/y4>-^-'=^i^„2
 
 Brutus : " Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, 
 
 That male' St my blood cold, and my hair to stare ? " 
 
 Julius Cesar Act I'V Scene 3
 
 Copyright, 1901 
 
 By 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY
 
 COLLEGl 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE /\ Z 
 
 TRAGEDY OF JULIUS CAESAR. 1^,0 f 
 
 Preface. 
 
 The First Edition. Julius Cccsar was first published 
 in the Foho of 1623. It was printed with exceptional 
 care, and its text is so accurate, that (as the Cambridge 
 editors rightly observe) it may perhaps have been printed 
 from the original manuscript of the author. In this re- 
 spect it contrasts strongly with the play preceding it in the 
 Folio, the tragedy of Timon of Athens. It would seem 
 that the printing of Julius Ccesar was proceeded with be- 
 fore the Editors had procured the copy of Timon {vide 
 Preface to " Timon "). 
 
 The play is mentioned in the Stationers' Registers, un- 
 der date of Nov. 8, 1623, as one of sixteen plays not pre- 
 viously entered to other men. 
 
 The Source of the Plot. Shakespeare derived his ma- 
 terials for Julius Cccsar from Sir Thomas North's famous 
 translation of Plutarch's '' Lives of the Noble Grecians 
 and Romans,'' and more especially from the Lives of 
 Caesar, Brutus, and Antony. In this play, as in the case 
 of Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra, it is impossible 
 to over-estimate Shakespeare's debt to North's monu- 
 mental version of the work which has been described as 
 *' most sovereign in its dominion over the minds of great 
 men in all ages." In Julius Cccsar, as in the other Roman 
 plays, the dramatist has often borrowed North's very ex- 
 pressions, "'•■' while " of the incident there is almost nothing 
 
 * One example will sufifice to show the correspondence of the 
 verse and prose : —
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 which he does not owe to Plutarch." Nevertheless, a 
 comparison of the play with its original reveals the poet's 
 transforming power; he has thrown "a rich mantle of 
 poetry over all, which is not wholly his own." * 
 
 The literary history of North's book is briefly sum- 
 marized on its title-page : — " The Lives of the Noble Gre- 
 cians, compared together by that grave learned philosopher 
 and historiographer Plutarke of Ch.^ronia, translated 
 out of Greek into French by James Amyot, Abbot of Bel- 
 lozane, Bishop of Auxerre, one of the King's Privy Coun- 
 cil, and great Aniner of France, and nozi^ out of French 
 into English by Thomas North. 1759." t 
 
 Specially noteworthy is Shakespeare's compression of 
 the action, for the purposes of dramatic representation, 
 e.g. (i.) Caesar's triumph is made coincident with the 
 Lu per c alia (historically it was celebrated six months be- 
 
 "/ dare assure thee that no enemy 
 Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus: 
 The gods defend him from so great a shame! 
 When you do iind him, or alive or dead, 
 He will be found like Bruius, like himself." 
 
 (V: iv. 21-25.) 
 Cp. "I dare assure thee, that no enemy hath taken or shall 
 take Marcus Brutus alive, and I beseech God keep him from that 
 fortune; for zuheresoever he be found, alive or dead, he will be 
 found like Jiimself." — (North's Life of Brutus.) 
 
 * Vide Trench's Lectures on Plutarch (pp. 64-66). 
 t The best modern edition is that now in course of publication 
 in Mr. Nutt's " Tudor Translations " ; Vol. I. contains an excel- 
 lent introductory study by Mr. Wyndham. 
 
 Prof. Skeat's Shakespeare's Plutarch (Macmillan) is a valuable 
 and handy book for students. 
 
 It is impossible to say which edition of North's Plutarch was 
 used by Shakespeare: new editions appeared in 1595, 1603, and 
 1612. As far as Julius Ccusar is concerned the choice is limited 
 to the first and second editions. The Greenock 1612 edition, with 
 the initials W. S. and with some suggestive notes in the Life of 
 Julius Cccsar, was certainly not used for the present play {vide 
 Preface to Coriolanus).
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Preface 
 
 fore) ; (ii.) the combination of the two battles of Philippi 
 (the interval of twenty days being ignored) ; (iii.) the 
 murder, the funeral orations, and the arrival of Octavius, 
 are made to take place on the same day (not so actually). 
 Again, Shakespeare departs from Plutarch in making 
 the Capitol the scene of the murder, instead of the Curia 
 Pompciana. In this point, however, he follows a literary 
 tradition, which is already founded in Chaucer's Monk's 
 Tale :— 
 
 "In the Capitol anon him henfe (i.e. seized) 
 This false Brutus, and his other foon, 
 And stikked him with bodekins anoon 
 / With many a wound, and thus they let him lie." 
 
 (It will be remembered that Polonius in his student- 
 days " did enact Julius Caesar," " / zvas killed i' the Capi- 
 tol; Brutus killed me." " It zvas a brute part" observed 
 Hamlet, '' to kill so capital a calf there," Hamlet, III. ii. 
 108-110.) 
 
 The Date of Composition. Perhaps the most valuable 
 piece of external evidence for the date of Julius Cccsar is 
 to be found in Weever's Mirror of Martyrs, printed in 
 1601 ; the following lines are obviously a direct reference 
 to the present play : — 
 
 "■' The many-headed multitude zvere drazvn 
 
 By Brutus' speech, that Cccsar was ambitious. 
 When eloquent Mark Anionic had shewn 
 His virtues, who but Brutus then was vicious?" 
 
 Similarly, Drayton's Barons' Wars — a revised version 
 made before 1603 of his Mortimeriados, 1596 — contains 
 what may possibly have been a reminiscence of Shake- 
 speare's famous lines : — 
 
 "" His life was gentle and the elements 
 So mixed in him," etc.* 
 
 * It is remarkable that the 1619 edition of The Barons' Wars, 
 containing a further revision of the passage, comes very near in- 
 deed to the passage in Shakespeare, e.g. :—
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 This external evidence, pointing to circa 1601 as the 
 date of the play, is borne out by general considerations of 
 style and versification.* The paucity of light-endings 
 and weak-endings (10 of the former, and none of the lat- 
 ter) contrasts with the large number found in the other 
 Roman plays (71 and 28, respectively, in Antony; 60 and 
 44 in Coriolaniis). 
 
 An interesting suggestion connects Julius Ccrsar with 
 the political affairs of 1601, to wit, Essex' reckless con- 
 spiracy. It is probably saying too much to make the play 
 a political manifesto, but the subject would certainly 
 " come home to the ears and hearts of a London audience 
 of 1601, after the favourite's outbreak against his sov- 
 ereign. * Et fit Brute!' would mean more to them than 
 to us" (Dr. Furnivall, Academy, Sept. 18, 1875). 
 
 Julius Caesar and Hamlet. Brutus and Hamlet are, as 
 it were, twin-brothers, — idealists forced to take a promi- 
 nent part in the world of action, when they would fain 
 
 ''As tJiat it seemed, when Nature him began 
 She meant to show all that might be a man." 
 * Mr. Fleay thinks that the present form of the play belongs to 
 the year 1607, and that it represents an abridgement of a fuller 
 play ; hence " the paucity of rhymes, the number of short lines, 
 and the brevity of the play." The same critic holds that Ben 
 Jonson abridged the play, " Shakespeare and Jonson probably 
 worked together on Scjanus in 1602-3. He having helped Jon- 
 son then in a historical play, what more likely than that Jonson 
 should be chosen to remodel Shakespeare's Caesar, if it needed to 
 be reproduced in a shorter form than he gave it originally? And 
 for such reproduction (after Shakespeare's death, between 1616 
 and 1623) to what author would such work of abridgement have 
 been entrusted except Shakespeare's critical friend Jonson? 
 Fletcher would have enlarged, not shortened " {cp. Shakespeare 
 Manual, pp. 262-270). But would the learned Jonson have per- 
 mitted such errors as " Decius " Brutus, and the like? The stu- 
 dent should contrast the archseologically " correct," but lifeless, 
 Sejanus, with Shakespeare's living characters infused with the 
 Roman spirit.
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Preface 
 
 contemplate the actions of others ; action brings ruin alike 
 to the reckless philosopher and to the irresolute blood- 
 avenger. Shakespeare recognised the kinship of the two 
 characters, and it would seem, from internal evidence, that 
 his mind was busy with the two conceptions at about the 
 same time. Polonius, as has already been pointed out, 
 prides himself on his personation of Julius Ccusar, while 
 at the University ; Horatio, who is " more an antique 
 Roman than a Dane," sees in the apparition of " the buried 
 majesty of Denmark " the precurse of fierce events, even 
 as 
 
 ''In the most high and palmy state of Rome, 
 A little ere the mightiest Julius fell, 
 The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead 
 Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets"; 
 
 Hamlet, in the graveyard, moralises on " Imperious 
 Ccesar, dead and turned to dust " ; when the King, watch- 
 ing ' the poison of deep grief ' in poor Ophelia, reproaches 
 himself for having done but greenly " in hugger-mugger " 
 to inter her father, who can doubt that the strange phrase 
 is a reminiscence of North's Life of Brutus? * 
 
 The Speech of Brutus. If, as is most probable, Julius 
 Ccesar preceded Hamlet, it is not altogether surprising to 
 find in the latter play these striking references to the 
 former subject. It would, however, prove a matter of 
 greater interest and importance were we to discover in 
 Julius Ccesar some direct connexion with the subject of 
 Hamlet. The present writer ventures to think he may 
 have found some such connexion. Brutus' famous ad- 
 dress to the assembled Romans (III. ii.) has an irresistible 
 fascination for the student of the play. Its curtness is 
 said to be in imitation of the speaker's " famed laconic 
 brevity," v\'hereof Shakespeare found a vivid account in 
 
 * "Antony thinking good that Ccesar' s body should be honour- 
 ably buried, and not in hugger-mugger." 
 
 5
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 North's Life of Brutus,'^ but one looks in vain for any 
 suggestion of the speech in any of the Lives.] 
 
 The original of the speech, according to the theory here 
 hazarded, is perhaps to be found in Belleforest's History 
 of Hamlet. Chapter VI. (in the earliest extant English 
 version) tells, '' Hozv Hamlet, having slain his Uncle, and 
 burnt his Palace, made an Oration to the Danes to shew 
 them ivJiat he had done'' ; &c. The situation of Hamlet 
 is almost identical with that of Brutus after he has dealt 
 the blow, and the burden of Hamlet's too lengthy speech 
 finds an echo in Brutus' sententious utterance. The ver- 
 bose iteration of the Dane has been compressed to suit 
 " the brief compendious manner of speech of the Lace- 
 daemonians." ;j; 
 
 * " When the war began he wrote unto the Pergamenians in 
 this sort : ' I understand you have given Dolahella money ; if you 
 have done so willingly, you confess you have offended me ; if 
 against your wills, shew it then by giving m.e willingly.' Another 
 time again unto the Samians : * Your councils be long, your 
 doings be slow, consider the end' " {Life of Brutus). 
 
 t Similarly, no direct source for Antony's speech to the citizens 
 (III. ii.) is to be found in Plutarch. It is just possible that a 
 few bare hints were derived from Appian's History of the Civil 
 War, which had been translated, from Greek, into English be- 
 fore 1578. 
 
 1 1 draw attention to the following sentences taken at random 
 from the English translation (dated 1608), without entering into 
 the question of Shakespeare's acquaintance with Belleforest in 
 the original French (vide Preface to Hamlet): — "If there be 
 any among you, good people of Denmark, that as yet have fresh 
 within your memories the wrong done to the valiant King Hor- 
 vendile, let him not be moved, etc. ... If there be any man 
 that affecteth fidelity ... let him not be ashamed beholding 
 this massacre. . . . The hand that hath done this justice 
 could not affect it by any other means. . . . And what mad 
 man is he that delighteth more in the tyranny of Fengon than in 
 the clemency and renewed courtesy of Horvendile? And what 
 man is he, that having any spark of wisdom, etc. I perceive you 
 are attentive, and abashed for not knowing the author of your 
 
 6
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Preface 
 
 References to Julius Caesar in Shakespeare's Notes. 
 
 Scattered throughout the plays there are many other strik- 
 ing references to " mighty C£esar." The following is a 
 fairly full list of the more important allusions : — As You 
 Like It (Y. ii. 34-35) ; 2 Henry IV. (I. i. 20-24; IV. iii. 
 45-46) ; Henry V. (Chorus Act V.) ; i Henry VI. (1. i. 
 55-56; I. ii. 138-139) ; 2 Henry VI. (IV. i. 136-138; IV. 
 vii. 65) ; 3 Henry [7. (V. v. 53) ; Richard III. (III. i. 
 69) ; Measure for Measure (III. ii. 45-46) ; Cyinbeline 
 (II. iv. 20-23 ; III- i- 49-52). The catastrophe of the play 
 finds, of course, its real culmination in the tragedy of An- 
 tony and Cleopatra ; two direct allusions to Julius Ccesar 
 are noteworthy: — Act II. vi. 14-18, Act III. ii. 53-56. 
 Observe, also, the reference to " Cato's daughter, Brutus' 
 Portia," in Merchant of Venice (I. i. 165-166). 
 
 Duration of Action, The time of Julius Ccesar is six 
 days represented on the stage, with intervals, arranged as 
 follows : — 
 
 Day I, Act I. Sc. i., ii. Interval. Day 2, Act I. Sc. iii. 
 Day 3, Acts II., III. Interval. Day 4, Act IV. Sc. i. 
 Interval. Day 5. Act IV. Sc. ii., iii. Interval. Day 6, 
 Act V. The historical period extends from Caesar's Tri- 
 umph, October, 45 b.c, to the Battle of Philippi, in the 
 autumn of the year 42 b.c. 
 
 Plays on "Julius Caesar." (i.) There is no doubt as 
 to the popularity of the subject of Julius Ccesar on the 
 English stage before the appearance of Shakespeare's play, 
 though it is extremely doubtful whether the latter owes 
 anything to its predecessors, unless it be the phrase " Et 
 tu, Brute," which may indirectly have been derived from 
 Dr. Eedes' play of Ccesar is Interfecti, acted at Oxford in 
 1582. Gosson, in his School of Abuse, 1579, mentions 
 * Ccesar and Pompey ' ; while from Machyn's Diary it is 
 inferred that ' Julius Caesar ' was represented at Whitehall 
 as early as 1562, but this is somewhat doubtful. 
 
 deliverance." (The whole speech should be read in Collier's 
 Reprint of the History of Hamlet, Shakespeare Library.) 
 
 7
 
 Preface THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 According to Henslowe's Diary, " the Tragedy of Ccesar 
 and Pornpey; or Ccesar' s Revenge'' was produced in 1594. 
 
 (ii.) The present play evidently called forth rival pro- 
 ductions, and gave a fresh interest to the subject,* for we 
 find that a play entitled Ccesar' s Fall was, in 1602, being 
 prepared by Munday, Drayton, Webster, Middleton, and 
 others. In 1604 William Alexander, Lord Stirling, pub- 
 lished in Scotland his " Julius Ccesar'' which was re-pub- 
 lished in England some three years later. 
 
 A droll or puppet-show on the same subject is men- 
 tioned by Marston in 1605, and by Jonson in 1609. 
 
 Ccesar s Tragedy acted at Court, loth April, 161 3, was 
 possibly Shakespeare's play {vide Note, supra.) 
 
 (In Fletcher's Maid's Tragedy [circa 1608] the quarrel 
 between Brutus and Cassius is imitated.) 
 
 (iii.) After the publication of the First Folio we have 
 Thomas May's Latin play, 1625, and George Chapman's 
 *' Ccesar and Pompey: a Roman Tragedy, declaring their 
 wars, out of whose events is evicted this proposition that 
 only a just man is a free man." 
 
 (iv.) In 1719 Davenant and Dryden published their al- 
 teration of Shakespeare's play, adapting it to the tastes of 
 their day. To about the same period belongs Voltaire's 
 " Le Brutus," an interesting document illustrative of the 
 slow appreciation of Shakespeare on the Continent ; its 
 introductory essay on ' Tragedy ' is almost as instructive 
 as the text. No play of Shakespeare's has been more 
 popular, and probably none has become more widely 
 known, translated into strangest dialects, so that the words 
 spoken by Cassius have a prophetic significance in a sense 
 other than that intended by their inspired author : — 
 
 ** ^oto manp aoeff f)ence 
 .^ban t\)\i our loftp ?cene be acteb ober 
 %n j^tatej^ unborn anb accent)^ pet unfenoton/' 
 
 * The popularity of Shakespeare's play is in all probability at- 
 tested by Leonard Digges' verses prefixed to the First Folio 
 (1623) :— 
 
 " Or till I hear a scene more nobly take 
 Than when thy half-sword partying Romans spake," etc, 
 
 a
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Critical Comments. 
 I. 
 
 Argument. 
 
 I. Julius Caesar returns victorious from foreign wars 
 and, according to custom, the citizens of Rome escort 
 him in triumph to the Capitol. So overjoyed are they 
 that Mark Antony deems the day propitious to offer him 
 a kingly crown. This is thrice offered and thrice re- 
 fused. But even in the hour of Caesar's greatest triumph 
 forces are at work against him. Cassius has gathered 
 together a band of conspirators, who finally persuade 
 Brutus, a high-minded Roman, to join them, under the 
 belief that the death of Caesar will be for the country's 
 good. 
 
 II. Upon his entry into Rome, Caesar had been 
 w^arned by a soothsayer to '' beware the ides of March." 
 So on the dawn of this portentous day, he is minded to 
 remain at home, especially since his wife has been the 
 victim of ominous dreams. But the conspirators have 
 foreseen his hesitancy and therefore come in a body to 
 urge his attendance at the senate-house. Ashamed of 
 his fears, he yields and goes with them. 
 
 III. Once in the senate-house, the conspirators, un- 
 der guise of presenting a petition, press about Caesar ; 
 and presently each one stabs him, Brutus thrusting last 
 of all. Caesar murmurs, "And thou, Brutus?" and ex- 
 pires. 
 
 Mark Antony, Caesar's steadfast friend, flies at the 
 first scent of danger, but returns to dissemble with the 
 slayers of Caesar. He pleads friendliness for their cause, 
 but begs permission to speak at the burial of the slain 
 leader. Brutus generously consents to this, despite his
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 friends' disapproval, stipulating only that he himself 
 speak first, and that Antony in his oration make no 
 charges. Antony declares himself satisfied. Brutus ac- 
 cordingly makes a short speech to the citizens, in which 
 he pleads the general welfare as sufficient cause and ex- 
 cuse for the slaying of Csesar. Antony follows him in 
 a skilful harangue, full of praise for Caesar ; and though 
 referring to Brutus and his party as " honourable men," 
 he turns the term into a reproach and byword. The 
 populace, which but a moment before was applauding 
 Brutus to the echo, now turns in fury against him. The 
 conspirators are forced to fiee the city. 
 
 IV, Upon the death of Caesar two factions arise and 
 take the field against each other. The first is the army 
 of Brutus and Cassius. The second comprises the forces 
 of a newly-formed triumvirate, consisting of Mark An- 
 tony, Octavius Caesar, and Lepidus. Both armies con- 
 verge towards the Plains of Philippi. One night w^hile 
 Brutus is lying awake and restless in his tent, the ghost 
 of Caesar appears and tells him, " Thou shalt see me at 
 Philippi." 
 
 V. The forces meet at Philippi and engage in battle. 
 But from the first the troops of Brutus and Cassius are 
 dispirited — unconsciously influenced by the forebodings 
 that have come to both their leaders. With his own 
 " good sword, that ran through Caesar's bowels," Cassius 
 causes himself to be killed by his servant Pindarus. 
 Later in the day Brutus runs on his sword and dies. 
 The triumvirate are victorious, and Caesar may " now be 
 still." 
 
 McSpadden : Shakespearian Synopses, 
 
 IL 
 
 Character of Caesar. 
 
 The character of Caesar is one of the most difficult in 
 Shakespeare. ' Under the influence of some of his 
 speeches we find ourselves in the presence of one of the
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 master spirits of mankind; other scenes in which he 
 plays a leading part breathe nothing- but the feeblest 
 vacillation and weakness. It is the business of Character- 
 Interpretation to harmonise this contradiction ; it is 
 not interpretation at all to ignore one side of it and 
 be content with describing Caesar as vacillating. The 
 force and strength of his character is seen in the im- 
 pression he makes upon forceful and strong men. The 
 attitude of Brutus to C^sar seems throughout to be that 
 of looking up; and notably at one point the thought of 
 Caesar's greatness seems to cast a lurid gleam over the 
 assassination plot itself, and Brutus feels that the 
 grandeur of the victim gives a dignity to the crime: — 
 
 Let 's carve him as a dish fit for the gods. 
 
 The strength and force of Antony again no one will ques- 
 tion; and Antony, at the moment when he is alone with 
 the corpse of Caesar and can have no motive for hypoc- 
 risy, apostrophises it in the words — 
 
 Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 
 That ever lived in the tide of times. 
 
 And we see enough of Caesar in the play to bear out the 
 opinions of Brutus and Antony. Those who accept vac- 
 illation as sufficient description of Caesar's character 
 must explain his strong speeches as vaunting and self- 
 assertion. But surely it must be possible for dramatic 
 language to distinguish between the true and the as- 
 sumed force; and equally surely there is a genuine ring 
 in the speeches in which Caesar's heroic spirit, shut out 
 from the natural sphere of action in which it has been 
 so often proved, leaps restlessly at every opportunitv 
 into pregnant words. We may thus feel certain of his 
 lofty physical courage. 
 
 Cowards die many times before their deaths ; 
 The valiant never taste of death but once.
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Of all the wonders that I 3'et have heard. 
 
 It seems to me most strange that men should fear . . . 
 
 Danger knows full well 
 That Caesar is more dangerous than he : 
 We are two lions litter'd in one day, 
 And I the elder and more terrible. 
 
 A man must have felt the thrill of courage in search of 
 its food, danger, before his self-assertion finds language 
 of this kind in which to express itself. In another 
 scene we have the perfect forfitcr in re and siiavitcr in 
 modo of the trained statesmanship exhibited in the cour- 
 tesy with which Caesar receives the conspirators, com- 
 bined with his perfect readiness to '' tell graybeards the 
 truth." Nor could imperial firmness be more ideally 
 painted than in the way in which Caesar '' prevents " 
 Cimber's intercession. 
 
 There is another circumstance to be taken into account 
 in explaining the weakness of Caesar. A change has come 
 over the spirit of Roman political life itself — such seems 
 to be Shakespeare's conception : Caesar on his return has 
 found Rome no longer the Rome he had known. Before 
 he left for Gaill, Rome had been the ideal sphere for public 
 life, the arena in which principles alone were allowed to 
 combat, and from which the banishment of personal aims 
 and passions was the first condition of virtue. In his 
 absence Rome has gradually degenerated; the mob has 
 become the ruling force, and introduced an eleinent of 
 uncertainty into political life; politics has passed from 
 science into gambling. A new order of public men has 
 arisen, of which Cassius and Antony are the types; per- 
 sonal aims, personal temptations, and personal risks are 
 now inextricably interwoven with public action. This is 
 a changed order of things to which the mind of Caesar, 
 cast in a higher mould, lacks the power to adapt itself. 
 His vacillation is the vacillation of unfamiliarity with the 
 new political conditions. He refuses the crown " each 
 time gentler than the other," showing want of decisive 
 
 12
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 reading in dealing with the fickle mob; and on his re- 
 turn from the Capitol he is too untrained in hypocrisy 
 CO conceal the angry spot upon his face ; he has tried to 
 use the new weapons which he does not understand, and 
 las failed. It is a subtle touch of Shakespeare's to the 
 same effect that Caesar is represented as having himself 
 undergone a change of late : — 
 
 For he is superstitious grown of late, 
 Quite from the main opinion he held once 
 Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies. 
 
 To come back to a world of which you have mastered the 
 machinery, and to find that it is no longer governed by 
 machinery at all, that causes no longer produce their ef- 
 fects — this, if anything, might well drive a strong intellect 
 to superstition. And herein consists the pathos of Caesar's 
 situation. The deepest tragedy of the play is not the as- 
 sassination of Caesar, it is rather seen in such a speech as 
 this of Decius : — 
 
 If he be so resolved, 
 I can o'ersway him ; for he loves to hear 
 That unicorns may be betray'd with trees 
 And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, 
 Lions with toils and men with flatterers; 
 But when I tell him he hates flatterers, 
 He says he does, being then most flattered. 
 
 Assassination is a less piteous thing than to see the giant 
 intellect by its very strength unable to contend against the 
 low cunning of a fifth-rate intriguer. 
 
 Such, then, appears to be Shakespeare's conception 
 of Julius Caesar. He is the consummate type of the 
 practical: emphatically the public man, complete in all 
 the greatness that belongs to action. On the other 
 hand, the knowledge of self produced by self-contempla- 
 tion is wanting, and so when he comes to consider the 
 relation of his individual self to the state he vacillates 
 with the vacillation of a strong man moving amongst
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 men of whose greater intellectual subtlety he is dimly 
 conscious: no unnatural conception for a Csesar who 
 has been founding- empires abroad while his fellows have 
 been sharpening their wits in the party contests of a de- 
 caying state. 
 
 MouLTON : Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist. 
 
 III. 
 
 Why Caesar Seems Insignificant. 
 
 The character of Caesar in our play has been much 
 blamed. He is declared to be unlike the idea conceived 
 of him from his Comnicntarics) it is said that he does 
 nothing, and only utters a few pompous, thrasonical, 
 grandiloquent words, and it has been asked whether this 
 be the Caesar that did "awe the world?" The poet, if 
 he intended to make the attempt of the republicans his 
 main theme, could not have ventured to create too great 
 an interest in Caesar; it was necessary to keep him in the 
 background, and to present that view of him which 
 gave a reason for the conspiracy. According even to 
 Plutarch, whose biography of Caesar is acknowledged to 
 be very imperfect, Cesar's character altered much for 
 the worse shortly before his death, and Shakespeare has 
 represented him according to this suggestion. With 
 what reverence Shakespeare viewed his character as a 
 whole wx learn from several passages of his works, and 
 even in this play from the way in which he allows his 
 memory to be respected as soon as he is dead. In the 
 descriptions of Cassius w^e look back upon the time 
 when the great man was natural, simple, undissembling, 
 popular, and on an equal footing with others. Now he 
 is spoiled by victory, success, power, and by the re- 
 publican courtiers who surround him. He stands close 
 on the borders between usurpation and discretion : he is 
 master in reality, and is on the point of assuming the 
 name and the right; he desires heirs to the throne; he 
 
 14
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 hesitates to accept the crown which he would gladly 
 possess; he is ambitious, and fears he may have be- 
 trayed this in his paroxysms of epilepsy; he exclaims 
 against flatterers and cringers, and yet both please him. 
 All around him treat him as a master, his wife as a 
 prince; the senate allow themselves to be called his 
 senate; he assumes the appearance of a king even in 
 his house ; even with his wife he uses the language of a 
 man who knows himself secure of power; and he main- 
 tains everywhere the proud, strict bearing of a soldier, 
 which is represented even in his statues. If one of the 
 changes at which Plutarch hints lay in this pride, this 
 haughtiness, another lay in his superstition. In the 
 suspicion and apprehension before the final step, he 
 was seized, contrary to his usual nature and habit, with 
 misgivings and superstitious fears, which affected like- 
 wise the hitherto free-minded Calphurnia. These con- 
 flicting feelings divide him, his forebodings excite him, 
 his pride and his defiance of danger struggle against 
 them, and restore his former confidence, which was nat- 
 ural to him, and which causes his ruin ; just as a like 
 confidence, springing from another source, ruined Bru- 
 tus. The actor must make his high-sounding language 
 appear as the result of this discord of feeling. 
 
 Gervinus: Shakespeare Commentaries. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Brutus. 
 
 Brutus is the true hero of the piece. . . . Cole- 
 ridge has thrown out a very pertinent doubt as to what 
 sort of a character Shakespeare meant his Brutus to be. 
 For it is remarkable that in his thinking aloud, a little 
 after the breaking of the conspiracy to him, he avow- 
 edly bottoms his purpose, not at all on anything Caesar 
 has done nor what he is, but simply on what he may 
 become when crowned. . . . 
 
 15
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 And yet the character of Brutus in the play, as in his- 
 tory, is full of beauty and sweetness ; high-minded, gen- 
 erous, brave; in all the relations of life upright; gentle, 
 and pure, his honour as white as new-coined snow ; of a 
 sensitiveness and delicacy of principle that cannot bosom 
 the slightest stain; scorning to bind his promise with 
 an oath, as one who will sooner die than swerve a hair 
 from his lightest word ; his mind enriched and fortified 
 Vv'ith the best extractions of philosophy ; in his habitual 
 demeanour cheerfully grave and genially severe; clothed 
 wath all the virtues which, in public and private, at home 
 and in the circle of friends, win respect and charm the 
 heart; a real patriot, every inch of him, able alike to 
 adorn his country in the senate and in the field, and 
 willing alike to serve her with his life and with his 
 death. . . . -.^^^ 
 
 Of course, as here represented, Brutus could only be 
 what he was and yet do what he did under some kind of 
 delusion. And so indeed it is. Yet this very delusion 
 may be justly said to have the effect of ennobling and 
 beautifying his character, forasmuch as it takes him and 
 works upon him only through his virtues. A genuine 
 though perhaps too absorbinsc patriotism is the main- 
 spring of l:is action. But his patriotism is mainly of a 
 speculative kind, and dwells, where his whole character 
 lias been chiefly formed, among the ideals of a sort of 
 philosophical and poetical dreamland. He is an ardent 
 and enthusiastic student of books : Plato has been his 
 favourite teacher, and he has studiously framed his life 
 and tuned his thoughts to the grand and pure concep- 
 tions w^on from that all but divine source : Plato's genius 
 and spirit w^alk with him in the senate, sit w^ith him at 
 the fireside, go w^ith him to the w^ar, and still hover about 
 his tent. 
 
 Nevertheless, or perhaps we should rather say there- 
 fore, he does not really see wdiere he is and what lies 
 about him, has no clear eye for the drift and temper of 
 the times, the circumstances and aptitudes amidst which 
 
 i6
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 he lives. The characters of those who act with him are 
 too far below the region of his principles and habitiia. 
 thinkings for him to take the true cast of them. Him- 
 self incapable of such motives as prompt their action, 
 he therefore cannot understand them: he but projects 
 and suspends his ideals in them, and then misreckons 
 upon them as answering to and realizing the men of his 
 own brain. So, also, he clings to the idea of the great 
 and free republic of his fathers, the old Rome that has 
 ever stood to his feelings touched with the consecrations 
 of time, and glorified by the high virtues that have grown 
 up under her cherishing. But, in the long reign of tear- 
 ing faction and civil butchery, that which he worships 
 has been substantially changed, the reality lost. Caesar, 
 already clothed with the title and the power of Imperator 
 for life, would but change the form so as to agree with 
 the substance, the name so as to fit the thing. But the 
 mind of Brutus is so filled with the idea of that which 
 has thus passed away never to return, that he thinks to 
 save or to recover the whole thing by preventing such 
 formal and nominal change. 
 
 Hudson : The Works of Shakespeare. 
 
 Cassius. 
 
 Casslus was better cut out for a conspirator [than 
 Brutus]. His heart prompted his head. His watchful 
 jealousy made him fear the worst that might happen, 
 and his irritability of temper added to his inveteracy of 
 purpose, and sharpened his patriotism. The mixed 
 nature of his motives made him fitter to contend with 
 bad men. The vices are never so well employed as in 
 combating one another. Tyranny and servility are to 
 be dealt with after their own fashion; otherwise they 
 will triumph over those who spare them, and finally pro- 
 nounce their funeral panegyric, as Antony did that of 
 Brutus : — 
 
 17
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 " All the conspirators, save only he, 
 Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; 
 He only, in a general honest thought 
 And common good to all, made one of them." 
 
 The quarrel between Brutus and Cassius is managed 
 in a masterly way. The dramatic fluctuation of passion, 
 the calmness of Brutus, the heat of Cassius, are admi- 
 rably described ; and the exclamation of Cassius on hear- 
 ing of the death of Portia, which he does not learn till 
 after their reconciliation, " How scap'd I killing when 
 I cross'd you so?" gives double force to all that has 
 gone before. 
 
 Hazlitt : Characters of Shakespear's Plays. 
 
 VI. 
 Brutus and Cassius Compared. 
 
 The characters of Brutus and Cassius, though without 
 any seeming effort or care, are discriminated with great 
 subtlety and depth of art ; scarce a word falling from 
 either but what relishes somehow of their distinctive 
 qualities. Cassius is much the better conspirator, but 
 much the worse man ; and therefore the better conspira- 
 tor, because the worse man. For Brutus engages in the 
 conspiracy on the grounds of abstract and ideal justice: 
 but Cassius, from his very principles of action, regards 
 it as both a wrong and a blunder to go about such a 
 thing but with strong hopes of success. This, accord- 
 ingly, is the end for which he plans and works, choosing 
 and shaping his means with a view to compass it, mind- 
 ing little whether, in themselves, they be just or not. 
 Withal he is more impulsive and quick, because less un- 
 der the self-discipline of moral principle. His motives, 
 too, are of a much more mixed and various quality, be- 
 cause his habits of thinking and acting have grown by 
 the measures of experience: he studies to understand 
 men as they are; Brutus is content to understand them 
 
 i8
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 as they ought to be, and must needs act with them as if 
 they were what he would have them. Hence, in every 
 case where Brutus crosses Cassius, he is wrong, and 
 Cassius right ; right, that is, if success be the proper 
 crown of their undertaking. Still Brutus overawes him 
 by his moral energy and elevation of character, and by 
 the open-faced rectitude and nobleness of his principles. 
 It is observable that Cassius catches a sort of inspiration 
 and is raised above himself by contact with Brutus. 
 
 Hudson : The Works of Shakespeare. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Portia. 
 
 Portia, as Shakespeare has truly felt and represented 
 the character, is but a softened reflection of that of her 
 husband Brutus : on him we see an excess of natural 
 sensibility, an almost womanish tenderness of heart, re- 
 pressed by the tenets of his austere philosophy: a stoic 
 by profession, and in reality the reverse — acting deeds 
 against his nature by the strong force of principle and 
 will. In Portia there is the same profound and passionate 
 feeling, and all her sex's softness and timidity held in 
 check by that self-discipHne, that stately dignity, which 
 she thought became a woman " so fathered and so hus- 
 banded." The fact of her inflicting on herself a volun- 
 tary wound to try her own fortitude is perhaps the 
 strongest proof of this disposition. Plutarch relates that 
 on the day on which Caesar was assassinated, Portia ap- 
 peared overcome with terror, and even swooned away, 
 but did not in her emotion utter a word which could af- 
 fect the conspirators. Shakespeare has rendered this 
 circumstance literally. 
 
 Portia. I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house ; 
 
 Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone. 
 
 Why dost thou stay? 
 Lucius. To know my errand, madam. 
 
 19
 
 Comments THE TRAGEDY OE 
 
 Portia. I would have had thee there, and here again, 
 Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there. 
 
 constancy, be strong upon my side! 
 
 Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue ! 
 
 1 have a man's mind, but a woman's might. 
 . . . Ay me, how weak a thing 
 
 The heart of woman is ! 
 
 There is another beautiful incident related by Plutarch 
 which could not well be dramatized. When Brutus and 
 Portia parted for the last time in the island of Nisida, 
 she restrained all expression of grief that she might not 
 shake his fortitude; but afterwards, in passing through 
 a chamber in which there hung a picture of Hector and 
 Andromache, she stopped, gazed upon it for a time with 
 a settled sorrow, and at length burst into a passion of 
 tears. 
 
 If Portia had been a Christian, and lived in later times, 
 she might have been another Lady Russel; but she made 
 a poor stoic. No factitious or external control was suf- 
 ficient to restrain such an exuberance of sensibility and 
 fancy; and those who praise the philosophy of Portia and 
 the heroism of her death, certainly mistook the character 
 altogether. It is evident, from the manner of her death, 
 that it was not deliberate self-destruction, " after the 
 high Roman fashion," but took place in a paroxysm of 
 madness, caused by overwrought and suppressed feeling, 
 grief, terror, and suspense. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson : Characteristics of Women. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Ensemble. 
 > 
 
 The piece of Julius Ccesar, to complete the action, re- 
 quires to be continued to the fall of Brutus and Cassius. 
 Caesar is not the hero of the piece, but Brutus. The 
 amiable beauty of his character, his feeling and patriotic 
 heroism, are portrayed with peculiar care. Yet the poet 
 has pointed out with great nicety the superiority of 
 
 20
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Comments 
 
 Cassius over Brutus in independent volition and dis- 
 cernment in judging of human affairs; that the latter, 
 from the purity of his mind, and his conscientious love 
 of justice, is unlit to be the head of a party in a state 
 entirely corrupted; and that these very faults give an 
 unfortunate turn to the cause of the conspirators. In 
 the part of Caesar, several ostentatious speeches have 
 been censured as unsuitable. But as he never appears 
 in action, we have no other measure of his greatness 
 than the impression which he makes upon the rest of 
 the characters, and his peculiar confidence in himself. 
 In this, Caesar was by no means deficient, as we learn 
 from history and his own writings; but he displayed it 
 more in the easy ridicule of his enemies than in pompous 
 discourses. The theatrical effect of this play is injured 
 by a partial falling off of the last two acts, compared 
 with the preceding, in external splendour and rapidity. 
 The first appearance of Caesar in festal robes, when the 
 music stops, and all are silent whenever he opens his 
 mouth, and when the few words which he utters are re- 
 ceived as oracles, is truly magnificent ; the conspiracy 
 is a true conspiracy, which, in stolen interviews and in 
 the dead of night, prepares the blow which is to be 
 struck in open day, and which is to change the constitu- 
 tion of the world ; — the confused thronging before the 
 murder of Caesar, the general agitation even of the 
 perpetrators after the deed, are all portrayed with most 
 masterly skill; with the funeral procession and the 
 speech of Antony, the effect reaches its utmost height. 
 Ccusars shade is more powerful to avenge his fall than he 
 himself zvas to guard against it. After the overthrow of 
 the external splendour and greatness of the conqueror 
 and ruler of the world, the intrinsic grandeur of charac- 
 ter of Brutus and Cass::: 3 is all that remains to fill the 
 stage and occupy the minds of the spectators: suitably 
 to their name, as the last of the Romans, they stand 
 there, in some degree alone ; and the forming of a great 
 and hazardous determination is more powerfully calcu- 
 
 21
 
 Comments 
 
 lated to excite our expectation, than the supporting the 
 consequences of the deed with heroic firmness. 
 
 ScHLEGEL : Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. 
 
 The style of Julius Cccsar is characterized by simphcity 
 and breadth of touch, and each sentence is clear, easy, 
 and flowing, with the thought clothed in perfect and 
 adequate expression: the Hues are as limpid as those of 
 Romeo and Jidiet, but without their remains of rhyme 
 and Italian conceits. Of all Shakespeare's works, none 
 has greater purity of verse or transparent fluency. . . . 
 Nothing perhaps in the whole roll of dramatic poetry 
 equals the tenderness given by Shakespeare to Brutus, 
 that tenderness of a strong nature which the force of 
 contrast renders so touching and so beautiful. 
 
 Staffer : Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity. 
 
 Julius Caesar is indeed protagonist of the tragedy; 
 but it is not the Caesar whose bodily presence is weak, 
 whose mind is declining in strength and sure-footed 
 energy, the Caesar who stands exposed to all the acci- 
 dents of fortune. This bodily presence of Caesar is but 
 of secondary importance, and may be supplied when it 
 actually passes away, by Octavius as its substitute. It 
 is the spirit of Caesar which is the dominant power of 
 the tragedy; against this — the spirit of Caesar — Brutus 
 fought; but Brutus, who forever errs in practical poHtics, 
 succeeded only in striking down Caesar's body; he who 
 had been weak now rises as pure spirit, strong and ter- 
 rible, and avenges himself upon the conspirators. The 
 contrast between the weakness of Caesar's bodily pres- 
 ence in the first half of the play, and the might of his 
 spiritual presence in the latter half of the play, is em- 
 phasized, and perhaps over-emphasized, by Shakspere. 
 It was the error of Brutus that he failed to perceive 
 wherein lay the true Caesarean power, and acted with 
 short-sighted eagerness and violence. 
 
 Dowden : Shakspere, 
 
 22
 
 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar.
 
 DRAMATIS PERSONAE. 
 
 triumvirs after the death of 
 Julius Ccusar. 
 
 senators. 
 
 Julius C^sar. 
 octavius c.^sar. 
 Marcus Antonius, 
 M. ^Emil. Lepidus. 
 Cicero, ^ 
 
 PUBLIUS, i 
 
 PopiLius Lena, ) 
 
 Marcus Brutus, ^ 
 
 Cassius, 
 
 Casca^ 
 
 Trebonius, 
 
 LiGARIUS, 
 
 Decius Brutus, 
 Metellus Cimber, 
 
 CiNNA, 
 
 Flavius and IVIarullus, tribunes. 
 Artemidorus of Cnidos, a teacher of Rhetoric. 
 A Soothsayer. 
 
 CiNNA. a poet. Another Poet. 
 1 
 
 inspirators against Julius CcBsar. 
 
 LuciLius, 
 
 ^ITINIUS, 
 
 Mess ALA, 
 
 Young Cato 
 
 volumnius, 
 
 Varro^ 
 
 Clitus, 
 
 Claudius, 
 
 Strato, 
 
 Lucius, 
 
 Dardanius, J 
 
 Pindarus, servant to Cassius 
 
 [ friends to Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 servants to Brutus. 
 
 Calpurnia., wife to Ccesar. 
 Portia, zvife to Brutus. 
 
 Senators, Citizens. Guards, Attendants, etc. 
 
 Scene: Rome; the neighbourhood of Sardis; the neighbourhooc 
 of Philip pi.
 
 The Tragedy of Julius Caesar. 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I. 
 
 Rome. A street. 
 Enter Flavins, Marnllns, and certain Commoners. 
 
 Flav. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get you home : 
 
 Is this a hoHday ? what ! know you not, 
 
 Being mechanical, you ought not walk 
 
 Upon a labouring day without the sign 
 
 Of your profession ? Speak, what trade art thou ? 
 First Com. Why, sir, a carpenter. 
 Mar. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? 
 
 What dost thou with thy best apparel on ? 
 
 You, sir, what trade are you ? 
 Sec. Com. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, lo 
 
 I am but, as you would say, a cobbler. 
 Mar. But what trade art thou ? answer me directly. 
 Sec. Com. A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a 
 
 safe conscience ; which is indeed, sir, a mender 
 
 of bad soles. 
 Mar. What trade, thou knave ? thou naughty knave, what 
 
 trade ? 
 Sec. Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with 
 
 me : yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 
 Mar. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou 
 
 saucy fellow ! 20 
 
 25
 
 Act I. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Sec. Com. Why, sir, cobble you. 
 
 Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou ? 
 
 Sec. Corn. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the 
 awl : I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor 
 women's matters, but with awl. I am indeed, 
 sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in 
 great danger, I re-cover them. As proper men 
 as ever trod upon neats-leather have gone upon 
 my handiwork. 
 
 Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day ? 30 
 
 Why dost thou lead these men about the streets ? 
 
 Sec. Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get 
 myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we 
 make holiday, to see Caesar and to rejoice in 
 his triumph. 
 
 Mar. \Mierefore rejoice? What conquest brings he 
 home? 
 What tributaries follow him to Rome, 
 To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels ? 
 You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless 
 
 things ! 
 O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 40 
 
 Knew you not Pompey ? Many a time and oft 
 Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements. 
 To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops. 
 Your infants in your arms, and there have sat 
 The live-long day with patient expectation 
 To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome : 
 And when you saw his chariot but appear, 
 Have you not made an universal shout, 
 That Tiber trembled underneath her banks 
 To hear the replication of your sounds 50 
 
 26
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. i. 
 
 Made in her concave shores ? 
 
 And do you now put on your best attire? 
 
 And do you now cull out a holiday? 
 
 And do you now strew flowers in his way 
 
 That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood? 
 
 Be gone ! 
 
 Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, 
 
 Pray to the gods to intermit the plague 
 
 That needs must light on this ingratitude. 
 
 Flaz'. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, 60 
 Assemble all the poor men of your sort ; 
 Draw them to Tiber banks and weep your tears 
 Into the channel, till the lowest stream 
 Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. 
 
 [Exeunt all the Commoners. 
 See, whether their basest metal be not moved ; 
 They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. 
 Go you down that way towards the Capitol ; 
 This way will I : disrobe the images. 
 If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies. 
 
 Mar. May we do so? 70 
 
 You know it is the feast of Lupercal. 
 
 Flav. It is no matter ; let no images 
 
 Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I '11 about, 
 
 And drive away the vulgar from the streets : 
 
 So do you too, where you perceive them thick. 
 
 These growing feathers pluck'd from Caesar's wing 
 
 Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, 
 
 Who else would soar above the view of men 
 
 And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt. 
 
 27
 
 Act I. Sc. 11. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 A public place. 
 
 Flourish. Enter Ccesar; Antony, for the course; Calpurnia, 
 Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca; a 
 great crozvd follozcing, among them a Soothsayer, 
 
 Cccs. Calpurnia! 
 
 Casca. Peace, ho ! Csesar speaks. 
 
 {Music ceases. 
 Ccus. Calpurnia ! 
 
 Cal. Here, my lord. 
 Cccs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, 
 
 When he doth run his course. Antonius ! 
 Ant. Csesar, my lord? 
 Cccs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, 
 
 To touch Calpurnia ; for our elders say, 
 
 The barren, touched in this holy chase, 
 
 Shake off their sterile curse. 
 Ant. I shall remember: 
 
 When Csesar says ' do this,' it is perform'd. lO 
 
 Cces. Set on, and leave no ceremony out. [Flourish. 
 
 Sooth. Csesar! 
 Ccus. Ha ! who calls ? 
 
 Casca. Bid every noise be still : peace yet again ! 
 Cccs. Wlio is it in the press that calls on me ? 
 
 I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, 
 
 Cry ' Caesar.' Speak ; Csesar is turn'd to hear. 
 Sooth. Beware the ides of Alarch. 
 Cccs. What man is that ? 
 
 Bru. A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. 
 Cces. Set him before me ; let me see his face. 20 
 
 28
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Cas. Fellow, come from the throng ; look upon Caesar. 
 
 Cccs. What say'st thou to me now ? speak once again. 
 
 Sooth. Beware the ides of March. 
 
 Cccs. He is a dreamer ; let us leave him : pass. 
 
 [Sennet. Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius, 
 
 Cas. Will you go see the order of the course ? 
 
 Bru. Not I. 
 
 Cas. I pray you, do. 
 
 Bru. I am not gamesome : I do lack some part 
 Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. 
 Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires ; 30 
 
 I '11 leave you. 
 
 Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 
 I have not from your eyes that gentleness 
 And show of love as I was wont to have : 
 You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 
 Over your friend that loves you. 
 
 Bru. Cassius, 
 
 Be not deceived : if I have veil'd my look, 
 I turn the trouble of my countenance 
 Merely upon myself. Vexed I am 
 Of late with passions of some difference, 40 
 
 Conceptions only proper to myself. 
 Which give some soil perhaps to my behaviours ; 
 But let not therefore my good friends be grieved — 
 Among which number, Cassius, be you one — 
 Nor construe any further my neglect 
 Than that poor Brutus with himself at war 
 Forgets the shows of love to other men. 
 
 Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion : 
 By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried 
 Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 50 
 
 29
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face ? 
 
 Br II. Xo, Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself 
 But by reflection, by some other things. 
 
 Ccs. 'Tis just : 
 
 And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 
 
 That you have no such mirrors as will turn 
 
 Your hidden worthiness into your eye, 
 
 That you might see your shadow. I have heard 
 
 Where many of the best respect in Rome, 
 
 Except immortal Caesar, speaking of Brutus, 60 
 
 And groaning underneath this age's yoke. 
 
 Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes. 
 
 Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, 
 That you would have me seek into myself 
 For that w^hich is not in me? 
 
 Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear : 
 And since you know you cannot see yourself 
 So well as by reflection, I your glass 
 Will modestly discover to yourself 
 That of yourself which you yet know not of. 70 
 
 And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus : 
 Were I a common laugher, or did use 
 To stale with ordinary oaths my love 
 To every new protester ; if you know 
 That I do fawn on men and hug them hard, 
 And after scandal them ; or if you know 
 That I profess myself in banqueting 
 To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. 
 
 [Flourish and sJwiit. 
 
 Bru. What means this shouting ? I do fear, the people 
 Choose Caesar for their king. 
 
 Cas, Ay, do you fear it ? 80 
 
 30
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Then must I think you would not have it so. 
 
 Bru. I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well. 
 
 But wherefore do you hold me here so long? 
 
 What is it that you would impart to me ? 
 
 If it be aught toward the general good, 
 
 Set honour in one eye and death i' the other. 
 
 And I will look on both indifferently : 
 
 For let the gods so speed me as I love 
 
 The name of honour more than I fear death. 
 
 Cos. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90 
 
 As well as I do know your outward favour. 
 Well, honour is the subject of my story. 
 I cannot tell what you and other men 
 Think of this life, but, for my single self, 
 I had as lief not be as live to be 
 In awe of such a thing as I myself. 
 I was born free as Caesar ; so were you : 
 We both have fed as wxU, and we can both 
 Endure the winter's cold as well as he : 
 For once, upon a raw and gusty day, 100 
 
 The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores, 
 Caesar said to me ' Barest thou, Cassius, now 
 Leap in wnth me into this angry flood. 
 And swim to yonder point ? ' Upon the word, 
 Accoutred as I was, I plunged in 
 And bade him follow : so indeed he did. 
 The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it 
 With lusty sinews, throwing it aside 
 And stemming it with hearts of' controversy ; 
 But ere we could arrive the point proposed, no 
 
 Caesar cried ' Help me, Cassius, or I sink ! ' 
 I, as ^neas our great ancestor 
 31
 
 Act. I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder 
 The old Anchises bear, so from the waves of Tiber 
 Did I the tired Caesar : and this man 
 Is now become a god, and Cassius is 
 A wretched creature, and must bend his body 
 If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 
 He had a fever when he was in Spain, 
 And when the fit was on him, I did mark 120 
 
 How he did shake : 'tis true, this god did shake ; 
 His coward lips did from their colour fly, 
 And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world 
 Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan : 
 Ay, and that tongue of his that bade the Romans 
 Mark him and write his speeches in their books, 
 Alas, it cried, * Give me some drink, Titinius,' 
 As a sick girl. Ye gods ! it doth amaze me 
 A man of such a feeble tem.per should 
 So get the start of the majestic world 130 
 
 I And bear the palm alone. [Shout. Flourish. 
 
 Brii. Another general shout ! 
 
 I do believe that these applauses are 
 
 For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar. 
 
 Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world 
 Like a Colossus, and we petty men 
 Walk under his huge legs and peep about 
 To find ourselves dishonourable graves. 
 Men at some time are masters of their fates : 
 The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 140 
 
 But in ourselves, that we are underlings. 
 Brutus, and Caesar : what should be in that Caesar ? 
 Why should that name be sounded more than yours ? 
 Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; 
 
 32
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well ; 
 
 Weigh them, it is as heavy ; conjure with 'em, 
 
 Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Csesar. 
 
 Now, in the names of all the gods at once, 
 
 Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, 
 
 That he is grown so great ? Age, thou art shamed ! 
 
 Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! 151 
 
 When went there by an age, since the great flood, 
 
 But it was famed with more than with one man ? 
 
 When could they say till now that talk'd of Rome 
 
 That her wide walls encompass'd but one man ? 
 
 Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough, 
 
 When there is in it but one only man. 
 
 O, you and I have heard our fathers say 
 
 There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd 
 
 The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 160 
 
 As easily as a king. 
 
 Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous ; 
 What you would work me to, I have some aim : 
 How I have thought of this and of these times, 
 I shall recount hereafter ; for this present, 
 I would not, so with love I might entreat you. 
 Be any further moved. What you have said 
 I will consider ; what you have to say 
 I will with patience hear, and find a time 
 Both meet to hear and answer such high things. 170 
 Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this : 
 Brutus had rather be a villager 
 Than to repute himself a son of Rome 
 Under these hard conditions as this time 
 Is like to lay upon us. 
 
 Cas. I am glad that my weak words 
 
 33
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus. 
 
 Bru. The games are done, and Caesar is returning. 
 
 Cas. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve ; 
 
 And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you i8o 
 
 What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. 
 
 Re-enter Cccsar and his train. 
 
 Bni. I will do so : but, look you, Cassius, 
 
 The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow, 
 And all the rest look like a chidden train : 
 Calpurnia's cheek is pale, and Cicero 
 Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes 
 As we have seen him in the Capitol, 
 Being cross'd in conference by some senators. 
 
 Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter is. 
 
 Cccs. Antonius ! 190 
 
 Ant. Caesar? 
 
 Cces. Let me have men about me that are fat. 
 
 Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights: 
 Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; 
 He thinks too much : such men are dangerous. 
 
 Ant. Fear him not, Caesar; he 's not dangerous ; 
 He is a noble Roman, and well given. 
 
 Cccs. \\'ould lie were fatter ! but I fear him not : 
 Yet if my name were liable to fear, 
 I do not know the man I should avoid 2CO 
 
 So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much ; 
 He is a great observer, and he looks 
 Quite through the deeds of men : he loves no plays. 
 As thou dost, Antony ; he hears no music : 
 Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort 
 As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit 
 
 34
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 That could be moved to smile at any thing. 
 
 Such men as he be never at heart's ease 
 
 Whiles they behold a greater than themselves, 
 
 And therefore are they very dangerous. 210 
 
 I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd 
 
 Than what I fear ; for always I am Csesar. 
 
 Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, 
 
 And tell me truly what thou think'st of him. 
 
 [Sennet. Exeunt Cccsar and all 
 his train but Casca. 
 
 Casca. You pull'd me by the cloak ; would you speak with 
 me? 
 
 Bru. Ay, Casca ; tell us what hath chanced to-day. 
 That Caesar looks so sad. 
 
 Casca. Why, you were with him, were you not ? 
 
 Bru. I should not then ask Casca what had chanced. 
 
 Casca. Why, there was a crown offered him : and 220 
 being offered him, he put it by with the back of 
 hishand,thus : and then the people fell a-shouting. 
 
 Bru. What was the second noise for ? 
 
 Casca. Why, for that too. 
 
 Cas. They shouted thrice : what was the last cry for ? 
 
 Casca. Why, for that too. 
 
 Bru. Was the crown offered him thrice? 
 
 Casca. Ay, marry, was 't, and he put it by thrice, 
 every time gentler than other ; and at every put- 
 ting by mine honest neighbours shouted. 230 
 
 Cas. Who offered him the crown ? 
 
 Casca. Why, Antony. 
 
 Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. 
 
 Casca. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of 
 it: it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I 
 
 35
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 saw Mark Antony offer him a crown : yet 'twas 
 not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets : 
 and, as I told yon, he put it by once : but for 
 all th.at, to my thinking, he would fain have had 
 it. Then he offered it to him again ; then he 240 
 put it by again : but, to my thinking, he was very 
 loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered 
 it the third time ; he put it the third time by : and 
 still as he refused it, the rabblement hooted and 
 clapped their chopped hands and threw up their 
 sweaty night-caps and uttered such a deal of 
 stinking breath because Cresar refused the crown, 
 that it had almost choked Caesar ; for he swounded 
 and fell down at it : and for mine own part, I 
 durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and 250 
 receiving the bad air. 
 
 Cas. But, soft, I pray you : what, did Caesar s wound ? 
 
 Casca. He fell down in the market-place and foamed 
 at mouth and was speechless. 
 
 Brn. 'Tis very like : he hath the falling-sickness. 
 
 Ca^. No, Csesar hath it not : but you, and I, 
 
 And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 
 
 Casca. I know not what you mean by that, but I am 
 sure Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people did 
 not clap him and hiss him according as he pleased 260 
 and displeased them, as they use to do the players 
 in the theatre, I am no true man. 
 
 Bru. What said he when he came unto himself? 
 
 Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when He perceived 
 
 the common herd was glad he refused the crown, 
 
 he plucked me ope his doublet and offered them 
 
 his throat to cut. An I had been a man of any 
 
 36
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. ii. 
 
 occupation, if I would not have taken him at a 
 word, I would I might go to hell among the 
 rogues. And so he fell. When he came to 2yQ^ 
 himself again, he said, if he had done or said any 
 thing amiss, he desired their worships to think it 
 was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where 
 I stood, cried ' Alas, good soul ! ' and forgave 
 him with all their hearts : but there 's no heed to 
 be taken of them ; if Caesar had stabbed their 
 mothers, they would have done no less. 
 
 Bru. And after that, he came, thus sad, away? 
 
 Casca. Ay. 
 
 Cas. Did Cicero say any thing ? 280 
 
 Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek. 
 
 Cas. To what effect ? 
 
 Casca. Nay, an I tell you that, I '11 ne'er look you i' 
 the face again : but those that understood him 
 smiled at one another and shook their heads ; 
 but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I 
 could tell you more news too : MaruUus and 
 Flavins, for pulling scarfs ofif Caesar's images, 
 are put to silence. Fare you well. There was 
 more foolery yet, if I could remember it. 290 
 
 Cas. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca? 
 
 Casca. No, I am promised forth. 
 
 Cas: W^ill you dine with me to-morrow ? 
 
 Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your 
 dinner worth the eating. 
 
 Cas. Good ; I Avill expect you. 
 
 Casca. Do so: farewell, both. [Exit. 
 
 Brii. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! 
 He was quick metal when he went to school. 
 
 37
 
 Act I. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Cas. So is he now in execution 300 
 
 Of any bold or noble enterprise, 
 However he puts on this tardy form. 
 This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit, 
 Which g'ives men stomach to digest his words 
 With better appetite. 
 
 Bru. And so it is. For this time I will leave you : 
 To-morrow, if you please to speak with me, 
 I will come home to you, or, if you will. 
 Come home to me and I will wait for you. 
 
 Cas. I will do so: till then, tnink of the world. 310 
 
 [Exit Brutus. 
 Well, Brutus, thou art noble ; yet, I see. 
 Thy honourable metal may be wrought 
 From that it is disposed : therefore, it is meet 
 That noble minds keep ever with their likes; 
 For who so firm that cannot be seduced ? 
 Caesar doth bear me hard ; but he loves Brutus : 
 If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius, 
 He should not humour me. I will this night, 
 In several hands, in at his windows throw, 
 As if they came from several citizens, 320 
 
 Writings, all tending to the great opinion 
 That Rome holds of his name, wherein obscurely 
 Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at : 
 And after this let Caesar seat him sure ; 
 For we will shake him, or worse days endure. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 S-i-
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 A street. 
 
 Thunder and Lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, 
 zvith his szcord dranni, and Cicero, 
 
 Cic. Good even, Casca : brought you Caesar home ? 
 Why are you breathless ? and why stare you so ? 
 
 Casca. Are not you moved, when all the sway of earth 
 Shakes like a thing unfirm ? O Cicero, 
 I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds 
 Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen 
 The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam, 
 To be exalted with the threatening clouds ; 
 But never till to-night, never till now. 
 Did I go through a tempest dropping fire. lo 
 
 Either there is a civil strife in heaven. 
 Or else the world too saucy with the gods 
 Incenses them to send destruction. 
 
 Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful ? 
 
 Casca. A common slave — you know him well by sight — 
 Held up his left hand, which did flame and burn 
 Like twenty torches join'd, and yet his hand 
 Not sensible of fire remain'd unscorch'd. 
 Besides — I ha' not since put up my sword — 
 Against the Capitol I met a lion, 20 
 
 Who glazed upon me and went surly by 
 Without annoying me : and there were drawn 
 Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women 
 Transformed with their fear, who swore they saw 
 Men all in fire walk up and down the streets. 
 And yesterday the bird of night did sit 
 
 .^9
 
 Act I. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Even at noon-day upon the market-place, 
 
 Hooting- and shrieking. When these prodigies 
 
 Do so conjointly meet, let not men say 
 
 * These are their reasons : they are natural ' : 30 
 
 For, I believe, they are portentous things 
 
 Unto the climate that they point upon. 
 
 Cic. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time : 
 
 But men may construe things after their fashion, 
 Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. 
 Comes C?esar to the Capitol to-morrow ? 
 
 Casca. He doth ; for he did bid Antonius 
 
 Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. 
 
 Cic. Good night then, Casca : this disturbed sky 
 Is not to walk in. 
 
 Casca. Farewell, Cicero. [Exit Cicero. 40 
 
 Enter Cassius. 
 Cas. Who 's there ? 
 Casca. A Roman. 
 
 Cas. Casca, by your voice. 
 
 Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this ! 
 Cas. A very pleasing night to honest men. 
 Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? 
 Cas. Those that have known the earth so full of faults. 
 
 For my part, I have walk'd about the streets, 
 
 Submitting me unto the perilous night, 
 
 And thus unbraced, Casca, as you see, 
 
 Have bared my bosom to the thunder-stone ; 
 
 And when the cross blue lightning seem'd to open 
 
 The breast of heaven, I did present myself 51 
 
 Even in the aim and very flash of it. 
 Casca. But wherefore did you so much tempt the heavens ? 
 
 40
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 It is the part of men to fear and tremble 
 When the most mighty gods by tokens send 
 Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. 
 
 Cas. You are dull, Casca, and those sparks of life 
 That should be in a Roman you do want, 
 Or else you use not. You look pale and gaze 
 And put on fear and cast yourself in wonder, 60 
 
 To see the strange impatience of the heavens : 
 But if you would consider the true cause 
 Why all these fires, why all these gliding ghosts, 
 Why birds and beasts from quality and kind. 
 Why old men fool and children calculate, 
 Why all these things change from their ordinance, 
 Their natures and preformed faculties, 
 To monstrous quality, why, you shall find 
 That heaven hath infused them with these spirits 
 To make them instruments of fear and warning 70 
 Unto some monstrous state. 
 Now could I, Casca, name to thee a man 
 Most like this dreadful night. 
 That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roars 
 As doth the lion in the Capitol, , 
 A man no mightier than thyself or me 
 In personal action, yet prodigious grown 
 And fearful, as these strange eruptions are. 
 
 Casca. 'Tis Caesar that you mean ; is it not, Cassius ? 
 
 Cas. Let it be who it is : for Romans now 80 
 
 Have thews and limbs like to their ancestors ; 
 But, woe the while ! our fathers' minds are dead, 
 And we are govern'd with our mothers' spirits ; 
 Our yoke and sufferance show us womanish. 
 
 Casca, Indeed they say the senators to-morrow 
 
 41
 
 Act I.Sc. Hi. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Mean to establish Caesar as a king; 
 
 And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, 
 
 In every place save here in Italy. 
 
 Cas. I know where I will wear this dagger then : 
 
 Cassius from bondage will deliver Cassius. 90 
 
 Therein, ye gods, you make the weak most strong ; 
 
 Therein, ye gods, you tyrants do defeat : 
 
 Nor stony tower, nor walls of beaten brass, 
 
 Nor airless dungeon, nor strong links of iron, 
 
 Can be retentive to the strength of spirit ; 
 
 But life, being weary of these worldly bars, 
 
 Never lacks power to dismiss itself. 
 
 If I know this, know all the world besides. 
 
 That part of tyranny that I do bear 
 
 I can shake off at pleasure. [Thunder still. 
 
 Case a. So can 1 : 100 
 
 So every bondman in his own hand bears 
 The power to cancel his captivity. 
 
 Cas. And why should Caesar be a tyrant then ? 
 Poor man ! I know he would not be a wolf 
 But that he sees the Romans are but sheep : 
 He were no lion, were not Romans hinds. 
 Those that with haste will make a mighty fire 
 Begin it with weak straws : what trash is Rome, 
 What rubbish and what offal, when it serves 
 For the base matter to illuminate no 
 
 So vile a thing as Caesar ! But, O grief. 
 Where hast thou led me ? I perhaps speak this 
 Before a willing bondman ; then I know 
 My answer must be made. But I am arm'd. 
 And dangers are to me indifferent. 
 
 Casea, You speak to Casca, and to such a man 
 
 42
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act I. Sc. iii. 
 
 That is no fleering tell-tale. Hold, my hand : 
 Be factious for redress of all these griefs, 
 And I will set this foot of mine as far 
 As who goes farthest. 
 
 Cas. There's a bargain made. 120 
 
 Now know you, Casca, I have moved already 
 Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans 
 To undergo with me an enterprise 
 Of honourable-dangerous consequence ; 
 And I do know, by this they stay for me 
 In Pompey's porch : for now, this fearful night, 
 There is no stir or walking in the streets, 
 And the complexion of the element 
 In favour 's like the work we have in hand, 
 Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible. 130 
 
 Enter China. 
 
 Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. 
 Cas. 'Tis Cinna ; I do know him by his gait ; 
 
 He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so? 
 Cin. To find out you. Who 's that? Metellus Cimber? 
 Cas. No, it is Casca; one incorporate 
 
 To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna ? 
 Cin. I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this ! 
 
 There 's two or three of us have seen strange sights. 
 Cas. Am I not stay'd for ? tell me. 
 Cin. Yes, you are. 
 
 O Cassius, if you conld 140 
 
 But win the noble Brutus to our party — 
 Cas. Be you content : good Cinna, take this paper. 
 
 And look you lay it in the praetor's chair, 
 
 Where Brutus may but find it, and throw this 
 
 43
 
 Act II. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 In at his window ; set this up with wax 
 
 Upon old Brutus' statue : all this done, 
 
 Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us. 
 
 Is Decius Brutus and Trebonius there? 
 Ciii. All but ^Metellus Cimber ; and he 's gone 
 
 To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie, 150 
 
 And so bestow these papers as you bade me. 
 Cos. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. [Exit Cinna. 
 
 Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day 
 
 See Brutus at his house : three parts of him 
 
 Is ours already, and the man entire 
 
 Upon the next encounter yields him ours. 
 Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts ; 
 
 And that which would appear offence in us 
 
 His countenance, like richest alchemy, 
 
 Will change to virtue and to worthiness. 160 
 
 Cos. Him and his worth and our great need of him 
 
 You have right well conceited. Let us go, 
 
 For it is after midnight, and ere day 
 
 We will awake him and be sure of him. [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 Scene I. 
 
 Rome. Bnttus's orchard. 
 Enter Brutus. 
 
 Bru. What, Lucius, ho! 
 
 I cannot, by the progress of the stars, 
 
 Give guess how near to day. Lucius, I say ! 
 
 I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly. 
 
 When, Lucius, when ? awake, I say ! what, Lucius ! 
 
 44
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Enter Lucius. 
 
 Luc. Call'd you, my lord ? 
 
 Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius : 
 
 When it is lighted, come and call me here. 
 
 Luc. I will, my lord. [Exit. 
 
 Bru. It must be by his death : and, for my part, lo 
 
 I know no personal cause to spurn at him. 
 But for the general. He would be crown'd : 
 How that might change his nature, there 's the 
 
 question : 
 It is the bright day that brings forth the adder ; 
 And that craves wary walking. Crown him? — 
 
 that ;— 
 And then, I grant, we put a sting in him, 
 That at his will he may do danger with. 
 The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins 
 Remorse from power : and, to speak truth of Caesar, 
 I have not known when his affections sway'd 20 
 
 More than his reason. But 'tis a common proof, 
 That lowliness is young ambition's ladder. 
 Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; 
 But when he once attains the upmost round. 
 He then unto the ladder turns his back. 
 Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees 
 By which he did ascend : so Caesar may ; 
 Then, lest he may, prevent. And, since the quarrel 
 Will bear no colour for the thing he is. 
 Fashion it thus ; that what he is, augmented, 30 
 
 Would run to these and these extremities : 
 And therefore think him as a serpent's o^gg 
 Which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous. 
 And kill him in the shell. 
 
 45
 
 Act II. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Re-enter Lucius. 
 
 Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. 
 Searching the window for a flint I found 
 This paper thus seal'd up, and I am sure 
 It did not He there when I went to bed. 
 
 [Gives him the letter. 
 
 Bru. Get you to bed again ; it is not day. 
 
 Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March ? 40 
 
 Luc. I know not, sir. 
 
 Bru. Look in the calendar and bring me word. 
 
 Luc. I will, sir. [Exit. 
 
 Bru. The exhalations whizzing in the air 
 
 Give so much light that I may read by them. 
 
 [Opens the letter and reads. 
 ' Brutus, thou sleep'st : awake and see thyself. 
 Shall Rome, &c. Speak, strike, redress. 
 Brutus, thou sleep'st: awake.' 
 Such instigations have been often dropp'd 
 Where I have took them up. 50 
 
 ' Shall Rome, &c.' Thus must I piece it out : 
 Shall Rome stand under one man's awe? What, 
 
 Rome? 
 My ancestors did from the streets of Rome 
 The Tarquin drive, when he was call'd a king. 
 ' Speak, strike, redress.' Am I entreated 
 To speak and strike ? O Rome, I make thee promise, 
 If the redress will follow, thou receivest 
 Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus! 
 
 Re-enter Lucius. 
 Luc. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. [Knocking within, 
 
 46
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act 11. Sc. i. 
 
 Bni. 'Tis g-ood. Go to tlie gate ; somebody knocks. 60 
 
 [Exit Lucius. 
 Since Cassiiis first did whet me against Caesar 
 I have not slept. 
 
 Between the acting of a dreadful thing 
 And the first motion, all the interim is 
 Like a phantasma or a hideous dream : 
 The Genius and the mortal instruments 
 Are then in council, and the state of man, 
 Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 
 The nature of an insurrection. 
 
 Re-enter Lucius. 
 
 Luc. Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, 70 
 
 Who doth desire to see you. 
 
 Bru. Is he alone? 
 
 Luc. No, sir, there are moe with him. 
 
 Bru. Do you know them ? 
 
 Ltic. No, sir ; their hats are pluck'd about their ears, 
 And half their faces buried in their cloaks, 
 That by no means I may discover them 
 By any mark of favour. 
 
 Bru. Let 'em enter. [Exit Lucius. 
 
 They are the faction. O conspiracy, 
 Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by 
 
 night. 
 When evils are most free? O, then, by day 
 Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough So 
 
 To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, con- 
 spiracy ; 
 Hide it in smiles and affability : 
 For if thou path, thy native semblance on, 
 
 47
 
 Act 11. Sc. i THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Not Erebus itself were dim enough 
 To hide thee from prevention. 
 
 Enter the conspirators, Cassuis, Casca, Decins, Cinna, 
 MeteUus Chnhcr and Trebonius. 
 
 Cas. I think we are too bold upon your rest : 
 
 Good morrow, Brutus : do we trouble you ? 
 Bru. I have been up this hour, awake all night. 
 
 Know I these men that come along with you? 
 Cas. Yes, every man of them ; and no man here 90 
 
 But honours you ; and every one doth wish 
 
 You had but that opinion of yourself 
 
 Which every noble Roman bears of you. 
 
 This is Trebonius. 
 Brii. He is welcome hither. 
 
 Cas. This, Decius Brutus. 
 Bru. He is welcome too. 
 
 Cas. This, Casca ; this, Cinna ; and this, Metellus Cimber. 
 Bru, They are all welcome. 
 
 What watchful cares do interpose themselves 
 
 Betwixt your eyes and night? 
 Cas. Shall I entreat a word? [They whisper. 100 
 
 Dec. Here lies the east : doth not the day break here? 
 Casca. No. 
 Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth, and yon grey lines 
 
 That fret the clouds are messengers of day. 
 Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceived. 
 
 Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises ; 
 
 Which is a great way growing on the south. 
 
 Weighing the youthful season of the year. 
 
 Some two months hence up higher toward the north 
 
 He first presents his fire, and the high east 1 10 
 
 48
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Stands as the Capitol, directly here. 
 
 Bni. Give me your hands all over, one by one. 
 
 Cas. And let us swear our resolution. 
 
 Bni. Xo, not an oath : if not the face of men, 
 
 The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse, — 
 
 If these be motives weak, break off betimes, 
 
 And every man hence to his idle bed ; 
 
 So let high-sighted tyranny range on 
 
 Till each man drop by lottery. But if these, 
 
 As I am sure they do, bear fire enough 120 
 
 To kindle cowards and to steel with valour 
 
 The melting spirits of women, then, countrymen, 
 
 What need we any spur but our own cause 
 
 To prick us to redress ? what other bond 
 
 Than secret Romans that have spoke the word, 
 
 And will not palter? and what other oath 
 
 Than honesty to honesty engaged 
 
 That this shall be or we will fall for it ? 
 
 Swear priests and cowards and men cautelous. 
 
 Old feeble carrions and such suffering souls 130 
 
 That welcome wrongs ; unto bad causes swear 
 
 Such creatures as men doubt : but do not stain 
 
 The even virtue of our enterprise, 
 
 Nor the insuppressive mettle of our spirits, 
 
 To think that or our cause or our performance 
 
 Did need an oath ; when every drop of blood 
 
 That every Roman bears, and nobly bears, 
 
 Is guilty of a several bastardy 
 
 If he do break the smallest particle 
 
 Of any promise that hath passM from him. 140 
 
 Cas. But what of Cicero ? shall we sound him ? 
 I think he will stand very strong with us. 
 
 .49
 
 Act II. Sc. 1. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Casca. Let us not leave him out. 
 
 Cin. No, by no means'. 
 
 Met. O, let us have him, for his silver hairs 
 Will purchase us a good opinion. 
 And buy men's voices to commend our deeds : 
 It shall be said his judgement ruled our hands ; 
 Our youths and wildness shall no whit appear, 
 But all be buried in his gravity. 
 
 BriL O, name him not : let us not break with him, 150 
 For he will never follow any thing 
 That other men begin. 
 
 Cas. Then leave him out. 
 
 Casca. Indeed he is not fit. 
 
 Dec. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Caesar ? 
 
 Cas. Decius, well urged : I think it is not meet 
 Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar, 
 Should outlive Caesar : we shall find of him 
 A shrewd contriver ; and you know his means, 
 If he improve them, may well stretch so far 
 As to annoy us all: which to prevent, 160 
 
 Let Antony and Caesar fall together. 
 
 Bru, Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, 
 To cut the head off and then hack the limbs, 
 Like wrath in death and envy afterwards ; 
 For Antony is but a limb of Caesar : 
 Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers, Caius. 
 We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar, 
 And in the spirit of men there is no blood : 
 O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit. 
 And not dismember Caesar? But, alas, 170 
 
 Caesar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends, 
 Let 's kill him boldly, but not wrathfuUy ; 
 
 50
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Let 's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, 
 
 Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds : 
 
 And let our hearts, as subtle masters do, 
 
 Stir up their servants to an act of rage 
 
 And after seem to chide 'em. This shall make 
 
 Our purpose necessary and not envious : 
 
 Which so appearing- to the common eyes, 
 
 We shall be call'd purgers, not murderers. i8o 
 
 And for Mark Antony, think not of him; 
 
 For he can do no more than Caesar's arm 
 
 W^hen Caesar's head is ofT. 
 
 Cas. Yet I fear him. 
 
 For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar — 
 
 Bi'u. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him : 
 If he love C^sar, all that he can do 
 Is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar : 
 And that were much he should, for he is given 
 To sports, to wildness and much company. 
 
 Treb. There is no fear in him ; let him not die ; 190 
 
 For he will live and laugh at this hereafter. 
 
 [Clock strikes, 
 
 Brit. Peace! count the clock. 
 
 Cas. The clock hath stricken three. 
 
 Treb. 'Tis time to part. 
 
 Cas. But it is doubtful yet 
 
 Whether Caesar will come forth to-day or no ; 
 
 For he is superstitious grown of late. 
 
 Quite from the main opinion he held once 
 
 Of fantasy, of dreams and ceremonies : 
 
 It may be these apparent prodigies, 
 
 The unaccustom'd terror of this night 
 
 And the persuasion of his augurers, 200 
 
 51
 
 Act II. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 May hold him from the Capitol to-day. 
 
 Dec. Never fear that : if he be so resolved, 
 I can o'ersway him ; for he loves to hear 
 That unicorns may be betray'd with trees 
 And bears with glasses, elephants with holes, 
 Lions with toils and men with flatterers. 
 But when I tell him he hates flatterers. 
 He says he does, being then most flattered. 
 Let mie work ; 
 
 For I can give his humour the true bent, 210 
 
 And I will bring him to the Capitol. 
 
 Cas. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. 
 
 Brn. By the eighth hour: is that the uttermost? 
 
 Cin. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. 
 
 Met. Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard, 
 
 Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey: 
 I wonder none of you have thought of him. 
 
 Brn. Now, good Metellus, go along by him : 
 
 He loves me well, and I have given him reasons ; 
 Send him but hither, and I '11 fashion him. 220 
 
 Cas. The morning comes upon's : we '11 leave you, Brutus : 
 And, friends, disperse yourselves : but all remember 
 What you have said and show yourselves true Romans. 
 
 Brii. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; 
 Let not our looks put on our purposes ; 
 But bear it- as our Roman actors do. 
 With untired spirits and formal constancy : 
 And so, good morrow to you every one. 
 
 [Exeunt all hut Brutus. 
 Boy ! Lucius ! Fast asleep ! It is no matter ; 
 Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber: 230 
 
 Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies, 
 
 52
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; 
 Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. 
 
 Enter Portia. 
 Pq^^ Brutus, my lord ! 
 
 Bru. Portia, what mean you ? wherefore rise you now ? 
 It is not for your health thus to commit 
 Your weak condition to the raw cold morning. 
 
 Por. Nor for yours neither. You 've ungently, Brutus, 
 Stole from my bed : and yesternight at supper 
 You suddenly arose and walk'd about, 
 Musing and sighing, with your arms across ; 240 
 And when I ask'd you what the matter was, 
 You stared upon me with ungentle looks : 
 I urged you further ; then you scratch'd your head, 
 And too impatiently stamp'd with your foot : 
 Yet I insisted, yet you answer'd not. 
 But with an angry wafture of your hand 
 Gave sign for me to leave you : so I did. 
 Fearing to strengthen that impatience 
 Which seem'd too much enkindled, and withal 
 Hoping it was but an effect of humour, 250 
 
 Which sometime hath his hour with every man. 
 It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor sleep. 
 And, could it work so much upon your shape 
 As it hath much prevail'd on your condition, 
 I should not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord, 
 IMake me acquainted with your cause of grief. 
 
 Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all. 
 
 Por. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, 
 He would embrace the means to come by it. 
 
 Bru. Why, so I do : good Portia, go to bed. 260 
 
 53
 
 Act II. Sc. 1. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Por. Is Brutus sick, and Is it physical 
 
 To walk unbraced and suck up the humours 
 
 Of the dank morning? What, is Brutus sick, 
 
 And will he steal out of his wholesome bed, 
 
 To dare the vile contagion of the night. 
 
 And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air 
 
 To add unto his sickness ? Xo, my Brutus ; 
 
 You have some sick offence within your mind, 
 
 Which by the right and virtue of my place 
 
 I ought to know of : and, upon my knees, 270 
 
 I charm you, by my once commended beauty, 
 
 By all your vows of love and that great vow 
 
 Wliich did incorporate and make us one, 
 
 That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, 
 
 Why you are heavy, and what men to-night 
 
 Have had resort to you ; for here have been 
 
 Some six or seven, who did hide their faces 
 
 Even from darkness. 
 
 Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia. 
 
 Por. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. 
 
 Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, 280 
 
 Is it expected I should know no secrets 
 
 That appertain to you ? Am I yourself 
 
 But, as it were, in sort or limitation. 
 
 To keep wnth you at meals, comfort your bed. 
 
 And talk to you sometimes? Dwell I but in the 
 
 suburbs 
 Of your good pleasure ? If it be no more, 
 Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife. 
 
 Bru. You are my true and honourable wife, 
 As dear to me as are the ruddy drops 
 That visit my sad heart. 290 
 
 54
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. i. 
 
 For. If this were true, then should I know this secret. 
 
 I grant I am a woman, but withal 
 
 A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife : 
 
 I grant I am a woman, but withal 
 
 A woman well reputed, Cato's daugliter. 
 
 Think you I am no stronger than my sex. 
 
 Being so father'd and so husbanded? 
 
 Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em : 
 
 I have made strong proof of my constancy. 
 
 Giving myself a voluntary wound 300 
 
 Here in the thigh : can I bear that with patience 
 
 And not my husband's secrets ? 
 Bru. O ye gods, 
 
 Render me worthy of this noble wife ! 
 
 [Knocking zvithin. 
 
 Hark, hark ! one knocks : Portia, go in a while ; 
 
 And by and by thy bosom shall partake 
 
 The secrets of my heart : 
 
 All my engagements I will construe to thee, 
 
 All the charactery of my sad brows. 
 
 Leave me with haste. [Exit Portia.] Lucius, who 's 
 that knocks? 
 
 Re-enter Lucius zvith Ligarius. 
 
 Luc. Here is a sick man that would speak with you. 310 
 Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of. 
 
 Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius ! how ? 
 Lig. Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. 
 Bru. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius, 
 
 To wear a kerchief ! Would you were not sick ! 
 Lig. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand 
 
 Any exploit worthy the name of honour, 
 
 55
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Bru. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, 
 Had you a healthful ear to hear of it. 
 
 Lig. By all the gods that Romans bow before, 320 
 
 I here discard my sickness ! Soul of Rome ! 
 Brave son, derived from honourable loins ! 
 Thou, like an exorcist, hast conjured up 
 My mortified spirit. Now bid me run. 
 And I will strive with things impossible, 
 Yea, get the better of them. What 's to do? 
 
 Bru. A piece of work that will make sick men whole. 
 
 Lig. But are not some whole that we must make sick? 
 
 Bru. That must we also. What it is, my Caius, 
 
 I shall unfold to thee, as we are going 330 
 
 To whom it must be done. 
 
 Lig. Set on your foot, 
 
 And with a heart new-fired I follow you, 
 To do I know not what : but it sufficeth 
 That Brutus leads me on. 
 
 Bru. Follow me then. \Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Cccsars Jiouse. 
 
 Thunder and lightning. Enter Ccesar, in his night- gozvn. 
 
 Cccs. Xor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night : 
 Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, 
 * Help, ho! they murder Caesar ! ' Who 's within ! 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 
 Serv. My lord? 
 
 Cces. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, 
 And bring me their opinions of success. 
 Serv, I will, my lord. [Exit, 
 
 56
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 Enter Calpurnia. 
 
 Cal. What mean you, Caesar ? think you to walk forth ? 
 You shall not stir out of your house to-day. 
 
 Cccs. C?esar shall forth : the things that threaten'd me lo 
 Ne'er look'd but on my back ; when they shall see 
 The face of Caesar, they are vanished. 
 
 Cal. Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, 
 
 Yet now they fright me. There is one within, 
 
 Besides the things that we have heard and seen, 
 
 Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. 
 
 A lioness hath w^helped in the streets ; 
 
 And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead ; 
 
 Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds. 
 
 In ranks and squadrons and right form of war, 20 
 
 Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol ; 
 
 The noise of battle hurtled in the air, 
 
 Horses did neigh and dying men did groan, 
 
 And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets. 
 
 O Caesar ! these things are beyond all use. 
 
 And I do fear them. 
 
 C(ES. What can be avoided 
 
 Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods ? 
 Yet Caesar shall go forth ; for these predictions 
 Are to the world in general as to Caesar. 
 
 Cal. When beggars die, there are no comets seen ; 30 
 The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of 
 princes. 
 
 CcES. Cowards die many times before their death ; 
 The valiant never taste of death but once. 
 Of all the wonders that I yet have heard. 
 It seems to me most strange that men should fear ; 
 
 57
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Seeing that death, a necessary end, 
 Will come when it will come. 
 
 Re-enter Servant. 
 
 What say the augurers? 
 Serv. They would not have you to stir forth to-day. 
 
 Plucking the entrails of an offering forth, 
 
 They could not find a heart within the beast. 40 
 
 Cces. The gods do this in shame of cowardice : 
 
 Caesar should be a beast without a heart 
 
 If he should stay at home to-day for fear. 
 
 No, Caesar shall not : danger knows full well 
 
 That Csesar is more dangerous than he : 
 
 We are two lions litter'd in one day. 
 
 And I the elder and more terrible : 
 
 And Caesar shall go forth. 
 Cal. Alas, my lord, 
 
 Your wisdom is consumed in confidence. 
 
 Do not go forth to-day : call it my fear 50 
 
 That keeps you in the house and not your own. 
 
 We '11 send Mark Antony to the senate-house, 
 
 And he shall say you are not well to-day : 
 
 Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. 
 Cccs. Mark Antony shall say I am not well. 
 
 And, for thy humour, I will stay at home. 
 
 Enter Decius. 
 
 Here 's Decius Brutus, he shall tell them so. 
 Dec. Csesar, all hail ! good morrow, worthy Caesar : 
 
 I come to fetch you to the senate-house. 
 Cces. And you are come in very happy time, 60 
 
 To bear my greeting to the senators 
 
 58
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. ii. 
 
 And tell them that I will not come to-day : 
 Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser: 
 I will not come to-day : tell them so, Decius. 
 
 Cal. Say he is sick. 
 
 Cccs. vShall Caesar send a lie? 
 
 Have I in conquest stretch' d mine arm so far, 
 To be afeard to tell graybeards the truth ? 
 Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. 
 
 Dec. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause, 
 
 Lest I be laugh'd at when I tell them so. 70 
 
 Cccs. The cause is in my will : I will not come ; 
 That is enough to satisfy the senate. 
 But, for your private satisfaction, 
 Because I love you, I will let you know. 
 Calpumia here, my wife, stays me at home : 
 She dreamt to-night she saw my statue, 
 Which like a fountain with an hundred spouts 
 Did run pure blood, and many lusty Romans 
 Came smiling and did bathe their hands in it : 
 And these does she apply for warnings and portents 
 And evils imminent, and on her knee 81 
 
 Hath begg'd that I will stay at home to-day. 
 
 Dec. This dream is all amiss interpreted ; 
 It was a vision fair and fortunate : 
 Your statue spouting blood in many pipes, 
 In which so many smiling Romans bathed, 
 Signifies that from you great Rome shall suck 
 Reviving blood, and that great men shall press 
 For tinctures, stains, relics and cognizance. 
 This by Calpurnia's dream is signified. 90 
 
 Cccs. And this way have you well expounded it. 
 
 Dec. I have, when you have heard what I can say : 
 
 59
 
 Act II. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 And know it now : the senate have conchided 
 To give this day a crown to mighty Caesar. 
 If you shall send them word you will not come, 
 Their minds may change. Besides, it were a mock 
 Apt to be render'd, for some one to say 
 
 * Break up the Senate till another time. 
 
 When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams.' 
 If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper lOO 
 
 * Lo, Caesar is afraid ' ? 
 
 Pardon me, Caesar, for my dear dear love 
 To your proceeding bids me tell you this, 
 And reason to my love is liable. 
 Cces. How foolish do your fears seem now, Calpurnia! 
 I am ashamed I did yield to them. 
 Give me my robe, for I will go. 
 
 Enter Pub Hits, Brutus, Ligarius, Metelhts, Case a, 
 Trehonius, and Cinna. 
 
 And look where Publius is come to fetch me. 
 
 Piih. Good morrow, Caesar. 
 
 CcEs. Welcome, Publius. 
 
 What, Brutus, are you stirr'd so early too? no 
 
 Good morrow, Casca. Caius Ligarius, 
 
 Caesar was ne'er so much your enemy 
 
 As that same ague which hath made you lean. 
 
 What is 't o'clock ? 
 
 Bru. Caesar, 'tis strucken eight. 
 
 Cces. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. 
 
 Enter Antony. 
 
 See ! Antony, that revels long o' nights. 
 
 Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. 
 
 60
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. iii. 
 
 Aiit. So to most noble Caesar. 
 
 CcFs. Bid them prepare within : 
 
 I am to blame to be thus waited for. 
 
 Now, Cinna : now, Aletellus : what, Trebonius ! 
 
 I have an hour's talk in store for you ; 121 
 
 Remember that you call on me to-day : 
 
 Be near me, that I may remember you. 
 Treb. Caesar, I will. [Aside] And so near will I be. 
 
 That your best friends shall wish I had been further. 
 Cces. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me ; 
 
 And we like friends will straightway go together. 
 Bni. [Aside] That every like is not the same, O Csesar, 
 
 The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 A street near the Capitol. 
 
 Enter Artemidoriis, reading a paper. 
 
 Art. * Caesar, bew^are of Brutus : take heed of Cassius ; 
 come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; 
 trust not Trebonius ; mark well JMetellus Cimber : 
 Decius Brutus loves thee not : thou hast wronged 
 Caius Ligarius. There is but one mind in all 
 these men, and it is bent against Caesar. If thou 
 beest not immortal, look about you : security 
 gives way to conspiracy. The mighty gods 
 defend thee ! 
 
 Thy lover, Artemidgrus." 10 
 
 Here will I stand till Caesar pass along, 
 And as a suitor will I give him this. 
 My heart laments that virtue cannot live 
 
 61
 
 Act II. Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Out of the teeth of emulation. 
 
 If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live; 
 
 If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive. [Exit. 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 Another part of the same street, before the house of Brutus. 
 Enter Portia and Lucius. 
 
 For. I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house ; 
 
 Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone. 
 
 Why dost thou stay? 
 Luc. To know my errand, madam. 
 
 For. I would have had thee there, and here again, 
 
 Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there. 
 
 constancy, be strong upon my side ! 
 
 Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue ! 
 
 1 have a man's mind, but a woman's might. 
 How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! 
 Art thou here yet ? 
 
 Luc. Madam, what should I do? lo 
 
 Run to the Capitol, and nothing else ? 
 
 And so return to you, and nothing else? 
 For. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, 
 
 For he went sickly forth : and take good note 
 
 What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him. 
 
 Hark, boy ! what noise, is that ? 
 Luc. I hear none, madam. 
 For. Prithee, listen well : 
 
 I heard a bustling rumour like a fray. 
 
 And the wind brings it from the Capitol. 
 Luc. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing. 20 
 
 62
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act II. Sc. iv. 
 
 Enter the Soothsayer. 
 
 Par. Come hither, fellow : 
 
 Which way hast thou been? 
 
 Sooth. At mine own house, good lady. 
 
 Ppr. What is 't o'clock ? 
 
 SootJi. About the ninth hour, lady. 
 
 For. Is Csesar yet gone to the Capitol? 
 
 SootJi. Aladam, not yet : I go to take my stand, 
 To see him pass on to the Capitol. 
 
 Por. Thou hast som.e suit to Caesar, hast thou not? 
 
 SootJi. That I have, lady : if it will please Caesar 
 To be so good to Caesar as to hear me, 
 I shall beseech him to befriend himself. 30 
 
 Por. \Vhy,know'st thou any harm 's intended towards him ? 
 
 Sooth. None that I know will be, much that I fear may 
 chance. 
 Good morrow to you. Here the street is narrow : 
 The throng that follows Caesar at the heels, 
 Of senators, of praetors, common suitors. 
 Will crowd a feeble man almost to death : 
 I '11 get me to a place more void and there 
 Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. [Exit. 
 
 Por. I must go in. Ay me, how weak a thing 
 
 The heart of woman is ! O Brutus, 40 
 
 The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise! 
 
 Sure^ the boy heard me. Brutus hath a suit 
 
 That Caesar will not grant. O, I grow faint. 
 
 Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord; 
 
 Say I am merry : come to me asfain. 
 
 And bring me word what he doth say to thee. 
 
 [Exeunt severally. 
 
 f>3
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 Rome. Before the Capitol; the Senate sitting above. 
 
 A crozvd of people; among them Artemidoriis and the 
 Soothsayer. Flourish. Enter Ccesar, Brutus, Cas- 
 sius, Casca^ Deeius, Metelhis, Trebonius, Cinna, An- 
 tony, Lepidus, Popilius, Publins, and others. 
 
 Cccs. The ides of ^larch are come. 
 
 Sooth. Ay, Caesar; but not gone. 
 
 Art. Hail, Caesar ! read this schedule. 
 
 Dee. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, 
 
 i\t your best leisure, this his humble suit. 
 Art. O Caesar, read mine first ; for mine 's a suit 
 
 That touches Caesar nearer : read it, great Caesar. 
 Ccrs. What touches us ourself shall be last served. 
 Art. Delay not, Caesar ; read it instantly. 
 Cces. What, is the fellow mad? 
 
 Pub. Sirrah, give place. lo 
 
 Cas. What, urge you your petitions in the street ? 
 
 Come to the Capitol. 
 
 Cccsar goes up to the Senate-house, the rest 
 foUozi'ing. 
 
 Pop. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive. 
 
 Cas. What enterprise, Popilius? 
 
 Pop. Fare you well. 
 
 [Advances fo'Ccesar. 
 Bru. What said Popilius Lena? 
 Cas. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive. 
 I fear our purpose is discovered. 
 
 ^4
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 Bni. Look, how he makes to Caesar : mark him. 
 
 Cas. Casca, 
 
 Be sudden, for we fear prevention. 
 Brutus, what shall be done? If this be known, 20 
 Cassius or Caesar never shall turn back, 
 For I will slay myself. 
 
 Bnt. Cassius, be constant: 
 
 Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; 
 For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change. 
 
 Cas. Trebonius knows his time ; for, look you, Brutus, 
 Fie draws Mark Antony out of the way. 
 
 [Exeunt Antony and Trebonius. 
 
 Dec. Where is Metellus Cimber ? Let him go, 
 And presently prefer his suit to Caesar. 
 
 Bru. Fie is address'd : press near and second him. 
 
 Cin. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. 30 
 
 Cics. Are we all ready ? What is now amiss 
 That Caesar and his senate must redress ? 
 
 Met. Most high, most mighty and most puissant Caesar, 
 Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat 
 An humble' heart : — [Kneeling. 
 
 Cces. I must prevent thee, Cimber. 
 
 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 Caesar 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 court'sies and base spaniel-fawning. 
 Thy brother by decree is banished : 
 If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him, 
 
 65
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. 
 
 Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause 
 
 Will he be satisfied. 
 Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, 
 
 To sound more sweetly in great Caesar's ear 50 
 
 For the repealing of my banish'd brother? 
 Brii. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar, 
 
 Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may 
 
 Have an immediate freedom of repeal. 
 Cccs. What, Brutus ! 
 Cas. Pardon, Caesar ; Caesar, pardon : 
 
 As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, 
 
 To beg- enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. 
 Cccs. I could be well moved, 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 unnumberVl sparks ; 
 
 They are all fire and every one doth shine ; 
 
 But there 's but one in all doth hold his place : 
 
 So in the world ; 'tis furnish'd well with men, 
 
 And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive ; 
 
 Yet in the number I do know but one 
 
 That unassailable holds on his rank, 
 
 Unshaked of motion : and that I am he, 70 
 
 Let me a Httle show it, even in this ; 
 
 That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, 
 
 And constant do remain to keep him so. 
 Cin. O Caesar, — 
 
 Cccs. Hence! wilt thou lift up Olympus? 
 
 Dec. Great Caesar, — 
 
 66
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 Cces. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel ? 
 
 Casca. Speak, hands, for me ! 
 
 {Casca first, then the other Conspirators 
 and Marcus Brutus stab Caesar. 
 Cces. Et tu. Brute ? Then fall, Caesar ! [Dies. 
 
 Cin. Liberty ! freedom ! Tyranny is dead ! 
 
 Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. 
 Cas. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out 80 
 
 ' Liberty, freedom and enfranchisement ! ' 
 Brii. People, and senators,, be not affrighted ; 
 
 Fly not ; stand still : ambition's debt is paid. 
 Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus. 
 Dec. And Cassius too. 
 BriL Where 's Publius ? 
 
 Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. 
 Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar's 
 
 Should chance — 
 Bru. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer; 
 
 There is no harm intended to your person, 90 
 
 Nor to no Roman else : so tell them, Publius. 
 Cas. And leave us. Publius ; lest that the people 
 
 Rushing on us should do your age some mischief. 
 Bru. Do so : and let no man abide this deed 
 
 But we the doers. 
 
 Re-enter Trebonius. 
 
 Cas. Where is Antony ? 
 
 Tre. Fled to his house amazed : 
 
 Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run 
 
 As it were doomsday. 
 Bru. Fates, we will know your pleasures : 
 
 Th.at v.-e shall die, we know ; 'tis but the time, 
 
 67
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 And drawing days out, that men stand upon. loo 
 
 Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of hfe 
 Cuts off so many years of fearing death. 
 
 Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit : 
 
 So are wq Caesar's friends, that have abridged 
 
 His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop, 
 
 And let us bathe our hands in Caesar'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. 
 
 Let 's all cry ' Peace, freedom and liberty ! ' no 
 
 Cas. Stoop then, and wash. How many ages hence 
 Shall this our lofty scene be acted over 
 In states unborn and accents yet unknown! 
 
 Bru. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, 
 That now on Pompey's basis lies along 
 No worthier than the dust ! 
 
 Cas. So oft as that shall be. 
 
 So often shall the knot of us be call'd 
 The men that gave their country liberty. 
 
 Dec. What, shall we forth ? 
 
 Cas. Ay, every man away : 
 
 Brutus shall lead, and we will grace his heels 120 
 With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome. 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 
 BriL Soft ! v^rho comes here ? A friend of Antony's. 
 Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel ; 
 
 Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down ; 
 
 And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say: 
 
 Brutus is noble, wise, valiant and honest ; 
 
 Caesar was mighty, bold, royal and loving: 
 
 68
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 Say I love Brutus and I honour him ; 
 
 Say I fear'd Caesar, honour'd him and loved him. 
 
 If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony 130 
 
 May safely come to him and be resolved 
 
 How Caesar hath deserved to lie in death, 
 
 Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead 
 
 So well as Brutus living, but will follow 
 
 The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus 
 
 Thorough the hazards of this untrod state 
 
 With all true faith. So says my master Antony. 
 
 Bni. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman ; 
 I never thought him worse. 
 
 Tell him, so please him come unto this place, 140 
 
 He shall be satisfied and, by my honour, 
 Depart imtouch'd. 
 
 Scrv. I '11 fetch him presently. [Exit. 
 
 Bni. I know that we shall have him well to friend. 
 
 Cos. I wish we may : but yet have I a mind 
 
 That fears him much, and my misgiving still 
 Falls shrewdly to the purpose. 
 
 Re-cutcr Antony. 
 
 Bru. But here comes Antony. Welcome, Mark Antony. 
 
 Ant. O mighty Caesar! dost thou lie so low? 
 
 Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils. 
 
 Shrunk to this little measure? Fare thee well. 150 
 
 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 Caesar's death's hour, nor no instrument 
 
 Of half that v;orth as those your swords, made rich 
 
 With th^ most noble blood of all this world. 
 
 69
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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, 
 
 I shall not find myself so apt to die : i6o 
 
 No place will please me so, no mean of death, 
 
 As here by Caesar, and by you cut ofif. 
 
 The choice and master spirits of this age. 
 
 Bru. O Antony, beg not your death of us. 
 
 Though now we must appear bloody and cruel, 
 
 As, by our hands and this our present act, 
 
 You see we do ; yet see you but our hands 
 
 And this the bleeding business they have done: 
 
 Our hearts you see not ; they are pitiful ; 
 
 And pity to the general wrong of Rome — 170 
 
 As fire drives out fire, so pity pity — 
 
 Hath done this deed on C?esar. For your part, 
 
 To you our swords have leaden points, Mark Antony : 
 
 Our arms in strength of malice, and our hearts 
 
 Of brothers' temper, do receive you in 
 
 With all kind love, good thoughts and reverence. 
 
 Cas. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's 
 In the disposing of new dignities. 
 
 Bru. Only be patient till we have appeased 
 
 The multitude, beside themselves with fear, 180 
 
 And then we will deliver you the cause 
 Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him, 
 Have thus proceeded. 
 
 Ant. I doubt not of your wisdom. 
 
 Let each man render me his bloody hand : 
 First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you ; 
 Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand ; 
 Now, Decius Brutus, yours ; now yours, Metellus ; 
 70
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 k 
 
 Yours, Cinna ; and, my valiant Casca, yours ; 
 
 Though last, not least in love, yours, good Trebonius. 
 
 Gentlemen all, — alas, what shall I say? 190 
 
 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, Caesar, O, 'tis true : 
 
 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? 
 
 Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds, 200 
 
 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, bra 
 
 hart ; 
 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 
 Dost thou here lie ! 210 
 
 Cas. Mark Antony, — 
 
 Ant. Pardon me, Caius Cassius: 
 
 The enemies of Caesar shall say this ; 
 Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. 
 
 Cas. I blame you not for praising Caesar so ; 
 
 But what compact mean you to have with us ? 
 Will you be prick'd in number of our friends. 
 Or shall we on, and not depend on you? 
 
 71
 
 Act III. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Ant. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed 
 
 Swav'd from the point by looking down on Caesar. 
 Friends am I with you all and love you all, 220 
 
 Upon this hope that you shall give me reasqns 
 Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous. 
 Bni. Or else were this a savage spectacle : 
 Our reasons are so full of good regard 
 That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, 
 You should be satisfied. 
 Ant. 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, 
 Speak in the order of his funeral. 230 
 
 Bru. You shall, Mark Antony. 
 
 Cos. Brutus, a word with you. 
 
 [Aside to Bru.] You know not what you do: do not 
 
 consent 
 That Antony speak in his funeral : 
 Know you how much the people may be moved 
 By that which he will utter ? 
 Bru. 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. 
 And that we are contented Caesar shall 240 
 
 Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. 
 It shall advantage more than do us wrong. 
 Cas. I know not what may fall ; I like it not. 
 Bru. Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. 
 You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, 
 
 72
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. i. 
 
 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 
 
 In the same pulpit whereto I am going, 250 
 
 After my speech is ended. 
 Ant. Ee it so ; 
 
 I do desire no more. 
 BriL Prepare the body then, and follow us. 
 
 [Exeunt all but Antony. 
 
 Ant. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, 
 
 That I am meek and gentle with these butchers ! 
 
 Thou art the ruins of the noblest man 
 
 That ever lived in the tide of times. 
 
 Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood ! 
 
 Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, 
 
 .Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips 260 
 
 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 ; 
 
 Blood and destruction shall be so in use, 
 
 And dreadful objects so familiar, 
 
 That mothers shall but smile when they behold 
 
 Their infants quarter'd with the hands of war ; 
 
 All pity choked with custom of fell deeds : 
 
 And Ccesar's spirit ranging for revenge, 270 
 
 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 
 
 With carrion men, groaning for burial. 
 
 73
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 
 You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not? 
 
 Serv. I do, Mark Antony. 
 
 Ant. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome. 
 
 Serv. He did receive his letters, and is coming ; 
 
 And bid me say to you by word of mouth — 280 
 
 O Caesar! [Seeing the body. 
 
 Ant. Thy heart is big ; get thee apart and weep. 
 Passion, I see, is catching, for mine eyes. 
 Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, 
 Began to water. Is thy master coming? 
 
 Serv. He Hes to-night within seven leagues of Rome. 
 
 Ant. Post back with speed, and tell him what hath chanced : 
 Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, 
 No Rome of safety for Octavius yet ; 
 Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile ; 290 
 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 ; 
 According to the which, thou shalt discourse 
 To young Octavius of the state of things. 
 Lend me your hand. [Exennt zvith Ccesar's body. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 The Forum. 
 
 Enter Brutus and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens. 
 
 Citizens. We will be satisfied ; let us be satisfied. 
 Bru. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends. 
 
 Cassius, go you into the other street, 
 
 And part the numbers. 
 
 74
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Those that will hear me speak, let 'em stay here ; 
 Those that will follow Cassius, go with him ; 
 And public reasons shall be rendered 
 Of Caesar's death. 
 
 First Cit. I will hear Brutus speaK. 
 
 Sec. Cit. I will hear Cassius ; and compare their reasons, 
 When severally we hear them rendered. lo 
 
 [Exit Cassius, zvith some of the Citi::^cns. 
 Brutus goes into the pulpit. 
 
 Third Cit. The noble Brutus is ascended : silence ! 
 
 Bru. 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 20 
 his. If then that friend demand why Brutus 
 rose against Caesar, this is my answer : not that 
 I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more. 
 Had you ratlier Caesar were living, and die all 
 slaves, than that Caesar were dead, to live all 
 freemen ? As Caesar loved 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 30 
 death for his ambition. Who is here so base 
 that would be a bondman ? If any, speak ; for 
 hihi have I offended. Who is here so rude that 
 
 75
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 would not be a Roman ? If any, speak ; for 
 him have I offended. Who is here so vile that 
 will not love his country? If any, speak; for 
 him have I offended. I pause for a reply. 
 
 All. None, Brutus, none. 
 
 Bni. Then none have I offended. I have done no 
 
 more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus. The 40 
 question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; 
 his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, 
 nor his offences enforced, for which he suffered 
 death. 
 
 Enter Antony and others, z<nth Cccsar's body. 
 
 Here comes his body, mourned 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 50 
 dagger for myself, when it shall please my 
 country to need my death. 
 
 All. Live, Brutus! live, live! 
 
 First Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto his house. 
 
 Sec. Cit. Give him a statue with his ancestors. 
 
 Third Cit. Let him be Caesar. 
 
 Fourth Cit. Caesar's better parts 
 
 Shall be crown'd in Brutus. 
 
 First Cit. We '11 bring him to his house with shouts and 
 clamours. 
 
 Brn. My countrymen, — 
 
 Sec. Cit. Peace I silence ! Brutus speaks. 
 
 First Cit. Peace, ho ! 
 
 76
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Bru. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, 60 
 
 And, for my sake, stay here with Antony : 
 
 Do grace to Caesar's corpse, and grace his speech 
 
 Tending to Cesar's glories, which Mark Antony 
 
 By our permission is allow'd to make. 
 
 I do entreat you, not a man depart. 
 
 Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. [Exit. 
 
 First Cit. Stay, ho ! and let us hear Alark Antony. 
 Third Cit. Let him go up into the public chair; 
 
 We '11 hear him. Noble Antony, go up. 
 Ant. For Brutus' sake I am beholding to you. 70 
 
 [Goes into the pulpit. 
 Fourth Cit. What does he say of Brutus? 
 Third Cit. He says, for Brutus' sake, 
 
 He finds himself beholding to us all. 
 Fourth Cit. 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here. 
 First Cit. This Caesar was a tyrant. 
 Third Cit. Nay, that 's certain : 
 
 We are blest that Rome is rid of him. 
 Sec. Cit. Peace ! let us hear what Antony can say. 
 Ant. You gentle Romans, — 
 
 All. Peace, ho ! let us hear him. 
 
 Ant. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; 
 
 I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
 
 The evil that men do lives after them ; 80 
 
 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. 
 
 Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest, — 
 
 For Brutus is an honourable man ;
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 So are they all, all honourable men, — 
 
 Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 
 
 He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 90 
 
 But Brutus says he was ambitious ; 
 
 And Brutus is an honourable man. 
 
 He hath brought many captives home to Rome, 
 
 Whose ranspms did the general coffers fill : 
 
 Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 
 
 When that the poor have cried, Csesar 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 100 
 
 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, 
 
 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 ? 
 
 judgement : thou art fled to brutish beasts. 
 
 And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; no 
 My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 
 And I must pause till it come back to me. 
 
 First Cit. Methinks there is much reason in his sayings. 
 
 Sec. Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, 
 Caesar has had great wrong. 
 
 Third Cit. Has he, masters ? 
 
 1 fear there will a worse come in his place. 
 
 Fourth Cit. Mark'd ye his words ? He would not take the 
 crown ;
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious. 
 
 First Cit. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 119 
 
 Sec. Cit. Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 
 
 Third Cit. There 's not a nobler man in Rome than 
 Antony. 
 
 Fourth Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. 
 
 Ant. But yesterday the word of C?esar might 
 
 Have stood against the world : now lies he there. 
 And none so poor to do him reverence. 
 
 masters, if I were disposed to stir 
 Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 
 
 1 should do Brutus wrong and Cassius wrong 
 Who, you all know, are honourable men : 
 
 I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose 130 
 
 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 — 
 
 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, 140 
 
 Bequeathing it as a rich legacy 
 
 Unto their issue. 
 
 Fourth Cit. We '11 hear the will : read it, Mark Antony. 
 
 All. The will, the will ! we will hear Caesar's will. 
 
 Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
 It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 
 You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ; 
 And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
 
 79
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 It will inflame you, it will make you mad : 
 
 'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; 150 
 
 For if you should, O, what would come of it ! 
 
 Fourth Cit. Read the will ; we '11 hear it, Antony ; 
 You shall read us the will, Caesar's will. 
 
 Ant. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile? 
 I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it : 
 I fear I wrong the honourable men 
 Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar ; I do fear it. 
 
 Fourth Cit. They were traitors : honourable men ! 
 
 All. The will! the testament ! 
 
 Sec. Cit. They were villains, murderers : the will ! read 
 the will. 160 
 
 Ant. 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? 
 
 All. Come down. 
 
 Sec. Cit. Descend. [He comes dozvn from the pulpit. 
 
 Third Cit. You shall have leave. 
 
 Fourth Cit. A ring ; stand round. 
 
 First Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 
 
 Sec. Cit. Room for Antony, most noble Antony. 170 
 
 Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. 
 
 All Stand back. Room ! Bear back. 
 
 Ant. 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 ; 
 '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 : 
 80
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; i8o 
 
 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 resolved 
 
 If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no : 
 
 For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel : 
 
 Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him. 
 
 This was the most unkindest cut of all ; 
 
 For when the noble Caesar saw him stab. 
 
 Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 189 
 
 Quite vanquish'd him : then burst his mighty heart ; 
 
 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. 
 
 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, 200 
 
 Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors. 
 
 First Cit. O piteous spectacle ! 
 
 Sec. Cit. O noble Caesar ! 
 
 Third Cit. O wofulday! 
 
 Fourth Cit. O traitors, villains ! 
 
 First Cit. O most bloody sight ! 
 
 Sec. Cit. We will be revenged. 
 
 All. Revenge! About! Seek! Burn! Fire! Kill! 
 Slay ! Let not a traitor live ! 
 
 Ant. Stay, countrymen. 210 
 
 First Cit. Peace there ! hear the noble Antony. 
 
 81
 
 Act III. Sc. ii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Sec. Cit. We '11 hear him, we '11 follow him, we '11 die 
 with him. 
 
 Ant. 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 ; 
 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 : 220 
 I am no orator, as Brutus is ; 
 But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man. 
 That love my friend ; and that they know full well 
 That gave me public leave to speak of him : 
 For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 
 Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech. 
 To stir men's blood : I only speak right on ; 
 I tell you that which you yourselves do know ; 
 Show your sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb 
 
 mouths. 
 And bid them speak for me : but were I Brutus, 230 
 • And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 
 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. 
 
 All We '11 mutiny. 
 
 First Cit. We '11 burn the house of Brutus. 
 
 Third Cit. Away, then! come, seek the conspirators. 
 
 Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen ; yet hear me speak. 
 
 All. Peace, ho! Hear Antony. Most noble Antony! 
 
 Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what : 
 
 Wherein hath Caesar thus deserved your loves ? 241 
 Alas, you know not ; I must tell you then : 
 82
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act III. Sc. ii. 
 
 You have forgot the will I told you of. 
 
 All. Most true : the will ! Let 's stay and hear the will. 
 
 Attt. Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal. 
 To every Roman citizen he gives, 
 To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. 
 
 Sec. Cit. Most noble Caesar ! we '11 revenge his death. 
 
 Third Cit. O royal Caesar ! 
 
 Ant. Hear me with patience. 250 
 
 All. Peace, ho! 
 
 Ant. 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. 
 Here was a Caesar ! when comes such another ? 
 
 First Cit. Never, never. Come, away, away ! 
 We '11 burn his body in the holy place, 
 And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. 260 
 Take up the body. 
 
 Sec. Cit. Go fetch fire. 
 
 Third Cit. Pluck down benches. 
 
 Fourth Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing. 
 
 [Exeunt Citizens with the body. 
 
 Ant. Now let it work. Mischief, thou art afoot. 
 Take thou what course thou wilt. 
 
 Enter a Servant. 
 
 How now, fellow ! 
 Serv. Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome. 
 Ant. Where is he? 
 
 Serv. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's house. 
 Ant. And thither will I straight to visit him. 270 
 
 83
 
 Act III. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry, 
 
 And in this mood will give us any thing. 
 Scrv. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius 
 
 Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. 
 Ant. Belike they had some notice of the people, 
 
 How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 A street. 
 
 Enter Cinna the poet. 
 
 Cin. 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. 
 
 First Cit. What is your name ? 
 
 See. Cit. Whither are you going? 
 
 Third Cit. Where do you dwell ? 
 
 Fourth Cit. Are you a married man or a bachelor? 
 
 SeCo Cit. Answer every man directly. 
 
 First Cit. Ay, and briefly. lo 
 
 Fourth Cit. Ay, and wisely. 
 
 Third Cit. Ay, and truly, you were best. 
 
 Cin. 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. 
 Sec. Cit. That 's as much as to say, they are fools 
 
 that marry : you '11 bear me a bang for that, 
 
 I fear. Proceed ; directly. 
 
 84
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. i. 
 
 Cin. Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral. 20 
 
 First Cit. As a friend or an enemy ? 
 
 Cin. As a friend. 
 
 Sec. Cit. That matter is answered directly. 
 
 Fourth Cit. For your dwelling, briefly. 
 
 Cin. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 
 
 Third Cit. Your name, sir, truly. 
 
 Cin. Truly, my name is Cinna. 
 
 First Cit. Tear him to pieces ; he 's a conspirator. 
 
 Cin. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet. 
 
 Fourth Cit. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for 
 
 his bad verses. 30 
 
 Cin. I am not Cinna the conspirator. 
 Fourth Cit. It is no matter, his name 's Cinna ; pluck 
 
 but his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 
 Third Cit. Tear him, tear him ! Come, brands, ho ! 
 
 fire-brands : to Brutus', to Cassius' ; burn all : 
 
 some to Decius' house, and some to Casca's; 
 
 some to Ligarius' : away, go ! [^Exeunt. 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 A house in Rome. 
 
 Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, seated at a table. 
 
 Ant. These many then shall die ; their names are prick'd. 
 Oct. Your brother too must die ; consent you, Lepidus ? 
 Lep. I do consent — 
 
 Oct. Prick him down, Antony. 
 
 Lep. Upon condition Publius shall not live, 
 Who is your sister's son, ]\Iark Antony. 
 
 85
 
 Act IV. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Ant. 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. 
 
 Lep. What, shall I find you here? lo 
 
 Oct. Or here, or at the Capitol. [Exit Lepidus. 
 
 Ant. 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 ? 
 
 Oct. So you thought him, 
 
 And took his voice who should be prick'd to die 
 In our black sentence and proscription. 
 
 Ant. 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, 
 Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears 
 And graze in commons. 
 
 Oct. You may do your will : 
 
 But he 's a tried and valiant soldier. 
 
 Ant. 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 ; 
 
 86
 
 JULIUS CAESAR ^ Act IV. Sc. ii. 
 
 A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds 
 On abjects, orts and imitations, 
 Which, out of use and staled 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 combined. 
 Our best friends made, our means stretch'd ; 
 And let us presently go sit in council, 
 How covert matters may be best disclosed, 
 And open perils surest answered. 
 Oct. 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. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 Camp near Sardis. Before Brutus s tent. 
 
 Drum. Enter Brutus, Lucilius, Lucius, and Soldiers; 
 Titinitis and Pindarus meet them. 
 
 Bru. Stand, ho ! 
 
 Lucil. Give the word, ho ! and stand. 
 
 Bru. What now, Lucilius ! is Cassius near ? 
 
 Lucil. He is at hand ; and Pindarus is come 
 To do you salutation from his master. 
 
 Bru. 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. 
 
 87
 
 Act IV. Sc. ii. ^ THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 PijL I do not doubt lo 
 
 But that my noble master will appear 
 Such as he is, full of regard and honour. 
 
 Bru. He is not doubted. A word, Lucilius, 
 How he received you : let me be resolved. 
 
 Liicil. With courtesy and with respect enough; 
 But not with such familiar instances, 
 Nor with such free and friendly conference, 
 As he hath used of old. 
 
 Bru. Thou hast described 
 
 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. 
 They fall their crests and like deceitful jades 
 Sink in the trial. Comes his army on ? 
 
 Liicil. They mean this night in Sardis to be quarter 'd ; 
 The greater part, the horse in general, 
 Are come with Cassius. [Low march zvithiji. 
 
 Bru. Hark ! he is arrived : 3c 
 
 March gently on to meet him. 
 
 Enter Cassius and his power. 
 
 Cas. Stand, ho! 
 
 Bru. Stand, ho ! Speak the word along. 
 
 First Sol Stand ! 
 
 Sec. Sol Stand ! 
 
 Third Sol Stand! 
 
 Cas. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong. 
 
 m
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 B?'u. Judge me, you gods ! wrong I mine enemies ? 
 
 And, if not so, how should I wrong a brother? 
 Cas. Brutus, this sober form of yours hides wrongs ; 40 
 
 And when you do them — 
 Bni. Cassius, be content ; 
 
 Speak your griefs softly : I do know you well. 
 
 Before the eyes of both our armies here. 
 
 Which should perceive nothing but love from us, 
 
 Let us not wrangle : bid them move away ; 
 
 Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs, 
 
 And I will give you audience. 
 Cas. Pindarus, 
 
 Bid our commanders lead their charges off 
 
 A little from this ground. 
 Bru. 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. 
 
 Scene III, 
 
 Briitiis's tent. 
 Enter Brutus and Cassius. 
 
 Cas. 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, were slighted off. 
 
 Bru. You wrong'd yourself to write in such a case. 
 
 Cas. In such a time as this it is not meet 
 
 That every nice offence should bear his comment. 
 
 Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself 
 
 Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm, 10 
 
 89 «
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 To sell and mart your offices for gold 
 To undeservers. 
 
 Cas. I an itching palm ! 
 
 You know that you are Brutus that speaks this, 
 Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last. 
 
 Bni. The name of Cassius honours this corruption, 
 And chastisement doth therefore hide his head. 
 
 Cas. Chastisement ! 
 
 Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember: 
 Did not great JuHus 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 
 For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
 I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
 Than such a Roman. 
 
 Cas. Brutus, bait not me ; 
 
 I '11 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. 
 
 Bru. Go to; you are not, Cassius. 
 
 Cas. I am. 
 
 Bru. I say you are not. 
 
 Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself ; 
 
 Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther. 
 
 Bru. Away, slight man! 
 
 Cas. Is 't possible? 
 
 Bru, Hear me, for I will speak. 
 
 • 90
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. Hi. 
 
 Must T give way and room to your rash choler ? 
 Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? 40 
 
 Cas. O ye gods, ye gods ! must I endure all this ? 
 
 Bru. 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 
 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 '11 use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter. 
 When you are waspish. 
 
 Cas. Is it come to this ? 50 
 
 Bru. 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. 
 
 Cas. You wrong me every way ; you wrong me, Brutus ; 
 I said, an elder soldier, not a better : 
 Did I say, better? 
 
 Bru. If you did, I care not. 
 
 Cas. When Caesar lived, he durst not thus have moved me. 
 
 Bru. Peace, peace ! you durst not so have tempted him. 
 
 Cas. I durst not ! 60 
 
 Bru. No. 
 
 Cas. What, durst not tempt him ! 
 
 Bru. For your life you durst not. 
 
 Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love ; 
 I may do that I shall be sorry for. 
 
 Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. 
 There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; 
 For I am arm'd so strong in honesty, 
 
 91 .
 
 Act IV. Sc. ill. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 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. ,1 did send 
 
 To you for gold to pay my legions, 
 
 Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius ? 
 
 Should I have answer'd Caius Cassius so? 
 
 W^hen 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 ! 
 
 Cas. I denied you not. 
 
 Bru. You did. 
 
 Cas. I did not : he was but a fool 
 
 That brought my answer back. Brutus hath rived 
 
 my heart : 
 A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, 
 But Brutus makes mine greater than they are. 
 
 Bill. I do not, till you practise them on me. 
 
 Cas. Lou love me not. 
 
 Bru. I do not like your faults. 
 
 Cas. A friendly eye could never see such faults. 90 
 
 Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear 
 As huge as high Olympus. 
 
 Cas. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come, 
 Revenge yourselves alone on Cassius, 
 For Cassius is aweary of the world ; 
 Hated by one he loves ; braved by his brother ; 
 92
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 Check'd like a bondman ; all his faults observed, 
 
 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, loo 
 
 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. 
 
 When thou didst hate him worst, thou lovedst him 
 
 better 
 Than ever thou lovedst Cassius. 
 
 Bru. Sheathe your dagger : 
 
 Be angry when you will, it shall have scope; 
 Do what 3^ou will, dishonour shall be humour. 
 O Cassius, you are yoked with a lamb, no 
 
 That carries anger as the flint bears fire. 
 Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark 
 And straight is cold again. 
 
 Cas. Hath Cassius lived 
 
 To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, 
 When grief and blood ill-temper'd vexeth him. 
 
 Brii. When I spoke that, I was ill-temper'd too. 
 
 Cas. Do you confess so much ? Give me your hand. 
 
 Bru. And my heart too. 
 
 Cas. O Brutus! 
 
 Bru. What 's the matter ? 
 
 Cas. Have not you love enough to bear with me, 119 
 
 When that rash humour which my mother gave me 
 Makes me forgetful ? 
 
 Bru. Yes, Cassius, and from henceforth, 
 
 When you are over-earnest with your Brutus, 
 
 93
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 He '11 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 
 Thev be alone. 
 
 uci 
 
 I. \ Within] You shall not come to them. 
 
 Poet. [Within] Nothing but death shall stay me. 
 
 Enter Poet, followed by Lneilius, Titinius, and Lucius. 
 
 Cas. 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. 
 Cas. Ha, ha ! how vilely doth this cynic rhyme ! 
 Bru. Get you hence, sirrah; saucy fellow, hence! 
 Cas. Bear with him, Brutus ; 'tis his fashion. 
 Bru. I '11 know his humour when he knows his time : 
 
 What should the wards do with these jigging fools? 
 
 Companion, hence ! 
 Cas. Away, away, be gone! [E.vit Poet. 
 
 Bru. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders 
 
 Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. 140 
 
 Cas. And come yourselves, and bring Messala with you 
 
 Immediately to us. [Exeunt LueUius end Titinius. 
 Bru. Lucius, a bowl of wine ! [Exit Lueius. 
 
 Cas. I did not think you could have been so angry. 
 Bru. O Cassius, I am sick of many griefs. 
 Cas. Of your philosophy you make no use. 
 
 If you give place to accidental evils. 
 Bru. No man bears sorrow better : Portia is dead. 
 Cas. Ha! Portia! 
 Brit. She is dead. 
 Cas. How 'scaped I killing when I cross'd you so? 150 
 
 94
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 insupportable and touching loss ! 
 Upon what sickness ? 
 
 Bru. 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, 
 And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire. 
 
 Cas. And died so? 
 
 Bru. Even so. 
 
 Cas. O ye immortal gods ! 
 
 Re-enter Lucius, liith zvine and taper. 
 
 Bru. Speak no more of her. Give me a bowl of wine. 
 
 In this I bury all unkindness, Cassius. [Drinks. 
 
 Cas. My heart is thirsty for that noble pledge. i6o 
 
 Fill, Lucius, till the wine o'erswell the cup ; 
 
 1 cannot drink too much of Brutus' love. [Drinks. 
 Bru. Come in, Titinius! [Exit Lucius. 
 
 Re-enter Titinius, with Mcssala. 
 
 Welcome, good Messala. 
 Now sit we close about this taper here, 
 And call in question our necessities. 
 
 Cas. Portia, art thou gone ? 
 
 Bru. 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 
 
 Mes. Myself have letters of the self-same tenour. 
 
 Bru. With what addition ? 
 
 Mes. That by proscription and bills of outlawry 
 
 95
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Octavins, Antony and Lepidus, 
 
 Have put to death an hundred senators. 
 Bru. Therein our letters do not well agree; 
 
 Mine speak of seventy senators that died 
 
 By their proscriptions, Cicero being one. 
 Cas. Cicero one ! 
 Mes. Cicero is dead, 
 
 And by that order of proscription. i8o 
 
 Had you your letters from your wife, my lord? 
 Bru. No, Messala. 
 
 Mes. Nor nothing in your letters writ of her? 
 Bru. Nothing, Messala. 
 
 Mes. That, methinks, is strange. 
 
 B7"ii. Why ask you ? hear you aught of her in yours ? 
 Mes. No, my lord. 
 
 Brit. Now, as you are a Roman, tell me true. 
 Mes. Then like a Roman bear the truth I tell : 
 
 For certain she is dead, and by strange manner. 
 Bru. Why, farewell, Portia. We must die, Messala : 
 
 With meditating that she must die once 191 
 
 I have the patience to endure it now. 
 Mes. Even so great men great losses should endure. 
 Cas. I have as much of this in art as you, 
 
 But yet my nature could not bear it so. 
 Bru. Well, to our work alive. What do you think 
 
 Of marching to Philippi presently? 
 Cas. I do not think it good. 
 Bru. Your reason? 
 
 Cas. 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 
 
 96
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 Are full of rest, defence and nimbleness. 
 Bru. Good reasons must of force give place to better. 
 
 The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground 
 
 Do stand but in a forced affection, 
 
 For they have grudged us contribution : 
 
 The enemy, marching along by them, 
 
 By them shall make a fuller number up, 
 
 Come on refresh'd, new-added and encouraged ; 
 
 From which advantage shall we cut him off 210 
 
 If at Philippi we do face him there, 
 
 These people at our back. 
 Cas. Hear me, good brother. 
 
 Brji. 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 : 
 
 The enemy increaseth every day ; 
 
 We, at the height, are ready to decline. 
 
 There is a tide in the aff'airs 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. 
 Cas. Then, with your will, go on ; 
 
 We '11 along ourselves and meet them at Philippi. 
 Bni. 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? 
 Cas. Xo more. Good night : 
 
 Early to-morrow will we rise and hence. 230 
 
 97
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Brit. Lucius! [Re-enter Lucius.] My gown. [Exit Lu- 
 cius.] Farewell, good Messala : 
 
 Good night, Titinius : noble, noble Cassius, 
 
 Good night, and good repose. 
 Cas. O my dear brother ! 
 
 This was an ill beginning of the night : 
 
 Never come such division 'tween our souls ! 
 
 Let it not, Brutus. 
 Bru. Every thing is well. 
 
 Cas. Good night, my lord. 
 
 Bru. Good night, good brother. 
 
 Tit. Mes. Good night. Lord Brutus. 
 
 Bru. Farewell, every one. 
 
 [Exeu)it all but Brutus. 
 
 Re-enter Lucius, with the gown. 
 
 Give me the gown. \A'here is thy instrument? 
 Luc. Here in the tent. 
 Bru. What, thou speak'st drowsily? 240 
 
 Poor knave, I blame thee not ; thou art o'er-watch'd. 
 
 Call Claudius and some other of my men ; 
 
 I '11 have them sleep on cushions in my tent. 
 Luc. Varro and Claudius ! 
 
 Enter Varro and Claudius. 
 
 Var. Calls my lord? 
 
 Bru. 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. 
 Var. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure. 
 Bru. I will not have it so : lie down, good sirs ; 250 
 
 It may be I shall otherwise bethink me. 
 98
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act IV. Sc. iii. 
 
 Look, Lucius, here 's the book I sought for so ; 
 I put it in the pocket of my gown. 
 
 [Var. and Clan, lie down. 
 
 Luc. I was sure your lordship did not give it me. 
 
 Brii. Bear with me, good boy, I am much forgetful. 
 Canst thou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, 
 And touch thy instrument a strain or two ? 
 
 Luc. Ay, my lord, an 't please you. 
 
 Brii. It does, my boy : 
 
 I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. 
 
 Luc. It is my duty, sir. 260 
 
 Bru. I should not urge thy duty past thy might ; 
 I know young bloods look for a time of rest. 
 
 Luc. I have slept, my lord, already. 
 
 Bru. It was well done ; and thou shalt sleep again ; 
 I will not hold thee long : if I do live, 
 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 w^ake thee : 270 
 If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument ; 
 I '11 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. 
 
 [Sits down. 
 
 Enter the Ghost of Ccrsar. 
 
 How ill this taper bums ! Ha ! who comes here ? 
 I think it is the weakness of mine eyes 
 That shapes this monstrous apparition. 
 It comes upon me. Art thou any thing? 
 
 99
 
 Act IV. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Art thou some god, some an^^el, or some devil. 
 
 That makest my blood cold, and my hair to stare ? 
 
 Speak to me what thou art. 281 
 
 Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. 
 Bni. Why comest thou? 
 
 Ghost. To tell thee thou shalt see me at Philippi. 
 Bru. Well ; then I shall see thee again ? 
 Ghost. Ay, at Philippi. 
 Bru. 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 ! 
 Lite. The strings, my lord, are false. 290 
 
 Brn. He thinks he still is at his instrument. 
 
 Lucius, awake! 
 Luc. My lord? 
 
 Bru. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out? 
 Luc. My lord, I do not know that I did cry. 
 Bru. Yes, that thou didst: didst thou see any thing? 
 Luc. Nothing, my lord. 
 Bru. vSleep again, Lucius. Sirrah Claudius ! 300 
 
 [To Var.] Fellow thou, awake! 
 Far. My lord? 
 Clan. MVlord? 
 
 B7'u. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in your sleep ? 
 Var. Clau. Did we, my lord? 
 
 Bru. Ay: saw you any thing? 
 
 Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing. 
 Clan. Nor I, my lord. 
 
 Bru, Go and commend me to my brother Cassius ; 
 
 100
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. i. 
 
 Bid him set on his powers betimes before, 
 And we will follow. 
 Var. Clan. it shall be done, my lord. [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 Scene I. 
 
 The plains of PhilippL 
 Enter Octaz'ius, Antony, and their army. 
 
 Oct. 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, 
 
 Answering before we do demand of them. 
 Ant. 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 lo 
 
 To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage ; 
 
 But 'tis not so. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Mess. Prepare you, generals : 
 
 The enemy comes on in gallant show ; 
 
 Their bloody sign of battle is hung out, 
 
 And something to be done immediately. 
 Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on. 
 
 Upon the left hand of the even field. 
 Oct. Upon the right hand I ; keep thou the left. 
 Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent? 
 Oct. I do not cross you ; but I will do so. [March. 20 
 
 lOI
 
 Act V. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Drum. Enter Brutus, Cassins, and their army; 
 Lueilius, Titinins, Messala, and others. 
 
 Bru. They stand, and would have parley. 
 Cas. Stand fast, Titinius : we must out an»^ talk. 
 Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle? 
 Ant. No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge. 
 
 Make forth ; the generals would have some words. 
 Oct. Stir not until the signal. 
 Bru. Words before blows : is it so, countrymen ? 
 Oct. Not that we love words better, as you do. 
 Bni. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius. 
 Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words : 
 
 Witness the hole you made in Caesar's heart, 31 
 
 Crying ' Long live ! hail, Caesar ! ' 
 Cas. Antony, 
 
 The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; 
 
 But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees, 
 
 And leave them honeyless. 
 Ant. Not stingless too. 
 
 Bru. O, yes, and soundless too ; 
 
 For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony, 
 And very wisely threat before you sting. 
 
 Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers 
 
 Hack'd one another in the sides of Caesar : 40 
 
 You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like 
 
 hounds, 
 And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet ; 
 Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind 
 Struck Caesar on the neck. O, you flatterers ! 
 
 Cas. Flatterers! Now, Brutus, thank yourself : 
 This tongue had not offended so to-day, 
 
 102
 
 JULIUS CAESAR "^ Act V. Sc. i. 
 
 If Cassius might have ruled. 
 Oct. Come, come, the cause: if arguing make us sweat, 
 
 The proof of it will turn to redder drops. 
 
 Look; 50 
 
 I draw a sword against conspirators ; 
 
 When think you that the sword goes up again? 
 
 Never, till Caesar's three and thirty w^ounds 
 
 Be well avenged, or till another Caesar 
 
 Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. 
 Brii. Csesar, thou canst not die by traitors' hands, 
 
 Unless thou bring'st them with thee. 
 Oct. So I hope; 
 
 I was not born to die on Brutus' sword. 
 Bru. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain. 
 
 Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. 
 Cas. A peevish schoolboy, worthless of such honour, 61 
 
 Join'd with a masker and a reveller ! 
 Ant. Old Cassius still! 
 Q^f^ Come, Antony ; away ! 
 
 Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth ; 
 
 If you dare fight to-day, come to the field : 
 
 If not, when you have stomachs. 
 
 [Exeunt Octaz'ius, Antony, and their army. 
 Cas. Whv, now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! 
 
 The storm is up, and all is on the haard. 
 Bru. Ho, Lucilius ! hark, a word with you. 
 j^j^^ll [Standing forth] My lord? 
 
 [Brutus and Lucilius converse apart. 
 
 Cas. Messala! '^^ 
 
 Mes. [Standing forth] What says my general? 
 
 ^ Messala, 
 
 Cas. 
 
 This is my birth-day ; as this very day 
 
 103
 
 Act V. Sc. i. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Was Cassius born. Give me thy hand, Messala : 
 
 Be thou my witness that, against my will, 
 
 As Pompey was, am I compell'd to set 
 
 Upon one battle all our liberties. 
 
 You know that I held Epicurus strong-. 
 
 And his opinion : now I change my mind, 
 
 And partly credit things that do presage. 
 
 Coming from Sardis, on our foreign ensign 80 
 
 Two mighty eagles fell, and there they perch'd. 
 
 Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands ; 
 
 Who to Philippi here consorted us : 
 
 This morning are they fled away and gone ; 
 
 And in their steads do ravens, crows and kites 
 
 Fly o'er our heads and downward look on us. 
 
 As we were sickly prey : their shadows seem 
 
 A canopy most fatal, under which 
 
 Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost. 
 
 Mcs. Believe not so. 
 
 Cas. I but believe it partly, 90 
 
 For I am fresh of spirit and resolved 
 To meet all perils very constantly. 
 
 Bru. Even so, Lucilius. 
 
 Cas. Now, most noble Brutus, 
 
 The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, 
 Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age ! 
 But, since the affairs of men rest still incertain, 
 Let 's reason with the worst that may befall. 
 If we do lose this battle, then is this 
 The very last time we shall speak together : 
 What are you then determined to do? 100 
 
 Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy 
 By which I did blame Cato for the death 
 104
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. ii. 
 
 Which he did give himself : I know not how, 
 
 But I do find it cowardly and vile, 
 
 For fear of what might fall, so to prevent 
 
 The time of life : arming myself with patience 
 
 To stay the providence of some high powers 
 
 That govern us below. 
 Cas. Then, if we lose this battle, 
 
 You are contented to be led in triumph 
 
 Thorough the streets of Rome? no 
 
 Bru. No, Cassius, no : think not, thou noble Roman, 
 
 That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome ; 
 
 He bears too great a mind. But this same day 
 
 Must end that work the ides of March begun ; 
 
 And whether we shall meet again I know not. 
 
 Therefore our everlasting farewell take. 
 
 For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius ! 
 
 If we do meet again, why, we shall smile; 
 
 If not, why then this parting was well made. 
 Cas. For ever and for ever farewell, Brutus! 120 
 
 If we do meet again, we '11 smile indeed ; 
 
 If not, 'tis true this parting was well made. 
 Bru. Why then, lead on. O, that a man might know 
 
 The end of this day's business ere it come ! 
 
 But it sufficeth that the day will end. 
 
 And then the end is known. Come, ho ! away ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 The field of battle. 
 
 Alarum. Enter Brutus and Messala. 
 
 Bru. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills 
 
 Unto the legions on the other side : [Loud alarum, 
 105
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Let them set on at once ; for I perceive 
 But cold demeanour in Octavius' wing, 
 And sudden push gives them the overthrow. 
 Ride, ride, Messala : let them all come down. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 Another part of the field. 
 Alarums. Enter Cassius and Titiniiis. 
 
 Cas. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains fly ! 
 Myself have to mine own turn'd enemy : 
 This ensign here of mine was turning back ; 
 I slew the coward, and did take it from him. 
 
 Tit. O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early ; 
 Who, having some advantage on Octavius, 
 Took it too eagerly : his soldiers fell to spoil, 
 Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed. 
 
 Enter Pindariis. 
 
 Pin. Fly further off, my lord, fly further off ; 
 
 Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord : lo 
 
 Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. 
 
 Cas. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius ; 
 Are those my tents where I perceive the fire ? 
 
 Tit. They are, my lord. 
 
 Cas. Titinius, if thou lovest me, 
 
 Mount thou my horse and hide thy spurs in him. 
 Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops 
 And here again ; that I may rest assured 
 Wliether yond troops are friend or enemy. 
 
 Tit. I will be here again, even with a thought. [Exit. 
 
 io6
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Cas. Go, Pindarus, get higher on that hill ; 20 
 
 My sight was ever thick ; regard Titinius, 
 And tell me what thou notest about the field. 
 
 [Pindarus ascends the hill 
 This day I breathed first : time is come round, 
 And where I did begin, there shall I end ; 
 My life is run his compass. Sirrah, what news ? 
 
 Pin. [Above] O my lord ! 
 
 Cas. What news? 
 
 Pin. ] Above] Titinius is enclosed round about 
 
 With horsemen, that make to him on the spur ; 
 Yet he spurs on. Now they are almost on him. 30 
 Now, Titinius ! Now some light. O, he lights too. 
 He 's ta'en. [Shout] And, hark ! they shout for joy. 
 
 Cas. Come down ; behold no more. 
 
 O, coward that I am, to live so long, 
 
 To see my best friend ta'en before my face ! 
 
 Pindarus descends. 
 
 Come hither, sirrah : 
 
 In Parthia did I take thee prisoner; 
 
 And then I swore thee, saving of thy life, 
 
 That whatsoever I did bid thee do. 
 
 Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keep thine 
 
 oath ; 40 
 
 Now be a freeman ; and with this good sword, 
 That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom. 
 Stand not to answer : here, take thou the hilts ; 
 And when my face is cover'd, as 'tis now. 
 Guide thou the sword. [Pindarus stabs him.] Caesar, 
 
 thou art revenged, 
 Even with the sword that kill'd thee. [Dies. 
 
 107
 
 Act V. Sc. iii. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Pin. So, I am free ; yet would not so have been, 
 Durst I have done my will. O Cassius ! 
 Far from this country Pindarus shall run, 
 Where never Roman shall take note of him. [Exit. 
 
 Re-enter Titinins zvith Messala. 
 
 Mes. It is but change, Titinius ; for Octavius 51 
 
 Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power, 
 As Cassius' legions are by Antony. 
 
 Tit. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. 
 
 Mes. Where did you leave him ? 
 
 Tit. All disconsolate, 
 
 With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill. 
 
 Mes. Is not that he that lies upon the ground? 
 
 Tit. He lies not like the living. O my heart ! 
 
 Ales. Is not that he ? 
 
 Tit. No, this was he, Messala, 
 
 But Cassius is no more. O setting sun, 60 
 
 As in thy red rays thou dost sink to night, 
 
 So in his red blood Cassius' day is set. 
 
 The sun of Rome is set ! Our day is gone ; 
 
 Clouds, dews and dangers come ; our deeds are done ! 
 
 Mistrust of my success hath done this deed. 
 
 Mes. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. 
 O hateful error, melancholy's child. 
 Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men 
 The things that are not ? O error, soon conceived. 
 Thou never comest unto a happy birth, 70 
 
 But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee ! 
 
 Tit. What, Pindarus! where art thou, Pindarus? 
 
 Mes. Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet 
 The noble Brutus, thrusting this report 
 
 108
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. iii. 
 
 Into his ears : I may say ' thrusting ' it, 
 For piercing steel and darts envenomed 
 Shall be as welcome to the ears of Brutus 
 As tidings of this sight. 
 Tit. Hie you, IMessala, 
 
 And I will seek for Pindarus the while. 
 
 [Exit Mcssala. 
 Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius? 80 
 Did I not meet thy friends ? and did not they 
 Put on my brows this wreath of victory, 
 And bid me give it thee? Didst thou not hear tb.eir 
 
 shouts ? 
 Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing! 
 But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow ; 
 Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I 
 W^ill do his bidding. Brutus, come apace, 
 And see how I regarded Caius Cassius. 
 By your leave, gods : this is a Roman's part : 
 Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart. 90 
 
 [Kills hi} 11 self. 
 
 Alarum. Re-enter Messala, zvith Brutus, 
 Young Cato, and others. 
 
 Bru. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie? 
 
 Mes. Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it. 
 
 Bru. Titinius' face is upward. 
 
 Cato. He is slain. 
 
 Bru. O Julius C^sar, thou art mighty yet! 
 
 Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords 
 
 In our own proper entrails. [Lozu alarums. 
 
 Cato. Brave Titinius ! 
 
 Look, whether he have not crown'd dead Cassius ! 
 109
 
 Act V, Sc. iv. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Bru. Are yet two Romans living such as these ? 
 The last of all the Romans, fare thee well ! 
 It is impossible that ever Rome lOO 
 
 Should breed thy fellow. Friends, I owe moe tears 
 To this dead man than you shall see me pay. 
 I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time . 
 Come therefore, and to Thasos send his body : 
 His funerals shall not be in our camp. 
 Lest it discomfort us. Lucilius, come, 
 And come, young Cato : let us to the field. 
 Labeo and Flavins, set our battles on. 
 'Tis three o'clock ; and, Romans, yet ere night 109 
 We shall try fortune in a second fight. [Exewtt. 
 
 Scene IV.. 
 
 Another part of the Held. 
 
 Alarum. Enter, -fighting, Soldiers of both armies; then 
 Brutus, young Cato, Lucilius, and others. 
 
 Bru. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads ! 
 Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with me? 
 
 I wall proclaim my name about the field. 
 
 I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho ! 
 
 A foe to tyrants, and my country's friend ; 
 
 I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! 
 Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I ; 
 
 Brutus, my country's friend ; know me for Brutus ! 
 
 [Exit. 
 Lucil. O young and noble Cato, art thou down ? 
 
 Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius, 10 
 
 And mayst be honour'd, being Cato's son. 
 First Sold. Yield, or thou diest. 
 
 no
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. v. 
 
 Liicil. Only I yield to die: 
 
 [Offering uiojicy] There is so much that thou wilt kill 
 
 me straight ; 
 Kill Brutus, and be honourVl in his death. 
 
 First Sold. We must not. A noble prisoner ! 
 
 Sec. Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 
 
 First Sold. I '11 tell the news. Here comes the general. 
 
 Enter Antony. 
 
 Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. 
 
 Ant. Where is he ? 
 
 Lucil. Safe, Antony ; Brutus is safe enough : 20 
 
 I dare assure thee that no enemy 
 Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : 
 The gods defend him from so great a shame ! 
 When you do find him, or alive or dead, 
 He will be found like Brutus, like himself. 
 
 Ant. This is not Brutus, friend, but, I assure you, 
 A prize no less in worth : keep this man safe. 
 Give him all kindness : I had rather have 
 Such men my friends than enemies. Go on. 
 And see whether Brutus be alive or dead, 30 
 
 And bring us word unto Octavius' tent 
 How every thing is chanced. [Exeunt, 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 Another part of the Held, 
 
 Enter Brutus, Dardanins, Clitus, Strato, and 
 Volumniiis. 
 
 Brii. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. 
 Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord, 
 He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain. 
 
 Ill
 
 Act V. Sc. V. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Brii. Sit thee down, Clitus : slaying is the word ; 
 It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, CHtus. 
 
 [Whispering. 
 
 Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. 
 
 Bru. Peace then, no words. 
 
 Cli. I '11 rather kill myself. 
 
 Bni. Hark thee, Dardanius. [Whispering. 
 
 Dar. Shall I do such a deed ? 
 
 Cli. O Dardanius ! 
 
 Dar. O Clitus !' lo 
 
 Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? 
 
 Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates. 
 
 Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, 
 That it runs over even at his eyes. 
 
 Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius ; list a word. 
 
 Vol. What says my lord ? 
 
 Bru. Wliy, this, \"olumnius : 
 
 The ghost of C?esar hath appear'd to me 
 Two several times by night ; at Sardis once, 
 And this last night here in Philippi fields : 
 I know my hour is come. 
 
 Vol. Not so, my lord. 20 
 
 Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. 
 
 Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes ; 
 
 Our enemies have beat us to the pit : [Loz^' alarums. 
 
 It is more worthy to leap in ourselves 
 
 Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, 
 
 Thou know'st that we two went to school together : 
 
 Even for that our love of old, I prithee. 
 
 Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I run on it. 
 
 VoL That 's not an office for a friend, my lord. 
 
 [Alarum still. 
 
 112
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Act V. Sc. v. 
 
 Cli. Fly, fly, my lord ; there is no tarrying here. 30 
 
 Brii. Farewell to you ; and you ; and you, Volumnius. 
 Stratd, thou hast been all this while asleep ; 
 Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen, 
 My heart doth joy that yet in all my life 
 I found no man but he was true to me. 
 I shall have glory by this losing day. 
 More than Octavius and Mark Antony 
 By this vile conquest shall attain unto. 
 So, fare you well at once ; for Brutus' tongue 
 Hath almost ended his life's history : 40 
 
 Night hangs upon mine eyes ; my bones would rest. 
 That have but labour'd to attain this hour. 
 
 [Alarum. Cry within, 'Fly, fly, Hy!' 
 
 Cli. Fly, my lord, fly. 
 
 Bru. Hence ! I will follow. 
 
 [Exeunt Clitus, Dardaniiis, and Volumnius. 
 I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord : 
 Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; 
 Thy life hath had some snatch of honour in it : 
 Hold then my sword, and turn aw^ay thy face. 
 While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato ? 
 
 Stra. Give me your hand first : fare you well, my lord. 
 
 Bru. Farewell, good Strato. [Runs on his szi'ord.] Csesar, 
 
 now be still : 50 
 
 I kill'd not thee with half so good a w-ill. [Dies. 
 
 Alarum, Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, Messala, 
 Liicilius, and the army. 
 
 Oct. What man is that? 
 
 Mes, My master's man. Strato, where is thy master? 
 Stra. Free from the bondage you are in, ]\Iessala : 
 
 113
 
 Act V. Sc. V. THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; 
 
 For Brutus only overcame himself, 
 
 And no man else hath honour by his death. 
 
 Liicil. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus, 
 That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true. 
 
 Oct. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. 60 
 Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me? 
 
 Stra. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. 
 
 Oct. Do so, good Messala. 
 
 Ales. How died my master, Strato? 
 
 Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on it. 
 
 Mcs. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, 
 That did the latest service to my master. 
 
 Ant. This was the noblest Roman of them all: 
 All the conspirators, save only he, 
 Did that they did in envy of great Caesar; 70 
 
 He only, in a general honest thought 
 And common good to all, made one of them. 
 His life was gentle, and the elements 
 So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up 
 And say to all the world * This was a man ! ' 
 
 Oct. According to his virtue let us use him. 
 With all respect and rites of burial. 
 Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie, 
 Most Hke a soldier, order'd honourably. 
 So call the field to rest, and let 's away, 80 
 
 To part the glories of this happy day. [Exeunt. 
 
 114
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary. 
 
 Abide, answer for, suffer for; 
 
 III. i. 94; III. ii. 119. 
 Ahjects, things cast away; IV. 
 
 i. 2>7- 
 About, go about; I. i. 72>. 
 
 ! set to work; III. ii. 208. 
 
 Abroad, about in; III ii. 256. 
 Across, crossed, folded; II. i. 
 
 240. 
 Address' d, ready; III. i. 29. 
 Advantage, profit us; III. i. 
 
 242. 
 After, afterwards ; I. ii. 76. 
 Against, over against, near; I. 
 
 iii. 20. 
 All over, one after the other; 
 
 II. i. 112. 
 
 Alone, only; IV. iii. 94. 
 
 An, if; I. ii. 267. 
 
 Anchises, the father of ^neas; 
 
 when Troy was sacked he 
 
 bore him on his shoulders 
 
 from the burning town; I. ii. 
 
 114. 
 Angel, darling, favourite, ( ?) 
 
 guardian angel; III. ii. 185. 
 Annoy, injure, harm; II. i. 
 
 160. 
 Ansiver, be ready for combat; 
 
 V. i. 24. 
 Answer' d, paid for, atoned for ; 
 
 III. ii. 85. 
 
 Ansiver ed, faced; IV. i. 47, 
 Apace, quickly ; V. iii. 87. 
 Apparent, manifest; II, i. 198. 
 
 Appoint, settle upon; IV. i. 30. 
 
 Apprehensive, endowed with 
 intelligence ; III. i. 67. 
 
 Apt, suitable, likely; II. ii. 97. 
 
 , ready, fit ; III. i. 160. 
 
 , impressionable ; V. iii. 68, 
 
 Arrive, reach; I. ii. no. 
 
 Astonish, stun with terror ; I, 
 iii. 56. 
 
 Ate, the goddess of Mischief 
 and Revenge ; III. i. 271. 
 
 At hand, in hand; IV. ii. 23. 
 
 Aught, anything; I. ii. 85. 
 
 Augurers, professional inter- 
 preters of omens (originally, 
 diviners by the flight and 
 cries of birds) ; II. i. 200. 
 
 Bait, hunt, chase (Theobald, 
 
 ("bay"); IV. iii. 28. 
 Bang, blow ; III. iii. 18. 
 Barren-spirited, dull ; IV. i. 36. 
 Base, low ; II. i. 26. 
 Bastardy, act of baseness; II, 
 
 i. 138. 
 Battles, forces ; V. i. 4. 
 Bay, bark at; IV. iii. 27. 
 Bay'd, driven to bay (a term 
 
 of the chase) ; III. i. 204. 
 Bear a hand over, hold in 
 
 check (as a rider) ; I. ii. 35. 
 Bear hard, bear ill-will against ; 
 
 I. ii. 316; II. i. 215. 
 Bear me, bear from me, receive 
 
 from me; III. iii. 18. 
 
 115
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Bears (betrayed) with glasses; 
 alluding to the stories that 
 bears were surprised by- 
 means of mirrors, which 
 they would gaze into, afford- 
 ing their pursuers an oppor- 
 tunity of taking a surer aim ; 
 II. i. 205. See Notes. 
 
 Beat, beaten ; V. v. 23. 
 
 Behaviours, conduct ; I. ii. 41. 
 
 Beholding, beholden; III. ii. 70. 
 
 Belike, perhaps; III. ii. 275. 
 
 Bend, look; I. ii. 123. 
 
 Bending, directing, pressing 
 on ; IV. iii. 170. 
 
 Best; " you were b.," it were 
 best for you; III. iii. 13. 
 
 Bestow, spend; V. v. 61. 
 
 Betimes, in good time, early; 
 II. i. 116. 
 
 Bills, billets, written docu- 
 ments; V. ii. I. 
 
 Bird of night, i.e. the owl ; 
 I. iii. 26. 
 
 Blood; " Pompey's b." (prob- 
 ably) offspring; Gnaeus, 
 Pompey's son, had been 
 killed at Munda, and Caesar's 
 triumph was in honour of 
 the victory ; I. i. 55. 
 
 Bloods; "young b.," young 
 people ; IV. iii. 262. 
 
 Bondman, used with a play 
 upon " bond," i.e. document 
 ("to cancel a bond") ; I. iii. 
 
 lOI. 
 
 Bones, body, corpse; V. v. 
 
 78. 
 Bootless, without avail, to no 
 
 purpose ; III. i. 75. 
 Bosoms; " in their b.," in their 
 
 confidence ; V. i. 7. 
 
 Break zvith, broach the subject 
 to; II. i. 150. 
 
 Bring, take; III. ii. 276. 
 
 Brother, i.e. brother-in-law 
 (Cassius having married a 
 sister of Brutus) ; II. i. 70. 
 
 Brought, accompanied; I. iii. 
 I. 
 
 Brutus; " old B.," i.e. Lucius 
 Junius Brutus, who expelled 
 the Tarquins; I. iii. 146 {cp. 
 I. ii. 159)- 
 
 ; " Decius B.," i.e. Deci- 
 
 mus B. (the error being due 
 to a misprint in Amyot's 
 French translation of Plu- 
 tarch, copied by North, and 
 hence in Shakespeare) ; 
 Decimus B. was placed next 
 after Octavius in Caesar's 
 will ; he had served under 
 Caesar in Gaul, and was 
 made governor of Cisalpine 
 Gaul ; I. iii. 148. 
 
 Budge, give way; IV. iii. 44. 
 
 Bustling rumour, noise of tu- 
 mult; II. iv. 18. 
 
 By, near, close to ; III. i. 162. 
 
 Calculate, speculate upon fu- 
 ture events ; I. iii. 65. 
 
 Calpurnia, Caesar's fourth wife 
 (Folio I, " Calphurnia") ; 
 I. ii. I. 
 
 Carrions, worthless beings (a 
 term of contempt) ; II. i. 
 130. 
 
 Casca, I. ii. passim {cp. the ac- 
 companying coin jssued by 
 Brutus, the reverse of which 
 commemorates his fellow- 
 conspirator). 
 
 116
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Cast ; " c. yourself in wonder," 
 i.e. throw yourself into won- 
 der ; (?) " dress hastily " ; 
 (Jervis conj. ''Case," i.e. 
 "encase, clothe yourself'"); 
 I. iii. 60. 
 Cautelous, crafty ; II. i. 129. 
 Censure, judge; III. ii. 16. 
 Ceremonies, festal ornaments; 
 I. i. 69. 
 
 , religious observances ; II. 
 
 i. 197. 
 
 , omens; II. ii. 13. 
 
 Chafing with, fretting against; 
 
 I. ii. loi. 
 Chance, happen; II. iv. 31. 
 Chanced, happened; I. ii. 216. 
 Change, exchange; V. iii. 51. 
 
 ; "in his own c," by some 
 
 change of disposition to- 
 wards me (Warburton, 
 " charge ") ; IV. ii. 7. 
 
 , change countenance; III. 
 
 i. 24. 
 Charactery, writing; II. i. 308. 
 Charge, burden, weigh upon ; 
 
 III. iii. 2. 
 Charges, troops ; IV. ii. 48. 
 Charm, conjure; II. i. 271. 
 Check' d, reproved ; IV. iii. 97- 
 Chew upon, ponder; I. ii. 171 
 Choler, anger; IV. iii. 39- 
 Chopped, chapped (Folios 
 " c h p t " ; Knight 
 "chapped") ; I. ii. 245. 
 
 Chose, chosen ; II. i. 314. 
 
 Clean, entirely; I. iii. 35- 
 
 Climate, region; I. iii. 32. 
 
 Close, hidden; I. iii. 131. 
 
 , come to terms ; III. i. 202. 
 
 Closet, room; III. ii. 134. 
 
 Cobbler, botcher (used quib- 
 blingly) ; I. i. n. 
 
 Cognizance, badges of hon- 
 ours; II. ii. 89. 
 
 Colossus, a gigantic statue said 
 to have stood astride at the 
 entrance of the harbour at 
 Rhodes; I. ii. 136. 
 
 Colour, pretext; II. i. 29. 
 
 Come by, get possession; II. i. 
 
 259- 
 
 Companion, fellow (used con- 
 temptuously) ; IV. iii. 138. 
 
 Compare, let us compare, we 
 will compare ; III. ii. 9. 
 
 Compass, circle, course ; V. iii. 
 
 Complexion, appearance ; I. iii. 
 
 128. 
 Conceit, think of; III. i. 192. 
 Conceited, conceived ; I. iii. 162. 
 Conceptions, ideas; I. ii. 41. 
 Concluded, decided; II. ii. 93- 
 Condition, disposition; II. i. 
 
 254- 
 
 Contines, boundaries; III. i. 
 272. 
 
 Connd by rote, learned by 
 heart ; IV. iii. 98. 
 
 Consorted, escorted ; accom- 
 panied ; V. i. 83. 
 
 Constancy, firmness; II. iv. 6. 
 
 Constant, firm; III. i. 22. 
 
 Constantly, firmly; V. i. 92. 
 
 Construe, explain ; II. i. 307. 
 
 Content, easy; I. iii. 142. 
 
 117
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Content, calm; IV. ii. 41. 
 
 , glad; V. i. 8. 
 
 Contrive, conspire, plot ; II. iii. 
 16. 
 
 Contriver, schemer, plotter; IL 
 i. 158. 
 
 Controversy; " hearts of c," 
 spirits eager for resistance ; 
 I. ii. 109. 
 
 Corse, corpse ; III. i. 199. 
 
 Couchings, stoopings ; III. i. 
 36. 
 
 Counters, round pieces of 
 metal used in calculations ; 
 IV. iii. 80. 
 
 Course ; " run his c," alluding 
 to the course of the Luperci 
 round the city wall ; " that 
 day there are diverse noble 
 men's sons, young men, and 
 some of them magistrates 
 themselves, that govern 
 them, which run naked 
 through the city, striking in 
 sport them they meet in their 
 way with leathern thongs " 
 (made of the skins of goats 
 which had been sacrificed) — 
 North's Plutarch; I. ii. 4. 
 
 Courtesies, bowings, bendings 
 of the knee ; III. i. 36. 
 
 Cross lightning, forked light- 
 ning; I. iii. 50. 
 
 Cull out, pick out ; I. i. 53. 
 
 Cynic, rude man ; IV. iii, 133. 
 
 Damn, condemn ; IV. i. 6. 
 Dearer, more bitterly, more in- 
 tensely; III. i. 196. 
 Degrees, steps ; II. i. 26. 
 Deliver, relate to; III. i. 181. 
 Di)it, impression ; III. ii. 198. 
 
 Directly, plainly; I. i, 12; III. 
 iii. 10. 
 
 , straight ; I. ii. 3 ; IV. i. 2>^. 
 
 Discomfort, discourage; V, iii. 
 106. 
 
 Discover, show ; I. ii. 69. 
 
 Dishonour, insult ; IV. iii. 109. 
 
 Disrobe, strip of their decora- 
 tions ; I. i. 68. 
 
 Distract, distracted; IV. iii. 
 
 155- 
 
 Doublet, the inner garment of 
 a man ; I. ii. 267. 
 
 Doubted, suspected ; IV. ii. 13. 
 
 Drachma, a Greek coin, strictly 
 about half of the Roman 
 denarius, but Plutarch's 
 " drachmas " were probably 
 equivalent to denarii, and 
 were about 9>2d. in value ; 
 III. ii. 247. 
 
 Drazvn, assembled ; I. iii. 22. 
 
 Element, sky; I. iii. 128. 
 
 Elephants betrayed with holes; 
 " elephants were seduced into 
 pitfalls, lightly covered with 
 hurdles and turf, on which a 
 proper bait to tempt them 
 were exposed " ; II. i. 205. 
 
 Emulation, jealousy, envy; II. 
 iii. 14. 
 
 Enforced, exaggerated; III. ii. 
 
 43. 
 
 , struck hard; IV. iii. 112. 
 
 Enfranchisement, liberty, free- 
 dom; III. i. 57. 
 
 Enlarge, give vent to ; IV. ii. 
 
 Enrolled, recorded; III. ii. 41. 
 Ensign, standard ; V. i. 80. 
 {Cp. illustration.) 
 
 118
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 From a coin of Augustus representing 
 the ensigns of the 20th Legion, the 
 central eagle being the Imperial 
 standard. 
 
 Ensign, standard-bearer (and 
 by implication, standard ; 
 hence '' it," line 4) ; V. iii. 3. 
 
 Entertain, take into service ; V. 
 V. 60. 
 
 Envious, spiteful, malicious ; 
 II. i. 178; III. ii. 179. 
 
 Envy, hatred, malice ; II. i. 164. 
 
 Epicurus ; " I held E. strong," 
 i.e. I followed the Epicurean 
 school, which held that the 
 gods scarcely troubled them- 
 selves with human affairs ; 
 hence the Epicureans re- 
 garded the belief in omens as 
 mere superstition ; V. iii. yy. 
 
 Erebus, the region of utter 
 darkness ; between Earth and 
 Hades; II. i. 84. 
 
 Eternal, infernal, damned (used 
 to express extreme abhor- 
 rence) ; I. ii. 160. 
 
 Even; " e. field," i.e. level 
 ground ; V. i. 17. 
 
 , pure, unblemished ; II. i. 
 
 133- 
 
 Ever, always ; V. iii. 21. 
 
 Evils, evil things; II. i. 79. 
 
 Exhalations, meteors ; II. i. 44. 
 
 Exigent, exigency, crisis ; V. i. 
 19. 
 
 Exorcist, one who raises 
 spirits ; II. i. 2)2t,- 
 
 Expedition, march; IV. iii. 170. 
 
 Extenuated, undervalued, de- 
 tracted from; III. ii. 42. 
 
 Extremities, extremes; II. i. 31. 
 
 Face, boldness ; V. i. 10. 
 
 ; " f. of men," sense of 
 
 danger depicted on men's 
 
 faces; II. i. 114. 
 Faction, body of conspirators ; 
 
 II. i. 77. 
 Factious, active; I. iii. 118. 
 Fain, gladly ; I. ii. 239. 
 Fall, happen ; III. i. 243 ; V. i. 
 
 105. 
 
 . let fall ; IV. ii. 26. 
 
 Falling sickness, epilepsy ; I. ii. 
 
 255. 
 Falls, turns out, is; III. i. 146. 
 Famed with, made famous by ; 
 
 I. ii. 153; 
 Familiar instances, marks of 
 
 familiarity ; IV. ii. 16. 
 Fantasies, imaginings; II. i. 
 
 23 1; 
 
 Fashion, shape, form; II. i. 30. 
 
 , way, manner (trisylla- 
 bic) ; IV. iii. 135. 
 
 ; "begin his f.," begin to 
 
 be fashionable with him ; IV. 
 
 i- 39- 
 , work upon, shape ; II. i. 
 
 220. 
 Favour, appearance ; I. ii. 91. 
 
 , countenance ; II. i 76. 
 
 Favour 's, appearance is ; I, iii, 
 
 129, 
 
 119
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Fear, cause of fear ; II. i. 190. 
 
 Fearful bravery, terrible dis- 
 play, gallant show of cour- 
 age; V. i. 10. 
 
 Fell, fierce ; III. i. 269, 
 
 Fellow, equal ; III. i. 62. 
 
 Ferpet, red as the eyes of a 
 ferret ; I. ii. 186. 
 
 Field, army ; V. v. 80. 
 
 Figures, "idle fancies" 
 (Craik) ; II. i. 231. 
 
 First decree, what has been de- 
 creed at first (Craik conj. 
 " iix'd d." ', S. Walker conj. 
 "iirmd") ; III. i. 38. 
 
 Fleering, grinning; I. iii. 117. 
 
 Flood, ocean ; I. ii. 103. 
 
 Flourish' d, triumphed ; III. ii. 
 196. 
 
 Fond, foolish ; III. i. 39. 
 
 For, as for; II. i. 181. 
 
 Force ; " of f.," of necessity ; 
 IV. iii. 203. 
 
 Form, manner of behaving; I. 
 ii. 302. 
 
 Formal constancy, proper com- 
 posure ; II. i. 227. 
 
 Former, foremost ; V. i. 80. 
 
 Forth, to go out ; I. ii. 292. 
 
 Forth of, out of ; III. iii. 3. 
 
 Freedom of repeal, free recall ; 
 III. i. 54- 
 
 Fresh, freshly; II. i. 224. 
 
 Fret, variegate (as with a kind 
 of fretwork pattern) ; II. i. 
 104. 
 
 , be vexed ; IV. iii. 42. 
 
 Frighted, afraid; IV. iii. 40. 
 
 From, contrary to ; I. iii. 35. 
 
 , away from ; I. iii. 64 ; III. 
 
 ii. 169; IV. ii. 49. 
 
 ' , differently to; II. i. 196. 
 
 Funeral, funeral ceremoaies ; 
 III. i. 230. 
 
 Gait, manner of walking; I. iii. 
 132. 
 
 Gamesome, fond of games ; I. 
 ii. 28. 
 
 General, general public ; II. i. 
 12. 
 
 General; " in a g. honest 
 thought," in the general hon- 
 esty of his motives; V. v. 71. 
 
 General coffers, public treas- 
 ury; III. ii. 94. 
 
 General good, public good, wel- 
 fare of the people ; I. ii. 85. 
 
 Genius, the rational spirit tem- 
 porarily lodged within the 
 body, directing for good or 
 bad the bodily faculties ; II. 
 i. 66. 
 
 Give guess, guess ; II. i. 3. 
 
 Give place, make way ; III. i. 
 10. 
 
 , give way; IV. iii. 146. 
 
 Gives zvay, leaves open the 
 way ; II. iii. 8.^ 
 
 Glanced, hinted ; I. ii. 323. 
 
 Glased, glared (Folios, 
 "glaa'd " ; changed by editors 
 to " glared " or " gaaed," but 
 the word was perhaps coined 
 by Shakespeare to express a 
 glased or glassy stare) ; I. iii. 
 21. 
 
 Goes up, is sheathed ; V. i. 52. 
 
 Good cheer, be of good cheer ; 
 III. i. 89. 
 
 Gorging, feeding, glutting; V. 
 
 i. 82. 
 Go to, exclamation of impa- 
 tience ; IV. iii. 32, 
 
 120
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Grace, honour, respect; III. ii 
 
 62. 
 Gracious, holy ; III. ii. 198. 
 Greek; "it was Greek to me,' 
 
 it was unintelligible to me 
 
 I. ii. 286. 
 
 Griefs, grievances; I. iii. 118: 
 
 III. ii. 217. 
 
 Growing on, encroaching on 
 
 II. i. 107. 
 
 Hand; " my h.," there is my 
 hand upon it ; I. iii. 117. 
 
 Handiwork, work ; I. i. 30. 
 
 Hands, handwritings; I, ii. 319. 
 
 Have aim, make a guess at ; I. 
 ii. 163. 
 
 Have mind, regard, look to ; 
 
 IV. iii. 36. 
 
 Havoc ; " cry * Havoc,' " in 
 
 olden times the cry that no 
 
 quarter was to be given ; III. 
 
 i. 273. 
 Head; " make h.," raise an 
 
 armed troop ; IV. i. 42. 
 Health, safety ; IV. iii. 36. 
 Heavy, depressed; II. i. 275. 
 Hedge in, put under restraint ; 
 
 IV. iii. 30. 
 Hence, go hence; II. i. 117. 
 Hie, hasten; I. iii. 150. 
 High-sighted, soaring high, 
 
 (?) supercilious; II. i. 118. 
 Hilts, applied to a single 
 
 weapon ; V. iii. 43. 
 Him, himself; I. iii. 156. 
 ; " by h.," i.e. by his house; 
 
 II. i. 218. 
 His, its; I. ii. 124; II. i. 251; 
 
 IV. iii. 8. 
 Hold, consider, look upon ; I. 
 
 ii. 78. 
 
 Hold, keep, detain; I. ii. 83; II. 
 i. 201. 
 
 Holds on his rank, stands firm, 
 continues to hold his place ; 
 III. i. 69. 
 
 Honey-heavy; " h. dew," heavy 
 with honey (with perhaps a 
 reference to the belief that 
 dew was honey-laden ; hence 
 the honey-flowers) ; II. i. 230. 
 
 Honourable, honourably; V. i. 
 60. 
 
 Hooted, shouted with wonder 
 (Johnson's emendation ; Fo- 
 lios I, 2, 3, " howted"; Folio 
 4, "houtcd"; H a n m e r, 
 "shouted") ; I. ii. 244. 
 
 Hooting, crying; I. iii. 28. 
 
 Horse, cavalry ; IV. ii. 29. 
 
 However, although ; I. ii. 302. 
 
 Humour, distemper, caprice ; 
 II. i. 250. 
 
 , distempered humour, 
 
 passing caprice ; IV. iii. 109, 
 
 Humours, damp airs; II. i. 262. 
 
 Hurtled, clashed; II. ii. 22. 
 
 Hybla, a town in Sicily famous 
 for its honey; V. i. 34. 
 
 Ides of March, i.e. fifteenth of 
 March; I. ii. 18. (C/>. the 
 coin of Brutus, reverse Eid. 
 Mar.). 
 
 Idle bed, bed of idleness; II. i. 
 117. 
 
 121
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Illuminate, illumine; I. iii. no. 
 Images, statues of Caesar ; I. i. 
 
 69. 
 In, on ; IV, i. 27. 
 
 , into ; V. iii. 96. 
 
 Incertain, uncertain; V. i. 96. 
 Incorporate, closely united; I. 
 
 iii. 135. 
 Indifferently, impartially; I. ii. 
 
 Indirection, dishonest practice ; 
 IV. iii. 75. 
 
 Insuppressive, not to be sup- 
 pressed ; II. i. 134. 
 
 Intermit, delay; I. i. 59. 
 
 Jade, a term of contempt for a 
 worthless horse ; IV. ii. 26. 
 
 Jealous on, suspicious about; I. 
 ii. 71. 
 
 Jigging, rhyming; IV. iii. 137. 
 
 Joy, rejoice; V. v. 34. 
 
 Kerchief, a covering for the 
 head (a sign of illness) ; II. 
 
 i- 315- 
 Kind, nature ; I. iii. 64. 
 
 , species; II. i. 33. 
 
 Knave, boy ; IV. iii. 241 
 
 Labour d ; " but 1.," laboured 
 
 but ; V. V. 42. 
 Labouring; "a 1. day," i.e. a 
 
 working day ; I. i. 4. 
 Laugher, jester (Folios, 
 
 " Laughter " ? = object of 
 
 laughter) ; I. ii. 72. 
 Lay off, take away from ; I. ii. 
 
 242. 
 Left, left off; IV. iii. 274. 
 Legions, bodies of infantry ; 
 
 IV. iii. 7^. 
 
 Lend me your hand, help me; 
 III. i. 297. 
 
 Let blood, used equivocally 
 with a play upon the surgical 
 operation of " blood-letting " ; 
 III. i. 152. 
 
 Lethe, death ; perhaps a tech- 
 nical term for the deer's life- 
 blood (Folio I, "Lethee"; 
 cp. lethal, L. lethalis or le- 
 talis, from letum, death) ; 
 III. i. 2g6. 
 
 Liable, subject; II. ii. 104. 
 
 Lief; " had as 1.," would as 
 willingly, gladly (with a play 
 upon " live ") ; I. ii. 95. 
 
 Lies, halts; III. i. 286. 
 
 Light, alight; V. iii. 31. 
 
 LigJit on, come down on ; Li. 59. 
 
 Like ; " every 1. is not the 
 same," i.e. to be like a thing 
 is not to be that same thing; 
 II. ii. 127. 
 
 Like, same; IV. ii. 50. 
 
 , likely; I. ii. 175. 
 
 Listen, listen to; IV. i. 41. 
 
 Live, if I live; III. i. 159. 
 
 Look, be sure, see ; I. iii. 143. 
 
 Look for, expect ; IV. iii. 262. 
 
 Lover, friend; II. iii. 10. 
 
 Low-crooked, lowly bendings 
 of the knee; III. i. 43. 
 
 Lupercal; " the feast of L.," i.e. 
 the Lupercalia ; a feast of 
 purification and fertilization 
 held every year on 15th Feb- 
 ruary {v. course) ; I. i. 71. 
 
 Lusty, strong; II. ii. 78. 
 
 Main, confident, firm ; II. i. 196. 
 Make forth, go on, forward; 
 V. i. 25. 
 
 122
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Makes to, presses towards ; 
 
 III. i. i8. 
 Make to, advance ; V. iii. 29. 
 Mark, notice, observe ; I. ii. 
 
 120. 
 Marr'd, disfigured ; III. ii. 201. 
 Mart, traffic; IV. iii. 11. 
 May hut, only may ; I. iii. 144. 
 Me; "plucked me ope" (Ethic 
 
 dative) ; I. ii. 266. 
 Mean, means ; III. i. 161. 
 Mechanical, belonging to the 
 
 working-classes, mechanics ; 
 
 I. i- 3. 
 Metal, mettle, temper (Folios, 
 
 " mettle ") ; I. i. 65. 
 Mettle; "quick m.," full of 
 
 spirit ; I. ii. 300. 
 Mind, presentiment ; III. i. 144. 
 Misgiving, presentiment, fore- 
 boding of ill; III. i. 145. 
 Mistook, mistaken; I. ii. 48. 
 Mock, taunt; II. ii. 96. 
 Modesty, moderation ; III. i. 
 
 213. 
 Moe, more ; II. i. 72. 
 Monstrous, unnatural ; I. iii. 
 
 68, 71. 
 Mortal instruments, bodily 
 
 powers ; II. i. 66. 
 Mortified, deadened; II. i. 324. 
 Motion, impulse; II. i. 64. 
 
 Napkins, handkerchiefs ; III. 
 
 ii. 138. 
 N eats-leather, ox-hide ; I. i. 29. 
 Nervii, a fierce Belgic tribe 
 
 conquered by Caesar at the 
 
 great battle of Sambre, b.c. 
 
 57; III. ii. 177. 
 New-added, re-inforced ; IV. 
 
 iii. 209. 
 
 Nice, trivial; IV. iii. 8. 
 Niggard, stint, supply sparing- 
 ly ; IV. iii. 228. 
 Night-gown, dressing-gown ; 
 
 II. ii. (direc). 
 
 Noted, stigmatized; IV. iii. 2. 
 No whit, not at all; II. i. 148. 
 
 Observe, take notice; IV. iii. 
 45. 
 
 Occupation; "a man of o.," a 
 mechanic; probably used 
 with play upon secondary 
 meaning, " a man of busi- 
 ness " ; I. ii. 268. 
 
 O'ershot myself, gone too far, 
 said more than I intended; 
 
 III. ii. 155. 
 O'er-zvatch'd, weary, worn out 
 
 with watching; IV. iii. 241. 
 
 Of, in; II. i. 157. 
 
 Oifal, worthless rubbish; I. iii. 
 109. 
 
 Offence; " sick o.," malady 
 which makes you sick; II. i. 
 268. 
 
 Offence, harm, injury; IV. iii. 
 201. 
 
 Officers; "by ill o.," the ill con- 
 duct of his officers (Johnson 
 conj. "offices") ; IV. ii. 7. 
 
 Omitted, neglected ; IV. iii. 220. 
 
 Once, some time; IV. iii. 191. 
 
 Ope, open ; I. ii. 266. 
 
 Opinion, reputation; II. i. 145. 
 
 Orchards, gardens; III. ii. 253. 
 
 Order, course; III. i. 230. 
 
 Oris, remnants, fragments ; IV. 
 i. 37- 
 
 Other, the other; I. ii. 229. 
 
 Out ; " be not o.," do not be at 
 odds, do not quarrel ; I. i. 17. 
 
 123
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Out; "be o, 
 i. i8. 
 
 out at heels ; I. 
 
 Palm, the prize of victory ; I. 
 
 ii. 131. 
 
 Palter, shuffle, equivocate; II. 
 i. 126. 
 
 Pardon; "by your p.," by your 
 leave; III. i. 235. 
 
 Part, divide; V. v. 81. 
 
 Pass, pass through ; I. i. 47. 
 
 , pass on ; I. ii. 24. 
 
 Passion, feelings ; I. ii. 48. 
 
 , grief; III. i. 283. 
 
 Passions of some difference, 
 conflicting emotions ; I. ii. 40. 
 
 Path, walk abroad; II. i. 83. 
 
 Peevish, wayward (used con- 
 temptuously) ; V. i. 61. 
 
 Phantasma, vision; II. i. 65. 
 
 Philippi, in the east of Mace- 
 donia, on the borders of 
 Thrace; V. i. 83. 
 
 Physical, healthy; II. i. 261. 
 
 Pitch, a technical term used of 
 the highest point to which a 
 hawk or falcon soars ; I. i. yy. 
 
 Pitiful, full of pity, merciful ; 
 III. i. 169. 
 
 Pleasures, pleasaunces, pleas- 
 ure grounds ; III. ii. 255. 
 
 Pluck'd, pulled down; II. i. y2>- 
 
 Plutus', of the god of riches 
 (Folios, "Pluto's") ■ IV. iii. 
 102. 
 
 Pompey's porch (Porticus 
 Pompeii), the portico of 
 Pompey's Theatre, in the 
 Campus Martins; it was also 
 called Hecatostylon, or " Hall 
 of the hundred columns " ; 
 I. iii. 126. 
 
 Pompey's theatre ; I. iii. 152. 
 {Cp. illustration.) 
 
 From Fairholt's engraving of Be llor is 
 copy of the ground-plan, preserved in 
 the Museum of the Capitol. 
 
 Portentous, ominous; I. iii. 31. 
 
 Posture, position, direction 
 (Singer conj. "puncture" 
 Bulloch conj. "portents" 
 Schmidt conj. "nature" 
 Herr conj. "powers") ; V. i. 
 
 Powers, armed forces, troops ; 
 
 IV. i. 42; IV. iii. 307. 
 Prefer, present ; III. i. 28. 
 
 , recommend ; V. v. 62. 
 
 Preformed, originally intended; 
 
 I. iii. 67. 
 Pre-ordinance, what has been 
 
 previously ordained; III. i. 
 
 38. 
 
 124
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Presage, foreshow future 
 
 events ; V. i. 79. 
 Present, present time ; I. iii. 
 
 , immediate ; II. ii. 5. 
 
 Presently, immediately; III. i. 
 
 28. 
 Press, crowd, throng; I. ii. 15. 
 Prevail' d upon, influenced ; II. 
 
 i. 254. 
 Prevent, anticipate; II. i. 28; 
 
 V. i. 105. 
 Prevention, detection; II. i. 85. 
 
 , hindrance ; III. i. 19. 
 
 Prick, incite ; II. i. 124. 
 Prick'd, marked down, marked 
 
 on the list; III. i. 216; IV. 
 
 i. I. 
 Proceeded, taken place ; I. ii. 
 
 181. 
 
 , acted; III. i. 183. 
 
 Proceeding, course of conduct ; 
 
 II. ii. 103. 
 Prodigious, portentous ; I. iii. 
 
 77- 
 Produce, bring out ; III. i. 
 
 228. 
 Profess myself, make profes- 
 sions of affection ; I. ii. yy. 
 Proof ; " common p.," common 
 
 experience; II. i. 21. 
 Proper, handsome ; I. i. 28. 
 
 , own ; V. iii. 96. 
 
 Proper to, belonging to ; I. ii. 
 
 41. 
 Property, tool ; IV. i. 40. 
 Pt'o tester, one who protests or 
 
 professes love or friendship 
 
 to another ; I. ii. 74. 
 Public chair, the pulpit or 
 
 rostra ; III. ii. 68. 
 Puissant, powerful ; III. i. 23- 
 
 Pulpits, rostra, platforms; III. 
 
 i. 80. 
 Purgers, healers ; I. i. 180. 
 Purpose; " to the p.," to hit the 
 
 purpose ; III. i. 146. 
 Put on, betray; II. i. 225. 
 Puts on, assumes; I. ii. 302. 
 
 Quality, natural disposition; I. 
 
 iii. 64. 
 Question, subject; III. ii. 41. 
 Question; "call in q.," discuss, 
 
 consider; IV. iii. 165. 
 Quick, lively; I. ii. 29. 
 
 Rahhlement, rabble; I. ii. 244. 
 Raise, rouse ; IV. iii. 247. 
 Range, roam (derived from 
 
 falconry, used of hawks and 
 
 falcons in search of game) ; 
 
 II. i. 118. 
 Ranging, roaming; II. i. 270. 
 Rank, too full of blood; III. i. 
 
 152. 
 Rascal, worthless ; IV. iii. 80. 
 Rears, raises ; III. i. 30. 
 Regard, consideration ; III. i. 
 
 224. 
 
 , notice ; V, iii. 21. 
 
 Regarded, respected ; V. iii. 88. 
 Remorse, pity ; II. i. 19. 
 Render'd, given in reply ; II. ii. 
 
 97. 
 Repealing, recalling; III. i. 51. 
 Replication, echo ; I. i. 50. 
 Resolved, satisfied; III. i. 131. 
 Respect; " of the best r.," held 
 
 in the greatest respect; I. ii. 
 
 59. 
 
 , take notice of; IV. iii. 69. 
 
 ; " in r. of," i.e. in com- 
 parison with ; I. i. 10. 
 
 125
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Rest, remain ; V. i. 96. 
 
 Resting, not subject to motion; 
 III. i. 61. 
 
 Retentive, restraining ; I. iii. 95. 
 
 Rheumy, moist ; II. i. 266. 
 
 Right on, straight on ; III. ii. 
 227. 
 
 Rived, split, torn ; I. iii. 6 ; IV. 
 iii. 84. 
 
 Rome, used quibblingly with a 
 play upon " room " ; the pro- 
 nunciation of the words was 
 almost identical; I. ii. 156. 
 
 Round, rung; step; II. i. 24. 
 
 Rout, disorderly company, 
 mob; I. ii. 78. 
 
 Rude, brutal ; III. ii. 2)Z- 
 
 Sad, serious; I. ii. 217. 
 Satisfied, given satisfaction, 
 
 convinced; III. i. 141. 
 Save only, except ; V. v. 69. 
 Saving, in saving; V. iii. 38. 
 Scandal, defame, speak ill of ; 
 
 I. ii. 76. 
 'Scaped, escaped; IV. iii. 150. 
 Schedule, paper written on 
 
 (Folios I, 2, '' scedule") ; 
 
 III. i. 3. 
 Scope, full play; IV. iii. 108. 
 Search, pierce ; V. iii. 42. 
 Security, over-confidence ; II. 
 
 iii. 8. 
 Sennet, a set of notes on the 
 
 cornet, or trumpet ; I. ii. 24- 
 
 25- 
 Served, attended to; III. i. 8. 
 Set on, proceed; I. ii. 11. 
 
 , set forward; IV. iii. 307. 
 
 Several, different; I. ii. 319. 
 
 , special ; II. i. 138. 
 
 . separate; III. ii. 247. 
 
 Shadow, reflected image ; I. 
 
 ii. 58. 
 Shallows, sandbanks ; IV. iii. 
 
 221. 
 Show, demonstration ; I. ii. 34. 
 Shrczvd, mischievous; II. i. 
 
 158. 
 Shrewdly, close enough (used 
 
 with an intensive force) ; III. 
 
 i. 146. 
 Sign'd, stamped, stained ; III. i. 
 
 200. 
 Sirrah, a form of address to in- 
 feriors; IV. iii. 300. 
 Slaughter; " have added s.," 
 
 have added another victim ; 
 
 V. i. 55. 
 
 Slight, worthless; IV. i. 12. 
 Slighted oif, treated with con- 
 tempt ; IV. iii. 5. 
 Slip; "let s.," unleash; III. i. 
 
 273. 
 
 Smatch, smack, taste ; V. v. 46. 
 
 So, if only ; I. ii. 166. 
 
 Sober, calm; IV. ii. 40. 
 
 Softly, slowly ; V. i. 16. 
 
 Soil, blemish ; I. ii. 42. 
 
 Sometime, sometimes; II. i. 
 251. 
 
 Sooth, in sooth, in truth ; II. 
 iv. 20. 
 
 So please him, if it please him 
 to; III. i. 140. 
 
 Sort, rank; I. i. 61. 
 
 , way; I. ii. 205. 
 
 ; "in s.," in a manner, af- 
 ter a fashion ; II. i. 283. 
 
 Spare, lean; I. ii. 201. 
 
 Speak to me, tell me; IV. iii. 
 281. 
 
 Speed, prosper ; I. ii. 88. 
 
 Spleen, passion; IV, iii. 47. 
 
 126
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 spoil; " sign'd in thy spoil," 
 i.e. having the stains of thy 
 blood as their badges; 
 " spoil " was perhaps used in 
 technical sense for the cap- 
 ture of the prey, and the di- 
 vision among those who have 
 taken part in the chase; III. 
 i. 206. 
 
 Stale, make common ; I. ii. y^- 
 
 Staled, made stale or common ; 
 IV. i. 38. 
 
 Stand upon, trouble about ; III. 
 i. 100. 
 
 Stare, stand on end ; IV. iii. 
 280. 
 
 Stars, fortunes, fates, alluding 
 to the old belief in the in- 
 Huence of the stars 'under 
 which men were born ; I. ii. 
 140. 
 
 State, court ; I. ii. 160. 
 
 , state of things ; I. iii, 71. 
 
 -, kingdom, microcosm ; II. 
 
 i.67. 
 
 Statue (.trisyllabic); II. ii. 76; 
 "at the base of Pompey's 
 statue"; III. ii. 192. 
 
 Stay, wait ; I. iii. 125. 
 
 , await ; V. i. 107. 
 
 Stays, detains, keeps ; II. ii. 75. 
 
 Sterile curse, the curse of be- 
 ing barren; I. ii. 9. 
 
 Still, always ; I. ii. 245. 
 
 Stit:, stirring ; I. iii. 127. 
 
 Stirr'd, stirring: II. ii. no. 
 
 Stole, stolen; II. i. 238. 
 
 Stomachs, inclination ; V. i. 66. 
 
 Stood on, regarded, attached 
 any importance to ; II. ii. 
 
 13. 
 Strain, race; V. i. 59. 
 
 Strange-disposed, strangely 
 disposed; I. iii. 33. 
 
 Strength of malice (v. Note) ; 
 III. i. 174. 
 
 Stricken, struck; II. i. 192. 
 
 Strucken, struck (Folio i, 
 "stroken " ; Folios 2, 3, 4, 
 "stricken") ; III. i. 209. 
 
 Suburbs, outskirts (with prob- 
 ably an allusion to the fact 
 that the suburbs in London 
 and other cities were the gen- 
 eral resort of disorderly per- 
 sons) ; II. i. 285. 
 
 Success, good fortune ; II. ii. 6. 
 
 , issue ; V. iii. 66. 
 
 Sudden, quick ; III. i. 19. 
 
 Sufferance, patience ; I. iii. 84. 
 
 , suffering; II. i. 115. 
 
 Surest, most safely ; IV. i. 47. 
 
 Surly, sullenly; I. iii. 21. 
 
 Pompey's Statue. 
 From a drawing by Fairholt. 
 
 127
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Sway ; " the s. of earth," equi- 
 librium (? "the government 
 and established order of the 
 earth," Schmidt) ; I. iii. 3. 
 
 Swear, let swear ; 11. i. 129. 
 
 Swore, caused to take an oath ; 
 V. iii. 38. 
 
 Szvotind, swoon ; I. ii. 252. 
 
 Swounded, swooned (Folios, 
 " swoonded") ; I. ii. 249. 
 
 Tag-rag people, the common 
 people, rabble; I. ii. 259. 
 
 Take thought, give way to 
 melancholy; II. i. 187. 
 
 Tardy, slow, laggard ; I. ii. 302. 
 
 Taste, sort, way ; IV. i. 34- 
 
 Temper, constitution; I. ii. 129. 
 
 Tenoiir, contents; IV. iii. i/i. 
 
 Tent; IV. iii. 246. (The an- 
 nexed examples of Roman 
 tents of the time of Julius 
 Caesar are from ancient bas- 
 reliefs at Rome.) 
 
 Thasos, an Island in the 
 vEgean, off the coast of 
 Thrace (Folios, " Thar- 
 sus'') ; V. iii. 104. 
 
 That, suppose that done; II. i. 
 
 Then, in that case; V. i. 100. 
 
 These and these, such and 
 
 such; II. i. 31. 
 Thews, muscles, strength; I. iii. 
 
 81. 
 Thick, dim, short-sighted ; V. 
 
 iii. 21. 
 This; "by this," i.e. by this 
 
 time, now ; I. iii. 125. 
 Threat, threaten; V. i. 38. 
 Thunder-stone, thunderbolt; I. 
 
 iii. 46. 
 Tiber banks, the banks of the 
 
 Tiber ; I. i. 62. 
 Tide of times, course of times ; 
 
 III. i. 257. 
 Time of life, full period of life ; 
 
 V. i. 106. 
 Time's abuse, abuses of the 
 
 time; II. i. 115. 
 Tinctures, memorial blood- 
 stains ; II. ii. 89. 
 'Tis just, just so, exactly; I. ii. 
 
 .54. 
 To friend, for our friend, as 
 
 our friend; III. i. 143. 
 Toils, snares, nets ; II. i. 206. 
 To-night, last night; II. ii. 
 
 76.^ 
 Took, taken ; II. i. 50. 
 Trash, rubbish, worthless stuff: 
 
 I. iii. 108. 
 Trophies, tokens of victory ; I. 
 
 i- 73- 
 True, honest ; I. ii. 262. 
 Turn him going, send him off; 
 
 III. iii. 38. 
 
 Unbraced, unbuttoned; I. iii. 
 48 ; II. i. 262. 
 
 Undergo, undertake; I. iii. 123. 
 
 Underlings, serfs, mean fel- 
 lows; I. ii. 141. 
 
 128
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Glossary 
 
 Unfirm, not fixed, not firm ; I. 
 iii. 4. 
 
 Ungently, unkindly ; II. i. 237. 
 
 Unicorns ; " u. may be betrayed 
 with trees " ; alluding to the 
 belief that unicorns were 
 captured by the huntsman 
 standing against a tree, and 
 stepping aside when the ani- 
 mal charged ; its horn spent 
 its force on the trunk and 
 stuck fast ; 11. i. 204. 
 
 Unluckily, foreshowing mis- 
 fortune ominously; III. iii. 
 2. 
 
 k'nmeritablc, undeserving ; IV. 
 i. 12. 
 
 Uhpiirged ; " u. air," i.e. un- 
 purged by the sun ; II. i. 
 266. 
 
 Unshaked of; " u. o. motion," 
 i.e. undisturbed by any mo- 
 tion ; III. i. 70. 
 
 Untrod; " this u. state." i.e. this 
 new state of affairs ; III. i. 
 136. 
 
 Upmost, uppermost, topmost; 
 II. i. 24. 
 
 Upon; " u. a heap," in ct heap, 
 crowded all together; I. iii. 
 23. 
 
 , in intruding upon ; II, i. 
 
 86. 
 
 , conditionally upon ; III. 
 
 i. 221. 
 
 ; " u. a wish," as soon as 
 
 wished for; III. ii. 271. 
 
 , in consequence of, from ; 
 
 IV. iii. 152. 
 
 Use, custom ; II. ii. 25, 
 
 ' ; "did u.," were accus- 
 tomed; I. ii. 72. 
 
 Vaunting, boasting; IV. iii. 
 52. 
 
 Ventures, what we have ven- 
 tured, risked ; IV. iii. 224. 
 
 J'esture, garment; III. ii. 200. 
 
 l^oice, vote ; III. i. 177. 
 
 Void, open ; II. iv. 36. 
 
 Vouchsafe, vouchsafe to ac- 
 cept; II. i. 313. 
 
 I'lilgar, common herd, com- 
 mon people ; I. i. 74. 
 
 IVafture, waving ; II. i. 246. 
 
 Warn, summon; V. i. 5. 
 
 Waspish, petulant; IV. iii. 50. 
 
 Weep, shed; I. i. 62. 
 
 Weighing, taking into consid- 
 eration; II. i. 108. 
 
 Well, in a friendly way ; IV. 
 ii. 6. 
 
 Well given, well disposed; I. 
 ii. 197. 
 
 What; " what night," i.e. what 
 a night ; I. iii. 42. 
 
 !, an exclamation of impa- 
 tience ; II. i. I. 
 
 lUhen, an exclamation of im- 
 patience ; II. i. 5. 
 
 Where, when ; I. ii. 59. 
 
 Whet, instigate; II. i. 61. 
 
 Whether (monosyllabic; Fo- 
 lios, "where") ; I. i. 65. 
 
 Who, the man who; I. iii. 120. 
 
 , which; V. i. 83. 
 
 Whole, well, healthy; II. i. 
 
 327- 
 Wind, turn, wheel ; IV. i. 2>2- 
 Wit. intelligence (so Folio 2; 
 
 Folio I, "writ") ; III. ii. 225. 
 With, by; I. iii. 83; III. i. 42; 
 
 III. ii. 201. 
 
 12^
 
 Glossary 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 JVifh a thought, quick as 
 thought; V. iii. 19- 
 
 From a brass coin of Augustus, struck 
 for use in Csesarea Augusti, a city of 
 Phcenicia. 
 
 Wives, women ; III. i. 97. 
 JVoe the zvhilc! alas the time! ; 
 
 1. iii. 82. 
 Jf\ird ; " at a w.," at his word ; 
 
 I. ii. 269. 
 
 World, condition of affairs; I. 
 
 ii. 310. 
 Worthless, unworthy ; V. i. 61. 
 Wreath of victory; V. iii. 82. 
 
 {Cp. illustration.) 
 
 Yearns, grieves (Folios i, 2, 3, 
 " earnes" ; Folio 4, "earns"); 
 
 II. ii. 128. 
 
 Yet, still; II. i. 245. 
 
 1.30
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Critical Notes. 
 
 BY ISRAEL GOLLANCZ. 
 
 I. i. 25. ' with awl. I ' ; Folios, ' ivithal I ' ', the correction was 
 made by Farmer. 
 
 I. ii. 19. The Hne is evidently to be read thus: — 
 
 "A sootJisay'r bids you 'ware the ides of March." 
 
 I. ii. 79, 80. ' / do fear the people choose Cccsar for their king.' 
 (Cp. the annexed copy of a 
 silver denarius struck when 
 Caesar assumed the title of 
 Perpetual Dictator.) 
 
 1. ii. 155. ' walls ' ; Rowe's 
 emendation of Folios, 
 ' zvalkes.' 
 
 I. ii. 255. ''Tis very like: 
 he hath '; Theobald's emendation; Folios, ''Tis very like he hath.' 
 
 I. ii. 318. 'He should not humour me'; i.e. 'he (Brutus) 
 should not influence me, as I have been influencing him'; othe.s 
 take ' he ' to refer to Caesar, and Johnson explains the passage 
 as follows : — " Caesar loves Brutus, but if Brutus and I were to 
 change places, his (Caesar's love) should not humour me, so as 
 to make me forget my principles." 
 
 I. iii. 30. 'These are their reasons'; Jervis conj. 'These have 
 their seasons' ; Collier MS., ' These are the seasons.' 
 
 L iii. 65. 'Why old men fool and'; Mitford conj.; Folios, 
 'Why old men, Fools, and'; Blackstone conj. 'Why old men 
 fools, and.' 
 
 I. iii. 129. ' In favour s like ' ; Johnson reads ' In favour's, 
 like'; Folios i. 2, 'Is Fauors, like'; Folios 3. 4, 'Is Favours, 
 like ' ; Rowe, ' Is feav'rous, like ' ; Capell, ' Is favow'd like ' ; 
 etc.. etc. 
 
 II. i. 40. ' the ides of March ' ; Theobald's correction of Folios, 
 ' the -first of March.' 
 
 II. i. 83. 'For if thou path, thy native semblance on'; so 
 Folio 2; Folios i, 3, 4, 'For if thou path thy . . .' ; Pope, 'For 
 
 131
 
 Notes 
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 if thou march, thy . . .' ; Singer conj. 'For if thou pu.t'st thy 
 . . .,' etc.; but there is no need to improve on the re^din^ of 
 Folio 2. 
 
 II. i, 204, 5. ' unicGnis may he bctray'd zi'iih frees and b'^as 
 ii-ith glasses . . . '" The passage receives a curious ilhistration 
 from a painting in the sepulchre of the Nasoriian family on the 
 
 Flaminian way near Rome. It r-pre^rnts a 
 leopard entrapped by its reflection in a mirror 
 placed in a box upon which the hunter ('lidden 
 by his shield) stands with his spear." 
 
 II. ii. 19. 'fight'; so Folios; Dyce, 'fought'; 
 Keightley, 'did tight.' 
 
 II. ii. 46. 'are'; U:^ton conj.; Folios i, 2, 
 ' h^eare ' ; Folios 3, 4, ' liear' ; 
 Rowe, ' heard ' ; Theobald, 
 ' zi'cre.' 
 
 III. i. 39. ' laiv of children'; 
 Johnson's emendation of Folios, 
 'lane of children'; Steevens 
 conj. 'line of r.' ; Mason conj. 
 'play of c! Mr. Pleay approves 
 of the Folio reading, and explains 'lane' in the sense of 'nar- 
 row conceits ' ; he compares the following lines from Jonson's 
 Staple of News : — 
 
 "A narrow-minded man! my tJwughts do dzvell 
 All in a lane." 
 
 III. i. 47, 48. 'Know, Ccpsar, doth not zcrong, nor zcitJiout 
 cause Will he be satisHcd ' ; there is an interesting piece of lit- 
 erary history connected with these lines. In Ben Jonson'S 
 Sylva or Discoveries occurs the famous criticism on Shakespeare. 
 Vv'here Jonson, after speaking of his love for Shalicspcare on this 
 side of idolatry, expresses a wish " that he had blotted more." 
 " His wit was in his own power ; would the rule of it had been 
 so too ! Many times he fell into those things could not escape 
 laughter: as when he said in the person of Caesar, one speaking 
 to him ' Caesar, thou dost me wrong,' he replied, ' Ccesar did never 
 zvrong but zvith just cause,' and such like; which were ridiculous. 
 But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was ever 
 more in him to be praised than to be pardoned." Again in his 
 Staple of Nezcs (acted 1625), a character savs, "Cry you mercy, 
 you never did wrong, but with just cause." From these refer- 
 
 132
 
 JULIUS CAESAR 
 
 Notes 
 
 ences it is inferred that in its original form the passage stood 
 thus : — 
 
 " Metellus. Ccrsar, thou dost me zvrong. 
 C^SAR. Knozv, Ccrsar doth not zvrong, but zvith just cause, 
 Nor zi'ithout cause zvill he be satisfied." 
 
 It is impossible to determine whether Jonson misquoted, or 
 whether (as seems more likely) his criticism effected its purpose, 
 and the lines were changed by Shakespeare, or by his editors. 
 
 III. i. jy. 'Et tu, Brute ' ; according to Plutarch, Caesar called 
 out in Latin to Casca, ' O vile traitor, Casca, what doest thouf ' 
 Suetonius, however, states that Caesar addressed Brutus in 
 Greek: — "/cat av t^kvov^^ i.e. 'and thou, too, my son,' The 
 words ' Et tu. Brute,' proverbial in Elizabethan times, must have 
 been derived from the Greek; they are found in at least three 
 works published earlier than Julius Ccrsar: — (i) Eedes' Latin 
 play, Ccssaris interfecti, 1582; (ii) The True Tragedie of Rich- 
 ard, Duke of York, 1595; (iii) Acolastus, his Afterzjuitte, 1600. 
 In Caesar's Legend, Mirror for Magistrates, 1587, these lines 
 occur : — 
 
 " O this, quoth I, is violence: then Cassius pierced my breast; 
 And Brutus thou, my son, quoth I, zi'hom erst I loved best." 
 III. i. 105-110. These lines are given to Casca by Pope. 
 III. i. 174. 'in strength of malice'; so Folios; Pope, 'exempt 
 from malice ' ; Capell, ' no strength of malice ' ; Seymour, ' re- 
 proof of malice ' ; Collier MS., adopted by Craik, ' in strength 
 of zi'elcome'; Badham conj. 'unstring their malice,' etc. If any 
 emendation is necessary, Capell's suggestion commends itself 
 most ; but ' in strength of malice ' may mean ' in the intensity of 
 
 their hatred to Caesar's tyranny,' 
 
 and this, as Grant White points out, 
 
 suits the context. 
 
 III. i. 262. 'limbs of men'; so 
 
 Folios; Hanmer, 'kind of men'; 
 
 Johnson conj. ' lives of ' or ' lymmes 
 
 of men'; Jackson, 'imps of men'; 
 
 Collier MS., adopted by Craik, 
 
 'loins of men'; Bulloch, 'limbs of 
 
 Rome,' etc. 
 
 III. ii. 254. 'On tJiis side Tiber'; 
 
 Theobald proposed ' that ' for ' this.' 
 Caesar's gardens were on the left bank of the river. Shakespeare 
 
 133
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 followed North's Plutarch, and North merely translated the words 
 in Amyot. 
 
 III. ii. 259. ' We 'II burn his body in the holy place.' Cp. the 
 illustration on page 133. from a brass coin struck in honour of M. 
 Aurelius after his death in 180 a.d., exhibiting on the reverse the 
 funeral pile of four stories high used at his consecration. 
 
 IV. i. 2)7' ' abjects, oris ' ; Staunton's reading ; Theobald, ' ab- 
 ject oris'; Folios, ' Obiects, Arts'; Becket conj. 'abject arts'; 
 Gould conj. 'objects, orts.' 
 
 IV. i. 44. ' our means stretch'd ' ; Folio i, ' our meanes 
 stretcht' ; Folios 2, 3, 4, ' and our best meanes stretcht out' ; John- 
 son, ' otir best means stretcht'; Malone, 'our means stretch'd 
 to the utmost.' 
 
 IV. ii. 50, 52. Craik's suggestion that ' Lucilius ' and ' Lucius ' 
 have been transposed in these lines has been accepted by many 
 editors. The Cambridge editors are of opinion that the error is 
 due to the author and not to a transcriber, and have, therefore, 
 not tampered with the text. 
 
 IV. iii. 129. Cp. " This Phaonius . . . came into the cham- 
 ber, 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 more years than siichie three." 
 
 (North's Plutarch). 
 
 IV. iii. 133. ' vilely ' ; so Folio 4 ; Folios i, 2, ' vildely ' ; Folio 
 3, ' vildly: 
 
 V. i. 20. ' / will do so,' i.e. ' I will do as you wish, and keep 
 on the left ' ; according to some editors, the words may mean ' I 
 will not wrangle, but will have my way.' 
 
 V. i. 53. 'three and thirty'; Theobald, 'three and twenty' 
 (the number given in Plutarch). 
 
 V. iii. 99. 'The last'; Rowe unnecessarily suggested, 'Thou 
 last'; but cp. North's Plutarch, "he (Brutus) lamented the 
 death of Cassius, calling him the last of all the Romans." 
 
 V. V. 33. 'Farewell to thee too, Strato. Countrymen ' ; Theo- 
 bald's emendation of Folios, 'Farewell to thee, to Strato, Country- 
 men.' 
 
 V. V. 71. 'in a general honest thought And'; Collier MS., 
 adopted by Craik, reads 'in a generous honest thought Of.' 
 
 134
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 Explanatory Noles. 
 
 The Explanatory Notes in this edition have been specially selected and 
 adapted, with emendations after the latest and best authorities, from the 
 most eminent Shakespearian scholars and commentators, including Johnson, 
 Malone, Steevens, Singer, Dyce, Hudson, White, Furness, Dowden, and 
 others. This method, here introduced for the first time, provides the best 
 annotation of Shakespeare ever embraced in a single edition. 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 Scene I. 
 
 35. his triumph : — Caesar's fifth and last triumph. He had re- 
 turned a few months before from Spain, having there defeated 
 Pompey's sons at the battle of Munda, which was fought March 
 17, B.C. 45. 
 
 36 et seq. " It is evident from the opening scene," says Camp- 
 bell, "that Shakespeare, even in dealing with classical subjects, 
 laughed at the classic fear of putting the ludicrous and sublime 
 into juxtaposition. After the low and farcical jests of the saucy 
 cobbler, the eloquence of Marullus ' springs upwards like a pyra- 
 mid of fire.' " 
 
 49. The Tiber being always personified as a god, the feminine 
 gender is here, strictly speaking, improper. Milton says : " The 
 river of bliss rolls o'er Elysian flowers her amber streams." But 
 he is speaking of the water, and not of its presiding power or 
 genius. Malone observes that Drayton describes the presiding 
 powers of the rivers of England as females ; Spenser more clas- 
 sically represents them as males. Old English usage is not uni- 
 form. 
 
 73. C(Tsar's trophies: — A passage in the next Scene (lines 287- 
 289) shows what these trophies were. Casca there informs Cassius 
 that Marullus and Flavins, for pulling scarfs off Ccesar's images, 
 are put to silence. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 6-9. Forget not, etc.: — This passage is founded on the follow- 
 ing from North's Plutarch : " At that time the feast Lupercalia 
 
 135
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 was celebrated, the which in old time, men say, was the feast of 
 shepheards or heardsmen. But, howsoever it is, that day there are 
 divers noblemen's sons which run naked through the city, striking 
 in sport them they meet in their way with leather thongs. And 
 many noblewomen and gentlewomen also go of purpose to stand 
 in their way, and put forth their hands to be stricken ; perswa- 
 ding themselves that, being with child, they shall have good de- 
 livery ; and so, being barren, that it will make them to conceive. 
 Caesar sate to behold that sport upon the pulpit for orations, in 
 a chaire of gold, apparelled in triumphant manner. Antonius, 
 who was Consull at that time, was one of them that ranne this 
 holy course." 
 
 19. Coleridge remarks : " If my ear does not deceive me, the 
 metre of this line was meant to express that sort of mild philo- 
 sophic contempt, characterising Brutus even in his first casual 
 speech." Plutarch supplied the basis of the passage, thus : 
 " There was a certaine Soothsayer that had given Caesar warning 
 long time afore, to take heed of the Ides of March, which is the 
 fifteenth of the month, for on that day he should be in great dan- 
 ger. That day being come, Caesar, going unto the Senate-house, 
 and speaking merily unto the Soothsayer, told him the Ides of 
 March be come. So they be, softly answered the Soothsayer, but 
 yet are they not past." 
 
 66. Therefore, good Brutus, etc. : — Here Craik remarks that 
 "the eager, impatient temper of Cassius, absorbed in his own 
 idea, is vividly expressed by his thus continuing his argument as 
 if without appearing to have even heard Brutus's interrupting 
 question ; for such is the only interpretation which his therefore 
 would seem to admit of." 
 
 86, 87. Set honour, etc. : — Coleridge makes this following com- 
 ment : " Warburton would read death for both ; but I prefer the 
 old text. There are here three things, the public good, the in- 
 dividual Brutus's honour, and his death. The latter two so 
 balanced each other that he could decide for the first by equi- 
 poise ; nay — the thought growing — that honour had more weight 
 than death." 
 
 122. His coward lips, etc.: — This is oddly expressed; but a 
 quibble, alluding to a cowardly soldier flying from his colours, 
 was intended. 
 
 147. Brutus zmll start a spirit : — Here spirit is doubtless meant 
 to be pronounced as a monosyllable, and perhaps should be so 
 printed. 
 
 136
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 163. some aim : — So in the Tzn'o Gentlemen of Verona, III. i. 
 28: "But, fearing lest my jealous aim might err." So too in 
 various other places. 
 
 174. As, according to Tooke, is an article, and means the same 
 as that, which, or it: accordingly we find it often so employed by 
 old writers ; and particularly in our version of the Bible. Thus 
 Lord Bacon also in his Apothegms : " One of the Romans said 
 to his friend ; what think you of such a one, as was taken with the 
 manner in adultery?" 
 
 195. He thinks too much : — So in North's Plutarch, " Life of 
 Julius Caesar": "Caesar had Cassius in jelousie, and suspected 
 him much : whereupon he said on a time to his friends, ' What wil 
 Cassius do, think ye? I like not his pale looks.' Another time, 
 when Caesars friends complained unto him of Antonius and 
 Dolabella, that they pretended some mischief towards him, he 
 answered them, ' As for those fat men, and smooth-combed 
 heads, I never reckon of them ; but these pale-visaged and carion- 
 leane people, I feare them most ' ; meaning Brutus and Cassius." 
 
 228-230. Plutarch's best account of this incident is given in the 
 Life of Antonius: "The Romaines celebrated the feast called 
 Lupercalia, and Caesar, being apparalled in his triumphing robe, 
 was set in the tribune where they use to make orations to the 
 people, and from thence did behold the sport of the runners. 
 Antonius, being one among the rest that was to run, leaving the 
 old customes of that solemnity, ran to the tribune where Caesar 
 was set, and caried a laurell crowne in his hand, having a royall 
 band or diademe wreathed about it, which was the ancient marke 
 and token of a king. When he was come to Caesar, he made his 
 fellow runners lift him up, and so he put the laurell crowne upon 
 his head, signifying thereby that he deserved to be king. But 
 Caesar, making as though he refused it, turned away his head. 
 The people were so rejoiced at it, that they al clapped their hands 
 for joy. Antonius againe did put it on his head; Caesar againe re- 
 fused it : and thus they were striving off and on a great while to- 
 gether. As oft as Antonius did put this laurel crowne unto him, 
 a few of his followers rejoiced at it; and as oft as Caesar refused 
 it, al the people together clapped their hands." 
 
 267-273. a man of any occupation . . . Jiis iniirmity: — See 
 Coriolanus, IV. vi. 97. 98: "The voice of occupation and the 
 breath of garlic-eaters ! " Casca means, if he had been one of the 
 plebeians to whom Caesar oft'ered his throat. The Poet here 
 borrows an incident that is related by Plutarch as having taken 
 
 137
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 place on another occasion some time before the offering Caesar 
 the crown in public : " When they had decreed divers honours 
 for him in the Senate, the Consuls and Praetors, accompanied 
 with the whole Senate, went unto him in the market-place, where 
 he was set by the pulpit for orations, to tell him what honours 
 they had decreed for him in his absence. But he, sitting still in 
 his majestic, disdaining to rise up unto them, when they came 
 in, as if they had been private men, answered them, that his 
 honours had more need to be cut off than enlarged. This did 
 not onely offend the Senate but the people also, to see that he 
 should so lightly esteeme of the magistrates ; insomuch as every 
 man that might lawfully go his way departed thence very sor- 
 rowfully. Thereupon also .. Caesar rising departed home to his 
 house, and, tearing open his dublet-coller making his necke bare, 
 he cried out aloud to his friends, that his throate was readie to 
 offer to any man that would come and cut it. Notwithstanding, 
 it is reported that afterwards, to excuse his folly, he imputed 
 it to his disease, saying that their wits are not perfit which have 
 this disease of the falling evill, when standing on their feete they 
 speake to the people, but are soone troubled with a trembling of 
 their bodie, and a sodaine dimnesse and giddinesse." 
 
 288, 289. for pulling scarfs, etc. : — This is related in Plutarch 
 thus : " There were set up images of Caesar in the city, with dia- 
 demes upon their heads, like kings. Those the two Tribunes, 
 Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled downe ; and furthermore, 
 meeting with them that saluted Caesar as king, they committed 
 them to prison. The people followed them, rejoicing at it, and 
 called them Brutes, because of Brutus who had in old time driven 
 the kings out of Rome, and brought the kingdome of one person 
 unto the government of the Senate and people. Caesar was so 
 offended withall, that he deprived Marullus and Flavius of their 
 Tribuneships, and spake also against the people, and called them 
 Bruti and Cumani, to wit, beasts and fooles." 
 
 312,313. Thy honourable metal . . . disposed: — The best 
 metal or temper may be worked into qualities contrary to its 
 disposition, or what it is disposed to. 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 3 et seq. Plutarch, in the Life of Julius Ccesar, gives the follow- 
 lowing account of these wonders : " Touching the fires in the 
 element, and spirits running up and downe in the night, and also 
 
 138
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 the solitary birds to be seen at noon daies sitting in the great 
 market-place, are not all these signes perhaps worth the noting 
 in such a wonderful chance as happened? But Strabo the Phi- 
 losopher writeth, that divers men were seene going up and downe 
 in fire ; and furthermore, that there was a slave of the soldiers, 
 that did cast a marvellous burning flame out of his hand ; inso- 
 much as they that saw it thought he had bene burnt, but when 
 the fire was out it was found he had no hurt." 
 
 49. thunder-stone : — This, according to Craik, " is the imagi- 
 nary product of the thunder, which the ancients called Brontia, 
 mentioned by Pliny as a species of gem, and as that which, falling 
 with the lightning, does the mischief. It is the fossil commonly 
 called the Belemnite, or Finger-stone, and now known to be a 
 shell. We still talk of the thunder-bolt, which, however, is com- 
 monly confounded with the lightning." The thunder-stone was 
 held to be quite distinct from the lightning, as may be seen from 
 Cymbeline, IV. ii. 270, 271 : — 
 
 Gui. Fear no more the lightning-flash, 
 Arv. Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone. 
 
 It is also alluded to in Othello, V. ii. 234, 235 : — 
 
 " Are there no stones in heaven 
 But what serve for the thunder?" 
 
 75. lion in the Capitol: — "Roars in the Capitol as doth the 
 lion," explains Craik. It is hardly necessary to suppose, as 
 Wright does, that the Poet imagined lions kept in the Capitol, as 
 in the Tower of London. 
 
 114. My anszver must be made: — Johnson explains this passage 
 thus : " I shall be called to account, and must answer as for sedi- 
 tious words." 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 Scene I. 
 
 10 et seq. " This speech,'* says Coleridge, " is singular ; at least 
 I do not at present see into Shakespeare's motive, his rationale, 
 or in what point of view he meant Brutus's character to appear. 
 For, surely, nothing can seem more discordant with our historical 
 preconceptions of Brutus, or more lowering to the intellect 
 of the Stoico-Platonic tyrannicide, than the tenets here attributed 
 
 ISO
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 to him; namely, that he would have no objection to a king, or to 
 Caesar, a monarch in Rome, would Caesar but be as good a 
 monarch as he now seems disposed to be ! . . . What char- 
 acter did Shakespeare mean his Brutus to be? " 
 
 21-27. 'tis a common proof, etc. : — Daniel, in his Civil JVars, 
 the first four books of which were published in 1595, puts a simi- 
 lar thought into the mouth of Richard when on the point of being 
 deposed by Bolingbroke : — 
 
 " Th' aspirer, once attain'd unto the top, 
 Cuts off those means by which himself got up ; 
 And with a harder hand and straiter rein 
 Doth curb that looseness he did find before ; 
 Doubting th' occasion like might serve again : 
 His own example makes him fear the more." 
 
 46. et scq. This passage is based upon the following from Plu- 
 tarch's Life of Brutus: "But, for Brutus, his friends and coun- 
 trimen, both by divers procurements and sundry rumours of the 
 city, and by many bils also, did openly call him to do that he did. 
 For under the image of his ancestor, Junius Brutus, that drave 
 the kings out of Rome, they wrote, ' O, that it pleased the gods 
 thou wert now alive, Brutus ! ' and againe, — ' That thou wert here 
 among us now ! ' His tribunall or chaire, where he gave audi- 
 ence during the time he was Praetor, was full of such bils : ' Bru- 
 tus, thou art asleep, and art not Brutus indeed ! ' " 
 
 66-69. " By instruments," says Blakeway, " I understand our 
 bodily powers, our members : as Othello calls his eyes and hands 
 his speculative and active instruments. So intending to paint, as 
 he does very finely, the inward conflict which precedes the com- 
 mission of some dreadful crime, he represents, as I conceive 
 him, the genius, or soul, consulting with the body, and, as it 
 were, questioning the limbs, the instruments which are to per- 
 form this deed of death, whether they can undertake to bear her 
 out in the affair, whether they can screw up their courage to do 
 what she shall enjoin them. The tumultuous commotion of op- 
 posing sentiments and feelings produced by the firmness of the 
 soul, contending with the secret misgivings of the body ; during 
 which the mental faculties are, though not actually dormant, yet 
 in a sort of waking stupor. ' crushed by one overwhelming 
 image ' ; is finely compared to a phantasm of a hideous dream, and 
 by the state of man suffering the nature of an insurrection." 
 
 140
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 70. Cassius had married Junia, the sister of Brutus; hence the 
 former is here spoken of as the latter's brother. 
 
 119. by lottery: — Steevens thinks there may be an allusion 
 here to the custom of decimation, that is, the selection by lot of 
 every tenth soldier in a general mutiny for punishment. The 
 meaning probably is, by chance or the caprice of the tyrant. 
 
 218. go along by him: — That is, by his house; make that your 
 way home. 
 
 233. [Enter Portia.] The matter of the following noble dialogue 
 is thus delivered in Plutarch's Life of Brutus : " His wife Porcia 
 was the daughter of Cato, whom Brutus maried, being his cousin ; 
 not a maiden, but a young widow after the death of her first hus- 
 band, Bibulus. This ladie, loving her husband well, and being of 
 a noble courage, as she was also wise ; because she would not 
 aske her husband what he ayled before she had made some proofe 
 by herselfe ; tooke a litle razour, and, causing her women to go out 
 of her chamber, gave herselfe a great gash withall in her thigh; 
 and incontinently after a vehement feaver tooke her, by reason of 
 the paine of her wound. Then, perceiving her husband was mar- 
 vellously out of quiet, and could take no rest, she spake in this 
 sort unto him : ' I, being, O Brutus ! the daughter of Cato, was 
 maried unto thee; not to be thy bedfellow and companion at 
 board onely, like a harlot, but to be partaker also with thee of thy 
 good and evill fortune. Now, for thyselfe, I can find no cause 
 of fault in thee touching our match ; but, for my part, how may 
 I shew my duty towards thee, and how much I would do for thy 
 sake, if I cannot constantly beare a secret m.ischance or grief e 
 with thee? I confesse that a womans wit commonly is too weake 
 to keepe a secret safely : but yet good education and the company 
 of vertuous men have some power to reforme the defect of na- 
 ture. And, for myselfe. I have this benefite, moreover, that I 
 am the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus. Notwithstand- 
 ing, I did not trust to any of these things, until now I have found 
 by experience, that no paine or griefe whatsoever can overcome 
 me.' With these words, shee shewed him the wound on her 
 thigh, and told him what she had done to prove herselfe. Brutus 
 was amazed to heare what she sayd unto him ; and, lifting up his 
 hands to heaven, he besought the goddes to give him the grace 
 that he might be found a husband worthy of so noble a wife as 
 Porcia: so he then did comfort her the best he could." 
 
 315. To zvear a ArrrA-iV/:— Shakespeare has given to the 
 Romans the manners of his own time. It was a common practice 
 
 141
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 in England for those who were sick to wear a kerchief on their 
 heads. So in Fuller's Worthies of Cheshire : " If any there be 
 sick, they make him a posset and tye a kerchief on his head ; and 
 if that will not mend him, then God be merciful to him." 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 7. \ Enter Calpiirnia.] Plutarch's Life of Julius Cccsar has fur- 
 nished the basis of the following dialogue : " C?esar self also, 
 doing sacrifice unto the gods, found that one of the beasts which 
 was sacrificed had no hart ; and that was a strange thing in na- 
 ture, how a beast could live without a heart. And the very day 
 before, Caesar, supping with Marcus Lepidus, sealed certaine let- 
 ters, as he was wont to do, at the board : so, talk falling out 
 amongst them what death was best, he cried out aloud, ' Death 
 unlooked for.' Then, going to bed the same night, as his man- 
 ner was, and lying with his wife Calpurnia, all the windows and 
 doores of his chamber flying open, the noise awoke him, and 
 made him afraid; but more, when he heard his wife, being fast 
 asleepe, weepe and sigh, and put forth many fumbling lamentable 
 speeches; for she dreamed that Caesar was slaine, and that she 
 had him in her armes. Caesar rising in the morning, she prayed 
 him, if it were possible, not to go out of the doores that day, but 
 to adjourne the session of the Senate until another day: and 
 that, if he made no reckoning of her dreame, yet he would search 
 further of the soothsaiers, to know what should happen him 
 that day. It seemed that Caesar likewise did feare or suspect 
 somewhat, because his wife Calpurnia until that time was never 
 given to any feare or superstition. When the soothsaiers, having 
 sacrificed many beasts one after another, told him that none did 
 like them; then he determined to send Antonius to adjourne the 
 session of the Senate," 
 
 13. / never stood on ceremonies: — Never paid a regard to 
 prodigies or omens. 
 
 24. ghosts did shriek, etc.: — Compare Hamlet, I, i. 1 13-120. 
 
 31. This may have been suggested by Suetonius, who relates 
 that a blazing star appeared for seven days together during the 
 celebration of games instituted by Augustus in honour of Julius. 
 The common people believed that this indicated his reception 
 among the gods : his statues were accordingly ornajnented with 
 its figure, and medals struck on which it was represented. There 
 is a curious old anecdote of Queen Elizabeth, who, " being dis- 
 
 142
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 suaded from looking on a comet, with a courage equal to the 
 greatness of her state caused the windowe to be sette open, and 
 said, Jacta est alca — the dice are thrown." 
 
 2,2, ZZ- So in Plutarch : " When some of his friends did coun- 
 sel! him to have a guard for the safety of his person, and some 
 also did offer themselves to serve him, he would never consent, 
 but said it was better to die once, than alwayes to be afraid of 
 death.'' 
 
 yG. statue : — In Shakespeare's time statue was pronounced in- 
 differently as a word of two syllables or three. Bacon uses it 
 repeatedly as a trisyllable, and spells it siatua, as in his Advance- 
 ment of Learning: "It is not possible to have the true pictures 
 or staiitas of Cyrus, Alexander, Ca?sar, no, nor of the kings or 
 great personages of much later years." The measure evidently 
 requires that it be a word of three syllables here, as also in III. 
 ii. 192. " Even at the base of Pompey's statue." Many editions 
 print statua in both places. 
 
 104. reason to my love is liable: — That is, reason, or propriety 
 of speech and conduct, stands second, gives way to my love. 
 This scene is taken very literally from Plutarch : " In the meane 
 time came Decius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, in whom Caesar 
 put such confidence that in his last will and testament he had 
 appointed him to be his heire ; and yet was he of the conspiracie 
 with Brutus and Cassius. He, fearing that if Caesar did adjourne 
 the session that day the conspiracie would be betrayed, laughed 
 at the Soothsayers, and reproved Caesar, saying that he gave 
 the Senate occasion to mislike with him, and that they might 
 think he mocked them, considering that by his commandment 
 they were assembled ; and that they were ready willingly to grant 
 him all things, and to proclaime him king of all his provinces of 
 the Empire out of Italy, and that he should weare his diademe in 
 all other places both by sea and land. And furthermore, if any 
 man should tel them from him they should depart for that pres- 
 ent time, and return againe when Calpurnia should have better 
 dreames, what would his enemies and ill-willers say, and how 
 could they like of his friends words? And who could perswade 
 them otherwise, but that they would think his dominion a slavery 
 unto them, and him tyrannical! in himselfe? And yet, if it be so, 
 said he, that you utterly mislike of this day, it is better that you 
 go yourselfe in person, and, saluting the Senate, dismisse them 
 til another time. Therewithal! he took Caesar by the hand and 
 brought him out of his house." 
 
 143
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 In this Scene the Poet has followed Plutarch very closely: 
 " One Artemidorus, born in the ile of Cnidos, a doctor of 
 rhetorick in the Greeke tongue, who by means of his profession 
 was very familiar with Brutus confederates, and therefore knew 
 the most part of al their practices against Caesar, came and 
 brought him a litle bill, written with his owne hand, of all that 
 he meant to tel him. He, marking how Caesar received all the 
 supplications that were offered him, and that he gave them 
 straight to his men that were about him, pressed nearer to him, 
 and said, ' Caesar, reade this memoriall to yourselfe, and that 
 quickly, for they be matters of great weight, and touch you 
 nearly.' Caesar took it of him, but could never reade it, though 
 he many times attempted it, for the number of people that did 
 salute him; but, holding it still in his hand, keeping it to him- 
 selfe, went on withall into the Senate-house." 
 
 Scene IV. 
 
 In Plutarch's Life of Brutus the incident of this Scene is re- 
 lated as follows : " In the meane time, there came one of Brutus 
 men post hast unto him. and told him his wife was dying. For 
 Porcia, being very caref ull and pensive for that which was to come, 
 and being too weake to away with so great and inward griefe 
 of mind, could hardly keepe within, but was frighted with every 
 little noyse and crie she heard ; asking every man that came 
 from the market-place what Brutus did, and sending messenger 
 after messenger, to know what newes. At length, C^sars com- 
 ming being prolonged, Porciaes weaknesse was not able to hold 
 out any longer ; and thereupon shee sodainly swounded, that she 
 had no leysure to go to her chamber, but was taken in the 
 middest of her house. Howbeit, she soone came to herselfe 
 againe, and so was layd in her bed, and attended by her women. 
 When Brutus heard these newes. it grieved him ; yet he left not 
 off the care of his countrie. neither went to his house for any 
 newes he heard.'' 
 
 42, 43. Brutus hath a suit, etc. : — These words Portia addresses 
 to Lucius to deceive him by assigning a false cause for her pres- 
 ent perturbation. 
 
 144
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 Scene I. 
 
 yy. Et tu, Brute f — "There is no ancient Latin authority, I 
 believe," says Craik, " for this famous exclamation, although in 
 Suetonius, i. 82, Caesar is made to address Brutus Kat <tv, tckvov 
 (And thou too, my son?). It may have occurred as it stands 
 here in the Latin play on the same subject which is recorded to 
 have been acted at Oxford in 1582; and it is found in The True 
 Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, first printed in 1595, on 
 which 3 Henry VI. is founded, as also in a poem by S. Nicholson, 
 entitled Acolastus his Afterwit, printed in 1600, in both of which 
 nearly contemporary productions we have the same line — ' Et tu, 
 Brute? Wilt thou stab Caesar too?'" But Stokes declares that 
 it is in the Latin play of 1582. 
 
 1 16- 1 18. So oft . . . liberty: — There is nothing in the play 
 more puzzling to us than this and the two preceding speeches. 
 It seems as though the Poet either committed a great oversight 
 in making his heroes talk thus, or else meant it as a very signifi- 
 cant and characteristic passage. Did he mean to indicate a sort 
 of sentimental hanging and brooding over their own virtue, to 
 suck out of it self-solacemcnt and self-assurance of fame, such 
 as might naturally grow from making patriotism the special pur- 
 pose and profession of their lives? 
 
 177, 178. Your voice, etc. : — Blakeway observes, that Shake- 
 speare has maintained the consistency of Cassius's character, 
 who, being selfish and greedy himself, endeavours to influence 
 Antony by similar motives. Brutus, on the other hand, is in- 
 variably represented as disinterested and generous, and is 
 adorned by the Poet with so many good qualities that we are 
 almost tempted to forget that he was an assassin. 
 
 207. 208. O zvorld . . . of thee : — Coleridge strongly main- 
 tained that these two lines were interpolated by some actor, and 
 that we have but to read the passage without them, to see that 
 they never were in it. He adds : " I venture to say there is no 
 instance in Shakespeare fairly like" this. Conceits he has; but they 
 not only rise out of some word in the lines before, but also lead 
 on to the thought in the lines following. Here the conceit is a 
 mere alien: Antony forgets an image, when he is even touching 
 it, and then recollects it, when the thought last in his mind must 
 have led him away from it." But the same and similar quibbles 
 
 145
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 are too frequent in Shakespeare to allow of our accepting fully 
 the great critic's opinion. 
 
 262. By men Antony means not mankind in general. The 
 scope of the curse is limited by the subsequent words, the parts 
 of Italy, and in these confines. 
 
 289. A play is here intended, as in I. ii. 156, on the words 
 Rome and room. 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 4, part the numbers: — That is, as Craik explains, divide the 
 multitude. 
 
 13 ct seq. In this celebrated speech, which, to a critical taste, 
 is far from being a model of style either for oratory or any- 
 thing else, the Poet seems to have aimed at imitating the manner 
 actually ascribed to Brutus. To quote from North's Plutarch : 
 " They do note that, in some of his Epistles, he counterfeited that 
 briefe compendious maner of speech of the Lacedaemonians. As, 
 when the war was begun, he wrot to the Pergamenians in this 
 sort : * I understand you have given Dolabella money : if you have 
 done it willingly, you confesse you have offended me ; if against 
 your wils, shew it by giving me willingly.' Another time unto 
 the Samians : 'Your counsels be long, your doings be slow; con- 
 sider the end.' And in another Epistle he wrote unto the 
 Patareians : ' The Xanthians, despising my good wil, have made 
 their country a grave of despaire; and the Patareians, that put 
 themselves into my protection, have lost no jot of their liberty: 
 and therefore, whilest you have liberty, either chuse the judge- 
 ment of the Patareians or the fortune of the Xanthians.' These 
 were Brutus maner of letters, which were honoured for their 
 briefnesse." And Shakespeare's idea, as followed out in this 
 speech, is sustained also by the Dialogus de Oratoribus, ascribed 
 to Tacitus ; wherein it is said that Brutus's style of eloquence 
 was censured as otiosum ct disjunctum. For, as Verplanck re- 
 marks, *' the disjunctum, the broken-up style, without oratorical 
 continuity, is precisely that assumed by the dramatist." 
 
 79. bury : — " Shakespeare," says Wright, " was no doubt think- 
 ing of his own time and country. The custom of burning the 
 dead had not been in use in Rome very long before the time of 
 Caesar." 
 
 80, 81. Compare this with the passage in Henry VIII., IV. ii, 
 45:— 
 
 lj6
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 "Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues 
 We write in water." 
 
 193. ran blood : — The image seems to be that the blood flowing 
 from Caesar's wounds appeared to run from the statue. The 
 words are from North's Plutarch : " Against the very base 
 whereon Pompey's image stood, which ran all of a gore-blood 
 till he was slain." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 - The matter of this Scene is taken from Plutarch's Life of 
 Brutus : " There was a poet called Cinna, who had been no par- 
 laker of the conspiracy, but was alvvay one of Caesars chiefest 
 friends. He dreamed, the night before, that Caesar bad him to 
 supper with him, and that, he refusing to goe, Csesar was very 
 inipbrtunate with him, and compelled him, so that at length he 
 led him by the hand into a great darke place, where, being mar- 
 vellously affraid. he was driven to follow him in spite of his 
 heart. This dreame put him all night into a feaver, and yet, the 
 next morning, when he heard that they caried Caesars body to 
 burial, and being ashamed not to accompany his funerals, he went 
 out of his house, and thrust himselfe into the prease of the com- 
 mon people, that were in a great uprore. And because some one 
 called him by his name Cinna, the people, thinking he had been 
 that Cinna who, in an oration he made, had spoken very evill of 
 Catsar, falling upon him in their rage, slue him outright in the 
 market-place. 
 
 2. The Poet may mean that many things besides his dream of 
 the feast charge his fancy unluckily. Steevens remarks, " I learn 
 from an old black-letter book on Fortune-telling, etc., that to 
 dream ' of being at banquets betokeneth misfortune.' " It were 
 better, White thinks, had Steevens given his authority here as 
 well as elsewhere. 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 {A house in Rome.] The place of this Scene is not marked in 
 the original, but is shown to be at Rome, by Lepidus's being sent 
 to Caesar's house, and told that he will find his confederates " or 
 here, or at the Capitol." In fact, however, the triumvirs did not 
 
 147
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 meet at Rome to settle the proscription, but on a little island in 
 the river Rhenus (Reno), near Bononia, the present Bologna. 
 The Poet most likely knew this, as he must have read in Plu- 
 tarch how " all three met together in an island environed round 
 about with a little river." 
 
 4. Publiiis: — Either the Poet or the printer fell into an error 
 here; the true name of this person being not Piiblius but Lucius. 
 Thus in Plutarch's Life of Antonius: " Csesar left Cicero to An- 
 tonius will ; Antonius also forsooke Lucius Caesar, who was his 
 uncle by his mother ; and both of them together suffered Lepidus 
 to kill his own brother Paulus." 
 
 48, 49. we are at the stake, etc. : — An allusion to bear-baiting. 
 So in Macbeth, V. vii. : — 
 
 " They have tied me to a stake ; I cannot fly, 
 But bear-like I must fight the course." ■* 
 
 Scene II. 
 
 5. To do you salutation : — A common form of expression. So 
 in Richard IIL, V. iii. 209, 210: "The early village-cock hath 
 twice done salutation to the morn." 
 
 16. instances: — This, according to Dyce. "is a word used by 
 Shakespeare with various shades of meaning, which it is not al- 
 ways easy to distinguish — 'motive, inducement, cause, ground; 
 symptom, prognostic ; information, assurance ; proof, example, 
 indication.' " Here it is explained by Craik as assiduities, and 
 by Schmidt as proofs of familiarity. 
 
 23. hot at hand: — "That is," says Craik, "apparently, when 
 held by the hand, or led ; or rather, perhaps, when acted upon 
 only by the rein." Hudson explains it as meaning " horses 
 spirited or mettlesome when held back, or restrained." See the 
 following passage in Henry VIIL, V. iii. 21-24: — 
 
 " Those that tame wild horses 
 Pace 'em not in their hands to make 'em gentle. 
 But stop their mouths with stubborn bits and spur 'em, 
 Till they obey the manage." 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 The last Scene is supposed to pass outside of Brutus's tent, 
 into which he invites Cassius in his last speech but one. But in 
 
 148
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 the Folio, where the divisions of the scenes are not indicated 
 in this play, the simple direction is, "Exeunt [Lucilius, Titinius, 
 Lucius, etc.] Mancnt Brutus and Cassius." The audients were 
 plainly to suppose a change of scene here. 
 
 20,21. This question is far from implying that any of those 
 who touched Caesar's body were villains. On the contrary, it is 
 an indirect way of asserting that there was not one man among 
 them who was base enough to stab him for any cause but that of 
 justice. 
 
 32. To make conditions : — To decide on what terms it is fit to 
 confer the offices at my disposal. 
 
 156. szvallow'd Hre: — So in North's Plutarch: "And for Por- 
 cia, Brutus wife, Nicolaus the philosopher and Valerius Maxi- 
 mus do write that she, determining to kill herselfe (her parents 
 and friends carefully looking to keepe her from it), tooke bote 
 burning coles and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth 
 so close that she choked herselfe. There was a letter of Brutus 
 found, written to his friends, complaining of their negligence, 
 that, his wife being sicke, they wold not helpe her, but suffered 
 her to kill herself, chusing to die rather than to languish in 
 paine." 
 
 194. in art: — That is, in theory as opposed to practice. 
 
 252. book : — This characteristic little incident of the book was 
 suggested by a passage in Plutarch's Life of Brutus. It makes a 
 part of the account there given of the apparition : " As they pre- 
 pared to passe over out of Asia into Europe, there went a 
 rumour that there appeared a wonderfull signe unto him. Brutus 
 v/as a carefull 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 then the 
 time he was driven to be alone, and when every body else tooke 
 their rest. But now whilest he was in the warre, and his head 
 over-busily occupied to thinke of his affaires and what would 
 happen, having 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 booke till the third watch of the night, at 
 what time the captains and colonels did use to come to him." 
 
 274. [Enter the Ghost of Cccsar.] In Plutarch's Life of Brutus 
 this apparition is not spoken of as the ghost of Caesar, but only 
 as " a wonderfull strange and monstrous shape of a bodie coming 
 towards him." The point is of little moment, save as showing the 
 
 149
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Poet's care to make the most out of his materials. In the Life 
 of Julius CcFsar he had the following: "Above all, the gJiost that 
 appeared unto Brutus shewed plainly that the gods were offended 
 with the murther of Caesar. The vision was thus : Brutus, being 
 ready to passe over his armie from the city, slept every night 
 in his tent ; and, being yet awake, thinking of his affaires, he 
 thought he heard a noise at his tent-doore, and, looking towards 
 the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, 
 of a wonderfull greatnesse and dreadful looke, which at the first 
 made him marvellously afraid. But, when he saw that it did 
 him no hurt, but stood by his bedside and said nothing, at length 
 he asked him what he was. The image answered him, ' I am thy 
 ill angell, Brutus, and thou shall see me by the city of Phillippes.' 
 Then Brutus replied, ' Well, I shall see thee then.' Therewithall 
 the spirit presently vanished. After that time, Brutus being neare 
 unto the city of Phillippes, this spirit appeared againe unto him, 
 but spake never a word. Thereupon Brutus, knowing that he 
 should die, did put himselfe to all hazard in battel, but yet, fight- 
 ing could not be slaine." 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 Scene I. 
 
 4. battles: — The propriety of this term, used in the plural for 
 forces, armies, appears when it is remembered that Cassius and 
 Brutus had each an army, or division. Compare Henry V ., IV. 
 Prologue, 9: "Each battle sees the other's umber'd face." 
 
 14. Their bloody sign of battle: — So in Plutarch's Life of 
 Brutus: "The next morning by break of day, the Signall of 
 Battell was set out in Brutus and Cassius Camp, which was an 
 arming Scarlet Coat." 
 
 19. Exigent : — For the only other use of this word for exigency, 
 see Antony and Cleopatra, IV. xiv. 63: "When the exigent 
 should come." In a single other instance only does Shakespeare 
 u?e the word, and there (i Henry VL, II. v. 8, 9) it means end: — 
 
 " These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent, 
 Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent.'' 
 S3. The posture, etc. : — Here are should be is. in agreement 
 with the nominative posture. Hudson remarks that " more cor- 
 rect writers than Shakespeare have committed this error, where 
 
 150
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 a plural noun immediately precedes the verb, although such noun 
 be not the subject of the verb." 
 
 111-113. It has been said that there is an apparent contradic- 
 tion between the sentiments Brutus expresses in this and in his 
 former speech; but there is no real one. Brutus had laid down 
 to himself, as a principle, to abide every chance and extremity of 
 war; but when Cassius reminds him of the disgrace of being 
 led in triumph through the streets of Rome, he acknowledges that 
 to be a trial which he could not endure. The passage seems de- 
 signed to indicate a struggle between the speculative and the 
 practical in the mind of Brutus. Experience is at length growing 
 too strong for his philosophy ; and he here wavers between his 
 cherished ideal of right and the suggestions of a pressing 
 exigency. But what shall we say of the remark with which he 
 closes his oration showing "the reason of our Csesar's death"? 
 He there says, " I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall 
 please my country to need my death." Were these discrepancies 
 or variations of temper and purpose intended by the Poet as a 
 part of Brutus's character, or were they mere slips of memory in 
 Shakespeare ? 
 
 Scene III. 
 
 20. Cassius is now on a hill : he therefore means a hill some- 
 what higher than that he is on. 
 
 31. Nozv some light: — White and Hudson print 'light, but, as 
 Rolfe points out, "the word (A. S. lihtan) is not a contraction 
 of alight, and is common enough in prose." 
 
 43. hilts: — This plural for hilt was common in Shakespeare's 
 time. So in Richard III., I. iv. 155: "Hilts of thy sword." 
 Shakespeare applies hilts to a single weapon five times, and three 
 times he has hilt. 
 
 61. Sink to nigJit: — Craik takes this "to be an expression of 
 the same kind with sink to rest," a far nobler sense, as he ob- 
 serves, than that given by those who print, as some do, to-night. 
 
 105. His funerals: — The plural was the commoner form in 
 Shakespeare's day, and is generally used by him. For an ex- 
 ample of this use see the first note under HI. iii. of this play. 
 
 Scene V. 
 
 19. And this last night, etc.: — So Plutarch's Life of C(esar: 
 "The second Battell being at hand, this Spirit appeared again 
 
 151
 
 Notes THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 unto him, but spake never a word." Wc read in the Life of 
 Brutus: "The Romans called the Valley between both Camps 
 the Philippian Fields." 
 
 68-70. This was tJie noblest Roman, etc. : — Plutarch, in the 
 Life of Brutus, declares: "It was said that Antonius spake it 
 openly divers times, that he thought, that of all them that had 
 slain Caesar, there was none but Brutus onely that was moved to 
 do it, as thinking the act commendable of it self : but that all 
 the other Conspiratours did conspire his death for some private 
 malice or envy, that they otherwise did bear unto him." 
 
 73-75. His life was gentle, etc. : — There is a likeness between 
 this passage and one in Drayton's Barons' Wars, which appears in 
 this form in the edition of 1603 : — 
 
 " Such one he was (of him we boldly say) 
 In whose rich soule all sovereign powers did sute, 
 In whom in peace the elements all lay 
 So mixt, as none could sovereigntie impute; 
 As all did gouerne, yet all did obey, 
 His liuely temper was so absolute, 
 
 That 't seem'd,' when Heaven his modell first began, 
 In him it shew'd perfection in a man." 
 
 This stanza appeared unaltered in four subsequent editions; but 
 in a fifth, in 1619, it was given with the following slight varia- 
 tions : — 
 
 " He was a man (then boldly dare to say,) 
 In whose rich Soule the Virtues well did sute: 
 In whom, so mix'd the Elements all lay, 
 That none to one could Sou'reigntie impute; 
 As all did gouerne, so did all obay; 
 He of a temper was so absolute, 
 As that it seem'd, when Nature him began, 
 She meant to shew all that might he in Man'' 
 
 In the original version of The Barons' Wars (1596), which Dray- 
 ton entirely recast before 1603, there is no trace of this stanza. 
 From these facts Malone concluded that " Drayton was the copy- 
 ist [of Shakespeare] as his verses originally stood," and that " in 
 the altered stanza he certainly was." But even if the likeness be- 
 tween the passages in question must necessarily be the conse- 
 quence of imitation on the part of one poet, it would not follow 
 
 152
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Notes 
 
 that Drayton was the copyist, for we know that Shakespeare 
 was ready enough to take a hint or even a thought from any 
 quarter. But this resemblance implies no imitation on either side. 
 For the notion that man was composed of the four elements, 
 earth, air, fire, and water, and that the well-balanced mixture of 
 these produced the perfection of humanity, was commonly held 
 during the sixteenth, and the first half, at least, of the seven- 
 teenth century, the writers of which period worked it up in all 
 manner of forms. See Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels, II. iii. : 
 " A creature of a most perfect and divine temper, one in whom 
 the humours and elements are peaceably met. without emulation 
 of precedency." Many other resemblances quite as striking occur 
 in the use of this idea. It is not improbable that Drayton, in cor- 
 recting his poem again for the edition of 1619, changed " Heaven 
 his model first began " to " Nature him began " with the passage 
 from Julius Cccsar, consciously or unconsciously, in mind. 
 
 T53
 
 THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 Questions on Julius Caesar. 
 
 1. What was the date at which Julius Cccsar was . probably- 
 written ? 
 
 2. Where did Shakespeare derive the materials for this play? 
 
 3. How many days are taken up by the action? 
 
 ACT FIRST. 
 
 4. How is the popular worship of Caesar shown by the first 
 Scene? What is the attitude of the tribunes towards him? 
 
 5. What was the nature of the office of tribune in the Roman 
 state ? 
 
 6. How does the mob pictured in this play contrast with the one 
 in Corioianus? 
 
 7. What was the course (ii. 4.) that Antony was to run? 
 
 8. What part of Caesar's nature is seen in his words to Cal- 
 purnia? What effect have the words of the Soothsayer upon 
 him? 
 
 9. In what character is Brutus first presented? What phase of 
 his own character does Cassius try to impress in lines 71-78? 
 
 10. What is the problem that the career of Caesar presents to 
 Cassius? What does Cassius wish to illustrate by the incidents 
 of the flood and the fever? What is Cassius's personal motive? 
 
 11. Indicate the effect of the shouting upon Brutus. 
 
 12. What is the dramatic purpose (line 192 ct seq.) of Caesar's 
 singling out Cassius for comment? What does he say of him? 
 Why should these two natures be antipathetic? 
 
 13. What observation of the returning procession does Brutus 
 make that prepares for the recital of Casca? 
 
 14. With what is Caesar chargeable in this Scene? Show the 
 difference between treason and revolution as illustrated by the 
 scene that Casca describes. 
 
 15. What effect has Sc. ii. in predisposing the minds of the 
 spectators ? 
 
 154
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Questions 
 
 i6. What is the effect (Sc. iii.) of the supernatural background 
 for the conspiracy? 
 
 17. Show what else besides the winning of Casca to the con 
 spiracy is effected by Cassius's argument with him. 
 
 18. Does the Act close with the implication that Brutus is 
 won over to the conspiracy? What is foreshadowed by the fre- 
 quent reference throughout the Act to the ides of March ? 
 
 ACT SECOND. 
 
 19. How does Brutus reason about the ambition of Caesar? 
 What does he say (i. 61 et seq.) about his life since Cassius had 
 first suggested the opposition to Caesar? 
 
 20. Before the oath is proposed (line 113), what indication is 
 given of the state of mind of the conspirators? How does 
 Brutus answer the proposition that they swear their resolution? 
 What does this reveal of his character? 
 
 21. Why does Brutus exclude Cicero from the group of con- 
 spirators? On what motive does he save Mark Antony? What 
 later speech of his is foreshadowed? 
 
 22. What effect is secured by contrast of this scene with the 
 sleeping boy? 
 
 23. How does Portia add to our knowledge of Brutus? What 
 kind of a woman is she? 
 
 24. How does Sc. ii. provide a contrast with the preceding? 
 How at the end of this Scene are the minds of the spectators 
 further disposed in favour of the conspirators? 
 
 25. What purpose of the senators does Decius report? How 
 does this dramatically affect the matter of the conspiracy? 
 
 26. Show in what ways Scs. iii. and iv. prepare for the 
 tragic episode of the first Scene of the next Act. 
 
 ACT THIRD. 
 
 27. Note the dramatic effect of the first line of the Act. What 
 is Caesar's mental attitude in speaking the line? 
 
 28. Does Shakespeare intend any final impression concerning 
 the justice of the conspiracy before the blow is struck? 
 
 29. How does the plot come near dissolution upon the minute 
 almost of execution? Who saves the situation, and how? 
 
 30. What is the immediate effect upon Cassius and Brutus of 
 Caesar's death? 
 
 155
 
 Questions THE TRAGEDY OF 
 
 31. What sentiments concerning death are uttered by Brutus 
 and Cassius? 
 
 S2. Does the message that Antony sends by the servant sound 
 frank and sincere? Does it initiate the falHng action? 
 
 SS. Upon what differing aspects of the situation do Cassius 
 and Brutus dwell in their scene with Antony after the assassina- 
 tion? 
 
 34. How does the opposition to the conspirators begin to take 
 shape towards the close of Sc. i.? 
 
 35. Comment on the following points of Brutus's speech : its 
 personal apology ; its patriotism ; its sincerity ; its pathos. 
 
 36. How is the dramatic problem met of not allowing Brutus's 
 speech to weaken the effect of Antony's which follows? Was 
 Brutus weak in allowing Antony to speak? Would Cassius have 
 permitted it? 
 
 37. What was the prepossession of the crowd of citizens when 
 Antony rose to address them? 
 
 38. Where rests the blame for the failure of the conspiracy? 
 
 39. How does Antony take up a phrase of Brutus's speech? 
 W^hat means does he use to controvert the assertion contained 
 therein ? 
 
 40. Show how the tide of feeling among the people changes 
 as Antony progresses in his oration. What is the climax in this 
 speech, and how is it prepared for? What theme has been held 
 in abeyance so that its appeal may be augmented by pity? 
 
 41. What is Antony's state of mind after the citizens withdraw 
 with Caesar's body? Compare him with Hamlet at the close of 
 the play-scene. 
 
 42. How is the effect of Antony's speech exhibited in Sc. iii.? 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 
 43. In Sc. i. how are the triumvirs engaged? What is seen as 
 the reaction of mob-rule? 
 
 44. How does Antony regard Lepidus? 
 
 45. Does this Scene endeavour to enlist the sympathies for 
 the triumvirs that were once given to the conspirators? 
 
 46. What is the purpose of Sc. ii.? What speeches in it indi- 
 cate the declining fortunes of the republican leaders? 
 
 47. What mutual accusations pass between Brutus and Cas- 
 sius? Where is the point of turning in their anger? 
 
 48. To what does anger give place? 
 
 156
 
 JULIUS CAESAR Questions 
 
 49. Is there shown any deterioration in the characters of these 
 two men? 
 
 50. In the larger economy of the action, what part does the 
 death of Portia play? What particular effect is produced by the 
 news of it at the time it is first made known? 
 
 51. How does this event serve as a test of the Stoic principles 
 professed by the two men? 
 
 52. What does Brutus urge concerning the prosecution of the 
 campaign? Wherein resides the irony of the famous lines uttered 
 by him, beginning, There is a tide in the affairs of men? 
 
 53. What trait of Brutus does the incident of the boy and the 
 instrument reveal? Of what scene is it reminiscent? 
 
 54. What is the dramatic purpose of the ghost scene? 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 55. In what relations does Sc. i. exhibit Antony and Octavius? 
 
 56. What are the taunts that Brutus and Cassius throw at 
 Antony? 
 
 57. What change in his philosophical faith does Cassius an- 
 nounce in line yy ct seq.? 
 
 58. Does Brutus remain a confirmed Stoic? 
 
 59. What is foreshadowed in these farewell words? 
 
 60. What is the immediate occasion of Cassius's death? De- 
 scribe the manner of it. In that was he a true Stoic? 
 
 61. How does Brutus stand in the opinion of the republicans, 
 as evidenced by Titinius's words about Cassius (iii. 63), The sun 
 of Rome is set? How is the feeling of irreparable disaster en- 
 forced by taking this line in comparison with lines 51-53? 
 
 62. Compare the now implied opinion of Brutus with the opin- 
 ion held by him at the time of forming the conspiracy. What 
 has occasioned the difference? 
 
 63. Interpret lines 94-96, O Julius Ccesar, etc. 
 
 64. For what does Sc. iv. prepare? 
 
 65. How does Brutus die? 
 
 66. How does Antony speak of Brutus at the end of the 
 drama? 
 
 67. Is the drama well named, considering that Caesar plays so 
 unimportant a part in it? What title would you suggest to cover 
 the theme of the plot? 
 
 68. Who is the real hero of the drama? What was his de-
 
 Questions 
 
 feet, considering thv^ demand that the circumstances of the times 
 would make upon its leading spirit? 
 
 69. In what respects was Cassius superior to Brutus as a man 
 for the times? 
 
 70. Is there a falling off of dramatic interest after the third 
 Act? 
 
 71. In what way does Caesar become an active principle in the 
 fourth and fifth Acts? 
 
 ^2. What was Brutus's chief quality as a man? In what in- 
 stances does he exhibit it? 
 
 y^i' Do the women of this play exercise any influence in de- 
 termining the action? 
 
 74, By the accepted chronology this play was produced just be- 
 fore Hamlet. Mention any indications you may find that Shake- 
 speare was meditating his great masterpiece. 
 
 75. In what plays of Shakespeare is Julius Caesar mentioned? 
 
 J58
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-LOS ANGELES 
 
 L 009 978 294 8