[Note 210: /strucken/ Steevens stroken F1 stricken F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 181: "When Caesar 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 Caesar.]

[Note 193: /conceit:/ conceive of, think of. So in I, iii, 162.]

[Note 197: /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.]

[Note 205: /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. "Caesar 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 Caesar.]

[Note 207: /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.—/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.']

[Page 94]

CASSIUS. Mark Antony,—

ANTONY. Pardon me, Caius Cassius: The enemies of Caesar shall say this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.

CASSIUS. I blame you not for praising Caesar so; 215 But what compact mean you to have with us?

[Note 214: /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.]

[Page 95]

Will you be prick'd in number of our friends, Or shall we on, and not depend on you?

ANTONY. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed Sway'd from the point by looking down on Caesar. 220 Friends am I with you all, and love you all, Upon this hope that you shall give me reasons Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous.

BRUTUS. Or else were this a savage spectacle: Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 That, were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied.

ANTONY. That's all I seek: And am moreover suitor that I may Produce his body to the market-place; And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, 230 Speak in the order of his funeral.

[Note 226: /you, Antony/ Theobald you Antony Ff.]

[Note 217. /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.']

[Note 225: /full of good regard/: the result of noble considerations.]

[Note 229: 'Produce' here implies 'motion towards'—the original Latin sense. Hence the preposition 'to.'—/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.]

[Note 231: /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,[A] 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.]

[Note A: i.e. in secrecy. Ascham has the form 'huddermother' and Skelton 'hoder-moder.' Cf. "In hugger-mugger to inter him," Hamlet, IV, v, 84.]

[Page 96]

BRUTUS. You shall, Mark Antony.

CASSIUS. Brutus, a word with you. [Aside to BRUTUS] You know not what you do; do not consent That Antony speak in his funeral: Know you how much the people may be mov'd 235 By that which he will utter?

BRUTUS. By your pardon: I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Caesar's death: What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 And that we are contented Caesar shall Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more than do us wrong.

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

BRUTUS. Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. 245 You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar, And say you do 't by our permission; Else shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral: and you shall speak 250 In the same pulpit whereto I am going, After my speech is ended.

[Note 233: [Aside to BRUTUS] Ff omit.]

[Note 243: /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).]

[Page 97]

ANTONY. Be it so; I do desire no more.

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

[Exeunt all but ANTONY]

ANTONY. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 255 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. Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood! Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 260 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 of men; Domestic fury and fierce civil strife Shall cumber all the parts of Italy; 265 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 the hands of war; All pity chok'd with custom of fell deeds: 270 And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge, With Ate 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; That this foul deed shall smell above the earth 275 With carrion men, groaning for burial.

[Note 254: [Exeunt ...] Capell Exeunt. Manet Antony Ff.]

[Note 255: Scene IV Pope.]

[Note 263: /limbs/ F3 F4 limbes F1 F2.]

[Note 257-258: Cf. Antony's eulogy of Brutus, V, v, 68-75.]

[Note 263: /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."]

[Note 269: /with/: by. So in III, ii, 196. See Abbott, Sect. 193.]

[Note 272: 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.]

[Note 274: '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:

at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, Crouch for employment.]

[Page 98]

Enter a Servant

You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not?

SERVANT. I do, Mark Antony.

ANTONY. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome.

SERVANT. He did receive his letters, and is coming; 280 And bid me say to you by word of mouth— O Caesar! [Seeing the body]

ANTONY. Thy heart is big; get thee apart and weep. Passion, I see, is catching; for mine eyes,

[Note 277: Enter ... Enter Octavio's Servant Ff.]

[Note 282: [Seeing the body] Rowe Ff omit.]

[Note 284: /catching/; for F2 F3 F4 catching from F1.]

[Page 99]

Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 285 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, No Rome of safety for Octavius yet; 290 Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile; Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse Into the market-place: there shall I try, In my oration, how the people take The cruel issue of these bloody men; 295 According to the which, thou shalt discourse To young Octavius of the state of things. Lend me your hand. [Exeunt with CAESAR'S body]

SCENE II. The Forum

Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS, and a throng of Citizens

CITIZENS. 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. Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here; 5 Those that will follow Cassius, go with him; And public reasons shall be rendered Of Caesar's death.

[Note 291: /awhile/ F4 a-while F1 F2.]

[Note 292: /corse/ Pope course F1 F2 coarse F3 F4.]

[Note 298: [Exeunt ...] Exeunt. Ff.]

[Note: SCENE II Rowe Scene V Pope. The Forum Rowe Ff omit.]

[Note: Enter BRUTUS ... Citizens Malone Enter Brutus and goes into the Pulpit, and Cassius, with the Plebeians Ff.]

[Note 1: CITIZENS Capell Ple. (Plebeians) Ff.]

[Note 7, 10: /rendered/ Pope rendred Ff.]

[Note 290: A pun may lurk in this 'Rome.' See note, p. 19, l. 156.]

[Page 100]

1 CITIZEN. I will hear Brutus speak.

2 CITIZEN. I will hear Cassius; and compare their reasons, When severally we hear them rendered. 10

[Exit CASSIUS, with some of the Citizens. BRUTUS goes into the pulpit]

3 CITIZEN. The noble Brutus is ascended: silence!

[Note 10: [Exit ... pulpit] Ff omit.]

[Note 11: "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.]

[Page 101]

BRUTUS. Be patient till the last. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my cause, and be silent, that you may hear: believe me for mine honour, and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe: censure 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 Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Caesar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I lov'd Caesar less, but that I lov'd Rome more. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all free-men? As Caesar lov'd me, I weep for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honour him: but as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears 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 that 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. 33

ALL. None, Brutus, none.

BRUTUS. Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The question of his death is enroll'd in the Capitol; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, nor his offences enforc'd, for which he suffer'd death. 39

[Note 26: /is/ Ff are Pope.]

[Note 13: /lovers/. Pope changed this to 'friends.' But in the sixteenth century 'lover' and 'friend' were synonymous. In l. 44 Brutus speaks of Caesar as 'my best lover.' So 'Thy lover' in II, iii, 8.]

[Note 16: /censure/: judge. The word may have been chosen for the euphuistic jingle it makes here with 'senses.']

[Note 26: /There is tears/. So in I, iii, 138. See Abbott, Sect. 335.]

[Note 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.]

[Page 102]

Enter ANTONY and others, with CAESAR'S body

Here comes his body, mourn'd by Mark Antony; who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 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 dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death. 46

ALL. Live, Brutus! live, live!

1 CITIZEN. Bring him with triumph home unto his house.

2 CITIZEN. Give him a statue with his ancestors.

3 CITIZEN. Let him be Caesar.

4 CITIZEN. Caesar's better parts 50 Shall be crown'd in Brutus.

1 CITIZEN. We'll bring him to his house with shouts and clamours.

BRUTUS. My countrymen,—

2 CITIZEN. Peace! silence! Brutus speaks.

1 CITIZEN. Peace, ho!

[Note 40: Enter ANTONY ... body Malone Enter Mark Antony with Caesar's body Ff.]

[Note 47, 72, etc.: ALL Ff Cit. (Citizens) Capell.]

[Note 48, 49, etc.: CITIZEN Ff omit.]

[Note 52: Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 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 Lacedaemonians."—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.]

[Page 103]

BRUTUS. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, 55 And, for my sake, stay here with Antony: Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech Tending to Caesar's glories; which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allow'd to make. I do entreat you, not a man depart, 60 Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. [Exit]

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.

ANTONY. For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. 65

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 Caesar was a tyrant.

3 CITIZEN. Nay, that's certain: We are blest that Rome is rid of him. 70

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

ANTONY. You gentle Romans,—

ALL. Peace, ho! Let us hear him.

[Note 62: Scene VI Pope.]

[Note 70: /blest/ F1 glad F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 65: /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.']

[Note 72: "Afterwards when Caesar'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 Caesar'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.[A] How Shakespeare elaborates this!]

[Note A: There is a similar passage in Plutarch, Marcus Antonius.]

[Page 104]

ANTONY. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears: I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them: 75 The good is oft interred with their bones; So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Caesar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. 80 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 Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 85 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: Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 90 When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept: Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see that on the Lupercal 95 I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition? Yet Brutus says he was ambitious; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 100 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 for him? O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; 105 My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me.

[Note 74: /bury./ A characteristic anachronism. Cf. 'coffin' in l. 106.]

[Note 104: /art/ F2 F3 F4 are F1.]

[Note 75-76: So in Henry VIII, IV, ii, 45: "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water."]

[Note 89: Caesar'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.]

[Note 95: /on the Lupercal:/ at the festival of the Lupercal.]

[Note 99: 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.]

[Note 103: /to mourn:/ from mourning. The gerundive use of the infinitive.]

[Note 104: 'Brutish' is by no means tautological here, the antithetic sense of human brutes being most artfully implied.]

[Page 105]

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

2 CITIZEN. If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong.

3 CITIZEN. Has he, masters? 110 I fear there will a worse come in his place.

[Note 110: /Has he/, Ha's hee F1.]

[Note 110: 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:

"Caesar has had great wrong.

3 PLEB. Caesar had never wrong, but with just cause.

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.']

[Page 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.

2 CITIZEN. Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.

3 CITIZEN. There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 116

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

ANTONY. But yesterday the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world: now lies he there, And none so poor to do him reverence. 120 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: I will not do them wrong; I rather choose 125 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 Caesar; I found it in his closet; 'tis his will: Let but the commons hear this testament— 130 Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read— And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood, Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, And, dying, mention it within their wills, 135 Bequeathing it as a rich legacy Unto their issue.

[Note 114: /abide it:/ suffer for it, pay for it. See note, p. 87, l. 95.]

[Note 120: And there are none so humble but that the great Caesar is now beneath their reverence, or too low for their regard.]

[Note 133: /napkins:/ handkerchiefs. In the third scene of the third act of Othello the two words are used interchangeably.]

[Page 107]

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

ALL. The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will.

ANTONY. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Caesar lov'd you. 141 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, It will inflame you, it will make you mad. 'T is good you know not that you are his heirs; 145 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, Caesar's will.

ANTONY. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile? I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it: 150 I fear I wrong the honourable men Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.

4 CITIZEN. They were traitors: honourable men!

ALL. The will! the testament!

2 CITIZEN. They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will. 155

ANTONY. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar, And let me show you him that made the will. Shall I descend? and will you give me leave?

[Note 150: /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.]

[Note 152: Antony now sees that he has the people wholly with him, so that he is perfectly safe in stabbing the stabbers with these words.]

[Page 108]

ALL. Come down. 160

2 CITIZEN. Descend.

3 CITIZEN. You shall have leave.

[ANTONY comes down from the pulpit]

4 CITIZEN. A ring, stand round.

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

2 CITIZEN. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. 165

ANTONY. Nay, press not so upon me: stand far off.

ALL. Stand back; room; bear back!

[Note 162: [ANTONY comes ...] Ff omit.]

[Note 166: /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.]

[Page 109]

ANTONY. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; 170 'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii. Look, in this place ran Cassius' dagger through: See what a rent the envious Casca made: Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; 175 And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it, As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no; For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: 180 Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar lov'd him! This was the most unkindest cut of all; For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; 185 And, in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 190 Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. O, now you weep; and I perceive you feel The dint of pity: these are gracious drops. Kind souls, what, weep you when you but behold Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, 195 Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.

[Note 187: /statue/ Ff statua Steevens Globe statue Camb.]

[Note 174: /envious:/ malicious. See note on 'envy,' p. 54, l. 164.]

[Note 178: /resolv'd:/ informed, assured. See note, p. 90, l. 132.]

[Note 172: 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: Caesar 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 Caesar, gives graphic details of this famous victory and the effect upon the Roman people of the news of Caesar'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: Caesar 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.]

[Note 180: 'Angel' here seems to mean his counterpart, his good genius, or a kind of better and dearer self. See note, p. 47, l. 66.]

[Note 193: '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.]

[Page 110]

1 CITIZEN. O piteous spectacle!

2 CITIZEN. O noble Caesar!

3 CITIZEN. O woful day!

4 CITIZEN. O traitors, villains! 200

1 CITIZEN. O most bloody sight!

2 CITIZEN. We will be reveng'd.

ALL. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! Slay! Let not a traitor live!

ANTONY. Stay, countrymen. 205

1 CITIZEN. Peace there! Hear the noble Antony.

2 CITIZEN. 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. They that have done this deed are honourable; 210 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: I am no orator, as Brutus is; 215 But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend; and that they know full well That gave me public leave to speak of him: For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 220 To stir men's blood: I only speak right on; I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me: but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 225 Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Caesar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny.

[Note 203-204: ALL Globe Camb (White Delius conj.) Ff continue to 2 Citizen and print as verse.]

[Note 218: /gave/ F1 give F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 219: /wit/ F2 F3 F4 writ F2.]

[Note 207: The Folios give this speech like that in 203-204 to 'Second Citizen,' but it should surely be given to 'All.']

[Note 219: 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.]

[Page 111]

ALL. We'll mutiny.

1 CITIZEN. We'll burn the house of Brutus. 230

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. Wherein hath Caesar thus deserv'd your loves? 235 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. Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives, 240 To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

[Note 239: "For first of all, when Caesar'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.]

[Note 241: 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. Caesar left to each citizen three hundred sesterces; Plutarch gives seventy-five drachmas as the Greek equivalent.]

[Page 112]

2 CITIZEN. Most noble Caesar! We'll revenge his death.

3 CITIZEN. O royal Caesar!

ANTONY. Hear me with patience.

ALL. Peace, ho! 245

ANTONY. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber; he hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures, To walk abroad and recreate yourselves. 250 Here was a Caesar! when comes such another?

1 CITIZEN. Never, never. Come, away, away! We'll burn his body in the holy place, And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. Take up the body. 255

[Note 254: /the/ F1 all the F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 248: As this scene lies in the Forum, near the Capitol, Caesar'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.]

[Note 252: "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 Caesar, 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.]

[Note 254: /fire./ Cf. III, i, 172. Monosyllables ending in 'r' or 're,' preceded by a long vowel or diphthong, are often pronounced as dissyllabic.]

[Page 113]

2 CITIZEN. Go fetch fire.

3 CITIZEN. Pluck down benches.

4 CITIZEN. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.

[Exeunt CITIZENS with the body]

ANTONY. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!

Enter a Servant

How now, fellow! 260

SERVANT. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome.

ANTONY. Where is he?

SERVANT. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house.

ANTONY. And thither will I straight to visit him: He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 265 And in this mood will give us any thing.

SERVANT. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome.

ANTONY. Belike they had some notice of the people 269 How I had mov'd them. Bring me to Octavius. [Exeunt]

[Note 258: [Exeunt Citizens...] Exit Plebeians Ff.]

[Note 258: /forms:/ benches. The word used in preceding quotation from Plutarch. The Old Fr. forme, mediaeval 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. 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.]

[Note 265: /upon a wish:/ as soon as wished for. Cf. I, ii, 104.]

[Note 268: /rid:/ ridden. So 'writ' for 'written,' IV, iii, 183.]

[Page 114]

SCENE III. A street

Enter CINNA the poet

CINNA. I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Caesar, And things unluckily charge my fantasy: I have no will to wander forth of doors, Yet something leads me forth.

Enter CITIZENS

1 CITIZEN. What is your name?

2 CITIZEN. Whither 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.

[Note: SCENE III Scene VII Pope.]

[Note: Enter ... Ff add and after him the Plebeians.]

[Note 5: Enter CITIZENS Ff omit.]

[Note 6, 13: Whither F3 F4 Whether F1 F2.]

[Note 1: "There was one of Caesar's friends called Cinna, that had a marvellous strange and terrible dream the night before. He dreamed that Caesar bad him to supper, and that he refused and would not go: then that Caesar took him by the hand, and led him against his will. Now Cinna, hearing at that time that they burnt Caesar'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 Caesar: (for indeed one of the traitors to Caesar 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 Caesar.—/to-night:/ last night. So in II, ii, 76, and The Merchant of Venice, II, v, 18.]

[Note 2: Things that forbode evil fortune burden my imagination.]

[Page 115]

1 CITIZEN. Ay, and briefly. 10

4 CITIZEN. Ay, and wisely.

3 CITIZEN. Ay, and truly, you were best.

CINNA. What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor. 16

2 CITIZEN. That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry: you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.

CINNA. Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral. 20

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.

CINNA. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 25

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. 29

4 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. 34

3 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]

[Note 12: /you were best/: it were best for you. See Abbott, Sect. 230.]

[Note 18: /you'll bear me/: I'll give you. For 'me' see note, p. 26, l. 263.]

[Page 116]



ACT IV

SCENE I. Rome. A room in ANTONY'S house

ANTONY, OCTAVIUS, and LEPIDUS, seated at a table

ANTONY. These many then shall die; their names are prick'd.

OCTAVIUS. Your brother too must die; consent you, Lepidus?

[Note: Rome. A room ... house Ff omit. ANTONY, OCTAVIUS ... table Malone Enter Antony, Octawius, and Lepidus. Ff.]

[Note: 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 Caesar'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 Caesar, 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 Caesar left Cicero to Antonius's will; Antonius also forsook Lucius Caesar, 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 Caesar and Antonius requested Paulus might be slain, and that Lepidus was contented with it."—Plutarch, Marcus Antonius.]

[Note 1: /prick'd./ So in III, i. 217. See note, p. 95, l. 217.]

[Page 117]

LEPIDUS. I do consent—

OCTAVIUS. Prick him down, Antony.

LEPIDUS. Upon condition Publius shall not live, Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. 5

ANTONY. He shall not live; look, with a spot I damn him. But, Lepidus, go you to Caesar's house; Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine How to cut off some charge in legacies.

LEPIDUS. What, shall I find you here? 10

OCTAVIUS. Or here, or at the Capitol. [Exit LEPIDUS]

ANTONY. This is a slight unmeritable 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. So you thought him; 15 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, To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads, 20 He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, To groan and sweat under the business, Either led or driven, as we point the way; And having brought our treasure where we will, Then take we down his load and turn him off, 25 Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears And graze in commons.

[Note 10: /What/, Johnson What? Ff.]

[Note 23: /point/ F1 print F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 4-5: According to Plutarch, as quoted above, this was Lucius Caesar, not Publius; nor was he Antony's nephew, but his uncle by the mother's side. His name in full was Antonius Lucius Caesar.]

[Note 6: /with a spot I damn him:/ with a mark I condemn him.]

[Note 12: /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, Sect. 3.]

[Note 27: /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.]

[Page 118]

OCTAVIUS. You may do your will; But he's a tried and valiant soldier.

ANTONY. So is my horse, Octavius; and for that I do appoint him store of provender: 30 It is a creature that I teach to fight, To wind, to stop, to run directly on, His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit. And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so; He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth: 35 A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds On objects, arts, and imitations, Which, out of use and stal'd by other men, Begin his fashion: do not talk of him But as a property. And now, Octavius, 40 Listen great things: Brutus and Cassius Are levying powers: we must straight make head: Therefore let our alliance be combin'd, Our best friends made, and our best means stretch'd out; And let us presently go sit in council, 45 How covert matters may be best disclos'd, And open perils surest answered.

[Note 37: /objects, arts/ Objects, Arts Ff abject orts Theobald abjects, orts Staunton Camb Globe. /imitations/, Rowe Imitations. Ff.]

[Note 38: /stal'd/ F3 stal'de F1 F2 stall'd F4.]

[Note 44: /and our best means (meanes) stretch'd out/ F2 F3 F4 our meanes stretch't F1 our best means strecht Johnson.]

[Note 32: /wind:/ wheel, turn. We have 'wind' as an active verb in 1 Henry IV, IV, i, 109: "To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus."]

[Note 34: /in some taste:/ to some small extent. This meaning comes from 'taste' in the sense of 'a small portion given as a sample.']

[Note 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.']

[Note 40: /a property:/ a tool, an accessory. The reference is to a 'stage property.' Cf. Fletcher and Massinger, The False One, V, iii:

this devil Photinus Employs me as a property, and, grown useless, Will shake me off again.

Shakespeare uses 'property' as a verb in this sense in Twelfth Night, IV, ii, 99: "They have here propertied me."]

[Note 41: /Listen./ The transitive use is older than the intransitive.]

[Note 42: /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.]

[Note 44: The reading adopted is that of the later Folios. It makes a normal blank verse line. Cf. II, i, 158-159.]

[Page 119]

OCTAVIUS. Let us do so: for we are at the stake, And bay'd about with many enemies; And some that smile have in their hearts, I fear, 50 Millions of mischiefs. [Exeunt]

[Note 48-49: The metaphor is from bear-baiting. Cf. Macbeth, V, vii, 1.]

[Page 120]

SCENE II. Before BRUTUS'S tent, in the camp near Sardis

Drum. Enter BRUTUS, TITINIUS, LUCIUS, and Soldiers; LUCILIUS and PINDARUS meet them

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 To do you salutation from his master. 5

[PINDARUS gives a letter to BRUTUS]

BRUTUS. He greets me well. Your master, Pindarus, In his own change, 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.

PINDARUS. I do not doubt 10 But that my noble master will appear Such as he is, full of regard and honour.

[Note: SCENE II. Before ... Sardis Rowe Ff omit.]

[Note: Enter BRUTUS ... meet them Enter Brutus, Lucillius, and the Army. Titinius and Pindarus meet them Ff.]

[Note 5: [PINDARUS gives ...] Ff omit.]

[Note 7: /change/ Ff charge Hanmer.]

[Note: SCENE II. This scene is separated from the foregoing by about a year. The remaining events take place in the autumn, B.C. 42.]

[Note 6: /He greets me well./ A dignified return of the salutation.]

[Note 7: 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.]

[Page 121]

BRUTUS. He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius, How he receiv'd you: let me be resolv'd.

LUCILIUS. With courtesy and with respect enough; 15 But not with such familiar instances, 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, When love begins to sicken and decay, 20 It useth an enforced ceremony. There are no tricks in plain and simple faith: But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, Make gallant show and promise of their mettle; But when they should endure the bloody spur, 25 They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, 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]

BRUTUS. Hark! he is arriv'd. 30 March gently on to meet him.

[Note 13-14: /word, Lucilius/ ... you: F3 F4 word Lucillius ... you: F1 F2 word, Lucilius, ... you, Rowe.]

[Note 30: [Low ...] in Ff after l. 24.]

[Note 13-14: Mainly the Folio punctuation. A colon after 'Lucilius,' and a comma after 'you,' would give a characteristic inversion.]

[Note 14: /How:/ as to how.—/resolv'd./ See note, p. 90, l. 132.]

[Note 16: /familiar instances:/ marks of familiarity. In Schmidt is a list of the various senses in which Shakespeare uses 'instances.']

[Note 23: /hot at hand:/ spirited or mettlesome when held back.]

[Note 26: /fall:/ let fall.—/deceitful jades:/ horses that promise well in appearance but "sink in the trial." 'Jade' is 'a worthless horse.']

[Page 122]

Enter CASSIUS and his Powers

CASSIUS. Stand, ho!

BRUTUS. Stand, ho! Speak the word along.

1 SOLDIER. Stand!

2 SOLDIER. Stand! 35

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?

CASSIUS. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs; And when you do them—

BRUTUS. Cassius, be content; 41 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, Let us not wrangle: bid them move away; 45 Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs, And I will give you audience.

CASSIUS. Pindarus, Bid our commanders lead their charges off A little from this ground.

BRUTUS. Lucilius, do you the like; and let no man 50 Come to our tent till we have done our conference. Let Lucius and Titinius guard our door. [Exeunt]

[Note 34, 35, 36: SOLDIER Ff omit.]

[Note 50: /Lucilius/ Ff Lucius Craik.]

[Note 52: /Let Lucius/ Ff Lucilius Craik. /our/ Ff the Rowe.]

[Note 46: /enlarge your griefs:/ enlarge upon your grievances. This use of 'grief' is not unusual in sixteenth century English.]

[Note 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 Caesar, 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."]

[Page 123]

SCENE III. BRUTUS'S tent

Enter BRUTUS and CASSIUS

CASSIUS. That you have wrong'd me doth appear in this: You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella For taking bribes here of the Sardians; Wherein my letters, praying on his side, Because I knew the man, was slighted off. 5

[Note: SCENE III Pope Rowe omits. BRUTUS'S tent Hanmer Ff omit.]

[Note: Enter BRUTUS ... Capell Manet Brutus ... F1 Manent ... F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 4-5: /letters ... man, was/ Letters ... man was F1 letter ... man, was, F2 F3 F4 letters ... man, were Malone.]

[Note: 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.]

[Note 1: "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.]

[Note 2: /noted:/ marked with a stigma. North thus uses the word. See quotation from Marcus Brutus on following page, l. 3.]

[Note 3: "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.]

[Note 5: /was./ The verb is attracted into the singular by the nearest substantive.—/slighted off/: contemptuously set aside.]

[Page 124]

BRUTUS. You wrong'd yourself to write in such a case.

CASSIUS. In such a time as this it is not meet That every nice offence should bear his comment.

BRUTUS. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm, 10 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.

BRUTUS. The name of Cassius honours this corruption, And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. 16

[Note 6: /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, Sect. 356.]

[Note 8: /nice:/ foolish, trifling.—/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 Caesar" 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.]

[Page 125]

CASSIUS. Chastisement!

BRUTUS. Remember March, the Ides of March remember: Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake? What villain touch'd his body, that did stab, 20 And not for justice? 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, And sell the mighty space of our large honours 25 For so much trash as may be grasped thus? I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman.

CASSIUS. Brutus, bait not me; I'll not endure it. You forget yourself, To hedge me in; I am a soldier, I, 30 Older in practice, abler than yourself To make conditions.

[Note 27: /bay/ F1 baite F2 bait F3 F4.]

[Note 28: /bait/ F3 F4 baite F1 F2 bay Theobald Delius Staunton.]

[Note 30: /I/, Ff ay, Steevens.]

[Note 18: "Brutus in contrary manner answered that he should remember the Ides of March, at which time they slew Julius Caesar, who neither pilled[A] nor polled[B] 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 Caesar's friends to have robbed and done what wrong and injury they had would[C] than to bear with their own men."—Plutarch, Marcus Brutus.]

[Note A: i.e. robbed, pillaged.]

[Note B: i.e. taxed, spoiled.]

[Note C: i.e. wished (to do).]

[Note 20-21: "Who was such a villain of those who touched his body that he stabbed from any other motive than justice?"—Clar.]

[Note 28-32: "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.]

[Page 126]

BRUTUS. Go to; you are not, Cassius.

CASSIUS. I am.

BRUTUS. I say you are not.

CASSIUS. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself; 35 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? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares? 40

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? Must I observe you? must I stand and crouch 45 Under your testy humour? By the gods, You shall digest the venom of your spleen, Though it do split you; for, from this day forth, I'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, When you are waspish.

[Note 32: /Go to/ Go too F1. /not, Cassius/ Hanmer not Cassius Ff.]

[Note 44: /budge/ F4 bouge F1 boudge F2 F3.]

[Note 48: /Though/ F1 Thought F2.]

[Note 32: 'Go to' is a phrase of varying import, sometimes of reproof, sometimes of encouragement. 'Go till' is its earliest form.]

[Note 45: /observe:/ treat with ceremonious respect or reverence.]

[Note 47: 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.]

[Page 127]

CASSIUS. Is it come to this? 50

BRUTUS. You say you are a better soldier: 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 men.

CASSIUS. You wrong me every way; you wrong me, Brutus; 55 I said an elder soldier, not a better: Did I say 'better'?

BRUTUS. If you did, I care not.

CASSIUS. When Caesar liv'd, he durst not thus have mov'd me.

BRUTUS. Peace, peace! you durst not so have tempted him.

CASSIUS. I durst not! 60

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.

[Note 54: /noble/ Ff abler Collier.]

[Note 55: Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 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 quaestor 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.]

[Page 128]

BRUTUS. You have done that you should be sorry for. 65 There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats; 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 For certain sums of gold, which you denied me: 70 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 By any indirection. I did send 75 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, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 80 Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts, Dash him to pieces!

[Note 75: /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.]

[Note 80: The omission of the conjunction 'as' before expressions denoting result is a common usage in Shakespeare.—/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."]

[Page 129]

CASSIUS. I denied you not.

BRUTUS. You did.

CASSIUS. I did not: he was but a fool that brought My answer back. Brutus hath riv'd my heart: 85 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.

CASSIUS. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 90

BRUTUS. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus.

[Note 84: /that brought/ Ff give to l. 85.]

[Note 82-83: "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.]

[Page 130]

CASSIUS. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, For Cassius is a-weary of the world; 95 Hated by one he loves; brav'd 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 My spirit from mine eyes! There is my dagger, 100 And here my naked breast; within, a heart Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold: If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth; I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart: Strike, as thou didst at Caesar; for I know, 105 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. O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb 110 That carries anger as the flint bears fire; 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, When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him? 115

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?

[Note 102: /Plutus'/ Pope Pluto's Ff.]

[Note 96: /brav'd:/ defied. The verb connotes bluster and bravado.]

[Note 102: 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.]

[Note 109: Whatever dishonorable thing you may do, I will set it down to the caprice of the moment.—/humour./ See note, p. 60, l. 250.]

[Note 111-113: 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.]

[Page 131]

CASSIUS. Have not you love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour which my mother gave me 120 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.

POET. [Within] Let me go in to see the generals; There is some grudge between 'em; 'tis not meet 125 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

CASSIUS. How now! what's the matter?

POET. For shame, you generals! what do you mean? 130 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 doth this cynic rhyme!

[Note 123: Enter a Poet Ff.]

[Note 124, 127, 128: [Within] Ff omit.]

[Note 129: Enter Poet ... LUCIUS Camb Globe Enter Poet, followed by Lucilius and Titinius Dyce Enter Poet Theobald Ff omit.]

[Note 133: /vilely/ F4 vildely F1 F2 vildly F3. doth Ff does Capell.]

[Note 129-133: "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:

My lords, I pray you hearken both to me, For I have seen mo years than suchie three.

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.]

[Page 132]

BRUTUS. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence!

CASSIUS. Bear with him, Brutus; 'tis his fashion. 135

BRUTUS. I'll know his humour, when he knows his time: What should the wars do with these jigging fools? Companion, hence!

CASSIUS. Away, away, be gone! [Exit Poet]

BRUTUS. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 140

CASSIUS. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you Immediately to us. [Exeunt LUCILIUS and TITINIUS]

BRUTUS. Lucius, a bowl of wine! [Exit LUCIUS]

CASSIUS. I did not think you could have been so angry.

BRUTUS. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs.

CASSIUS. Of your philosophy you make no use, 145 If you give place to accidental evils.

[Note 139: Scene IV Pope.—Enter Lucil. and Titin. Rowe.]

[Note 142: [Exeunt ...] Rowe Ff omit. [Exit Lucius] Capell Ff omit.]

[Note 137: /jigging:/ moving rhythmically, rhyming. So in the Prologue to Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great:

From jigging veins of rhyming mother wits, And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay.]

[Note 138: 'Companion' was often used contemptuously. Cf. Coriolanus, IV, v, 14; V, ii, 65. Cf. the way 'fellow' is often used to-day.]

[Note 145: 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.]

[Page 133]

BRUTUS. No man bears sorrow better. Portia is dead.

CASSIUS. Ha! Portia!

BRUTUS. She is dead.

CASSIUS. How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so? 150 O insupportable and touching loss! Upon what sickness?

BRUTUS. Impatient of my absence, And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony Have made themselves so strong,—for with her death That tidings came,—with this she fell distract, 155 And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire.

CASSIUS. And died so?

BRUTUS. Even so.

CASSIUS. O ye immortal gods!

[Note 152: 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.]

[Note 155: /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, Sect. 342.]

[Note 156: 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.]

[Page 134]

Re-enter LUCIUS, with wine and taper

BRUTUS. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. [Drinks]

CASSIUS. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge. 160 Fill Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup; I cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. [Drinks]

BRUTUS. Come in, Titinius! [Exit LUCIUS]

Re-enter TITINIUS, with MESSALA

Welcome, good Messala. Now sit we close about this taper here, And call in question our necessities. 165

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, Bending their expedition toward Philippi. 170

MESSALA. Myself have letters of the selfsame tenour.

BRUTUS. With what addition?

[Note 158: Re-enter LUCIUS, ... taper Camb Enter Boy ... Tapers Ff.]

[Note 162: [Drinks] Capell Ff omit.]

[Note 163: [Exit LUCIUS] Camb Ff omit. Scene V Pope. Re-enter TITINIUS, with ... Dyce Enter Titinius and ... Ff (after l. 162)]

[Note 171: /tenour/ Theobald tenure Ff.]

[Note 173: /outlawry/ F4 Outlarie F1 Outlary F2 F3.]

[Note 165: /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.]

[Note 170: /Bending their expedition:/ directing their march. Cf. 'expedition' in this sense in Richard III, IV, iv, 136.]

[Page 135]

MESSALA. That by proscription and bills of outlawry, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, Have put to death an hundred senators. 175

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, And by that order of proscription 180 Had you your letters from your wife, my lord?

BRUTUS. No, Messala.

MESSALA. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her?

BRUTUS. Nothing, Messala.

MESSALA. That, methinks, is strange.

BRUTUS. Why ask you? hear you aught of her in yours?

MESSALA. No, my lord. 186

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.

[Note 179-180: Cicero is ... proscription One line in Ff.]

[Note 185: Two lines in Ff. /aught/ Theobald ought Ff.]

[Note 179: "These three, Octavius Caesar, 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.]

[Note 183: Both 'nor nothing' and 'writ' survive to-day as vulgarisms.]

[Note 184: /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.]

[Page 136]

BRUTUS. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala: With meditating that she must die once, 191 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 as you, But yet my nature could not bear it so. 195

BRUTUS. Well, to our work alive. What do you think Of marching to Philippi presently?

CASSIUS. I do not think it good.

BRUTUS. Your reason?

CASSIUS. This it is: 'Tis better that the enemy seek us: So shall he waste his means, weary his soldiers, 200 Doing himself offence; whilst we, lying still, Are full of rest, defence, and nimbleness.

[Note 191: /once/: at some time or other. So in The Merry Wives of Windsor, III, iv, 103:

I thank thee; and I pray thee, once to-night Give my sweet Nan this ring.]

[Note 194: /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.]

[Note 196: /work alive:/ work in which we have to do with the living.]

[Note 197: /presently:/ at once. See note, p. 82, l. 28.]

[Page 137]

BRUTUS. Good reasons must of force give place to better. The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground Do stand but in a forc'd affection, 205 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, and encourag'd; From which advantage shall we cut him off 210 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, Our legions are brim-full, our cause is ripe: 215 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; Omitted, all the voyage of their life 220 Is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat; And we must take the current when it serves, Or lose our ventures.

[Note 209: /new-added/ new added Ff.]

[Note 224: /lose/ Rowe loose Ff.]

[Note 203: /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.]

[Note 209: /new-added:/ re-enforced. Singer suggested 'new aided.']

[Note 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.]

[Note 224: /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.]

[Page 138]

CASSIUS. Then, with your will, go on; We'll along ourselves, and meet them at Philippi. 225

BRUTUS. The deep of night is crept upon our talk, And nature must obey necessity; Which we will niggard with a little rest. There is no more to say?

CASSIUS. No more. Good night: Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence. 230

BRUTUS. Lucius! [Re-enter LUCIUS] My gown. [Exit LUCIUS]. 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: Never come such division 'tween our souls! 235 Let it not, Brutus.

BRUTUS. Every thing is well.

CASSIUS. Good night, my lord.

BRUTUS. Good night, good brother.

TITINIUS.} Good night, Lord Brutus. MESSALA. }

BRUTUS. Farewell, every one. [Exeunt CASSIUS, TITINIUS, and MESSALA]

[Note 231: BRUTUS. /Lucius!/ [Re-enter LUCIUS] My Camb Enter Lucius Bru. Lucius my Ff.]

[Note 231: [Exit LUCIUS] Ff omit.]

[Note 238: [Exeunt CASSIUS ...] Capell Exeunt Ff.]

[Note 228: /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.]

[Page 139]

Re-enter LUCIUS, with the gown

Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument?

LUCIUS. Here in the tent.

BRUTUS. What, thou speak'st drowsily? Poor knave, I blame thee not; thou art o'er-watch'd. 241 Call Claudius and some other of my men; I'll have them sleep on cushions in my tent.

LUCIUS. Varro and Claudius!

Enter VARRO and CLAUDIUS

VARRO. Calls my lord? 245

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.

BRUTUS. I will not have it so: lie down, good sirs; 250 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.

[VARRO and CLAUDIUS lie down]

[Note: Re-enter LUCIUS, ... Capell Enter Lucius ... Ff (after Brutus, l. 236).]

[Note 242, 244, etc.: /Claudius/ Rowe Claudio Ff.]

[Note 244, 289: /Varro/ Rowe Varrus Ff.]

[Note 245: Scene VI Pope. Enter VARRO and CLAUDIUS Rowe Enter Varrus and Claudio Ff.]

[Note 253: [VARRO and ...] Ff omit.]

[Note 241: /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.—/o'er-watch'd:/ worn out with keeping awake. So in King Lear, II, ii, 177. Cf. 'o'ershot' in III, ii, 150.]

[Note 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.]

[Page 140]

LUCIUS. I was sure your lordship did not give it me.

BRUTUS. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, 256 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.

LUCIUS. It is my duty, sir. 260

BRUTUS. I should not urge thy duty past thy might; I know young bloods look for a time of rest.

LUCIUS. I have slept, my lord, already.

[Note 262: /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."]

[Page 141]

BRUTUS. It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again; I will not hold thee long: if I do live, 265 I will be good to thee. [Music, and a song] This is a sleepy tune. O murderous slumber, Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, That plays thee music? Gentle knave, good night; I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee: 270 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.

Enter the Ghost of CAESAR

How ill this taper burns! Ha! who comes here? 275 I think it is the weakness of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous apparition. It comes upon me. Art thou any thing? Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare? 280 Speak to me what thou art.

[Note 267: /murderous slumber/ Murd'rous slumbler F1.]

[Note 274: [Sits down] Camb.]

[Note 275: Scene VII Pope.]

[Note 267: /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.]

[Note 268: /thy leaden mace./ Upton quotes from Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, iv, 44:

But whenas Morpheus had with leaden mace Arrested all that courtly company.

Shakespeare uses 'mace' both as 'scepter,' Henry V, IV, i, 278, and as 'a staff of office,' 2 Henry VI, IV, vii, 144.]

[Note 269: 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."]

[Note 275: 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."]

[Note 277: /this monstrous apparition./ "Above all, the ghost that appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended with the murder of Caesar. 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 Caesar.]

[Note 280: /stare:/ stand on end. 'To be stiff, rigid, fixed' is the primary idea. Cf. The Tempest, I, ii, 213; Hamlet, I, v, 16-20.]

[Page 142]

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?

GHOST. Ay, at Philippi. 285

BRUTUS. Why, I will see thee at Philippi then.

[Exit Ghost]

Now I have taken heart thou vanishest: Ill spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. Boy, Lucius! Varro! Claudius! Sirs, awake! Claudius! 290

[Note 286: [Exit Ghost] Ff omit.]

[Note 287: 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 Caesar, naturally awakens remorse.]

[Page 143]

LUCIUS. The strings, my lord, are false.

BRUTUS. He thinks he still is at his instrument. Lucius, awake!

LUCIUS. My lord?

BRUTUS. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out? 295

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! [To VARRO] Fellow thou, awake! 300

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. No, my lord, I saw nothing.

CLAUDIUS. Nor I, my lord. 305

BRUTUS. Go and commend me to my brother Cassius; Bid him set on his powers betimes before, 307 And we will follow.

VARRO. } CLAUDIUS.} It shall be done, my lord. [Exeunt]

[Note 300: [To VARRO] Globe Camb Ff omit.]

[Note 304, 308: VARRO, CLAUDIUS Both Ff.]

[Note 291: /false:/ out of tune. A charming touch in this boy study.]

[Note 306: /commend me to:/ greet from me, remember me kindly to.]

[Note 307: /set on:/ cause to advance.—/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.]

[Page 144]



ACT V

SCENE I. The plains of Philippi

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 are at hand; They mean to warn us at Philippi here, 5 Answering before we do demand of them.

ANTONY. Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know Wherefore they do it: they could be content To visit other places, and come down With fearful bravery, thinking by this face 10 To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage; But 'tis not so.

[Note The plains of Philippi: Capell The Fields of Philippi, with the two Camps Rowe Ff omit.]

[Note 4: /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 co-operating, and acting together as one. Cf. 'battle' in l. 16 and 'battles' in V, iii, 108.]

[Note 5: /warn:/ summon to fight. Cf. King John, II, i, 201. In Richard III, I, iii, 39, we have "warn them to his royal presence."]

[Note 7: /am in their bosoms:/ am familiar with their intention.]

[Note 10: /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.']

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Enter a Messenger

MESSENGER. Prepare you, generals: The enemy comes on in gallant show; Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, And something to be done immediately. 15