The senate hath sent about three several quests,1
To search you out.
Oth.

'Tis well I am found by you.

[Exit.

I will but spend a word here in the house,

And go with you.

Cas.

Ancient, what makes he here?

Iago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land

carrack; 2

If it prove lawful prize, he's made forever.

Cas. I do not understand.

Iago.

Cas.

He's married.

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 advised;"

He comes to bad intent.

Oth.

Rod. Seignior, it is the Moor.

Bra.

Hola! stand there!

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.

Good seignior, you shall more command with years, Than with your weapons.

Bra. O thou foul thief, where hast thou stowed my daughter?

Damned as thou art, thou hast enchanted her;

1 Quests are here put for messengers; properly it signified searchers. 2 A carrack, or carrick, was a ship of great burden, a Spanish galleon; so named from carico, a lading, or freight.

3 i. e. be cautious, be discreet.

--

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 shunned
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.2
[Judge me the world, if 'tis not gross in sense,3
That thou hast practised on her with foul charms;
Abused her delicate youth with drugs, or minerals,
That waken motion. I'll have it disputed on;
'Tis probable, and palpable to thinking.

I therefore apprehend and do attach thee,]
For an abuser of the world, a practiser
Of arts inhibited and out of warrant.-
Lay hold upon him; if he do resist,
Subdue him at his peril.

Oth.

Hold your hands,

Both you of my inclining, and the rest.

Were it my cue to fight, I should have known it
Without a prompter.-Where will you that I go,
To answer this your charge?

Bra.

To prison; till fit time

Of law, and course of direct session,
Call thee to answer.

Oth.

What if I do obey?

How may the duke be therewith satisfied;
Whose messengers are here about my side,
Upon some present business of the state,
To bring me to him?

Off.

'Tis true, most worthy seignior,

1 It was the fashion of the Poet's time for lusty gallants to wear "a curled bush of frizzled hair." See Hall's Satires, ed. 1824, book iii. sat. 5.

2 "Of such a thing as thou; a thing to fear (i. e. terrify), not to delight."

3 The lines in crotchets are not in the first edition, 4to. 1622.

4 The old copy reads, "That weaken motion." The emendation is Hanmer's. Motion is elsewhere used by our Poet precisely in the sense required here. To waken is to incite, to stir up.

VOL. VII.

52

The duke's in council; and your noble self,
I am sure, is sent for.

Bra.
How! the duke in council!
In this time of the night?-Bring him away.
Mine's not an idle cause: the duke himself,
Or any of my brothers of the state,

Cannot but feel this wrong, as 'twere their own.
For if such actions may have passage free,
Bond-slaves, and pagans,' shall our statesmen be.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The same. A Council Chamber.

The Duke, and Senators, sitting at a table; Officers

attending.

Duke. There is no composition in these news, That gives them credit.

1 Sen.

Indeed, they are disproportioned;

My letters say a hundred and seven galleys.
Duke. And mine, a hundred and forty.

3

2 Sen. And mine, two hundred. But though they jump not on a just account, (As in these cases, where the aim 3 reports, 'Tis oft with difference,) yet do they all confirm A Turkish fleet, and bearing up to Cyprus.

Duke. Nay, it is possible enough to judgment; I do not so secure me in the error,

But the main article I do approve

In fearful sense.

Sailor. [Within.] What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!

1 Pagan was a word of contempt; and the reason will appear from its etymology:-" Paganus, villanus vel inculsus; et derivatur a pagus quod est villa. Et quicunque habitat in villa est paganus. Præterea quicunque est extra civitatem Dei, i. e. ecclesiam, dicitur paganus; anglice, a paynim.”—Ortus Vocabulorum, 1528.

2 Composition for consistency. News was considered of the plural number by our ancestors.

3 Aim is guess, conjecture. The quarto reads, "they aim reports." The meaning appears to be, "In these cases where conjecture tells the tale."

Enter an Officer with a Sailor.

Off. A messenger from the galleys.

Duke.

Now; the business? Sailor. The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes; So was I bid report here to the state, By seignior Angelo.

Duke. How say you by this change?
1 Sen. This cannot be,

By no assay of reason;1 'tis a pageant,
To keep us in false gaze. When we consider
The importancy of Cyprus to the Turk ;
And let ourselves again but understand,

That, as it more concerns the Turk than Rhodes,
So may he with more facile question 2 bear it,
[For that it stands not in such warlike brace,3

But altogether lacks the abilities

That Rhodes is dressed in ;-if we make thought of this,
We must not think the Turk is so unskilful,

To leave that latest which concerns him first;
Neglecting an attempt of ease, and gain,

4

To wake, and wage, a danger profitless.]

Duke. Nay, in all confidence, he's not for Rhodes. Off. Here is more news.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course towards the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after-fleet.

?

1 Sen. Ay, so I thought.-How many, as you guess Mess. Of thirty sail; and row do they restem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their purposes toward Cyprus.-Seignior Montano, Your trusty and most valiant servitor,

1 "Bring it to the test, it will be found counterfeit."

2 That he may carry it with less dispute.

3 i. e. in such state of defence. To arm was called to brace on the armor. The seven following lines were added since the first edition in quarto, 1622.

4 To wake is to undertake. To wage law (in the common acceptation) seems to be to follow, to urge, drive on, or prosecute the law or lawsuits.

With his free duty recommends you thus,
And prays you to believe him.

Duke. 'Tis certain then for Cyprus.-
Marcus Lucchesé, is he not in town?

1 Sen. He's now in Florence.

1

Duke. Write from us; wish him post-post-haste; despatch.

1 Sen. Here comes Brabantio, and the valiant Moor.

Enter BRABANTIO, OTHELLO, IAGO, RODERIGO, and Officers.

Duke. Valiant Othello, we must straight employ you Against the general enemy Ottoman.2

I did not see you; welcome, gentle seignior;

[TO BRABANTIO. We lacked your counsel and your help to-night. Bra. So did I yours. Good your grace, pardon me ; Neither my place, nor aught I heard of business, Hath raised me from my bed; nor doth the general care 3

Take hold on me; for my particular grief
Is of so floodgate and o'erbearing nature,
That it engluts and swallows other sorrows,
And it is still itself.

Duke. Why, what's the matter?

Bra. My daughter! O my daughter!
Sen.

Bra.

Dead?

Ay, to me;

She is abused, stolen from me, and corrupted
By spells and medicines bought of mountebanks.*
For nature so preposterously to err,

1 i. e. "desire him to make all possible haste." The folio reads:"Write from us to him, post, post-haste, dispatch."

2 It was part of the policy of the Venetian state to employ strangers, and even Moors, in their wars.

3 Steevens would read this line thus:

"Raised me from bed; nor doth the general care-"

omitting Hath and my, which he considers playhouse interpolations. 4 By the Venetian law the giving love-potions was highly criminal, as appears in the Code "Della Promission del Malefico," cap. xvii. Dei Maleficii et Herbarie.