Of being taken by the insolent foe,
And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence,
And portance in my travel’s history.—
—Othello, Act i., Sc. 3.
Another excellent extract for practice is the following speech of Cassius from the first act of Julius Caesar. Note the dignity, the sarcasm, the ridicule, the contempt, and the sense of triumph:
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born as free as Caesar; so were you: