The New Hudson Shakespeare: Julius Cæsar

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_

Cæsar. The Ides of March are come.

Soothsayer. Ay, Cæsar; but not gone.

Artemidorus. Hail, Cæsar! read this schedule.

Decius. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, At your best leisure, this his humble suit. 5

Artemidorus. O Cæsar, read mine first; for mine's a suit That touches Cæsar nearer: read it, great Cæsar.

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

[Note: _Rome. Before_ ... PUBLIUS, _and others_ Capell (substantially) | Flourish. Enter Cæsar ... Artimedorus, Publius, and the Soothsayer Ff | Ff omit Popilius.]

[Note 3: /schedule/ F3 F4 | Scedule F1 F2.]

[Note 1-2: 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.]

[Note 8: /us ourself./ The plural of modern English royalty transferred to ancient Rome. Another of the famous anachronisms.]

[Page 80]

Artemidorus. Delay not, Cæsar; read it instantly.

Cæsar. What, is the fellow mad?

PUBLIUS. Sirrah, give place. 10

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

CÆSAR _goes up to the Senate-house, the rest following_

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

Cassius. What enterprise, Popilius?

POPILIUS. Fare you well.

[_Advances to_ CÆSAR]

Brutus. What said Popilius Lena? 15

Cassius. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive. I fear our purpose is discovered.

Brutus. Look, how he makes to Cæsar: mark him.

Cassius. Casca, be sudden, for we fear prevention. Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known, 20 Cassius or Cæsar never shall turn back, For I will slay myself.

[Note 13: CÆSAR _goes_ ... | Ff omit.]

[Note 14: _Advances_ ... | Ff omit.]

[Note 9: See quotation from Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_, above, p. 74.]

[Note 12: 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.]

[Note 13: 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, ..."]

[Note 18: /makes to:/ advances to, presses towards.--/mark./ No necessity to pronounce this as dissyllabic. The pause has the effect of a syllable.]

[Page 81]

Brutus. Cassius, be constant: Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes; For, look, he smiles, and Cæsar doth not change.

Cassius. Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus, 25 He draws Mark Antony out of the way.

[_Exeunt_ ANTONY _and_ TREBONIUS]

[Note 26: [_Exeunt_ ANTONY ...] Ff omit.]

[Note 22: /constant:/ firm. So in ll. 60, 72, 73. Cf. II, i, 227, 299; iv, 6.]

[Note 23-26: 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[A] 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[B] 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.]

[Note A: i.e. whispered.]

[Note B: i.e. advise.]

[Page 82]

Decius. Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go, And presently prefer his suit to Cæsar.

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

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

Cæsar. Are we all ready? 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_]

[Note 31: /Are ... ready?/ | Dyce gives to Casca; Ritson (conj.) to Cinna.]

[Note 35: [_Kneeling_] Rowe | Ff omit.]

[Note 28: /presently:/ immediately, at once. So Shakespeare and other Elizabethan writers always use the word. See l. 143; IV, i, 45.]

[Note 29: /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.]

[Page 83]

Cæsar. I must prevent thee, Cimber. 35 These couchings and these lowly courtesies Might fire the blood of ordinary men, And turn pre-ordinance and first decree Into the law of children. Be not fond, To think that Cæsar bears such rebel blood 40 That will be thaw'd from the true quality With that which melteth fools, I mean, sweet words, Low-crooked curtsies, and base spaniel-fawning. Thy brother by decree is banished: If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, 45 I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, nor without cause Will he be satisfied.

[Note 36: /courtesies/ F1 | curtsies F4.]

[Note 39: /law/ | lane Ff.]

[Note 43: /Low-crooked curtsies/ | Low-crooked-curtsies Ff.--/spaniel-fawning/ Johnson | Spaniell fawning F1.]

[Note 36: /couchings:/ stoopings. 'Couch' is used in the sense of 'bend' or 'stoop' as under a burden, in Spenser, _The Faerie Queene_, III, i, 4:

An aged Squire there rode, That seemd to couch under his shield three-square.

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!"]

[Note 38: /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.]

[Note 39: /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.']

[Note 39-40: /Be not fond, To think:/ be not so foolish as to think.]

[Note 47-48: 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:

Metellus. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong.

Cæsar. Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, but with just cause, Nor without cause will he be satisfied.

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.]

[Page 84]

Metellus. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, To sound more sweetly in great Cæsar's ear 50 For the repealing 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!

Cassius. Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon: As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, 56 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: But I am constant as the northern star, 60 Of whose true-fix'd 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; But there's but one in all doth hold his place: 65 So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men, And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; Yet in the number I do know but one That unassailable holds on his rank, Unshak'd of motion: and that I am he, 70 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. 73

[Note 61: /true-fix'd/ | true fixt Ff.]

[Note 51: /repealing:/ recall. So 'repeal' in l. 54. Often so in Shakespeare.]

[Note 59: If I could seek to move, or change, others by prayers, then I were capable of being myself moved by the prayers of others.]

[Note 67: /apprehensive:/ capable of apprehending, intelligent.]

[Note 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.]

[Page 85]

Cinna. O Cæsar,--

Cæsar. Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus?

Decius. Great Cæsar,--

Cæsar. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel?

Casca. Speak, hands, for me! [_They stab Cæsar_]

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

[Note 75: /Doth not/ F1 | Do not F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 77: [_Dies_] _Dyes_ F1 | F2 F3 F4 omit.]

[Note 75: The 'Do not' of the three later Folios was adopted by Johnson because Marcus Brutus would not have knelt.]

[Note 76: 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."]

[Note 77: /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."]

[Page 86]

Cinna. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.

Cassius. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out, 80 'Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement!'

[Note 80: /common pulpits:/ rostra, the public platforms in the Forum.]

[Note 81: 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!"]

[Page 87]

Brutus. People, and senators, be not affrighted; Fly not; stand still: ambition's debt is paid.

Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus.

Decius. And Cassius too. 85

Brutus. Where's Publius?

Cinna. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny.

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

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

Brutus. Do so; and let no man abide this deed 95 But we the doers.

_Re-enter_ TREBONIUS

Cassius. Where is Antony?

Trebonius. Fled to his house amaz'd. Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run As it were doomsday.

[Note 97: Scene II Pope.--_Re-enter_ ... Capell | Enter ... Ff.]

[Note 82-83: "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_.]

[Note 95: /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.]

[Note 97: "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_.]

[Note 98: "When the murder was newly done, there were sudden outcries of people that ran up and down."--Plutarch, _Marcus Brutus_.]

[Page 88]

Brutus. Fates, we will know your pleasures: That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time, 100 And drawing days out, that men stand upon.

Casca. 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: So we are Cæsar's friends, that have abridg'd 105 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, And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads, 110 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 unborn and accents yet unknown!

[Note 102: CASCA | Cask. Ff | Cas. Pope Camb Globe.]

[Note 114: /states/ F2 F3 F4 | State F1.]

[Note 101: /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.]

[Note 102-103: 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.]

[Page 89]

Brutus. How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport, 115 That now on Pompey's basis lies along No worthier than the dust!

Cassius. 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. Ay, every man away: 120 Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.

_Enter a_ Servant

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

[Note 115: BRUTUS | Casc. Pope.]

[Note 116: /lies/ F3 F4 | lye F1.]

[Note 117: /CASSIUS/ | Bru. Pope.]

[Note 116: "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_.]

[Note 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."]

[Note 122: /most boldest./ See Abbott, § 11. So in III, ii, 182.]

[Note 123: /_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.]

[Page 90]

Servant. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel; Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down; 125 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; Say I fear'd Cæsar, honour'd him, and lov'd him. 130 If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony May safely come to him, and be resolv'd How Cæsar hath deserv'd to lie in death, Mark Antony shall not love Cæsar dead So well as Brutus living; but will follow 135 The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus Thorough the hazards of this untrod state With all true faith. So says my master Antony.

Brutus. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman; I never thought him worse. 140 Tell him, so please him come 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.

Cassius. I wish we may: but yet have I a mind 145 That fears him much, and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose.

[Note 132: /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.]

[Note 137: /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.]

[Note 141: /so please him come/: provided that it please him to come. 'So' is used with the future and subjunctive to denote 'provided that.']

[Note 146-147: /still Falls shrewdly to the purpose/: always comes cleverly near the mark. See Skeat under 'shrewd' and 'shrew.']

[Page 91]

_Re-enter_ ANTONY

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

Antony. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 150 Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well! I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, Who else must be let blood, who else is rank: If I myself, there is no hour so fit As Cæsar's death's hour, nor no instrument 155 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, Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years, 160 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, The choice and master spirits of this age.

[Note 148: Scene III Pope.--Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 153: /be let blood:/ be put to death. So in _Richard III_, III, i, 183.--/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."]

[Note 160: /Live:/ if I live. Cf. _The Merchant of Venice_, III, ii, 61.]

[Note 163: In this line /'by'/ is used (1) in the sense of 'near,' 'beside,' and (2) in its ordinary sense to denote agency.]

[Page 92]

Brutus. O Antony, beg not your death of us. 165 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: Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful; 170 And pity to the general wrong of Rome-- As fire drives out fire, so pity pity-- Hath done this deed on Cæsar. For your part, To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony: Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts 175 Of brothers' temper, do receive you in With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.

Cassius. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of new dignities.

[Note 172: 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.]

[Note 175: /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.]

[Note 178-179: 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.]

[Page 93]

Brutus. Only be patient till we have appeas'd 180 The multitude, beside themselves with fear, And then we will deliver you the cause Why I, that did love Cæsar when I struck him, Have thus proceeded.

Antony. I doubt not of your wisdom. Let each man render me his bloody hand: 185 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; Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 190 Gentlemen all,--alas, what shall I say? My credit now stands on such slippery ground, That one of two bad ways you must conceit me, Either a coward or a flatterer. That I did love thee, Cæsar, O, 'tis true: 195 If, then, thy spirit look upon us now, Shall it not grieve thee dearer than thy death, To see thy Antony making his peace, Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes, Most noble! in the presence of thy corse? 200 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. Pardon me, Julius! Here wast thou bay'd, brave hart; 205 Here didst thou fall, and here thy hunters stand, Sign'd in thy spoil and crimson'd in thy lethe. O world, thou wast the forest to this hart; And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee. How like a deer, strucken by many princes, 210 Dost thou here lie!

[Note 183: /struck/ | strooke F1 F2 | strook F3 F4.]

[Note 184: /wisdom/ F3 F4 | Wisedome F1 F2.]

[Note 205: /hart/ F1 | Heart F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 207: /lethe/ | Lethe F2 F3 F4 | Lethee F1 | death Pope.]

[Note 209: /heart/ Theobald | hart Ff.]

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

[Note 181: "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_.]

[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. "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_.]

[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 Cæsar shall say this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.

Cassius. I blame you not for praising Cæsar 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 Cæsar. 220 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: Our reasons are so full of good regard 225 That, were you, Antony, the son of Cæsar, 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 Cæsar's death: What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission, 240 And that we are contented Cæsar 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 Cæsar's body. 245 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 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 Cæsar'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, § 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 Cæsar, do you not?

Servant. I do, Mark Antony.

Antony. Cæsar 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 Cæsar! [_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_ CÆSAR'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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar's, to him I say that Brutus' love to Cæsar was no less than his. If then that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my 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 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar 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, § 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_ CÆSAR'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 Cæsar.

4 CITIZEN. Cæsar'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 Cæsar'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 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_.]

[Page 103]

Brutus. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, 55 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, 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 Cæsar 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 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_.[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 Cæsar, 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 Cæsar. The noble Brutus Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious: If it were so, it was a grievous fault, And grievously hath Cæsar 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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar seem ambitious? 90 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. 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 Cæsar, 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: 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.]

[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, Cæsar 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:

"Cæsar has had great wrong.

3 PLEB. Cæsar 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar; 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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar's will.

Antony. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it; It is not meet you know how Cæsar lov'd you. 141 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. '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, Cæsar'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 Cæsar; 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 Cæsar, 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar's angel: 180 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, 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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here, 195 Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors.

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

[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 Cæsar!

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 Cæsar'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 Cæsar, 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.]

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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 Cæsar 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 Cæsar's seal. To every Roman citizen he gives, 240 To every several man, seventy-five drachmas.

[Note 239: "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_.]

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

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

3 CITIZEN. O royal Cæsar!

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 Cæsar! 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, 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.]

[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 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_.]

[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.]

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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 Cæsar'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_, 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. 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.]

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Scene Iii. _A street_

_Enter_ CINNA _the poet_

Cinna. I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Cæsar, 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 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_.--/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.]

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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 Cæsar'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, § 230.]

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

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