the senator comes to the window. Then Iago shouts out his warning:
Zounds, sir, y'are robbed! For shame.
Put on your gown! Your heart is burst, you have lost half your soul
Even now, now, very now, an old black ram
Is tupping your white ewe.
- Act I, scene i, lines 83-86
It is to Othello, of course, that Iago refers with the phrase "old black ram."
... a Barbary horse. ..
When Brabantio proves hard to persuade that his daughter has eloped with Othello, Iago, impatient of his incredulity, says:
Because we come to do you service
and you think we are ruffians, you'll have
your daughter covered with a Barbary horse ...
- Act I, scene i, lines 106-9
To the ancient Greeks, all who did not speak Greek were "barbarians," and when Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean that was modified to include those who did not speak Greek or Latin. Since the most prominent barbarians in the last centuries of the Roman Empire were the German-speaking tribesmen to the north, the word came to take on a derogatory tinge and to mean "uncivilized" and "brutal" as well as merely "foreign."
The Italians of the Renaissance period, having rediscovered the Greco-Roman pagan past, picked up the habit. To them, the Europeans north of the Alps and the Africans south of the Mediterranean were barbarians. All Europe could agree with respect to the Africans anyway, and north Africa came to be called "Barbary." The people of north Africa are still called Berbers today, and that is but another form of the word.
Iago, in referring to Othello as a "Barbary horse," is now using Moor in its more correct sense, with reference to northern Africa rather than black Africa.
... to the Sagittary ...
Brabantio is finally persuaded to search through the house to see if his daughter is at home, and while he is doing so, Iago takes his leave so as not to be identified. Roderigo is to carry on himself and Iago leaves him instructions as to how to guide the search. He says:
Lead to the Sagittary the raised search;
And there will I be with him.
- Act I, scene i, lines 155-56
"Sagittary" might be the name of the inn at which Othello is lodging, but there is no clear indication of it. "Sagittary" is the equivalent of the Latin Sagittarius ("archer") and it is just possible that the name is that of an arsenal where weapons of war are stored. Venice did indeed have a famous one, and Othello, who is pictured in the play as Venice's most capable general, might well be engaged in inspection and stocktaking, even during his honeymoon.
... the Signiory
Brabantio, unable to find his daughter, rouses his family and friends to take revenge on Othello.
Meanwhile, Iago has reached Othello again and (with an appearance of bluff honesty) warns him of Brabantio's hostility. Othello, who has indeed eloped with and married Desdemona, shrugs it off, saying:
Let him do his spite.
My services which I have done the Signiory
Shall out-tongue his complaints.
- Act I, scene ii, lines 16-18
The Signiory is the ruling body of Venice. It comes from the same Latin root as "senior" or "senator," so that the name signifies it is a body of elders who put their experience and wisdom to the task of ruling the state.
The government of Venice was, in many ways, the admiration of Europe.
Although originally fairly democratic, it became a closed oligarchy about 1200. From then on for six hundred years a few great families ran the state according to a rigid ideal of duty. (Of course they took, as their reward, the lion's share of the city's wealth for themselves.) In all this time there was but one dangerous revolt against the oligarchy-in 1310-and that was firmly crushed.
Other states might have their extravagant royal families, their court intrigue, civil wars, broils, disruptions; Venice went on in the even tenor of its ways, trading, fighting, prospering, and making all its decisions in the cold light of self-interest.
It is not surprising, then, that Shakespeare in this play portrays the government of Venice to be unemotional and coldly rational at all times.
By Janus...
Othello calmly awaits the coming of Brabantio and his party. When a group of men enter with torches, it seems at first this must be they, but Iago, peering toward them, says:
By Janus, I think no.
- Act I, scene ii, line 32
Since Janus is commonly represented with two heads (see page I-502) and since the entire play is a demonstration of the two-facedness of Iago, it is entirely proper that he swear by