Or feed upon such nice and waterish diet,
Or breed itself so out of circumstance,
That I, being absent, and my place supplied,
My general will forget my love and service]
He may either of himself think it politic to keep me out of office so long, or he may be satisfied with such slight reasons, or so many accidents may make him think my re-admission at that time improper, that I may be quite forgotten.
III.iii.23 (431,7) I'll watch him tame] It is said, that the ferocity of beasts, insuperable and irreclaimable by any other means, is subdued by keeping them from sleep.
III.iii.47 (431,8) His present reconciliation take] [W: make] To take his reconciliation, may be to accept the submission which he makes in order to be reconciled.
III.iii.65 (432,1) the wars must make examples/Out of their best] The severity of military discipline must not spare the best men of the army, when their punishment nay afford a wholesome example.
III.iii.90 (433,2) Excellent wretch!—Perdition catch my soul,/But I do love thee!] The meaning of the word wretch, is not generally understood. It is now, in some parts of England, a term of the softest and fondest tenderness. It expresses the utmost degree of amiableness, joined with an idea, which perhaps all tenderness includes, of feebleness, softness, and want of protection. Othello, considering Desdemona as excelling in beauty and virtue, soft and timorous by her sex, and by her situation absolutely in his power, calls her Excellent wretch! It may be expressed,
Dear, harmless, helpless Excellence.