William Shakespeare: Othello, Moor of Venice

ACT IV. 1. SCENE I. Cyprus. Before the Castle. (continued)

IAGO.
There's many a beast, then, in a populous city,
And many a civil monster.

OTHELLO.
Did he confess it?

IAGO.
Good sir, be a man;
Think every bearded fellow that's but yok'd
May draw with you: there's millions now alive
That nightly lie in those unproper beds
Which they dare swear peculiar: your case is better.
O, 'tis the spite of hell, the fiend's arch-mock,
To lip a wanton in a secure couch,
And to suppose her chaste! No, let me know;
And knowing what I am, I know what she shall be.

OTHELLO.
O, thou art wise; 'tis certain.

IAGO.
Stand you awhile apart;
Confine yourself but in a patient list.
Whilst you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief,--
A passion most unsuiting such a man,--
Cassio came hither: I shifted him away,
And laid good 'scuse upon your ecstasy;
Bade him anon return, and here speak with me;
The which he promis'd. Do but encave yourself,
And mark the fleers, the gibes, and notable scorns,
That dwell in every region of his face;
For I will make him tell the tale anew,--
Where, how, how oft, how long ago, and when
He hath, and is again to cope your wife:
I say, but mark his gesture. Marry, patience;
Or I shall say you are all in all in spleen,
And nothing of a man.

OTHELLO.
Dost thou hear, Iago?
I will be found most cunning in my patience;
But,--dost thou hear?--most bloody.

IAGO.
That's not amiss;
But yet keep time in all. Will you withdraw?

[Othello withdraws.]

Now will I question Cassio of Bianca,
A housewife that, by selling her desires,
Buys herself bread and clothes: it is a creature
That dotes on Cassio,--as 'tis the strumpet's plague
To beguile many and be beguil'd by one:--
He, when he hears of her, cannot refrain
From the excess of laughter:--here he comes:--
As he shall smile Othello shall go mad;
And his unbookish jealousy must construe
Poor Cassio's smiles, gestures, and light behavior
Quite in the wrong.

[Re-enter Cassio.]

How do you now, lieutenant?