This counter-caster He (in good time) must his lieutenant be And I, bless the mark, his Moorship’s ancient. But he, sir, had th' election And I, of whom his eyes had seen the proof At Rhodes, at Cyprus, and on other grounds Christian and heathen, must be belee’d and calmed By debitor and creditor. Mere prattle without practice Is all his soldiership. For “Certes,” says he, “I have already chose my officer.” And what was he? Forsooth, a great arithmetician, One Michael Cassio, a Florentine A fellow almost damned in a fair wife That never set a squadron in the field, Nor the division of a battle knows More than a spinster-unless the bookish theoric, Wherein the toged consuls can propose As masterly as he. But he (as loving his own pride and purposes) Evades them with a bombast circumstance Horribly stuffed with epithets of war, And in conclusion Nonsuits my mediators. Three great ones of the city (In personal suit to make me his lieutenant) Off-capped to him, and by the faith of man I know my price, I am worth no worse a place. I believe this is the reason that we’ve been sent on guard duty, and the primary source of all the recent hustle and bustle in Denmark.Despise me If I do not. They’re willing to give their courage to the effort of forcefully regaining the lands the elder Fortinbras lost. For no pay other than food on the outskirts of Norway.
Now, Fortinbras’ son, young Fortinbras, who is daring but has yet to prove himself, has hastily gathered a group lawless brutes. By that same agreement, our king bet lands of equal value that he would have had to give up had he been defeated. During that fight, our courageous Hamlet (as we Danes thought of him) killed old King Fortinbras, who-on the basis of a signed and sealed agreement and in full accordance with the law and rules of combat- surrendered, along with his life, all the lands he possessed to his conqueror. Fortinbras challenged him to hand-to-hand combat.
At least, I can tell you the rumors: the greatness of our former king-whose ghost just now appeared to us-inspired the competitive pride of King Fortinbras of Norway. And this, I take it, Is the main motive of our preparations, The source of this our watch, and the chief head Of this posthaste and rummage in the land. Now, sir, young Fortinbras, Of unimprovèd mettle hot and full, Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there Sharked up a list of lawless resolutes, For food and diet, to some enterprise That hath a stomach in ’t, which is no other- As it doth well appear unto our state- But to recover of us, by strong hand And terms compulsatory, those foresaid lands So by his father lost. At least, the whisper goes so: our last king, Whose image even but now appeared to us, Was, as you know, by Fortinbras of Norway, Thereto pricked on by a most emulate pride, Dared to the combat in which our valiant Hamlet (For so this side of our known world esteemed him) Did slay this Fortinbras, who by a sealed compact Well ratified by law and heraldry, Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands Which he stood seized of to the conqueror, Against the which a moiety competent Was gagèd by our king, which had returned To the inheritance of Fortinbras Had he been vanquisher, as, by the same covenant And carriage of the article designed, His fell to Hamlet.