3ATEWAY SERIES " V:AN DYKE e808 rLlUSC/ESAR MABii: Book Aa^/\\ . GopyrightN"__ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. OF ENGLISH TEXTS GENERAL EDITOR HENRY VAN DYKE THE GATEWAY SERIES. HENRY VAN DYKE, General Editor. Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Professor Felix E. Schelling, University of Pennsylvania. Shakespeare's Julius C^sar. Dr. Hamilton W. Mabie, "The Outlook." Shakespeare's Macbeth. Professor T, M. Parrott, Prince- ton University. Milton's Minor Poems. Professor Mary A. Jordan, Smith College. Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. Professor C. T. Winchester, Wesleyan University. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. Professor James A. Tufts, Phillips Exeter Academy. Burke's Speech on Conciliation. Professor William MacDonald, Brown University. Coleridge's The Ancient Mariner. Professor George E. Woodberry, Columbia University. Scott's Ivanhoe. Professor Francis H. Stoddard, New York University. Scott's Lady of the Lake. Professor R. M. Alden, Leland Stanford Jr. University. Macaulay's Milton. Rev. E. L. Gulick, Lawrenceville School. Macaulay's Addison. Professor Charles F. McClumpha, University of Minnesota. Macaulay's Life of Johnson. Professor J. S. Clark, North- western University. Carlyle's Essay on Burns. Professor Edwin Mims, Trin- ity College, North Carolina. George Eliot's Silas Marner. Professor W. L. Cross, Yale University. Tennyson's Princess. Professor Katharine Lee Bates, Wellesley College. Tennyson's Gareth and Lynette, Lancelot and Elaine, and The Passing of Arthur. Henry van Dyke. The SiKATi-oRD Bust GATEiVAY SERIES JULIUS C^SAR EDIIED BY HAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE NEW YORK . : • CINCINNATI • : • CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY i\v ^ l':J' «UJ*^ i5» ^ iQlX'LipfianQ i f^ Copyright, 1905, by AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. Entered at Stationers' Hall, London, JULIUS OESAR. W. P. I PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR This series of books aims, first, to give the English texts required for entrance to college in a form which shall make them clear, interesting, and helpful to those who are beginning the study of literature; and, second, to supply the knowledge which the student needs to pass the entrance examination. For these two reasons it is called The Gateway Series. The poems, plays, essays, and stories in these small volumes are treated, first of all, as works of literature, which were written to be read and enjoyed, not to be parsed and scanned and pulled to pieces. A short life of the author is given, and a portrait, in order to help the student to know the real person who wrote the book. The introduction tells what it is about, and how it was written, and where the author got the idea, and what it means. The notes at the foot of the page are simply to give the sense of the hard words so that the student can read straight on without turning to a dictionary. The other notes, at the end of the book, explain difficulties and allusions and fine points. 5 6 Preface by the General Editor The editors are chosen because of their thorough training and special fitness to deal with the books committed to them, and because they agree with this idea of what a Gateway Series ought to be. They express, in each case, their own views of the books which they edit. Simplicity, thoroughness, shortness, and clearness, — these, we hope, will be the marks of the series. HENRY VAN DYKE. BIOGRAPHY In the age in which Shakespeare lived very httle im- portance was attached to actors or playwrights, and few facts about him have been preserved ; more, however, is known about his personal history than about that of many other men of his profession at the close of the sixteenth century. He was born in Stratford-on-Avon in Warwickshire, probably on April 23, 1564; he was baptized, according to the record, three days later. His family were of the yeoman class and had lived in the neighbourhood for many generations. His father was an active business man in a small way in a very small com- munity ; dealt in hides, meat, wool, and leather ; be- came a land owner and a man of property ; was chosen bailiff or head alderman ; became involved in financial difficulties and lost the greater part of his estate. Shake- speare undoubtedly went to the Grammar School in his native town and studied the books prescribed for such schools : the plays of the Latin comedy writers, Terence and Plautus, with whose manner of writing some of his earlier plays show familiarity; Seneca, the novelist, and Cicero, the orator ; Ovid, the poet, from whose pages he probably learned the story of Venus and Adonis ; Lily's Latin grammar ; the Sente7iticB Piieriks, a collection of 7 8 Biography wise maxims much studied by English boys of the time, and the Bible in what is known as the Genevan version or in a version made when Shakespeare was four years old. There were few studies, school hours were very long, and discipline very severe ; and boys learned a few books thoroughly ; which is much better than knowing many books superficially. When Shakespeare Avas eigh- teen years old he married Ann Hathaway, who lived in the little hamlet of Shottery, within easy walking distance of Stratford. He had three children : Susanna, born in 1583; and Hamnet and Judith, born in 1585. A year later he went to London in search of work, and in 1592 he had become an actor and writer of plays. He never attained eminence as an actor, though there is a tradition that he played the part of Adam in As You Like It uncom- monly well, and that he made a success as the ghost in Hamlet. Many stories of dissipation have been told about this period of his hfe, but they are discredited by his industry, his steady growth as a wTiter, his loyalty to his family, and his success as a man of business. In 1592 one of his fellow-playwrights spoke of him as an actor and a man in terms of warm praise. His interest and skill in poetry were shown by the pubHcation of Venus and Adonis in 1593, and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594. The theatre, although frowned upon by a large section of society, Avas rapidly gaining position and in- fluence, and companies of actors were organized under the patronage of men of rank. Shakespeare became a member of one of these companies and rose Biography 9 to a prominent and influential position as actor, play- wright, manager, and shareholder. His income from all these sources increased until he acquired a competence which enabled him to retire in middle life and return to Stratford to live as a man of property and leisure. He was connected principally with the Globe, the foremost theatre of the period ; and his plays were not only pre- sented at this theatre but contributed largely to its popularity. When Shakespeare began his career plays were not published as books are published to-day, but were sold to the theatres and became their exclusive property. There were many plays whose authors were not known and which were so entirely the property of the theatres that they were worked over, recast, and rewritten with- out any thought of or regard for individual ownership. Shakespeare learned how to write plays by working over some of these old dramas, and the three parts of Henry VI contain some of this earlier work which he added to and recast to make the old plays more effective for stage purposes. When Shakespeare left London for Stratford in 161 1, he had written thirty-six or thirty-seven plays, and had become a rich man. Shakespeare was not a man of letters in the modern sense of the phrase ; his vocation was not writing books to be read, but writing plays for the theatre, to be acted. It was, therefore, against his interest that his work should be published, and it is probable that none of the plays were published with his consent. During his life sixteen lo Biography plays appeared in quarto form, without his authorization, the text having been taken down by shorthand writers by such very defective methods as were in use at the time, or secured without his consent from actors. Seven years after his death thirty-six plays were issued in what is known as the First Folio edition, edited by his friends and fellow-actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell. Shakespeare probably never thought of himself as a liter- ary man, and never thought of his plays as literature in the modern sense. He wrote them to be sold and acted them to earn his living ; he never revised or pubhshed them. The plays may be divided in a general way into four groups : those like the parts of Henry VI and The Co?n- edy of Errors and Love's Labom-'s Lost, written during his period of apprenticeship when he was learning how to construct plays ; those like Romeo and Juliet and The Midsummer Night's Dream, written while his poetic imagination was more active than his dramatic insight and power ; the tragedies, Julius Ccesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, Coriolanus, Antony and Cleopa- ti-a, in which his genius as a dramatist, and his magical skill in the use of language, reached a height above that of any contemporary or successor ; and the small group of plays often called "romances," written at the end of his life, including The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Cyfn- beline. These plays, with a group of Sonnets published in 1609, and the two poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Luc7'ece, form a contribution to literature unsur- Biography 1 1 passed for depth of insight into character, variety and breadth of observation, sanity of moral feehng and judge- ment, and beauty and energy of style. Scattered through the plays many lyrics or songs appear, which for fresh- ness of imagination and magic of cadence must be ranked among the best poetry of the singing quality in the hterature of the world. Shakespeare made many friends and received the most affectionate tributes from his contemporaries ; his plays were very popular, not only with the people who went to the theatre, but in the court circles ; he was one of the most briUiant talkers of his time ; and the growth of his genius as recorded in his plays seems to have been un- usually symmetrical. He had moods of depression and even cynicism hke all men of sensitive genius and vivid imagination ; but his nature was sweet and sound, and he is conspicuous among the great poets for his serenity, sanity, and poise. No man surpassed him in breadth of observation of the relations of men to one another and to society, of the influence of what men do on what they become and suffer, of the effects of lack of balance be- tween will, emotion, and action. In 1611 Shakespeare returned to Stratford and bought a substantial house with ample grounds known as New Place. His son Hamnet died in 1596, his daughter Judith married Thomas Quiney, and his daughter Su- sanna John Hall ; both lived in Stratford in houses still standing, and John Hall became a physician of high repute. Shakespeare's last direct descendant was Lady 12 Biography Barnard, the daughter of Mrs. Hall. Shakespeare had a large income and was evidently a man of prudence and sagacity in managing his affairs ; while the humour, kind- Hness, geniality, and charity which made him one of the sanest of writers bound his friends to him with bands of steel. He died April 23, 16 16, and was buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church at Stratford, which has become one of the places of supreme interest in Eng- land to Americans quite as much as to Englishmen. INTRODUCTION When Shakespeare was a boy there were no news- papers in England, and books were so few and expen- sive that, so far as the great body of English people were concerned, there were no books. There was very little travel ; when Shakespeare went up to London about 1586 the roads were tracks or ruts across the fields, and there were no stages or conveyances of any kind running at regular times until fifty years later. Shake- speare made the journey on foot or on a horse hired or bought for the occasion. The great majority of his neighbours in Stratford had never been twenty miles from home. Letters were rare and were entrusted to chance travellers. Life in small towns and in the coun- try was very monotonous and dull. It was not so dull as it had been two centuries earlier, when in the lonely castles there was a warm welcome for men of wandering habits who went about telling stories and reciting long poems, like The Romance of the Rose, to entertain people ; and were rewarded by a rough bed, a coarse meal, and an occasional gift of money. England had awakened from the lethargy of the Middle Ages and had begun to think modern thoughts and ask modern questions ; but life was still very un- 13 14 Julius Caesar interesting in places like Stratford. There were no theatres in 1564, the year of Shakespeare's birth; but there were companies of travelHng actors who gave rude plays in the yards of inns, in public squares, and, sometimes, in large private houses. These plays were not only the forerunners of the great dramas which were written a few years later, but of the circus and " show " of our time. The audiences were made up of all kinds of people, but chiefly of village folk, of men who frequented taverns and stables, and of clerks and apprentices. The stage, the scenery, the play, the actors, and the audiences were crude and rough ; but in the compa- nies of men who rode from town to town in tawdry dress, and who lived at times as modern tramps live, there were the beginnings of a great art; and in these rude, improvised theatres the English people found their newspapers, novels, histories, free libraries, and reading rooms. The people of that age were as fond of stories as we are ; but while in our day more stories are written than any man can read, in their day the story on the stage was the only one offered them. The old plays were stories that were acted instead of printed ; they were published on a stage instead of in a book. The play- writers laid hands on any bit of history or group of incidents that could be worked over and put together so as to thrill people, or surprise them, or fill them with horror ; just as the writers of sensational novels and plays do to-day. Much of the most available material these Introduction 15 play-writers found in English histories and legends ; and they made a great number of plays, now almost wholly lost, out ©f striking scenes and happenings, and the heroic, unfortunate, or evil figures in the story of earlier England. There were two kinds of these rude dramas : chronicle- plays and tragedies of blood. The former were not so much dramas as series of dramatic scenes and pictures ; Shakespeare's three plays about Henry VI are good examples of the chronicle-play when it was written or worked over by a man of genius. On the other hand, a good example of the tragedy of blood is found in Titus Androniciis ; a play often attributed to Shakespeare but not certainly known to have been written by him. These " blood-and-thunder " tragedies — as we call them to-day — were great favourites with the people, and were put together, before Shakespeare's time, with very little skill or inventiveness. There was a hero who was usually killed in the first part and avenged in the most bloody manner in the second, his ghost being generally on the scene. There was then as now a great interest in ghosts, and Shakespeare does not hesitate to use them in several plays; notably in Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III, and Julius Ccesa?'. There were certain incidents of which the people never tired, and among them were the appari- tion of the ghost in Hamlet crying for revenge, and the death of Caesar. The cry of Hamlet's father made a deep impression on the quick imagination of Shakespeare's contemporaries and was heard many times on the stage; 1 6 Julius Caesar while the fall of Caesar at the foot of Pompey's statue was felt to be one of the great tragic moments in history. Shakespeare a Story-Teller. — Shakespeare was a born story-teller ; he was a man of genius who told stories in such a way as to make them both great plays and great poems ; but at the beginning he was bent chiefly on interesting people by arranging events in such an order, putting men and women on the stage with such words in their mouths, and such deeds to do, as would hold the attention and delight the ears of the crowd in the theatre. He began by writing chronicle-plays, the chief object of which was to keep everybody interested in what the actors were doing ; he went on to write poetic plays, full of imagination and sentiment; then he wrote tragedies as great in their thought and speech as the fates they represented ; and, finally, he created romances touched with a beauty beyond the reach of all his contempora- ries in The Winter's Tale and The Tempest ; but he remained to the end a wonderfully vivid and captivating teller of stories ; and one of the best ways of learning how to enjoy him is to read his plays again and again as stories. Among the plays which have all the qualities of a good story, none is more striking or absorbing than Julius C(Bsar. Shakespeare lived in a time when the idea of literary property, of a man's exclusive ownership of the things he wrote, was, so to speak, in its infancy. Stories, plays, and even poems were common property. England was just coming out of her isolation, and begin- Introduction 17 ning to feel herself one of the family of nations ; and this feeling was due in large measure to the pouring in of the ideas, knowledge, and Hterature of all Europe. Englishmen in Shakespeare's time were like men who had thought they lived on an island and suddenly dis- covered that they lived in a world. They were full of an intense curiosity about other countries, eager to know what other races had thought and said and done. They devoured the writings of the Italians, the French, and the Spaniards as they had earlier read the writings of the Greeks and Romans. They travelled, studied in foreign universities, translated foreign books. When men are in this frame of mind they are quick to learn ; and among all the brilliant men of his time, no one learned more quickly than Shakespeare. Sources of Julius Caesar. — Nearly all the great cities of Europe and many of the smaller towns in Italy are men- tioned in Shakespeare's plays. He looked everywhere for good stories, and wherever he found them he took them, rearranged them, brought out the character in them, clothed them in a beauty which made them his own, and breathed the breath of life in them as plays. In this way he found plots in the early Italian novehsts, in the old plays that were kept in the theatres, in Hohnshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in Plu- tarch's Lives. Among the great books which came by translation into the hands of the men of Shakespeare's time none impressed them more than Plutarch's short but wonderfully distinct accounts of many of the most JULIUS CAESAR — 2 1 8 Julius Caesar famous Greeks and Romans. The Lives had all the interest of a novel for men who knew almost nothing of biography. Born about the middle of the first century in Chseronea, Boeotia, — a part of Greece which the Athenians used to say was full of very dull people, as the Germans say that Swabia is a very stupid country, — Plutarch lived nearly seventy years in his native town ; liking it so well that he said he was unwilling " to make it less by the withdrawal of even one inhabitant." He travelled a good deal, however ; saw much of the world of his time ; lectured and taught in the Greek language in Rome ; wrote about a hundred books, and never wrote a dull one. Emerson says of the Lives ^ borrowing a phrase from Ben Jonson, that they are "rammed with life." They abound in interesting anecdotes, and the style is fresh, vivid, and effective. These short stories of great men were first translated into French and then, later, from French into English by Sir Thomas North, while Shakespeare was in the Grammar School at Strat- ford. The translation belongs to a group of translations, including Chapman's Horner^ Florio's Montaigne, and Fairfax's Tasso, which were so full of the spirit of the time and put into such noble Enghsh, that they may be regarded as original contributions to the literature of the age of Queen Elizabeth. Shakespeare turned to Plutarch at the time when he was writing some of his greatest plays, and the old biog- rapher fed his imagination when it was moved most deeply and created great works with masterly power and Introduction 19 ease. In the Lives Shakespeare found material for the three Roman tragedies, Coriolanus, Julius Ccesar, and Anto?ty and Cleopatra; and in part for the Greek tragedy, Tifnon of Athens. In the short biographies of Caesar, Brutus, and Antony he found a rich mine not only of information and fact, but of suggestion, bits of description, sketches of character, dialogues, and passages of such eloquence that he used them with very slight changes. But much as he owed to Plutarch, the play of Julius CcBsar is not an adaptation, but a creation. The dramatist had material of unusual quality to work with, but when he finished he had made it over so completely that it was a new work and belonged to him as truly as if he had invented the characters and incidents. The difference between Plutarch's prose and Shake- speare's poetry can best be shown by placing two famous passages side by side. One of the most striking parts of the play is the oration of Mark Antony over Caesar's body. Plutarch describes the address in these words : " When Caesar's body was brought into the market place, Antonius making his funeral oration in praise of the dead, according to the ancient custom of Rome, and perceiving that his words moved the common people to compassion, he framed his eloquence to make their hearts yearn the more, and taking Caesar's gown all bloody in his hand, he layed it open to the sight of them all, showing what a number of cuts and holes it had in it. Therewith all the people fell presently into such a rage and mutiny that there was no more order kept among the common people." 20 Julius Caesar Compare this clear descriptive prose with Shakespeare's rendering of the speech, and the quickness with which his imagination made any kind of material his own, discerned what could be done with it, and made it over with magi- cal skill and beauty, is seen at a glance : 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 : Through this the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar foUow'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, Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; And, in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statua, "Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell. How Shakespeare Worked. — Ben Jonson, who was Shakespeare's greatest rival, and one of his best friends, was a scholar ; he loved exactness and thoroughness, and the sharpest criticism he made on Shakespeare was that the latter did not correct and revise his writing. Jonson Introduction li wrote a fine Roman tragedy on Sejanus, in which almost every incident and speech was taken from the authorities he consulted, and he accompanied the play with a great number of minute references. The result is that the men in the play speak exactly as they do in the pages of the Roman histories, but they do not hve, move, and have their being like actual persons before our eyes. They are scholarly puppets who move only when Jonson pulls the strings, and one can see how he does it. Shakespeare always read with his imagination ; he saw not only the words but the people whom the words de- scribed. As he read Plutarch's accounts of Csesar, Brutus, and Antony he saw the drama of their hves going on before him ; and when he set himself to tell the story to his contemporaries, he thought only of the most vivid and vital way of doing it. He had no interest in following Plutarch's lead ; he wanted to make Plutarch's men live. Accordingly he used Plutarch's words when they were vivid and alive, and his own words when they were more eloquent and impressive. He gave the facts but only so far as they brought out the truth ; he took those things which showed what kind of men Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, and Antony were, and he discarded the rest. Shakespeare and Plutarch. — Sometimes Shakespeare uses Plutarch's exact words ; sometimes he invents long passages and whole scenes of which there are no hints in Plutarch. He knew what to leave out ; which is one of the nice points of dramatic writing. Plutarch narrates at great length a number of indecisive movements between 22 Julius Caesar the day of Caesar's death and the battle of PhiHppi ; he describes attempts to reach an understanding between Brutus and Cassius on one side and the Senate on the other ; he gives an account of a quarrel between Antony and Octavius ; he reports Brutus' visit to Athens and his interest in Greek philosophy, and the several quarrels between him and Cassius. Shakespeare sifts this con- fused chapter of history, makes it perfectly clear, and tells the story in three great incidents : Caesar's funeral, the quarrel scene between Brutus and Cassius, and the battle of Phihppi. Shakespeare's genius for seeing what is essential and making us see and understand it in a few lines is strikingly shown in the quarrel scene, which is a marvellous example of concentration. When the Play was Written. — When Shakespeare wrote Julius Ccesar, probably about the year 1601, he was thirty- seven years old and had reached the full maturity of his mind and art. He had served a long apprenticeship and knew just what he could do and how to do it. He had worked over old plays ; he had written sparkling comedies ; he had made some of the most beautiful songs in the world, and composed the most striking and interesting sonnets in English literature ; he had studied English history and told the story of the Wars of the Roses so vividly, in a series of historical plays, that a great Englishman did not hesitate to say that he had learned his history from Shakespeare ; he had made himself a man of means, and drawn men to him in the closest and most affectionate friendship ; he had, above all, drunk deep of the cup of Introduction 23 experience and learned what was in life by what had happened in his own Hfe. Between the years of 1601 and 1608 he devoted him- self almost entirely to the writing of tragedy, and in that time he produced a group of the greatest dramas in literature : King Lear, Macbeth, Ha7nlet, Othello, A^itony and Cleopati-a, Julius Ccesar. Poet and Dramatic Artist. — Shakespeare was not only one of the foremost story-tellers in the world, but he was also a poet and a thinker. The moment he began to make over the old plays, he began to show a wonderful insight into hfe, a wonderful knowledge of character. As he grew older this insight grew clearer and this knowl- edge deeper and broader ; he came to know the world in one of the most exciting moments of its history, when men were full of vitality and "rammed with hfe," with fierce passions, towering ambitions, audacious schemes in their minds. He saw brilhant successes and tragic failures on all sides ; splendid hopes defeated by base means, some of his warmest friends overtaken with irretrievable disaster, the great Queen growing old and her brilhant day ending in cloud and storm. In his own life there must have come deep and painful experiences which compelled him to look calamity and sorrow and age in the face and try to understand what they meant. For seven or eight years he seems to have been brooding over the mysteries of hfe, and trying to answer the terrible and searching questions which it put to him. At the very time when he had learned his art 24 Julius Caesar most thoroughly and could do his work with the utmost power and the most magical skill, the richest and most inspiring subjects filled his imagination. It was during those years of profound thought and feeling that the tragedies were written, Julius CcBsar being one of the earliest of them. The play was published for the first time in the Folio of 1623, the earliest complete edition of Shakespeare's works, edited by his two friends, John Heminge and Henry Condell, who were actors like himself; and its popularity from the start was assured by its subject and by its sustained interest. One of his contemporaries. Weaver, who printed The Mirror of Martyrs, in 1601, has left this report of the liking of the people for the play : The many-headed multitude were drawn By Brutus' speech, that Caesar was ambitious. When eloquent Mark Antoine had shown His virtues, who but Brutus then was vicious ? which seems to show that Antony's subtle and calculated eloquence was as taking on the English stage as it was in the Roman market-place ; and strikingly fulfils the prophecy of Cassius : How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown ! The tragedy is still among the popular of Shakespeare's plays and the quarrel scene between Brutus and Cassius has been rendered many times by the foremost actors on the modern stage. Introduction 25 The Tragic Elements. — Julius Ccssar is one of the greatest stories in history because it reports great events, shaped by great men and culminating in a great and striking cHmax. The chronicle-plays which preceded it were generally composed of a series of events ; they were panoramas of incidents, and read like chapters in an incomplete drama. Julius CcEsar is complete in it- self; it begins abruptly and we are caught up in affairs at Rome and absorbed by them before we have finished the first scene ; we know at once that great events are at hand. Then follows the death of Caesar ; sudden, dra- matic, and involving the fate of the world ; then comes the gathering of the forces of the conspirators and of the friends of Caesar and the inheritors of his tradition, and the quarrel of Brutus and Cassius makes one aware at once of the moral elevation and the practical weakness of the Roman patriots; the end at Philippi has been foreshadowed and is seen to be inevitable, but Caesar's ghost, appearing to the calm vision of Brutus, ties the final defeat to the deed at the foot of Pompey's statue. There is no pause in the movement of the play ; it flows with the current of a deep stream in human affairs. Its construction is firm and close ; act is knit to act by a logic not only of events but of character, and the atten- tion is riveted from the rise to the fall of the curtain. The story is full of great and stirring moments, is per- vaded by a haunting sense of fate, and is dominated by noble or commanding personalities. The chief actors are all worthy to be called " Plutarch's 26 Julius Caesar men ; " that is to say, they are men of large purpose, resohite will, and dominating ability. There is a strain of the heroic in them all ; for even pleasure-loving Antony is ready to die beside the corpse of Caesar. They are all capable of thinking great things, and three of them are capable of executing them. It is at this point that what would have been a chronicle-play, if Shakespeare had written it earher in his life, becomes a very noble tragedy ; the series of historical scenes not simply follow- ing one another but flowing out of one another by the force of that logic which gives life its meaning and dignity. By the working out of this logic what is sown by one man or by many men in successive generations sooner or later bears fruit in the lives of other men. In such a tragedy as Macbeth the sower of the seeds of evil reaps his own harvest and is overtaken by the punish- ment he has brought on himself. In Hajnlet a sensitive nature framed for thought rather than for action, and almost distraught by the horror of corruption and crime which he discovers in his own home, is compelled to de- stroy and be destroyed in order that a foul world may be cleansed. In Julius Ccesar a great and radical change has been made in society. Caesar, — who personifies it, — Octavius, and, to a certain extent, Antony, recognize the new movement in Rome, move with it, and are carried on to fortune. Brutus and Cassius, on the other hand, fail to see that changed conditions involve new forms of rule, and are wrecked by flinging themselves against an order which was inevitable and was, for the time, invincible Introduction 27 because it met the needs of a Rome which had become a world-power. Whether this change was beneficent or unfortunate for Rome, it was already an accomplished fact ; and the tragedy for Brutus and Cassius lay in their inability to recognize the fact. There are different kinds of tragedy, but in every tragedy there is a collision of will : a struggle between a man and some fellow-man ; between a man and the state ; between a man and some movement which is vaster and stronger than he ; between a man and fixed conditions about him ; between the good and evil, or the weak and the strong elements of character, in the same man. In Julius Ccesar the tragedy has two elements : the struggle of noble men against an overwhelming cur- rent in human affairs, and the struggle of high-minded but ineffective men against men of great practical capac- ity and force. The name of the play has been criticized because Caesar dies in the first act ; more than one critic has suggested that it ought to have been called ^' Brutus." Shakespeare's insight did not fail him, however, when he named his tragedy after the most commanding figure in it. Caesar is shown in the play as a man beginning to feel the weakness of age ; superstitious, vainglorious, easily moved by flattery, swooning when the crown is offered him ; he is, nevertheless, the dominating personality in the drama. It is he with whom Brutus and Cassius contend to the very end ; when his body is borne from the stage his spirit takes possession of it. The idea for which he stands, and the political order which he has created and 28 Julius Caesar in which he is to survive for generations, are impregnable to the assaults of the conspirators. They begin to see very early that Caesar is not dead, and cannot be killed ; and at the end Brutus cries out : O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. The conspirators flung themselves blindly against a force which overwhelmed them, and they saw too late "that they had attempted a work which was beyond their power. Contrasts of Character. — Antony and Octavius could think great things and execute them ; Brutus and Cassius could think great things but could not execute them ; here is the second element in the tragedy : the collision between those who see ideals clearly, and those who have a firm grasp of realities. Caesar was one of the greatest personal forces society has known ; he reorganized the world of his time and gave his name to the order of gov- ernment which he established. As a commander, a statesman, and a writer, he is one of the most effective men in history. His nephew, Octavius, afterwards the Emperor Augustus, had less genius but an immense talent for governing and managing affairs. Antony was pleasure-loving and self-indulgent, but had great gifts as a soldier, and was capable, at the time in his life when those events took place, of great energy and of brilliant and successful dealing with difficult situations. These Introduction 29 three actors in the play knew how to conceive great projects and to carry them out. Brutus, on the other hand, although the noblest figure in the play, lacked that sense of reality which gives men a clear understanding of conditions about them and enables them to know what they can do and what is beyond their power. He is one of the noblest and most consistent of all Shakespeare's men ; a patriot who loved his country with- out a thought for his own welfare ; a man who personified Roman virtue in its highest forms ; the " noblest Roman of them all." He was, however, an idealist not only by conviction but by temperament ; he beheved implicitly in ideas, and he followed them without due regard for means. He often attempted to do things for which he did not possess the proper instruments. He had the qualities of a great inspirer of noble living, but he lacked the qualities of a great leader. The problem of life is the incorporation of ideas in character, laws, and institutions, and to do this a man must have, not only a clear vision for ideas, but a clear sense of what can be done at the moment and how it can be done. Brutus, like Hamlet, was forced to act in a crisis for which he was unfitted by temperament to deal. Cassius is a man of courage and of ideas, but he is far more egotistical than Brutus ; he frankly envies Caesar and hates him because, having started at the same point in fife, Caesar has left him far behind. He is capable of scheming and plotting like any common conspirator ; Brutus hates any kind of concealment and would have JO Julius Caesar everything as open as the day. Cassius would stab with a touch of personal animosity ; Brutus stabs as a public executioner. Cassius is capable of ideas, but he does not, like Brutus, live exclusively with them. He is too keen an observer to be a pure idealist ; and Caesar, who knew men, distrusted him with good reason. He is capable, however, of great elevation of purpose and dignity of action ; and he has the love of Brutus, which was given only to men capable of great deeds. In the end the spirit of Caesar, embodied in an irresisti- ble movement towards a highly centralized government at Rome, and the force and practical sagacity of Octavius and Antony, triumph, and Brutus and Cassius die, after the Roman custom, by their own hands. Shakespeare is never, however, a worshipper of success ; and in this noble tragedy he makes a striking contrast between the failure of men in dealing with affairs and their success in dealing with life, which is a much more complex affair. A material defeat is turned into a moral victory, and the victors at Philippi concede to the dead Brutus, who in all his life had found no man who was not true to him, that which they do not claim for themselves : This was the noblest Roman of them all : 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. 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 ! " SUGGESTIVE TOPICS These topics are intended merely to save time for both teachers and pupils and to indicate methods of studying the play which ex- perience has proved valuable, 1. The use of prose in this play. 2. Shakespeare's Commoners : their characteristics and his atti- tude tov^^ard them, see i. I ; iii. 2. ^ -3. Brutus and Cassius : their character, purposes, and motives traced through the play and compared. 4. A study of the characters of Casca, Cicero, Antony, Octavius. 5. The character of Portia: Is she a Roman or an Elizabethan woman? A comparison of Portia and Calpurnia. 6. Shakespeare's object in introducing the storm and prodigies in i. 3 and ii. 2. Compare with Macbeth. 7. Caesar in this play; comparison with the Caesar of history. 8. A comparison of the scene between Brutus and Portia with that between Hotspur and Lady Percy, see King Henjy IVy Part I, ii. 3. 9. A study of Antony's speech in iii. 2, tracing the progress of his influence over the mob. 10. A careful study of the quarrel scene, observing the grounds of dispute, the steps in the reconciliation and the reasons for it, the light thrown on the character of the two participants, also the dramatic significance of the scene. 11. A comparison of Brutus's bearing when he spoke of Portia's death with that of Macbeth when he received word of Lady Macbeth's death. 12. Caesar's ghost: its significance, reason for its appearance to Brutus rather than to Cassius; comparison with the apparitions in Macbeth and Hamlet. 13. A study of the structure of the play, noting the character of each act, the dramatic purpose of each scene, the height of the climax, the dominant force in Acts iv and v, the steps by which the audience is prepared for the crises of the play. 14. The dramatic significance of various episodes and apos- trophes. For example: i. 2. 190-214; ii. 2. 120-125; iii. i. 148- 150; iv. 3. 124-138; 147-157; 239-274; 275-288; v. I. 27-66. 15. A study of Shakespeare's dramatic devices. For example : i. 2. 89, as furnishing the key to Brutus's character, to be followed throughout the play; the significance of i. 2. 19 in Brutus's mouth, also ii. I. 40; the effect on the audience of ii. 2. 120-123, ^i^d of the Asides ; the effect of iii. i. 31, 32; 60; 74. 16. A study of the use of the short and broken verse in this play. 31 32 Julius Caesar SHAKESPEARE'S VERSE Julius CcEsar, like all Shakespeare's plays, is written in blank verse; as is the case in his other plays, there are occasional pas- sages in prose; rhyme is sometimes used to indicate to the audience the end of a scene; see i. 2; v. 3; v. 5. Blank verse (so called because it does not rhyme) is the iambic pentameter verse, consist- ing of five feet, of two syllables each, with the accent on the second syllable in each foot. The cause | is in | my will : || I will | not come; ii. 2. 71. judge|ment! || thou | art fled | to brut|ish beasts; iii. 2. 109. There are many variations on this normal form, introduced by Shakespeare to increase the beauty and power of his poetry. Some of the most frequent are 1. A change of accent : Wherefore | rejoice? || What conlquest brings | he home ? i. i. 37. Dearer | than Plujtus' mine, || richer | than gold. iv. 3. 102. 2. An additional syllable : Hated | by one | he loves; || braved by | his broth|er. iv. 3. 95. Rememlber March, || the ides i of March | lememlber. iv. 3. 18. Let me see, | let me see, || is not | the leaf | turned down, iv. 3. 273. 3. A syllable slurred in pronunciation : 1 had rath|erbe | a dog, || and bay | the moon. iv. 3. 27. Whether Cse[sar will | come forth | to-day || or no. ii. i. 194. The student should train his ear to Shakespeare's verse by read- ing aloud, for so only will he get the spirit and power and beauty of the poetry. He will find that there are many other variations on the norm, but as he gains feeling for the rhythm, he will have no difficulty in recognizing, for instance, changes in pronunciation; and he will soon come to feel how the master has made his verse conform to the thought and feeling of the occasion. The pupil should also observe Shakespeare's management of the sentence and note the effect produced by bringing it to a close in the middle of a verse. The casura, or pause for breath, in the body of the verse should also be considered for good reading, and the student will recognize how much of the melody of the poetry comes from the variety in the position of the cnssural pause. THE TRAGEDY OF JULIUS C^SAR DRAMATIS PERSONS Julius C/Esar. OcTAVius C/ESAR, ] tHumvirs after Marcus Antonius, j- the death of M.i^MiL. Lepidus,J Julius Caesar. Cicero, -] PuBLius, r senators. PopiLius Lena, J Marcus Brutus, ~| Cassius, j Casca, Trebonius, LiGARIUS, Decius Brutus, Metellus Cimber, CiNNA, Flavius and Marullus, tribunes. Artemidorus of Cnidos, a teacher of Rhetoric. A Soothsayer. I conspirators !- against Julius Caesar. Cinna, a poet. Another Poet. LuciLius, ^ friends to Brutus and Cassius. servants to Brutus. TiTINIUS, Messala, Young Cato volumnius, Varro, Clitus, Claudius, Strato, Lucius, Dardanius, PiNDARus, servant to Cassius. Calpurnia, wife to Caesar. Portia, wife to Brutus, Senators, Citizens, Guards, Attend- ants, &c. Scene: Rome; the neighbotirhood of Sardis ; the neighbourhood of PhiUppi. ACT I Scene I. Rome. A street Enter Flavius, Marullus, and Certain Commoners Flavius. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get you home : Is this a holiday ? what ! know you not. Being mechanical, you ought not walk 3. mechanical, mechanics or tradespe(.)ple. JULIUS C.T.SAR — 3 Z3 34 Julius Caesar [Act i Upon a labouring day without the sign Of your profession ? Speak, what trade art thou ? First Commoner. Why, sir, a carpenter. Marullus. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? What dost thou with thy best apparel on ? You, sir, what trade are you ? Second Com?no?ier. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler, n Marullus. But what trade art thou ? answer me directly. Second Commoner. A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a safe conscience ; which is indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Marullus. What trade, thou knave ? thou naughty knave, what trade ? Second Commo?ier. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me : yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Marullus. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, 20 thou saucy fellow ! Second Commoner. Why, sir, cobble you. Flavius. Thou art a cobbler, art thou ? Second Commoner. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl : I meddle with no tradesman's mat- ters, 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. 30 Flavius. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day ? Scene I] Julius Caesar ^^ Why dost thou lead these men about the streets ? Second Commoner. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we make hoHday, to see Caesar and to rejoice in his triumph. MaruUus. Wherefore 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 ! 40 O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, 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 50 To hear the replication of your sounds 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 ! 51. replication, reverberation, echo. 36 Julius Caesar [Act I Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pray to the gods to intermit the plague That needs must light on this ingratitude. 60 Flavius. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, 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. 70 Marullus. May we do so ? You know it is the feast of Lupercal.**^ Flavius. It is no matter ; let no images Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I'll 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 fiy an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt. "60 Scene II] Julius Caesar 3y Scene II. A public place Flourish. Enter C^sar ; Antony, for the cojiise ; Calpurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cas- sius, and Casca ; a great crowd following^ a?nong the7n a Soothsayer Ccesar. Calpurnia ! Casca. Peace, ho ! Caesar speaks. \^Music ceases. CcBsar. Calpurnia ! Calpurnia. Here, my lord. Ccesar. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course. Antonius ! Antony. Caesar, my lord ? Caesar. 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. Antony. I shall remember : When Caesar says ' do this,' it is perform 'd. lo Ccesar. Set on, and leave no ceremony out. [Flourish. Soothsayer. Caesar ! Ccesar. Ha ! who calls ? Cassius. Bid every noise be still : peace yet again 1 Ccesar. Who is it in the press that calls on me ? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry ' Caesar.' Speak ; Caesar is turn'd to hear. Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March. 38 Julius Cassar [Act I Ccesar. What man is that ? Brutus, A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. Ccesar. Set him before me ; let me see his face. 20 Cassius. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. Ccesar. What say'st thou to me now ? speak once again. Soothsayer. Beware the ides of March. Ccesar. He is a dreamer ; let us leave him : pass. \_Sen71et. Exeunt all but Brutus and Cassius. Cassius. Will you go see the order of the course ? Brutus. Not I. Cassius. I pray you, do. Brutus. 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'll leave you. Cassius. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : I have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love as I was wont to have : You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. Brutus. 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, 19. soothsayer, fortune teller. Scene II] Julius Caesar 39 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. Cassius. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ; By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 50 Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face ? Brutus. No, Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself But by reflection, by some other things. Cassius. '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. Brutus. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me ? Cassius. 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 40 Julius Caesar [Act I 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. \Floiirish and shout. Brutus. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people Choose Caesar for their king. Cassius. Ay, do you fear it ? So Then must I think you would not have it so. Brutus. I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long ? What is it that you would impart to me ? 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. Cassius. 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 Scene II] JuHus Caesar 41 In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Caesar ; so were you : We both have fed as well, 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, how Leap in with 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 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 : 42 Julius Caesar [Act i 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 temper should So get the start of the majestic world 130 And bear the palm alone. {Shout. Flourish. Brutus. Another general shout ! I do beheve that these applauses are For some new honours that are heap'd on Caesar. Cassius. 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 ; wSound 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 Caesar. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, ' 149 That he is grown so great ? Age, thou art shamed ! Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods ! When went there by an age, since the great flood. But it was famed with more than with one man ? Scene II] Julius Caesar 43 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. Brutus. 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. Cassius. I am glad that my weak words Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus. Brutus. The games are done, and Caesar is returning. Cassius. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve ; And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you 180 What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. 171. chew upon this, think this over. 44 Julius Caesar [Act I Re-enter Cesar and his Train Brutus. 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. Cassius. Casca will tell us what the matter is. Ccesar. Antonius ! 190 Antony. Caesar ? CcBsar. 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. Antony. Fear him not, Caesar ; he's not dangerous ; He is a noble Roman, and well given. CcBsar'. Would he were fatter ! but I fear him not : Yet if my name were liable to fear, I do not know the man I should avoid 200 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 That could be moved to smile at any thing. 186. ferret, sharp. 197. given, disposed. Scene II] Julius Caesar 45 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. \Sen7iet. Exeunt Ccrsar and all his Train but Casca. Casca. You pull'd me by the cloak ; would you speak with me ? Brutus. Ay, Casca ; tell us what hath chanced to-day, That Csesar looks so sad. Casca. Why, you were with him, were you not? Brutus. 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 his hand, thus : and then the people fell a- shouting. Brutus. What was the second noise for ? Casca. Why, for that too. Cassius. They shouted thrice : what was the last cry for? Casca. Why, for that too. Brutus. 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- 230 ting by mine honest neighbours shouted. Cassius. Who offered him the crown ? 46 Julius Caesar [Act I Casca. Why, Antony. Brutus. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca. Casca. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of it : it was mere foolery ; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony offer him a crown : yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one of these coronets : and, as I told you, he put it by once : but for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had 240 it. Then he offered it to him again ; then he 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 Caesar refused the crown, that it had almost choked Csesar ; for he swounded and fell down at it: and for mine 250 own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air. Cassius. But, soft, I pray you : what, did Caesar swound ? Casca. He fell down in the market-place and foamed at mouth and was speechless. Brutus. 'Tis very like : he hath the falling-sickness. Cassius. No, Caesar hath it not : but you, and I, And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 245. rabblement, rabble. 246. chopped, chapped. 250. swotmded, swooned, fainted. Scene II] Julius Caesar 47 Casca. I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure Caesar fell down. If the tag-rag people 260 did not clap him and hiss him according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man. Brutus. What said he when he came unto himself ? Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he per- ceived 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 occupation, if I would not have taken him at a word, I would I might go to hell among 270 the rogues. And so he fell. When he came to 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. Brutus. And after that, he came, thus sad, away ? Casca. Ay. 280 Cassius. Did Cicero say any thing ? Casca. Ay, he spoke Greek. Cassius. To what effect ? Casca. Nay, an I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the face again : but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads ; 260. tag-rag people, the mob. 48 Julius Caesar [Act i but for mine own part, it was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too : MaruUus and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Caesar's images, are put to silence. Fare you well. There was 290 more foolery yet, if I could remember it. Cassius. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca ? O Casca. No, I am promised forth. Cassius. Will you dine with me to-morrow ? Casca. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your dinner worth the eating. Cassius. Good ; I will expect you. Casca. Do so : farewell, both. \Exit. Brutus. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be ! He was quick metal when he went to school. 300 Cassius. So is he now in execution Of any bold or noble enterprise. However he puts on this tardy form. This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit. Which gives men stomach to digest his words With better appetite. Brutus. 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. 310 Cassius. I will do so : till then, think of the world. \_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 Scene III] Julius Caesar 49 That noble minds keep ever with their Hkes ; 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, 320 As if they came from several citizens, 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. Scene III. A street Thundei' and lightning. Enter, from opposite sides, Casca, with his sword drawn, and Cicero A Cicero. 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. 10 4. unfirm, not tirm. 6. rived, split. JULIUS C^SAR — 4 ^o Julius Caesar [Act i Either there is a civil strife in heaven, Or else the world too saucy with the gods Incenses them to send destruction. Cicero. 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 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. Cicero. Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time : But men may construe things after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves, w Comes Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow ? Casca. He doth ; for he did bid Antonius Send word to you he would be there to-morrow. 21. glazed, glared. 31. portentous, ominous. Scene III] Julius Caesar 5 1 Cicero. Good night then, Casca : this disturbed sky Is not to walk in. Casca. Farewell, Cicero. \_Exit Cicero. 40 Efiter Cassius Cassius. Who's there ? Casca. A Roman. Cassius. Casca, by your voice. Casca. Your ear is good. Cassius, what night is this ! \ Cassius. A very pleasing night to honest men. Casca. Who ever knew the heavens menace so ? Cassius. 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 ? It is the part of men to fear and tremble When the most mighty gods by tokens send Such dreadful heralds to astonish us. Cassius. 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 52 Julius Caesar [Act i 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 ? Cassius. 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 Mean to establish Caesar as a king ; And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, 64. frot7i quality, contrary to their quality. 66. ordinance^ order, course. 68. monstrous quality, unnatural course. Scene III] Julius Caesar 53 In every place save here in Italy. Cassius. 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. Casca. So can 1 : 100 So every bondman in his own hand bears The power to cancel his captivity. Cassius. 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, 95. be retentive to, restrain. 54 Julius Caesar [Act I And dangers are to me indifferent. Casca. You speak to Casca, and to such a man 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. Cassius. 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 Cinna Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste. Cassius. 'Tis Cinna ; I do know him by his gait ; He is a friend. Cinna, where haste you so ? Cinna. To find out you. Who's that ? Metellus Cimber ? Cassius. No, it is Casca ; one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not stay'd for, Cinna ? Cinna. I am glad on't. What a fearful night is this ! There's two or three of us have seen strange sights. 117. y?^^ri«^, grinning. \\%, factious^ 2^c\\y^. 135. incorporate, closely united. Scene III] Julius Caesar 55 Cassius. Am I not stay'd for? tell me! Cinna. Yes, you are. O Cassius, if you could 140 But win the noble Brutus to our party — Cassius. 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 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 ? Cinna. 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. Cassius. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre. \Exit Cinna. Come, Casca, you and I will yet ere day See Brutus at his house : three parts of him 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 Cassius. 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. 162. conceited, conceived. 56 Julius Caesar [Act 11 ACT II Scene I. Rome. Brutus^ s orchard Enter Brutus Brutus. 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 1 what, Lucius ! Enter Lucius Lucius. Call'd you, my lord ? Brutus. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius : When it is lighted, come and call me here. Lucius. I will, my lord. \^Exit. Brutus. It must be by his death : and, for my part, 10 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. Scene I] Julius Caesar 57 That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face ; But when he once strains 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 egg Which hatch'd would as his kind grow mischievous, And kill him in the shell. Re-enter Lucius Lucius. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint I found This paper thus seal'd up, and I am sure It did not lie there when I went to bed. S^Gives him the letter. Brutus. '■ Get you to bed again ; it is not day. Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March ? 40 Lucius. I know not, sir. Brutus. Look in the calendar and bring me word. Lucius. I will, sir. \Exit. Brutus. 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. 58 Julius Caesar [Act II 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 Lucius. Sir, March is wasted fifteen days. V \_Knocking within. Brutus. 'Tis good. Go to the gate ; somebody knocks, \Exit Lucius. Since Cassius first did whet me against Caesar 61 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. 65. phantasma, vision. 66. mortal instruments, the passions. Scene I] Julius Caesar 59 Re-enter Lucius Lucius, Sir, 'tis your brother Cassius at the door, 70 Who doth desire to see you. Brutus. Is he alone ? Lucius. No, sir, there are moe with him. Brutus. Do you know them ? Lucius. No, sir ; their hats are pkick'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. Brutus. 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 80 To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none, conspiracy ; Hide it in smiles and affability : For if thou path, thy native semblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough To hide thee from prevention. Enter the conspirators, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus Cimber, and Trebonius Cassius. I think we are too bold upon your rest : Good morrow, Brutus ; do we trouble you ? >^ Brutus. I have been up this hour, awake all night. Know I these men that come along with you ? 83. path, walk abroad. 85. prevention, detection. 6o Julius Caesar [Act II Cassius. 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. Brutus. He is welcome hither. Cassius. This, Decius Brutus. Brutus. He is welcome too. Cassius. This, Casca ; this, Cinna ; and this, Metellus Cimber. Brutus. They are all welcome. What watchful cares do interpose themselves Betwixt your eyes and night ? Cassius. Shall I entreat a word ? \Theywhisper. 100 Decius. Here lies the east: doth not the day break here? Casca. No. Cinna. 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 tire, and the high east no Stands as the Capitol, directly here. Brutus. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Cassius. And let us swear our resolution. Brutus. No, not an oath : if not the face of men, Scene I] Julius Caesar 6i 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 w4th 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 pass'd from him. 140 Cassius. But what of Cicero ? shall we sound him ? I think he will stand very strong with us. 129. cautelous, crafty, 134. insuppressive, not to be suppressed. 62 Julius Caesar [Act II Casca. Let us not leave him out. Cinna. No, by no means. Metellus. 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. Brutus, O, name him not : let us not break with him, For he will never follow any thing 151 That other men begin. Cassius. Then leave him out. Casca. Indeed he is not fit. Decius. Shall no man else be touch'd but only Csesar ? Cassius. Decius, well urged : I think it is not meet Mark Antony, so well beloved of Ccesar, 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. Brutus. Our course wall seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off and then hack the limbs. Like wrath in death and envy afterw^ards ; 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, Scene I] Julius Caesar 63 And not dismember Csesar ! But, alas, 170 Caesar must bleed for it ! And, gentle friends, Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully ; Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods, Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds : 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. 180 And for Mark Antony, think not of him ; For he can do no more than Caesar's arm When Caesar's head is off. Cassius. Yet I fear him. For in the ingrafted love he bears to Caesar — Brutus. Alas, good Cassius, do not think of him : If he love Caesar, all that he can do Is to himself, take thought and die for Caesar : t And that were much he should, for he is given To sports, to wildness and much company. Trebonius. There is no fear in him ; let him not die ; For he will live and laugh at this hereafter. 191 l^Clock strike s.\ Brutus. Peace ! count the clock. Cassius. The clock hath stricken three. Trebonius. 'Tis time to part. Cassius. But it is doubtful yet Whether Caesar will come forth to-day or no ; 64 Julius Caesar [Act il 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 May hold him from the Capitol to-day. Decius. 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 me work ; For I can give his humour the true bent, 210 And I will bring him to the Capitol. Cassius. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him. -^Brutus. By the eighth hour : is that the uttermost ? Cinna. Be that the uttermost, and fail not then. Metellus. Caius Ligarius doth bear Caesar hard, Who rated him for speaking well of Pompey : I wonder none of you have thought of him. Brutus. Now, good Metellus, go along by him : He loves me well, and I have given him reasons ; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him. 220 sj Cassius. The morning comes upon's : we'll leave you, ' Brutus : 200. augurers, interpreters of omens. Scene I] Julius Caesar 65 And, friends, disperse yourselves : but all remember What you have said and show yourselves true Romans. Brutus. 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 but Brutus. Boy ! Lucius ! Fast asleep ! It is no matter ; Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of slumber : 230 Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies. Which busy care draws in the brains of men ; Therefore thou sleep'st so sound. Enter Portia Portia. Brutus, my lord ! Brutus. 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.V Portia. 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, JULIUS c^sAR — 5 66 Julius Caesar [Act ii 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, Make me acquainted with your cause of grief. Brutus. I am not well in health, and that is all. Poi'tia. Brutus is wise, and, were he not in health, He would embrace the means to come by it. Brutus. Why, so I do : good Portia, go to bed. 260 Portia. 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 ? No, 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, 270 246. wafture, wave. 249. enkindled, aroused. 266. rheumy^ moist. 266. unpurged, air unpurged by the sun. Scene I] Julius Cassar 67 I charm you, by my once commended beauty, By all your vows of love and that great vow Which did incorporate and make us one. That you unfold to me, yourself, your half, 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. Brutus. Kneel not, gentle Portia. Portia. I should not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, 280 Is it excepted I should know no secrets That appertain to you ? Am I yourself But, as it were, in sort or limitation. To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed. 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. Brutus, You are my true and honourable wife. As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That visit my sad heart. 290 Portia. If this were true, then should I know this secret. I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife : I grant I am a woman, but withal A woman well reputed, Cato's daughter. Think you I am no stronger than my sex, 273. incorpora/e, unite. 68 Julius Caesar [Act ii 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 ? Bmtiis. O ye gods, Render me worthy of this noble wife ! \Kno eking within. 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. \Exii Portia?\ Lucius, who's that knocks ? Re-e7iter Lucius with Ligarius Lucius. Here is a sick man that would speak with you. 310 Brutus. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus spake of. Boy, stand aside. Caius Ligarius ! how ? Ligarius. Vouchsafe good morrow from a feeble tongue. Brutus. O, what a time have you chose out, brave Caius, To wear a kerchief ! Would you were not sick ! Ligarius. I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand Any exploit worthy the name of honour. 307. construe, explain. 308. charactery, writing. Scene II] Julius Caesar 69 Brutus. Such an exploit have I in hand, Ligarius, Had you a healthful ear to hear of it. Ligarius. By all the gods that Romans bow before, 320 I here discard my sickness ! Soul of Rome ! Brave son, derived from honourable loins I 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 ? Bj'utus. A piece of work that will make sick men whole. Ligarius. But are not some whole that we must make sick? Brutus. That must we also. What it is, my Caius, I shall unfold to thee, as we are going 330 To whom it must be done. Ligarius. 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. Brutus. Follow me then. \Exeunt. Scene II. Casar'^s house Thunder and lightniiig. Enter Caesar, in his night-gown Ccesar. Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to- night : V Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out, ' Help, ho ! they murder Caesar ! ' Who's within ? 324. mortified, deadened. yo Julius Caesar [Act ii Enter a Servant Servant. My lord ? Ccesar. Go bid the priests do present sacrifice, And bring me their opinions of success. Servant. 1 will, my lord. \Exit. Enter Calpurnia Calpurnia. What mean you, Caesar ? think you to walk forth ? You shall not stir out of your house to-day. \ Ccesar. Caesar 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. Calpurnia. 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 whelped 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. 5. present, immediate. 22. hurtled, clashed. Scene II] Julius Caesar 71 Ccesar. 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. Calpurnia. When beggars die, there are no comets seen ; 30 The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. Ccesar. 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 ; Seeing that death, a necessary end, Will come when it will come. Re-enter Servant What say the augurers ? Servant. 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 Ccesar. 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 Caesar 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. 37, augurerSf soothsayers. 72 Julius Caesar [Act ii Calpurnia. 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'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house, And he shall say you are not well to-day : Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this. Ccesar. 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. Decius. Caesar, all hail ! good morrow, worthy Caesar : I come to fetch you to the senate-house. Ccesar. And you are come in very happy time, 60 To bear my greeting to the senators And tell them that I will not come to-day : Cannot, is false, and that I dare not, falser : I will not come to-day : tell them so, Decius. Calpurnia. Say he is sick. Ccesar. Shall Caesar send a lie ? Have I in conquest stretch 'd mine arm so far. To be afeard to tell greybeards the truth ? Decius, go tell them Caesar will not come. Decius. Most mighty Caesar, let me know some cause. Lest I be laugh 'd at when I tell them so. 70 Ccesar. The cause is in my will : I will not come ; That is enough to satisfy the senate. But, for your private satisfaction. Scene II] Julius Caesar 73 Because I love you, I will let you know. Calpurnia here, my wife, stays me at home : She dreamt to-night she saw my statua. 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. Deems. 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. go Ccesar. And this way have you well expounded it. Decius. I have, when you have heard what I can say : And know it now : the senate have concluded To give this day a crown 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 Caisar's wife shall meet with better dreams.' If Caesar hide himself, shall they not whisper 100 ' Lo, Caesar is afraid ' ? Pardon me, Caesar, for mv dear dear love ^4 Julius Caesar [Act ii To your proceeding bids me tell you this. And reason to my love is liable. CcBsar. 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 Publius, Brutus, Ligarius, Metellus, Casca, Trebonius, and Cinna And look where Publius is come to fetch me. Publius. Good morrow, Caesar. Ccesar. 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? Brutus. Caesar, 'tis strucken eighty Ccesar. I thank you for your pains and courtesy. Enter Antony See ! Antony, that revels long o' nights. Is notwithstanding up. Good morrow, Antony. Antony. So to most noble Caesar. CcBsar. Bid them prepare within : I am to blame to be thus waited for. Now, Cinna : now, Metellus : what, Trebonius ! 120 I have an hour's talk in store for you ; 103. proceeding, career. 104. liable, subject. Scene III] Julius Caesar 75 Remember that you call on me to-day : Be near me, that I may remember you. Trehonius. Caesar, I will. [Aside] And so near will I be, That your best friends shall wish I had been further. CcEsar. Good friends, go in and taste some wine with me ; And we like friends will straightway go together. Brutus. [Aside] That every like is notthe same, O Caesar, The heart of Brutus yearns to think upon ! [£xeunt. Scene III. A street near the Capitol Enter Artemidorus, reading a paper Artemidorus. ' Caesar, beware of Brutus ; take heed of Cassius ; come not near Casca ; have an eye to Cinna ; trust not Trebonius ; mark well Metellus 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, Artemidorus.' 10 Here will I stand till Caesar pass along. And as a suitor will I give him this. My heart laments that virtue cannot hve Out of the teeth of emulation. If thou read this, O Caesar, thou mayst live ; If not, the Fates with traitors do contrive. [Exit. 76 Julius Caesar [Act 11 Scene IV. Another part of the same street^ before the house of Brutus Enter Portia and Lucius 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. 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. How hard it is for women to keep counsel ! Art thou here yet ? Lucius. Madam, what should I do ? 10 Run to the Capitol, and nothing else? And so return to you, and nothing else ? Portia. Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, For he went sickly forth : and take good note What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him. Hark, boy ! what noise is that ? Lucius. I hear none, madam. Portia. Prithee, listen well : I heard a bustling rumour like a fray, And the wind brings it from the Capitol. Lucius. Sooth, madam, I hear nothing. 20 Scene IV] Julius Caesar 77 Enter the Soothsayer Portia. Come hither, fellow. Which way hast thou been ? Soothsayer. At mine own house, good lady. Portia. What is't o'clock? 4 Soothsayer. About the ninth hour, lady. Portia. Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol ? Soothsayer. Madam, not yet : I go to take my stand, To see him pass on to the Capitol. Poi'tia. Thou hast some suit to Caesar, hast thou not ? Soothsayer. 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 Portia. Why, know'st thou any harm's intended tow- ards him ? Soothsayer. 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'll get me to a place more void and there Speak to great Caesar as he comes along. \_Exit. Portia. 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. 7 8 Julius Caesar [Act ill Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord ; Say I am merry : come to me again. And bring me word what he doth say to thee. [^Exeunt severally. ACT III Scene I. Rome. Before the Capitol ; the Senate sitting above A crowd of people ; a77iong them Artemidorus a7id the Soothsayer. Flourish. Efiter Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Decius, Metellus, Trebonius, CiNNA, Antony, Lepidus, Popilius, Publius, a?id others Ccesar. The ides of March are come. ^ Soothsayer. Ay, Caesar ; but not gone. Arte?nidorus. Hail, Caesar! read this schedule. Decius. Trebonius doth desire you to o'er-read, At your best leisure, this his humble suit. Artefnidorus. O Caesar, read mine first ; for mine's a suit That touches Caesar nearer : read it, great Caesar. Ccesar. What touches us ourself shall be last served. Artemidorus. Delay not, Caesar ; read it instantly. Ccesar. What, is the fellow mad ? Publius. Sirrah, give place. lo Cassius. What, urge you your petitions in the street ? Come to the Capitol. 3. schedule, paper written on. Scene I] Julius Caesar 79 C^SAR goes up to the Senate-house^ the rest following Popilius. I wish your enterprise to-day may thrive. Cassius. What enterprise, Popilius ? Popilius. Fare you well. \^Adva7tces to Ccesar. Brutus. What said Popilius Lena ? Cassius. He wish'd to-day our enterprise might thrive. I fear our purpose is discovered. Brutus. Look, how he makes to Caesar: mark him. Cassius. 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. Brutus. Cassius, be constant : Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; For, look, he smiles, and Caesar doth not change. Cassius. Trebonius knows his time ; for, look you, Brutus, He draws Mark Antony out of the way. \Exeu7it Antony and Tirbonius. Decius. Where is Metellus Cimber ? Let him go. And presently prefer his suit to Caesar. Brutus. He is address'd : press near and second him. Cinna. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. 30 Ccesar. Are we all ready ? What is now amiss That Caesar and his senate must redress ? 28. prefer his suit, present his request. 8o Julius Caesar [Act ill Metellus. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Caesar, Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat An humble heart : — \Kfieeling. Ccesar. I must prevent thee, Cimber. These crouchings 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, I spurn thee like a cur out of my way. Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause Will he be satisfied. Metellus. 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 ? Brutus. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Caesar, Desiring thee that Publius Cimber may Have an immediate freedom of repeal. CcBsar. What, Brutus ! Cassius. Pardon, Caesar ; Caesar, pardon : As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, 38. pre-ordinance, what has been previously ordained. 39. fond, foolish. Scene I] JuHus Csesar 8i To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. Ccesar. 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 unnumber'd 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 little show it, even in this ; That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd, And constant do remain to keep him so. Cinna. O Caesar, — Ccesar. Hence ! wilt thou lift up Olympus ? Decius. Great Csesar, — Ccesar. Doth not Brutus bootless kneel ? Casca. Speak, hands, for me ! S^Casca first, then the other Cotispirators and Marcus Brutus stab CcBsar. Ccesar. Et tu, Brute ! Then fall, Caesar ! [Dies, Cinna. Liberty ! freedom ! Tyranny is dead ! Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. 67. apprehensive, gifted with intelligence. 70. unshaked^ unshaken. 75. bootless, in vain. JULIUS C^SAR — 6 82 Julius Caesar [Act iii Cassius. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out 80 ' Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement ! ' Brutus. People, and senators, be not affrighted ; Fly not ; stand still : ambition's debt is paid. Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus. Decius. And Cassius too. Brutus. Where's Publius ? China. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Metellus. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Caesar's Should chance — Brutus. 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. Cassius. And leave us, Publius ; lest that the people Rushing on us should do your age some mischief. Brutus. Do so : and let no man abide this deed But we the doers. Re-enter Trebonius Cassius. Where is Antony ? Trebonius. Fled to his house amazed : Men, wives, and children stare, cry out and run, As it were doomsday. Brutus. Fates, we will know your pleasures : That we shall die, we know ; 'tis but the time. And drawing days out, that men stand upon. 100 Cassius. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life Cuts off so many years of fearing death. Scene I] Julius Caesar 83 Brutus. Grant that, and then is death a benefit : So are we 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 Cassius. Stoop then, and wash. How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over In states unborn and accents yet unknown ! Brutus. How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's basis lies along No worthier than the dust ! Cassius. So oft as that shall be, So often shall the knot of us be call'd The men that gave their country liberty. Decius. What, shall we forth ? Cassius. Ay, every man away ; Brutus shall Iccid, and we will grace his heels 120 With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome. Enter a Servant Brutus. Soft ! who comes here ? A friend of Antony's. Seniant. 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 ; 84 Julius Caesar [Act ill Caesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving : 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. Brutus. 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 untouch'd. Servant. I'll fetch him presently. S^Exit. Brutus. I know that we shall have him well to friend. Cassius. I wish we may : but yet have I a mind That fears him much, and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose. Re-enter Antony Brutus. But here comes Antony. Welcome, Mark Antony. Antony. O mighty Caesar ! dost thou lie so low ? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, 131. resolved, satisfied. 136. ««/?'^a' j/a/^, new state of affairs. 145. still., always. 146. shrewdly, close enough. Scene I] Julius Caesar 85 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 worth as those your swords, made rich With the most noble blood of all this world. I do beseech ye, if you bear me hard, Now, whilst your purpled hands do reek and smoke, Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years, I shall not find myself so apt to die : 160 No place will please me so, no mean of death, As here by Caesar, and by you cut off. The choice and master spirits of this age. Brutus. 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 Caesar. 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. 160. apt, ready. 86 Julius Caesar [Act III Cassius. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of new dignities. Brutus. Only be patient till we have appeased The multitude, beside themselves with fear, i8o And then we will deliver you the cause Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him. Have thus proceeded. Antony. 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 ; Yours, Cinna ; and, my valiant Casca, yours ; Though last, not least in love, yours, good Tre- bonius. 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 192. conceit me, think of me, 196. dearer, more intensely. Scene I] Julius Caesar 87 In terms of friendship with thine enemies. Pardon me, Julius ! Here wast thou bay'd, brave 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 Cassius. Mark Antony, — Antony. Pardon me, Caius Cassius : The enemies of Caesar shall say this ; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. Cassius. I blame you not for praising Caesar so ; 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 ? Antony. Therefore I took your hands, but was indeed Sway'd from the point by looking down on Caesar. Friends am I wuth you all and love you all, 220 Upon this hope that you shall give me reasons Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous. Brutus. Or else were this a savage spectacle : Our reasons are so full of good regard That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied. Antony. That's all I seek : 206. lethe, from Lethe, hence oblivion. 2l6. prick'd, marked down, written down. 224. regard, consideration. 88 Julius Caesar [Act III 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 Brutus. You shall, Mark Antony. Cassius. Brutus, a word with you. [AsiWe to B7'utus\ 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 ? Brutus. By your pardon : I will myself into the pulpit first. And show the reason of our Caesar's death : What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission. And that we are contented Caesar shall 240 Have all true rites and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more than do us wrong. Cassius. I know not what may fall ; I like it not. Brutus. Mark Antony, here, take you Caesar's body. You shall not in your funeral speech blame us, But speak all good you can devise of Caesar, And say you do't by our permission ; Else shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral : and you shall speak In the same pulpit whereto I am going, 250 After my speech is ended. Afttonv. Be it so ; Scene I] Julius Caesar 89 I do desire no more. Brutus. Prepare the body then, and follow us. S^Exeunt all but Antony. Antony. 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 Caesar'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. Enter a Servant You serve Octavius Caesar, do you not ? Servant. I do, Mark Antony. 90 Julius Caesar [Act in Antony. Caesar did write for him to come to Rome. Servant. He did receive his letters, and is coming; And bid me say to you by word of mouth — 280 O Caesar ! [Seeing the body. Antony. 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 ? Servant. He Hes to-night within seven leagues of Rome. Antony. 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. [Exeunt with 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. Brutus. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends. Cassius, go you into the other street, 286. /^rt^-«SAR — 9 130 Julius Caesar [Act v Titinius. These tidings will well comfort Cassius. Messala. Where did you leave him ? Titinius. All disconsolate, With Pindarus his bondman, on this hill. Messala. Is not that he that lies upon the ground ? Titinius. He lies not like the living, O my heart ! Messala. Is not that he ? Titinius. No, this was he, Messala, 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. Messala. Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. O hateful error, melancholy's child. Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not ? O error, soon conceived, Thou never comest unto a happy birth, 70 But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee ! Titinius. What, Pindarus ! where art thou, Pindarus ? Messala. Seek him, Titinius, whilst I go to meet The noble Brutus, thrusting this report 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. 68. apt, impressionable. 71. engender'' d, gave birth to. Scene III] Julius Caesar 131 Titiniiis. Hie you, Messala, And I will seek for Pindarus the while. S^Exit Messala. 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 their shouts ? Alas, thou hast misconstrued every thing 1 But, hold thee, take this garland on thy brow ; Thy Brutus bid me give it thee, and I Will do his bidding. Brutus, come apace. And see how I regarded Caius Cassius. By your leave, gods : this is a Roman's part : Come, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart. 90 {^Kills himself. Alai'um. Re-enter Messala, with Brutus, young Cato, and others Brutus. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie ? Alessala. Lo, yonder, and Titinius mourning it. Brutus. Titinius' face is upward. Cato. He is slain. Brutus. O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. \Low alarums, Cato. Brave Titinius ! Look, whether he have not crown'd dead Cassius ! Brutus. Are yet two Romans living such as these ? 132 Julius Caesar [Act v The last of all the Romans, fare thee well ! It is impossible that ever Rome 100 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. \Exeunt. Scene IV. Another part of the field Alarum. Enter, fightmg, SoXdiQxs of both armies; then Brutus, young Cato, Lucilius, and others Brutus. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads ! Cato. What bastard doth not ? Who will go with me ? I will 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 ! Brutus. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I ; Brutus, my country's friend ; know me for Brutus ! \^Exit. Lucilius. O young and noble Cato, art thou down ? loi. moe, more. Scene IV] Julius Caesar 133 Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius, 10 And mayst be honour'd, being Cato's son. First Soldier. Yield, or thou diest. Lucilius. Only I yield to die : \_Offering money\ There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight ; Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. First Soldier. We must not. A noble prisoner ! Second Soldier. Room, ho ! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. First Soldier. I'll tell the news. Here comes the general. Enter Antony Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Antony. Where is he ? Lucilius. 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 1 When you do find him, or alive or dead, He will be found like Brutus, like himself. Antony. 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 \vord unto Octavius' tent How every thing is chanced. \Exeunt, 134 Julius Caesar [Act v Scene V. A?iother part of the field Enter Brutus, Dardanius, Clitus, Strato, and VOLUMNIUS Brutus. Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Clitus. Statilius show'd the torch-light, but, my lord,\ He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain. Brutus. Sit thee down, Clitus : slaying is the word ; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [ IVhispef ing. Clitus. What, I, my lord ? No, not for all the world. Brutus. Peace then, no words. Clitus. I'll rather kill myself. Brutus. Hark thee, Dardanius. \lVhispering. Dardanius. Shall I do such a deed ? Clitus. O Dardanius ! Dardanius. O Clitus ! lo Clitus. What ill request did Brutus make to thee ? Dardanius. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he medi- tates. Clitus. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Brutus. Come hither, good Volumnius ; list a word. Voluninius. What says my lord ? Brutus. Why this, Volumnius : , The ghost of Caesar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night ; at Sardis once, Scene V] Julius Caesar 135 And this last night here in Philippi fields ; I know my hour is come. Volumnius. Not so, my lord. 20 Brictus. Nay, I am sure it is, Volumnius. Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes ; Our enemies have beat us to the pit : SJ^ow alarutfis. 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. Volumnius. That's not an office for a friend, my lord. \Alarum still. Clitus. Fly, fly, my lord ; there is no tarrying here. 30 Brutus. Farewell to you ; and you ; and you, Volumnius. Strato, 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. \_Alaruf?i. Cry within^ ' Fly, fly., fly f ' Clitus. Fly, my lord, fly. 136 Julius Caesar [Act v Brutus. Hence ! I will follow, \Exeunt Clitus, Dardajiius, and Volumiiius. I prithee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord : Thou art a fellow of a good respect ; Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it : Hold then my sword, and turn away thy face. While I do run upon it. Wilt thou, Strato ? Strato. Give me your hand first : fare you well, my lord. Brutus. Farewell, good Strato. \Runs on his s^aord.] Caesar, now be still : 50 I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. [£>ies. Alarum. Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, Messala, LuciLius, and the ari7iy Octavius. What man is that ? Messala. My master's man. Strato, where is thy master ? Strato. Free from the bondage you are in, Messala : The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; For Brutus only overcame himself, And no man else hath honour by his death. Lucilius. So Brutus should be found. I thank thee, Brutus, That thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true. Octavius. All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. 60 Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me ? 46. smaich,idi.?Xe. 61. besicnv, S'^tnd, Scene V] JuHus Caesar ijy Straio. Ay, if Messala will prefer me to you. Octavitis. Do so, good Messala. Messala. How died my master, Strato ? Strato. I held the sword, and he did run on it. Messala. Octavius, then take him to follow thee, That did the latest service to my master. Antony. This was the noblest Roman of them all : 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 ! ' Octavius. 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 like 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. 81. part., divide. NOTES ACT I. SCENE I ■'J I .iJ/-'-''-'- '* ■" '■ The play oi Julius Ccesar covers, m point of time, the period between October, 45 B.C., when Caesar celebrated his last triumph, and the battle of Philippi, which took place in 42 B.C. Shake- speare combines the triumph in October with the feast of Lupercal iMn the following February. The play consumes in action s«-or " 'SBVgft-days. In the first act the conspiracy against Caesar is disclosed, and the chief actors in the tragedy are introduced in characteristic speeches or actions. Caesar is shown, not only as dictator clothed with su- preme authority, but as superstitious and vacillating, with senses impaired by approaching age. Cassius reveals at once the jealousy which Caesar's success had engendered in the minds of the men who had once been his equals in the Roman state, and Brutus the fear for the freedom of Rome which Caesarism bred in Romans who loved liberty and the old political order. The antagonism of both groups is intensified by the offer of the crown to Caesar with the approval of the populace. In the second act the conspiracy is thoroughly organized by the accession of Brutus, and a plan of action is agreed upon. The collision of ideas and persons which are the elements of the tragedy is clearly revealed and the action set in motion. In the third act Caesar falls by the hands of the con- spirators, and the two opposing forces which meet in conflict appear, and the later and broader movement of the tragedy begins. An- tony, who loves Gesar and understands to a certain extent the new order of things which Csesar has brought about and the new demo- 139 140 Notes [Act I cratic force which he discerned, used for his own ends, and has come to personify, rouses the people to mutiny and turns them against the conspirators, who are defeated in their first encounter with Caesarism and forced to fly from the city and organize armies to protect themselves. In the fourth act war breaks out between the two parties who contend for supremacy in Roman affairs ; Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus make common cause against the conspirators and act together: while Brutus and Cassius pursue different courses, quarrel, are reconciled, and, against the judgement of Brutus, a decisive battle is fought. In the fifth and final act the failure of Brutus and Cassius to co-operate results in the defeat of their armies, the suicide of the leaders, and the triumph, not only of Antony and Octavius, but of the spirit of Caesar, whose ghost appears to Brutus the night before the battle. A German critic has said of the plays of Shakespeare which deal with the English kings that England is the real hero of them ; and an English critic has declared that the hero of the three Roman plays is Rome. In Julius Ccesar, Antony and Cleopatra^ and Coriolanus three important stages in the movement of political and social affairs in the empire are distinctly outlined and the great force which dominated them brought into clear light. But while this is especially true o{ Julius Ccesar, the play is pre-emi- nently a character play, and the forces for change at work in society are personified in men of striking personal energy and character. Csesar appears first in the second scene of the first act, reappears in only three scenes, and is assassinated in the fi^rst scene of the third act in the very middle of the play. With his fall the action of the play may be said to begin. In each appearance of Caesar some evidence of weakness is brought out : deafness, swooning, lack of physical strength, vacillation of purpose, superstition, theatrical posing, accessibility to flattery, pomposity ; and yet C?esar remains the central and dominating figure in the play, and his personality becomes more potential as the play nears its end ! Caesar is one of the foremost men in history by reason of extraordinary natural Scene I] Notes 141 endowments : force of will, breadth of mind, civil and military gen- ius, the capacity for thought, and the power to act. Like Napoleon, he understood his age and knew how to make use of events and conditions to carry him to the foremost place in Rome and enable him to take the power of the state into his own hands. Ronje had outgrown her earlier institutions. They had worked well when the city was the head of a small group of neighbouring communities, but they were ill adapted to the needs of a state which had become, or was fast becoming, the mistress of the world. The time was ripe for change ; and Caesar saw, what none of his older contemporaries saw, that the old order was outgrown. Rome had really ceased to be a republic and become an empire, and he made himself em- peror. His name, reproduced in Tsar and Kaiser, has become the synonym of supreme personal authority in the state. Antony and Octavius saw this with some clearness; but none of the conspira- tors understood it. Brutus and Cassius thought that by killing Caesar they should kill the absolutism for which he stood, and did not see until later that, while they could destroy Caesar's body, they could not touch Caesar's spirit. Caesar died, but Caesarism lived on for generations. It is probable that Shakespeare brought the. increasing infirmities of Caesar's old age into prominence in order that his tremendous grasp of his time, his discernment of its needs, and his identification of himself with its conditions might be the more dramatically indicated on the stage. The idea of govern- ment for which Caesar stood, the imperial spirit of the great ruler, confronted the conspirators and finally defeated them at Philippi. Cassius dies with this acknowledgment on his lips : " Caesar, thou art revenged, Even with the sword that killed thee." 8. What dost thoti with thy best apparel on ? In the Middle Ages, and to some extent in antiquity, each occupation and rank had its peculiar dress, so that a man's place and calling in society were shown by the clothes he wore. This ancient custom survives in 142 Notes [Act I England in the dress of certain officers of the government, in the gorgeous robes of state worn on great occasions, in the wigs and gowns of the speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Chan- cellor, the judges, the robes or gowns of the archbishops and bishops, and the members of the universities. Before Shakespeare's time mechanics and tradesmen were regarded by the law as per- sons of low rank, and compelled to wear the dress of their occu- pation. There may have been such a law in force in Rome, or Shakespeare may have carried an English custom into another country, as he often did. 28. Shakespeare, after the fashion of his time, was much given to punning. This shoemaker was a humorist, although the Trib- une seems to have taken the joking seriously. 38. When Roman generals returned from successful campaigns, they were received with great ceremony, and the conquered princes or chiefs who had been made tributaries of Rome were led through the streets of the city in the triumphal procession. Coesar's last war was waged in Spain against the sons of Pompey, and Romans resented the triumph on his return to Rome " because he had not overcome captains that were strangers, nor barbarous kings, but had destroyed the sons of the noblest man in Rome." 50. The river which flowed through Rome was so much a part of the city that the Romans spoke of it as a person ; in Shakespeare's time there was no fixed rule about the gender of rivers. 69. Images of Coesar had been set up in Rome, and on this occa- sion were decorated probably with wreaths of laurel, with a diadem tied in the laurel by ribbons. Casca calls them "scarfs." 72. The Feast of Lupercal was a festival in honour of Lupercus, the Italian wolf-god. It was celebrated in February, and on the festal day, called dies februatiis (from februare, to purify), the Luperci, or priests, smote with a leather thong those they met, as a token of purification. Scene II] Notes 1 43 75. The vulgar refers to the plebeians, or people of the lowest rank in Rome. ACT I. SCENE II 17. The Ides fell on the 15th day in March, May, July, and October ; in other months they fell on the 13th. The signiticance of the Ides seems to have been simply that they marked the middle of the month, and made a natural date for business trans- actions. The feast of Lupercal fell in the month of February, but Shakespeare moves the day forward a montlj for North's trans- lation reads : " there was a certain soothsayer that had given warning long time afore, to take heed of the Ides of March, for on that day he would be in great danger." 25. The word " sennet," in the stage directions, refers to the notes played on a musical instrument announcing the approach of royal or semi-royal personages. 40. Feelings at variance with each other. 72. Rowe changed the word " laughter " to " laugher," which is perpetuated in the modern text and spoils the meaning. Cassius means " were I an object of laughter, as a man like Antony is." 109. hearts of controversy, courageous spirit. 112. ^neas is the hero of Virgil's ^neid. He was one of the most valiant defenders of Troy against the Greeks. According to Virgil, after many adventures, he settled in Italy and married La- vinia, daughter of King Latinus. The origin of the Roman state is ascribed by tradition to him and his heirs. 136. The Colossus was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was a brazen statue of Apollo, executed by Chares of Lindus, and completed in 280 B.C. The statement that one foot rested on each side of the harbour is not sustained by good authority. The statue was 105 feet high, and was ascended by a winding staircase. It was overthrown by an earthquake about 224 B.C. and nevej; re-erected. 144 Notes [Act I 140. There was a general belief* that the stars in ascendency at the hour of birth greatly influenced the fortunes of after life. 152. The flood referred to was that in which Deucalion and Pyrrha saved themselves, as did Noah, by building a boat which finally rested on Mount Parnassus. The story is told by Hesiod and also by Ovid. 159. The famous ancestor of Brutus, Junius Brutus, who defeated the designs of the Tarquins to make themselves kings in Rome. 257. Epilepsy. 267. An instance of the " ethical dative," the me shows " a certain interest felt by the person indicated." 282. Plutarch describes Cicero as a coward and not to be trusted by the conspirators, although they believed he dreaded Caesar's growing power. The words " he spoke Greek " suggest that in his very cautious way he was expressing agreement with them. 313. Even the nobility of Brutus might be influenced by men less virtuous and firm. ACT I. SCENE III 10 and 15. Compare North's Plutarch, Life of Ccesar : "Touch- ing the fires in the element, and spirits running up and down in the night, and also the solitary birds to be seen at noon days sitting in the great market-place, are not all these signs perhaps worth the noting in such a wonderful chance as happened ? But Strabo the Philosopher writeth, that divers men were seen going up and down in fire; and furthermore, that there was a slave of the sol- diers that did cast a marvellous burning flame out of his hand, insomuch as they that saw it thought he had been burnt : when the fire was out, it was found he had no hurt." 26. The owl — always an omen of evil. 49. The thunder-stone is explained by Craik to be " the imagi- nary product of thunder, which the ancients called ' Brontia,' mentioned by Pliny as a species of gem, and as that which falling Scene 1] Notes 1 45 with the lightning, does the mischief. It is the fossil commonly called the ' Belemnite ' or * finger-stone,' " It is now known to be a kind of fossil cuttle-fish. 126. Pompeys porch was the large portico of Pompey's theatre. Plutarch makes the meeting of the senate and Cesar's assassination take place here. 143. In ancient Rome " Prcetor " was the title of several high officials. The Praetor was the third officer in rank in the state, inferior to the consuls only. He was first chosen in 366 B.C. Con- suls themselves, when at the head of armies, were called Praetors. In later times the number of the Praetors was greatly increased and some were assigned to the provinces. Praetors were, in fact, judges of civil and criminal law. 147. The image of Junius Brutus, who expelled the Tarquins from Rome. 152. Pompey^s theatre was a famous theatre and popular resort, situated in that part of Rome now known as the Campo di Fiore. ACT II. SCENE I Brutus is one of the noblest of Shakespeare's men; there is no taint of self-seeking, falsehood, or cowardice in him; he is the embodiment of every kind of integrity. But he is a man predes- tined to failure because, while his spirit is of the purest and his aims of the highest, he lacks a keen sense of realities and sound judgement in dealing with events. To carry out great plans a man must not only have the mind which conceives them, but the faculty of seeing what can be done and how to do it. Brutus was the descendant of one of the noblest of the Romans and had been deeply impressed by the tradition of his ancestor's great service to the people; he was a lover and student of books, and philosophy was to him not so much a system of thought as a plan of living to be faithfully worked out at any cost. He loved the great traditions of Rome and was ready to die for his idea of Roman citizenship; JULIUS c^SAR — 10 146 Notes [Act II but he did not know the Rome of his day and did not understand the changes which had taken place in the relation of Rome to the world. He confused ideals with realities and did not see things as they were. He was a noble but not an effective man; an idealist who lacked clear knowledge of his fellows and his time. Shake- speare represents him as a pure-minded and disinterested man, who commits an act of violence without passion and in the spirit of a divinely commissioned executioner of judgement on a great crimi- nal; a man predestined to failure because he cannot calculate the strength of the forces which he opposes ; but a man who makes failure an occasion for winning the noblest moral success. He keeps his integrity unspotted to the end, and his enemies are quick to recognize him, when he lies dead on the field, as " the noblest Roman of them all." "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. 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 ! ' " I. A common form of speech for summoning a servant or re- tainer. 19. remorse. This word in Shakespeare usually signifies " pity," but here it means " conscience." 40. Ides of March — the 15th of March. 44. Electrical balls, called St. Elmo's Fire. 53. Lucius Junius Brutus headed a revolt and drove the Tarquins from Rome. For this service " the ancient Romans made his statue of brass to be set up in the capitol." 66. The Genius was the spirit temporarily inhabiting the body, and directing for good or bad the bodily faculties. 84. Erebus was the region of utter darkness between Earth and Hades. Scene H] Notes 147 114. Plutarch says that they took no oaths and gave no pledges of secrecy. 119. Men were sometimes singled out for sentence by drawing lots, in cases in which, as in a mutiny, a whole company was im- plicated. 150. Expressing the widely held opinion that Cicero was a cow- ard and a "trimmer." 162. The conspirators, with the single exception of Brutus, wanted to kill Antony because they thought him unscrupulous, insincere, and ambitious. 204. Refers to various devices for entrapping wild animals, as decoy-ducks are used to-day. 295. Cato was one of the most eminent men of the aristocratic party in Rome, and after the battle of Thapsus he took his own Hfe rather than accept mercy from Caesar. His name stood for honour and stern integrity. 300. To satisfy herself of her powers of endurance Portia had taken " a little razor, such as barbers occupy to pare men's nails, and causing her maids and women to go out of her chamber, gave herself a great gash withal in her thigh, that she was straight all of a gore bloud : and incontinently after, a vehement feaver took her, by reason of the pain of her wound. Then . . . even in her great- est pain of all, she spake." (North.) 315. wear a kerchief! An Elizabethan custom in sickness. 323. An exorcist is one who raises spirits. ACT II. SCENE II 39. Any thing unusual or abnormal in a sacrifice was regarded as an omen of ill. 89. Tinctures were memorial blood-stains, and the word refers to the practice of persons dipping their handkerchiefs in the blood of those whom they regarded as martyrs. Cognizances were badges of honour. 48 Notes [Act III ACT 11. SCENE III " One Artemidorus also born in the Isle of Gnidos, a doctor of rhetoric in the Greek tongue, who by means of his profession was very familiar with certain of Brutus's confederates, and therefore knew the most part of all their practices against Caesar, came and brought him a little bill written with his own hand, of all that he meant to tell him." (North.) ACT III. SCENE I Antony's nature and character are in striking contrast to those of Brutus and Cassius. He was capable of great and sincere devo- tion, as his affection for Ceesar shows; but he was incapable of self-denial and self-sacrifice. He could be resolute, bold, resource- ful; but lacked self-control and steadfastness of purpose. He could make great sacrifices to his passions, but not to his princi- ples; for Cleopatra he " threw a world away." He had an inven- tive and daring mind; he was brilliant in conception and swift in execution ; his imagination was fervid and gave a certain splendour to his personality and career, but it coloured his judge- ment; he had a sensitive and brilliant temperament and a rare faculty of making men serve and women love him; but his strength lay in his gifts of nature, not in his force of character; and he was predestined to failure because he sacrificed his duties and his opportunities to his passions. He was the victim, not the master of conditions ; the servant, not the ruler of his impulses; and, in partnership with a cool, calculating, clear-minded man like Octavius, he was overmatched at every point. He was not lacking in feeling, in artistic sense, in vividness of imagination, in quick perception of dramatic values, and in swift adaptability. He coolly offers to die as the price of his loyalty to Caesar; but he is quick to feel the pulse of Rome, and his treatment of the perilous situa- Scene I] Notes 149 tion which confronted him when the death of Caesar seemed to put Rome into the hands of the conspirators is masterly in its clear perception of the popular temper and its adroit appeal to popular feeling. There is no more superb example of the finest quality of demagogism than the speech over Caesar's body; it is a master- piece of that kind of oratory which follows with the quickness of genius the moods of an audience and plays upon it as if it were an instrument in the hand of a performer. Sooner or later, in the testing of events, a brilliant temperament without adequate moral basis degenerates into a kind of tawdry gaiety, and courage sinks into braggadocio. In spite of his rich humour, Falstaff becomes a vulgar old man, and the audacious and resourceful Antony of the campaign which ended victoriously at Philippi becomes the vacil- lating and ineffective Antony who plays the coward at the battle of Actium. 28. Prefer his suit, present his request. 74. Olympus, a mountain which formed part of the chain which constituted the boundary of ancient Greece. In Greek mythology, Olympus was the chief seat of the third dynasty of gods, of which Jupiter was the head. 77. The phrase " et tu, Brute ! " was well known in Shakespeare's time, having been used in other plays. In North's translation of Plutarch, Caesar is twice described as crying out " in Latin." 80. Small platforms, or rostra, were set up in the Forum for the use of orators. 94. Let no man suffer for this deed but we who committed it. 174. Malice toward Caesar, good will toward Antony. 178. An offer to share with Antony the offices and places of power. 191. Antony's position is so difficult that either course opens him to criticism. 271. Ate was the goddess of revenge. 273. " Havoc " was the word used in early times, when no quarter was to be given to an enemy. 150 Notes [Act IV ACT III. SCENE II 43. enforced, exaggerated. 177. The Nervii were a fierce Belgic tribe who fought so well that Caesar, to save his army from defeat, took his shield on his arm, ran into their ranks, and made a lane through them. His soldiers, seeing his danger, rushed after him, broke the ranks of the Nervii, and turned a defeat into a victory. This battle, won in the year 57 B.C., was one of Caesar's greatest triumphs, and was celebrated with unusual pomp and festivity in Rome. See the account in Caesar's Gallic War, Book ii, chapter xxv. 247. A drachma was a Greek coin, strictly about half of the Roman denarius ; but Plutarch's drachmas were probably equivalent to denarii, and were about nineteen or twenty cents in value. 259. On a funeral pyre, a structure of several stories, the lower filled with combustible materials; often ornamented with statues, festoons, gold, and ivory. ACT III. SCENE III Cinna was a Roman poet. He wrote an epic poem called Smyrna, of which only a few lines are extant. He was killed in 44 B.C. by a mob of Caesar's adherents, who mistook him for another Cinna, an accompUce of Brutus. ACT IV. SCENE I Cassius, whom Caesar instinctively distrusts because he has a " lean and hungry look," has none of Brutus's elevation of nature, although he does not lack firmness, courage, and devotion to the cause he has at heart. He is not above some of the smaller pas- sions, for he envies Caesar's prosperity and hates him because he overshadows all lesser men in the state. He has a keener observa- Scene II] Notes 151 tion than Brutus, and is far less an idealist in spirit and aims. He is not above keeping for his own uses the money which is needed for the common enterprise. Quick of temper and passionate, he breaks out in fierce reproaches when Brutus upbraids him for this offence. But he is loyal at heart, and when he hears that Portia is dead, his anger instantly turns to sympathy. There are few scenes in Shakespeare more effective or more touching in pure pathos than the quarrel scene with Brutus. The fact that Brutus loves him is sufficient proof of Cassius's possession of sterling quali- ties of character. His faults spring from narrowness rather than from lack of character. There was a vein of egotism in him which made him willing to strike Ccfisar as his personal enemy rather than the enemy of the state, and more ready to resent the criticism of Brutus than to ask if it was deserved. Many things had happened between the third and fourth acts. Antony paid little regard to Octavius at first, but when he discov- ered that Octavius had many friends in the Senate, changed his attitude and made a kind of alliance with him. Octavius made ad- vances to Cicero, whose influence was very considerable. Antony was driven out of Italy, joined Lepidus, and made himself popular with Lepidus's army. When Octavius found that Cicero was bent on restoring the control of the Senate in Rome, he broke off his relations with him and made an alliance with Lepidus and Antony. 9. Antony was anxious to keep the large sums of money which had come into his possession, and Octavius, as Coesar's heir, was of the same mind. 27. This alludes to the English custom of villages holding land in common, or joint, ownership, and using it for pasturage. ACT IV. SCENE II 16. Not with such courtesy as he had formerly received Lucilius. 26. Jade was a term of contempt for a worthless horse. 152 Notes [Act V ACT IV. SCENE III 10. Cassius had collected a large sum of money by forced levies on the people, and Brutus was anxious to use some of it to replace the large amount he had spent on ships in order to command the sea. This request Cassius had slighted. 71. Brutus cannot take money by force from the poor peasants. 80. Counters were round pieces of metal used in calculations. They were without value. 102. Plutus, the god of the lower world, and therefore of riches. 137. Writers of ballads which were sung, hence called jigs. 147. One of the most impressive passages in Shakespeare, by reason of its brevity and its tremendous significance in the life of Brutus. 156. Determining to kill herself, Portia " took hot burning coals, and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth so close that she choked herself." 180. Octavius and Antony had condemned two hundred promi- nent Romans, including Cicero, to death. 252. Brutus ate little, slept Httle, and worked incessantly. At night, after making his plans and preparing his dispatches, he was in the habit of reading some book which he kept at hand. 270. Showing Brutus's great consideration for others. ACT V. SCENE I 21. Talk either among themselves or conference with their enemies. 34. Hybla, a town of Sicily famous for its honey. 53. Caesar is said to have been wounded thirty-three times. 77. Epicurus was a Greek philosopher, founder of the Epi- curean School. He was born in the island of Samos in 337 B.C. About 306 he went to Athens, where he purchased a garden and Scene V] Notes 153 founded a celebrated school of philosophy. He was very popular as a teacher and had many pupils. He taught that pleasure was the chief good. He opposed popular superstition and refused to recognize the gods of Greek mythology, maintaining that the gods give no attention to earthly affairs, which they consider beneath their notice. Epicurus died in 270 B.C. ACT V. SCENE III 37. Parthia, ancient territory of western Asia, situated southeast of Caspian Sea, corresponded nearly to the modern Persian prov- ince of Khorassan. ACT V. SCENE V 68. 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Nearly two hundred exercises are introduced to aid the pupil in the most practical way. FOUNDATIONS OF RHETORIC . . $1.00 The object of this book is to train boys and girls to say in written language, correctly, clearly, and effectively, what they have to say. It gives a minimum of space to tech- nicalities and a maximum of space to essentials. In language singularly direct and simple it sets forth fundamental prin- ciples of correct speaking, and accompanies each rule with abundant illustrations and examples. PRINCIPLES OF RHETORIC . . . $1.20 This popular work has been almost wholly rewritten, and is enlarged by much new material. The treatment is based on the principle that the function of rhetoric is not to pro- vide the student of composition with materials for thought, nor yet to lead him to cultivate style for style's sake, but to stimulate and train his powers of expression — to enable him to say what he has to say in appropriate language. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY (S. 87) HISTORIES FOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS ESSENTIALS IN ANCIENT HISTORY Half Leather, 528 Pages. Price, $t.50 By ARTHUR MAYER WOLFSON, Ph.D. Assistant in History, De IVitt Clinton High School, New York City In Consultation with ALBERT BUSHNELL HART, LL.D. Professor of History, Harvard University TPIIS convenient manual presents the essentials in ancient history as a unit in a manner both comprehensible and interesting to first-year students in secondary schools. It is prepared on the plan recommended by the Committee of Seven, and at the same time meets every requirement of the Regents of the State of New York. It combines in one volume Greek and Roman history with that of the Eastern nations, and pays more attention to civilization than to mere constitutional development. The paragraph headings are given in the margins, thus making the text continuous and easy to read. At the end of each chapter are lists of topics for further research, bibli- ographies of parallel reading, and references to both ancient and modern authorities. A special feature is the giving of a brief list of selected books, not exceeding $25 in cost, and suitable for a school library. The numerous maps show only the places mentioned in the text, thus avoiding confusion from too much detail. The illustrations, although attractive, have been chosen primarily with the purpose of accurately explain- ing the text. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY, Publishers (S. 137) Text-Books in Natural History By JAMES G. NEEDHAM, M.S. Instructor in Zoology, Knox College, Galesburg, 111. NEEDHAM'S ELEMENTARY LESSONS IN ZOOLOGY 90 cents A guide in studying animal life in field and laboratory adapted for use in High Schools, Academies, Normal Schools, etc. It has been prepared to meet the widely recognized demand for a text-book in this department of Natural His- tory which should be brief in compass, accurate in statement, and scientific in treatment. Some of the leading features of the book are : the selection of types for study that are common and easily accessible ; the clear and ample directions given for collecting material for study ; the means suggested for studying animal life ; the microscopic study of the simpler animal types ; the adaptation of the book to the use of schools with little material equipment; the natural and easily comprehensible method of classification, and their morphology, physiology, and natural development. NEEDHAM'S OUTDOOR STUDIES ... 40 cents This little book is intended to supply a series of lessons in Nature Study suitable for pupils in the Intermediate or Grammar Grades. Designed for pupils of some years of experience and some previous training in observation, these Jessons are given as guides to close and continued observation, and for the educative value of the phenomena of nature which they describe. Copies sent, prepaid, on receipt of the price. American Book Company NEW YORK ♦ CINCINNATI ♦ CHICAGO OUTLINES OF BOTANY For the High School Laboratory and Classroom By R.OBER.T GREENLEAF LEAVITT, A.M. Of the Ames Botanical Laboratory Prepared at the request of the Botaitical Deiarttnent of Harvard University. LEAVITT'S OUTLINES OF BOTANY, Cloth, 8vo. 272 pages. $1.00 The same, with Gray's Field, Forest, and Garden Flora. 791 pages 1.80 The same, with Gray's Manual. 1,087 pages . . . 2.25 This book has been prepared to meet a specific demand. Many schools, having outgrown the method of teaching botany hitherto prevalent, find the more recent text-books too difficult and comprehensive for practical use in an elementary course. In order, therefore, to adapt this text-book to present require- ments, the author has combined with great simplicity and definiteness in presentation, a careful selection and a judicious arrangement of matter. It offers 1. A series of laboratory exercises in the morphology and physiology of phanerogams. 2. Directions for a practical study of typical cryptogams, representing the chief groups from the lowest to the highest. 3. A substantial body of information regarding the forms, activities, and relationships of plants, and supple- menting the laboratory studies. The laboratory work is adapted to any equipment, and the instructions for it are placed in divisions by themselves, pre- ceding the related chapters of descriptive text, which follows in the main the order of topics in Gray's Lessons in Botany. Special attention is paid to the ecological aspects of plant life, while at the same time morphology and physiology are fully treated. There are 384 carefully drawn illustrations, many of them entirely new. The appendix contains full descriptions of the necessary laboratory materials, with directions for their use. It also gives helpful suggestions for the exercises, addressed primarily to the teacher, and indicating clearly the most effective pedagogical methods. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY. Publishers (S. 174) A Descriptive Catalogue of High School and College Text-Books WE issue a complete descriptive catalogue of our text-books for secondary schools and higher institutions, illustrated with authors' portraits. For the convenience of teachers, sep- arate sections are published, devoted to the newest and best books in the following branches of study: ENGLISH MATHEMATICS HISTORY and POLITICAL SCIENCE SCIENCE MODERN LANGUAGES ANCIENT LANGUAGES PHILOSOPHY and EDUCATION If you are interested in any of these branches, we shall be very glad to send you on request the catalogue sections which you may wish to see. Address the nearest office of the Company. AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Publishers of School and College Text-Books NEW YORK CINCINNATI CHICAGO Boston Atlanta Dallas San Francisco (S. 3xa) NOV 9 iyo5 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Feb. 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 013 998 098 ^^^^^^^^l^^^^^^S