The text of this edition of Julius Cæsar is based upon a collation of the seventeenth century Folios, the Globe edition, and that of Delius. As compared with the text of the earlier editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, it is conservative. Exclusive of changes in spelling, punctuation, and stage directions, very few emendations by eighteenth century and nineteenth century editors have been adopted; and these, with every variation from the First Folio, are indicated in the textual notes. These notes are printed immediately below the text so that a reader or student may see at a glance the evidence in the case of a disputed reading and have some definite understanding of the reasons for those differences in the text of Shakespeare which frequently surprise and very often annoy. A consideration of the more poetical, or the more dramatically effective, of two variant readings will often lead to rich results in awakening a spirit of discriminating interpretation and in developing true creative criticism. In no sense is this a textual variorum edition. The variants given are only those of importance and high authority.

The spelling and the punctuation of the text are modern, except in the case of verb terminations in -ed, which, when the e is silent, are printed with the apostrophe in its place. This is the general usage in the First Folio. Modern iv spelling has to a certain extent been followed in the text variants; but the original spelling has been retained wherever its peculiarities have been the basis for important textual criticism and emendation.

With the exception of the position of the textual variants, the plan of this edition is similar to that of the old Hudson Shakespeare. It is impossible to specify the various instances of revision and rearrangement in the matter of the Introduction and the interpretative notes, but the endeavor has been to retain all that gave the old edition its unique place and to add the results of what seems vital and permanent in later inquiry and research.

While it is important that the principle of suum cuique be attended to so far as is possible in matters of research and scholarship, it is becoming more and more difficult to give every man his own in Shakespearian annotation. The amount of material accumulated is so great that the identity-origin of much important comment and suggestion is either wholly lost or so crushed out of shape as to be beyond recognition. Instructive significance perhaps attaches to this in editing the works of one who quietly made so much of materials gathered by others. But the list of authorities given on page li will indicate the chief source of much that has gone to enrich the value of this edition. Professor W.P. Trent, of Columbia University, has offered valuable suggestions and given important advice; and to Mr. M. Grant Daniell's patience, accuracy, and judgment this volume owes both its freedom from many a blunder and its possession of a carefully arranged index.

INTRODUCTION

Note. In citations from Shakespeare's plays and nondramatic poems the numbering has reference to the Globe edition, except in the case of this play, where the reference is to this edition.

I. SOURCES

No event in the history of the world has made a more profound impression upon the popular imagination than the assassination of Julius Cæsar. Apart from its overwhelming interest as a personal catastrophe, it was regarded in the sixteenth century as a happening of the greatest historical moment, fraught with significant public lessons for all time. There is ample evidence that in England from the beginning of Elizabeth's reign it was the subject of much literary and dramatic treatment, and in making the murder of "the mightiest Julius" the climax of a play, Shakespeare was true to that instinct which drew him for material to themes of universal and eternal interest.

The Main Story

I. North's Plutarch. There is no possible doubt that in Julius Cæsar Shakespeare derived the great body of his historical material from The Life of Julius Cæsar, The Life of Marcus Brutus, and The Life of Marcus Antonius viii in Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch.[1] This work was first printed in 1579 in a massive folio dedicated to Queen Elizabeth. A second edition appeared in 1595, and in all probability this was the edition read by Shakespeare. The title-page is reproduced in facsimile on page ix.

This interesting title-page gives in brief the literary history of North's translation, which was made not directly from the original Greek of Plutarch, but from a French version by Jacques Amyot, bishop of Auxerre.[2] In 1603 appeared a third edition with additional Lives and new matter on the title-page.[3] There were subsequent editions in 1612,[4] 1631, 1656, and 1676. The popularity of this work attested by these reprintings was thoroughly deserved, for North's Plutarch is among the richest and freshest monuments of Elizabethan prose literature, and, apart altogether from the use made of it by Shakespeare, is in itself an invaluable repertory of honest, manly, idiomatic English. No abstract of the Plutarchian matter need be given here, as all the more important passages drawn upon for the play are quoted in x the footnotes to the text. These will show that in most of the leading incidents the great Greek biographer is closely followed, though in many cases these incidents are worked out and developed with rare fertility of invention and art. It is very significant that in the second half of The Life of Julius Cæsar, which Shakespeare draws upon very heavily, Plutarch emphasizes those weaknesses of Cæsar which are made so prominent in the play. Besides this, in many places the Plutarchian form and order of thought, and also the very words of North's racy and delectable English are retained, with such an embalming for immortality as Shakespeare alone could give.[5]

In Julius Cæsar Shakespeare's indebtedness to North's Plutarch may be summed up as extending to (1) the general story of the play; (2) minor incidents and happenings, as Cæsar's falling-sickness, the omens before his death, and the writings thrown in Brutus's way; (3) touches of detail, as in the description of Cassius's "lean and hungry look" and of Antony's tastes and personal habits; and (4) noteworthy expressions, phrases, and single words, as in III, ii, 240-241, 246-248; IV, iii, 2; IV, iii, 178; V, i, 80-81; V, iii, 109.

On the other hand, Shakespeare's alteration of Plutarchian material is along the lines of (1) idealization, as in the characters of Brutus and Cassius; (2) amplification, as in the use Antony makes of Cæsar's rent and bloody mantle; and (3) simplification and compression of the action for dramatic effect, as in making Cæsar's triumph take place at the time of "the feast of Lupercal," in the treatment of the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius, which in Plutarch lasts for two days, and in making the two battles of Philippi occur on the same day. See note, p. 159, ll. 109-110. See also below, The Scene of the Assassination.

2. Appian's Roman Wars. In 1578 there was published in London an English translation of the extant portions of Appian's History of the Roman Wars both Civil and Foreign, with the interesting title page shown in facsimile on page xi.

In this translation of Appian the events before and after Cæsar's death are described minutely and with many graphic touches. Compare, for example, with the quotation from Plutarch given in the note, p. 68, l. 33, this account of the same incident in Appian: "The day before that Cæsar should go to the senate, he had him at a banquet with Lepidus ... and talking merrily what death was best for a man, some saying one and some another, he of all praised sudden death." Here are some of the marginal summaries in Appian: "Cæsar refuseth the name of King," "A crown upon Cæsar's image by one that was apprehended of the tribunes Marullus and Sitius," "Cæsar hath the Falling-Sickness," "Cæsar's Wife (hath) a fearful Dream," "Cæsar contemneth sacrifices of evil Luck," "Cæsar giveth over when Brutus had stricken him," "The fear of the Conspirators," "The bad Angel of Brutus."

What gives interest and distinction to Appian's translation as a probable source for material in Julius Cæsar is that in it we have speeches by Antony, Brutus, and Lepidus at the time of the reading of Cæsar's will. In this translation Antony's first speech begins, "They that would have xiii voices tried upon Cæsar must know afore that if he ruled as an officer lawfully chosen, then all his acts and decrees must stand in force...." On Antony's second speech the comment is, "Thus wrought Antony artificially." His speech to the Senate begins, "Silence being commanded, he said thus, 'Of the citizens offenders (you men of equal honour) in this your consultation I have said nothing....'" The speech of Lepidus to the people has this setting: "When he was come to the place of speech he lamented, weeping, and thus said, 'Here I was yesterday with Cæsar, and now am I here to inquire of Cæsar's death.... Cæsar is gone from us, an holy and honourable man in deed.'" The effect of this speech is commented on as follows: "Handling the matter thus craftily, the hired men, knowing that he was ambitious, praised him and exhorted him to take the office of Cæsar's priesthood." A long speech by Brutus follows the reading of Cæsar's will. It begins: "Now, O citizens, we be here with you that yesterday were in the common court not as men fleeing to the temple that have done amiss, nor as to a fort, having committed all we have to you.... We have heard what hath been objected against us of our enemies, touching the oath and touching cause of doubt...." The effect of this speech is thus described: "Whiles Brutus thus spake, all the hearers considering with themselves that he spake nothing but right, did like them well, and as men of courage and lovers of the people, had them in great admiration and were turned into their favour."

3. Earlier Plays. As already mentioned, England had plays on the subject of Julius Cæsar from the first years of Elizabeth's reign. As not one of these earlier plays is xiv extant, there can be no certainty as to whether Shakespeare drew upon them for materials or inspiration, but, as Professor Herford says, "he seems to be cognisant of their existence." His opening scene is addressed to a public familiar with the history of Pompey and Pompey's sons. Among these earlier plays was one almost contemporary with the first production of Gorboduc, the first English tragedy. It is referred to under the name of Julyus Sesar in an entry in Machyn's Diary under February 1, 1562. In Plays confuted in five Actions, printed probably in 1582, Stephen Gosson mentions the history of Cæsar and Pompey as a contemporary play. A Latin play on Cæsar's death was acted at Oxford in 1582, and for it Dr. Richard Eedes (Eades, Edes) of Christ Church wrote the epilogue (Epilogus Cæsaris Intersecti). In Henslowe's Diary under November 8, 1594, a Seser and pompie is mentioned as a new play. Mr. A. W. Verity (Julius Cæsar, The Pitt Press edition) makes the interesting suggestion that in III, i, 111-116, there may be an allusion to these earlier plays. Cf. also Hamlet, III, ii, 107-111, quoted below.

The Scene of the Assassination

In transferring the assassination of Cæsar from the Porticus Pompeia ("Pompey's porch," I, iii, 126) to the Capitol, Shakespeare departed from Plutarch and historical accuracy to follow a popular tradition that had received the signal imprimatur of Chaucer:

This Iulius to the Capitolie wente

Upon a day, as he was wont to goon,[6]

And in the Capitolie anon him hente[7]

This false Brutus, and his othere foon[8]

And stikede him with boydekins[9] anoon

With many a wounde, and thus they lete him lye;

But never gronte[10] he at no strook but oon,

Or elles at two, but if[11] his storie lye.

The Monkes Tale, ll. 715-718. (Skeat's Chaucer.)

Hamlet. What did you enact?

Polonius. I did enact Julius Cæsar: I was kill'd i' the Capitol: Brutus kill'd me.

Hamlet. It was a brute part of him to kill so capital a calf there.

So also in Antony and Cleopatra:

Since Julius Cæsar,

Who at Philippi the good Brutus ghosted,

There saw you labouring for him. What was 't

That mov'd pale Cassius to conspire; and what

Made the all-honour'd, honest Roman, Brutus,

With the arm'd rest, courtiers of beauteous freedom,

To drench the Capitol; but that they would

Have one man but a man?

[II, vi, 12-19.]

We have the same popular tradition in the first scene of the last act of Fletcher's The Noble Gentleman. So, too, in the Prologue to Beaumont and Fletcher's, or Fletcher and Massinger's, The False One, a tragedy dealing with Cæsar and Cleopatra:

To tell

Of Cæsar's amorous heats, and how he fell

I' the Capitol.

"Et Tu, Brute"

Dyce and other researchers have made clear that in Shakespeare's day "Et tu, Brute" was a familiar phrase which had special reference to a wound from a supposed friend. It probably owed its popularity to having been used in the earlier plays on the subject of Julius Cæsar. In The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of York (1595), upon which Shakespeare's 3 Henry VI is based, occurs the line,

This line is repeated in S. Nicholson's poem, Acolastus, his Afterwitte (1600). In Ben Jonson's Every Man out of His Humour (1599), Buffone uses "Et tu, Brute" in speaking to Macilente (V, iv). In the Myrroure for Magistrates (1587) we find,

The Latin form of the phrase possibly originated, as Malone suggested, in the Latin play referred to above (Earlier Plays) which was acted at Oxford in 1582. It is easy to see how the Elizabethan tendency to word-quibble and equivoque would help to give currency to the Latin form. Cf. Hamlet's joke on 'brute' quoted above.

Brutus's Speech, III, ii

In view of the close connection between Julius Cæsar and Hamlet as regards date of composition and the characterization of Brutus and Hamlet, interest attaches to Professor Gollancz's theory (Julius Cæsar, Temple Shakespeare) xvii that the original of the famous speech of Brutus to the assembled Romans (III, ii) may be found in Belleforest's History of Hamlet, in the oration which Hamlet makes to the Danes after he has slain his uncle. "The situation of Hamlet is almost identical with that of Brutus after he has dealt the blow, and the burden of Hamlet's too lengthy speech finds an echo in Brutus's sententious utterance. The verbose iteration of the Dane has been compressed to suit 'the brief compendious manner of speech of the Lacedæmonians.'"—Gollancz. As the English translation from which Professor Gollancz quotes in support of his theory is dated 1608, and is the earliest known,[12] it cannot have been from this that Shakespeare drew any suggestions or material. The question arises, Did Shakespeare read the speech in the original French? The volume of Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques, which contained the story of Hamlet, was first published in 1570, and there were many reprintings of it before 1600.

II. DATE OF COMPOSITION

Modern editors fix the date of composition of Julius Cæsar within 1601, the later time limit (terminus ante quem), and 1598, the earlier time limit (terminus post quem). The weight of evidence is in favor of 1600-1601.

External Evidence

1. Negative. Julius Cæsar is not mentioned by Meres in the Palladis Tamia, published in 1598, which gives a list of twelve noteworthy Shakespeare plays in existence at that time. This establishes 1598 as a probable terminus post quem.

2. Positive. In John Weever's Mirror of Martyrs or the Life and Death of Sir John Oldcastle Knight, Lord Cobham, printed in 1601, are the following lines:

Halliwell-Phillipps was the first to note that here is a very pointed reference to the second scene of the third act of Julius Cæsar, as the antithesis brought out is not indicated in any of Shakespeare's historical sources. The fact that Weever states in his Dedication that the Mirror "some two years agoe was made fit for the print" has been held by Mr. Percy Simpson[13] to indicate that the play was not brought out later than 1599, a conclusion supported, he thinks, by a passage in Ben Jonson's Every Man out of His Humour, produced in that year, where Clove (III, i) says, "Then coming to the pretty animal, as Reason long since is fled to animals, you know," which may be a sneering allusion to Antony's "O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts" (III, ii, 104). The "Et tu, Brute" quotation in the same play has been used to strengthen the argument. But the xix lines from the Mirror of Martyrs quoted above may easily have been inserted by Weever into his poem in consequence of the popularity of Shakespeare's play. This contemporary popularity is well attested. Leonard Digges,[14] in his verses Upon Master William Shakespeare prefixed to the 1640 edition of Shakespeare's Poems, thus compares it with that of Ben Jonson's Roman plays:

"Fustian" Clove's quotation may apply to references to the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmigration of souls in Shakespeare's earlier plays and other Elizabethan literature; and little can be based upon the "Et tu, Brute" quotation, as Ben Jonson may have drawn it from the same source as Shakespeare did.

On the other hand, Henslowe in his Diary under May 22, 1602, notes that he advanced five pounds "in earneste of a Boocke called sesers Falle," which the dramatists Munday, Drayton, Webster, Middleton "and the Rest" were composing for Lord Nottingham's Company. Cæsar's Fall was plainly intended to outshine Shakespeare's popular play, but, as Professor Herford comments, "the lost play ... xx for the rival company would have been a somewhat tardy counterblast to an old piece of 1599." He adds: "Julius Cæsar was certainly not unconcerned in the revival of the fashion for tragedies of revenge with a ghost in them, which suddenly set in with Marston's Antonio and Mellida and Chettle's Hoffman in 1601."

Dr. Furnivall, a strong advocate for 1601 as the date of composition, has suggested[15] that Essex's ill-judged rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, on Sunday, February 8, 1601, was the reason of Shakespeare's producing his Julius Cæsar in that year. "Assuredly," he says, "the citizens of London in that year who heard Shakespeare's play must have felt the force of 'Et tu, Brute,' and must have seen Brutus's death, with keener and more home-felt influence than we feel and hear the things with now."

Drayton's revised version of his Mortimeriados (1596-1597); published in 1603 under the title of The Barons' Wars, has a passage which strongly resembles some lines in Antony's last speech (V, v, 73-74), but common property in the idea that a well-balanced mixture of the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water) produces a perfect man invalidates any argument for the date of the play based upon this evidence. See note, p. 167, l. 73.

Internal Evidence

Dr. W. A. Wright[16] has argued against an earlier date than 1600 for the composition of Julius Caesar from the use of 'eternal' for 'infernal' in I, ii, 160. See note, p. 20, l. 160. xxi Of course there is no certainty that Shakespeare wished to use the word 'infernal,' and, besides, if any substitution was made, it may have been at a later date. But adumbrations of Hamlet everywhere in Julius Cæsar, the frequent references to Cæsar in Hamlet, the kinship in character of Brutus and Hamlet (see note, p. 46, l. 65), the treatment of the supernatural, and the development of the revenge motive give strong cumulative evidence that the composition of Julius Cæsar is in time very near to that of Hamlet, the first Shakespearian draft of which is now generally conceded to date from the first months of 1602. The diction of Julius Cæsar, the quality of the blank verse, the style generally (see below, Versification and Diction), all point to 1601 as the probable date of composition. It has been said that a true taste for Shakespeare is like the creation of a special sense; and this saying is nowhere better approved than in reference to his subtile variations of language and style. He began with what may be described as a preponderance of the poetic element over the dramatic. As we trace his course onward, we may discover a gradual rising of the latter element into greater strength and prominence, until at last it had the former in complete subjection. Now, where positive external evidence is wanting, it is mainly from the relative strength of these elements that the probable date of the writing may be argued. In Julius Cæsar the diction is more gliding and continuous, and the imagery more round and amplified, than in the earlier dramas or in those known to belong to Shakespeare's latest period.

These distinctive notes are of a nature more easily to be felt than described, and to make them felt examples will best xxii serve. Take then a passage from the soliloquy of Brutus just after he has pledged himself to the conspiracy:

Here we have a full, rounded period in which all the elements seem to have been adjusted, and the whole expression set in order, before any part of it was written down. The beginning foresees the end, the end remembers the beginning, and the thought and image are evolved together in an even, continuous flow. The thing is indeed perfect in its way, still it is not in Shakespeare's latest and highest style. Now take a passage from The Winter's Tale:

Here the workmanship seems to make and shape itself as it goes along, thought kindling thought, and image prompting image, and each part neither concerning itself with what has gone before, nor with what is coming after. The very sweetness has a certain piercing quality, and we taste it from clause to clause, almost from word to word, as so many keen darts xxiii of poetic rapture shot forth in rapid succession. Yet the passage, notwithstanding its swift changes of imagery and motion, is perfect in unity and continuity.

III. EARLY EDITIONS

Folios

On November 8, 1623, Edward Blount and Isaac Jaggard obtained formal license to print "Mr. William Shakespeere's Comedyes, Histories, and Tragedyes, soe many of the said copies as are not formerly entered to other men." This is the description-entry in The Stationers' Registers of what is now known as the First Folio (1623), designated in the textual notes of this edition F₁. Julius Cæsar is one of the plays "not formerly entered,"[17] and it was first printed, so far as is known, in this famous volume. It is more correctly printed than perhaps any other play in the First Folio and, as the editors of the Cambridge Shakespeare suggest, "may perhaps have been (as the preface falsely implied that all were[18]) printed from the original manuscript of the author."[19] It stands between Timon of Athens and Macbeth, two very badly printed plays. The running title is The Tragedie of xxiv Julius Cæsar, but in the "Catalogve of the seuerall Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies contained in this Volume," the title is given as The Life and Death of Julius Cæsar.

The Second Folio, F₂ (1632), the Third Folio, F₃ (1663, 1664), and the Fourth Folio, F₄ (1685), show few variants in the text of Julius Cæsar and none of importance.

The Quarto of 1691

In 1691 Julius Cæsar appeared in quarto form. This Quarto contained one famous text variant, 'hath' for 'path' in II, i, 83. Though the Folio text here offers difficulties, and modern editors have suggested many emendations, no one has been inclined to accept the commonplace reading of the Quarto.

Rowe's Editions

In the Folios and in the Quarto of 1691 the play is divided into acts, but not into scenes, though the first act is headed Actus Primus, Scæna Prima. The first systematic division into scenes was made by Nicholas Rowe, poet laureate to George I, in the edition which he issued in six octavo volumes in 1709. In this edition Rowe, an experienced playwright, marked the entrances and exits of the characters and introduced many stage directions and the list of dramatis personæ which has been the basis for all later lists. A second edition in eight volumes was published in 1714. Rowe followed very closely the text of the Fourth Folio, but modernized spelling, punctuation, and occasionally grammar. These are the first critical editions of Shakespeare's plays.

IV. THE TITLE

It has been justly observed that Shakespeare shows much judgment in the naming of his plays. From this observation several critics have excepted Julius Cæsar, pronouncing the title a misnomer, on the ground that Brutus, and not Cæsar, is the hero of it. It is indeed true that Brutus is the hero, but the play is rightly named, for Cæsar is not only the subject but also the governing power of it throughout. He is the center and springhead of the entire action, giving law and shape to everything that is said and done. This is manifestly true in what occurs before his death; and it is true in a still deeper sense afterwards, since his genius then becomes the Nemesis or retributive Providence.

V. DRAMATIC CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

Julius Cæsar is a tragedy of a normal Shakespearian type, in which is represented a conflict between an individual, or group of individuals, and certain forces which environ, antagonize, and overwhelm. The unity of action and of interest is the personality of Julius Cæsar. In dramatic technique the play is simple and effective. Out of masses of detail and historical incident the dramatist has shaped a symmetrical and well-defined plot marked by (1) the exposition, or introduction, (2) the complication, or rising action, (3) the climax, or turning point, (4) the resolution, or falling action, and (5) the catastrophe, or conclusion. It is almost a commonplace of criticism that the opening scene of a Shakespeare play strikes the keynote of the action. It certainly does in a remarkable way in Julius Cæsar, xxvi introducing, on the one side, a group of excited citizens friendly to Cæsar, and, on the other, two tribunes hostile to him. It foreshadows the character-contrasts in the play and the conflict between the state and the individual. The exposition continues through the second scene, in which are introduced the leading characters in significant action and interaction. At the close of this scene Cassius lays his plans to win Brutus over to the conspiracy, and the complication, or rising action, of the drama begins. Through the last scene of the first act and the four scenes of the second act the growth of the complication is continued, with brief intervals of suspense, until, in the first scene of the third act, the climax is reached in the assassination of Cæsar and the wild enthusiasm of the conspirators. With the entry of Antony's servant begins the resolution, or falling action (see note, p. 89, l. 123), and from now, through intervals of long suspense and many vicissitudes,[20] the fortunes of the chief conspirators fall inevitably to the catastrophe.

Analysis by Act and Scene [21]

I. The Exposition, or Introduction (Tying of the Knot)

Act I, Scene i. The popularity of Cæsar with the Roman mob and the jealousy of the official classes—the two motive forces of the xxvii play—are revealed. The fickleness of the mob is shown in a spirit of comedy; the antagonism of Marullus and Flavius strikes the note of tragedy.

Act I, Scene ii, 1-304. The supreme characters are introduced, and in their opening speeches each reveals his temperament and foreshadows the part which he will play. The exposition of the situation is now complete.

II. The Complication, Rising Action, or Growth (Tying Of the Knot)

Act I, Scene ii, 305-319. In soliloquy Cassius unfolds his scheme for entangling Brutus in the conspiracy, and the dramatic complication begins.

Act I, Scene iii. Casca, excited by the fiery portents that bode disaster to the state, is persuaded by Cassius to join "an enterprise of honourable-dangerous consequence" (lines 123-124). The conspirators are assigned to their various posts, and Cassius engages to secure Brutus before morning.

Act II, Scene i. The humane character of Brutus, as master, husband, and citizen, is elaborated, and his attitude to Cæsar and the conspiracy of assassination clearly shown. He joins the conspirators—apparently their leader, in reality their tool. In lines 162-183 he pleads that the life of Antony be spared, and thus unconsciously prepares for his own ruin.

Act II, Scene ii. Cæsar is uneasy at the omens and portents, and gives heed to Calpurnia's entreaties to remain at home, but he yields to the importunity of Decius and starts for the Capitol, thus advancing the plans of the conspirators. The dramatic contrast between Cæsar and Brutus is strengthened by that between Calpurnia in this scene and Portia in the preceding.

Act II, Scene iii. The dramatic interest is intensified by the warning of Artemidorus and the suggestion of a way of escape for the protagonist.

Act II, Scene iv. The interest is further intensified by the way in which readers and spectators are made to share the anxiety of Portia.

III. The Climax, Crisis, or Turning Point (the Knot Tied)

Act III, Scene i, 1-122. The dramatic movement is now rapid, and the tension, indicated by the short whispered sentences of all the speakers except Cæsar, is only increased by his imperial utterances, which show utter unconsciousness of the impending doom. In the assassination all the complicating forces—the self-confidence of Cæsar, the unworldly patriotism of Brutus, the political chicanery of Cassius, the unscrupulousness of Casca, and the fickleness of the mob—bring about an event which changes the lives of all the characters concerned and threatens the stability of the Roman nation. The death of Cæsar is the climax of the physical action of the play; it is at the same time the emotional crisis from which Brutus comes with altered destiny.

IV. The Resolution, Falling Action, or Consequence (the Untying of the Knot)

Act III, Scene i, 123-298. With Brutus's "Soft! who comes here? A friend of Antony's" begins the resolution, or falling action, of the play. "The fortune of the conspirators, hitherto in the ascendant, now declines, while 'Cæsar's spirit' surely and steadily prevails against them."—Verity. Against the advice of Cassius, Brutus gives Antony permission to deliver a public funeral oration. Antony in a soliloquy shows his determination to avenge Cæsar, and the first scene of the falling action closes with the announcement that Octavius is within seven leagues of Rome.

Act III, Scene ii—Scene iii. The orations of Antony, in vivid contrast to the conciliatory but unimpassioned speeches of Brutus, fire the people and liberate fresh forces in the falling action. Brutus and Cassius have to fly the city, riding "like madmen through the gates of Rome." In unreasoning fury the mob tears to pieces an innocent poet who has the same name as a conspirator.

Act IV, Scene i. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, having formed a triumvirate of which Antony is the master spirit, agree on a proscription list and join forces against Brutus and Cassius, who "are levying powers."

Act IV, Scene ii. Brutus and Cassius, long parted by pride and obstinacy, meet to discuss a plan of action.

Act IV, Scene iii. This is one of the most famous individual scenes in Shakespeare (see note, page 123). Its intensely human interest is always conceded, but its dramatic propriety, because of what seems a 'dragging' tendency, has been often questioned. The scene opens with Brutus and Cassius bandying recriminations, and the quarrel of the two generals bodes disaster to their cause. As the discussion proceeds, they yield points and become reconciled. Brutus then quietly but with peculiar pathos tells of Portia's death by her own hand. In all the great tragedies, with the notable exception of Othello, when the forces of the resolution, or falling action, are gathering towards the dénouement, Shakespeare introduces a scene which appeals to an emotion different from any of those excited elsewhere in the play. "As a rule this new emotion is pathetic; and the pathos is not terrible or lacerating, but, even if painful, is accompanied by the sense of beauty and by an outflow of admiration or affection, which come with an inexpressible sweetness after the tension of the crisis and the first counter-stroke. So it is with the reconciliation of Brutus and Cassius, and the arrival of the news of Portia's death."—Bradley. While the shadow of her tragic passing overhangs the spirits of both, Brutus overhears the shrewd, cautious counsel of Cassius and persuades him to assent to the fatal policy of offering battle at Philippi. That night the ghost of Cæsar appears to Brutus.

Act V, Scene i. The action now falls rapidly to the quick, decisive movement of the dénouement. The antagonists are now face to face. Brutus and Cassius have done what Antony and Octavius hoped that they would do. The opposing generals hold a brief parley in which Brutus intimates that he is willing to effect a reconciliation, but Antony rejects his proposals and bluntly charges him and Cassius with the wilful murder of Cæsar. Cassius reminds Brutus of his warning that Antony should have fallen when Cæsar did. Antony, Octavius, and their army retire, and the scene closes with the noble farewell without hope between Brutus and Cassius.

Act V, Scene ii. The opposing armies meet on the field, and a final flare-up of hope in the breast of Brutus is indicated by his spirited order to Messala to charge. The scene implies that Cassius was defeated by being left without support by Brutus.

V. Dénouement, Catastrophe, or Conclusion (The Knot Untied)

Act V, Scene iii. The charge ordered by Brutus has been successful, and Octavius has been driven back, but Cassius is thus left unguarded, and Antony's forces surround him. He takes refuge on a hill and sends Titinius to see "whether yond troops are friend or enemy." Believing Titinius to be slain, he begs Pindarus to stab him, and Cassius dies "even with the sword that kill'd" Cæsar. With the same sword Titinius then slays himself, and Brutus, when Messala bears the news to him, exclaims in words that strike the keynote of the whole falling action and dénouement:

Act V, Scene iv. Like Hamlet, Brutus at the last is a man of supreme action. He rallies his forces for a last attack. With hopeless failure before him, he is at once a heroic figure and one of infinite pathos. Young Cato falls. Lucilius is attacked; assuming the name of Brutus, he is not killed but taken prisoner. Antony recognizes him and gives orders that he be treated kindly.

Act V, Scene v. Brutus dies by his own sword, and his last words tell the story of failure and defeat. Like a true Roman, he meets his doom without a murmur of complaint. He had been true to his ideals. The tragic dénouement comes as the inevitable consequence, not of wilful sin, but of a noble mistake. In death he commands the veneration of both Antony and Octavius, who pronounce over his body the great interpretation of his character, and in their speeches the tragedy closes as with a chant of victory for the hero of defeat.

VI. MANAGEMENT OF TIME AND PLACE

1. Historic time. Cæsar's triumph over the sons of Pompey was celebrated in October, b.c. 45. Shakespeare makes this coincident with "the feast of Lupercal" on February 15, b.c. 44. In the play Antony delivers his funeral oration immediately after Cæsar's death; historically, there was an interval of days. Octavius did not reach Rome until upwards xxxi of two months after the assassination; in III, ii, 261, Antony is told by his servant immediately after the funeral oration that "Octavius is already come to Rome." In November, b.c. 43, the triumvirs met to make up their bloody proscription, and in the autumn of the following year were fought the two battles of Philippi, separated historically by twenty days, but represented by Shakespeare as taking place on the same day.

2. Dramatic Time. Historical happenings that extended over nearly three years are represented in the stage action as the occurrences of six days, distributed over the acts and scenes as follows:

This compression for the purposes of dramatic unity results in action that is swift and throbbing with human and ethical interest.

3. Place. Up to the second scene of the fourth act Rome is the natural place of action. The second and third scenes of the fourth act are at Sardis in Asia Minor; the last act shifts to Philippi in Macedonia. The only noteworthy xxxii deviation from historical accuracy is in making the conference of the triumvirs take place at Rome and not at Bononia. See note, p. 116. But there is peculiar dramatic effectiveness in placing this fateful colloquy in the city that was the center of the political unrest of the time.

VII. VERSIFICATION AND DICTION

Blank Verse

The characteristics of Shakespeare's blank verse—the rhymeless, iambic five-stress (decasyllabic) verse, or iambic pentameter, introduced into England by Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, about 1540—and its proportion to rhyme and to prose have been much used in recent years to determine the chronological order of the plays and the development of the poet's art. In blank verse as used by Shakespeare we have really an epitome of the development of the measure in connection with the English drama. In his earlier plays the blank verse is often similar to that of Gorboduc, the first English tragedy. The tendency is to adhere to the syllable-counting principle, to make the line the unit, the sentence and phrase coinciding with the line (end-stopped verse), and to use five perfect iambic feet to the line. In plays of the middle period, such as The Merchant of Venice and As You Like It, written between 1596 and 1600, the blank verse is more like that of Kyd and Marlowe, with less monotonous regularity in the structure and an increasing tendency to carry on the sense from one line to another without a syntactical or rhetorical pause at the end of the line (run-on verse, enjambement). Redundant syllables now abound and the melody is richer and xxxiii fuller. In Shakespeare's later plays the blank verse breaks away from all bondage to formal line limits, and the organic continuity is found in a succession of great metrical periods.

The verse of Julius Cæsar is less monotonously regular than that of the earlier plays; it is more flexible and varied, more musical and sonorous, but it lacks the superb movement of the verse in Othello, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. End-stopped, normally regular iambic pentameter lines often occur (as, for instance, I, i, 37, 41, 44, 62, 76), but everywhere are variations and deviations from the norm, and there is an unusual number of short lines and interjectional lines of two or three stresses. See Abbott's A Shakespearian Grammar, §§ 511, 512.

Rhyme

Apart from the use of rhyme in songs, lyrics, and portions of masques (as in The Tempest, IV, i, 60-138), a progress from more to less rhyme is a sure index to Shakespeare's development as a dramatist and a master of expression. In the early Love's Labour's Lost are more than one thousand rhyming five-stress iambic lines; in The Tempest are only two; in The Winter's Tale not one. In Julius Cæsar are found only thirty-four rhyming lines.

Prose

If "of the soule the bodie forme doth take," it is small wonder that attempts have been made to explain Shakespeare's distinctive use of verse and prose. Of recent years there have been interesting discussions of the question "whether we are justified in supposing that Shakespeare xxxiv was guided by any fixed principle in his employment of verse and prose, or whether he merely employed them, as fancy suggested, for the sake of variety and relief."[22] It is a significant fact that in many of Shakespeare's earlier plays there is little or no prose, and that the proportion of prose to blank verse increases with the decrease of rhyme. In Julius Cæsar three kinds of prose may be distinguished: (1) The prose of homely dialogue, as in the talk of the common people in I, i, and III, iii. (2) The prose of serious information as to the nature of a situation, as in Casca's description of the offer of the crown to Cæsar. This kind of prose reaches its highest development in Brutus's famous speech, III, ii, with its dignified defense and laconic exposition of his honesty of purpose. (3) The prose of formal documents, as in the letter of Artemidorus, II, iii, 1-8.

VIII. THE CHARACTERS

Julius Cæsar

The characterization of this drama in some of the parts is not a little perplexing. Hardly one of the speeches put into Cæsar's mouth can be regarded as historically characteristic; taken all together, they seem little short of a caricature. As here represented, Cæsar appears little better than a braggart; and when he speaks, it is in the style of a glorious vapourer, full of lofty airs and mock thunder. Nothing could xxxv be further from the truth of the man, whose character, even in his faults, was as compact and solid as adamant, and at the same time as limber and ductile as the finest gold. Certain critics have seized and worked upon this, as proving Shakespeare's lack of classical knowledge, or carelessness in the use of his authorities. It proves neither the one nor the other.

It is true, Cæsar's ambition was gigantic, but none too much so for the mind it dwelt in; for his character in all its features was gigantic. And no man ever framed his ambition more in sympathy with the great forces of nature, or built it upon a deeper foundation of political wisdom and insight. Now this "last infirmity of noble minds" is the only part of him that the play really sets before us; and even this we do not see as it was, because it is here severed from the constitutional peerage of his gifts and virtues; all those transcendent qualities which placed him at the summit of Roman intellect and manhood being either withheld from the scene or thrown so far into the background that the proper effect of them is lost.

Yet we have ample proof that Shakespeare understood Cæsar thoroughly, and that he regarded him as "the noblest man that ever lived in the tide of times." For example, in Hamlet, he makes Horatio, who is one of his calmest and most right-thinking characters, speak of him as "the mightiest Julius." In Antony and Cleopatra, again, the heroine is made to describe him as "broad-fronted Cæsar"; and in King Richard the Third the young Prince utters these lines:

That Julius Cæsar was a famous man:

With what his valour did enrich his wit,

His wit set down to make his valour live:

Death makes no conquest of this conqueror.

[III, i, 84-87.]

In fact, we need not go beyond Shakespeare to gather that Julius Cæsar's was the deepest, the most versatile, and the most multitudinous head that ever figured in the political affairs of mankind.

Indeed, it is clear from this play itself that Shakespeare did not proceed at all from ignorance or misconception of the man. For it is remarkable that, though Cæsar delivers himself so out of character, yet others, both foes and friends, deliver him much nearer the truth; so that, while we see almost nothing of him directly, we nevertheless get, upon the whole, a just reflection of him. Especially in the marvelous speeches of Antony and in the later events of the drama, both his inward greatness and his right of mastership over the Roman world are fully vindicated. For in the play as in the history, Cæsar's blood hastens and cements the empire which the conspirators thought to prevent. They soon find that in the popular sympathies, and even in their own dumb remorses, he has "left behind powers that will work for him." He proves, indeed, far mightier in death than in life; as if his spirit were become at once the guardian angel of his cause and an avenging angel to his foes.

And so it was in fact. Nothing did so much to set the people in love with royalty, both name and thing, as the reflection that their beloved Cæsar, the greatest of their national heroes, the crown and consummation of Roman genius and character, had been murdered for aspiring to it. Thus their hereditary aversion to kingship was all subdued by the remembrance of how and why their Cæsar fell; and they who, before, would have plucked out his heart rather than he should wear a crown, would now have plucked out xxxvii their own, to set a crown upon his head. Such is the natural result, when the intensities of admiration and compassion meet together in the human breast.

From all which it may well be thought that Cæsar was too great for the hero of a drama, since his greatness, if brought forward in full measure, would leave no room for anything else, at least would preclude any proper dramatic balance and equipoise. It was only as a sort of underlying potency, or a force withdrawn into the background, that his presence was compatible with that harmony and reciprocity of several characters which a well-ordered drama requires. At all events, it is pretty clear that, where he was, such figures as Brutus and Cassius could never be very considerable, save as his assassins. They would not have been heard of in after times, if they had not "struck the foremost man of all this world"; in other words, the great sun of Rome had to be shorn of his beams, else so ineffectual a fire as Brutus could nowise catch the eye.

Be this as it may, there is no doubt that Shakespeare knew the whole height and compass of Cæsar's vast and varied capacity. It may be regretted that he did not render him as he evidently saw him, inasmuch as he alone, perhaps, of all the men who ever wrote could have given an adequate expression of that colossal man.

It is possible that the policy of the drama may have been to represent Cæsar not as he was indeed, but as he must have appeared to the conspirators; to make us see him as they saw him, in order that they too might have fair and equal judgment at our hands. For Cæsar was literally too great to be seen by them, save as children often see bugbears by moonlight, when their inexperienced eyes are xxxviii mocked with air. And Shakespeare may well have judged that the best way to set us right towards them was by identifying us more or less with them in mental position, and making us share somewhat in their delusion. For there is scarce anything wherein we are so apt to err as in reference to the characters of men, when time has settled and cleared up the questions in which they lost their way: we blame them for not having seen as we see; while in truth the things that are so bathed in light to us were full of darkness to them, and we should have understood them better, had we been in the dark along with them.

Cæsar, indeed, was not bewildered by the political questions of his time; but all the rest were, and therefore he seemed so to them; and while their own heads were swimming they naturally ascribed his seeming bewilderment to a dangerous intoxication. As for his marvelous career of success, they attributed this mainly to his good luck, such being the common refuge of inferior minds when they would escape the sense of their inferiority. Hence, as generally happens with the highest order of men, his greatness had to wait the approval of later events. He indeed, far beyond any other man of his age, "looked into the seeds of time"; but this was not, and could not be known, till time had developed those seeds into their fruits. Why then may not Shakespeare's idea have been so to order things that the full strength of the man should not appear in the play, as it did not in fact, till after his fall? This view will both explain and justify the strange disguise—a sort of falsetto greatness—under which Cæsar exhibits himself.

Now the seeming contradiction between Cæsar as known and Cæsar as rendered by Shakespeare is what, more than xxxix anything else, perplexes. But a very refined, subtile, and peculiar irony pervades this, more than any other of Shakespeare's plays; not intended as such, indeed, by the speakers, but a sort of historic irony,—the irony of Providence, so to speak, or, if you please, of Fate; much the same as is implied in the proverb, "A haughty spirit goeth before a fall." This irony crops out in many places. Thus we have Cæsar most blown with arrogance and godding it in the loftiest style when the daggers of the assassins are on the very point of leaping at him. So too, all along, we find Brutus most confident in those very things where he is most at fault, or acting like a man "most ignorant of what he's most assured"; as when he says that "Antony can do no more than Cæsar's arm when Cæsar's head is off." This, to be sure, is not meant ironically by him, but it is turned into irony by the fact that Antony soon tears the cause of the conspirators all to pieces with his tongue. But, indeed, this sort of honest guile runs all through the piece as a perfusive and permeating efficacy. A still better instance of it occurs just after the murder, when the chiefs of the conspiracy are exulting in the transcendent virtue and beneficence of their deed, and in its future stage celebrity; and Cassius says,—

So often shall the knot of us be call'd

The men that gave their country liberty.

[III, i, 118-119.]

and again, a little later, when Brutus says of Antony, "I know that we shall have him well to friend." Not indeed that the men themselves thought any irony in those speeches: it was natural, no doubt, that they should utter such things in all seriousness; but what they say is interpreted into irony by xl the subsequent events. And when such a shallow idealist as Brutus is made to overtop and outshine the greatest practical genius the world ever saw, what is it but a refined and subtile irony at work on a much larger scale, and diffusing itself, secretly, it may be, but not the less vitally, into the texture? It was not the frog that thought irony, when he tried to make himself as big as the ox; but there was a pretty decided spice of irony in the mind that conceived the fable.

It is to be noted further that Brutus uniformly speaks of Cæsar with respect, almost indeed with admiration. It is his ambition, not his greatness, that Brutus resents; the thought that his own consequence is impaired by Cæsar's elevation having no influence with him. With Cassius, on the contrary, impatience of his superiority is the ruling motive: he is all the while thinking of the disparagement he suffers by Cæsar's exaltation.

This man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body

If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

[I, ii, 115-118.]

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world

Like a Colossus, and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs.

[I, ii, 135-137.]

Thus he overflows with mocking comparisons, and finds his pastime in flouting at Cæsar as having managed by a sham heroism to hoodwink the world.

And yet Shakespeare makes Cæsar characterize himself very much as Cassius, in his splenetic temper, describes him. Cæsar gods it in his talk, as if on purpose to approve the style in which Cassius mockingly gods him. This, taken xli by itself, would look as if the dramatist sided with Cassius; yet one can hardly help feeling that he sympathized rather in Antony's great oration. And the sequel, as we have seen, justifies Antony's opinion of Cæsar. The subsequent course of things has the effect of inverting the mockery of Cassius against himself.

The final issue of the conspiracy, as represented by Shakespeare, is a pretty conclusive argument of the blunder, not to say the crime, of its authors. Cæsar, dead, tears them and their cause all to pieces. In effect, they did but stab him into a mightier life; so that Brutus might well say, as indeed he does at last,—

O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet!

Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords

In our own proper entrails.

[V, iii, 94-96.]

The Nemesis which asserts itself so sternly in the latter part of the play may be regarded as a reflex of irony on some of the earlier scenes. This view infers the disguise of Cæsar to be an instance of the profound guile with which Shakespeare sometimes plays upon his characters, humoring their bent, and then leaving them to the discipline of events.

Brutus

Coleridge has a shrewd doubt as to what sort of a character Shakespeare meant his Brutus to be. For, in his thinking aloud just after the breaking of the conspiracy to him, Brutus avowedly grounds his purpose, not on anything Cæsar has done, nor on what he is, but simply on what he may become when crowned. He "knows no personal cause to spurn at him"; nor has he "known when his affections sway'd xlii more than his reason"; but "he would be crown'd: how that might change his nature, there's the question"; and,

Since the quarrel

Will bear no colour for the thing he is,

Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,

Would run to these and these extremities;

And therefore think him as a serpent's egg

Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,

And kill him in the shell.

[II, i, 28-34.]

So then Brutus heads a plot to assassinate the man who, besides being clothed with the sanctions of law as the highest representative of the state, has been his personal friend and benefactor; all this, too, not on any ground of fact, but on an assumed probability that the crown will prove a sacrament of evil, and transform him into quite another man. A strange piece of casuistry indeed! but nowise unsuited to the spirit of a man who was to commit the gravest of crimes, purely from a misplaced virtue.

And yet the character of Brutus is full of beauty and sweetness. In all the relations of life he is upright, gentle, and pure; of a sensitiveness and delicacy of principle that cannot bosom the slightest stain; his mind enriched and fortified with the best extractions of philosophy; a man adorned with all the virtues which, in public and private, at home and in the circle of friends, win respect and charm the heart.

Being such a man, of course he could only do what he did under some sort of delusion. And so indeed it is. Yet this very delusion serves, apparently, to ennoble and beautify him, as it takes him and works upon him through his virtues. At heart he is a real patriot, every inch of him. But his xliii patriotism, besides being somewhat hidebound with patrician pride, is of the speculative kind, and dwells, where his whole character has been chiefly formed, in a world of poetical and philosophic ideals. He is an enthusiastic student of books. Plato is his favorite teacher; and he has studiously framed his life and tuned his thoughts to the grand and pure conceptions won from that all but divine source: Plato's genius walks with him in the Senate, sits with him at the fireside, goes with him to the wars, and still hovers about his tent.

His great fault, then, lies in supposing it his duty to be meddling with things that he does not understand. Conscious of high thoughts and just desires, but with no gift of practical insight, he is ill fitted to "grind among the iron facts of life." In truth, he does not really see where he is; the actual circumstances and tendencies amidst which he lives are as a book written in a language he cannot read. The characters of those who act with him are too far below the region of his principles and habitual thinkings for him to take the true cast of them. Himself incapable of such motives as govern them, he just projects and suspends his ideals in them, and then misreckons upon them as realizing the men of his own brain. So also he clings to the idea of the great and free republic of his fathers, the old Rome that has ever stood to his feelings touched with the consecrations of time and glorified with the high virtues that have grown up under her cherishing. But, in the long reign of tearing faction and civil butchery, that which he worships has been substantially changed, the reality lost. Cæsar, already clothed with the title and the power of Imperator for life, would change the form so as to agree with the substance, the name so as to fit the thing. But Brutus is so filled with the idea xliv of that which has thus passed away never to return that he thinks to save or recover the whole by preventing such formal and nominal change.

And so his whole course is that of one acting on his own ideas, not on the facts that are before and around him. Indeed, he does not see them; he merely dreams his own meaning into them. He is swift to do that by which he thinks his country ought to be benefited. As the killing of Cæsar stands in his purpose, he and his associates are to be "sacrificers, not butchers." But that the deed may have the effect he hopes for, his countrymen generally must regard it in the same light as he does. That they will do this is the very thing which he has in fact no reason to conclude; notwithstanding, because it is so in his idea, therefore he trusts that the conspirators will "be called purgers, not murderers." Meanwhile, the plain truth is, that if his countrymen had been capable of regarding the deed as a sacrifice, they would not have made nor permitted any occasion for it. It is certain that, unless so construed, the act must prove fruitful of evil; all Rome is full of things proving that it cannot be so construed; but this is what Brutus has no eye to see.

So too, in his oration "to show the reason of our Cæsar's death," he speaks, in calm and dispassionate manner, just those things which he thinks ought to set the people right and himself right in their eyes, forgetting all the while that the deed cannot fail to make the people mad, and that popular madness is not a thing to be reasoned with. And for the same cause he insists on sparing Antony, and on permitting him to speak in Cæsar's funeral. To do otherwise would be unjust, and so would overthrow the whole nature xlv of the enterprise as it lives in his mind. And because in his idea it ought so to be, he trusts that Antony will make Cæsar's death the occasion of strengthening those who killed him, not perceiving the strong likelihood, which soon passes into a fact, that in cutting off Cæsar they have taken away the only check on Antony's ambition. He ought to have foreseen that Antony, instead of being drawn to their side, would rather make love to Cæsar's place at their expense.

Thus the course of Brutus serves no end but to set on foot another civil war, which naturally hastens and assures the very thing he sought to prevent. He confides in the goodness of his cause, not considering that the better the cause, the worse its chance with bad men. He thinks it safe to trust others because he knows they can safely trust him; the singleness of his own eye causing him to believe that others will see as he sees, the purity of his own heart, that others will feel as he feels.

Here then we have a strong instance of a very good man doing a very bad thing; and, withal, of a wise man acting most unwisely because his wisdom knew not its place; a right noble, just, heroic spirit bearing directly athwart the virtues he worships. On the whole, it is not wonderful that Brutus should have exclaimed, as he is said to have done, that he had worshiped virtue and found her at last but a shade. So worshiped, she may well prove a shade indeed! Admiration of the man's character, reprobation of his proceedings,—which of these is the stronger with us? And there is much the same irony in the representation of Brutus as in that of Cæsar; only the order of it is here reversed. As if one should say, "O yes, yes! in the practical affairs of mankind your charming wisdom of the closet xlvi will doubtless put to shame the workings of mere practical insight and sagacity."

Shakespeare's exactness in the minutest details of character is well shown in the speech already referred to; which is the utterance of a man philosophizing most unphilosophically; as if the Academy should betake itself to the stump, and this too without any sense of the incongruity. Plutarch has a short passage which served as a hint, not indeed for the matter, but for the style of that speech. "They do note," says he, "in some of his epistles that he counterfeited that brief compendious manner of speech of the Lacedæmonians. As, when the war was begun, he wrote unto the Pergamenians in this sort: 'I understand you have given Dolabella money: if you have done it willingly, you confess you have offended me; if against your wills, show it then by giving me willingly.'... These were Brutus' manner of letters, which were honoured for their briefness." The speech in question is far enough indeed from being a model of style either for oratory or anything else, but it is finely characteristic; while its studied primness and epigrammatic finish contrast most unfavorably with the frank-hearted yet artful eloquence of Antony.

And what a rare significance attaches to the brief scene of Brutus and his drowsy boy Lucius in camp a little before the catastrophe! There, in the deep of the night, long after all the rest have lost themselves in sleep, and when the anxieties of the issue are crowding upon him,—there we have the earnest, thoughtful Brutus hungering intensely for the repasts of treasured thought.

Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;

I put it in the pocket of my gown.

[IV, iii, 252, 253.]

What the man is, and where he ought to be, is all signified in these two lines. And do we not taste a dash of benignant irony in the implied repugnance between the spirit of the man and the stuff of his present undertaking? The idea of a bookworm riding the whirlwind of war! The thing is most like Brutus; but how out of his element, how unsphered from his right place, it shows him! There is a touch of drollery in the contrast, which the richest steeping of poetry does not disguise. And the irony is all the more delectable for being so remote and unpronounced; like one of those choice arrangements in the background of a painting, which, without attracting conscious notice, give a zest and relish to what stands in front. The scene, whether for charm of sentiment or felicity of conception, is one of the finest in Shakespeare.

Brutus and Cassius

The characters of Brutus and Cassius are nicely discriminated, scarce a word falling from either but what smacks of the man. Cassius is much the better conspirator, but much the worse man; and the better in that because the worse in this. For Brutus engages in the conspiracy on grounds of abstract and ideal justice; while Cassius holds it both a wrong and a blunder to go about such a thing without making success his first care. This, accordingly, is what he works for, being reckless of all other considerations in his choice and use of means. Withal he is more impulsive and quick than Brutus, because less under the self-discipline of moral principle. His motives, too, are of a much more mixed and various quality, because his habits of thinking and acting have grown by the measures of experience; he xlviii studies to understand men as they are; Brutus, as he thinks they ought to be. Hence, in every case where Brutus crosses him, Brutus is wrong, and he is right,—right, that is, if success be their aim. Cassius judges, and surely rightly, that the end should give law to the means; and that "the honorable men whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar" should not be hampered much with conscientious scruples.

Still Brutus overawes him by his moral energy and elevation of character, and by the open-faced rectitude and purity of his principles. Brutus has no thoughts or aims that he is afraid or ashamed to avow; Cassius has many which he would fain hide even from himself. And he catches a sort of inspiration and is raised above himself by contact with Brutus. And Cassius, moreover, acts very much from personal hatred of Cæsar, as remembering how, not long before, he and Brutus had stood for the chief prætorship of the city, and Brutus through Cæsar's favor had got the election. And so Shakespeare read in Plutarch that "Cassius, being a choleric man, and hating Cæsar privately more than he did the tyranny openly, incensed Brutus against him." The effect of this is finely worked out by the dramatist in the man's affected scorn of Cæsar, and in the scoffing humor in which he loves to speak of him. For such is the natural language of a masked revenge.

The tone of Cassius is further indicated, and with exquisite art, in his soliloquy where, after tempering Brutus to his purpose, and finding how his "honorable metal may be wrought," he gently slurs him for being practicable to flatteries, and then proceeds to ruminate the scheme for working upon his vanity, and thereby drawing him into the conspiracy; thus spilling the significant fact, that his own xlix honor does not stick to practice the arts by which he thinks it is a shame to be seduced.

It is a noteworthy point also that Cassius is too practical and too much of a politician to see any ghosts. Acting on far lower principles than his leader, and such as that leader would spurn as both wicked and base, he therefore does no violence to his heart in screwing it to the work he takes in hand; his heart is even more at home in the work than his head; whereas Brutus, from the wrenching his heart has suffered, keeps reverting to the moral complexion of his first step. The remembrance of this is a thorn in his side; while Cassius has no sensibilities of nature for such compunctions to stick upon. Brutus is never thoroughly himself after the assassination; that his heart is ill at ease is shown in a certain dogged tenacity of honor and overstraining of rectitude, as if he were struggling to make atonement with his conscience. The stab he gave Cæsar planted in his own upright and gentle nature a germ of remorse, which, gathering strength from every subsequent adversity, came to embody itself in imaginary sights and sounds; the spirit of justice, made an ill angel to him by his own sense of wrong, hovering in the background of his after life, and haunting his solitary moments in the shape of Cæsar's ghost. And so it is well done, that he is made to see the "monstrous apparition" just after his heart has been pierced through with many sorrows at hearing of Portia's shocking death.

Portia

The delineation of Portia is completed in a few brief masterly strokes. Once seen, the portrait ever after lives an old and dear acquaintance of the reader's inner man. l Portia has strength enough to do and suffer for others, but very little for herself. As the daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus, she has set in her eye a pattern of how she ought to think and act, being "so father'd and so husbanded"; but still her head floats merged over the ears in her heart; and it is only when affection speaks that her spirit is hushed into the listening which she would fain yield only to the speech of reason. She has a clear idea of the stoical calmness and fortitude which appears so noble and so graceful in her Brutus; it all lies faithfully reproduced in her mind; she knows well how to honor and admire it; yet she cannot work it into the texture of her character; she can talk it like a book, but she tries in vain to live it.

Plutarch gives one most touching incident respecting her which Shakespeare did not use, though he transfused the sense of it into his work. It occurred some time after Cæsar's death, and when the civil war was growing to a head: "Brutus, seeing the state of Rome would be utterly overthrown, went ... unto the city of Elea standing by the sea. There Portia, being ready to depart from her husband Brutus and to return to Rome, did what she could to dissemble the grief and sorrow she felt at her heart. But a certain painted table (picture) bewrayed her in the end.... The device was taken out of the Greek stories, how Andromache accompanied her husband Hector when he went out of the city of Troy to go to the wars, and how Hector delivered her his little son, and how her eyes were never off him. Portia, seeing this picture, and likening herself to be in the same case, she fell a-weeping; and coming thither oftentimes in a day to see it, she wept still." The force of this incident is reproduced in the Portia of the play; we li have its full effect in the matter about her self-inflicted wound as compared with her subsequent demeanor.

Portia gives herself that gash without flinching, and bears it without a murmur, as an exercise and proof of fortitude; and she translates her pains into smiles, all to comfort and support her husband. So long as this purpose lends her strength, she is fully equal to her thought, because here her heart keeps touch perfectly with her head. But, this motive gone, the weakness, if it be not rather the strength, of her woman's nature rushes full upon her; her feelings rise into an uncontrollable flutter, and run out at every joint and motion of her body; and nothing can arrest the inward mutiny till affection again whispers her into composure, lest she say something that may hurt or endanger her Brutus.

Antony

Shakespeare's completed characterization of Antony is in Antony and Cleopatra. In the later play Antony is delineated with his native aptitudes for vice warmed into full development by the great Egyptian sorceress. In Julius Cæsar Shakespeare emphasizes as one of Antony's characteristic traits his unreserved adulation of Cæsar, shown in reckless purveying to his dangerous weakness,—the desire to be called a king. Already Cæsar had more than kingly power, and it was the obvious part of a friend to warn him against this ambition. Here and there are apt indications of his proneness to those vicious levities and debasing luxuries which afterwards ripened into such a gigantic profligacy. He has not yet attained to that rank and full-blown combination of cruelty, perfidy, and voluptuousness, which the world associates with his name, but he is plainly on the lii way to it. His profound and wily dissimulation, while knitting up the hollow truce with the assassins on the very spot where "great Cæsar fell," is managed with admirable skill; his deep spasms of grief being worked out in just the right way to quench their suspicions, and make them run into the toils, when he calls on them to render him their bloody hands. Nor have they any right to complain, for he is but paying them in their own coin; and we think none the worse of him that he fairly outdoes them at their own practice.

But Antony's worst parts as here delivered are his exultant treachery in proposing to use his colleague Lepidus as at once the pack-horse and the scape-goat of the Triumvirate, and his remorseless savagery in arranging for the slaughter of all that was most illustrious in Rome, bartering away his own uncle, to glut his revenge with the blood of Cicero; though even here his revenge was less hideous than the cold-blooded policy of young Octavius. Yet Antony has in the play, as he had in fact, some right noble streaks in him; for his character was a very mixed one; and there was to the last a fierce war of good and evil within him. Especially he had an eye to see, a heart to feel, and a soul to honor the superb structure of manhood which Rome possessed in Julius Cæsar, who stood to him, indeed, as a kind of superior nature, to raise him above himself. He "fear'd Cæsar, honour'd him, and lov'd him"; and with the murdered Cæsar for his theme, he was for once inspired and kindled to a rapture of the truest, noblest, most overwhelming eloquence. Noteworthy also is the grateful remembrance at last of his obligations to Brutus for having saved him from the daggers of the conspirators.

The People

That many-headed, but withal big-souled creature, the multitude, is charmingly characterized in Julius Cæsar. The common people, it is true, are rather easily swayed hither and thither by the contagion of sympathy and of persuasive speech; yet their feelings are in the main right, and even their judgment in the long run is better than that of the pampered Roman aristocracy, inasmuch as it proceeds more from the instincts of manhood. Shakespeare evidently loved to play with the natural, unsophisticated, though somewhat childish heart of the people; but his playing is always genial and human-hearted, with a certain angelic humor in it that seldom fails to warm us towards the subject. On the whole, he understood the people well, and they have well repaid him in understanding him better than the critics have often done. The cobbler's droll humor, at the opening of this play, followed as it is by a strain of the loftiest poetry, is aptly noted by Campbell as showing that the dramatist, "even in dealing with classical subjects, laughed at the classic fear of putting the ludicrous and sublime into juxtaposition."

IX. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS

As a whole, Julius Cæsar is inferior to Coriolanus, but it abounds in scenes and passages fraught, with the highest virtue of Shakespeare's genius. Among these may be specially mentioned the second scene of the first act, where Cassius sows the seed of the conspiracy in Brutus's mind, warmed with such a wrappage of instigation as to assure its effective germination; also the first scene of the second liv act, unfolding the birth of the conspiracy, and winding up with the interview, so charged with domestic glory, of Brutus and Portia. The oration of Antony in Cæsar's funeral is such an interfusion of art and passion as realizes the very perfection of its kind. Adapted at once to the comprehension of the lowest mind and to the delectation of the highest, and running its pathos into the very quick of them that hear it, it tells with terrible effect on the people; and when it is done we feel that Cæsar's bleeding wounds are mightier than ever his genius and fortune were. The quarrel of Brutus and Cassius is deservedly celebrated. Dr. Johnson thought it "somewhat cold and unaffecting." Coleridge thought otherwise. See note, p. 123. But there is nothing in the play that is more divinely touched than the brief scene, already noticed, of Brutus and his boy Lucius—so gentle, so dutiful, so loving, so thoughtful and careful for his master, and yet himself no more conscious of his virtue than a flower of its fragrance. There is no more exquisite passage in all Shakespeare than that which tells of the boy's falling asleep in the midst of his song and exclaiming on being aroused, "The strings, my lord, are false."

AUTHORITIES

(With the more important abbreviations used in the notes)

CHRONOLOGICAL CHART

Except in the case of Shakespeare's plays (see note) the literature dates refer to first publication

DISTRIBUTION OF CHARACTERS

In this analysis are shown the acts and scenes in which the characters (see Dramatis Personæ, page 2) appear, with the number of speeches and lines given to each.

JULIUS CÆSAR

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[1]

Julius Cæsar.
Octavius Cæsar Marcus Antonius,[2] M. Æmilius Lepidus	triumvirs after the death of Julius Cæsar.
Cicero Publius Popilius Lena	senators.
Marcus Brutus Cassius Casca Trebonius Ligarius Decius Brutus[3] Metellus Cimber Cinna	conspirators against Julius Cæsar.
Flavius and Marullus,[4] tribunes.
Artemidorus of Cnidos, a teacher of Rhetoric.[5]
A Soothsayer.
Cinna, a poet.
Another Poet.
Lucilius Titinius Messala Cato Volumnius	friends to Brutus and Cassius.
Varro Clitus Claudius Strato Lucius Dardanius	servants to Brutus.
Pindarus, servant to Cassius.
Calpurnia,[6] wife to Cæsar.
Portia, wife to Brutus.
Senators, Commoners, Guards, Attendants, &c.

Scene: Rome; the neighborhood of Sardis; the neighborhood of Philippi.

ACT I.

I. 1 Scene I. Rome. A street[7]

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners over the stage[8]

Flavius. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home:

Is this a holiday? what! know you not,

Being mechanical[9], you ought not walk[10]

Upon a labouring day without the sign

5Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou?[11]

Carpenter.[12] Why, sir, a carpenter.

Marullus. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?

What dost thou with thy best apparel on?

10You, sir, what trade are you?[13]

Cobbler.[14] Truly, sir, in respect of[15] a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler[16].

Marullus. But what trade art thou? answer me directly[17].

Cobbler. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles.15[18][19]

Flavius.[20][21] What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade?

Cobbler. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out[22] with me: yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you.

Marullus.[23] What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow?20

Cobbler. Why, sir, cobble you.

Flavius. Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

Cobbler. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's 525 matters, but withal I[24][25] am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper[26] men as ever trod upon neat's-leather[27] have gone upon my handiwork.

Flavius. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day?

30Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

Cobbler. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see Cæsar and to rejoice in his triumph.

Marullus. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home? [28]

35What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!

O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,

Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft[29]

40Have[30] you climb'd up to walls and battlements,

To towers and windows[31], yea, to chimney-tops,

Your infants in your arms, and there have sat

The live-long day, with patient expectation,

To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:[32]

45And when you saw his chariot but appear,

Have you not made an universal shout,

That[33] Tiber trembled underneath her[34][35] banks

To hear[36] the replication[37] of your sounds

Made in her[34] concave shores?

50And do you now put on your best attire?

And do you now cull out a holiday?[38]

And do you now strew flowers in his way

That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?[39]

Be gone!

55Run to your houses, fall upon your knees,

Pray to the gods to intermit the plague

That needs must light on this ingratitude.[40]

Flavius. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,

Assemble all the poor men of your sort;

60Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears

Into the channel, till the lowest stream

Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.[41]

[Exeunt[42] all the Commoners]

See, where[43][44] their basest metal[45] be not mov'd!

They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.

65Go you down that way towards the Capitol;

This way will I: disrobe the images,[46]

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.[47]

Marullus. May we do so?

You know it is the feast of Lupercal.[48]

70Flavius. It is no matter; let no images

Be hung with Cæsar's trophies.[49] I'll about,

And drive away the vulgar[50] from the streets:

So do you too, where you perceive them thick.

These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæsar's wing

75Will make him fly an ordinary pitch,[51]

Who else would soar above the view of men,

And keep us all in servile fearfulness.

[Exeunt]

I. 2 Scene II. A public place[52]

Enter Cæsar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer.

Cæsar. Calpurnia!

Casca.

Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks.

Cæsar.

Calpurnia!

Calpurnia. Here, my lord.

Cæsar. Stand you directly in Antonius'[53][54] way,

When he doth run his course. Antonius![55]

5Antony. Cæsar, my lord?

Cæsar. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,

To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,

The barren, touched in this holy chase,

Shake off their sterile curse.[56]

Antony.

I shall remember:

10When Cæsar says 'Do this,' it is perform'd.

Cæsar. Set on; and leave no ceremony out.

[Flourish][57]

Soothsayer. Cæsar!

Cæsar. Ha! who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still. Peace yet again!

15Cæsar. Who is it in the press that calls on me?

I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,

Cry 'Cæsar!' Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.

Soothsayer. Beware the Ides of March.[58]

Cæsar.

What man is that?

Brutus. A soothsayer[59] bids you beware the Ides of March. [60]

20Cæsar. Set him before me; let me see his face.

Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Cæsar.

Cæsar. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

Soothsayer. Beware the Ides of March.

Cæsar. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.

[Sennet.[61] Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius][62]

25Cassius. Will you go see the order of the course?

Brutus. Not I.

Cassius. I pray you, do.

Brutus. I am not gamesome:[63] I do lack some part

Of that quick spirit[64] that is in Antony.

30Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you.

Cassius. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:

I have not from your eyes that gentleness

And show of love as[65] I was wont to have:

35You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand[66]

Over your friend[67] that loves you.[68]

Brutus.

Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,

I turn the trouble of my countenance

Merely[69] upon myself. Vexed I am

40Of late with passions of some difference,[70]

Conceptions only proper to myself,[71]

Which give some soil,[72] perhaps, to my behaviours;[73]

But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd—

Among which number, Cassius, be you one—

45Nor construe any further my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,

Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cassius. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook[74] your passion; [75]

By means whereof[76] this breast of mine hath buried

50Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.

Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

Brutus. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself[77]

But by reflection, by some[78] other things.[79][80]

Cassius. 'Tis just:[81]

55And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors as will turn

Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might see your shadow. I have heard,[82]

Where[83] many of the best respect[84] in Rome,

60Except immortal Cæsar,[85] speaking of Brutus,

And groaning underneath this age's yoke,

Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Brutus. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,[86]

That you would have me seek into myself

65For that which is not in me?

Cassius. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear:

And, since you know you cannot see yourself

So well as by reflection, I, your glass,

Will modestly discover to yourself

70That of yourself which you yet[87] know not of.

And be not jealous on[88] me, gentle Brutus:

Were I a common laughter,[89][90] or did use

To stale[91] with ordinary oaths my love

To every new protester;[92] if you know

75That I do fawn on men and hug them hard,

And after scandal them; or if you know

That I profess myself[93] in banqueting

To all the rout[94], then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish and shout]

Brutus.[95] What means this shouting? I do fear, the people

Choose Cæsar for their king.

80Cassius.

Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it so.

Brutus. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.

But wherefore do you hold me here so long?

What is it that you would impart to me?

85If it be aught[96] toward the general good,

Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,

And I will look on both[97][98] indifferently;[99]

For let the gods so speed[100] me as I love

The name of honour more than I fear death.

90Cassius. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,

As well as I do know your outward favour.[101]

Well, honour is the subject of my story.

I cannot tell what you and other men

Think of this life; but, for[102] my single self,

95I had as lief[103] not be as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; so were you:

We both have fed as well; and we can both

Endure the winter's cold as well as he:

100For once, upon a raw and gusty day,

The troubled Tiber chafing[104][105] with her shores,

Cæsar said[106] to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now

Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,

105Accoutred[107] as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: so indeed he did.

The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it

With lusty sinews, throwing it aside

And stemming it with hearts of controversy;[108]

110But ere we could arrive the point[109] propos'd,

Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber

115Did I the tired Cæsar: and this man

Is now become a god, and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body

If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever[110] when he was in Spain;

120And, when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake:

His coward lips did from their colour fly;[111]

And that same eye whose bend[112] doth awe the world

Did lose[113] his[114] lustre. I did hear him groan:

125Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade[115] the Romans

Mark him and write his speeches in their books,

Alas, it cried, 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'

As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me

A man of such a feeble temper[116] should

130So get the start of the majestic world

And bear the palm alone.

[Shout. Flourish]

Brutus. Another general shout!

I do believe that these applauses are

For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar.

135Cassius. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world[117]

Like a Colossus,[118] and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about

To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

Men at some time are masters of their fates:

140The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,[119]

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus and Cæsar: what should be[120] in that 'Cæsar?'

Why should that name be sounded more than yours?

Write them together, yours is as fair a name;

145Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;

Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,

'Brutus' will start a spirit[121] as soon as 'Cæsar.'

Now, in the names of all the gods at once,

Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,

150That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd!

Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!

When went there by an age, since the great flood,[122]

But it was fam'd with more than with one man?

When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,

155That her wide walks[123][124] encompass'd but one man?

Now is it Rome indeed, and room[125] enough,

When there is in it but one only man.

O, you and I have heard our fathers say

There was a Brutus[126] once that would have brook'd[127]

160Th' eternal[128] devil to keep his state in Rome

As easily as a king.

Brutus. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;[129]

What you would work me to,[130] I have some aim:[131]

How I have thought of this and of these times,

165I shall recount hereafter; for this present,

I would not, so with love I might entreat you,[132]

Be any further mov'd. What you have said

I will consider; what you have to say

I will with patience hear, and find a time

170Both meet to hear and answer such high things.

Till then, my noble friend, chew[133] upon this:

Brutus had rather be a villager

Than to repute himself a son of Rome

Under these hard conditions as[134] this time

175Is like to lay upon us.

Cassius. I am glad that my weak words

Have struck but thus much show of fire[135] from Brutus.

Enter[136] Cæsar and his train

Brutus. The games are done, and Cæsar is returning.

Cassius. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;[137]

180And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you

What hath proceeded[138] worthy note[139] to-day.

Brutus. I will do so. But, look you, Cassius,

The angry spot doth glow on Cæsar's brow,

And all the rest look like a chidden train:

185Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero

Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes[140]

As we have seen him in the Capitol,

Being cross'd in conference by some senators.

Cassius. Casca will tell us what the matter is.

190Cæsar. Antonius!

Antony. Cæsar?[141]

Cæsar. Let me have men about me that are fat,

Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:[142]

Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;

195He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.[143]

Antony. Fear him not, Cæsar; he's not dangerous;

He is a noble Roman, and well given.[144]

Cæsar. Would he were fatter! but I fear him not:

Yet if my name were liable to fear,

200I do not know the man I should avoid

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;

He is a great observer, and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,[145]

As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music:[146]

205Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort

As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit

That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.

Such men as he be never at heart's ease

Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,

210And therefore are they very dangerous.

I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd

Than what I fear, for always I am Cæsar.

Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,[147]

And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.

[Sennet. Exeunt Cæsar and all his train but Casca][148]

215Casca. You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me?

Brutus. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanc'd to-day,

That Cæsar looks so sad.[149]

Casca. Why, you were with him, were you not?

Brutus. I should not then ask Casca what had chanc'd.

220Casca. Why, there was a crown offer'd him;[150] and being offer'd him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.[151]

Brutus. What was the second noise for?

Casca. Why, for that too.

225Cassius. They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?

Casca. Why, for that too.

Brutus. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?

Casca. Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting by mine honest 230neighbours shouted.

Cassius. Who offer'd him the crown?

Casca. Why, Antony.

Brutus. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.

Casca. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of it: 235it was[152] mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown—yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets—and, as I told you, he put it by once: but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he offer'd it to him again; then he put it by again: 240but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And then he offer'd it the third time; he put it the third time by: and, still, as he refus'd it, the rabblement hooted[153] and clapp'd their chopp'd[154] hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps and utter'd such a deal of stinking breath because 245Cæsar refus'd the crown, that it had almost chok'd Cæsar; 25 for he swounded[155] and fell down at it: and for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air.

Cassius. But, soft![156] I pray you: what, did Cæsar swound? [157]

250Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foam'd at mouth, and was speechless.

Brutus. 'Tis very like; he[158] hath the falling-sickness.[159]

Cassius. No, Cæsar hath it not; but you, and I,

And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness.

255Casca. I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure Cæsar fell down. If the tag-rag people[160] did not clap him and hiss him, according as he pleas'd and displeas'd them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true[161] man.

260Brutus. What said he when he came unto himself?

Casca. Marry,[162] before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the common herd was glad he refus'd the crown, he pluck'd me[163] ope his doublet[164] and offer'd them his throat to cut. And[165][166] I had been a man of any occupation,[167] if I would not have 265taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues.[168] And so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, if he had done or said any thing amiss, he desir'd their worships to think it was his infirmity.[169] Three or four wenches, where I stood, cried, 'Alas, good soul!' and forgave 270him with all their hearts. But there's no[170] heed to be taken of them: if Cæsar had stabb'd their mothers, they would have done no less.

Brutus. And after that, he came, thus sad, away?[171]

Casca. Ay.

275Cassius. Did Cicero say any thing?

Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek.[172]

Cassius. To what effect?

Casca. Nay, and[173] I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again: but those that understood him smil'd at one 280another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it was Greek to me. [174] I could tell you more news too: Marullus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I could remember it.

285Cassius. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca?

Casca. No, I am promis'd forth.[175]

Cassius. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating.

290Cassius. Good; I will expect you.

Casca. Do so: farewell, both.

[Exit]

Brutus. What a blunt[176] fellow is this grown to be!

He was quick mettle[177] when he went to school.

Cassius. So is he now, in execution

295Of any bold or noble enterprise,

However[178] he puts on this tardy form.[179]

This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,

Which gives men stomach to digest[180] his words

With better appetite.[181]

300Brutus.[182] And so it is. For this time I will leave you:

To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,

I will come home to you; or, if you will,

Come home to me, and I will wait for you.

Cassius. I will do so: till then, think of the world.

[Exit Brutus]

305Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see,

Thy honourable metal[183] may be wrought

From that it is dispos'd:[184] therefore it is meet

That noble minds keep ever with their likes;

For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?

310Cæsar doth bear me hard,[185] but he loves Brutus:

If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,

He should not humour[186] me. I will this night,

In several hands,[187] in at his windows throw,

As if they came from several citizens,

315Writings, all tending to the great opinion

That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely

Cæsar's ambition shall be glanced at:

And after this let Cæsar seat him sure;

For we will shake him, or worse days endure.[188]

[Exit]

I. 3 Scene III.[189][190] The same. A street

Thunder and lightning. Enter,[191] from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and Cicero

Cicero. Good even, Casca: brought[192] you Cæsar home?

Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?

Casca. Are you not mov'd, when all the sway of earth[193]

Shakes like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,

5I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds

Have riv'd the knotty oaks, and I have seen

Th' ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam,

To be exalted with the threatening clouds;

But never till to-night, never till now,

10Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.[194]

Either there is a civil strife in heaven,

Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,

Incenses them to send destruction.[195][196]

Cicero. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?[197]

15Casca. A common slave—you know[198] him well by sight—

Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn

Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand,

Not sensible of fire, remain'd unscorch'd.

Besides—I ha' not since put up my sword—

20Against the Capitol I met a lion,

Who[199] glaz'd[200][201] upon me and went surly[202] by

Without annoying me: and there were drawn

Upon a heap[203] a hundred ghastly women,

Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw

25Men all in fire walk up and down the streets.

And yesterday the bird of night[204] did sit

Even at noon-day upon the market-place,

Hooting[205] and shrieking. When these prodigies

Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,

30'These[206] are their reasons; they are natural;'

For, I believe, they are portentous things

Unto the climate[207] that they point upon.

Cicero. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time:

But men may construe things after their fashion,

35Clean[208] from the purpose of the things themselves.

Comes Cæsar to[209] the Capitol to-morrow?

Casca. He doth; for he did bid Antonius

Send word to you he would be there to-morrow.

Cicero. Good night then, Casca: this disturbed sky

40Is not to walk in.

Casca.

Farewell, Cicero.

[Exit Cicero][210]

Enter Cassius

Cassius. Who's there?

Casca.

A Roman.

Cassius.

Casca, by your voice.

Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what[211] night is this! [212] [213]

Cassius. A very pleasing night to honest men.

Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so?

45Cassius. Those that have known the earth so full of faults.

For my part, I have walk'd about the streets,

Submitting me unto the perilous night,

And thus unbraced,[214] Casca, as you see,

Have bar'd my bosom to the thunder-stone:[215]

50And when the cross[216] blue[217] lightning seem'd to open

The breast of heaven, I did present myself

Even in the aim and very flash of it.

Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens?

It is the part of men to fear and tremble

55When the most mighty gods by tokens send

Such dreadful heralds to astonish us.

Cassius.[218] You are dull, Casca; and those sparks of life

That should be in a Roman you do want,

Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze

60And put on fear and cast yourself in[219] wonder,

To see the strange impatience of the heavens:

But if you would consider the true cause

Why[220] all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts,

Why birds and beasts from quality and kind,[221]

65Why old men, fools, and[222][223] children calculate;

Why all these things change from their ordinance,

Their natures and preformed[224] faculties,

To monstrous quality, why, you shall find

That heaven hath infus'd them with these spirits,

70To make them instruments of fear and warning

Unto some monstrous state.[225]

Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man

Most like this dreadful night,

That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars[226]

75As doth the lion in the Capitol,[227]

A man no mightier than thyself or me

In personal action, yet prodigious[228] grown,

And fearful, as these strange eruptions are.

Casca.[229] 'Tis Cæsar that you mean, is it not, Cassius?

80Cassius. Let it be who it is;[230] for Romans now

Have thews[231][232] and limbs like to their ancestors;

But, woe the while! our fathers' minds are dead,

And we are govern'd with[233] our mothers' spirits;

Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish.

85Casca. Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow

Mean to establish Cæsar as a king;

And he shall wear his crown by sea and land,

In every place save here in Italy.

Cassius. I know where I will wear this dagger then;

90Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius.

Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong;

Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat:

Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass,

Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron,

95Can be retentive to the strength of spirit;[234]

But life, being weary of these worldly bars,

Never lacks power to dismiss itself.

If I know this, know all the world besides,

That part of tyranny that I do bear

I can shake off at pleasure.

[Thunder still]

Casca.

100So can I:

So every bondman[235] in his own hand bears

The power to cancel his captivity.

Cassius. And why should Cæsar be a tyrant then?

Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf,

105But that he sees the Romans are but sheep:

He were no lion, were not Romans hinds.

Those that with haste will make a mighty fire

Begin it with weak straws:[236] what trash is Rome,

What rubbish and what offal, when it serves

110For the base matter to illuminate

So vile a thing as Cæsar! But, O grief,

Where hast thou led me? I perhaps speak this

Before a willing bondman; then I know

My answer must be made. But I am arm'd,

115And dangers are to me indifferent.[237]

Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man

That is no fleering[238] tell-tale. Hold,[239] my hand:

Be factious[240] for redress of all these griefs,[241]

And I will set this foot of mine as far

As who goes farthest.

Cassius.

120There's a bargain made.

Now know you, Casca, I have mov'd already

Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans

To undergo[242] with me an enterprise

Of honourable-dangerous consequence;

125And I do know, by this[243] they stay for me

In Pompey's porch:[244] for now, this fearful night,

There is no stir or walking in the streets,

And the complexion of the element[245]

In favour's[246] like[247] the work we have in hand,

130Most bloody, fiery,[248] and most terrible.

Enter Cinna.

Casca. Stand close[249] awhile, for here comes one in haste.

Cassius. 'Tis Cinna; I do know him by his gait;[250]

He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so?

Cinna. To find out you. Who's that? Metellus Cimber?

135Cassius. No, it is Casca; one incorporate[251]

To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna?

Cinna.[252] I'm glad on't. What a fearful night is this!

There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.

Cassius. Am I not stay'd for? tell me.

Cinna.

Yes, you are.

140O, Cassius,[253] if you could

But win the noble Brutus[254] to our party—

Cassius. Be you content. Good Cinna, take this paper,

And look you lay it in the prætor's chair,[255]

Where Brutus may but find it;[256] and throw this

145In at his window; set this up with wax

Upon old Brutus' statue: all this done,

Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.

Is[257] Decius Brutus[258] and Trebonius there?

Cinna. All but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone

150To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,

And so bestow these papers as you bade[259] me.

Cassius. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.

[Exit Cinna]

Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day

See Brutus at his house: three parts of him

155Is ours already, and the man entire

Upon the next encounter yields him ours.

Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts;

And that which would appear offence in us,

His countenance,[260] like richest alchemy,[261]

160Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

Cassius. Him and his worth and our great need of him,

You have right well conceited.[262] Let us go,

For it is after midnight, and ere day

We will awake him and be sure of him.

[Exeunt]

ACT II

II. 1 Scene I. Rome. Brutus's orchard[1]

Enter Brutus[2]

Brutus. What,[3] Lucius, ho!

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,

Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say!

I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.

When, Lucius, when?[4] awake, I say! what,[5] Lucius!

Enter Lucius

Lucius. Call'd you, my lord?

Brutus. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:

When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Lucius. I will, my lord.

[Exit]

10Brutus. It must be by his death:[6] and, for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

But for the general.[7] He would be crown'd:

How that might change his nature, there's the question.

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder,[8]

15And that craves wary walking. Crown him?—that;—[9]

And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,

That at his will he may do danger with.[10]

Th' abuse of greatness is when it disjoins

Remorse[11] from power; and, to speak truth of Cæsar,

20I have not known when his affections sway'd[12]

More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof,[13]

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,

Whereto the climber upward[14][15] turns his face;

But when he once attains the upmost round,

25He then unto the ladder turns his back,

Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees[16]

By which he did ascend. So Cæsar may;

Then, lest[17] he may, prevent.[18] And, since the quarrel[19]

Will bear no colour[20] for the thing he is,

30Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,

Would run to these and these extremities;

And therefore think him as a serpent's egg

Which, hatch'd, would, as his kind, grow mischievous,

And kill him in the shell.[21]

Re-enter[22] Lucius

35Lucius. The taper burneth in your closet, sir.

Searching the window for a flint, I found

This paper, thus seal'd up; and I am sure

It did not lie there when I went to bed.

[Gives him the letter]

Brutus. Get you to bed again; it is not day.

40Is not to-morrow, boy, the first[23][24] of March?

Lucius. I know not, sir.

Brutus. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.

Lucius. I will, sir.

[Exit]

Brutus. The exhalations[25] whizzing in the air

45Give so much light that I may read by them.

[Opens the letter and reads]

Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake, and see thyself.

Shall Rome, etc. Speak, strike, redress!

Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake![26]

Such instigations have been often dropp'd[27]

50Where I have took them up.[28]

'Shall Rome, etc.' Thus must I piece it out:

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, Rome?[29]

My ancestors[30] did from the streets of Rome

The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king.

55'Speak, strike, redress!' Am I entreated

To speak and strike? O Rome, I make thee[31] promise,

If the redress will follow, thou receivest

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus!

Re-enter[22] Lucius

Lucius. Sir, March is wasted fifteen[32][33] days.

[Knocking within]

60Brutus. 'T is good. Go to the gate; somebody knocks.

[Exit Lucius][34]

Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar,

I have not slept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing

And the first motion,[35] all the interim is

65Like a phantasma[36] or a hideous dream:

The Genius[37] and the mortal instruments

Are then in council; and the state of a man,[38]

Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

The nature of an insurrection.[39]

Re-enter[22] Lucius

70Lucius. Sir, 't is your brother[40] Cassius at the door,

Who doth desire to see you.

Brutus.

Is he alone?

Lucius. No, sir, there are moe[41][42] with him.

Brutus.

Do you know them?

Lucius. No, sir; their hats[43] are pluck'd about their ears,

And half their faces buried in their cloaks,[44]

75That by no means I may discover them

By any mark of favour.[45]

Brutus.

Let 'em[46] enter.

[Exit Lucius][34]

They are the faction. O conspiracy,

Sham'st thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,

When evils[47] are most free? O, then, by day

80Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy;

Hide it in smiles and affability:

For if thou path,[48] thy[49] native semblance on,

Not Erebus[50] itself were dim enough

85To hide thee from prevention.[51]

Enter[52] the conspirators, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius.

Cassius. I think we are too bold upon your rest:

Good morrow, Brutus; do we trouble you?

Brutus. I have been up this hour, awake all night.

Know I these men that come along with you?

90Cassius. Yes, every man of them; and no man here

But honours you; and every one doth wish

You had but that opinion of yourself

Which every noble Roman bears of you.

This is Trebonius.

Brutus.

He is welcome hither.

Cassius. This, Decius Brutus.[53]

Brutus.

95He is welcome too.

Cassius. This, Casca; this, Cinna; and this, Metellus Cimber.

Brutus. They are all welcome.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves

Betwixt your eyes and night?

100Cassius. Shall I entreat a word?

[They whisper]

Decius. Here lies the east: doth not the day break here?[54]

Casca. No.

Cinna. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon gray lines

That fret[55] the clouds are messengers of day.

105Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceiv'd.

Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises,

Which is a great way growing on[56] the south,

Weighing[57] the youthful season of the year.

Some two months hence up higher toward the north

110He first presents his fire, and the high[58] east

Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.

Brutus. Give me your hands all over,[59] one by one.

Cassius. And let us swear our resolution.

Brutus. No, not an oath:[60] if not the face of men,[61]

115The sufferance[62] of our souls, the time's abuse,—[63]

If these be motives weak, break off betimes,

And every man hence to his idle bed;

So let high-sighted tyranny range on,

Till each man drop by lottery.[64] But if these,

120As I am sure they do, bear fire enough

To kindle cowards and to steel with valour

The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen,

What need we[65] any spur but our own cause

To prick us to redress? what other bond

125Than secret Romans,[66] that have spoke the word,

And will not palter?[67] and what other oath

Than honesty to honesty engag'd,

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?

Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous,[68]

130Old feeble carrions[69] and such suffering souls

That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear

Such creatures as men doubt; but do not stain

The even virtue[70] of our enterprise,

Nor th' insuppressive[71] mettle of our spirits,

135To think[72] that or our cause or our performance

Did need an oath; when every drop of blood

That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,

Is guilty of a several bastardy,

If he do break the smallest particle

140Of any promise that hath pass'd from him.

Cassius. But what of Cicero? shall we sound him?

I think he will stand very strong with us.

Casca. Let us not leave him out.

Cinna.

No, by no means.

Metellus. O, let us have him, for his silver hairs

145Will purchase us a good opinion,[73]

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:

It shall be said, his judgment rul'd our hands;

Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear,

But all be buried in his gravity.

150Brutus. O, name him not; let us not break with him,[74]

For he will never follow any thing

That other men begin.

Cassius.

Then leave him out.

Casca. Indeed he is not fit.

Decius. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Cæsar?

155Cassius. Decius, well urg'd: I think it is not meet,

Mark Antony, so well belov'd of Cæsar,

Should outlive Cæsar: we shall find of him[75]

A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,

If he improve them, may well stretch so far

160As to annoy us all; which to prevent,

Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

Brutus. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius,

To cut the head off and then hack the limbs,

Like wrath in death and envy[76] afterwards;

165For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.

Let's[77] be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius.

We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar,

And in the spirit of men[78] there is no blood:

O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,[79]

170And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas,

Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,

Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;

Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,

Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds:

175And let our hearts, as subtle masters do,

Stir up their servants to an act of rage,

And after seem to chide 'em.[80][81] This shall make

Our purpose necessary and not envious;

Which so appearing to the common eyes,

180We shall be call'd purgers,[82] not murderers.

And for Mark Antony, think not of him;

For he can do no more than Cæsar's arm

When Cæsar's head is off.

Cassius.

Yet I fear him,

For in the ingrafted love he bears to Cæsar—

185Brutus. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him:

If he love Cæsar, all that he can do

Is to himself, take thought and die[83] for Cæsar:

And that were much he should, for he is given

To sports, to wildness, and much company.[84]

190Trebonius. There is no fear[85] in him; let him not die;

For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter.

[Clock strikes]

Brutus. Peace! count the clock.

Cassius.

The clock hath stricken[86] three.

Trebonius. 'Tis time to part.

Cassius.

But it is doubtful yet

Whether[87] Cæsar will come forth to-day or no;

195For he is superstitious grown of late,

Quite from[88] the main[89] opinion he held once

Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies:

It may be these apparent prodigies,[90]

The unaccustom'd terror of this night,

200And the persuasion of his augurers,

May hold him from the Capitol to-day.

Decius. Never fear that: if he be so resolv'd,

I can o'ersway him; for he loves to hear

That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,[91]

205And bears with glasses,[92] elephants with holes,

Lions with toils,[93] and men with flatterers:

But when I tell him he hates flatterers,

He says he does, being then most flattered.

Let me work;

210For I can give his humour the true bent,

And I will bring him to the Capitol.

Cassius. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.

Brutus. By the eighth[94] hour; is that the uttermost?

Cinna. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then.

215Metellus. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard,[95][96]

Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey:

I wonder none of you have thought of him.

Brutus. Now, good Metellus, go along by him:[97]

He loves me well, and I have given him reasons;

220Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Cassius.[98] The morning comes upon 's: we'll leave you, Brutus:

And, friends, disperse yourselves; but all remember

What you have said, and show yourselves true Romans.

Brutus. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily;

225Let not our looks put on our purposes;[99]

But bear it as our Roman actors do,

With untir'd spirits and formal constancy:

And so, good morrow to you every one.

[Exeunt all but Brutus][100]

Boy! Lucius! Fast asleep? It is no matter;

230Enjoy the honey-heavy dew[101][102] of slumber:

Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies,

Which busy care draws in the brains of men;

Therefore thou sleep'st so sound.

Enter[103][104] Portia

Portia.

Brutus, my lord!

Brutus. Portia, what mean you? wherefore rise you now?

235It is not for your health thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.

Portia. Nor for yours neither.[105] You've[106] ungently, Brutus,

Stole from my bed: and yesternight at supper

You suddenly[107] arose, and walk'd about,

240Musing and sighing, with your arms across;

And when I ask'd you what the matter was,

You star'd upon me with ungentle looks:

I urg'd you further; then you scratch'd your head,

And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot:

245Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not,

But with an angry wafture[108] of your hand

Gave sign for me to leave you. So I did,

Fearing to strengthen that impatience

Which seem'd too much enkindled, and withal

250Hoping it was but an effect of humour,[109]

Which sometime hath his hour with every man.

It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep,

And, could it work so much upon your shape

As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,[110]

255I should not know you, Brutus.[111] Dear my lord,[112]

Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.

Brutus. I am not well in health, and that is all.

Portia. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health,

He would embrace the means to come by it.

260Brutus. Why, so I do. Good Portia, go to bed.

Portia. Is Brutus sick? and is it physical[113]

To walk unbraced and suck up the humours

Of the dank[114] morning? What, is Brutus sick,

And will he steal out of his wholesome bed,

265To dare the vile contagion of the night,

And tempt the rheumy[115] and unpurged air

To add unto his[116] sickness? No, my Brutus;

You have some sick offence within your mind,

Which by the right and virtue of my place

270I ought to know of: and, upon my knees,

I charm[117][118] you, by my once-commended beauty,

By all your vows of love and that great vow

Which did incorporate and make us one,

That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,

275Why you are heavy, and what men to-night

Have had resort to you; for here have been

Some six or seven, who did hide their faces

Even from darkness.

Brutus.

Kneel not, gentle Portia.

Portia.[119] I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus.

280Within the[120] bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus,

Is it excepted I should know no secrets

That appertain to you? Am I yourself

But, as it were, in sort or limitation,

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,

285And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the suburbs

Of your good pleasure?[121] If it be no more,

Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Brutus. You are my true and honourable wife,

As dear to me as are the ruddy drops

290That visit my sad heart.[122]

Portia. If this were true, then should I know this secret.

I grant I am a woman; but withal

A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:[123]

I grant I am a woman; but withal

295A woman well-reputed, Cato's daughter.

Think you I am no stronger than my sex,

Being so father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels; I will not disclose 'em.

I have made strong proof of my constancy,

300Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience,

And not my husband's secrets?

Brutus.

O ye gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife!

[Knocking within][124]

Hark, hark! one knocks. Portia, go in a while;

305And by and by thy bosom shall partake

The secrets of my heart:

All my engagements I will construe to thee,

All the charactery[125] of my sad brows.

[126]Leave me with haste.

[Exit Portia]

Lucius, who's that knocks?

Re-enter Lucius with[127] Ligarius

310Lucius. Here is a sick man that would speak with you.

Brutus. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of.

Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius! how?

Ligarius.[128] Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue.

Brutus. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius,

315To wear a kerchief![129] Would you were not sick!

Ligarius. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand

Any exploit worthy the name of honour.

Brutus. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius,

Had you a healthful ear to hear of it.

320Ligarius. By all the gods that Romans bow before,

I here discard my sickness![130] Soul of Rome!

Brave son, deriv'd from honourable loins!

Thou, like an exorcist,[131] hast conjur'd up

My mortified spirit.[132] Now bid me run,

325And I will strive with things impossible;

Yea, get the better of them. What's to do?

Brutus.[133] A piece of work that will make sick men whole.

Ligarius. But are not some whole that we must make sick?

Brutus. That must we also. What it is, my Caius,

330I shall unfold to thee, as we are going

To whom it must be done.

Ligarius.

Set on your foot,

And with a heart new-fir'd I follow you,

To do I know not what; but it sufficeth

That Brutus leads me on.[134]

Brutus.

Follow me, then.

[Exeunt]

II. 2 Scene II.[135][136] Cæsar's house[137]

Thunder and lightning. Enter Cæsar,[138] in his night-gown[139]

Cæsar.[140] Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:

Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,[141]

'Help, ho! they murder Cæsar!' Who's within?

Enter a Servant

Servant. My lord?

5Cæsar. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice,

And bring me their opinions of success.[142]

Servant. I will, my lord.

[Exit]

Enter Calpurnia

Calpurnia. What mean you, Cæsar? think you to walk forth?

You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

10Cæsar. Cæsar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me

Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see

The face of Cæsar, they are vanished.

Calpurnia. Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,[143]

Yet now they fright me. There is one within,

15Besides the things that we have heard and seen,

Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.[144]

A lioness hath whelped in the streets;

And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;

Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,

20In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,

Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;

The noise of battle hurtled[145][146] in the air,

Horses did neigh,[147] and dying men did groan;

And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.

25O Cæsar, these things are beyond all use,

And I do fear them!

Cæsar.

What can be avoided

Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?

Yet Cæsar shall go forth; for these predictions

Are to the world in general as to Cæsar.

30Calpurnia. When beggars die, there are no comets seen;

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

Cæsar. Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The valiant never taste of death[148] but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

35It seems to me most strange that men should fear;

Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come.

Re-enter Servant[149]

What say the augurers?

Servant. They would not have you to stir forth to-day.

Plucking the entrails of an offering forth,

40They could not find a heart within the beast.

Cæsar. The gods do this in shame of cowardice:

Cæsar should[150] be a beast without a heart,

If he should stay at home to-day for fear.

No, Cæsar shall not: danger knows full well

45That Cæsar is more dangerous than he:

We are[151] two lions litter'd in one day,

And I the elder and more terrible;

And Cæsar shall go forth.

Calpurnia.

Alas, my lord,

Your wisdom is consum'd in confidence!

50Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear

That keeps you in the house, and not your own.

We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house,

And he shall say you are not well to-day:

Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

55Cæsar. Mark Antony shall say I am not well;

And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Enter[152] Decius

Here's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so.

Decius. Cæsar, all hail! good morrow, worthy Cæsar:

I come to fetch you to the senate-house.

60Cæsar. And you are come in very happy time,

To bear my greeting to the senators

And tell them that I will not come to-day.

Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser;

I will not come to-day. Tell them so, Decius.

Calpurnia. Say he is sick.

65Cæsar.

Shall Cæsar send a lie?

Have I in conquest stretch'd mine arm so far,

To be afeard[153] to tell graybeards the truth?[154]

Decius, go tell them Cæsar will not come.

Decius. Most mighty Cæsar, let me know some cause,

70Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so.

Cæsar. The cause is in my will; I will not come;

That is enough to satisfy the senate.

But, for your private satisfaction,

Because I love you, I will let you know:

75Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home.

She dreamt to-night[155] she saw my statue,[156][157]

Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,

Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans

Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it:

80And these does she apply for warnings and portents

And evils imminent, and on her knee

Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day.

Decius. This dream is all amiss interpreted:

It was a vision fair and fortunate.

85Your statue spouting blood in many pipes,

In which so many smiling Romans bath'd,

Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck

Reviving blood, and that great men shall press

For tinctures, stains, relics, and cognizance.[158]

90This by Calpurnia's dream is signified.

Cæsar. And this way have you well expounded it.

Decius. I have, when you have heard what I can say;

And know it now: the senate have concluded

To give this day a crown[159] to mighty Cæsar.

95If you shall send them word you will not come,

Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock

Apt to be render'd,[160] for some one to say

'Break up the senate till another time,

When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams.'

100If Cæsar hide himself, shall they not whisper,

'Lo, Cæsar is afraid'?

Pardon me, Cæsar; for my dear dear love

To your proceeding bids me tell you this;

And reason to my love is liable.[161]

105Cæsar. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia!

I am ashamed I did yield to them.

Give me my robe, for I will go.[162]

Enter[163] Publius[164][165], Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna

And look where Publius is come to fetch me.

Publius. Good morrow, Cæsar.

Cæsar.

Welcome, Publius.

110What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too?

Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius,

Cæsar was ne'er so much your enemy

As that same ague which hath made you lean.[166]

What is 't o'clock?[167]

Brutus.

Cæsar, 't is strucken eight.

115Cæsar. I thank you for your pains and courtesy.

Enter Antony

See! Antony, that revels long o' nights,[168]

Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony.

Antony. So to most noble Cæsar.

Cæsar.

Bid them prepare within:

I am to blame to be thus waited for.

120Now, Cinna; now, Metellus: what, Trebonius!

I have an hour's talk in store for you;

Remember that you call on me to-day.

Be near me, that I may remember you.

Trebonius. Cæsar, I will. [Aside][169] And so near will I be,

125That your best friends shall wish I had been further.

Cæsar. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me;

And we, like friends, will straightway go together.

Brutus. [Aside][170] That every like is not the same, O Cæsar,

The heart of Brutus yearns[171][172] to think upon!

[Exeunt]

II. 3 Scene III.[173] A street near the Capitol

Enter Artemidorus[174], reading a paper[175]

Artemidorus. Cæsar, beware of Brutus; take heed of Cassius; come not near Casca; have an eye to Cinna; trust 75 not Trebonius; mark well Metellus Cimber; Decius Brutus loves thee not; thou hast wrong'd Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all these men, and it is bent against Cæsar. If thou beest not immortal, look about you: security gives way to[176] conspiracy. The mighty gods defend thee!

Thy lover[177], Artemidorus.

Here will I stand till Cæsar pass along,

10And as a suitor will I give him this.

My heart laments that virtue cannot live

Out of the teeth of emulation.[178]

If thou read this, O Cæsar, thou mayest live;

If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive.[179]

[Exit]

II. 4 Scene IV. Another part of the same street, before the house of Brutus [180]

Enter Portia and Lucius

Portia.[181] I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house;

Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone.

Why dost thou stay?

Lucius.

To know my errand, madam.

Portia. I would have had thee there, and here again,

5Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.

O constancy,[182] be strong upon my side!

Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!

I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.

How hard it is for women to keep counsel!

Art thou here yet?

Lucius.

10Madam, what should I do?

Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?

And so return to you, and nothing else?

Portia. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,

For he went sickly forth: and take good note

15What Cæsar doth, what suitors press to him.

Hark, boy! what noise is that?

Lucius. I hear none, madam.

Portia.

Prithee, listen well:

I heard a bustling[183] rumour,[184] like a fray,

And the wind brings it from the Capitol.

20Lucius. Sooth,[185] madam, I hear nothing.

Enter the Soothsayer[186][187]

Portia. Come hither, fellow: which way hast thou been?

Soothsayer. At mine own house, good lady.

Portia. What is 't o'clock?[188]

Soothsayer.

About the ninth hour, lady.

Portia. Is Cæsar yet gone to the Capitol?

25Soothsayer. Madam, not yet: I go to take my stand,

To see him pass on to the Capitol.

Portia. Thou hast some suit to Cæsar, hast thou not?

Soothsayer. That I have, lady: if it will please Cæsar

To be so good to Cæsar as to hear me,

30I shall beseech him to befriend himself.

Portia. Why, know'st thou any harm's intended towards him?

Soothsayer.[189] None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.

Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow:

The throng that follows Cæsar at the heels,

35Of senators, of prætors, common suitors,

Will crowd a feeble man almost to death:

I'll get me to a place more void, and there

Speak to great Cæsar as he comes along.

[Exit]

Portia.[190] I must go in. Ay[191] me, how weak a thing

40The heart of woman is! O Brutus,

The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!

Sure, the boy heard me. Brutus hath a suit

That Cæsar will not grant.[192] O, I grow faint.

Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;

45Say I am merry: come to me again,

And bring me word what he doth say to thee.

[Exeunt severally][193]

ACT III

III. 1 Scene I. Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting

A crowd of people; among them Artemidorus and the Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter Cæsar, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, Cinna, Antony, Lepidus, Popilius, Publius, and others[1]

Cæsar. The Ides of March are come.

Soothsayer.[2] Ay, Cæsar; but not gone.

Artemidorus. Hail, Cæsar! read this schedule.[3]

Decius. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read,

5At your best leisure, this his humble suit.

Artemidorus. O Cæsar, read mine first; for mine's a suit

That touches Cæsar nearer: read it, great Cæsar.

Cæsar. What touches us ourself[4] shall be last serv'd.

Artemidorus.[5] Delay not, Cæsar; read it instantly.

Cæsar. What, is the fellow mad?

Publius.

Sirrah, give place.

Cassius. What, urge you your petitions in the street?

Come to the Capitol.

Cæsar goes up to the Senate-house[6], the rest following[7]

Popilius. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive.

Cassius. What enterprise, Popilius?

Popilius.

Fare you well.

[Advances to Cæsar][8][9]

15Brutus. What said Popilius Lena?

Cassius. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive.

I fear our purpose is discovered.

Brutus. Look, how he makes to[10] Cæsar: mark[11] him.

Cassius. Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention.

20Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known,

Cassius or Cæsar never shall turn back,

For I will slay myself.

Brutus.

Cassius, be constant:[12]

Popilius Lena speaks[13] not of our purposes;

For, look, he smiles, and Cæsar doth not change.

25Cassius. Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus,

He draws Mark Antony out of the way.

[Exeunt Antony and Trebonius][14]

Decius. Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go,

And presently[15] prefer his suit to Cæsar.

Brutus. He is address'd:[16] press near and second him.

30Cinna. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand.

Cæsar. Are we all ready?[17] What is now amiss

That Cæsar and his senate must redress?

Metellus. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Cæsar,

Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat

An humble heart,—

[Kneeling][18]

35Cæsar. I must prevent thee, Cimber.

These couchings[19] and these lowly courtesies[20]

Might fire the blood of ordinary men,

And turn pre-ordinance and first decree[21]

Into the law[22][23] of children. Be not fond,

40To think[24] that Cæsar bears such rebel blood

That will be thaw'd from the true quality

With that which melteth fools, I mean, sweet words,

Low-crooked curtsies[25], and base spaniel-fawning.[26]

Thy brother by decree is banished:

45If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,

I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

Know, Cæsar doth not wrong,[27] nor without cause

Will he be satisfied.

Metellus. Is there no voice more worthy than my own,

50To sound more sweetly in great Cæsar's ear

For the repealing[28] of my banish'd brother?

Brutus. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Cæsar,

Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may

Have an immediate freedom of repeal.

Cæsar. What, Brutus!

55Cassius.

Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon:

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,

To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.

Cæsar. I could be well mov'd, if I were as you;

If I could pray to move, prayers would move me:[29]

60But I am constant as the northern star,

Of whose true-fix'd[30] and resting quality

There is no fellow in the firmament.

The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks;

They are all fire and every one doth shine;

65But there's but one in all doth hold his place:

So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men,

And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;[31]

Yet in the number I do know but one

That unassailable holds on his rank,

70Unshak'd of motion: and that I am he,

Let me a little show it, even in this;

That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd,

And constant do remain to keep him so.[32]

Cinna. O Cæsar,—

Cæsar.

Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?

Decius. Great Cæsar,—

75Cæsar.

Doth not[33][34] Brutus bootless kneel?

Casca. Speak, hands, for me!

[They stab Cæsar][35]

Cæsar. Et tu, Brute?[36] Then fall, Cæsar!

[Dies][37]

Cinna. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!

Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.

80Cassius. Some to the common pulpits,[38] and cry out,

'Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!'[39]

Brutus.[40] People, and senators, be not affrighted;

Fly not; stand still: ambition's debt is paid.

Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus.

85Decius. And Cassius too.

Brutus. Where's Publius?

Cinna. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

Metellus. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's

Should chance—

90Brutus. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer;

There is no harm intended to your person,

Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius.

Cassius. And leave us, Publius; lest that the people,

Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.

95Brutus. Do so; and let no man abide[41] this deed

But we the doers.

Re-enter[42] Trebonius

Cassius. Where is Antony?

Trebonius.

Fled to his house amaz'd.[43]

Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run[44]

As it were doomsday.

Brutus.

Fates, we will know your pleasures:

100That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time,

And drawing days out, that men stand upon.[45]

Casca[46][47]. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life

Cuts off so many years of fearing death.

Brutus. Grant that, and then is death a benefit:

105So we are Cæsar's friends, that have abridg'd

His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,

And let us bathe our hands in Cæsar's blood

Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords:

Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,

110And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads,

Let's all cry 'Peace, freedom, and liberty!'

Cassius. Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence

Shall this our lofty scene be acted over

In states[48] unborn and accents yet unknown!

115Brutus.[49] How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport,

That now on Pompey's[50] basis lies[51] along

No worthier than the dust!

Cassius.[52][53]

So oft as that shall be,

So often shall the knot of us be call'd

The men that gave their country liberty.

Decius. What, shall we forth?

Cassius.

120Ay, every man away:

Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels

With the most boldest[54] and best hearts of Rome.

Enter a Servant[55]

Brutus. Soft! who comes here? A friend of Antony's.

Servant. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel;

125Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down;

And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:

Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;

Cæsar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving:

Say I love Brutus and I honour him;

130Say I fear'd Cæsar, honour'd him, and lov'd him.

If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony

May safely come to him, and be resolv'd[56]

How Cæsar hath deserv'd to lie in death,

Mark Antony shall not love Cæsar dead

135So well as Brutus living; but will follow

The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus

Thorough[57] the hazards of this untrod state

With all true faith. So says my master Antony.

Brutus. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman;

140I never thought him worse.

Tell him, so please him come[58] unto this place,

He shall be satisfied, and, by my honour,

Depart untouch'd.

Servant.

I'll fetch him presently.

[Exit]

Brutus. I know that we shall have him well to friend.

145Cassius. I wish we may: but yet have I a mind

That fears him much, and my misgiving still

Falls shrewdly to the purpose.[59]

Re-enter[60] Antony

Brutus. But here comes Antony. Welcome, Mark Antony.

Antony. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low?

150Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,

Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well!

I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,

Who else must be let blood,[61] who else is rank:[62]

If I myself, there is no hour so fit

155As Cæsar's death's hour, nor no instrument

Of half that worth as those your swords, made rich

With the most noble blood of all this world.

I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke,

160Fulfil your pleasure. Live[63] a thousand years,

I shall not find myself so apt to die:

No place will please me so, no mean of death,

As here by Cæsar, and by you cut off,[64]

The choice and master spirits of this age.

165Brutus. O Antony, beg not your death of us.

Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,

As, by our hands and this our present act,

You see we do; yet see you but our hands

And this the bleeding business they have done:

170Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful;

And pity to the general wrong of Rome—

As fire drives out fire,[65] so pity pity—

Hath done this deed on Cæsar. For your part,

To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony:

175Our arms in strength of malice,[66] and our hearts

Of brothers' temper, do receive you in

With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

Cassius.[67] Your voice shall be as strong as any man's

In the disposing of new dignities.

180Brutus. Only be patient till we have appeas'd

The multitude, beside themselves with fear,[68]

And then we will deliver you the cause

Why I, that did love Cæsar when I struck[69] him,

Have thus proceeded.

Antony.

I doubt not of your wisdom.[70]

185Let each man render me his bloody hand:

First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you;

Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand;

Now, Decius Brutus, yours; now yours, Metellus;

Yours, Cinna; and, my valiant Casca, yours;

190Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius.

Gentlemen all,—alas, what shall I say?

My credit now stands on such slippery ground,

That one of two bad ways you must conceit[71] me,

Either a coward or a flatterer.

195That I did love thee, Cæsar, O, 'tis true:

If, then, thy spirit look upon us now,

Shall it not grieve thee dearer[72] than thy death,

To see thy Antony making his peace,

Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,

200Most noble! in the presence of thy corse?

Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds,

Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood,

It would become me better than to close

In terms of friendship with thine enemies.

205Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd,[73] brave hart;[74]

Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand,

Sign'd in thy spoil[75] and crimson'd in thy lethe.[76][77]

O world, thou wast the forest to this hart;

And this, indeed, O world, the heart[78] of thee.

210How like a deer, strucken[79] by many princes,

Dost thou here lie!

Cassius.

Mark Antony,—

Antony.

Pardon me, Caius Cassius:

The enemies of Cæsar shall say this;

Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.[80]

215Cassius. I blame you not for praising Cæsar so;

But what compact mean you to have with us?

Will you be prick'd[81] in number of our friends,

Or shall we on, and not depend on you?

Antony. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed

220Sway'd from the point by looking down on Cæsar.

Friends am I with you all, and love you all,

Upon this hope that you shall give me reasons

Why and wherein Cæsar was dangerous.

Brutus. Or else were this a savage spectacle:

225Our reasons are so full of good regard[82]

That, were you, Antony,[83] the son of Cæsar,

You should be satisfied.

Antony.

That's all I seek:

And am moreover suitor that I may

Produce[84] his body to the market-place;[85]

230And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend,

Speak in the order of his funeral.[86]

Brutus. You shall, Mark Antony.

Cassius.

Brutus, a word with you.

[Aside to Brutus][87] You know not what you do; do not consent

That Antony speak in his funeral:

235Know you how much the people may be mov'd

By that which he will utter?

Brutus.

By your pardon:

I will myself into the pulpit first,

And show the reason of our Cæsar's death:

What Antony shall speak, I will protest

240He speaks by leave and by permission,

And that we are contented Cæsar shall

Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies.

It shall advantage more than do us wrong.[88]

Cassius. I know not what may fall; I like it not.

245Brutus. Mark Antony, here, take you Cæsar's body.

You shall not in your funeral speech blame us,

But speak all good you can devise of Cæsar,

And say you do 't by our permission;

Else shall you not have any hand at all

250About his funeral: and you shall speak

In the same pulpit whereto I am going,

After my speech is ended.

Antony.

Be it so;

I do desire no more.

Brutus. Prepare the body, then, and follow us.

[Exeunt all but Antony][89][90]

255Antony. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,

That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!

Thou art the ruins of the noblest man

That ever lived in the tide of times.[91]

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!

260Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,

Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,

To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue,

A curse shall light upon the limbs[92][93] of men;

Domestic fury and fierce civil strife

265Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;

Blood and destruction shall be so in use,

And dreadful objects so familiar,

That mothers shall but smile when they behold

Their infants quartered with[94] the hands of war;

270All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds:

And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,

With Ate[95] by his side come hot from hell,

Shall in these confines with a monarch's voice

Cry 'Havoc,' and let slip the dogs of war;[96]

275That this foul deed shall smell above the earth

With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Enter a Servant[97]

You serve Octavius Cæsar, do you not?

Servant. I do, Mark Antony.

Antony. Cæsar did write for him to come to Rome.

280Servant. He did receive his letters, and is coming;

And bid me say to you by word of mouth—

O Cæsar!

[Seeing the body][98]

Antony. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep.

Passion, I see, is catching;[99] for mine eyes,

285Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine,

Began to water. Is thy master coming?

Servant. He lies to-night within seven leagues of Rome.

Antony. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath chanc'd.

Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome,[100]

290No Rome of safety for Octavius yet;

Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile;[101]

Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse[102]

Into the market-place: there shall I try,

In my oration, how the people take

295The cruel issue of these bloody men;

According to the which, thou shalt discourse

To young Octavius of the state of things.

Lend me your hand.

[Exeunt with Cæsar's body][103]

III. 2 Scene II. The Forum[104]

Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens[105]

Citizens.[106] We will be satisfied; let us be satisfied.

Brutus. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends.

Cassius, go you into the other street,

And part the numbers.

5Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here;

Those that will follow Cassius, go with him;

100

And public reasons shall be rendered[107]

Of Cæsar's death.

1 Citizen. I will hear Brutus speak.

2 Citizen. I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons,

10When severally we hear them rendered.[107]

[Exit Cassius, with some of the Citizens. Brutus goes into the pulpit][108]

3 Citizen. The noble Brutus is ascended: silence![109]

Brutus. Be patient till the last.
Romans, countrymen, and lovers![110] hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine 15honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure[111] me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If then that 20friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my 101 answer: Not that I lov'd Cæsar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cæsar were dead, to live all free-men? As Cæsar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at 25it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is[112] tears[113] for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour; and death for his ambition. Who is here so base that would be a bondman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude 30that would not be a Roman? If any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile that will not love his country? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply.

All. None, Brutus, none.

35Brutus. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Cæsar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his death is enroll'd in the Capitol;[114] his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences enforc'd, for which he suffer'd death.

Enter Antony and others, with Cæsar's body[115]

40Here comes his body, mourn'd by Mark Antony; who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 102 benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth; as which of you shall not? With this I depart,—that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same 45dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death.[116]

All.[117] Live, Brutus! live, live!

1 Citizen.[118] Bring him with triumph home unto his house.

2 Citizen. Give him a statue with his ancestors.

3 Citizen. Let him be Cæsar.

504 Citizen.

Cæsar's better parts

Shall be crown'd in Brutus.

1 Citizen.[119] We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamours.

Brutus. My countrymen,—

2 Citizen.

Peace! silence! Brutus speaks.

1 Citizen. Peace, ho!

55Brutus. Good countrymen, let me depart alone,

And, for my sake, stay here with Antony:

Do grace to Cæsar's corpse, and grace his speech

Tending to Cæsar's glories; which Mark Antony,

103

By our permission, is allow'd to make.

60I do entreat you, not a man depart,

Save I alone, till Antony have spoke.

[Exit][120]

1 Citizen. Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.

3 Citizen. Let him go up into the public chair;

We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.

65Antony. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding[121] to you.

4 Citizen. What does he say of Brutus?

3 Citizen.

He says, for Brutus' sake,

He finds himself beholding to us all.

4 Citizen. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.

1 Citizen. This Cæsar was a tyrant.

3 Citizen.

Nay, that's certain:

70We are blest[122] that Rome is rid of him.

2 Citizen. Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.

Antony.[123] You gentle Romans,—

All.

Peace, ho! Let us hear him.

Antony. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears:

104

I come to bury[124] Cæsar, not to praise him.

75The evil that men do lives after them:

The good is oft interred with their bones;[125]

So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

80And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it.

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,—

For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men,—

Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral.

85He was my friend, faithful and just to me:

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome,

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:[126]

90Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious?

When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

95You all did see that on the Lupercal[127]

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

105

Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.[128]

100I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then to mourn[129] for him?

O judgment! thou art[130] fled to brutish[131] beasts,

105And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;

My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

1 Citizen. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.

2 Citizen. If thou consider rightly of the matter,

Cæsar has had great wrong.

1103 Citizen.[132]

Has he,[133] masters?

I fear there will a worse come in his place.

106

4 Citizen. Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown;

Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.

1 Citizen. If it be found so, some will dear abide it.[134]

1152 Citizen. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.

3 Citizen. There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony.

4 Citizen. Now mark him; he begins again to speak.

Antony. But yesterday the word of Cæsar might

Have stood against the world: now lies he there,

120And none so poor to do him reverence.[135]

O masters, if I were dispos'd to stir

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,

I should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong,

Who, you all know, are honourable men:

125I will not do them wrong; I rather choose

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,

Than I will wrong such honourable men.

But here's a parchment with the seal of Cæsar;

I found it in his closet; 'tis his will:

130Let but the commons hear this testament—

Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read—

And they would go and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds,

And dip their napkins[136] in his sacred blood,

107

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

135And, dying, mention it within their wills,

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy

Unto their issue.

4 Citizen. We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.

All. The will, the will! we will hear Cæsar's will.

140Antony. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Cæsar lov'd you.

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;

And, being men, hearing the will of Cæsar,

It will inflame you, it will make you mad.

145'T is good you know not that you are his heirs;

For if you should, O, what would come of it!

4 Citizen. Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;

You shall read us the will, Cæsar's will.

Antony. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?

150I have o'ershot myself to tell[137] you of it:

I fear I wrong the honourable men

Whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar;[138] I do fear it.

4 Citizen. They were traitors: honourable men!

All. The will! the testament!

1552 Citizen. They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will.

Antony. You will compel me, then, to read the will?

Then make a ring about the corpse of Cæsar,

And let me show you him that made the will.

Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?

108

160All. Come down.

2 Citizen. Descend.

3 Citizen. You shall have leave.

[Antony comes down from the pulpit][139]

4 Citizen. A ring, stand round.

1 Citizen. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.

1652 Citizen. Room for Antony, most noble Antony.

Antony. Nay, press not so upon me: stand far[140] off.

All. Stand back; room; bear back!

Antony. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.

You all do know this mantle: I remember

170The first time ever Cæsar put it on;

'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,

That day he overcame the Nervii.[141]

109

Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through:

See what a rent the envious[142] Casca made:

175Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;

And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,

Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it,

As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd[143]

If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no;

180For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel:[144]

Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæsar lov'd him!

This was the most unkindest cut of all;

For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

185Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart;

And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the base of Pompey's statue,[145]

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell.

O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!

190Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,

Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us.

O, now you weep; and I perceive you feel

The dint[146] of pity: these are gracious drops.

Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold

195Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here,

Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.

110

1 Citizen. O piteous spectacle!

2 Citizen. O noble Cæsar!

3 Citizen. O woful day!

2004 Citizen. O traitors, villains!

1 Citizen. O most bloody sight!

2 Citizen. We will be reveng'd.

All.[147] Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!

205Antony. Stay, countrymen.

1 Citizen. Peace there! Hear the noble Antony.

2 Citizen.[148] We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

Antony. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up

To such a sudden flood of mutiny.

210They that have done this deed are honourable;

What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,

That made them do it; they are wise and honourable,

And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts:

215I am no orator, as Brutus is;

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,

That love my friend; and that they know full well

That gave[149] me public leave to speak of him:

For I have neither wit,[150][151] nor words, nor worth,

111

220Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,

To stir men's blood: I only speak right on;

I tell you that which you yourselves do know;

Show you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths,

And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus,

225And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony

Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue

In every wound of Cæsar, that should move

The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

All. We'll mutiny.

2301 Citizen. We'll burn the house of Brutus.

3 Citizen. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators.

Antony. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

All. Peace, ho! hear Antony, most noble Antony!

Antony. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what.

235Wherein hath Cæsar thus deserv'd your loves?

Alas, you know not; I must tell you then:

You have forgot the will I told you of.

All. Most true. The will! Let's stay and hear the will.

Antony.[152] Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal.

240To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.[153]

112

2 Citizen. Most noble Cæsar! We'll revenge his death.

3 Citizen. O royal Cæsar!

Antony. Hear me with patience.

245All. Peace, ho!

Antony. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,

His private arbours and new-planted orchards,

On this side Tiber;[154] he hath left them you,

And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,

250To walk abroad and recreate yourselves.

Here was a Cæsar! when comes such another?

1 Citizen.[155] Never, never. Come, away, away!

We'll burn his body in the holy place,

And with the brands fire[156] the[157] traitors' houses.

255Take up the body.

113

2 Citizen. Go fetch fire.

3 Citizen. Pluck down benches.

4 Citizen. Pluck down forms,[158] windows, any thing.[159]

[Exeunt Citizens with the body][160]

Antony. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot,

Take thou what course thou wilt!

Enter a Servant

260

How now, fellow!

Servant. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.

Antony. Where is he?

Servant. He and Lepidus are at Cæsar's house.

Antony. And thither will I straight to visit him:

265He comes upon a wish.[161] Fortune is merry,

And in this mood will give us any thing.

Servant. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius

Are rid[162] like madmen through the gates of Rome.

Antony. Belike they had some notice of the people

270How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius.

[Exeunt]

114

III. 3 Scene III.[163] A street

Enter Cinna the poet[164]

Cinna.[165] I dreamt to-night[166] that I did feast with Cæsar,

And things unluckily charge my fantasy:[167]

I have no will to wander forth of doors,

Yet something leads me forth.

Enter Citizens[168]

1 Citizen. What is your name?

2 Citizen. Whither[169] are you going?

3 Citizen. Where do you dwell?

4 Citizen. Are you a married man or a bachelor?

2 Citizen. Answer every man directly.

115

101 Citizen. Ay, and briefly.

4 Citizen. Ay, and wisely.

3 Citizen. Ay, and truly, you were best.[170]

Cinna. What is my name? Whither[169] am I going? Where do I dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to 15answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.

2 Citizen. That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry: you'll bear me[171] a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.

20Cinna. Directly, I am going to Cæsar's funeral.

1 Citizen. As a friend or an enemy?

Cinna. As a friend.

2 Citizen. That matter is answered directly.

4 Citizen. For your dwelling, briefly.

25Cinna. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.

3 Citizen. Your name, sir, truly.

Cinna. Truly, my name is Cinna.

1 Citizen. Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.

Cinna. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

304 Citizen. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.

Cinna. I am not Cinna the conspirator.

4 Citizen. It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going.

353 Citizen. Tear him, tear him! Come, brands, ho! firebrands! to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius' house, and some to Casca's; some to Ligarius': away, go!

[Exeunt]

116

ACT IV

IV. 1 Scene I.[1] Rome. A room in Antony's house[2]

Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, seated at a table

Antony. These many then shall die; their names are prick'd.[3]

Octavius. Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?

117

Lepidus. I do consent—

Octavius.

Prick him down, Antony.

Lepidus. Upon condition Publius[4] shall not live,

5Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony.

Antony. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him.[5]

But, Lepidus, go you to Cæsar's house;

Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine

How to cut off some charge in legacies.

10Lepidus. What,[6] shall I find you here?

Octavius. Or here, or at the Capitol.

[Exit Lepidus]

Antony. This is a slight unmeritable[7] man,

Meet to be sent on errands: is it fit,

The three-fold world divided, he should stand

One of the three to share it?

Octavius.

15So you thought him;

And took his voice who should be prick'd to die,

In our black sentence and proscription.

Antony. Octavius, I have seen more days than you:

And though we lay these honours on this man,

20To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads,

He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,

To groan and sweat under the business,

Either led or driven, as we point[8] the way;

And having brought our treasure where we will,

118

25Then take we down his load and turn him off,

Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears

And graze in commons.[9]

Octavius.

You may do your will;

But he's a tried and valiant soldier.

Antony. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that

30I do appoint him store of provender:

It is a creature that I teach to fight,

To wind,[10] to stop, to run directly on,

His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.

And, in some taste,[11] is Lepidus but so;

35He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth:

A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds

On objects, arts,[12] and imitations,[13]

Which, out of use and stal'd[14][15] by other men,

Begin his fashion: do not talk of him

119

40But as a property.[16] And now, Octavius,

Listen[17] great things: Brutus and Cassius

Are levying powers: we must straight make head:[18]

Therefore let our alliance be combin'd,

Our best friends made, and our best means stretch'd out;[19][20]

45And let us presently go sit in council,

How covert matters may be best disclos'd,

And open perils surest answered.

Octavius. Let us do so: for we are at the stake,

And bay'd about[21] with many enemies;

50And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear,

Millions of mischiefs.

[Exeunt]

120

IV. 2 Scene II.[22][23] Before Brutus's tent, in the camp near Sardis

Drum. Enter Brutus, Titinius, Lucius, and Soldiers; Lucilius and Pindarus meet them[24]

Brutus. Stand, ho!

Lucilius. Give the word, ho! and stand.

Brutus. What now, Lucilius! is Cassius near?

Lucilius. He is at hand; and Pindarus is come

5To do you salutation from his master.

[Pindarus gives a letter to Brutus][25]

Brutus. He greets me well.[26] Your master, Pindarus,

In his own change,[27][28] or by ill officers,

Hath given me some worthy cause to wish

Things done undone: but, if he be at hand,

I shall be satisfied.

10Pindarus. I do not doubt

But that my noble master will appear

Such as he is, full of regard and honour.

121

Brutus. He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius,

How[29] he receiv'd you:[30][31] let me be resolv'd.

15Lucilius. With courtesy and with respect enough;

But not with such familiar instances,[32]

Nor with such free and friendly conference,

As he hath us'd of old.

Brutus.

Thou hast describ'd

A hot friend cooling: ever note, Lucilius,

20When love begins to sicken and decay,

It useth an enforced ceremony.

There are no tricks in plain and simple faith:

But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,[33]

Make gallant show and promise of their mettle;

25But when they should endure the bloody spur,

They fall[34] their crests, and, like deceitful jades,[35]

Sink in the trial. Comes his army on?

Lucilius. They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter'd;

The greater part, the horse in general,

Are come with Cassius.

[Low march within][36]

30Brutus.

Hark! he is arriv'd.

March gently on to meet him.

122

Enter Cassius and his Powers

Cassius. Stand, ho!

Brutus. Stand, ho! Speak the word along.

1 Soldier.[37] Stand!

352 Soldier. Stand!

3 Soldier. Stand!

Cassius. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong.

Brutus. Judge me, you gods! wrong I mine enemies?

And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother?

40Cassius. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs;

And when you do them—

Brutus.

Cassius, be content;

Speak your griefs softly: I do know you well.

Before the eyes of both our armies here,

Which should perceive nothing but love from us,

45Let us not wrangle: bid them move away;

Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs,[38]

And I will give you audience.

Cassius.

Pindarus,

Bid our commanders lead their charges off

A little from this ground.

50Brutus. Lucilius,[39] do you the like; and let no man

Come to our tent till we have done our conference.

Let Lucius[40][41] and Titinius guard our[42] door.

[Exeunt]

123

IV. 3 Scene III.[43][44] Brutus's tent[45]

Enter Brutus and Cassius[46][47]

Cassius. That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this:

You have condemn'd and noted[48] Lucius Pella

124

For taking bribes here of the Sardians;[49]

Wherein my letters, praying on his side,

5Because I knew the man,[50] was[51] slighted off.[52]

Brutus. You wrong'd yourself to write[53] in such a case.

Cassius. In such a time as this it is not meet

That every nice[54] offence should bear his[55] comment.

Brutus. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself

10Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm,

To sell and mart your offices for gold

To undeservers.

Cassius.

I an itching palm!

You know that you are Brutus that speaks this,

Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.

15Brutus. The name of Cassius honours this corruption,

And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.

125

Cassius. Chastisement!

Brutus. Remember March, the Ides of March remember:[56]

Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?

20What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,

And not for justice?[57] What! shall one of us,

That struck the foremost man of all this world

But for supporting robbers, shall we now

Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,

25And sell the mighty space of our large honours

For so much trash as may be grasped thus?

I had rather be a dog, and bay[58] the moon,

Than such a Roman.

Cassius.

Brutus, bait[59] not me;

I'll not endure it. You forget yourself,

30To hedge me in; I[60] am a soldier, I,

126

Older in practice, abler than yourself

To make conditions.[61]

Brutus.

Go to;[62][63] you are not, Cassius.[64]

Cassius. I am.

Brutus. I say you are not.

35Cassius. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself;

Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther.

Brutus. Away, slight man!

Cassius. Is't possible?

Brutus.

Hear me, for I will speak.

Must I give way and room to your rash choler?

40Shall I be frighted when a madman stares?

Cassius. O ye gods, ye gods! must I endure all this?

Brutus. All this! ay, more: fret till your proud heart break;

Go show your slaves how choleric you are,

And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge?[65]

45Must I observe[66] you? must I stand and crouch

Under your testy humour? By the gods,

You shall digest the venom of your spleen,[67]

Though[68] it do split you; for, from this day forth,

127

I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,

When you are waspish.

Cassius.

50Is it come to this?

Brutus. You say you are a better soldier:[69]

Let it appear so; make your vaunting true,

And it shall please me well: for mine own part,

I shall be glad to learn of noble[70] men.

55Cassius.[71] You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus;

I said an elder soldier, not a better:

Did I say 'better'?

Brutus.

If you did, I care not.

Cassius. When Cæsar liv'd, he durst not thus have mov'd me.

Brutus. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.

60Cassius. I durst not!

Brutus. No.

Cassius. What, durst not tempt him!

Brutus.

For your life you durst not.

Cassius. Do not presume too much upon my love;

I may do that I shall be sorry for.

65Brutus. You have done that you should be sorry for.

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats;

128

For I am arm'd so strong in honesty,

That they pass by me as the idle wind,

Which I respect not. I did send to you

70For certain sums of gold, which you denied me:

For I can raise no money by vile means:

By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,

And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring

From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash

75By any indirection.[72] I did send

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you denied me. Was that done like Cassius?

Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so?

When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous,

80To[73] lock such rascal counters[74] from his friends,

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts,

Dash him to pieces!

129

Cassius.

I denied you not.[75]

Brutus. You did.

Cassius. I did not: he was but a fool that brought[76]

85My answer back. Brutus hath riv'd my heart:

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,

But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.

Brutus. I do not, till you practise them on me.

Cassius. You love me not.

Brutus.

I do not like your faults.

90Cassius. A friendly eye could never see such faults.

Brutus. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear

As huge as high Olympus.

Cassius. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,

Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius,

95For Cassius is a-weary of the world;

Hated by one he loves; brav'd[77] by his brother;

Check'd like a bondman; all his faults observ'd,

Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,

To cast into my teeth. O, I could weep

100My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger,

And here my naked breast; within, a heart

130

Dearer than Plutus'[78][79] mine, richer than gold:

If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth;

I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart:

105Strike, as thou didst at Cæsar; for I know,

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better

Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius.

Brutus.

Sheathe your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it shall have scope;

Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour.[80][81]

110O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb

That carries anger as the flint bears fire;[82]

Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark,

And straight is cold again.

Cassius.

Hath Cassius liv'd

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,

115When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him?

Brutus. When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too.

Cassius. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.

Brutus. And my heart too.

Cassius.

O Brutus!

Brutus.

What's the matter?

131

Cassius. Have not you love enough to bear with me,

120When that rash humour which my mother gave me

Makes me forgetful?

Brutus.

Yes, Cassius; and from henceforth,

When you are over-earnest with your Brutus,

He'll think your mother chides, and leave you so.[83]

Poet. [Within][84] Let me go in to see the generals;

125There is some grudge between 'em; 'tis not meet

They be alone.

Lucilius. [Within] You shall not come to them.

Poet. [Within] Nothing but death shall stay me.

Enter Poet, followed by Lucilius, Titinius, and Lucius [85]

Cassius. How now! what's the matter?

130Poet.[86] For shame, you generals! what do you mean?

Love, and be friends, as two such men should be;

For I have seen more years, I'm sure, than ye.

Cassius. Ha, ha! how vilely[87] doth[88] this cynic rhyme!

132

Brutus. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!

135Cassius. Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion.

Brutus. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time:

What should the wars do with these jigging[89] fools?

Companion,[90] hence!

Cassius.

Away, away, be gone!

[Exit Poet][91][92]

Brutus. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders

140Prepare to lodge their companies to-night.

Cassius. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you

Immediately to us.

[Exeunt[93] Lucilius and Titinius]

Brutus.

Lucius, a bowl of wine!

[Exit[94] Lucius]

Cassius. I did not think you could have been so angry.

Brutus. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.

145Cassius.[95] Of your philosophy you make no use,

If you give place to accidental evils.

133

Brutus. No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.

Cassius. Ha! Portia!

Brutus. She is dead.

150Cassius. How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so?

O insupportable and touching loss!

Upon what sickness?

Brutus.

Impatient[96] of my absence,

And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony

Have made themselves so strong,—for with her death

155That tidings came,—with this she fell distract,[97]

And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.[98]

Cassius. And died so?

Brutus.

Even so.

Cassius.

O ye immortal gods!

134

Re-enter Lucius, with wine and taper[99]

Brutus. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine.

In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius.

[Drinks]

160Cassius. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge.

Fill Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup;

I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love.

[Drinks][100]

Brutus. Come in, Titinius!

[Exit Lucius][101]

Re-enter[102] Titinius, with Messala[103]

Welcome, good Messala.

Now sit we close about this taper here,

165And call in question[104] our necessities.

Cassius. Portia, art thou gone?

Brutus.

No more, I pray you.

Messala, I have here received letters,

That young Octavius and Mark Antony

Come down upon us with a mighty power,

170Bending their expedition[105] toward Philippi.

Messala. Myself have letters of the selfsame tenour.[106]

Brutus. With what addition?

Messala. That by proscription and bills of outlawry,[107]

135

Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus,

175Have put to death an hundred senators.

Brutus. Therein our letters do not well agree;

Mine speak of seventy senators that died

By their proscriptions, Cicero being one.

Cassius. Cicero one!

Messala.

Cicero is dead,[108]

180And by that order of proscription[109]

Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?

Brutus. No, Messala.

Messala. Nor nothing in your letters writ[110] of her?

Brutus. Nothing, Messala.[111]

Messala.

That, methinks, is strange.

185Brutus.[112] Why ask you? hear you aught[113] of her in yours?

Messala. No, my lord.

Brutus. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true.

Messala. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell:

For certain she is dead, and by strange manner.

136

190Brutus. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala:

With meditating that she must die once,[114]

I have the patience to endure it now.

Messala. Even so great men great losses should endure.

Cassius. I have as much of this in art[115] as you,

195But yet my nature could not bear it so.

Brutus. Well, to our work alive.[116] What do you think

Of marching to Philippi presently?[117]

Cassius. I do not think it good.

Brutus.

Your reason?

Cassius.

This it is:

'Tis better that the enemy seek us:

200So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers,

Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still,

Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness.

Brutus. Good reasons must of force[118] give place to better.

137

The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground

205Do stand but in a forc'd affection,

For they have grudg'd us contribution:

The enemy, marching along by them,

By them shall make a fuller number up,

Come on refresh'd, new-added,[119][120] and encourag'd;

210From which advantage shall we cut him off

If at Philippi we do face him there,

These people at our back.

Cassius.

Hear me, good brother.

Brutus. Under your pardon. You must note beside,

That we have tried the utmost of our friends,

215Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe:

The enemy increaseth every day;

We, at the height, are ready to decline.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

220Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.[121]

On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,

Or lose[122] our ventures.[123]

138

Cassius.

Then, with your will, go on;

225We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi.

Brutus. The deep of night is crept upon our talk,

And nature must obey necessity;

Which we will niggard[124] with a little rest.

There is no more to say?

Cassius.

No more. Good night:

230Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence.

Brutus. Lucius! [Re-enter Lucius][125] My gown.

[Exit Lucius].[126] Farewell, good Messala:

Good night, Titinius: noble, noble Cassius,

Good night, and good repose.

Cassius.

O my dear brother!

This was an ill beginning of the night:

235Never come such division 'tween our souls!

Let it not, Brutus.

Brutus.

Every thing is well.

Cassius. Good night, my lord.

Brutus.

Good night, good brother.

Titinius.

Messala.

Good night, Lord Brutus.

Brutus.

Farewell, every one.

[Exeunt Cassius, Titinius, and Messala][127]

139

Re-enter Lucius, with the gown[128]

Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?

Lucius. Here in the tent.

240Brutus.

What, thou speak'st drowsily?

Poor knave,[129] I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd.[130]

Call Claudius[131] and some other of my men;

I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.

Lucius. Varro[132] and Claudius!

Enter Varro and Claudius[133]

245Varro. Calls my lord?

Brutus. I pray you, sirs, lie in my tent and sleep;

It may be I shall raise you by-and-by

On business to my brother Cassius.

Varro. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure.

250Brutus. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs;

It may be I shall otherwise bethink me.

Look, Lucius, here's the book I sought for so;

I put it in the pocket of my gown.[134]

[Varro and Claudius lie down][135]

140

Lucius. I was sure your lordship did not give it me.

255Brutus. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful.

Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile,

And touch thy instrument a strain or two?

Lucius. Ay, my lord, an 't please you.

Brutus.

It does, my boy:

I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing.

260Lucius. It is my duty, sir.

Brutus. I should not urge thy duty past thy might;

I know young bloods[136] look for a time of rest.

Lucius. I have slept, my lord, already.

Brutus. It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again;

265I will not hold thee long: if I do live,

I will be good to thee.

[Music, and a song]

141

This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber,[137][138]

Lay'st thou thy leaden mace[139] upon my boy,

That plays thee music?[140] Gentle knave, good night;

270I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee:

If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument;

I'll take it from thee; and, good boy, good night.

Let me see, let me see; is not the leaf turn'd down

Where I left reading? Here it is, I think.[141]

Enter[142] the Ghost of Cæsar

275How ill this taper burns![143] Ha! who comes here?

I think it is the weakness of mine eyes

That shapes this monstrous apparition.[144]

142

It comes upon me. Art thou any thing?

Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil,

280That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare?[145]

Speak to me what thou art.

Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus.

Brutus.

Why com'st thou?

Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi.

Brutus. Well; then I shall see thee again?

285Ghost. Ay, at Philippi.

Brutus. Why, I will see thee at Philippi then.

[Exit Ghost][146]

Now I have taken heart thou vanishest:[147]

Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee.

Boy, Lucius! Varro![132] Claudius! Sirs, awake!

290Claudius!

143

Lucius. The strings, my lord, are false.[148]

Brutus. He thinks he still is at his instrument.

Lucius, awake!

Lucius. My lord?

295Brutus. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out?

Lucius. My lord, I do not know that I did cry.

Brutus. Yes, that thou didst: didst thou see any thing?

Lucius. Nothing, my lord.

Brutus. Sleep again, Lucius. Sirrah Claudius!

300[To Varro][149] Fellow thou, awake!

Varro. My lord?

Claudius. My lord?

Brutus. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep?

Varro.

Claudius.

Did we, my lord?

Brutus.

Ay: saw you any thing?

Varro.[150] No, my lord, I saw nothing.

Claudius.

305Nor I, my lord.

Brutus. Go and commend me[151] to my brother Cassius;

Bid him set on[152] his powers betimes[153] before,

And we will follow.

Varro. [150]

Claudius.

It shall be done, my lord.

[Exeunt]

144

ACT V

V. 1 Scene I. The plains of Philippi[1]

Enter Octavius, Antony, and their Army

Octavius. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered:

You said the enemy would not come down,

But keep the hills and upper regions.

It proves not so: their battles[2] are at hand;

5They mean to warn[3] us at Philippi here,

Answering before we do demand of them.

Antony. Tut, I am in their bosoms,[4] and I know

Wherefore they do it: they could be content

To visit other places, and come down

10With fearful bravery,[5] thinking by this face

To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage;

But 'tis not so.

145

Enter a Messenger

Messenger.

Prepare you, generals:

The enemy comes on in gallant show;

Their bloody sign[6] of battle is hung out,

15And something to be done immediately.

Antony. Octavius, lead your battle softly on,

Upon the left hand of the even field.[7]

Octavius. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left.

Antony. Why do you cross me in this exigent?[8]

20Octavius. I do not cross you; but I will do so.[9]

[March]

146

Drum.[10] Enter Brutus, Cassius, and their Army; Lucilius,[11] Titinius, Messala, and others

Brutus. They stand, and would have parley.

Cassius. Stand fast, Titinius: we must out and talk.

Octavius. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle?

Antony. No, Cæsar, we will answer on their charge.

25Make forth; the generals would have some words.

Octavius. Stir not until the signal.

Brutus. Words before blows: is it so, countrymen?

Octavius. Not that we love words better, as you do.

Brutus. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius.

30Antony. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words.

Witness the hole you made in Cæsar's heart,

Crying, 'Long live! hail, Cæsar!'

Cassius.

Antony,

The posture of your blows[12] are[13] yet unknown;

But, for your words, they rob the Hybla[14] bees,

And leave them honeyless.

35Antony.

Not stingless too.

Brutus. O, yes, and soundless too;

For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony,

And very wisely threat before you sting.

147

Antony.[15] Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers

40Hack'd one another in the sides of Cæsar:

You show'd your teeth[16] like apes, and fawn'd like hounds,[17]

And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Cæsar's feet;

Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind

Struck[18] Cæsar on the neck. O you flatterers!

45Cassius. Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself:

This tongue had not offended so to-day,

If Cassius might have rul'd.

Octavius.[19] Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat,

The proof of it will turn to redder drops.

50Look;[20]

I draw a sword against conspirators;

When think you that the sword goes up[21] again?

Never, till Cæsar's three and thirty wounds[22]

Be well aveng'd; or till another Cæsar

55Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors.[23]

148

Brutus. Cæsar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands,

Unless thou bring'st them with thee.

Octavius.

So I hope;

I was not born to die on Brutus' sword.

Brutus. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain,[24]

60Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable.

Cassius. A peevish[25] schoolboy, worthless of such honour,

Join'd with a masker and a reveller!

Antony. Old Cassius still!

Octavius.

Come, Antony; away!

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth;

65If you dare fight to-day, come to the field;

If not, when you have stomachs.[26]

[Exeunt Octavius, Antony, and their Army][27]

Cassius.[28] Why, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark!

The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.

Brutus. Ho, Lucilius! hark, a word with you.

70Lucilius. [Standing forth][29] My lord?

[Brutus and Lucilius converse apart][30]

149

Cassius. Messala!

Messala.

What says my general?

Cassius.

Messala,[31]

This is my birth-day; as[32] this very day

Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala:

Be thou my witness that, against my will,

75As Pompey was,[33] am I compell'd to set

Upon one battle all our liberties.

You know that I held Epicurus strong,[34]

And his opinion: now I change my mind,

And partly credit things that do presage.

80Coming from Sardis, on our former[35][36] ensign

Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd,

150

Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands;

Who to Philippi here consorted us:

This morning are they fled away and gone;

85And in their steads[37] do ravens, crows, and kites,

Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us,

As we were sickly prey: their shadows seem

A canopy most fatal, under which

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.

Messala. Believe not so.

90Cassius.

I but believe it partly;

For I am fresh of spirit, and resolv'd

To meet all perils[38] very constantly.

Brutus. Even so, Lucilius.

Cassius.

Now, most noble Brutus,

The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may,

95Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age!

But, since the affairs of men rests[39] still incertain,

Let's reason with the worst that may befall.

If we do lose this battle, then is this

The very last time we shall speak together:

100What are you then determined to do?

Brutus. Even by the rule of that philosophy

By[40] which I did blame Cato for the death

Which he did give himself: I know not how,

But I do find it cowardly and vile,

151

105For fear of what might fall, so to prevent

The time[41] of life: arming myself with patience

To stay the providence of some high powers

That govern us below.

Cassius.

Then, if we lose this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph

110Thorough[42] the streets of Rome?[43]

Brutus.[44] No, Cassius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,

That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;

He bears too great a mind.[45] But this same day

152

Must end that work the Ides[46] of March begun;

115And whether we shall meet again I know not.

Therefore our everlasting farewell take.

For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius!

If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;

If not, why then this parting was well made.

120Cassius. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus!

If we do meet again, we'll smile indeed;

If not, 'tis true this parting was well made.

Brutus. Why, then, lead on. O, that a man might know

The end of this day's business ere it come!

125But it sufficeth that the day will end,

And then the end is known. Come, ho! away!

[Exeunt]

V. 2 Scene II.[47] The field of battle

Alarum. Enter Brutus and Messala

Brutus. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills[48]

Unto the legions on the other side:[49]

[Loud alarum]

153

Let them set on at once; for I perceive

But cold demeanour in Octavius'[50] wing,

5And sudden push gives them the overthrow.

Ride, ride, Messala: let them all come down.

[Exeunt]

V. 3 Scene III.[51] Another part of the field

Alarums. Enter Cassius and Titinius

Cassius. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly!

Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy.

This ensign[52] here of mine was turning back;

I slew the coward, and did take it from him.

5Titinius. O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early;

Who, having some advantage on Octavius,

Took it too eagerly: his soldiers fell to spoil,

Whilst we by Antony are all enclos'd.

Enter Pindarus

Pindarus. Fly further off, my lord, fly further off;

10Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord:

Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off.

Cassius. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius;

Are those my tents where I perceive the fire?

154

Titinius. They are, my lord.

Cassius.

Titinius, if thou lovest me,

15Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him,

Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops,[53]

And here again; that I may rest assur'd

Whether yond troops are friend or enemy.

Titinius. I will be here again, even with a thought.[54]

[Exit]

20Cassius. Go, Pindarus, get higher[55] on that hill;

My sight was ever thick;[56] regard Titinius,

And tell me what thou not'st about the field.

[Pindarus ascends the hill][57]

This day I breathed first: time is come round,

And where I did begin, there shall I end;

25My life is run his compass. Sirrah, what news?

Pindarus. [Above] O my lord!

Cassius. What news?

Pindarus. [Above][58] Titinius is enclosed round about

With horsemen, that make to him on the spur;

30Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him.

Now, Titinius! Now some light. O, he lights too:

He's ta'en.[59] [Shout] And, hark! they shout for joy.

Cassius. Come down; behold no more.

O, coward that I am, to live so long,

35To see my best friend ta'en before my face!

155

Pindarus descends[60]

Come hither, sirrah:

In Parthia did I take thee prisoner;[61]

And then I swore thee, saving of thy life,[62]

That whatsoever I did bid thee do,

40Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine oath;

Now be a freeman; and with this good sword,

That ran through Cæsar's bowels, search this bosom.

Stand not to answer: here, take thou the hilts;[63]

And, when my face is cover'd, as 'tis now,

45Guide thou the sword. [Pindarus stabs him][64] Cæsar, thou art reveng'd,

Even with the sword[65] that kill'd thee.

[Dies][66]

Pindarus. So, I am free; yet would not so have been,[67]

Durst I have done my will. O Cassius!

Far from this country Pindarus shall run,

50Where never Roman shall take note of him.[68]

[Exit][69]

156

Re-enter[70] Titinius, with Messala

Messala. It is but change,[71] Titinius; for Octavius

Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power,

As Cassius' legions are by Antony.

Titinius. These tidings will well comfort Cassius.

Messala. Where did you leave him?

55Titinius.

All disconsolate,

With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill.

Messala. Is not that he that lies upon the ground?

Titinius. He lies not like the living. O my heart!

Messala. Is not that he?

Titinius.

No, this was he, Messala,

60But Cassius is no more. O setting sun,

As in thy red rays thou dost sink to night,[72]

So in his red blood Cassius' day is set;[73][74]

The sun[75] of Rome is set! Our day is gone;

Clouds, dews, and dangers come; our deeds are done!

65Mistrust of my success hath done this deed.

157

Messala. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed.

O hateful error, melancholy's child,

Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men

The things that are not?[76] O error, soon conceiv'd,

70Thou never com'st unto a happy birth,

But kill'st the mother that engender'd[77] thee!

Titinius. What, Pindarus! where art thou, Pindarus?

Messala. Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet

The noble Brutus, thrusting this report

75Into his ears: I may say, 'thrusting' it;

For piercing steel and darts envenomed

Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus

As tidings of this sight.

Titinius.

Hie you, Messala,

And I will seek for Pindarus the while.

[Exit Messala][78]

80Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius?

Did I not meet thy friends? and did not they

Put on my brows this wreath of victory,

And bid me give it thee? Didst thou not hear their shouts?

Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing!

85But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow;

Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I

Will do his bidding. Brutus, come apace,

And see how I regarded Caius Cassius.

By your leave, gods: this is a Roman's part:

90Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart.

[Dies][79]

158

Alarum.[80] Re-enter Messala, with Brutus, young Cato, Strato, Volumnius, and Lucilius[81]

Brutus. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie?

Messala. Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it.

Brutus. Titinius' face is upward.

Cato.

He is slain.

Brutus. O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet!

95Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords

In our own proper entrails.[82]

[Low alarums]

Cato.

Brave Titinius!

Look, where[83][84] he have not crown'd dead Cassius!

Brutus. Are yet two Romans living such as these?

159

The[85] last of all the Romans, fare[86] thee well!

100It is impossible that ever Rome

Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe moe[87][88] tears

To this dead man than you shall see me pay.

I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time.

Come, therefore, and to Thasos[89][90] send his body:

105His funerals shall not be in our camp,

Lest it discomfort us. Lucilius, come;

And come, young Cato; let us to the field.

Labeo and Flavius,[91][92] set our battles on:

'T is three o'clock; and, Romans, yet ere night

110We shall try fortune in a second fight.[93]

[Exeunt]

160

V. 4 Scene IV.[94] Another part of the field.[95]

Alarum. Enter Brutus, young Cato, Lucilius, and others[96]

Brutus. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads!

Cato. What bastard doth not?[97] Who will go with me?

I will proclaim my name about the field.

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

5A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend;

I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho!

Enter Soldiers, and fight

Lucilius.[98] And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I;

Brutus, my country's friend; know me for Brutus![99]

O young and noble Cato, art thou down?

10Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius;

And mayst be honour'd, being Cato's son.[100][101]

1 Soldier. Yield, or thou diest.

Lucilius.

Only I yield to die:

161

There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight;

[Offering money][102]

Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death.

151 Soldier.[103] We must not. A noble prisoner!

2 Soldier. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en.

1 Soldier. I'll tell the news.[104] Here comes the general.

Enter Antony[105]

Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord.

Antony. Where is he?

20Lucilius. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough:

I dare assure thee that no enemy

Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus:

The gods defend him from so great a shame!

When you do find him, or alive or dead,

25He will be found like Brutus, like himself

Antony. This is not Brutus, friend;[106] but, I assure you,

A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe,

Give him all kindness: I had rather have

Such men my friends than enemies.[107] Go on,

162

30And see where[108] Brutus be alive or dead;

And bring us word unto Octavius' tent

How every thing is chanc'd.

[Exeunt]

V. 5 Scene V.[109] Another part of the field[110]

Enter Brutus, Dardanius, Clitus, Strato, and Volumnius

Brutus. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock.

Clitus. Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord;

He came not back. He is or ta'en or slain.[111]

163

Brutus. Sit thee down, Clitus: slaying is the word;

5It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus.

[Whispering][112]

Clitus. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world.

Brutus. Peace then! no words.

Clitus.

I'll rather kill myself.

Brutus. Hark thee, Dardanius.

[Whispering][112]

Dardanius.

Shall[113] I do such a deed?

Clitus. O Dardanius!

10Dardanius. O Clitus!

Clitus. What ill request did Brutus make to thee?

Dardanius. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates.

Clitus. Now is that noble vessel full[114] of grief,

That it runs over even at his eyes.

15Brutus. Come hither, good Volumnius; list a word.

164

Volumnius. What says my lord?

Brutus.

Why, this, Volumnius:

The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me[115]

Two several times by night; at Sardis once,

And, this last night, here in Philippi fields:

I know my hour is come.

Volumnius.

20Not so, my lord.

Brutus. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius.

Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes;

Our enemies have beat us to the pit:

[Low alarums]

It is more worthy to leap in ourselves

25Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius,

Thou know'st that we two went to school together:[116]

Even for that our love of old, I prithee,[117]

Hold thou my sword-hilts,[118] whilst[119] I run on it.

Volumnius. That's not an office for a friend, my lord.

[Alarum still]

30Clitus. Fly, fly, my lord; there is no tarrying here.

Brutus. Farewell to you; and you; and you, Volumnius.

Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep;

165

Farewell to thee, too, Strato.[120] Countrymen,

My heart doth joy that yet in[121] all my life

35I found no man but he was true to me.

I shall have glory by this losing[122] day,

More than Octavius and Mark Antony

By this vile conquest shall attain unto.

So, fare you well at once; for Brutus' tongue

40Hath almost ended his life's[123] history:

Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest,

That have but labour'd to attain this hour.

[Alarum. Cry within, 'Fly, fly, fly!']

Clitus. Fly, my lord, fly!

Brutus.[124]

Hence! I will follow.

[Exeunt Clitus, Dardanius, and Volumnius][125]

I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord:

166

45Thou art a fellow of a good respect;[126]

Thy life hath had some smatch[127] of honour in it:

Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face,[128]

While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato?

Strato. Give me your hand first: fare you well, my lord.

Brutus. Farewell, good Strato. [Runs on his sword][129]

50Cæsar, now be still:

I kill'd not thee with half so good a will.

[Dies]

Alarum.[130] Retreat. Enter Antony, Octavius, Messala.

Lucilius, and the Army

Octavius. What man is that?

Messala. My master's man. Strato, where is thy master?

Strato. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala:

55The conquerors can but make a fire of him;

For Brutus only overcame himself,

And no man else hath honour by his death.

Lucilius. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus,

That thou hast prov'd Lucilius' saying true.

167

60Octavius. All that serv'd Brutus, I will entertain them.[131]

Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me?

Strato. Ay, if Messala will prefer[132] me to you.

Octavius. Do so, good Messala.

Messala. How died my master,[133] Strato?

65Strato. I held the sword, and he did run on it.

Messala. Octavius, then take him to follow thee,

That did the latest service to my master.

Antony. This was the noblest Roman of them all:[134]

All the conspirators, save only he,

70Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;[135]

He only, in[136] a general honest thought

And[137] common good to all, made one of them.

His life was gentle, and the elements

So mix'd in him,[138] that Nature might stand up

75And say to all the world, 'This was a man!'

168

Octavius. According to his virtue let us use him,

With all[139] respect and rites of burial.

Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie,

Most like a soldier,[140] ordered[141] honourably.

80So call the field to rest;[142] and let's away

To part[143] the glories of this happy day.

[Exeunt][144]

Notes

1 Professor W.W. Skeat's Shakespeare's Plutarch (The Macmillan Company) gives these Lives in convenient form with a text based upon the edition of 1612.

2 A Latin translation of Plutarch's Lives was printed at Rome as early as 1470, and there is evidence that through a Latin version the work first attracted the attention of Amyot. But his famous French version, first published in 1559, shows thorough familiarity with the original Greek text.

4 There is a famous copy of this edition in the Greenock Library with the initials "W.S." at the top of the title-page and seventeenth century manuscript notes in The Life of Julius Cæsar. See Skeat's Shakespeare's Plutarch, Introduction, p. xii.

5 See Trench's Lectures on Plutarch, Leo's Four Chapters of North's Plutarch, and Delius's Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar und seine Quellen in Plutarch (Shakespeare Jahrbuch, XVII, 67).

12 Reprinted in Collier's Shakespeare's Library. This translation shows in more than one place the influence of Shakespeare's play. For example, Hamlet's exclamation before he kills Polonius, "A rat! a rat!" is in the English version, but there is no suggestion of it in the French original.

14 Leonard Digges also wrote verses "To the Memorie of the deceased Authour Maister W. Shakespeare," prefixed to the First Folio.

15 In The Academy, September 18, 1875. See also The Leopold Shakspere, Introduction.

17 This is strong evidence that the play had not been printed at an earlier date.

18 "... Absolute in their numbers, as he conceiued them.... His mind and hand went together: And what he thought, he vttered with that easinesse, that wee haue scarse receiued from him a blot in his papers" (Heminge and Condell's Address "To the great Variety of Readers," First Folio).

19 Mr. F.G. Fleay in his Shakespeare Manual (1876) argues that "this play as we have it is an abridgement of Shakespeare's play made by Ben Jonson."

20 For an interesting defense of the so-called 'dragging' tendency and episodical character of the third scene of the fourth act, see Professor A.C. Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy, pp. 55-61.

21 "It must be understood that a play can be analyzed into very different schemes of plot. It must not be thought that one of these schemes is right and the rest wrong; but the schemes will be better or worse in proportion as—while of course representing correctly the facts of the play—they bring out more or less of what ministers to our sense of design."—Moulton.

22 Professor J. Churton Collins's Shakespeare as a Prose Writer. See Delius's Die Prosa in Shakespeares Dramen (Shakespeare Jahrbuch, V, 227-273); Janssen's Die Prosa in Shakespeares Dramen; Professor Hiram Corson's An Introduction to the Study of Shakespeare, pp. 83-98.

I.1 Dramatis Personæ. Rowe was the first to give a list of Dramatis Personæ. His list was imperfect and Theobald enlarged it.

I.2 Antonius. In I, ii, 3, 4, 6, the First Folio gives the name in the Italian form, 'Antonio.' See note, p. 9, l. 3.

I.3 Decius Brutus. The true classical name was Decimus Brutus. In Amyot's Les Vies des hommes illustres grecs et latins (1559) and in North's Plutarch (1579) the name is given as in Shakespeare.

I.4 Marullus. Theobald's emendation for the Murellus (Murrellus, I, ii, 281) of the First Folio. Marullus is the spelling in North's Plutarch.

I.5 Artemidorus. Rowe (1709) had 'Artimedorus (Artemidorus, 1714) a Soothsayer.' This Theobald altered to 'Artemidorus, a Sophist of Cnidos,' and made the Soothsayer a separate character.

I.6 Calpurnia. Occasionally in North's Plutarch (twice in Julius Cæsar) and always in the First Folio the name is given as 'Calphurnia.'

I.7 ACT I, Scene I | Actus Primus. Scœna Prima Ff.—Rome. A street Capell | Rome Rowe | Ff omit.—Commoners Ff | Plebeians Hanmer.

I.8 Act I. In the First Folio The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar is divided into acts but not into scenes, though 'Scœna (so spelled in the Folios) Prima' is given here after 'Actus Primus.'—over the stage. This, the Folio stage direction, suggests a mob.

I.9 Being mechanical: being mechanics. Shakespeare often uses adjectives with the sense of plural substantives. Cf. 'subject' in Hamlet, I, i, 72. Twice in North's Plutarch occurs "base mechanical people."

I.11 Shakespeare transfers to ancient Rome the English customs and usages of his own time. In Porter and Clarke's 'First Folio' Julius Cæsar, it is mentioned that Shakespeare's uncle Henry, a farmer in Snitterfield, according to a court order of October 25, 1583, was fined "viii d for not havinge and wearinge cappes on Sondayes and hollydayes."

I.15 in respect of: in comparison with. So in The Psalter (Book of Common Prayer), xxxix, 6. Cf. Hamlet, V, ii, 120.

I.16 cobbler. This word was used of a coarse workman, or a bungler, in any mechanical trade. So the Cobbler's answer does not give the information required, though it contains a quibble.

I.19 soles. The First Folio spelling, 'soules,' brings out the pun. This 'immemorial quibble,' as Craik calls it, is found also in The Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 123: "Not on thy sole, but on thy soul."

I.21 Modern editors give this speech to Marullus, but the Folio arrangement is more natural and dramatic, the two Tribunes alternately rating the people, as Knight puts it, like two smiths smiting on the same anvil.

I.22 A quibble upon two common meanings of 'out'—(1) 'at variance,' as in "Launcelot and I are out," The Merchant of Venice, III, v, 34; and (2) as in 'out at heels,' or 'out at toes.'

I.24 withal I F₁ | withall I F₂F₃ | withawl. I (Farmer's conj.) Camb Globe | with all. I Capell.

I.25 The text of the First Folio needs no emendation. It is good prose and involves a neat pun.

I.26 proper: goodly, handsome. This word has often this meaning in Elizabethan literature, and is still so used in provincial England. Cf. The Tempest, II, ii, 63; Hebrews (King James version), xi, 23; Burns's The Jolly Beggars: "And still my delight is in proper young men."

I.27 trod upon neat's-leather. This expression and "as proper a man as" are repeated in the second scene of the second act of The Tempest.—neat's-leather: ox-hide. 'Neat' is Anglo-Saxon neát, 'ox,' 'cow,' 'cattle,' and is still used in 'neat-herd,' 'neat's-foot oil.' See The Winter's Tale, I, ii, 125. The form 'nowt' is still in common use in the North of England and the South of Scotland. Cf. Burns's The Twa Dogs: "To thrum guitars an' fecht wi nowte."

I.29 Many a time and oft. This form of emphasis occurs also in The Merchant of Venice, I, iii, 107. Cf. Timon of Athens, III, i, 25.

I.33 That: so that. For the omission of 'so' before 'that,' see Abbott, § 283.

I.35 her: In Latin usage rivers are masculine, and 'Father' is a common appellation of 'Tiber.' In Elizabethan literature Drayton generally makes rivers feminine, while Spenser tends to make them masculine.

I.39 The reference is to the great battle of Munda, in Spain, which took place in March of the preceding year, b.c. 45. Cæsar was now celebrating his fifth triumph, which was in honor of his final victory over the Pompeian, or conservative, faction. Cnæus and Sextus, the two sons of Pompey the Great, were leaders in that battle, and Cnæus perished. "And because he had plucked up his race by the roots, men did not think it meet for him to triumph so for the calamities of his country."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

I.40 "It is evident from the opening scene, that Shakespeare, even in dealing with classical subjects, laughed at the classic fear of putting the ludicrous and sublime into juxtaposition. After the low and farcical jests of the saucy cobbler, the eloquence of Marullus 'springs upwards like a pyramid of fire.'"—Campbell.

I.41 Till the river rises from the extreme low-water mark to the extreme high-water mark.

I.44 where: whether. As in V, iv, 30, the 'where' of the Folios represents the monosyllabic pronunciation of this word common in the sixteenth century. In Shakespeare's verse the 'th' between two vowels, as in 'brother,' 'other,' 'whither,' is frequently mute.

I.45 basest metal: The Folio spelling is 'mettle,' and the word here may connote 'spirit,' 'temper.' If it be taken literally, the reference may be to 'lead.' Cf. 'base lead,' The Merchant of Venice, II, ix, 19. In this case the meaning may be that even these men, though as dull and heavy as lead, have yet the sense to be tongue-tied with shame at their conduct. 'Mettle' occurs again in I, ii, 293; 'metal' (First Folio, 'mettle') in I, ii, 306.

I.46 images. These images were the busts and statues of Cæsar, ceremoniously decked with scarfs and badges in honor of his triumph.

I.47 ceremonies: ceremonial symbols, festal ornaments. Cf. 'trophies' in l. 71 and 'scarfs' in I, ii, 282. Shakespeare employs the word in the same way, as an abstract term used for the concrete thing, in Henry V, IV, i, 109; and, in the singular, in Measure for Measure, II, ii, 59. "After that, there were set up images of Cæsar in the city, with diadems on their heads like kings. Those the two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled down."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

I.48 Lupercal. The Lupercalia, originally a shepherd festival, were held in honor of Lupercus, the Roman Pan, on the 15th of February, the month being named from Februus, a surname of the god. Lupercus was, primarily, the god of shepherds, said to have been so called because he protected the flocks from wolves. His wife Luperca was the deified she-wolf that suckled Romulus. The festival, in its original idea, was concerned with purification and fertilization.

I.49 Cæsar's trophies. These are the scarfs and badges mentioned in note on l. 66, as appears from ll. 281-282 in the next scene, where it is said that the Tribunes "for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence."

I.50 the vulgar: the common people. So in Love's Labour's Lost, I, ii, 51; Henry V, IV, vii, 80.

I.51 pitch. A technical term in falconry, denoting the height to which a hawk or falcon flies. Cf. I Henry VI, II, iv, 11: "Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch."

I.54 Antonius'. The 'Antonio's' of the Folios is the Italian form with which both actors and audience would be more familiar. So in IV, iii, 102, the Folios read "dearer than Pluto's (i.e. Plutus') mine." Antonius was at this time Consul, as Cæsar himself also was. Each Roman gens had its own priesthood, and also its peculiar religious rites. The priests of the Julian gens (so named from Iulus the son of Æneas) had lately been advanced to the same rank with those of the god Lupercus; and Antony was at this time at their head. It was probably as chief of the Julian Luperci that he officiated on this occasion, stripped, as the old stage direction has it, "for the course."

I.56 It was an old custom at these festivals for the priests, naked except for a girdle about the loins, to run through the streets of the city, waving in the hand a thong of goat's hide, and striking with it such women as offered themselves for the blow, in the belief that this would prevent or avert "the sterile curse." Cæsar was at this time childless; his only daughter, Julia, married to Pompey the Great, having died some years before, upon the birth of her first child, who also died soon after.

I.60 Coleridge has a remark on this line, which, whether true to the subject or not, is very characteristic of the writer: "If my ear does not deceive me, the metre of this line was meant to express that sort of mild philosophic contempt, characterizing Brutus even in his first casual speech."

I.61 Sennet. This is an expression occurring repeatedly in old stage directions. It is of uncertain origin (but cf. 'signature' in musical notation) and denotes a peculiar succession of notes on a trumpet, used, as here, to signal the march of a procession.

I.63 gamesome: fond of games. Here as in Cymbeline, I, vi, 60, the word seems to be used in a literal and restricted sense.

I.64 quick spirit: lively humor. The primary meaning of 'quick' is 'alive,' as in the phrase "the quick and the dead." See Skeat.

I.65 as. The three forms 'that,' 'who' ('which'), and 'as' are often interchangeable in Elizabethan usage. So in line 174. See Abbott, §§ 112, 280.

I.66 You hold me too hard on the bit, like a strange rider who is doubtful of his steed, and not like one who confides in his faithful horse, and so rides him with an easy rein. See note on l. 310.

I.68 Caius Cassius Longinus had married Junia, a sister of Brutus. Both had lately stood for the chief prætorship of the city, and Brutus, through Cæsar's favor, had won it; though Cassius was at the same time elected one of the sixteen prætors or judges of the city. This is said to have produced a coldness between Brutus and Cassius, so that they did not speak to each other, till this extraordinary flight of patriotism brought them together.

I.73 behaviours. Shakespeare often uses abstract nouns in the plural. This usage is common in Carlyle. Here, however, and elsewhere in Shakespeare, as in Much Ado about Nothing, II, iii, 100, the plural 'behaviours' may be regarded as denoting the particular acts which make up what we call 'behavior.' See Clar.

I.74 mistook. The en of the termination of the past participle of strong verbs is often dropped, and when the resulting word might be mistaken for the infinitive, the form of the past tense is frequently substituted.

I.75 passion. Shakespeare uses 'passion' for any feeling, sentiment, or emotion, whether painful or pleasant. So in Henry V, II, ii. 132: "Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger."

I.76 By means whereof: and because of my mistaking it. 'Means' was sometimes used in the sense of 'cause.'

I.77 itself | it selfe F₁ | himselfe F₂ | himself, F₃ | himself: F₄.

I.80 Except by an image or 'shadow' (l. 68; cf. Venus and Adonis, 162) reflected from a mirror, or from water, or some polished surface. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, III, iii, 105-111.

I.81 'Tis just: that's so, exactly so. Cf. All's Well that Ends Well, II, iii, 21; As You Like It, III, ii, 281; 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 89.

I.88 jealous on: suspicious of. In Shakespeare we find 'on' and 'of' used indifferently, even in the same sentence, as in Hamlet, IV, v, 200. Cf. Macbeth, I, iii, 84; Sonnets, lxxxiv, 14. See Abbott, § 181.

I.90 laughter: laughing-stock. Although most modern editors have adopted Rowe's emendation, 'laugher,' the reading of the Folios is perfectly intelligible and thoroughly Shakespearian. Cf. IV, iii, 114.

I.91 To stale: to make common by frequent repetition, to cheapen. So again in IV, i, 38. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, II, ii, 240.

I.92 'To protest' is used by Shakespeare in the sense of 'to profess,' 'to declare,' 'to vow,' as in All's Well that Ends Well, IV, ii, 28, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, I, i, 89. The best commentary on ll. 72-74 is Hamlet, I, iii, 64-65: "But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade."

I.94 If you know that, when banqueting, I make professions of friendship to all the crowd.

I.98 "Warburton would read 'death' for 'both'; but I prefer the old text. There are here three things, the public good, the individual Brutus' honour, and his death. The latter two so balanced each other, that he could decide for the first by equipoise; nay—the thought growing—that honour had more weight than death."—Coleridge.

I.100 speed: prosper, bless. So in II, iv, 41. "The notion of 'haste' which now belongs to the word is apparently a derived sense. It is thus curiously parallel to the Latin expedio, with which some would connect it etymologically.... The proverb 'more haste, worse speed' shows that haste and speed are not the same."—Clar.

I.101 favour: appearance. The word has often this meaning in Shakespeare. Cf. 'well-favored,' 'ill-favored,' and such a provincial expression as 'the child favors his father.'

I.103 lief: readily. The pronunciation of the f as v brings out the quibble. From the Anglo-Saxon léof, 'dear.' See Murray.

I.105 chafing. See Skeat for the interesting development of the meanings of the verb 'chafe (Fr. chauffer),' which Shakespeare uses twenty times, sometimes transitively, sometimes intransitively.

I.108 hearts of controversy: controversial hearts, emulation. In Shakespeare are many similar constructions and expressions. Cf. 'passions of some difference,' l. 40, and 'mind of love' for 'loving mind,' The Merchant of Venice, II, viii, 42.

I.109 arrive the point. In sixteenth and early seventeenth century literature the omission of the preposition with verbs of motion is common. Cf. 'pass the streets' in I, i, 44.

I.110 In Elizabethan literature 'fever' is often used for sickness in general as well as for what is now specifically called a fever. Cæsar had three several campaigns in Spain at different periods of his life, and the text does not show which of these Shakespeare had in mind. One passage in Plutarch indicates that Cæsar was first taken with the 'falling-sickness' during his third campaign, which closed with the great battle of Munda, March 17, b.c. 45. See note, p. 25, l. 252, and quotation from Plutarch, p. 26, l. 268.

I.111 The image, very bold, somewhat forced, and not altogether happy, is of a cowardly soldier running away from his flag.

I.112 bend: look. So in Antony and Cleopatra, II, ii, 213: "tended her i' the eyes, And made their bends adornings." In Shakespeare the verb 'bend,' when used of the eyes, has usually the sense of 'direct,' as in Hamlet, II, i, 100: "bended their light on me"; III, iv, 117: "That you do bend your eye on vacancy."

I.114 his: its. 'Its' was just creeping into use at the close of the sixteenth century. It does not occur once in the King James version of the Bible as originally printed; it occurs ten times in the First Folio, generally in the form 'it's'; it occurs only three times in Milton's poetry. See Masson's Essay on Milton's English; Abbott, § 228; Sweet's New English Grammar, § 1101.

I.116 temper: temperament, constitution. "The lean and wrinkled Cassius" venting his spite at Cæsar, by ridiculing his liability to sickness and death, is charmingly characteristic. The mighty Cæsar, with all his electric energy of mind and will, was of a rather fragile and delicate make; and his countenance, as we have it in authentic busts, is of almost feminine beauty. Cicero, who did not love him at all, in one of his Letters applies to him the Greek word that is used for 'miracle' or 'wonder' in the New Testament; the English of the passage being, "This miracle (monster?) is a thing of terrible energy, swiftness, diligence."

I.117 Observe the force of 'narrow' here; as if Cæsar were grown so enormously big that even the world seemed a little thing under him. Some while before this, the Senate had erected a bronze statue of Cæsar, standing on a globe, and inscribed to "Cæsar the Demigod," but this inscription Cæsar erased.

I.118 It is only a legend that the bronze Colossus of Rhodes bestrode the entrance to the famous harbor. The story probably arose from the statement that the figure, which represented Helios, the national deity of the Rhodians, was so high that a ship might sail between its legs.

I.119 In Shakespeare are many such allusions to the tenets of the old astrology and the belief in planetary influence upon the fortunes and characters of men which Scott describes in the Introduction to Guy Mannering and makes the atmosphere of the story.

I.120 should be: can be. So in The Tempest, I, ii, 387: "Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?"

I.121 The allusion is to the old custom of muttering certain names, supposed to have in them "the might of magic spells," in raising or conjuring up spirits.

I.122 the great flood. By this an ancient Roman would understand the universal deluge of classical mythology, from which only Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha escaped alive. The story is told in Ovid's Metamorphoses, I. Shakespeare mentions Deucalion twice.

I.124 walks. The reasons why Rowe's emendation, 'walls,' is almost universally accepted, are that 'walls' would be easily corrupted into 'walks' from the nearness of 'talk'd,' and that there is a disagreeable assonance in 'talk'd' and 'walks' in successive lines. But 'walks' is picturesque and poetical; compared with it, 'walls' is commonplace and obvious. Cf. Paradise Lost, IV, 586.

I.125 A play upon 'Rome' and 'room,' which appear to have been sounded more alike in Shakespeare's time than they are now. So again in III, i, 289-290: "A dangerous Rome, No Rome of safety for Octavius yet." Cf. also King John, III, i, 180.

I.126 The allusion is to Lucius Junius Brutus, who bore a leading part in driving out the Tarquins and in turning the kingdom into a republic. Afterwards, as consul, he condemned his own sons to death for attempting to restore the kingdom. The Marcus Junius Brutus of the play, according to Plutarch, supposed himself to be descended from him. His mother, Servilia, also derived her lineage from Servilius Ahala, who slew Spurius Mælius for aspiring to royalty. Merivale remarks that "the name of Brutus forced its possessor into prominence as soon as royalty began to be discussed."

I.128 eternal. Johnson suggested 'infernal.' Dr. Wright (Clar.) points out that in three plays printed in 1600 Shakespeare uses 'infernal,' but substitutes 'eternal' in Julius Cæsar, Hamlet, and Othello, in obedience probably to the popular Puritan agitation against profanity on the stage. This has been used as evidence to determine dates of composition. See Introduction, page xx. Cf. with this use of 'eternal' the old Yankee term 'tarnal' in such expressions as 'tarnal scamp,' 'tarnal shame,' etc.

I.129 am nothing jealous: do not doubt. Cf. l. 71. 'Jealous' and 'zealous' are etymologically the same word. See Skeat.

I.131 aim: guess. Cf. The Two Gentlemen of Verona, III, i, 28. Similarly with the verb in Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 211; Othello, III, iii, 223.

I.133 'To chew' is, literally, in the Latin equivalent, 'to ruminate.' Cf. As You Like It, IV, iii, 102: "Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy." In Bacon's Essays, Of Studies, we have, with reference to books: "Some few are to be chewed and digested." So in Lyly's Euphues: "Philantus went into the fields to walk there, either to digest his choler, or chew upon his melancholy."

I.135 In Troilus and Cressida, III, iii, 256, Thersites says of the wit of Ajax: "It lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking." The same figure is found in the description which Brutus gives of his unimpassioned nature, IV, iii, 112-114.

I.138 proceeded: happened, come to pass. So in All's Well that Ends Well, IV, ii, 62.

I.139 worthy note. Cf. All's Well that Ends Well, III, v, 104. For the ellipsis of the preposition, see Abbott, § 198 a.

I.140 One of the marked physical characteristics of the albinotic ferret is the red or pink eye. Shakespeare turns the noun 'ferret' into an adjective. The description of Cicero is purely imaginary; but the angry spot on Cæsar's brow, Calpurnia's pale cheek, and Cicero with fire in his eyes when kindled by opposition in the Senate, make an exceedingly vivid picture.

I.143 "Another time when Cæsar's friends complained unto him of Antonius and Dolabella, that they pretended some mischief towards him, he answered them again, As for those fat men, and smooth-combed heads, quoth he, I never reckon of them; but these pale visaged and carrion lean people, I fear them most; meaning Brutus and Cassius."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar. There are similar passages in Plutarch's Life of Brutus and in the Life of Marcus Antonius. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, III, xi, 37. Falstaff's famous cry was for 'spare men.' See 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 288. 'Sleek-headed' recalls Lamb's wish that the baby son of the tempestuous Hazlitt should be "like his father, with something of a better temper and a smoother head of hair."

I.145 he loves no plays. "In his house they did nothing but feast, dance, and masque; and himself passed away the time in hearing of foolish plays, and in marrying these players, tumblers, jesters, and such sort of people."—Plutarch, Marcus Antonius.

I.146 The power of music is repeatedly celebrated by Shakespeare, and sometimes in strains that approximate the classical hyperboles about Orpheus, Amphion, and Arion. What is here said of Cassius has an apt commentary in The Merchant of Venice, V, 1, 83-85:

I.147 This is one of the little touches of invention that so often impart a fact-like vividness to Shakespeare's scenes.

I.149 sad. The word is used here probably in its early sense of 'weary' (as in Middle English) or 'resolute' (as in Chaucer and old Ballads). In 2 Henry IV, V, i, 92, is the expression "a jest with a sad brow," where 'sad' evidently means 'wise,' 'sage.'

I.150 there was a crown offer'd him. In the Life of Marcus Antonius Plutarch gives a detailed and vivid description of this scene.

I.156 soft! This is an elliptical use of the adverb 'soft' and was much used as an exclamation for arresting or retarding the speed of a person or thing; meaning about the same as 'hold!' 'stay!' or 'not too fast!' So in Othello, V, ii, 338: "Soft you; a word or two before you go"; and The Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 320: "Soft! The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste."

I.159 falling-sickness. An old English name for epilepsy (Lat. morbus caducus, German fallende Sucht) used by North in translating Plutarch. Another form of the word is 'falling-evil,' also used by North (see quotation, p. 26, l. 268). It is an interesting fact that the best authorities allow that Napoleon suffered from epileptic seizures towards the close of his life.

I.161 true: honest. Shakespeare frequently uses 'true' in this sense, especially as opposed to 'thief.' Cf. Cymbeline, II, iii, 76; Venus and Adonis, 724: "Rich preys make true men thieves."

I.162 Marry. The common Elizabethan exclamation of surprise, or asseveration, corrupted from the name of the Virgin Mary.

I.163 me. The ethical dative. Cf. III, iii, 18; The Merchant of Venice, I, iii, 85; Romeo and Juliet, III, i, 6. See Abbott, § 220.

I.164 doublet. This was the common English name of a man's outer body-garment. Shakespeare dresses his Romans like Elizabethan Englishmen (cf. II, i, 73-74), but the expression 'doublet-collar' occurs in North's Plutarch (see quotation in note on ll. 268-270).

I.167 a man of any occupation. This probably means not only a mechanic or user of cutting-tools, but also a man of business and of action, as distinguished from a gentleman of leisure, or an idler.

I.168 to hell among the rogues. The early English drama abounds in examples of such historical confusion. For example, in the Towneley Miracle Plays Noah's wife swears by the Virgin Mary.

I.169 "Thereupon Cæsar rising departed home to his house; and, tearing open his doublet-collar, making his neck bare, he cried out aloud to his friends, that his throat was ready to offer to any man that would come and cut it.... Afterwards, to excuse his folly, he imputed it to his disease, saying that their wits are not perfect which have this disease of the falling-evil."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

I.172 A charming invention, though in his Life of Cicero Plutarch refers to the orator's nicknames, 'Grecian' and 'scholer,' due to his ability to "declaim in Greek." Cicero had a sharp, agile tongue, and was fond of using it; and nothing was more natural than that he should snap off some keen, sententious sayings, prudently veiling them, however, in a foreign language from all but those who might safely understand them.

I.174 Greek to me. 'Greek,' often 'heathen Greek,' was a common Elizabethan expression for unintelligible speech. In Dekker's Grissil (1600) occurs "It's Greek to him." So in Dickens's Barnaby Rudge: "this is Greek to me."

I.175 I am promis'd forth: I have promised to go out. 'Forth' is often used in this way in Elizabethan literature without any verb of motion. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, II, v, 11. See Abbott, § 41.

I.176 blunt: dull, slow. Or there may be a quibble involved in connection with 'mettle' in the next line. Brutus alludes to the 'tardy form' (l. 296) Casca has just 'put on' in winding so long about the matter before coming to the point.

I.177 quick mettle: lively spirit. Collier conjectured 'quick-mettl'd.' 'Mettlesome' is still used of spirited horses. Cf. I, i, 63.

I.179 tardy form: appearance of tardiness. The construction in this expression is common in Shakespeare, as 'shady stealth' for 'stealing shadow,' in Sonnets, LXXVII, 7; 'negligent danger' for 'danger from negligence,' in Antony and Cleopatra, III, v, 81.

I.184 that it is dispos'd: that which it is disposed to. For the omission of prepositions in Shakespeare, see Abbott, §§ 198-202. Cassius in this speech is chuckling over the effect his talk has had upon Brutus.

I.185 bear me hard: has a grudge against me. This remarkable expression occurs three times in this play, but nowhere else in Shakespeare. Professor Hales quotes an example of it from Ben Jonson's Catiline, IV, v. It seems to have been borrowed from horsemanship, and to mean 'carries tight rein,' or 'reins hard,' like one who distrusts his horse. So before, ll. 35, 36:

I.186 humour. To 'humor' a man, as the word is here used, is to turn and wind and manage him by watching his moods and crotchets, and to touch him accordingly. It is somewhat in doubt whether the 'he' in the preceding line refers to Brutus or to Cæsar. If to Brutus, the meaning of course is: he should not play upon my humors and fancies as I do upon his. And this sense is fairly required by the context, for the whole speech is occupied with the speaker's success in cajoling Brutus, and with plans for cajoling and shaping him still further. Johnson refers 'he' to Cæsar.

I.188 We will either shake him, or endure worse days in suffering the consequences of our attempt.—Shakespeare makes Cassius overflow with intense personal spite against Cæsar. This is in accordance with what he read in North's Plutarch.

I.190 Scene III. Rowe added "with his sword drawn" to the Folio stage direction, basing the note on l. 19.

A month has passed since the machinery of the conspiracy was set in motion. The action in the preceding scene took place on the day of the Lupercalia; the action in this is on the eve of the Ides of March.

I.193 sway of earth: established order. "The balanced swing of earth."—Craik. "The whole weight or momentum of this globe."—Johnson. In such a raging of the elements, it seems as if the whole world were going to pieces, or as if the earth's steadfastness were growing 'unfirm.' "'Unfirm' is not firm; while 'infirm' is weak."—Clar.

I.196 Either the gods are fighting among themselves, or else they are making war on the world for being overbearing in its attitude towards them. For Shakespeare's use of 'saucy,' see Century.

I.197 any thing more wonderful. This may be interpreted as 'anything that was more wonderful,' or 'anything more that was wonderful.' The former seems the true interpretation. For the 'wonderful' things that Casca describes, Shakespeare was indebted to the following passage from Plutarch's Julius Cæsar, which North in the margin entitles "Predictions and foreshews of Cæsar's death": "Certainly destiny may easier be foreseen than avoided, considering the strange and wonderful signs that were said to be seen before Cæsar's death. For, touching the fires in the element, and spirits running up and down in the night, and also the solitary birds to be seen at noondays sitting in the great market-place, are not all these signs perhaps worth the noting, in such a wonderful chance as happened? But Strabo the philosopher writeth, that divers men were seen going up and down in fire, and furthermore, that there was a slave of the soldiers that did cast a marvellous burning flame out of his hand, insomuch as they that saw it thought he had been burnt; but when the fire was out, it was found he had no hurt. Cæsar self also, doing sacrifice unto the gods, found that one of the beasts which was sacrificed had no heart: and that was a strange thing in nature, how a beast could live without a heart." This passage is worth special attention, as Shakespeare uses many of the details again in II, ii, 17-24, 39-40. Cf. Hamlet, I, i, 113-125.

I.198 you know. Dyce suggested 'you'd know'; Craik, 'you knew.' But the text as it stands is dramatically vivid and realistic.

I.201 glaz'd. Rowe's change to 'glar'd' is usually adopted as the reading here, but 'glaze' is used intransitively in Middle English in the sense of 'shine brilliantly,' and Dr. Wright (Clar) says: "I am informed by a correspondent that the word 'glaze' in the sense of 'stare' is common in some parts of Devonshire, and that 'glazing like a conger' is a familiar expression in Cornwall." See Murray for additional examples.

I.203 Upon a heap: together in a crowd. 'Heap' is often used in this sense in Middle English as it is colloquially to-day. The Anglo-Saxon héap almost always refers to persons. In Richard III, II, i, 53, occurs "princely heap." So "Let us on heaps go offer up our lives" in Henry V, IV, v, 18.

I.204 the bird of night. The old Roman horror of the owl is well shown in this passage (spelling modernized) of Holland's Pliny, quoted by Dr. Wright (Clar): "The screech-owl betokeneth always some heavy news, and is most execrable ... in the presages of public affairs.... In sum, he is the very monster of the night.... There fortuned one of them to enter the very sanctuary of the Capitol, in that year when Sextus Papellio Ister and Lucius Pedanius were Consuls; whereupon, at the Nones of March, the city of Rome that year made general processions, to appease the wrath of the gods, and was solemnly purged by sacrifices."

I.206 These: such and such. Cf. "these and these" in II, i, 31. Casca refers to the doctrine of the Epicureans, who were slow to believe that such pranks of the elements had any moral significance in them, or that moral causes had anything to do with them, and held that the explanation of them was to be sought for in the simple working of natural laws and forces. Shakespeare deals humorously with these views in All's Well that Ends Well, II, iii, 1-6.

I.207 climate: region, country. So Richard II, IV, i, 130. Cf. Hamlet, I, i, 125: "Unto our climatures and countrymen."

I.208 Clean: quite, completely. From the fourteenth century to the seventeenth 'clean' was often used in this sense, usually with verbs of removal and the like, and so it is still used colloquially. For 'from' without a verb of motion, see Abbott, § 158.

I.211 what: what a. For the omission of the indefinite article, common in Shakespeare, see Abbott, § 86. In the Folios the interrogation mark and the exclamation mark are often interchanged.

I.215 thunder-stone: thunder-bolt. It is still a common belief in Scotland and Ireland that a stone or bolt falls with lightning. Cf. Cymbeline, IV, ii, 271: "Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone."

I.219 cast yourself in: throw yourself into a state of. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare Jervis's conjecture 'case' for 'cast' was adopted. The change is unnecessary. Cf. Cymbeline, III, ii, 38: "Though forfeiters you cast in prison."

I.220 ll. 63-68 The construction here is involved, and the grammar confused, but the meaning is clear enough. The general idea is that of elements and animals, and even human beings, acting in a manner out of or against their nature, or changing their natures and original faculties from the course in which they were ordained to move, to monstrous or unnatural modes of action.

I.221 from quality and kind: turn from their disposition and nature. Emerson and Browning use 'quality' (cf. l. 68) in this old sense of 'disposition.' 'Kind,' meaning 'nature,' is common in Shakespeare.

I.222 old men, fools, and | Old men, Fooles, and F₁F₂ | Old men, Fools, and F₃F₄ | old men fools, and Steevens | old men fool and White.

I.223 There seems no necessity for changing the reading of the Folios. This conjunction of old men, fools, and children is found in country sayings in England to-day. So in a Scottish proverb: "Auld fowks, fules, and bairns should never see wark half dune," White's reading was first suggested by Mitford.

I.225 monstrous state: abnormal condition of things. 'Enormous state' occurs with probably the same general meaning in King Lear, II, ii, 176. As Cassius is an avowed Epicurean, it may seem out of character to make him speak thus. But he is here talking for effect, his aim being to kindle and instigate Casca into the conspiracy; and to this end he does not hesitate to say what he does not himself believe.

I.227 This reads as if a lion were kept in the Capitol. But the meaning probably is that Cæsar roars in the Capitol, like a lion. Perhaps Cassius has the idea of Cæsar's claiming or aspiring to be among men what the lion is among beasts. Dr. Wright suggests that Shakespeare had in mind the lions kept in the Tower of London, "which there is reason to believe from indications in the play represented the Capitol to Shakespeare's mind." It is possible, too, that we have here a reference to the lion described by Casca in ll. 20-22.

I.228 prodigious: portentous. As in A Midsummer Night's Dream, V, i, 419: "Never mole, hare lip, nor scar, Nor mark prodigious."

I.232 thews: muscles. So in Hamlet, I, iii, 12, and 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 276. In Chaucer and Middle English the word means 'manners,' though in Layamon's Brut (l. 6361), in the singular, it seems to mean 'sinew' or 'strength.' See Skeat for a suggestive discussion.

I.235 bondman. The word 'cancel' in the next line shows that Casca plays on the two senses of 'bond.' Cf. Cymbeline, V, iv, 28.

I.236 The idea seems to be that, as men start a huge fire with worthless straws or shavings, so Cæsar is using the degenerate Romans of the time to set the whole world a-blaze with his own glory. Cassius's enthusiastic hatred of "the mightiest Julius" is irresistibly delightful. For a good hater is the next best thing to a true friend; and Cassius's honest gushing malice is surely better than Brutus's stabbing sentimentalism.

I.237 The meaning is, Perhaps you will go and tell Cæsar all I have said about him, and then he will call me to account for it. Very well; go tell him; and let him do his worst. I care not.

I.238 Fleering. This word of Scandinavian origin seems to unite the senses of 'grinning,' 'flattering' (see Love's Labour's Lost, V, ii, 109, and Ben Jonson's "fawn and fleer" in Volpone, III, i, 20), and 'sneering,' and so is just the right epithet for a telltale, who flatters you into saying that of another which you ought not to say, and then mocks you by going to that other and telling what you have said.

I.239 Hold, my hand: stay! here is my hand. As men clasp hands in sealing a bargain. In Rowe's text the comma is omitted.

I.240 Be factious: be active. Or it may mean, 'form a party,' 'join a conspiracy.'

I.241 griefs: grievances. The effect put for the cause. A common Shakespearian metonymy. Cf. III, ii, 211; IV, ii, 42, 46.

I.242 undergo: undertake. So in 2 Henry IV, I, iii, 54; The Winter's Tale, II, iii, 164; IV, iv, 554.

I.244 Pompey's porch. This was a spacious adjunct to the huge theater that Pompey had built in the Campus Martius, outside of the city proper; and there, as Plutarch says in Marcus Brutus, "was set up the image of Pompey, which the city had made and consecrated in honour of him, when he did beautify that part of the city with the theatre he built, with divers porches about it." Here it was that Cæsar was stabbed to death; and though Shakespeare transfers the assassination to the Capitol, he makes Cæsar's blood stain the statue of Pompey. See III, ii, 187, 188.

I.245 element: sky. Twice Shakespeare seems to poke fun at the way in which the Elizabethans overdid the use of 'element' in this sense, in Twelfth Night, III, i, 65, and in 2 Henry IV, IV, iii, 58.

I.246 favour: appearance. So in I, ii, 91. Johnson's emendation, though pleonastic, makes least change upon the text of the Folios.

I.249 close: hidden. So in 1 Chronicles, xii, 1: "He yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish."

I.251 incorporate: closely united. Shakespeare uses this word nine times,—four times as an adjective and five times as a verb. With regard to the omission of -ed in participial forms, see Abbott, § 342.

I.255 in the prætor's chair. "But for Brutus, his friends and countrymen, both by divers procurements and sundry rumours of the city, and by many bills[1] also, did openly call and procure him to do that he did. For under the image of his ancestor Junius Brutus, (that drave the kings out of Rome) they wrote: 'O, that it pleased the gods thou wert now alive, Brutus!' and again, 'that thou wert here among us now!' His tribunal or chair, where he gave audience during the time he was Prætor, was full of such bills: 'Brutus, thou art asleep, and art not Brutus indeed.'"—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

I.257 For a discussion of singular verbs with plural subjects, see Abbott, § 333. Cf. l. 138, l. 155; III, ii, 26.

I.258 Decius Brutus. As indicated in the notes to the Dramatis Personæ, this should be 'Decimus Brutus.' Shakespeare found the form 'Decius' in North's Plutarch, who translated from Amyot, in whose French version the blunder was originally made. Decimus Brutus is said to have been cousin to the other Brutus of the play. He had been one of Cæsar's ablest, most favored, and most trusted lieutenants, and had particularly distinguished himself in his naval service at Venetia and Massilia. After the murder of Cæsar, he was found to be written down in his will as second heir.

I.261 alchemy: the old ideal art of turning base metals into gold. So in Sonnets, xxxiii, 4: "Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy." Cf. King John, III, i, 78.

I.262 conceited: formed an idea of, conceived, judged. 'Conceit' as a verb occurs again in III, i, 193, and in Othello, III, iii, 149.

II.1 orchard. Shakespeare generally uses 'orchard' in its original sense of 'garden' (literally 'herb-garden,' Anglo-Saxon ort-geard).

II.3 What. A common exclamation frequent in Shakespeare. So in V, iii, 72. The 'when' of l. 5 shows increasing impatience.

II.6 Brutus has been casting about on all sides to find some means to prevent Cæsar's being king, and here admits that it can be done only by killing him. Thus the soliloquy opens in just the right way to throw us back upon his antecedent meditations. In expression and in feeling it anticipates Hamlet, III, i, 56-88. From now onwards the speeches of Brutus strangely adumbrate those of Hamlet.

II.7 the general: the general public, the community at large. Cf. Hamlet, II, ii, 457, "pleas'd not the million; 't was caviare to the general." See III, ii, 89, and V, v, 71-72.

II.8 The sunshine of royalty will kindle the serpent in Cæsar. The figure in 32-34 suggests that 'bring forth' may here mean 'hatch.'

II.10 do danger with: do mischief with, prove dangerous. Cf. Romeo and Juliet, V, ii, 20: "neglecting it May do much danger."

II.11 Remorse. Constantly in Shakespeare 'remorse' is used for 'pity' or 'compassion.' Here it seems to mean something more, 'conscience,' 'conscientiousness.' So in Othello, III, iii, 468:

The possession of dictatorial power is apt to stifle or sear the conscience, so as to make a man literally remorseless.

II.15 Warburton put a hyphen between 'climber' and 'upward.' Delius, however, would connect 'upward' with 'whereto' and 'turns.'

II.16 base degrees: lower steps. 'Degrees' is here used in its original, literal sense for the rounds, or steps, of the ladder.

II.21 ll. 29-34 The general meaning of this somewhat obscure passage is, Since we have no show or pretext of a cause, no assignable ground or apparent ground of complaint, against Cæsar, in what he is, or in anything he has yet done, let us assume that the further addition of a crown will quite upset his nature, and metamorphose him into a serpent. The strain of casuistry used in this speech is very remarkable. Coleridge found it perplexing. On the supposition that Shakespeare meant Brutus for a wise and good man, the speech seems unintelligible. But Shakespeare must have regarded him simply as a well-meaning but conceited and shallow idealist; and such men are always cheating and puffing themselves with the thinnest of sophisms, feeding on air and conceiving themselves inspired, or "mistaking the giddiness of the head for the illumination of the Spirit."

II.24 The Folio reading 'first of March' cannot be right chronologically, though it is undoubtedly what Shakespeare wrote, for in Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, he read: "Cassius asked him if he were determined to be in the Senate-house the first day of the month of March, because he heard say that Cæsar's friends should move the Council that day that Cæsar should be called king by the Senate." This inconsistency is not without parallels in Shakespeare. Cf. the "four strangers" in The Merchant of Venice, I, ii, 135, when six have been mentioned. In Scott, too, are many such inconsistencies.

II.25 exhalations: meteors. In Plutarch's Opinions of Philosophers, Holland's translation, is this passage (spelling modernized): "Aristotle supposeth that all these meteors come of a dry exhalation, which, being gotten enclosed within a moist cloud, seeketh means, and striveth forcibly to get forth." Shakespeare uses 'meteor' repeatedly in the same way. So in Romeo and Juliet, III, v, 13.

II.26 The Folios give this line as it is here. Some editors arrange it as the beginning of the letter repeated ponderingly by Brutus.

II.33 fifteen. This, the Folio reading, is undoubtedly correct. Lines 103-104 and 192-193 show that it is past midnight, and Lucius is including in his computation the dawn of the fifteenth day, a natural thing for any one to do, especially a Roman.

II.36 phantasma: a vision of things that are not. "Shakespeare seems to use it ('phantasma') in this passage in the sense of nightmare, which it bears in Italian."—Clar. What Brutus says here is in the very spirit of Hamlet's speeches. Cf. also the King's speech to Laertes, Hamlet, IV, vii, 115-124, and Macbeth, I, vii, 1-28.

II.37 Commentators differ about 'Genius' here; some taking it for the 'conscience,' others for the 'anti-conscience.' Shakespeare uses 'genius,' 'spirit,' and 'demon,' as synonymous, and all three, apparently, both in a good sense and in a bad, as every man was supposed to have a good and a bad angel. So, in this play, IV, iii, 282, we have "thy evil spirit"; in The Tempest, IV, i, 27, "our worser genius"; in Troilus and Cressida, IV, iv, 52, "some say the Genius so Cries 'come' to him that instantly must die"; in Antony and Cleopatra, II, iii, 19, "Thy demon, that's thy spirit which keeps thee"; where, as often, 'keeps' is 'guards.' In these and some other cases the words have some epithet or context that determines their meaning, but not so with 'Genius' in the text. But, in all such cases, the words indicate the directive power of the mind. And so we often speak of a man's 'better self,' or a man's 'worser self,' according as one is in fact directed or drawn to good or to evil.—The sense of 'mortal' here is also somewhat in question. Shakespeare sometimes uses it for 'perishable,' or that which dies; but oftener for 'deadly,' or that which kills. 'Mortal instruments' may well be held to mean what Macbeth refers to when he says, "I'm settled, and bend up Each corporal agent to this terrible feat."—As Brutus is speaking with reference to his own case, he probably intends 'Genius' in a good sense, for the spiritual or immortal part of himself. If so, then he would naturally mean by 'mortal' his perishable part, or his ministerial faculties, which shrink from executing what the directing power is urging them to. The late Professor Ferrier of St. Andrews seems to take a somewhat different view of the passage. He says, "In this speech of Brutus, Shakespeare gives a fine description of the unsettled state of the mind when the will is hesitating about the perpetration of a great crime, and when the passions are threatening to overpower, and eventually do overpower, the reason and the conscience."

II.42 moe: more. The old comparative of 'many.' In Middle English 'moe,' or 'mo,' was used of number and with collective nouns; 'more' had reference specifically to size. See Skeat.

II.43 Pope was evidently so disgusted with Shakespeare's tendency to dress his Romans like Elizabethans, that in his two editions he omits 'hats' altogether, indicating the omission by a dash!

II.47 evils: evil things. So in Lucrece, l. 1250, we have 'cave-keeping evils.' The line in the text means, When crimes and mischiefs, and evil and mischievous men, are most free from the restraints of law or of shame. So Hamlet speaks of night as the time "when hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world." Cf. l. 265.

II.48 path: take thy way. Drayton employs 'path' as a verb, both transitively and intransitively, literally and figuratively, in England's Heroicall Epistles (1597-1598). The verb seems to have been in use from the fourteenth century to the close of the seventeenth.

II.49 path, thy F₂ | path thy F₁F₃F₄ | hath thy Quarto (1691) | march, thy Pope | put thy Dyce (Coleridge conj.).

II.50 Erebus: the region of nether darkness between Earth and Hades. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, V, i, 87: "dark as Erebus."

II.51 prevention: discovery, anticipation. This, the original sense, would lead to 'prevention,' as the term is used to-day.

II.54 ll. 101-111 This little side-talk on a theme so different from the main one of the scene, is finely conceived, and aptly marks the men as seeking to divert anxious thoughts of the moment by any casual chat. It also serves the double purpose of showing that they are not listening, and of preventing suspicion if any were listening to them. In itself it is thoroughly Shakespearian; and the description of the dawn-light flecking the clouds takes high place among Shakespeare's great sky pictures.

II.55 fret: "mark with interlacing lines like fretwork."—Clar. There are two distinct verbs spelled 'fret,' one meaning 'to eat away,' the other 'to ornament.' See Skeat. In Hamlet, II, ii, 313, we have "this majestical roof fretted with golden fire."

II.60 No, not an oath. This is based on Plutarch's statement in Marcus Brutus: "Furthermore, the only name and great calling of Brutus did bring on the most of them to give consent to this conspiracy: who having never taken oaths together, nor taken or given any caution or assurance, nor binding themselves one to another by any religious oaths, they all kept the matter so secret to themselves, and could so cunningly handle it, that notwithstanding the gods did reveal it by manifest signs and tokens from above, and by predictions of sacrifices, yet all this would not be believed."

II.61 if not the face of men. This means, probably, the shame and self-reproach with which Romans must now look each other in the face under the consciousness of having fallen away from the republican spirit of their forefathers. The change in the construction of the sentence gives it a more colloquial cast, without causing any real obscurity. Modern editors have offered strange substitutes for 'face' here,—'faith,' 'faiths,' 'fate,' 'fears,' 'yoke,' etc.

II.62 sufferance: suffering. So in Measure for Measure, III, i, 80; Coriolanus, I, i, 22. In I, iii, 84, 'sufferance' is used in its ordinary modern sense.

II.63 the time's abuse: the miserable condition of things in the present. Such 'time's abuse' in his own day Shakespeare describes in detail in Sonnets, lxvi.

II.64 Brutus seems to have in mind the capriciousness of a high-looking and heaven-daring Oriental tyranny, where men's lives hung upon the nod and whim of the tyrant, as on the hazards of a lottery.

II.65 What need we: why need we. So in Antony and Cleopatra, V, ii, 317; Titus Andronicus, I, i, 189. Cf. Mark, xiv, 63.

II.67 palter: equivocate, quibble. The idea is of shuffling as in making a promise with what is called a "mental reservation." "Palter with us in a double sense" is the famous expression in Macbeth, V, viii, 20, and it brings out clearly the meaning implicit in the term.

II.68 cautelous: deceitful. The original meaning is 'wary,' 'circumspect.' It is the older English adjective for 'cautious.' "The transition from caution to suspicion, and from suspicion to craft and deceit, is not very abrupt."—Clar. Cf. 'cautel' in Hamlet, I, iii, 5.

II.70 The even virtue: the virtue that holds an equable and uniform tenor, always keeping the same high level. Cf. Henry VIII, III, i, 37.

II.71 insuppressive: not to be suppressed. The active form with the passive sense. Cf. 'unexpressive,' in As You Like It, III, ii, 10.

II.74 break with him: broach the matter to him. This bit of dialogue is very charming. Brutus knows full well that Cicero is not the man to take a subordinate position; that if he have anything to do with the enterprise it must be as the leader of it; and that is just what Brutus wants to be himself. Merivale thinks it a great honor to Cicero that the conspirators did not venture to propose the matter to him. In Plutarch, Marcus Brutus, the attitude of the conspirators to Cicero is described thus: "For this cause they durst not acquaint Cicero with their conspiracy, although he was a man whom they loved dearly and trusted best; for they were afraid that he, being a coward by nature, and age also having increased his fear, he would quite turn and alter all their purpose, and quench the heat of their enterprise (the which specially required hot and earnest execution), seeking by persuasion to bring all things to such safety, as there should be no peril."

II.76 envy: malice. Commonly so in Shakespeare, as in The Merchant of Venice, IV, i, 10. So 'envious' in the sense of 'malicious' in l. 178.

II.81 So the king proceeds with Hubert in King John. And so men often proceed when they wish to have a thing done, and to shirk the responsibility; setting it on by dark hints and allusions, and then, after it is done, affecting to blame or to scold the doers of it.

II.83 'Think and die,' as in Antony and Cleopatra, III, xiii, 1, seems to have been a proverbial expression meaning 'grieve oneself to death'; and it would be much indeed, a very wonderful thing, if Antony should fall into any killing sorrow, such a light-hearted, jolly companion as he is. Cf. Hamlet, III, i, 85. 'Thoughtful' (sometimes in the form 'thoughtish') is a common provincial expression for 'melancholy' in Cumberland and Roxburghshire to-day.

II.84 ll. 188-189: Here is Plutarch's account in Marcus Antonius, of contemporary criticism of Antony's habits: "And on the other side, the noblemen (as Cicero saith), did not only mislike him, but also hate him for his naughty life: for they did abhor his banquets and drunken feasts he made at unseasonable times, and his extreme wasteful expenses upon vain light huswives; and then in the daytime he would sleep or walk out his drunkenness, thinking to wear away the fume of the abundance of wine which he had taken over night."

II.86 stricken. In II, ii, 114, we have the form 'strucken.' An interesting anachronism is this matter of a striking clock in old Rome.

II.89 'Main' is often found in sixteenth century literature in the sense of 'great,' 'strong,' 'mighty.' Cæsar was, in his philosophy, an Epicurean, like most of the educated Romans of the time. Hence he was, in opinion, strongly skeptical about dreams and ceremonial auguries. But his conduct, especially in his later years, was characterized by many gross instances of superstitious practice.

II.90 apparent prodigies: evident portents. 'Apparent' in this sense of 'plainly manifest,' and so 'undeniable,' is found more than once in Shakespeare. Cf. King John, IV, ii, 93; Richard II, I, i, 13.

II.92 Bears are said to have been caught by putting looking-glasses in their way; they being so taken with the images of themselves that the hunters could easily master them. Elephants were beguiled into pitfalls, lightly covered over with hurdles and turf.

II.93 toils: nets, snares. The root idea of the word is a 'thing woven' (Cf. Spenser's 'welwoven toyles' in Astrophel, xvii, 1), and while it seems to have primary reference to a web or cord spread for taking prey, the old Fr. toile sometimes means a 'stalking-horse of painted canvas.' Shakespeare uses the word several times. Cf. Antony and Cleopatra, V, ii, 351; Hamlet, III, ii, 362.

II.96 doth bear Cæsar hard. For a discussion of this interesting expression see note, p. 29, l. 310. "Now amongst Pompey's friends there was one called Caius Ligarius, who had been accused unto Cæsar for taking part with Pompey, and Cæsar discharged him. But Ligarius thanked not Cæsar so much for his discharge, as he was offended with him for that he was brought in danger by his tyrannical power: and therefore in his heart he was always his mortal enemy, and was besides very familiar with Brutus, who went to see him being sick in his bed, and said unto him: 'Ligarius, in what a time art thou sick?' Ligarius, rising up in his bed, and taking him by the right hand, said unto him: 'Brutus,' said he, 'if thou hast any great enterprise in hand, worthy of thyself, I am whole.'"—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

II.99 Let not our looks betray our purposes by wearing, or being attired with, any indication of them. Cf. Macbeth, I, vii, 81.

II.101 honey-heavy dew | hony-heavy-Dew Ff | honey heavy dew Johnson | heavy honey-dew Collier.

II.102 The compound epithet, 'honey-heavy,' is very expressive and apt. The 'dew of slumber' is called 'heavy' because it makes the subject feel heavy, and 'honey-heavy,' because the heaviness it induces is sweet. But there may be a reference to the old belief that the bee gathered its honey from falling dew. So in Vergil's Georgics, IV, i, we have "the heavenly gifts of honey born in air." Brutus is naturally led to contrast the free and easy state of the boy's mind with that of his own, which the excitement of his present undertaking is drawing full of visions and images of trouble.

II.104 Similarities and differences between this scene with Brutus and Portia and that between Hotspur and his wife in 1 King Henry IV, II, iii, will prove a suggestive study. The description of the development of Portia's suspicion here is taken directly from Plutarch. "Out of his house he (Brutus) did so frame and fashion his countenance and looks that no man could discern he had anything to trouble his mind. But when night came that he was in his own house, then he was clean changed: for either care did wake him against his will when he would have slept, or else oftentimes of himself he fell into such deep thoughts of this enterprise, casting in his mind all the dangers that might happen: that his wife, lying by him, found that there was some marvellous great matter that troubled his mind, not being wont to be in that taking, and that he could not well determine with himself."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

II.109 humour: moody caprice. The word comes to have this meaning from the theory of the old physiologists that four cardinal humors—blood, choler or yellow bile, phlegm, and melancholy or black bile—determine, by their conditions and proportions, a person's physical and mental qualities. The influence of this theory survives in the application of the terms 'sanguine,' 'choleric,' 'phlegmatic,' and 'melancholy' to disposition and temperament.

II.110 condition: disposition, temper. So in The Merchant of Venice, I, ii, 143: "If he have the condition of a saint and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me." Cf. the term 'ill-conditioned,' still in use to describe an irascible or quarrelsome disposition. In l. 236 'condition' refers to bodily health.

II.112 Dear my lord. This transposition, common in earnest address, is due to close association of possessive adjective and noun.

II.115 'Rheumy' here means that state of the air which causes the unhealthy issue of 'rheum,' a word which was specially used of the fluids that issue from the eyes or mouth. So in Hamlet, II, ii, 529, we have 'bisson rheum' for 'blinding tears.' So in A Midsummer Night's Dream, II, i, 105, Titania speaks of the moon as washing "all the air, That rheumatic diseases do abound."

II.119 This speech, and that beginning with l. 291, follow Plutarch very closely: "His wife Porcia[1] ... was the daughter of Cato, whom Brutus married being his cousin, not a maiden, but a young widow after the death of her first husband Bibulus, by whom she had also a young son called Bibulus, who afterwards wrote a book of the acts and gests of Brutus .... This young lady, being excellently well seen[2] in philosophy, loving her husband well, and being of a noble courage, as she was also wise: because she would not ask her husband what he ailed before she had made some proof by her self: she took a little razor, such as barbers occupy to pare men's nails, and, causing her maids and women to go out of her chamber, gave herself a great gash withal in her thigh, that she was straight all of a gore blood: and incontinently after a vehement fever took her, by reason of the pain of her wound. Then perceiving her husband was marvellously out of quiet, and that he could take no rest, even in her greatest pain of all she spake in this sort unto him: 'I being, O Brutus,' said she, 'the daughter of Cato, was married unto thee; not to be thy bed-fellow and companion in bed and at board only, like a harlot, but to be partaker also with thee of thy good and evil fortune. Now for thyself, I can find no cause of fault in thee touching our match: but for my part, how may I shew my duty towards thee and how much I would do for thy sake; if I cannot constantly bear a secret mischance or grief with thee, which requireth secrecy and fidelity? I confess that a woman's wit commonly is too weak to keep a secret safely: but yet, Brutus, good education, and the company of virtuous men, have some power to reform the defect of nature. And for my self, I have this benefit moreover, that I am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding, I did not trust to any of these things before, until that now I have found by experience, that no pain or grief whatsoever can overcome me.' With those words she shewed him her wound on her thigh, and told him what she had done to prove herself. Brutus was amazed to hear what she said unto him, and lifting up his hands to heaven, he besought the gods to give him the grace he might bring his enterprise to so good pass, that he might be found a husband, worthy of so noble a wife as Porcia: so he then did comfort her the best he could."—Marcus Brutus.

II.121 ll. 285-286: In the outskirts or borders, and not at the center or near the heart. The image is exceedingly apposite and expressive.

II.122 This embodies what was known about the circulation of the blood at the close of the sixteenth century. In 1616, the year of Shakespeare's death, William Harvey, born in 1578, lectured on his great discovery, but his celebrated treatise was not published until 1628. The general fact of the circulation was known in ancient times, and Harvey's discovery lay in ascertaining the modus operandi of it, and in reducing it to matter of strict science.

II.125 charactery: "writing by characters or strange marks." Brutus therefore means that he will divulge to her the secret cause of the sadness marked on his countenance. 'Charactery' seems to mean simply 'writing' in the well-known passage in The Merry Wives of Windsor, V, v, 77: "Fairies use flowers for their charactery." So in Keats: "Before high-piled books in charactery Hold like rich garners the full-ripen'd grain."

II.126 Editors from Pope down have been busy trying to mend the grammar and the rhythm of this line. But in Shakespeare the full pause has often the value of a syllable, and the omission of the relative is common in Elizabethan literature. See Abbott, § 244.

II.129 To wear a kerchief. It was a common practice in England for those who were sick to wear a kerchief on their heads. So in Fuller's Worthies, Cheshire, 1662, quoted by Malone: "If any there be sick, they make him a posset and tye a kerchief on his head: and if that will not mend him, then God be merciful to him."

II.130 I here discard my sickness. Ligarius here pulls off the kerchief. Cf. Northumberland's speech, 2 Henry IV, I, i, 147, "hence, thou sickly quoif! Thou art a guard too wanton for the head."

II.131 In Shakespeare's time, 'exorcist' and 'conjurer' were used indifferently. The former has since come to mean only 'one who drives away spirits'; the latter, 'one who calls them up.'

II.132 My mortified spirit: my spirit that was dead in me. So 'mortifying groans' in The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 82, and 'mortified man' in Macbeth, V, ii, 5. Words directly derived from Latin are often used, by Shakespeare and sixteenth century writers, in a signification peculiarly close to the root notion of the word.

II.136 This scene, taken with the preceding, affords an interesting study in contrasts: Cæsar and Brutus; Calpurnia the yielding wife, and Portia the heroic.

II.138 Enter Cæsar ... | Enter Julius Cæsar ... Ff.—in his night-gown Pope omits.

II.139 Enter Cæsar in his night-gown.' Night-gown' here, as in Macbeth, II, ii, 70, V, 1, 5, means 'dressing-robe' or 'dressing-gown.' This is the usual meaning of the word in English from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth. So Addison and Steele use it in The Spectator.

II.141 In Plutarch the scene is thus graphically described: "Then going to bed the same night, as his manner was, and lying with his wife Calpurnia, all the windows and doors of his chamber flying open, the noise awoke him, and made him afraid when he saw such light; but more, when he heard his wife Calpurnia, being fast asleep, weep and sigh, and put forth many fumbling lamentable speeches: for she dreamed that Cæsar was slain.... Cæsar rising in the morning, she prayed him, if it were possible, not to go out of the doors that day, but to adjourn the session of the Senate until another day. And if that he made no reckoning of her dream, yet that he would search further of the soothsayers by their sacrifices, to know what should happen him that day. Thereby it seemed that Cæsar did likewise fear or suspect somewhat, because his wife Calpurnia until that time was never given to any fear and superstition; and that then he saw her so troubled in mind with this dream she had. But much more afterwards, when the soothsayers having sacrificed many beasts one after another, told him that none did like[1] them: then he determined to send Antonius to adjourn the session of the Senate."—Julius Cæsar.

II.142 success: the result. The root notion of the word. See note, p. 65, l. 324. But in V, iii, 65, the word is used in its modern sense.

II.143 'Ceremonies' is here put for the ceremonial or sacerdotal interpretation of prodigies and omens, as in II, i, 197.

II.146 hurtled: clashed. The onomatopoetic 'hurtling' is used in As You Like It, IV, iii, 132, to describe the clashing encounter between Orlando and the lioness. Chaucer, in The Knightes Tale l. 1758, uses the verb transitively, suggesting a diminutive of 'hurt':

II.148 taste of death. This expression occurs thrice in the New Testament (King James version). Plutarch relates that, a short time before Cæsar fell, some of his friends urged him to have a guard about him, and he replied that it was better to die at once than live in the continual fear of death. He is also said to have given as his reason for refusing a guard, that he thought Rome had more need of him than he of Rome. "And the very day before, Cæsar, supping with Marcus Lepidus, sealed certain letters, as he was wont to do, at the board: so, talk falling out amongst them, reasoning what death was best, he, preventing their opinions, cried out aloud, 'Death unlooked for.'"—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

II.157 statue. In Shakespeare's time 'statue' was pronounced indifferently as a word of two syllables or three. Bacon uses it repeatedly as a trisyllable, and spells it 'statua,' as in his Advancement of Learning: "It is not possible to have the true pictures or statuaes of Cyrus, Alexander, Cæsar, no, nor of the kings or great personages."

II.158 In ancient times, when martyrs or other distinguished men were executed, their friends often pressed to stain handkerchiefs with their blood, or to get some other relic, which they might keep, either as precious memorials of them, or as having a kind of sacramental virtue. 'Cognizance' is here used in a heraldic sense, meaning any badge to show whose friends the wearers were.

II.159 The Roman people were specially yearning to avenge the slaughter of Marcus Crassus and his army by the Parthians, and Cæsar was at this time preparing an expedition against them. But a Sibylline oracle was alleged, that Parthia could only be conquered by a king; and it was proposed to invest Cæsar with the royal title and authority over the foreign subjects of the state. It is agreed on all hands that, if his enemies did not originate this proposal, they at least craftily urged it on, in order to make him odious, and exasperate the people against him. To the same end, they had for some time been plying the arts of extreme sycophancy, heaping upon him all possible honors, human and divine, hoping thereby to kindle such a fire of envy as would consume him.

II.160 it were a mock Apt to be render'd: it were a sarcastic reply likely to be made. Cf. the expression, 'make a mock of.'

II.161 liable: subject. Cf. King John, II, i, 490. The thought here is that love stands as principal, reason as second or subordinate. "The deference which reason holds due from me to you is in this instance subject and amenable to the calls of personal affection."

II.162 Plutarch thus describes the scene: "But in the mean time Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, in whom Cæsar put such confidence, that in his last will and testament he had appointed him to be his next heir, and yet was of the conspiracy with Cassius and Brutus: he, fearing that if Cæsar did adjourn the session that day, the conspiracy would be betrayed, laughed at the soothsayers, and reproved Cæsar, saying, 'that he gave the Senate occasion to mislike with him, and that they might think he mocked them, considering that by his commandment they were assembled, and that they were ready willingly to grant him all things, and to proclaim him king of all his provinces of the Empire of Rome out of Italy, and that he should wear his diadem in all other places both by sea and land. And furthermore, that if any man should tell them from him they should depart for that present time, and return again when Calpurnia should have better dreams, what would his enemies and ill-willers say, and how could they like of his friends' words? And who could persuade them otherwise, but that they should think his dominion a slavery unto them and tyrannical in himself? And yet if it be so,' said he, 'that you utterly mislike of this day, it is better that you go yourself in person, and, saluting the Senate, to dismiss them till another time.' Therewithal he took Cæsar by the hand, and brought him out of his house."—Julius Cæsar.

II.165 This was probably Publius Silicius, not a conspirator. See III, i, 87, where he is described as "quite confounded with this mutiny."

II.166 This is a graphic and charming touch. Here, for the first time, we have Cæsar speaking fairly in character; for he was probably the most finished gentleman of his time, one of the sweetest of men, and as full of kindness as of wisdom and courage. Merivale aptly styles him "Cæsar the politic and the merciful."

II.172 yearns: grieves. The Folios read 'earnes.' Skeat considers earn (yearn) 'to grieve' of distinct origin from earn (yearn) 'to desire.' Shakespeare uses the verb both transitively and intransitively. The winning and honest suavity of Cæsar here starts a pang of remorse in Brutus. Drinking wine together was regarded as a sacred pledge of truth and honor. Brutus knows that Cæsar is doing it in good faith; and it hurts him to think that the others seem to be doing the like, and yet are doing a very different thing.

II.174 Enter Artemidorus ... In Plutarch, Julius Cæsar, Artemidorus is thus introduced: "And one Artemidorus also, born in the isle of Gnidos, a doctor of rhetoric in the Greek tongue, who by means of his profession was very familiar with certain of Brutus' confederates, and therefore knew the most part of all their practices against Cæsar, came and brought him a little bill, written with his own hand, of all that he meant to tell him. He, marking how Cæsar received all the supplications that were offered him, and that he gave them straight to his men that were about him, pressed nearer to him, and said: 'Cæsar, read this memorial to yourself, and that quickly, for they be matters of great weight, and touch you nearly.'"

II.178 emulation: envious rivalry. So in Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 134: "an envious fever Of pale and bloodless emulation."

II.181 The anxiety of Portia is thus described by Plutarch, Marcus Brutus: "For Porcia, being very careful and pensive for that which was to come, and being too weak to away with so great and inward grief of mind, she could hardly keep within, but was frighted with every little noise and cry she heard, as those that are taken and possessed with the fury of the Bacchantes; asking every man that came from the market-place what Brutus did, and still sent messenger after messenger, to know what news."

II.184 A loud noise, or murmur, as of stir and tumult, is one of the old meanings of 'rumor.' So in King John, V, iv, 45: "the noise and rumour of the field." Since the interview of Brutus and Portia, he has unbosomed all his secrets to her; and now she is in such a fever of anxiety that she mistakes her fancies for facts.

II.185 Sooth: in truth. Cf. The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 1. See Skeat, and cf. note on 'soothsayer,' p. 10, l. 19.

II.187 Enter the Soothsayer. Rowe substituted 'Artemidorus' for 'the Soothsayer' here, and many modern editors have adopted this change. But North's Plutarch furnishes a source for the Soothsayer as distinct from Artemidorus, and the reading of the Folios has a dramatic edge and effectiveness which Rowe's change destroys.

II.192 Brutus hath a suit That Cæsar will not grant. These words Portia speaks aloud to the boy, Lucius, evidently to conceal the true cause of her uncontrollable flutter of spirits.

III.1 Rome. Before ... Publius, and others Capell (substantially) | Flourish. Enter Cæsar ... Artimedorus, Publius, and the Soothsayer Ff | Ff omit Popilius.

III.2 Cf. Plutarch, Julius Cæsar: "There was a certain soothsayer, that had given Cæsar warning long time afore, to take heed of the day of the Ides of March, which is the fifteenth of the month; for on that day he should be in great danger. That day being come, Cæsar, going unto the Senate-house, and speaking merrily unto the soothsayer, told him 'the Ides of March be come.'—'So they be,' softly answered the soothsayer, 'but yet are they not past.'" Note Shakespeare's development of his material.

III.4 us ourself. The plural of modern English royalty transferred to ancient Rome. Another of the famous anachronisms.

III.6 As already indicated (see note, p. 39, l. 126), the murder of Cæsar did not take place in the Capitol, but Shakespeare, departing from Plutarch, followed a famous literary tradition. So in Chaucer, The Monkes Tale, ll. 713-720. Cf. the speech of Polonius, Hamlet, III, ii, 108-109: "I did enact Julius Cæsar; I was kill'd i' the Capitol; Brutus kill'd me." See Introduction, Sources, p. xv.

III.9 This is mainly Steevens's (1773) stage direction. Capell's (1768) is interesting: "Artemidorus is push'd back. Cæsar, and the rest, enter the Senate: The Senate rises. Popilius presses forward to speak to Cæsar; and passing Cassius, says,..."

III.11 mark. No necessity to pronounce this as dissyllabic. The pause has the effect of a syllable.

III.13 So in Plutarch, Marcus Brutus: "Another senator called Popilius Læna after he had saluted Brutus and Cassius more friendly than he was wont to do, he rounded[1] softly in their ears, and told them, 'I pray the gods you may go through with that you have taken in hand; but, withal, dispatch, I read[2] you, for your enterprise is bewrayed.' When he had said, he presently departed from them, and left them both afraid that their conspiracy would out.... When Cæsar came out of his litter, Popilius Læna went ... and kept him a long time with a talk. Cæsar gave good ear unto him; wherefore the conspirators ... conjecturing ... that his talk was none other but the very discovery of their conspiracy, they were afraid every man of them; and one looking in another's face, it was easy to see that they all were of a mind, that it was no tarrying for them till they were apprehended, but rather that they should kill themselves with their own hands. And when Cassius and certain other clapped their hands on their swords under their gowns, to draw them, Brutus marking the countenance and gesture of Læna, and considering that he did use himself rather like an humble and earnest suitor than like an accuser, he said nothing to his companion (because there were many amongst them that were not of the conspiracy), but with a pleasant countenance encouraged Cassius; and immediately after, Læna went from Cæsar, and kissed his hand.... Trebonius on the other side drew Antonius aside, as he came into the house where the Senate sat, and held him with a long talk without." In the Julius Cæsar Plutarch makes Decius detain Antony in talk.

III.15 presently: immediately, at once. So Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers always use the word. See l. 143; IV, i, 45.

III.16 address'd: prepared. Often so in sixteenth century literature. Cf. As You Like It, V, iv, 162; Henry V, III, iii, 58; 2 Henry IV, IV, iv, 5. This old meaning survives in a well-known golf term.

III.19 couchings: stoopings. 'Couch' is used in the sense of 'bend' or 'stoop' as under a burden, in Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III, i, 4:

So in Genesis, xlix, 14: "Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens." The verb occurs six times in the Bible (King James version). In Roister Doister, I, iv, 90, we have "Couche! On your marybones ... Down to the ground!"

III.21 pre-ordinance and first decree: the ruling and enactment of the highest authority in the state. "What has been pre-ordained and decreed from the beginning."—Clar.

III.23 law. This is one of the textual cruces of the play. 'Law' is Johnson's conjecture for the 'lane' of the Folios. It was adopted by Malone. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, Mason's conjecture, 'play,' was adopted. 'Line,' 'bane,' 'vane' have each been proposed. Fleay defends the Folio reading and interprets 'lane' in the sense of 'narrow conceits.' 'Law of children' would mean 'law at the mercy of whim or caprice.'

III.27 In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare was adopted, with a slight change, Tyrwhitt's suggested restoration of these lines to the form indicated by Ben Jonson in the famous passage in his Discoveries, when, speaking of Shakespeare, he says: "Many times he fell into those things could not escape laughter: as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, 'Cæsar, thou dost me wrong,' he replied, 'Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause,' and such like; which were ridiculous." Based upon this note the Tyrwhitt restoration of the text was:

In the old Hudson Shakespeare text the first line of Cæsar's reply was: "Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause." Jonson has another gird at what he deemed Shakespeare's blunder, for in the Induction to The Staple of News is, "Prologue. Cry you mercy, you never did wrong, but with just cause." Either Jonson must have misquoted what he heard at the theater, or the passage was altered to the form in the text of the Folios on his remonstrance. This way of conveying meanings by suggestion rather than direct expression was intolerable to Jonson. Jonson must have known that 'wrong' could mean 'injury' and 'punishment' as well as 'wrong-doing.' 'Wrong' meaning 'harm' occurs below, l. 243. See note, p. 105, l. 110.

III.29 If I could seek to move, or change, others by prayers, then I were capable of being myself moved by the prayers of others.

III.32 ll. 72-73: All through this scene, Cæsar is made to speak quite out of character, and in a strain of hateful arrogance, in order, apparently, to soften the enormity of his murder, and to grind the daggers of the assassins to a sharper point. Perhaps, also, it is a part of the irony which so marks this play, to put the haughtiest words in Cæsar's mouth just before his fall.

III.34 The 'Do not' of the three later Folios was adopted by Johnson because Marcus Brutus would not have knelt.

III.35 The simple stage direction of the Folios is retained. That of the Cambridge and the Globe editions is, "Casca first, then the other Conspirators and Marcus Brutus stab Cæsar."

III.36 Et tu, Brute? There is no classical authority for putting this phrase into the mouth of Cæsar. It seems to have been an Elizabethan proverb or 'gag,' and it is found in at least three works published earlier than Julius Cæsar. (See Introduction, Sources, p. xvi.) Cæsar had been as a father to Brutus, who was fifteen years his junior; and the Greek, καὶ σὺ, τέκνον "and thou, my son!" which Dion and Suetonius put into his mouth, though probably unauthentic, is good enough to be true. In Plutarch are two detailed accounts of the assassination, that in Marcus Brutus differing somewhat from that in Julius Cæsar with regard to the nomenclature of the persons involved. The following is from Marcus Brutus: "Trebonius on the other side drew Antonius aside, as he came into the house where the Senate sat, and held him with a long talk without. When Cæsar was come into the house, all the Senate rose to honour him at his coming in. So when he was set, the conspirators flocked about him, and amongst them they presented one Tullius Cimber, who made humble suit for the calling home again of his brother that was banished. They all made as though they were intercessors for him, and took Cæsar by the hands, and kissed his head and breast. Cæsar at the first simply refused their kindness and entreaties; but afterwards, perceiving they still pressed on him, he violently thrust them from him. Then Cimber with both his hands plucked Cæsar's gown over his shoulders, and Casca, that stood behind him, drew his dagger first and strake Cæsar upon the shoulder, but gave him no great wound. Cæsar, feeling himself hurt, took him straight by the hand he held his dagger in, and cried out in Latin: 'O traitor Casca, what dost thou?' Casca on the other side cried in Greek, and called his brother to help him. So divers running on a heap together to fly upon Cæsar, he, looking about him to have fled, saw Brutus with a sword drawn in his hand ready to strike at him: then he let Casca's hand go, and casting his gown over his face, suffered every man to strike at him that would. Then the conspirators thronging one upon another, because every man was desirous to have a cut at him, so many swords and daggers lighting upon one body, one of them hurt another, and among them Brutus caught a blow on his hand, because he would make one in murthering of him, and all the rest also were every man of them bloodied."

III.39 This is somewhat in the style of Caliban, when he gets glorious with "celestial liquor," The Tempest, II, ii, 190, 191: "Freedom, hey-day! hey-day, freedom! freedom, hey-day, freedom!"

III.40 "Cæsar being slain in this manner, Brutus, standing in the middest of the house, would have spoken, and stayed the other Senators that were not of the conspiracy, to have told them the reason why they had done this fact. But they, as men both afraid and amazed, fled one upon another's neck in haste to get out at the door, and no man followed them."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.41 abide: pay for, suffer for. So in III, ii, 114. "Through confusion of form with 'abye,' when that verb was becoming archaic, and through association of sense between abye (pay for) a deed, and abide the consequences of a deed, 'abide' has been erroneously used for 'abye'=pay for, atone for, suffer for."—Murray.

III.43 "But Antonius and Lepidus, which were two of Cæsar's chiefest friends, secretly conveying themselves away, fled into other men's houses and forsook their own."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

III.44 "When the murder was newly done, there were sudden outcries of people that ran up and down."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.45 stand upon: concern themselves with. Cf. II, ii, 13. What men are chiefly concerned about is how long they can draw out their little period of mortal life. Cf. Sophocles, Ajax, 475-476: "What joy is there in day following day, as each but draws us on towards or keeps us back from death?"—J. Churton Collins.

III.47 Many modern editors have followed Pope and given this speech to Cassius. But there is no valid reason for this change from the text of the Folios. In the light of Casca's sentiments expressed in I, iii, 100-102, this speech is more characteristic of him than of Cassius. Pope also gave Casca ll. 106-111.

III.50 "Cæsar ... was driven ... by the counsel of the conspirators, against the base whereupon Pompey's image stood, which ran all of a gore-blood till he was slain."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

III.53 ll. 117-119: This speech and the two preceding, vaingloriously anticipating the stage celebrity of the deed, are very strange; and, unless there be a shrewd irony lurking in them, it is hard to understand the purpose of them. Their effect is to give a very ambitious air to the work of these professional patriots, and to cast a highly theatrical color on their alleged virtue, as if they had sought to immortalize themselves by "striking the foremost man of all this world."

III.55 Enter a Servant. "This simple stage direction is the ... turning-round of the whole action; the arch has reached its apex and the Re-action has begun."—Moulton.

III.56 resolv'd: informed. This meaning is probably connected with the primary one of 'loosen,' 'set free,' through the idea of setting free from perplexity. 'Resolve' continued to be used in the sense of 'inform' and 'answer' until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Shakespeare uses the word in the three main senses of (1) 'relax,' 'dissolve,' Hamlet, I, ii, 130; (2) 'inform,' as here; and (3) 'determine,' 3 Henry VI, III, iii, 219.

III.57 Thorough. Shakespeare uses 'through' or 'thorough' indifferently, as suits his verse. The two are but different forms of the same word. 'Thorough,' the adjective, is later than the preposition.

III.58 so please him come: provided that it please him to come. 'So' is used with the future and subjunctive to denote 'provided that.'

III.59 still Falls shrewdly to the purpose: always comes cleverly near the mark. See Skeat under 'shrewd' and 'shrew.'

III.62 is rank: has grown grossly full-blooded. The idea is of one who has overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety. So in the speech of Oliver in As You Like It, I, i, 90, when incensed at the high bearing of Orlando: "Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your rankness."

III.64 l. 163 In this line 'by' is used (1) in the sense of 'near,' 'beside,' and (2) in its ordinary sense to denote agency.

III.65 The first 'fire' is dissyllabic. The allusion is to the old notion that if a burn be held to the fire the pain will be drawn or driven out. Shakespeare has four other very similar allusions to this belief—Romeo and Juliet, I, ii, 46; Coriolanus, IV, vii, 54; The Two Gentlemen of Verona, II, iv, 192; King John, III, i, 277.

III.66 in strength of malice: strong as they have shown themselves to be in malice towards tyranny. Though the Folio text may be corrupt, and at least twelve emendations have been suggested, the figure as it stands is intelligible, though elliptically obscure. Grant White has indicated how thoroughly the expression is in the spirit of what Brutus has just said. In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, Singer's conjecture of 'amity' for 'malice' was adopted. What makes this conjecture plausible is Shakespeare's frequent use of 'amity,' and "strength of their amity" occurs in Antony and Cleopatra, II, vi, 137.

III.67 Brutus has been talking about "our hearts," and "kind love, good thoughts, and reverence." To Cassius, all that is mere rose-water humbug, and he knows it is so to Antony too. He hastens to put in such motives as he knows will have weight with Antony, as they also have with himself. And it is remarkable that several of these patriots, especially Cassius, the two Brutuses, and Trebonius, afterwards accepted the governorship of fat provinces for which they had been prospectively named by Cæsar.

III.68 "When Cæsar was slain, the Senate—though Brutus stood in the middest amongst them, as though he would have said something touching this fact—presently ran out of the house, and, flying, filled all the city with marvellous fear and tumult. Insomuch as some did shut to the doors."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

III.72 dearer: more intensely. This emphatic or intensive use of 'dear' is very common in Shakespeare, and is used in the expression of strong emotion, either of pleasure or of pain.

III.73 bay'd: brought to bay. The expression connotes being barked at and worried as a deer by hounds. Cf. A Midsummer Nights Dream, IV, i, 118. "Cæsar turned him no where but he was stricken at by some ... and was hackled and mangled among them, as a wild beast taken of hunters."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

III.75 Sign'd in thy spoil. This may have reference to the custom still prevalent in England and Europe of hunters smearing their hands and faces with the blood of the slain deer.

III.77 lethe. This puzzling term is certainly the reading of the Folios, and may mean either 'violent death' (Lat. letum), as 'lethal' means 'deadly,' or, as White interprets the passage, 'the stream which bears to oblivion.'

III.80 modesty: moderation. So in Henry VIII, V, iii, 64. This is the original meaning of the word. See illustrative quotation from Sir T. Elyot's The Governour, 1531, in Century.

III.81 prick'd: marked on the list. The image is of a list of names written out, and some of them having holes pricked in the paper against them. Cf. IV, i, 1. See Century under 'pricking for sheriffs.'

III.84 'Produce' here implies 'motion towards'—the original Latin sense. Hence the preposition 'to.'

III.85 market-place. Here, and elsewhere in the play, 'the market-place' is the Forum, and the rostra provided there for the purposes of public speaking Shakespeare calls 'pulpits.' In this, as in so much else, he followed North.

III.86 the order of his funeral: the course of the funeral ceremonies. "Then Antonius, thinking good ... that his body should be honourably buried, and not in hugger-mugger,[1] lest the people might thereby take occasion to be worse offended if they did otherwise: Cassius stoutly spake against it. But Brutus went with the motion, and agreed unto it."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.86[1] i.e. in secrecy. Ascham has the form 'huddermother' and Skelton 'hoder-moder.' Cf. "In hugger-mugger to inter him," Hamlet, IV, v, 84.

III.88 wrong: harm. Cf. l. 47. Note the high self-appreciation of Brutus here, in supposing that if he can but have a chance to speak to the people, and to air his wisdom before them, all will go right. Here, again, he overbears Cassius, who now begins to find the effects of having stuffed him with flatteries, and served as a mirror to "turn his hidden worthiness into his eye" (I, ii, 57-58).

III.93 limbs. Thirteen different words ('kind,' 'line,' 'lives,' 'loins,' 'tombs,' 'sons,' 'times,' etc.) have been offered by editors as substitutes for the plain, direct 'limbs' of the Folios. One of Johnson's suggestions was "these lymmes," taking 'lymmes' in the sense of 'lime-hounds,' i.e. 'leash-hounds.' 'Lym' is on the list of dogs in King Lear, III, vi, 72. In defence of the Folio text Dr. Wright quotes Timon's curse on the senators of Athens and says, "Lear's curses were certainly levelled at his daughter's limbs."

III.95 Ate was the Greek goddess of vengeance, discord, and mischief. Shakespeare refers to her in King John, II, i, 63, as "stirring to blood and strife." In Love's Labour's Lost, V, ii, 694, and Much Ado about Nothing, II, i, 263, the references to her are humorous.

III.96 'Havoc' was anciently the word of signal for giving no quarter in a battle. It was a high crime for any one to give the signal without authority from the general in chief; hence the peculiar force of 'monarch's voice.'—To 'let slip' a dog was a term of the chase, for releasing the hounds from the 'slip' or leash of leather whereby they were held in hand till it was time to let them pursue the animal.—The 'dogs of war' are fire, sword, and famine. So in King Henry V, First Chorus, 6-8:

III.105 Enter Brutus ... Citizens Malone | Enter Brutus and goes into the Pulpit, and Cassius, with the Plebeians Ff.

III.109 "The rest followed in troupe, but Brutus went foremost, very honourably compassed in round about with the noblest men of the city, which brought him from the Capitol, through the market-place, to the pulpit for orations. When the people saw him in the pulpit, although they were a multitude of rakehels of all sorts, and had a good will to make some stir; yet, being ashamed to do it, for the reverence they bare unto Brutus, they kept silence to hear what he would say. When Brutus began to speak, they gave him quiet audience: howbeit, immediately after, they shewed that they were not all contented with the murther."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.110 lovers. Pope changed this to 'friends.' But in the sixteenth century 'lover' and 'friend' were synonymous. In l. 44 Brutus speaks of Cæsar as 'my best lover.' So 'Thy lover' in II, iii, 8.

III.111 censure: judge. The word may have been chosen for the euphuistic jingle it makes here with 'senses.'

III.114 ll. 36-39 The reason of his death is made a matter of solemn official record in the books of the Senate, as showing that the act of killing him was done for public ends, and not from private hate. His fame is not lessened or whittled down in those points wherein he was worthy. 'Enforc'd' is in antithesis to 'extenuated.' Exactly the same antithesis is found in Antony and Cleopatra, V, ii, 125.

III.115 Enter Antony ... body Malone | Enter Mark Antony with Cæsar's body Ff.

III.116 ll. 43-46 In this speech Shakespeare seems to have aimed at imitating the manner actually ascribed to Brutus. "In some of his Epistles, he counterfeited that brief compendious manner of speech of the Lacedæmonians."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. Shakespeare's idea is sustained by the Dialogus de Oratoribus, ascribed to Tacitus, wherein it is said that Brutus's style of eloquence was censured as otiosum et disjunctum. Verplanck remarks, "the disjunctum, the broken-up style, without oratorical continuity, is precisely that assumed by the dramatist." Gollancz finds a probable original of this speech in Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques (Hamlet); Dowden thinks Shakespeare received hints from the English version (1578) of Appian's Roman Wars.

III.121 beholding. This Elizabethan corruption of 'beholden' occurs constantly in the Folios of 1623, 1632, and 1664. The Fourth Folio usually has 'beholden.' Here Camb has 'Goes into the pulpit.'

III.123 "Afterwards when Cæsar's body was brought into the market-place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his words moved the common people to compassion, he framed his eloquence to make their hearts yearn the more; and taking Cæsar's gown all bloody in his hand, he laid it open to the sight of them all, shewing what a number of cuts and holes it had upon it. Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.[1] How Shakespeare elaborates this!

III.125 So in Henry VIII, IV, ii, 45: "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water."

III.126 Cæsar's campaigns in Gaul put vast sums of money into his hands, a large part of which he kept to his own use, as he might have kept it all; but he did also, in fact, make over much of it to the public treasury. This was a very popular act, as it lightened the taxation of the city.

III.128 These repetitions of 'honourable man' are intensely ironical; and for that very reason the irony should be studiously kept out of the voice in pronouncing them. Speakers and readers utterly spoil the effect of the speech by specially emphasizing the irony. For, from the extreme delicacy of his position, Antony is obliged to proceed with the utmost caution, until he gets the audience thoroughly in his power. The consummate adroitness which he uses to this end is one of the greatest charms of this oration.

III.131 'Brutish' is by no means tautological here, the antithetic sense of human brutes being most artfully implied.

III.132 It was here, as the first words of the reply of the Third Citizen, that Pope would have inserted the quotation preserved in Jonson's Discoveries, discussed in note, p. 83, ll. 47-48. Pope's note is:

If ever there was such a line written by Shakespeare, I should fancy it might have its place here, and very humorously in the character of a Plebeian." Craik inserted 'not' after 'Has he.'

III.135 And there are none so humble but that the great Cæsar is now beneath their reverence, or too low for their regard.

III.136 napkins: handkerchiefs. In the third scene of the third act of Othello the two words are used interchangeably.

III.137 o'ershot myself to tell: gone too far in telling. Another example of the infinitive used as a gerund. Cf. l. 103 and II, i, 135.

III.138 Antony now sees that he has the people wholly with him, so that he is perfectly safe in stabbing the stabbers with these words.

III.140 far: farther. The old comparative of 'far' is 'farrer' (sometimes 'ferrar') still heard in dialect, and the final -er will naturally tend to be slurred. So The Winter's Tale, IV, iv, 441, "Far than Deucalion off." So 'near' for 'nearer' in Richard II, III, ii, 64.

III.141 This is the artfullest and most telling stroke in Antony's speech. The Romans prided themselves most of all upon their military virtue and renown: Cæsar was their greatest military hero; and his victory over the Nervii was his most noted military exploit. It occurred during his second campaign in Gaul, in the summer of the year b.c. 57, and is narrated with surpassing vividness in the second book of his Gallic War. Plutarch, in his Julius Cæsar, gives graphic details of this famous victory and the effect upon the Roman people of the news of Cæsar's personal prowess, when "flying in amongst the barbarous people," he "made a lane through them that fought before him." Of course the matter about the 'mantle' is purely fictitious: Cæsar had on the civic gown, not the military cloak, when killed; and it was, in fact, the mangled toga that Antony displayed on this occasion; but the fiction has the effect of making the allusion to the victory seem perfectly artless and incidental.

III.144 'Angel' here seems to mean his counterpart, his good genius, or a kind of better and dearer self. See note, p. 47, l. 66.

III.146 'Dint' (Anglo-Saxon dynt; cf. provincial 'dunt') originally means 'blow'; the text has it in the secondary meaning of 'impression' made by a blow. Shakespeare uses the word in both senses.

III.147 ll. 203-204 All Globe Camb (White Delius conj.) | Ff continue to 2 Citizen and print as verse.

III.148 The Folios give this speech like that in 203-204 to 'Second Citizen,' but it should surely be given to 'All.'

III.151 Johnson suggests that the 'writ' of the First Folio may not be a printer's slip but used in the sense of a 'penned or premeditated oration.' Malone adopted and defended the First Folio reading.

III.152 "For first of all, when Cæsar's testament was openly read among them, whereby it appeared that he bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome seventy-five drachmas a man; and that he left his gardens and arbors unto the people, which he had on this side of the river Tiber, in the place where now the temple of Fortune is built: the people then loved him, and were marvellous sorry for him."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.153 The drachma (lit. 'what can be grasped in the hand') was the principal silver coin of the ancient Greeks, and while the nominal value of it was about that of the modern drachma (by law of the same value as the French franc) its purchasing power was much greater. Cæsar left to each citizen three hundred sesterces; Plutarch gives seventy-five drachmas as the Greek equivalent.

III.154 As this scene lies in the Forum, near the Capitol, Cæsar's gardens are, in fact, on the other side of the Tiber. But Shakespeare wrote as he read in Plutarch. See quotation, p. 111, l. 239.

III.155 "Therewithal the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny, that there was no more order kept amongst the common people. For some of them cried out 'Kill the murderers'; others plucked up forms, tables, and stalls about the market-place, as they had done before at the funerals of Clodius, and having laid them all on a heap together, they set them on fire, and thereupon did put the body of Cæsar, and burnt it in the midst of the most holy places. When the fire was throughly kindled, some took burning firebrands, and ran with them to the murderers' houses that killed him, to set them on fire."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

III.156 fire. Cf. III, i, 172. Monosyllables ending in 'r' or 're,' preceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are often pronounced as dissyllabic.

III.158 forms: benches. The word used in preceding quotation from Plutarch. The Old Fr. forme, mediæval Lat. forma, was sometimes applied to choir-stalls, with back, and book-rest. "For the origin of this use of the word, cf. Old French s'asseoir en forme, to sit in a row or in fixed order."—Murray.

III.159 Nowhere in literature is there a more realistic study and interpretation of the temper of a mob (a word that has come into use since Shakespeare's time) than in this scene and the short one which follows. Here is the true mob-spirit, fickle, inflammable, to be worked on by any demagogue with promises in his mouth.

III.165 "There was one of Cæsar's friends called Cinna, that had a marvellous strange and terrible dream the night before. He dreamed that Cæsar bad him to supper, and that he refused and would not go: then that Cæsar took him by the hand, and led him against his will. Now Cinna, hearing at that time that they burnt Cæsar's body in the market-place, notwithstanding that he feared his dream, and had an ague on him besides, he went into the market-place to honour his funerals. When he came thither, one of the mean sort asked him what his name was? He was straight called by his name. The first man told it to another, and that other unto another, so that it ran straight through them all, that he was one of them that murthered Cæsar: (for indeed one of the traitors to Cæsar was also called Cinna as himself) wherefore taking him for Cinna the murtherer, they fell upon him with such fury that they presently dispatched him in the market-place."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

III.166 to-night: last night. So in II, ii, 76, and The Merchant of Venice, II, v, 18.

IV.1 Scene I. The Folios give no indication of place, but that Shakespeare intended the scene to be in Rome is clear from ll. 10, 11, where Lepidus is sent to Cæsar's house and told that he will find his confederates "or here, or at the Capitol." In fact, however, the triumvirs, Octavius, Antonius, and Lepidus, met in November, b.c. 43, some nineteen months after the assassination of Cæsar, on a small island in the river Rhenus (now the Reno), near Bononia (Bologna). "All three met together in an island environed round about with a little river, and there remained three days together. Now, as touching all other matters they were easily agreed, and did divide all the empire of Rome between them, as if it had been their own inheritance. But yet they could hardly agree whom they would put to death: for every one of them would kill their enemies, and save their kinsmen and friends. Yet, at length, giving place to their greedy desire to be revenged of their enemies, they spurned all reverence of blood and holiness of friendship at their feet. For Cæsar left Cicero to Antonius's will; Antonius also forsook Lucius Cæsar, who was his uncle by his mother; and both of them together suffered Lepidus to kill his own brother Paulus. Yet some writers affirm that Cæsar and Antonius requested Paulus might be slain, and that Lepidus was contented with it."—Plutarch, Marcus Antonius.

IV.2 Rome. A room ... house Ff omit.—Antony, Octavius ... table Malone | Enter Antony, Octawius, and Lepidus. Ff.

IV.4 According to Plutarch, as quoted above, this was Lucius Cæsar, not Publius; nor was he Antony's nephew, but his uncle by the mother's side. His name in full was Antonius Lucius Cæsar.

IV.7 slight unmeritable: insignificant, undeserving. In Shakespeare many adjectives, especially those ending in -ful, -less, -ble, and -ive, have both an active and a passive meaning. See Abbott, § 3.

IV.9 commons. This is a thoroughly English allusion to such pasture-lands as are not owned by individuals, but occupied by a given neighborhood in common. In 1614 Shakespeare protested against the inclosure of such 'common fields' at Stratford-on-Avon.

IV.10 wind: wheel, turn. We have 'wind' as an active verb in 1 Henry IV, IV, i, 109: "To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus."

IV.11 in some taste: to some small extent. This meaning comes from 'taste' in the sense of 'a small portion given as a sample.'

IV.12 objects, arts | Objects, Arts Ff | abject orts Theobald | abjects, orts Staunton Camb Globe.

IV.15 ll. 37-39 As the textual notes show, modern editors have not been content with the reading of the Folios. The serious trouble with the old text is the period at the close of l. 37. If a comma be substituted the meaning becomes obvious: Lepidus is one who is always interested in, and talking about, such things—books, works of art, etc.—as everybody else has got tired of and thrown aside. Cf. Falstaff's account of Shallow, 2 Henry IV, III, ii, 340: "'a came ever in the rearward of the fashion; and sung those tunes to the over-scutch'd huswives that he heard the carmen whistle, and sware they were his fancies or his good-nights." 'Stal'd' is 'outworn,' or 'grown stale'; and the reference is not to objects, etc., generally, but only to those which have lost the interest of freshness. 'Abjects' in the Staunton-Cambridge reading, is 'things thrown away'; 'orts,' 'broken fragments.'

IV.16 a property: a tool, an accessory. The reference is to a 'stage property.' Cf. Fletcher and Massinger, The False One, V, iii:

Shakespeare uses 'property' as a verb in this sense in Twelfth Night, IV, ii, 99: "They have here propertied me."

IV.18 make head: raise an armed force. 'Head' has often the meaning of 'armed force' in Shakespeare. So in sixteenth century literature and old ballads. It usually connotes insurrection.

IV.19 and our best means (meanes) stretch'd out F₂F₃F₄ | our meanes stretch't F₁ | our best means strecht Johnson.

IV.20 The reading adopted is that of the later Folios. It makes a normal blank verse line. Cf. II, i, 158-159.

IV.23 Scene II. This scene is separated from the foregoing by about a year. The remaining events take place in the autumn, b.c. 42.

IV.24 Enter Brutus ... meet them | Enter Brutus, Lucillius, and the Army. Titinius and Pindarus meet them Ff.

IV.28 If the Folio reading be retained, 'change' will mean 'altered disposition,' 'change in his own feelings towards me.' Warburton's suggestion 'charge,' adopted by Hanmer and in previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare, would give as the meaning of the line, Either by his own command, or by officers, subordinates, who have abused their trust, prostituting it to the ends of private gain.

IV.30 word, Lucilius ... you: F₃ F₄ | word Lucillius ... you: F₁F₂ | word, Lucilius,— ... you, Rowe.

IV.31 Mainly the Folio punctuation. A colon after 'Lucilius,' and a comma after 'you,' would give a characteristic inversion.

IV.32 familiar instances: marks of familiarity. In Schmidt is a list of the various senses in which Shakespeare uses 'instances.'

IV.35 deceitful jades: horses that promise well in appearance but "sink in the trial." 'Jade' is 'a worthless horse.'

IV.38 enlarge your griefs: enlarge upon your grievances. This use of 'grief' is not unusual in sixteenth century English.

IV.41 ll. 50, 52 In previous editions of Hudson's Shakespeare was adopted Craik's suggestion that in these lines, as they stand in the Folios, the names Lucius and Lucilius got shuffled each into the other's place; and then, to cure the metrical defect in the third line, that line was made to begin with 'Let.' Craik speaks of "the absurdity of such an association as Lucius and Titinius for the guarding of the door." In Porter and Clarke's 'First Folio,' Julius Cæsar, the answer to this criticism is: "But a greater absurdity is involved in sending the page with an order to the lieutenant commander of the army, and the extra length of l. 50 pairs with a like extra length in l. 51. Lucilius, having been relieved by Lucius, after giving the order returns and guards the door again."

IV.44 Scene III. Dowden points out that this scene was already celebrated in Shakespeare's own day, Leonard Digges recording its popularity, and Beaumont and Fletcher imitating it in The Maid's Tragedy. "I know no part of Shakespeare that more impresses on me the belief of his genius being superhuman than this scene between Brutus and Cassius."—Coleridge.

IV.46 Enter Brutus ... Capell | Manet Brutus ... F₁ | Manent ... F₂F₃F₄.

IV.47 "Now as it commonly happened in great affairs between two persons, both of them having many friends and so many captains under them, there ran tales and complaints between them. Therefore, before they fell in hand with any other matter they went into a little chamber together, and bade every man avoid, and did shut the doors to them. Then they began to pour out their complaints one to the other, and grew hot and loud, earnestly accusing one another, and at length both fell a-weeping. Their friends that were without the chamber, hearing them loud within, and angry between themselves, they were both amazed and afraid also, lest it would grow to further matter: but yet they were commanded that no man should come to them."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.48 noted: marked with a stigma. North thus uses the word. See quotation from Marcus Brutus on following page, l. 3.

IV.49 "The next day after, Brutus, upon complaint of the Sardians, did condemn and note Lucius Pella.... This judgment much misliked Cassius, because himself had secretly ... warned two of his friends, attainted and convicted of the like offences, and openly had cleared them."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.50 letters ... man, was | Letters ... man was F₁ | letter ... man, was, F₂F₃F₄ | letters ... man, were Malone.

IV.51 was. The verb is attracted into the singular by the nearest substantive.

IV.53 to write: by writing. This gerundive use of the infinitive is very common in this play. Cf. 'to have' in l. 10; 'To sell and mart' in l. 11; 'To hedge me in' in l. 30, and so on. See Abbott, § 356.

IV.55 his: its. The meaning of the line is, Every petty or trifling offense should not be rigidly scrutinized and censured. Cassius naturally thinks that "the honorable men whose daggers have stabb'd Cæsar" should not peril their cause by moral squeamishness. "He reproved Brutus, for that he should show himself so straight and severe, in such a time as was meeter to bear a little than to take things at the worst."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.56 "Brutus in contrary manner answered that he should remember the Ides of March, at which time they slew Julius Cæsar, who neither pilled[1] nor polled[2] the country, but only was a favourer and suborner of all them that did rob and spoil, by his countenance and authority. And if there were any occasion whereby they might honestly set aside justice and equity, they should have had more reason to have suffered Cæsar's friends to have robbed and done what wrong and injury they had would[3] than to bear with their own men."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.57 "Who was such a villain of those who touched his body that he stabbed from any other motive than justice?"—Clar.

IV.61 "Now Cassius would have done Brutus much honour, as Brutus did unto him, but Brutus most commonly prevented him, and went first unto him, both because he was the elder man as also for that he was sickly of body. And men reputed him commonly to be very skilful in wars, but otherwise marvellous choleric and cruel, who sought to rule men by fear rather than with lenity: and on the other side, he was too familiar with his friends and would jest too broadly with them."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.63 'Go to' is a phrase of varying import, sometimes of reproof, sometimes of encouragement. 'Go till' is its earliest form.

IV.67 The spleen was held to be the special seat of the sudden and explosive emotions and passions, whether of mirth or anger. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, I, iii, 178; 1 Henry IV, V, ii, 19.

IV.69 ll. 51-54 This mistake of Brutus is well conceived. Cassius was much the abler soldier, and Brutus knew it; and the mistake grew from his consciousness of the truth of what he thought he heard. Cassius had served as quæstor under Marcus Crassus in his expedition against the Parthians; and, when the army was torn all to pieces, both Crassus and his son being killed, Cassius displayed great ability in bringing off a remnant. He showed remarkable military power, too, in Syria.

IV.72 indirection: crookedness, malpractice. In King John, III, i, 275-278, is an interesting passage illustrating this use of 'indirection.' Cf. 2 Henry IV, IV, v, 185.

IV.73 l. 80 The omission of the conjunction 'as' before expressions denoting result is a common usage in Shakespeare.

IV.74 rascal counters: worthless money. 'Rascal' is properly a technical term for a deer out of condition. So used literally in As You Like It, III, iii, 58. 'Counters' were disks of metal, of very small intrinsic value, much used for reckoning. Cf. As You Like It, II, vii, 63; The Winter's Tale, IV, iii, 38. Professor Dowden comments aptly on what we have here: "Brutus loves virtue and despises gold; but in the logic of facts there is an irony cruel or pathetic. Brutus maintains a lofty position of immaculate honour above Cassius; but ideals, and a heroic contempt for gold, will not fill the military coffer, or pay the legions, and the poetry of noble sentiment suddenly drops down to the prosaic complaint that Cassius had denied the demands made by Brutus for certain sums of money. Nor is Brutus, though he worships an ideal of Justice, quite just in matters of practical detail."

IV.75 "Whilst Brutus and Cassius were together in the city of Smyrna, Brutus prayed Cassius to let him have part of his money whereof he had great store.... Cassius's friends hindered this request, and earnestly dissuaded him from it; persuading him, that it was no reason that Brutus should have the money which Cassius had gotten together by sparing, and levied with great evil will of the people their subjects, for him to bestow liberally upon his soldiers, and by this means to win their good wills, by Cassius's charge. This notwithstanding, Cassius gave him the third part of this total sum."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.79 Plutus (for the Folio reading see note on 'Antonio' for Antonius, I, ii, 5) is the old god of riches, who had all the world's gold in his keeping and disposal. Pluto was the lord of Hades.

IV.81 Whatever dishonorable thing you may do, I will set it down to the caprice of the moment.

IV.82 Cf. the words of Cassius, I, ii, 176-177. See also Troilus and Cressida, III, iii, 257. It was long a popular notion that fire slept in the flint and was awaked by the stroke of the steel. "It is not sufficient to carry religion in our hearts, as fire is carried in flintstones, but we are outwardly, visibly, apparently, to serve and honour the living God."—Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, VII, xxii, 3.

IV.85 Enter Poet ... Lucius Camb Globe | Enter Poet, followed by Lucilius and Titinius Dyce | Enter Poet Theobald | Ff omit.

IV.86 "One Marcus Phaonius, that ... took upon him to counterfeit a philosopher, not with wisdom and discretion, but with a certain bedlam and frantic motion; he would needs come into the chamber, though the men offered to keep him out. But it was no boot to let Phaonius, when a mad mood or toy took him in the head: for he was an hot hasty man, and sudden in all his doings, and cared for never a senator of them all. Now, though he used this bold manner of speech after the profession of the Cynic philosophers, (as who would say, Dogs,) yet his boldness did no hurt many times, because they did but laugh at him to see him so mad. This Phaonius at that time, in spite of the door-keepers, came into the chamber, and with a certain scoffing and mocking gesture, which he counterfeited of purpose, he rehearsed the verses which old Nestor said in Homer:

Cassius fell a-laughing at him; but Brutus thrust him out of the chamber, and called him dog, and counterfeit Cynic. Howbeit his coming in brake their strife at that time, and so they left each other."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.89 jigging: moving rhythmically, rhyming. So in the Prologue to Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great:

IV.90 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. Coriolanus, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used to-day.

IV.95 In his philosophy, Brutus was a mixture of the Stoic and the Platonist. What he says of Portia's death is among the best things in the play, and is in Shakespeare's noblest style. Profound emotion expresses itself with reserve. Deep grief loves not many words.

IV.96 Strict harmony of construction would require 'impatience' for 'impatient' here, or 'griev'd' for 'grief' in the next line. Shakespeare is not very particular in such niceties. Besides, the broken construction expresses dramatically the deep emotion of the speaker.

IV.97 distract: distracted. So in Hamlet, IV, v, 2. 'Distraught' is the form in Romeo and Juliet, IV, iii, 49. For the dropping of the terminal -ed of the participle in verbs ending in t or te, see Abbott, § 342.

IV.98 It appears something uncertain whether Portia's death was before or after her husband's. Plutarch represents it as occurring before; but Merivale follows those who place it after. "For Portia, Brutus's wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maximus do write, that she determining to kill herself (her parents and friends carefully looking to her to keep her from it) took hot burning coals, and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth so close that she choked herself. There was a letter of Brutus found, written to his friends, complaining of their negligence, that, his wife being sick, they would not help her, but suffered her to kill herself, choosing to die rather than to languish in pain."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.103 Re-enter Titinius, with ... Dyce | Enter Titinius and ... Ff (after l. 162)

IV.104 call in question: bring up for discussion. 'Question,' both noun and verb, is constantly found in Shakespeare in the sense of 'talk.' So "in question more" in Romeo and Juliet, I, i, 235.

IV.105 Bending their expedition: directing their march. Cf. 'expedition' in this sense in Richard III, IV, iv, 136.

IV.108 "These three, Octavius Cæsar, Antonius, and Lepidus, made an agreement between themselves, and by those articles divided the provinces belonging to the empire of Rome among themselves, and did set up bills of proscription and outlawry, condemning two hundred of the noblest men of Rome to suffer death, and among that number Cicero was one."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.111 Nothing, Messala. This may seem inconsistent with what has gone before (see more particularly ll. 154-155), but we are to suppose that Brutus's friends at Rome did not write to him directly of Portia's death, as they feared the news might unnerve him, but wrote to some common friends in the army, directing them to break the news to him, as they should deem it safe and prudent to do so.

IV.114 once: at some time or other. So in The Merry Wives of Windsor, III, iv, 103:

IV.115 art: theory. This speech may be paraphrased, I am as much a Stoic by profession and theory as you are, but my natural strength is weak when it comes to putting the doctrines into practice.

IV.118 of force: of necessity, necessarily. Plutarch represents this talk as occurring at Philippi just before the battle: "Cassius was of opinion not to try this war at one battle, but rather to delay time, and to draw it out in length, considering that they were the stronger in money, and the weaker in men and armour. But Brutus, in contrary manner, did alway before, and at that time also, desire nothing more than to put all to the hazard of battle, as soon as might be possible; to the end he might either quickly restore his country to her former liberty, or rid him forthwith of this miserable world."—Marcus Brutus.

IV.121 ll. 218-221 Cf. Troilus and Cressida, V, i, 90; The Tempest, I, ii, 181-184. Dr. Wright (Clar) quotes from Bacon a parallel passage: "In the third place I set down reputation, because of the peremptory tides and currents it hath; which, if they be not taken in their due time, are seldom recovered, it being extreme hard to play an after game of reputation."—The Advancement of Learning, II, xxiii, 38.

IV.123 ventures: what is risked, adventured. The figure of a ship is kept up, and 'venture' denotes whatever is put on board in hope of profit, and exposed to "the perils of waters, winds, and rocks." Cf. The Merchant of Venice, I, i, 15, 42; III, ii, 270.

IV.124 niggard: supply sparingly. In Sonnets, I, 12, occurs 'niggarding'. In Elizabethan English "almost any part of speech can be used as any other part of speech. Any noun, adjective, or neuter verb can be used as an active verb."—Abbott.

IV.125 Brutus. Lucius! [Re-enter Lucius] My Camb | Enter Lucius Bru. Lucius my Ff.

IV.128 Re-enter Lucius, ... Capell | Enter Lucius ... Ff (after Brutus, l. 236).

IV.129 Poor knave. Cf. 'Gentle knave,' l. 269. The word 'knave' is here used in the literal sense of 'boy.' It was used as a term of endearment, or of loving familiarity with those of lower rank. So in King Lear, I, iv, 107.

IV.130 o'er-watch'd: worn out with keeping awake. So in King Lear, II, ii, 177. Cf. 'o'ershot' in III, ii, 150.

IV.133 Scene VI Pope.—Enter Varro and Claudius Rowe | Enter Varrus and Claudio Ff.

IV.134 ll. 252-253 These two simple lines, with the answer of Lucius, "I was sure your lordship did not give it me," are among the best things in the play. Consider how much is implied in them, and what a picture they give of the earnest, thoughtful, book-loving Brutus. And indeed all his noblest traits of character come out, "in simple and pure soul," in this exquisite scene with Lucius, which is hardly surpassed by anything in Shakespeare. Who could be troubled by the anachronism in the book being of modern shape? "Brutus was a careful man, and slept very little, both for that his diet was moderate, as also because he was continually occupied. He never slept in the day-time, and in the night no longer than the time he was driven to be alone, and when everybody else took their rest. But now whilst he was in war, and his head ever busily occupied to think of his affairs and what would happen, after he had slumbered a little after supper, he spent all the rest of the night in dispatching of his weightiest causes, and after he had taken order for them, if he had any leisure left him, he would read some book till the third watch of the night, at what time the captains, petty captains, and colonels, did use to come to him."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

IV.136 bloods. So in Much Ado about Nothing, III, iii, 141: "How giddily a' turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five-and-thirty?" Cf. I, ii, 151: "the breed of noble bloods."

IV.138 murderous slumber. The epithet probably has reference to sleep being regarded as the image of death; or, as Shelley put it, "Death and his brother Sleep." Cf. Cymbeline, II, ii, 31.

IV.139 thy leaden mace. Upton quotes from Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, iv, 44:

Shakespeare uses 'mace' both as 'scepter,' Henry V, IV, i, 278, and as 'a staff of office,' 2 Henry VI, IV, vii, 144.

IV.140 The boy is spoken of as playing music to slumber because he plays to soothe the agitations of his master's mind, and put him to sleep. Bacon held that music "hindereth sleep."

IV.143 The presence of a ghost was believed to make lights burn blue or dimly. So in Richard III, V, iii, 180, when the ghosts appear to Richard, he says: "The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh."

IV.144 this monstrous apparition. "Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Cæsar. The vision was thus: Brutus ... thought he heard a noise at his tent-door, and, looking towards the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderful greatness and dreadful look, which at the first made him marvellously afraid. But when he saw that it did no hurt, but stood at his bedside and said nothing; at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him: 'I am thy ill angel, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the city of Philippes.' Then Brutus replied again, and said, 'Well, I shall see thee then.' Therewithal the spirit presently vanished from him."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

IV.145 stare: stand on end. 'To be stiff, rigid, fixed' is the primary idea. Cf. The Tempest, I, ii, 213; Hamlet, I, v, 16-20.

IV.147 This strongly, though quietly, marks the Ghost as subjective; as soon as Brutus recovers his firmness, the illusion is broken. The order of things is highly judicious here, in bringing the "horrible vision" upon Brutus just after he has heard of Portia's shocking death. With that great sorrow weighing upon him, he might well see ghosts. The thickening of calamities upon him, growing out of the assassination of Cæsar, naturally awakens remorse.

IV.153 betimes: early. Formerly 'betime'; "the final 's' is due to the habit of adding '-s' or '-es' to form adverbs; cf. 'whiles' (afterwards 'whilst') from 'while.'"—Skeat.

V.1 The plains of Philippi: Capell | The Fields of Philippi, with the two Camps Rowe | Ff omit.

V.2 battles: troops, battalions. 'Battle' was used for an 'army,' especially an army embattled, or ordered in battle array. The plural is here used with historical correctness, as Brutus and Cassius had each an army; the two armies of course coöperating, and acting together as one. Cf. 'battle' in l. 16 and 'battles' in V, iii, 108.

V.3 warn: summon to fight. Cf. King John, II, i, 201. In Richard III, I, iii, 39, we have "warn them to his royal presence."

V.5 bravery: bravado, defiance. The epithet 'fearful' probably means that fear is behind the attempt to intimidate by display and brag. Dr. Wright interprets 'bravery' as 'ostentation,' 'display.'

V.6 bloody sign. "The next morning, by break of day, the signal of battle was set out in Brutus' and Cassius' camp, which was an arming scarlet coat."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.7 Plutarch tells that Cassius, though the more experienced soldier, allowed Brutus to lead the right wing. "Shakespeare made use of this incident, but transferred to the opposite camp, in order to bring out the character of Octavius which made Antony yield. Octavius really commanded the left wing."—Clar.

V.9 I will do so: I will do as I have said. Not 'I will cross you.' At this time Octavius was but twenty-one years old, and Antony was old enough to be his father. At the time of Cæsar's death, when Octavius was in his nineteenth year, Antony thought he was going to manage him easily and have it all his own way with him; but he found the youngster as stiff as a crowbar, and could do nothing with him. Cæsar's youngest sister, Julia, was married to Marcus Atius Balbus, and their daughter Atia, again, was married to Caius Octavius, a nobleman of the plebeian order. From this marriage sprang the present Octavius, who afterwards became the Emperor Augustus. He was mainly educated by his great-uncle, was advanced to the patrician order, and was adopted as his son and heir; so that his full and proper designation at this time was Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus. The text gives a right taste of the man, who always stood firm as a post against Antony, till the latter finally knocked himself to pieces against him.

V.13 are. The verb is attracted into the plural by the nearest substantive. Cf. 'was,' IV, iii, 5. Abbott calls this idiom 'confusion of proximity.'

V.14 Hybla, a hill in Sicily, was noted for its thyme and its honey. So Vergil, Eclogues, I, 54-55: "the hedge whose willow bloom is quaffed by Hybla's bees." Cf. 1 Henry IV, I, ii, 47: "As the honey of Hybla, my old lad of the castle." Antony could not be so 'honey-tongued' unless he had quite exhausted thyme-flavored Hybla.

V.15 These graphic details are from Plutarch's two accounts (in Julius Cæsar and Marcus Brutus) of the assassination of Cæsar.

V.19 Octavius has been a standing puzzle and enigma to the historians, from the seeming contradictions of his character. Merivale declares that the one principle that gave unity to his life and reconciled those contradictions, was a steadfast, inflexible purpose to avenge the murder of his illustrious uncle and adoptive father.

V.22 The number of Cæsar's wounds, according to Plutarch, was three and twenty, and to 'three and twenty' Theobald, craving historical accuracy, changed the 'three and thirty' of the text.

V.23 Till you, traitors as you are, have added the slaughtering of me, another Cæsar, to that of Julius. See note, p. 145, l. 20.

V.25 Shakespeare often uses 'peevish' in the sense of 'silly,' 'foolish.' So in The Comedy of Errors, IV, i, 93. A foolish schoolboy, joined with a masker and reveler (for Antony's reputation, see I, ii, 204; II, i, 188, 189; II, ii, 116), and unworthy even of that honor.

V.26 stomachs: appetite, inclination, courage. So in Henry V, IV, iii, 35: "He which hath no stomach to this fight."

V.32 'As' is often used redundantly with definitions of time. This is still a provincialism. See Abbott, § 114. "Messala writeth, that Cassius having spoken these last words unto him, he bade him farewell, and willed him to come to supper to him the next night following, because it was his birthday."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.33 Alluding to the battle of Pharsalia, which took place in the year b.c. 48. Pompey was forced into that battle, against his better judgment, by the inexperienced and impatient men about him, who, inasmuch as they had more than twice Cæsar's number of troops, fancied they could easily defeat him if they could but meet him. So they tried it, and he quickly defeated them.

V.34 I was strongly attached to the doctrines of Epicurus. "Cassius being in opinion an Epicurean, and reasoning thereon with Brutus, spake to him touching the vision thus: 'In our sect, Brutus, we have an opinion, that we do not always feel or see that which we suppose we do both see and feel, but that our senses, being credulous and therefore easily abused ... imagine they see and conjecture that which in truth they do not.'"— Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.36 former: first. Cf. "former things passed away." "When they raised their camp there came two eagles, that, flying with a marvellous force, lighted upon two of the foremost ensigns, and always followed the soldiers, which gave them meat and fed them, until they came near to the city of Philippes; and there, one day only before the battle, they both flew away."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.41 prevent The time: anticipate the full, natural period. To the understanding of this speech, it must be observed that the sense of the words, 'arming myself,' etc., follows next after the words, 'which he did give himself.' In this passage, as Dr. Wright (Clar.) has pointed out, Shakespeare was misled by an error in North's version of Amyot's Plutarch, where we have feis (= fis) translated as if it were from fier: "Brutus answered him, being yet but a young man, and not over greatly experienced in the world; 'I trust (I know not how) a certain rule of philosophy, by the which I did greatly blame ... Cato for killing himself, as being no lawful nor godly act, touching the gods; nor, concerning men, valiant: but, being now in the midst of the danger, I am of a contrary mind.'"—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus. Wright, in his note on this passage, shows how the true meaning is obscured by bad printing and punctuation. Brutus's answer begins really with, 'Being yet but a young man'; and 'I trust' is evidently a past tense (Old English 'truste') which must have been read by Shakespeare as the present.

V.45 "The philosopher indeed renounced all confidence in his own principles. He had adopted them from reading or imitation; they were not the natural growth of instinct or genuine reflection; and, as may easily happen in such a case, his faith in them failed when they were tested by adversity. As long as there seemed a chance that the godlike stroke would be justified by success, Brutus claimed the glory of maintaining a righteous cause; but, when all hope fled, he could take leave of philosophy and life together, and exclaim, 'I once dreamed that virtue was a thing; I find her only a name, and the mere slave of fortune.' He had blamed Cato for flying from misery by self-murder; but he learnt to justify the same desperate act when he contemplated committing it himself."—Merivale.

V.48 bills: written instructions, dispatches. "In the meantime Brutus, that led the right wing, sent little bills to the colonels and captains of private bands, in the which he wrote the word of the battle."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.49 'The legions on the other side' are those commanded by Cassius, the left wing of the joint army of Brutus and Cassius. Brutus wants Cassius to attack the enemy at the same time that he himself does. In the next scene, Messala and his escort are met by Titinius coming from Cassius.

V.52 'Ensign' was used in the Elizabethan time, as it is still, either for the flag (cf. V, i, 80) or for the bearer of it: here it is used for both at once. Cf. the form 'ancient,' Othello, I, i, 33. It was in killing the cowardly ensign that Cassius "to his own turn'd enemy."

V.56 "Cassius himself was at length compelled to fly ... into a little hill from whence they might see ... howbeit Cassius saw nothing, for his sight was very bad."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.62 saving of thy life: when I saved thy life. The usual interpretation, but 'saving' may qualify 'Thou' in l. 40, and then the expression would mean, 'Except for endangering thy life.'

V.63 hilts. Shakespeare uses both the singular and the plural form of this word to describe a single weapon, the plural more often.

V.65 It was a dagger, not a sword, that Cassius stabbed Cæsar with. But by a common figure of speech the same weapon is put for the same owner. The 'sword' is taken from Plutarch. "For he, being overcome in battle at the journey of Philippes, slew himself with the same sword with the which he strake Cæsar."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar.

V.68 "Cassius, thinking indeed that Titinius was taken of the enemies, he then spake these words: 'Desiring too much to live, I have lived to see one of my best friends taken, for my sake, before my face.' After that, he got into a tent where nobody was, and took Pindarus with him, one of his bondsmen whom he reserved ever for such a pinch, since the cursed battle of the Parthians, where Crassus was slain, though he notwithstanding scaped from that overthrow: but then, casting his cloak over his head, and holding out his bare neck unto Pindarus, he gave him his head to be stricken off. So the head was found severed from the body; but after that time Pindarus was never seen more."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.76 ll. 67-69 Cassius is said to have been of a highly choleric or bilious temperament, and as such, predisposed to melancholy views of life.

V.79 "By-and-by they knew the horsemen that came towards them, and might see Titinius crowned with a garland of triumph, who came before with great speed unto Cassius. But when he perceived, by the cries and tears of his friends which tormented themselves, the misfortune that had chanced to his captain Cassius by mistaking, he drew out his sword, cursing himself a thousand times that he had tarried so long, and so slew himself presently in the field. Brutus in the meantime came forward still, and understood also that Cassius had been overthrown; but he knew nothing of his death till he came very near to his camp."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.82 ll. 94-96 Brutus here strikes again, full and strong, the proper keynote of the play. The facts involved are well stated by Froude: "The murderers of Cæsar, and those who had either instigated them secretly or applauded them afterwards, were included in a proscription list, drawn by retributive justice on the model of Sulla's. Such of them as were in Italy were immediately killed. Those in the provinces, as if with the curse of Cain upon their heads, came one by one to miserable ends. In three years the tyrannicides of the Ides of March, with their aiders and abettors, were all dead; some killed in battle, some in prison, some dying by their own hand."

V.90 Thasos. A large island off the coast of Thrace. "So when he was come thither, after he had lamented the death of Cassius, calling him the last of all the Romans, being unpossible that Rome should ever breed again so noble and valiant a man as he, he caused his body to be buried, and sent it to the city of Thassos, fearing lest his funerals within his camp should cause great disorder. Then he called his soldiers together, and did encourage them again."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.91 Labeo Hanmer | Labio Ff.—Flavius, F₄ | Flauio F₁ | Flavius F₂F₃.

V.92 Labeo and Flavius. These two men are not named among the persons of the drama, because they speak nothing. Labeo was one of the stabbers of Cæsar; and it related that when he saw that all was lost, having dug his own grave, he enfranchised a slave, and then he thrust a weapon into his hand ordering him to kill him.

V.93 Shakespeare with dramatic effectiveness represents both battles as occurring the same day. They were separated by an interval of twenty days. The 'three o'clock' is from Plutarch. "He suddenly caused his army to march, being past three of the clock in the afternoon."—Marcus Brutus.

V.99 ll. 7-8 The Folios omit the speaker's name. Rowe gave the lines to Brutus, but they are utterly uncharacteristic of him. Plutarch (see quotation below, l. 29) says that Lucilius impersonated Brutus, and Shakespeare follows this, as l. 14 indicates. The Folios have no 'Exit' or stage direction after l. 8. Professor Michael Macmillan says: "It seems probable that the printers of the Folio by mistake put the heading 'Luc.' two lines too low down."

V.101 "There was the son of Marcus Cato slain ... telling aloud his name, and also his father's name."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.107 "There was one of Brutus' friends called Lucilius, who seeing a troop of barbarous men making no reckoning of all men else they met in their way, but going all together right against Brutus, he determined to stay them with the hazard of his life; and being left behind, told them that he was Brutus: and because they should believe him, he prayed them to bring him to Antonius, for he said he was afraid of Cæsar, and that he did trust Antonius better. These barbarous men, being very glad of this good hap, and thinking themselves happy men, they carried him in the night, and sent some before unto Antonius, to tell him of their coming. He was marvellous glad of it and went out to meet them that brought him.... When they came near together, Antonius stayed awhile bethinking himself how he should use Brutus. In the meantime Lucilius was brought to him, who stoutly with a bold countenance said: 'Antonius, I dare assure thee, that no enemy hath taken or shall take Marcus Brutus alive, and I beseech God keep him from that fortune: for wheresoever ever he be found, alive or dead, he will be found like himself. And now for myself, I am come unto thee, having deceived these men of arms here, bearing them down that I was Brutus, and do not refuse to suffer any torment thou wilt put me to.'... Antonius on the other side, looking upon all them that had brought him, said unto them: 'My companions, I think ye are sorry you have failed of your purpose, and that you think this man hath done you great wrong: but I assure you, you have taken a better booty than that you followed. For instead of an enemy you have brought me a friend: and for my part, if you had brought me Brutus alive, truly I cannot tell what I should have done to him. For I had rather have such men my friends, as this man here, than mine enemies.' Then he embraced Lucilius, and at that time delivered him to one of his friends in custody; and Lucilius ever after served him faithfully, even to his death."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.111 "Brutus thought that there was no great number of men slain in battle; and, to know the truth of it, there was one called Statilius that promised to go through his enemies, for otherwise it was impossible to go see their camp; and from thence, if all were well, that he would lift up a torch-light in the air, and then return again with speed to him. The torch-light was lift up as he had promised, for Statilius went thither. Now, Brutus seeing Statilius tarry long after that, and that he came not again, he said, 'If Statilius be alive, he will come again.' But his evil fortune was such that, as he came back, he lighted in his enemies' hands and was slain. Now the night being far spent, Brutus as he sat bowed towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his ear: the other answered him not, but fell a-weeping. Thereupon he proved[1] Dardanus, and said somewhat also to him: at length he came to Volumnius himself, and speaking to him in Greek, prayed him for the studies' sake which brought them acquainted together, that he would help him to put his hand to his sword, to thrust it in him to kill him. Volumnius denied his request, and so did many others."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.115 "The second battle being at hand, this spirit appeared again unto him, but spake never a word. Thereupon Brutus, knowing that he should die, did put himself to all hazard in battle, but yet fighting could not be slain."—Plutarch, Julius Cæsar. Merivale has a strong sentence on this: "The legend that when preparing for the encounter with the triumvirs he was visited by the ghost of Cæsar, which summoned him to meet again at Philippi, marks the conviction of the ancients that in the crisis of his fate he was stung by guilty remorse, and haunted by the presentiment of final retribution."

V.120 thee, too, Strato. Countrymen, Theobald | thee, to Strato, Countrymen: Ff.

V.124 "Amongst the rest, one of them said, there was no tarrying for them there, but that they must needs fly. Then Brutus, rising up, 'We must fly indeed,' said he, 'but it must be with our hands, not with our feet.' Then, taking every man by the hand, he said these words unto them with a cheerful countenance: 'It rejoiceth my heart, that not one of my friends hath failed me at my need, and I do not complain of my fortune, but only for my country's sake: for, as for me, I think myself happier than they that have overcome, considering that I leave a perpetual fame of virtue and honesty, the which our enemies the conquerors shall never attain unto by force or money.' Having so said, he prayed every man to shift for himself, and then he went a little aside with two or three only, among the which Strato was one, with whom he came first acquainted by the study of rhetoric. Strato, at his request, held the sword in his hand, and turned his head aside, and Brutus fell down upon it, and so ran himself through ... and died presently."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.127 smatch: smack, taste. "With the forms 'smack' for the verb and 'smatch' for the noun, compare 'ake' and 'ache' as used in the First Folio of Shakespeare."—Clar. Cf. 2 Henry IV, I, ii, 111.

V.128 "Scarcely any of those who were accessory to his murder survived him more than three years, or died a natural death. They were all condemned by the Senate: some were taken off by one accident, some by another. Part of them perished at sea, others fell in battle; and some slew themselves with the same poniard with which they had stabbed Cæsar."—Suetonius, Julius Cæsar.

V.135 "Antonius spake ... that of all them that had slain Cæsar, there was none but Brutus only that was moved ... thinking the act commendable of itself; but that all the other conspirators did conspire his death for some private malice or envy that they otherwise did bear unto him."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.

V.138 This refers to the old doctrine of the four elements, earth, water, air, and fire, a right proportion of which was supposed to be the principle of all excellence in nature. Shakespeare has many allusions to the doctrine, which was a commonplace of the sixteenth century. It is this common property in the idea which invalidates the importance of the argument for the date of Julius Cæsar drawn from a similar passage in Drayton's revised version of his Mortimeriados (1596-1597) published in 1603 under the title of The Barons' Wars.

V.140 Most like a soldier. Cf. with these words of Octavius the speech of Fortinbras with which Hamlet closes:

V.142 call the field to rest: give the signal to cease fighting. 'Field,' by metonymy, is occasionally used in sixteenth century literature as synonymous with 'battle' or 'order of battle.' Cf. the expression 'to gather a field,' meaning 'to collect an armed force.' So in Hall's Chronicles, 1548: "my lorde of Winchester intended to gather any feld or assemble people." Cf., too, 'field' as a hunting term.

V.143 part: distribute. A specific meaning of 'part' used to be 'share one with another.' This sense is now obsolete or provincial.

INDEX

I. WORDS AND PHRASES

This Index includes the most important words, phrases, etc., explained in the notes. The figures in heavy-faced type refer to the pages; those in plain type, to the lines containing what is explained.

abide: 87 95, 106 114.
abuse: 51 115.
added slaughter to the sword: 147 55.
address'd: 82 29.
affections sway'd: 43 20.
aim: 20 163.
alchemy: 41 159.
all over: 50 112.
and (if): 26 263.
angel: 109 180.
Antonius: 9 3.
any thing more wonderful: 31 14.
apparent prodigies: 56 198.
appositional genitive: 53 157.
apprehensive: 85 67.
are (is): 146 33.
arrive the point: 16 110.
art: 136 194.
as (omitted): 128 80.
as (redundant): 149 72.
as (that): 11 34.
at the stake and bay'd about: 119 48.
Ate: 98 272.
attraction of verb to nearest subject: 124 5, 146 33.

base degrees: 44 26.
basest metal: 7 63.
bastard: 160 2.
battles: 144 4.
bay'd: 94 205, 119 48.
be let blood: 91 153.
be not fond, to think: 83 39.
bear hard: 29 310, 57 215.
bear me a bang: 115 18.
bears with glasses: 56 205.
behaviours: 12 42.
beholding: 103 65.
bend: 17 123.
bending their expedition: 134 170.
betimes: 143 307.
betray: 58 225.
bills: 152 1.
bird of night: 32 26.
bloods: 140 262.
bloody sign: 145 14.
blunt: 28 292.
bondman: 37 101.
brav'd: 129 96.
bravery: 144 10.
break with him: 53 150.
bright day: 43 14.
brook'd: 19 159.
brother: 48 70.
brought: 30 1.
brutish: 105 104.
Brutus hath a suit: 78 42.
Brutus may but find it: 40 144.
bury: 104 74.
by: 91 163.
by him: 58 218.
by means whereof: 12 49.
by this: 38 125.

Cæsar doth not wrong: 83 47.
Cæsar's arrogance: 85 72.
Cæsar's trophies: 8 71.
call in question: 134 165.
Caius Cassius Longinus: 11 36.
Capitol: 80 12.
carrions: 52 130.
Casca's sentiments: 88 102.
cast yourself in: 34 60.
Cato's daughter: 63 295.
cautelous: 52 129.
censure: 100 16.
ceremonies: 8 67, 67 13.
chafing: 15 101.
change: 120 7, 156 51.
170 charactery: 64 308.
charm: 61 271.
chew: 20 171.
Cicero (his 'agile tongue'): 27 281.
Cicero (his opinion of Cæsar): 17 129.
Cinna the poet: 114 1.
clean: 33 35.
climate: 33 32.
climber upward: 43 23.
clock: 55 192.
close: 39 131.
cobbler: 4 11.
cognizance: 71 89.
Colossus of Rhodes: 18 136.
colour: 44 29.
commend me to: 143 306.
commons: 118 27.
companion: 132 138.
conceit: 93 193.
conceited: 41 162.
condition: 60 254.
conjure: 18 146.
constancy: 76 6.
constant: 81 22.
contrive: 75 14.
couchings: 82 36.
countenance: 41 159.
counters: 128 80.
cross: 34 50.

dear my lord: 60 255.
dearer: 93 197.
deceitful jades: 121 26.
Decius Brutus: 40 148, 49 95.
degrees: 44 26.
destruction: 31 13.
dew of slumber: 58 230.
dint: 109 193.
directly: 4 12.
discard my sickness: 65 321.
dishonour shall be humour: 130 109.
distract: 133 155.
do danger with: 43 17.
dogs of war: 98 274.
doth not Brutus bootless kneel? 85 75.
double comparatives and superlatives: 89 132.
double negatives: 59 237, 135 183.
doublet: 26 263.
drachma: 111 241.

eagles: 149 80.
element: 39 128.
elements: 167 73.
elephants with holes: 56 205.
emulation: 75 12.
enforc'd: 101 38.
enlarge your griefs: 122 46.
ensign: 153 3.
enter a Servant: 89 123.
entertain: 167 60.
envious: 109 174.
envy: 54 164.
Erebus: 49 84.
error, melancholy's child: 157 67.
et tu, Brute: 85 77.
eternal: 20 160.
ethical dative: 26 263, 115 18.
even virtue: 52 133.
evils: 48 79.
except immortal Cæsar: 13 60.
exhalations: 45 44.
exigent: 145 19.
exorcist: 65 323.
extenuated: 101 37.

face of men: 51 114.
factious: 38 118.
fall: 121 26.
falling-sickness: 16 119, 25 252.
falls shrewdly to the purpose: 90 147.
false: 143 291.
familiar instances: 121 16.
far: 108 166.
fat: 22 192.
favour: 15 91, 39 129, 48 76.
ferret: 21 186.
fever: 16 119.
field: 168 80.
fifteen: 46 59.
fire: 92 172, 112 254.
first of March: 45 40.
fleering: 38 117.
flint: 130 111.
former: 149 80.
forms: 113 258.
forth: 27 286.
fret: 50 104.
from: 33 35, 35 64, 56 196.
full of good regard: 95 225.

gamesome: 11 28.
general: 43 12.
general coffers fill: 104 89.
Genius: 47 66.
ghost of Cæsar: 164 17.
give some soil to: 12 42.
glaz'd: 32 21.
go to: 126 32.
goes up: 147 52.
good respect: 166 45.
great flood: 19 152.
Greek to me: 27 281.
greets me well: 120 6.
griefs: 38 118, 122 46.
growing on: 50 107.

hands: 29 313.
171 hard: 29 310, 57 215.
hats: 48 73.
havoc: 98 274.
heap: 32 23.
hearts of controversy: 16 109.
held Epicurus strong: 149 77.
her (of the Tiber): 6 47.
here's the book: 139 252.
high: 50 110.
high-sighted tyranny: 51 118.
hilts: 155 43.
his (its): 17 124, 124 8.
hold, my hand: 38 117.
holy chase: 9 8.
honey-heavy dew: 58 230.
honourable man: 105 99.
hot at hand: 121 23.
how: 121 14.
how ill this taper burns: 141 275.
however: 28 296.
humour (v.): 29 312.
humour (n.): 60 250, 130 109.
hurtled: 67 22.
Hybla: 146 34.

Ides of March: 10 18, 79 1.
images: 7 66.
impatient of my absence: 133 152.
in our stars: 18 140.
in respect of: 4 10.
in some taste: 118 34.
in strength of malice: 92 175.
in their bosoms: 144 7.
incorporate: 39 135.
indifferently: 14 87.
indirection: 128 75.
infinitive used gerundively: 6 48, 52 135, 107 150, 124 6.
insuppressive: 52 134.
it must be by his death: 42 10.

jades: 121 26.
jealous: 20 162.
jealous on: 13 71.
jigging: 132 137.
just: 13 54.

kerchief: 64 315.
keynote of the play: 158 94.
kind: 35 64.
knave: 139 241.

Labeo and Flavius: 159 108.
laughter: 13 72.
law of children: 83 39.
leaden mace: 141 268.
lean: 22 194.
legions on the other side: 152 2.
let it be who it is: 36 80.
let slip: 98 274.
lethe: 94 207.
liable: 72 104.
lief: 15 95.
limbs: 97 263.
lion in the Capitol: 36 75.
listen: 119 41.
live (if I live): 91 160.
lover: 75 8, 100 13.
loves no plays: 22 203.
Lucilius: 161 29.
Lucilius and Titinius: 122 52.
Lucius Junius Brutus: 19 159.
Lupercal: 8 69, 104 95.

mace: 141 268.
main: 56 196.
make head: 119 42.
makes to: 80 18.
man of any occupation: 26 264.
many a time and oft: 5 39.
mark: 80 18.
market-place: 95 229.
marry: 26 261.
me (eth. dat.): 26 263, 115 18.
means: 12 49.
mechanical: 3 3.
merely: 11 39.
metal: 7 63.
mettle: 7 63, 28 293.
mistook: 12 48.
mock apt to be render'd: 71 96.
modesty: 94 214.
moe: 48 72, 159 101.
monstrous apparition: 141 277.
monstrous state: 35 71.
mortal instruments: 47 66.
mortified spirit: 65 324.
most boldest: 89 122.
most like a soldier: 168 79.
motion: 46 64.
murderous slumber: 141 267.
music: 23 204.

napkins: 106 133.
narrow: 18 135.
nature of: 47 69.
neat's-leather: 5 27.
new-added: 137 209.
nice: 124 8.
niggard: 138 228.
night-gown: 66 1.
no fear: 55 190.
no, not an oath: 51 114.
noble vessel full: 163 13.
172 none so poor: 106 120.
nor ... neither: 59 237.
nor nothing: 135 183.
noted: 123 2.
nothing, Messala: 135 184.
nothing jealous: 20 162.
nowt: 5 27.

oath: 51 114.
observe: 126 45.
Octavius: 145 20, 147 48.
o'ershot myself to tell: 107 150.
o'er-watch'd: 139 241.
of force: 136 203.
of him: 53 157.
of the best respect: 13 59.
old men, fools, and children: 35 65.
omission of indefinite article: 33 42.
omission of the relative: 64 309.
on: 13 71.
on the Lupercal: 104 95.
on this side Tiber: 112 248.
once: 136 191.
only proper to myself: 12 41.
opinion: 53 145.
orchard: 42 1.
order of his funeral: 95 231.
ought not walk: 3 3.
out: 4 17, 18.

palter: 52 126.
part: 168 81.
passion: 12 48.
passions of some difference: 12 40.
past tense for past participle: 12 48.
path: 49 83.
peevish: 148 61.
phantasma: 46 65.
philosophy: 132 145.
physical: 60 261.
pitch: 8 75.
plays thee music: 141 269.
Plutus: 130 102.
Pompey (at Pharsalia): 149 75.
Pompey's basis: 89 115.
Pompey's porch: 39 126.
poor knave: 139 241.
posture of your blows: 146 33.
prætor's chair: 40 143.
prefer: 167 62.
preformed: 35 67.
pre-ordinance and first decree: 82 38.
presently: 82 28, 136 197.
prevent: 44 28.
prevent the time: 151 105.
prevention: 49 85.
proceeded: 21 181.
prodigies: 56 198.
prodigious: 36 77.
produce: 95 229.
promis'd forth: 27 286.
proof: 43 21.
proper (goodly, handsome): 5 26.
proper to myself: 12 41.
property: 119 40.
protest: 14 74.
Publius (Cæsar): 117 4.
Publius Silicius: 73 108.
pulpits: 86 80.
purgers: 54 180.
put on (betray): 58 225.

quality: 36 64.
quarrel: 44 28.
question: 134 165.
question of his death: 101 36.
quick spirit: 11 29.

rank: 91 153.
rascal: 128 80.
regard: 95 225.
remorse: 43 19.
repealing: 84 51.
replication: 6 48.
resolv'd: 90 132, 109 178, 121 14.
retentive to the strength: 37 95.
rheumy: 61 266.
rid: 113 268.
Rome: 19 156, 99 290.
ruddy drops: 63 289.
rumour: 76 18.

sad: 23 217.
saucy: 30 11.
saving of thy life: 155 38.
secret Romans: 52 125.
security gives way to: 75 6.
sennet: 10 24.
set on: 143 307.
should: 18 142.
should (would): 69 42.
sign'd in thy spoil: 94 207.
singular verbs with plural subjects: 40 148.
slighted off: 124 5.
smatch: 166 46.
so please him come: 90 141.
soft: 25 249.
soil: 12 43.
soles: 4 15.
sooth: 76 20.
soothsayer: 10 19, 77 21.
speed: 15 88.
173 spleen: 126 47.
spoil: 94 307.
stale: 14 73.
stal'd: 118 38.
stand upon: 88 101.
stare: 142 380.
Statilius: 162 3.
statue: 70 76.
stomachs: 148 66.
strain: 148 59.
stricken: 55 192.
suburbs: 62 285.
success: 67 6.
sufferance: 51 115.
sway of earth: 30 3.
sword: 155 46.

tag-rag people: 26 256.
take thought and die: 55 187.
tardy form: 28 296.
taste: 118 34.
taste of death: 68 33.
temper: 17 129.
Thasos: 159 104.
that: 6 47.
that it is disposed: 28 307.
there is tears: 101 26.
there was a crown offered him: 24 220.
these (such and such): 32 30.
these ... as: 21 174.
thews: 36 81.
they stab Cæsar: 85 76.
things unluckily charge: 114 2.
thorough: 90 137.
three and thirty: 147 53.
thunder-stone: 34 49.
tide in the affairs of men: 137 218.
times abuse: 51 115.
'tis just: 13 54.
to hear: 6 48.
to hell among the rogues: 26 265.
to mourn: 105 103.
to-night: 70 76, 114 1.
to think: 52 135.
to write: 124 6.
toils: 57 206.
trod upon neat's-leather: 5 27.
trophies: 8 71.
true: 25 259.

unbraced: 34 48.
undergo: 38 123.
unfirm: 30 4.
unmeritable: 117 13.
upon a heap: 32 23.
upon a wish: 113 265.
us ourself: 79 8.

ventures: 137 224.
vulgar (n.): 8 72.

walks: 19 155.
warn: 144 5.
was (were): 124 5.
wear a kerchief: 64 315.
weighing: 50 108.
well given: 22 197.
what: 33 43, 42 1.
what need we: 51 123.
what villain touch'd: 125 20.
where: 13 59.
where (whether): 7 63, 158 97.
whether: 56 194.
who: 32 21.
wind (v.): 118 32.
wit: 110 219.
with: 36 83, 97 269.
with a spot I damn him: 117 6.
with a thought: 154 19.
wonderful: 31 14.
work alive: 136 196.
work me to: 20 163.
worthy note: 21 181.
writ: 135 183.
wrong (harm): 96 243.

yearns: 74 129.
yonder troops: 154 16.
you: 3 9.
you know: 31 15.
you were best: 115 12.
you'll bear me: 115 18.

II. QUOTATIONS FROM PLUTARCH

Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus: 116 1.
Antony a lover of plays: 22 103.
Antony and Cæsar's burial: 95 231.
Antony and Lepidus: 87 97.
Antony's eulogy of Brutus: 167 69.
Antony's oration: 103 72.
Antony's personal habits: 55 188.
Artemidorus and Cæsar: 74 1.
Brutus, Statilius, and Dardanus: 162 3.
Brutus and Cassius: 123 1, 124 8, 125 18, 28, 129 82, 136 203.
Brutus and Lucius Pella: 124 3.
174 Brutus and Popilius Laena: 81 23.
Brutus and the apparition: 141 277, 164 17.
Brutus and the Senators: 87 83, 93 181.
Brutus and writings on his chair: 40 143.
Brutus as Praetor: 40 143.
Brutus impersonated by Lucilius: 161 29.
Brutus on Cassius's death: 159 104.
Brutus sends the word of battle: 152 1.
Brutus's death: 165 43.
Brutus's habits: 140 252.
Brutus's influence: 51 114.
Brutus's manner of speech: 102 43.
Brutus's philosophy of life: 151 105.
Brutus's speech: 100 11.
Cæsar and Calpurnia: 66 2.
Cæsar and Decius: 72 107.
Cæsar and the Soothsayer: 79 1.
Cæsar stricken like a hunted beast: 94 205.
Cæsar's blood on Pompey's image: 89 116.
Cæsar's death: 86 77.
Cæsar's death omens: 31 14.
Cæsar's description of Cassius: 22 192.
Cæsar's falling-sickness: 26 268.
Cæsar's images: 8 67.
Cæsar's prowess: 108 172.
Cæsar's superstitions: 72 107.
Cæsar's testament: 111 239.
Cæsar's triumph over the Pompeians: 6 53.
Cæsar's views on death: 68 33.
Calpurnia pleads with Cæsar: 66 2.
Cassius an Epicurean: 149 77.
Cassius and Pindarus: 155 50.
Cassius and Titinius: 157 90.
Cassius described by Cæsar: 22 192.
Cassius's birthday: 149 72.
Cassius's character: 22 203.
Cassius's sword: 155 46.
Cassius's weak sight: 154 21.
Cicero and the conspirators: 53 150.
Cicero's death: 135 179.
Cinna's dream and death: 114 1.
Decius pleads with Cæsar: 72 107.
eagles on the ensigns: 149 80.
effect of the murder upon the people: 88 98.
exhalations: 45 44.
first of March: 45 40.
hour of the battle: 159 109.
Ides of March: 79 1.
Ligarius: 57 215.
Lucilius impersonates Brutus: 161 29.
mob's violence: 112 252.
Munda (battle of): 6 53.
Phaonius quotes Homer: 131 128.
Poet's interruption: 131 130.
Pompey's porch: 39 126.
Portia's (Porcia) anxiety: 75 1.
Portia's courage: 61 279.
Portia's death: 133 156.
Portia's suspicion: 59 233.
signal of battle: 145 14.
soothsayer's warning: 79 1.
Titinius kills himself: 157 90.
triumvirs meet near Bononia: 116 1.
Young Cato's death: 160 11.

F₁ =	First Folio, 1623.
F₂ =	Second Folio, 1632.
F₃ =	Third Folio, 1664.
F₄ =	Fourth Folio, 1685.
Ff =	all the seventeenth century Folios.
Rowe =	Rowe's editions, 1709, 1714.
Pope =	Pope's editions, 1723, 1728.
Theobald =	Theobald's editions, 1733, 1740.
Johnson =	Johnson's edition, 1765.
Capell =	Capell's edition, 1768.
Malone =	Malone's edition, 1790.
Steevens =	Steevens's edition, 1793.
Globe =	Globe edition (Clark and Wright), 1864.
Clar =	Clarendon Press edition (W.A. Wright), 1869.
Dyce =	Dyce's (third) edition, 1875.
Delius =	Delius's (fifth) edition, 1882.
Camb =	Cambridge (third) edition (W.A. Wright), 1891.
Abbott =	E.A. Abbott's A Shakespearian Grammar.
Schmidt =	Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon.
Skeat =	Skeat's An Etymological Dictionary.
Murray =	A New English Dictionary (The Oxford Dictionary).
Century =	The Century Dictionary.
Plutarch =	North's Plutarch, 1579.

				Page
I.	Sources			vii
		The Main Story		vii
			North's Plutarch	vii
			Appian's Roman Wars	xii
			Earlier Plays	xiii
		The Scene of the Assassination		xiv
		"Et Tu, Brute"		xvi
		Brutus's Speech, III, ii.		xvi
II.	Date of Composition			xvii
		External Evidence		xviii
		Internal Evidence		xx
III.	Early Editions			xxiii
		Folios		xxiii
		The Quarto of 1691		xxiv
		Rowe's Editions		xxiv
IV.	The Title			xxv
V.	Dramatic Construction and Development			xxv
		Analysis by Act and Scene		xxvi
VI.	Management of Time and Place			xxx
		Historic Time		xxx
		Dramatic Time		xxxi
		Place		xxxi
VII.	viVersification and Diction			xxxii
		Blank Verse		xxxii
		Rhyme		xxxiii
		Prose		xxxiii
VIII.	The Characters			xxxiv
		Julius Cæsar		xxxiv
		Brutus		xli
		Brutus and Cassius		xlvii
		Portia		xlix
		Antony		li
		The People		liii
IX.	General Characteristics			liii

Authorities (with Abbreviations)				lv
Chronological Chart				lvi
Distribution of Characters				lx

THE TEXT
Act I				3
Act II				42
Act III				79
Act IV				116
Act V				144

INDEX
I.	Words and Phrases			169
II.	Quotations From Plutarch			173

THE NEW HUDSON SHAKESPEARE

JULIUS CÆSAR

INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

HENRY NORMAN HUDSON, LL.D.

EDITED AND REVISED BY

EBENEZER CHARLTON BLACK LL.D. (GLASGOW)

WITH THE COÖPERATION OF

ANDREW JACKSON GEORGE LITT.D. (AMHERST)

GINN AND COMPANY

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON ATLANTA DALLAS COLUMBUS SAN FRANCISCO

Entered at Stationers' Hall

Copyright, 1908 By GINN AND COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

424.12

The Athenæum Press

GINN AND COMPANY PROPRIETORS BOSTON U.S.A.

PREFACE

CONTENTS

INDEX

Brutus's Speech, III, ii

I. The Exposition, or Introduction (Tying of the Knot)

II. The Complication, Rising Action, or Growth (Tying Of the Knot)

III. The Climax, Crisis, or Turning Point (the Knot Tied)

IV. The Resolution, Falling Action, or Consequence (the Untying of the Knot)

V. Dénouement, Catastrophe, or Conclusion (The Knot Untied)

(With the more important abbreviations used in the notes)

Except in the case of Shakespeare's plays (see note) the literature dates refer to first publication

JULIUS CÆSAR

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ[1]

Scene: Rome; the neighborhood of Sardis; the neighborhood of Philippi.

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners over the stage[8]

Enter Cæsar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer.

I. 3 Scene III.[189][190] The same. A street

II. 2 Scene II.[135][136] Cæsar's house[137]

II. 3 Scene III.[173] A street near the Capitol

III. 2 Scene II. The Forum[104]

III. 3 Scene III.[163] A street

IV. 1 Scene I.[1] Rome. A room in Antony's house[2]

IV. 2 Scene II.[22][23] Before Brutus's tent, in the camp near Sardis

IV. 3 Scene III.[43][44] Brutus's tent[45]

V. 1 Scene I. The plains of Philippi[1]

V. 2 Scene II.[47] The field of battle

V. 3 Scene III.[51] Another part of the field

V. 4 Scene IV.[94] Another part of the field.[95]

V. 5 Scene V.[109] Another part of the field[110]

Notes

INDEX

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO LONDON
ATLANTA DALLAS COLUMBUS SAN FRANCISCO

Copyright, 1908
By GINN AND COMPANY