Is the next way to draw new mischief on.
What cannot be preserved when fortune takes,

Patience her injury a mockery makes.

ss:

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;

210

180

We lose it not so long as we can smile.

He bears the sentence well, that nothing bears
But the free comfort which from thence he hears;
But he bears both the sentence and the sorrow,
That, to pay grief, must of poor patience borrow.
These sentences, to sugar or to gall,
Being strong on both sides, are equivocal:
But words are words; I never yet did hear
That the bruised heart was pierced through the ear.
I humbly beseech you, proceed to the affairs of state.
Duke. The Turk with a most mighty preparation 221
makes for Cyprus. Othello, the fortitude of

Act I. Sc. iii.

TRAGEDY OF OTH

the place is best known to you; and thor we have there a substitute of most allow sufficiency, yet opinion, a sovereign mistress effects, throws a more safer voice on you: must therefore be content to slubber the g of your new fortunes with this more stubb and boisterous expedition.

Oth. The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the flinty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down: I do agnize
A natural and prompt alacrity

I find in hardness; and do undertake
These present wars against the Ottomites.
Most humbly therefore bending to your state
I crave fit disposition for my wife,
Due reference of place and exhibition,
With such accommodation and besort

As levels with her breeding.

Duke.

Be't at her father's.

Bra.

Oth. Nor I.

Des.

If you please,

I 'll not have it so.

Nor I, I would not there reside,

To put my father in impatient thoughts
By being in his eye. Most gracious duke,
To my unfolding lend your prosperous ear,
And let me find a charter in your voice
To assist my simpleness.

Duke. What would you, Desdemona?
Des. That I did love the Moor to live with him,

My downright violence and storm of fortun
May trumpet to the world: my heart's subd

HELLO

hough lowed

ess of

: you

gloss born

230

240

250

THE MOOR OF VENICE

Act I. Sc. iii.

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 support
By his dear absence. Let me go with him.

Oth. Let her have your voices.

260

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
For she is with me. No, when light-wing'd toys
Of feather'd Cupid seel with wanton dullness
My speculative and officed 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,

270

Either for her stay or going: the affair cries haste,
And speed must answer't; you must hence to-night.

Des. To-night, my lord?

Duke.

Oth.

This night.

With all my heart.

Duke. At nine i' the morning here we'll meet again. 280
Othello, leave some officer behind,