'«'. i:< ,^ m © HE IS A DREAMER- LE T VS LEAVE HIM^ PASS Julius Cagsar ACT! • scri- mXEODUCTION. Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar was not printed before it appeared in the first folio, of 1623, but there is good reason for believing it to have been written in or before the year 1601. Its date of production might be, therefore, between King Henry V. and Hamlet ; but Shakespeare more frequently f¥0- duced two plays than one in a year. Mr. Halliwell-Phillips has pointed out that in a book published in 1601 — Weaver's "Mirror of Martyrs " — there is distinct reference to the FcMmm Scene in the Third Act of Shakespeare's play : , " The many-headed multitude were drawne By Brutus' speech, that Cassar was ambitious ; When eloquent Mark Antonie had showne His vertues, who but Brutus then was vicious ? " This allusion places beyond question the fact that the stanza in Drayton's " Barons' Wars," published in 1603, which gives a character of Mortimer re- sembling Antony's character of Brutus in the last 6 INTEODUCTION. scene of Juliiis C-cBsar, was suggested by a pas- sage in Shakespeare's play. This was the stanza, : " Such one he was, of him we boldly say, In whose rich soul all sovereign powers did suit, For whom in peace the elements all lay So mixed, as none could sovereignty impute ; Afl all did govern, yet all did obey : His lively temper was so absolute That 't seemed, when Heaven his model first began. In him it showed perfection in a man." Revision of the poem for the edition of 1619 made the resemblance even more distinct, .its last couplet being corrected into : " As that it seemed, when Nature him began, She meant to show all that might be in maiL* Shakespeare had made Antony say of Brutns : " His life was gentle ; and the elements So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, this was a man." Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar is a play of govern- ment, but it is not enough merely to say that it represents government in its chief forms. The sweep of the story brings before us — in Rome the old centre of rule — unstable populace, democratic tribunes, republicans in their two main types, as the practical republican whose thought is for him- INTRODUCTION. 7 Be\£f and the philosophical whose thought is for the world ; it paints in feeble man the groed of empire, and tyrannicide as worse than fruitless ; shows oligarchy risen from the ruins with a tyranny far greater than that from which the bare mistrust had caused escape to be sought by murder ; it paints civil war, and includes foreshadowings of the dis- union between chiefs of equal power. Their strife is shown in the play of Antony and Cleopatra, that continues the sequence of events to the final triumph of Octavius. There is all this, no doubt, furnishing material for the two stories; and Shakespeare, as in pre- ceding plays, made use of the historical groundwork as a parable against sedition and a warning of the ills of civil war, while the direct human interest, the centre of action, might lie in something else. So in this pair of plays, one, Antony and Cleopatra^ has its centre in the house of the strange woman by whom many strong men have been slain. But in Juliu8 Co'^ar the centre of human interest is the centre also of the question of government. Religious men, opposed to her in faith, had more than onco plotted the assassination of Elizabeth ; and that the death of the childless queen might, whenever it happened, bring on another contest for the crowi}, 8 INTEODUCTION. was in tbe latter years of Elizabeth's reign widely feared. But a true dramatist like Shakespeare will never place the point of unity, the centre of crystallisation, so to speak, with which every line in a good play, poem, picture, statue, song, or what- ever else may claim to be a work of art, has its relation, in anything so abstract and impersonal as the mere conception of government. The central thought of a play of Shakespeare's is to be found always in some one human truth that strikes home to the soul of some one man, through whom it passes insensibly into the souls of all who have been interested in his story. Which, then, of the persons in this play of Julius CcBsar is the one upon whom Shakespeare seeks especially to fix attention ? Beyond question, it is Brutus. The centre of interest will lie in him. Shunning, as we must always, the paths of dry specu- lation which invariably lead those who follow them to deserts far away from Shakespeare's track, we ask, p'^ we must always, what is the most direct and obvious source of our strong human interest in the person whose fortunes are most continuously and visibly affected by the action of the plot. Binitus is represented as a man gentle and noble in the best sense of each word, the most perfect INTRODUCTION. 9 character in Shakespeare, but for one great error in his life. All Rome had so much faith in his unblemished honour, that the conspirators who had determined to strike down Cassar by assassination in the hour when he was about to grasp the sole dominion of Rome, strongly desired companionship of Brutus to give to their deed colour 6f right, and win for it more readily the assent of the people. There is in the blood of Brutus a love of liberty so strong that it is a virtue tending to excess. Upon this and upon his unselfish concern for the common good, his brother-in-law Cassius works, and by hia working sways the scales of judgment, and leads Brutus to do evil that good may come of it. Not for ill done, but for mistrust of what might come, with no motive but the highest desire for his country's good, with no personal grudge in hiE heart, but a friend's affection for the man he struck, Brutus took part in an assassination. Portents ai'e so inwoven with the action of the play as to sug- gest the presence of the gods in the affairs of men. The stroke that was to free Rome from a possible tyranny gave three tyrants for one, civil war for peace, and sent to a cruel death, by self-murder, the faithful wife who was dear to Brutus as the ruddy drops that visited his sad heart. The spirit of Ceesar 10 INTEODUCTION. haanted Brutus as his evil spirit, and the last cx^ at Philippi was, " O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet ! " as Caesar's chief assassins were dying by their own hands on the swords that stabbed him. Suggestions of the nature of the error flash out again and again from passages in the Fifth Act Here is one. At bay on the Plains of Plulippi, Cassius says to Brutus : ** If we do lose this battle, then is this The very last time we shall speak together : What are you then determia^d to do ? " Brutus replies, with his own natural mind, applying^ to the killing of himself a reasoning that pracisely applies also to the killing of Caesar : " Even by the rale of that philosophy By which I did blame Cato for the death "Which he did give himself : — I know not how, But I do find it cowardly and vile, For fear of xchat might fall, so to prevent The term of life, — arming myself with patience To stay the providence of some high powers. That govern u» below." But the next question of Cassius drives the thought of Brutus from its place of rest, and sends it down the incline of that j>assion for liberty which makes him now as ready to kill himself as he before was to kill Csesar. Cassius says : rNTRODUCTION. U. " Then, if we lose this battl^ Toa are contented to be led in triumph Through the streets of Rome ? Brutug. No, Cassius, no. Think not thou, noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Borne ; He bears too great a mind." The passion for freedom begets action that contradicts his calm unbiassed sense of right So against right he had struck Caesar — doing evil to find good — and brought down upon himself and his country greater evils than he had intended to avert. For the common good he committed crime from which, if it had been for himself, his soul would have recoiled. For it is no more true in public than in private life that good can come of evil done ; and let high politics stink as they may, there is no difference between public and private morality. The noblest motives in a man of purest character cannot turn moral wrong into political right, and the more completely Shakespeare im- presses us with the ideal beauty , of the character of Brutus, the more surely he brings home to us this truth. Let as turn now to the conduct of the story which has this truth at its heart. The play opens at a time when there is general belief that Cseaar 12 INTBODUCTION. desires an imperial crown, and on the fifteenth of February, *' the Feast of Lupercal," celebrated annually in honour of a shepherd god, when Caesar himself, having returned in triumph from the wars, hopes publicly to receive the crown from Antony, supported by the acclamations of the people. The fickle populace are in the streets. Their tribunes, who are expecting Caesars grasp at empire, meet them, chide theikj, drive them to their homes, pluck Caesar's trophies from the images, and the last words of the scene clearly express their motive : " These growing feathers plucked from Caesar's wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch. Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearf ulness." Here is the aim of Csesar as seen from without by heads of the democracy. The second scene shows Caesar's aim in Caasar himself, and as seen from without by the repub- licans. It tells the failure of that day's attempt upon the crown, and begins the tale of the con- spiracy with the attempt of Cassias to bring Brutus into it. The scene opens with Csesar passing to the games, and, as he hopes, to his arowning as King. But hope of empire brings INTRODUCTION. 13 with it to the childless man desire for a direct heir to the thiona This thought underlieB the first words spoken by Caesar in the play, ad- dressed to his wife and to Antony, who is stripped for the course, and whose touch in the chase, as he passed her, might remove sterility. The same ten lines of the opening of the scene paint Caesar so far risen above surrounding men that he is treated as a god ; and afterwards in his own speech, big with the sense of his sole dignity and power, he assumes the god. *' I shall remem- ber," Antony replies to the bidding that he should not forget, in his speed, to touch Calphumia : " When CsBsar says, ' Do this,' it is performed.** So men speak of Divine but not of human power. Upon this glorying in a vain sense of supreme power breaks the despised warning of the sooth- sayer, who bids Caesar " beware the Ides of March." Caesar passes with triumphal music in the hope to return crowned. Cassius remains to work on at his endeavour to bring Brutus into the conspiracy already formed for saving Kome from a sole master by killing Caesar. The whole dialogue between them has this meaning. Distant shouta 14 INTHODUCTIOS. of the people cause Brutus to express his fear that they choose Ciesar for their king • " Cassi-us. Ay, do you fear it f Then must I think you would not have it so. Brutus. I would not, Cassius ; yet I love him well." In the dialogue between them Cassius is the speaker ; the words of Brutus are not answers to his persuasion, but detached expression of his owd thought prompted once and again by the shouting of the people. And Cassius, though he is seeking to lead Brutus, is unable to put his argument uj»ou ground higher than that which satisli'^s himself. It is based on personal resentment that another man should be accounted greater than himself. For this reason, Shakespeare has not allowed Brutus to speak a word that would associate Li.s way of reasoning with that of Cassius. Only he asks at last that he may not be any farther moved ; but he is so far won that while indicating knowledge of his brother-in-law's aim, and wilt ingness to find occasion to hear more : •' 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 conditiona fto this time la like to lay upon ub. INTRODUCTION. 15 Cassius. I am glad That my weak words have struck but thus much show Of fire from Brutus." Csesar then passes, on his return from disappoint- ment, with the angry spot upon his brow. The people, as we learn presently from Casca, had applauded, not the offer of the crown, but the show made of rejection, that it might be urged upon him by their voices. Vexation had been great enough to bring on an attack of the epilepsy to which he was subject, and as he passes he observes the eye of Oassius upon him, of Cassius ''who looks quite through the deeds of men." His irritation of mind, blended with the knowledge of men that had helped Caesar to power, then fastens upon Cassius, whom he describes to Antony with a real insight into the danger of his character which sums up what has been shown in the preceding argument of Cassius with Brutus : — " Such men as he are never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves ; And therefore are they very dangerous." Then he assumes the god : " I rather tell thee what is to be feared Than what I fear, — for always I am Ccesar}^ To which Shakespeare at once adds a dramatic lo' INTRODUCTION. toucli of irony on the frail man who speaks like an eternal power : " Come on my right side, for this ear is deaf, And tell me truly what thou think'st of him." When Casca has been plucked by the sleeve, and has told in terms bluntly contemptuous the tale of Caesar's disappointment, Cassius does not part with him till he has bidden him to his house. Then Brutus parts from Cassius, with renewed in- dication that he may be won, since he is willing to hear more. " For this time I will leave you : '"o-morrow, if you please to speak with me, I will come home to you ; or, if you will, ■iJome home to me, and I will wait for you. Cassius. I will do so : — till then, think of the world." " Think of the world ! " says Cassius in parting, consciously playing on his brother-in-law's un- selfish devotion to whatever he may be brought to regard as thq common good. That "he knows liim- jelf to be playing with what selfish men regard as weakness in a nature higher than their own, Shakespeare shows by taking us down at once into the mind of Cassius. It is to be remembered always that a soliloquy or an aside in Shakespeare, INTRODUCTION 17 and in our English dramatists generally, represents unspoken thought : " think of the world. [Uxit Brutus, Well, Brutus, thou art noble ; yet, I see, Thy honourable mettle may be wrought From that it is disposed : therefore, 't is meet That noble minds keep ever with their likes ; ' For who so firm that cannot be seduced ? Caesar doth bear me hard ; but he loves Brutus : If I were Brutus now, and he were Cassius, He should not humour me." And he plans then throwing writings in his way that seem to represent voices of Roman citizens — " all tending to the great opinion That Rome holds of his name ; wherein obscurely Caesar's ambition shall be glanced at." Between the second and third scenes of the First Act a month has passed. The two first scenes of the play represent Csesar's attempt to obtain the crown from the people in the middle of February, at the Feast of Lupercal. The story proceeds now to the fifteenth of March, when Csesar sought to be crowned by the Senate. From the heavens in storm in the third scene of the First Act, to the full bursting of the storm oi civil fury at the end of the Third Act, we are in \8 INTRODUCTION. the Ides of INIarch. The action extends over one night and day; the day of Csesar's murder and the night before it. Of the portents that formed part of P] starch's record, Shakespeare makes throughout a poetical use, joining them with the course of events, to represent offended Heaven and the presence of a higher power in affairs of men. The conspirators are gathering in Pompey's porch, under "a tempest dropping lire," safe against observation in deserted streets. But Brutus is not yet em-olled among their number, although Cassius has so used the time that but a few words on the eve of Caesar's second attempt to be crowned, a few words representing that the plan is formed, and that the blow will be struck against tyranny whether Bnitus give it countenance or no, will be enough to win him. The conspirators are meeting in Pompey's porch ; Cassius has not yet joined them, and Metellus Cimber has been sent to his house to fetch him. Under such conditions the scene opens with Casca meeting Cicero in the portentous storm that suggests " Either there is a civil strife in heaven, Or else the world, too saucy with the gods, Incenses them to send destruction." niTROBUCTION. 19 To Cftsca's recital of the prodigies that moved men's mindB, Cicero's answer is — " Indeed, it is a strange-disposed time ; But men may construe things, after their fashion, Clean from the purpose of the things themselves. Comes Caesar to the Capitol to-morrow / " Caesar was to fall, not for ills done, but for the ills he might do if he wore a crown. " Mis- trust of good success," and " hateful Error, Melan- choly's child," would do this deed. So Cassius, next meeting Casca, interprets the signs in the heavens " clean from their purpose " as portending a just war against the tyranny of Csesar : " Now oould I, Casca, name to thee a Most like this dreadful night ; That thunders, lightens, opens graves, and roan As doth the lion in the Capitol." And Casca recalls that, " Indeed, they say the senators to-morrow Mean to establish Ccesar as a king ; And he shall wear his crown by sea and land, In every place, save here in Italy." Oewsius has won Casca to fellowship in the ooii- apiracy, when Cinna, who has been sent as a second messenger after Metellus Cimber to find the mifising chief, interrupts their talk m the dm'k- 20 INTfiODUCTION. Qess broken only by the meteors and Ugbtning flashei. " Ca*ca, Stand close awMle, for here oomes one in haste. Cas. 'T is Cinna ; I do know him by hia g'ait : He is a friend. — Cinna, where haste you so ? Cin. To find out you. 'WTio 's that ? Metellus Cimber ! Cas. No, it is Casca ; one incorporate To our attempts. Am I not stayed for, Cinna ? Cin. I am glad on 't. What a fearful night is this I There 's two or three of us have seen strange sights. Cas. Am I not stayed for 1 Tell me. Cin. Yes, you are. O Cassius ! If you could But win the noble Brutus to our party." Cassius is cool for action ; but in other men the storm that suggests anger of the gods begets fear that seeks shelter under the good name of Brutus, soul of honour, whom men trust for his known worth, and whom the gods must love. The act is closed with emphasis upon the reason for the strong endeavour to win assent from Brutus to the murdering of Caesar. Casca says : ' Oh, he sits high in all the people's hearts. And that which would appear offence in ub, His countenance, like richest alchymy, Will change to yirtue and to worthineaa." Caseius replies : *' Him, and his worth, and our great need of hlxD; You have right well conceited. Let us go, INTEODUCTION. iSl For It ia after midnight ; and, ere day^ We will awake him, and be sure of him," The first scene of the Second Act shows Brutus awake already, made sleepless by the thought that Cassius has for a month past been diligently prompting, with the aid of false shows of a Roman people calling upon Brutus to save Borne from the creation of a tyrant : " Since Cassius first did whet me against Csesar, I have not slept." Now, on tne night before Cassar's second grasp towards a crown, which will be surely granted by the Senate in the Capitol, Brutus has left his bed, paces his orchard, wakens his boy, Lucius, to provide light in his study, reads by the light of exhalations whizzing in the air one of the mis- leading papers studiously set by Cassius in his way. We are shown by a soliloquy the reasons that have brought Brutus, through anguish of a mind at war within itself, to the belief that there is no way to secure the good of Rome except by Caesar's death. Here Shakespeare represents Bru- tus as surrendering his better judgment to no good reason for an evil deed : " for my part, I know no personal causa to spurn at hina. 22 INTRODUCTION. But for the general .... to speak tntli of GsBsar, I h»Te not knowTi when his affections swayed More than his reason.*' But just men ambitious of a crown have often changed their nature, scorned the base degrees hj which they rose, and had a sting put into them : — " So Cfesar may : Then, lest he may, prevent" There is no more tlian mistrust; no argument that could have swayed the mind of Brutus without help from Cassius, who had worked steadily, and with intimate knowledge of that hereditary zeal for liberty which might possibly be urged until it passed the bounds of reason in endeavour to secure the common good. When Cassius brings the conspirators to Brutua Ln his orchard, there is recoil from the shameful aspect of conspiracy that fears to show its face, but a few words whispered apart by Cassius to Binitus suffice to make him one of the confedemtes. Few words would then suffice. — To-morrow Caesar would be crowned in the Capitol. But he will be struck down. Here are the men who will do it — with you or without you. With you they strike for liberty with the least risk to Rome; Are yo^x INTRODUCTION. 25 with us? If you are, there is no time left for delay in showing it. — While Brutus and Cassius whisper apart, a few words of talk among the other conspirators, as to the place of sunrise, indicate dawn of the fatal day, and end in a stage group, that speaks to the eye, of cloaked conspira- tors, from among whom a sword points directly to the Capitol, which in the play is throughout taken as the place of the assassination. To the group so formed Brutus approaches, ready to join hands with the conspirators. He will have no oaths, no cruelties, and the weight of influence in men of noble character is shown, here and in later scenes, by the readiness of all who are about liim to be ruled by the opinion of Brutus. Cassius is ready to ask Cicero to stand with them. Casca says, " Let us not leave him out." Cinna says, " No, by no means." Metellus adds, "O let us have him." Brutus dissuades, and Cassius says, " Then leave him out ; " and Casca says, " Indeed, he is not fit." Decius asks, "Shall no man else be touched, but only Csesar 1 " Cassius then, with good practical insight from the point of view of the conspiracy, urges that Mark Antony will be found a shrewd contriver if he outlive Caesar. He too should fall Brutus dissuades, and althouob 24 USTEODUCTION. Cassius sajs, ** Yet I fear him," he is spared, with the comment of Trebonius, "There is no fear in him ; let him not die ; for he will live, and laugh at this hereafter." The eighth hour of the day novr da-vTuing ia ap- pointed for the murder. Caius Ligarius is named as one who has been hardly used by Csesar and might join them. "He loves me well," says Brutus. " Send him but hither, and I '11 fashion him; " and at the close of the scene, when he enters it is to emphasise the influence of a high character upon surrounding men. Ligarius has risen from a gick-bed at the call to Brutus. Brutus says to him : " 0, what a time have yon chose out, brave Cains, To wear a kerchief I Would you were not sick." To which his answer is — ** I am not sick, if Brutus have in hand Any ezploit worthy the name of honour." But before the scene so closes, Portia has followed Brutus into the orchard, urging that she may share the secret that has troubled his mind, changed his manner, brought strange men at night to converse with him, **some six or seven that did hide their faces even f»^m the darkness." Her urging brings INTEODUCTION. 25 out the deep music of the love that is between them. " Yon are," he says, " my true and honourable wife, as dear to me as are the ruddy drops that visit my sad heart." Ahd she had not pleaded in vain for fullest confidence, when Ligarius knocked at the loot. " ye goda I Render me worthy of this noble wife I [Knocking, Hark, hark I one knocks : — Portia, go in awhile ; And by-and-by thy bosom shall partake The secrets of my heart : — All my engagements I will construe to thee, All the char&ctery of my sad brows." I31 the second scene of the Second Act, portents, dreams, and persuasions of his wife cause delay, and ?Jinost withhold Csesar from the Capitol, to which he is drawn by flatteries of those who lead him to his death. There is no flattery from Brutus ; the only words he speaks have for him dread signi- ficance : " Caesar, 'tis stricken eight." His closinjg thought is of repugnance to hypocrisy, when Csesar says to the conspirators surrounding him : " Good friends, go in, and taste some wine with ine ; And we, like friends, will straightway go together, * A.nd the reflection of Brutus is " That every like is not the same, O OaBsar, The heart of Brutus yearns to think apan," 26 INTBODUCTION. Then the act ends with Artemidonis waiting to warn Caesar ; and Portia at her house-door, who has learnt the secrets of her husband, which fill all her mind and heart with a wife's over-wrought passion of love and anxiety for Brutus. The two passages that bring Portia herself into the story, are thus made to give deep and full expression to the strength of the home love between her and Brutus. The Third Act opens with Csesar on his passage to the Capitol, and in the Capitol surrounded by the Senate. He has not listened to the warnings on his path. One not in league with the conspira- tors wishes them, as he passes, success in thfcir enterprise, and then proceeds to speak with Caesar. There is a dramatic movement of anxiety as they hurry their preparations in swift speech together ; but Csesar "doth not change," and they are not beti-ayed- Then as the conspirators gather about Caesar — surrounding him as if joined in support to the plea of Metellus Cimber for the recall of his brother Publius from banishment — from the midst of the swords that in another minute will be drawn to slay him, Caesar, with his last breath, assumes the god, and says, ** I am constant as the ucrthem star, Of whose true-fixed aud resting quality INTRODUCTION. 27 There ie no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with nnnumbered spasla, They are all fire, and every one doth shine ; But there 's but one in all doth hold his place : So in the world, — 't is furnished 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, TJnshak'd of motion." To Cinna, further urging, he cries, " Hence ! wilt thou lift up Olympus?" And in this mood the earthly god becomes a bleeding piece of clay. Upon the tyrannicide follows the revolutionary cry, "Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!" With hands washed in the blood of Csesar, the conspira- tors cry " Peace," and look to be remembered as " the men that gave their country liberty." But as they sowed they reap. Antony proves, as Cassius feared he would, ** a shrewd contriver." Having sent before him a true promise, though in- geniously misleading, that he would follow Brutus if Brutus could resolve him " how Cajsar hath deserved to lie in death," Antony is received gener- ously by Brutus, who, confident in the purity of his own purpose, has no doubt that he can prove all to have been done for the common good. But Cassius joins to the argument of Brutus touching 28 INTKODUCTION, right and duty only, the suggestion that to his mind appears more persuasive : ''Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of new dignities." When Antony, with manly and full expression of his love to Csesar, obtains leave from Brutus to speak in the order of his funeral, Cassius again uses his shrewder knowledge of a world that is not as it seems. " Brutus, a word with you. — 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?" But again the influence of Brutus, who brings faith in the justice of his cause, and a large spirit of humanity, into tlie crooked counsels of con- spiracy, prevails. Cassius, in such a world, would be more fit to lead. " I know not what may fall,'* Cassius says as he yields, " I like it not." When Antony, left alone with the body of Csesar, has prophesied the curse of civil vrar on Italy, the tidings brought by the servant of Octavius that his master is within seven leagues of Rome prepares the way for immediate action, if Antony succeed in stirring up the people to revolt; Il^TRODUGTION, 29 the coming of the serv^ant also gives dramatic action to the removal of the body from the stage. In the Forum Scene it may be observed that Brutus speaks in prose with brief expression of what he believes to be the sufficient reason for the death of Csesar ; while the speech of Antony, who begins with the whole mind of the populace against him, and, to secure hearing, tells the people that he comes " to bury Cj:esar, not to praise him," is a piece of studied rhetoric, designed to feel its way and rise in boldness until it has stirred the blood of all to fury. He undermines the accusa- tion of ambition, and pauses to give time for the effect of this to appear. Then he shows, but does not read, Caesar's will, with hints of large gifts in it to the people. Then he shows Caesar's body, but not until he has worked emotion up by skilful dealing with the mantle under which it lies. By that time he has raised the people into fury against traitors ; but while they are rushing to revenge, crying burn, fire, kill, slay, he stays them for the climax of his appeal, which is not to their hearts but to their pockets. They have not heard the will " To every Roman citizen lie gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas,'* 30 ENTRODUGTIOir. " with all hifl walks, his private arbours, and new- planted orchards on this side Tiber." Now they may be let slip at their prey. " Mischief, thou art afoot," says Antony, " Take thou what course thou wilt." Tidings follow of the flight of Brutus and Cassius from Rome, and of the entrance of Octavius. The last scene of the act shows civil fury at its height among the populace. Raging to bum and slay, they meet Cinna the Poet, mistake him, when they discover his name, for Cinna the Conspirator, and are about to tear him to pieces, when it is vain for him to tell them that he is Oinna the Poet, Their blood is up, and they are raging to destroy. **Cin, I am Cinna the Poet ; I am Cinna the Poet. 4 at. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bod verses. Cin. I am not Cinna the Conspirator. 2 Cit. It is no matter, his name 's Cinna : pluck hi« name ont of his heart, and tnm him going. 3 Cit. Tear him, tear him I " So much for the liberation of the peopla The first scene of the Fourth Act opens vrith showing how little Las been gained by the rem ova) of a tyranny. The triumvirs are seen in counsel pricking men for death by their own absolute will. INTBODUCTION. 31 and (m the b'ghtest impulses of petty jealousy among themselves. "Antony. These many, then, shall die; their namee are pricked. Oet. Your brother too must die : consent yon, Lepidus 7 Lepidus. I do consent — Oct. Prick him down, Antony. Zep, Upon condition Publius sliall not live, Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony. Ant. He shall not live ; look, with a spot I da.mn him.** There could not be more vivid expression of the failure to reap good fruit from an evil deed. Murder of Cassar has at once produced the ills that Brutus would have given his own life to avert. At once the scene passes to preparation for new discords in the future. If three men share the supreme power, first the weakest must go to the wall ; and that is Lepidus, who is at once treated by his colleagues as "a slight unmeritable man, meet to be sent on errands." In a later scene there is a glance that indicates the rivalry to come between Octavius and Antony. But after the short opening scene of the Fourth Act — which shows the ruin of the hope that had caused Brutus to take part in a policy of doing evil that a good might follow — the one theme of the rest of the act is Brutus. H«» 32 INTBODUCTION. has brought desolation upon his couatry, and upoii his home; for he has learnt that Portia, made desperate by the griefs with which she was sur- rounded, swallowed fire, and so inflicted on herself a cruel death. The suppressed anguish in the mind of Brutus gives its character to all that is said or don© by him. There is no part of Shakespeare that surpasses in spiritual beauty the Fourth Act of Julius Ccesar, which represents the bruised spirit of Brutus, with its short-lived powers of resents ment and its depths of tenderness laid open by the stir of half-suppressed emotion. Neither the times nor his stoic philosophy will suffer him to sob his heart out for the cruel death of the wife dearly loved : a death tliat was among thousands of calamities, public and private, that had come of the assassination- He had killed his wife in stabbing Csesar. What is known as the Quarrel Scene between Brutus and Cassius, represents in Brutus, the quiver of suppressed emotion from his own deep- seated private grief passing into unwonted emo- tion of resentment at what looked in Cassiua like want of honour and of friendly care. Cassiiui is quick of temper ; Brutus habitually calm. But Oassius has now to wonder at the sensitiveness of INTBODUCTION. 38 his friend, whose anger has but a short life, and whose amends for it are generous and full- " Hath Cassius lived To be but mirtli and laughter to his Brutus, VS'Txen grief and blood ill-tempered, vexeth him ? Brutug. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. Casfiug. Do you confess so much J Give me your hand Brutus. And my heart too." But when the Poet breaks in to reconcile the generals, it is Brutus who is nervously impatient of his interference, Cassius who says, " Bear with him." When Brutus has called for wine, that he may pledge Cassius, and gain perhaps some arti- ficial strength to restrain utterances of his tortured spirit, Cassius says : — " I did not think, you could have been so angry, Brutus. Cassius I I am sick of many griefs. Cassius. Of your philosophy you make no use, If you give place to accidental evils. Brutus. No man bears sorrows better. — Portia is deai Cassius. Ha, Portia ? Brutus. -^She is dead. Cassius. How 'scaped I killing when I Grossed you 80?" In the following Council of War the character of Brutus secures assent to his plan of marching at once to Philippi, though again the policy of Cassius is the more astute. After the Council haa broken 34 INTRODUCTION. tip, the tenderness in the soul of Brutus takes new forms. '♦ Brutus. Lucius, my gown — Farewell, good Messala : Good night, Titinius. — Nolle, nolle Cassius, Good night, and good repose. Cassthis. 0, my.dear brother, This was an ill beginning of the night : Kever come such division 'tween our souls I Let it not, Brutus. Brutus. Everything is well. Cassius. Good night, my lord. Brutus. Good night, good brother.'" Then follows a delicate dramatic touch by which Shakespeare puts into the hand of Brutus the book he is to be reading when Caesar's ghost appears to him. He takes his gown from the hands of Lucius, gently observes upon his drowsiness, and when Yarro and Claudius are called, that they may be at hand for sending messages, his overflowing tenderness for others requires that they shall sleep on cushions in his tent. " Varro. So please you, we will stand, and watch yoxu pleasure. Brutus. I will not have it so ; lie down, good sirs ; It may be, I shall otherwise bethink me. Look, Lucius, here 's the book I sought for so ; I put it in the pocket of my gown. Lncins. I was sure your lordship did not give it me. Brutus. Bear with me, good hoy, I am inaeh forgetfuU INTBODUCTION. 35 Oan§t tliou hold up thy heavy eyes awhile, And touch thy instrument a strain or two ? jAL4fiu8. Ay, my lord, an't please you. Brvtus. It does, my boy i 7 trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. Lucius, It is my duty, sir. Brutus. I should not urge thy duty past thy might ; I know, young bloods look for a time of rest. Lvbciut. I have slept, my lord, already. Brutus, It was well done, and thou shalt sleep again j I will not hold thee long ;" and then from the heart quivering with tenderness, « if I do live, I will be good to thee." When the boy falls asleep, Brutus takes thought even to remove his instrument lest it should fall and break, and then he sits to his book, the whole beauty of his character revealed to us, and brought home to our hearts. Yet even he, of purest cha^ racter with purest aim, has erred in seeking good through evil. Brutus sees his evil spirit in the ghost of Caesar, whom he will again see at Philippi, as he faces the last ruin of his vain hope, to win a public right through moral wrong by doing as a patriot what he would shrink from doing as a man. In the Fifth Act of Shakespeare's play the opposing forces meet on the plains of Philippi, It IS in their choice of commands that Shakespeare 86 INTBODUCTION. shows Octaviufl and Antony equal now under press of danger, but with an element of discord in the imperial ambition of Octavius. " Ant. Octavius, lead your battle softly on, Upoa the left hand of the even field. Oct. Upon the right hand I ; keep thou the lett. Ant. "VNTiy do you cross me in this exigent f Oct. I do not cross you, but I will do so." Portents again suggest the presence of the goda in the affairs of men. Even Cassiua is disheartened by the omens ; and in the farewell between Cassiua and Brutus, should they never meet again, there tb the passage, to which I have already referred, in which Brutus blames self-murder and finds it ** cowardly and vile, For fear of what might fall, so to prevent The term of life ; " he will arm himself with patience, "to stay tlic Providence of those high powers that govern us below ; " but swerves from the voice of his own reason when it is suggested that he may be led in triumph through the streets of Roma The one excess of passion in him, overrules his judgment in iiis own case as it did in CaBsar's. When Cassius bids Titinius spur towards troops an the field, and bring word to him whether they IHTBODUCTION. 87 t^re friends or enemies (for all are Romans), friendly reception is interpreted as hostile capture. Oassius bids his slave, whom he sets free, hold the sword on which he is resolved to die. * Guide thou the sword — Caesar, thou art revenged, Even with, the sword that killed thee." Kevenged also by death inflicted on the prompt- ing of a blind mistrust " Mistrust of good success hath done this deed," says Messala, and adds a comment designed also to apply to the whole tale of the conspiracy. ** O, hateful Error, Melancholy's child ! Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not ? 0, Error, Boon conceived, Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, But kill'st the mother that engendered thee I " And Titinius adds like comment, as he bends over his master's body before dying by his side : — " Alas, bhou hast misconstrued everything." From Brutus, the comment is, ** 0, Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet I Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails.'^ Shall ire ask now where the wit lay under th« wigs of critics who wondered why Shakespeare did not end the play of Julius Caesar with the soene oi hifl assassination 1 38 INTRODUCTION. The end of Brutus is associated with the incident of Lucilius ready to die for him ; and in his own last farewell with the comfort of the man who earned the trust of all, " My heart doth joy. that yet, in all my life, I foiuid no man, but he was trae tx) me." Brutus, too, dies upon the sword with whicli he had stabbed Caesar : '' Caesar, now be still : I killed not thee with half so good a \\'ill." And his praise comes from the lips of his opponent : " Antony. This was the noblest Roman of them all : All the conspirators, save only he. Did that they did in envy of great Ctesar ; He only, in a general honest thought Of common good to all, made one of them. His life was gentle ; and the elements So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up And say to all the world, * This was a man.' " If even Brutus, seeking with the noblest motives to make evil his good,, found that evil sown was evil reaped, still less can men of lower lives hope for success in an attempt to advance public good by means that, if suggested for their private good, they would avoid as infamous. There is no distinction between private and public morality. No politician can make it without damaging his cause. Ff.nry MoeliSY. Julius Cjisar. DRAMATIS PERSONS. JUOT78 C^SAB. OCTAVIOS CiESAB/ MABCUa A-NTO- N1U8, M. -iEMiLius Lepi- DD3, Cicero, \ PuBLius, \Se7Uitort. P0PILIU3 Lena, j Marcus Brutus, Cassius, Casca, Tbebonius, LiGARIDS, Decius Brutus, Metellus Cimbeb, ClNNA, Flavius cmd Maeullus, Tn- bune». SCENE,— Duiing a great part of the Play, at Rome: after- wards near Sardis, and near Philippi. Conspi- rators against Julius Ccesar. Artemidords, a Sophist qf Cnidos. A Soothsayer. CiNNA, ar. Portia, Wife of Brutus. Senators, Citizens, Ouardtp Attendants, dec. ACT I. ScE?^ I. — Rome. A Street Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Com- moners over the Stage. FloAo. Hence ! home, you idle creatures, get yo» home : Is this a holiday 1 What ! know you not^ 40 JTTLIUS CJESAK. [Act I. Being mechanical, you ought not walk Upon a labouring day without the sign Of your profession 1 — Speak, what trade art thoa t 1 Cit Why, sir, a carpenter. Mar. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule ? What dost thou with thy best apparel on 1 — You, sir, what trade are you 1 2 Cit. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobbler. Mar. But what trade art thou 1 answer me directly. 2 Cit. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a Bsfe conscience ; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. Mar. What trade, thou knave 1 thou nanghty knave, what trade 1 2 Cit. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me : yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Mar. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow 1 2 Cit. Why, sir, cobble you. Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou t 2 Cit. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl ; I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes ; when they are in great 1.] JULIUS C^SAB. 41 danger, I re-cover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon my handi- work. Flciv. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day 1 Why dost thou lead these men about the streets 1 2 Cit. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Caesar, and to rejoice in his triumph. Mar. Wherefore rejoice ? What conquest brings he home 1 What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels f You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things ! you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome, Knew you not Pompej 1 Many a time and oft Have you climbed up to walls and battlements, To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops, Your infants in your arms, and there have sat The livelong clay, with patient expectation, To see great Pompey pass the streets of E.ome : And when you saw his chariot but appear, Have you not made an universal shout, Paftt Tiber trembled underneath her banks To hear the replication of your sounds 42 JULIUS CaJSAB. [ActL 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 m triumph over Pompey's blood ? Be gone ! Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pn\y to the gods to intemiit the plague That needs must light on this ingratitude. Flav. Go, go, good countiymen, 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 Coimnoners See, whe'r 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 decked with ceremonies. Jfar. May we do so 1 You know it is the feast of LupercaL Flav. It is no matter ; let no images Be hung with Caesar's trophies. I '11 about, And drive away the vulgar from the streets ; Scene 2.] JULIUS C^SAR. 43 So do you too, where you perceive them thick. These growing feathers phicked from Csssar's wing Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, Who else would soar above the view of men And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt, ScEXE II. — Rome. A Public Place. Enter, in procession, with music, C^sar ; Antony, for the course; Calphurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca ; a great Crowd following, among them a Soothsayer. Cces. Calphurnia, — Casca. Peace, ho ! Cassar speaks. [Mtisic ceases. Cces. Calphurnia, — Cal. Here, my lord. Cces. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course. — Antonius, — Ant. Caesar, my lord. Cces. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia ; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse. 44 JUUTJ8 C^SAIt. [Aott Ant, I shall reraemb«r : When CaBsar says, * Do this,* it is performed. C(ES. Set on ; and leave no ceremony out. [Mtciie. Sooth. Csesar ! Ccps. Ha! Who calls! Casca. Bid every noise be still : — ^peace yet again ! [ !//«ic ceases. CcBS. Who is it in the press that calls on me 1 I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry, ' Csesar ! ' — Speak : Csesar is turned to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March ! Cces. What man is thati BrxL A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cces. Set him before me ; let me see his face. Cos, Fellow, come from the throng : look upon Csesar. Cces. What ^\''st thou to me nowt Speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March ! Cces. He is a dreaicer ; let us leave him : — pass. [^Sennet. Exeunt all hut Brutus mid Cassiur Cos Will you go see the order of the course f Bru. Not I. CcLs. T pray you, da SoenaS.] JULIUS C^SAB. 45 Bru. I am not gamesome : I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires ; I '11 leave you. Cos. Brutus, I do observe you now of late : 1 have not from your eyes that gentleness And show of love as I was wont to have : You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. Bru. Cassius, , Be not deceived : if I have veiled my look, I turn the trouble of my countenance Merely upon myself. Vex6d I am, Of late, with passions of some difference, Conceptions only proper to myself, Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours ; But let not therefore my good friends be grieved, — Among which number, Cassius, be you one, — Nor construe any further my neglect. Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, Forgets the shows of love to other men. Ccu. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook yout passion ; By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations, Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face I 46 JUIJUS CKSAB. [Aotr. Bru. No, Cassius ; for the eye sees not itself But by reflection, by some other things. Caa. T is just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors as will turn Your hidden yrorthiness 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, Anji groaning underneath tliis age's yoke, Have wished that noble Brutus had his eyea. ^ru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? Gas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear : Ajid, since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of 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 fa-wTi on men, and hug them hard. Scene 2.] JTIUnS CM8AR. 47 And after scandal them ; or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout^ then hold me dangerous. [Flon/rishy and Shout Bru. What means thLs shouting 1 I do fear, the people Choose Oaesar for their king. Cos. Ay, do you fear it I Then must I think you would not have it sa Bru. I would not, Cassius ; yet I love him welL But wherefore do you hold me here so long ? What is it that you would impart to me ? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honour in one eye and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently : For, let the gods bo speed me, as I love The name of honour more than I fear death. Cos. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutua, 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 sel^i I had as lief not be as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was bom free as Csesar ; so were you : We both have fed as well, and we can both 4S JULIUS CESAB. \ActV Endure the winter's cold as well as he : For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tiber chafing with her shorea, Caesar said to me, * Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Leap in with me into this angry flood, Ajid swim to yonder point 1 * — Upon the word, Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, And bade him follow : so, indeed, he did. The torrent roared, 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, 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 Csesar carelessly but nod on him. He had a fever when he was in Spain, And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake : 't is true, this god did sluike : His coward lips did from their colour fly ; And that same eye, whose bend doth awe th» worldt Soeaie2.] JULIUS CSISAB. 49 Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan ; Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, Alas, it cried, * Give me some drink, Titinius,' As a sick giri. Ye gods, it doth amaze me, A man of such a feeble temper should So get the start of the majestic world, And bear the palm alone. [Shout. Flourish. Bru. Another general shout ! I do believe that these applauses are For some new honours that are heaped on Caesar. Cos. 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, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Brutus, and Caesar : what should be in that Cresar I Why should that name be sounded more than yours ] Write them together, yours is as fair a name ; Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well j Weigh them, it is as heavy ; — conjure with 'em, Brutus will stait a spirit as soon as Cssar. 50 JT7LIU8 C^SAB. [Act 1. Now, in the names of all the gods at once, Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed, That he is grown so great 1 Age, thou art shamed ! Rome, thou hast lost tlie breed of noble bloo>la ! T^Tien went there by au age, since the great Hood, But it was famed with more than with one man 1 When could thev say, till now, that talked of Rome, That her wide walls encoupassed but one man 1 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 brooked The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome As easily as a king. Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous ; What you would work me to, I have some aim ; How I have thought of this, and of these times, I shall recount hereafter : for this present, I would not, so with love I might entreat you. Be any further moved. What you have said, I wiW consider ; what you have to say, I will with patience hear, and find a time Both meet to hear and answer such high thinga Boeno2.J JTTLIUS CSESAB. 51 Till then, my noble friend, chew upon thk : Brutus had rather be a villager Than to repute himself a son of Rome Under these hard conditions as this tim« Is like to lay upon us. Cas. I am glad That my weak words have struck but thus muob show Of fire from Brutus. Bnu The games are done, and Caesar is re- turning. Cas. As they pass by, pluck Oasca by the sleeve^, And he will, after his sour fashion, teU you What hath proceeded worthy note to-day. Re-enter Cjesar and his Train, Bru. I will do so. — But, look you, Cassiua> The angry spot doth glow on Caesar's brow, And all the rest look like a chidden train : Oalphurnia's cheek is pale ; and Cicero Looks with such ferret and such fiei-y eyea As we have seen him in the Capitol, Being crossed in conference by some senators. Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter \sL Cces. Antoniua,-^ AnL 0»sar. 52 JTILinS C^SAA. [AcC L CcRg. Let me have men about me that are fat ; Sleek-headed men, and Buch as sleep o' nighta. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look ; He thinks too mncli : such men are dangerous. Ant. Fear him not, Caesar, he 'a not dangerous; He is a noble Roman, and well given. Cces. '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 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 playi^ As thou dost, Antony ; he hears no music ; Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort, As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit That could be moved to smile at anything. Such men as he be never at heart's ease Whiles they behold a greater than themselves ; And therefore are they very dangerous. I rather tell thee what is to be feared, Than what I fear, — for always I am Caesar. Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf, And tell me truly what thou think'st of him. [Exeunt Cjssar and his Train. Casoa itays behind, a.J JUUITS C^SAB. 53 Gcuca. You pulled me hj the cloak : -would ywi speak with me ? Brtb. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day, That Caesar looks so sad. Casca. Why, you were with him, were yoti not 1 Bru> I should not then ask Cjisca what hath chanced. Gasca. Why, there was a crown offered him ; and, being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus ; and then the people fell Or shouting. Bru. WTiat was the second noise fori Casca. Why, for that toa Ca^. They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for? Casca. Why, for that too. Bru. Was the crown offered him thrice 1 Casca, Ay, marry, was 't, and he put it by thrioe, every time geatler than other ; and at every putting-by, mine honest neighbours shouted. C * Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement ! ' Bru, People, and senators, be not affrighted ; 96 jxriiiue cjesa^. [Act iii Fly not ; stand still : — ambition's debt ia pftid. Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutua. Dec And Cassins too. Bru. Where 's Publius I Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mntiny. ifet Stand £ast together, lest some friend of Csesar's Should chance — Brtt. Talk not of standing. — Publiua, good cheer : There ia no harm intended to your person, Nor to no Roman else : so tell them, Publiua, Cos, And leave us, Publius ; lest that the people, Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. Bru. Do BO : — and let no man abide this deed But we the doers. Re-^nter Trebonius. CoA. Where 's Antony t Trt. Fled to his house amazed : Men, wives, and children stare, cry out, and run Ajb it were doomsday. Bru, Fates, we will know your pleasure* — That we shall die, we know ; 't is but the timer And drawing days out, that men stand upoa. Soenei.J /TJtJUS CJE8AJI. 9/ Ca». Why, he that cuti off twenty years ol life Cuts off BO many years of fearing death. Brti. Grant that, and then is death a benefit : So are we Caesar's friends, that have abridged His time of fearing death. — Stoop, Roniana, stoop, And let ns 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 1 ' Cos. Stoop, then, and wash. — How many ages hence Shall this our lofty scene be acted over. In states unborn, and accents yet unknown I Bra, How many times shall Caesar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's basis lies along No worthier than the dust I Cos, So oft as that shall bo, So often shall the knot of ns be called The men that gave their country liberty, Dec. What, shall we forth I Ca9. Ay, every man away ; BrutuB shall lead ; and we will grace his heels W^itb the most boldest and best hearts of Borne. S8 jruiiivB CiESAB. tActm. Enter a Servctnl, Bru, Soft I who comes here 1 A friend of Antony's. Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel ; Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down, And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say : Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest ; Osesar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving : Say, I love Brutus, and I honour him ; Say, I feared Caesar, honoured him, and loved him If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony May safely come to him, and be resolved How Ca?sar hath deserved to lie in death, Mark Antony shall not love Caesar dead So well as Brutus living ; but will follow The foi-tunes and affairs of noble Brutus Thorough the hazards of this untrod state, With all true faith. So says my master Antony. Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman ; I never thought him worse. Tell him, so please him come unto this place. He shall be satisfied ; and, by my honour, Depart un touch ed Serv. I '11 fete] I him presently. {^Eadl SoeneLj JTTLIUS C^SAB. 99 Bru, I know that we shall have him well to frienii Cos. I wish we may : but yet have I a mind That fears him much ; and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose. Re-enter Ai^tony. Bru. But here comes Antony. — "Welcome, Mark Antony. AnL mighty Caesar ! dost thou lie so low 1 Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure % — Fare thee well.— I know not, gentlemen, what you intend, Wlio else must be let blood, who else is rank : If I myself, there is no hour so fit As CfEsar'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 harirl-^ do reek &nd smoke, Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years, I shall not find myself so apt to die : No place will please me so, no mean of death, As here by Ca3sar, and by you cut off, The dhoice and master spirits of tt is agCb 100 JTTLIUB CJE8AB. [ Aot HL Bru, O Antony, beg not your death of na. Though now we must appear bloody and cruel. As, by our hands, and this our present act, You see we do, yet see you hut 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 — As tire drives out fire, so pity pity — Hath done this deed on Caesar. For your p^rt, To you our sworda have leaden points, Mark Antony, Onr arms, no strength of malice ; and our hearts, Of brothers' temper, do receive you in With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence, Cos. Your voice shall be as strong as any man's In the disposing of new dignities, Bru. Only be patient, till we have appeased The multitude, beside themselves with fear. And then we will deliver you the cause, Why I, that did love Caesar when I struck him, Have thus proceeded. Ant. I doubt not of your wisdom. Let each man render me his bloody hand : First, Marcus Brutus, will I shake with you j Next, Caius Cassius, do I take your hand ; Now, Decius Brutus, yonrs ; now yours, Metellus; Scene 1.] JULIUS C.ESAE. 101 Yours, Cinna ; and, my valiant Oasca, yours ; Though last, not least in love, yours, good Tre- bonius. Gentlemen all, — alas, what shall I say 1 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, Ciesar, O, 't is 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 1 Had I as many eyes as thou hast wounds. Weeping as fast as they stream forth thy blood, It would become me better than to close In terms of friendship with thine enemies. Pardon me, Julius ! — Here wast thou bayed, brave hart ; Here didst thou fall ; and here thy hunters stand. Signed in thy spoil, and crimsoned in thy lethe. 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 ! Cas. Mark Antony,— 102 juijus c^siLa. ' [Aotm. Ant, Pardon me, Cains Oassias : The enemies of Caesar shall say this ; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty. Co*. I blame you not for praising Caesar bo : But what compact mean you to have w-ith us 1 Will you be pricked in number of our friends, Or shall we on, and not depend on you ? Ant. Therefore I took your hands; but was, indeed, Swayed from the point by looking down on Caesar Friends am I with you all, and love you all, Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasona Why and wherein Caesar was dangerous. Bru. Or else were this a savage spectacle. Our reasons are so full of good regard, That were you, Antony, the son of Caesar, You should be satisfied. Ant. ' That 's all I seek : And am moreover suitor that I may Produce his body to the market-place j And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend, Speak in the order of his funeral. Bru. You shall, Mark Antony. Cos. Brutus, a word with yoiL — [A fide to Bmtiis.] You know not what you do ; do not consent BeeneLI JULITIS C^SAB. 103 That ^jitony speak in his funeral. Know you how much the people may be moved By that which he will utter 1 Bru. By your pardon ;— I will myself into the pulpit first, And show the reason of our Caesar's death : What Antony shall speak, I will protest He speaks by leave and by permission ; And that we are contented Caesar shall Have all due rites and lawful ceremonies. It shall advantage more than do us wrong. Cos. I know not what may fall ; I like it not. Bru. Mark Antony, here, take you Oaesar*! 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 ; £lse shall you not have any hand at all About his funeral And you shall speak In the same pulpit whereto I am going, After my speech is ended. Ant, Be it so ; I do desire no more. Brtk Prepare the body, then, and follow ua [Exeunt all but Antont. Ant. O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earthy 104 aUIiITJS C.ESAB, fAotm. That I am meek and gentle with these butchen ! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever livdd in the tide of times. Woe to the hands that shed this costly blood I Over thy wounds now do I prophesy, — Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their mby lipe 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 destniction shall be so in use, And dreadful objects so familiar, That mothers shall but smile when they behold Their infants quartered with the hands of war, All pity choked with custom of fell deeds : And Csesar's spirit, ranging for revenge. With At^ by his side, come hot from hell, Shall in these confines with a monarch's voic3 Cry * Havoc ! ' and let slip the dogs of war ; That this foul deed shall smell above the eart With carrion men groaning for burial CiUer a Servant. You serve Octavius Oaesar, do you not ! Serv. I do, Mark Antony. Ant. Caesar did write for him to oome to Romfli Scene L] JULIUS CiESAE. 105 Serv. He did receive his letters, and ia coming ; And bid me say to you by word of mouth, — Csesar ! — [^Seeing the body. Ant. Thy heart is big, get thee apart and weep. Passion, I see, is catching ; for mine eyes, Seeing those beads of sorrow stand in thine, Began to water. Is thy master coming ? Serv^ He Ues to-night within seven leagues of Borne. Ant. Post back with speed, and tell him what, hath chanced : Here is a mourning Rome, a dangerous Rome, No Rome of safety for Octavius yet ; Hie hence, and tell him so. Yet stay awhile ; Thou shalt not back, till I have .borne this corse Into the market-place : there shall I try, Ln 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 ban 1. [ExevMtf with OiESAB's bodjf. 108 JTHilUS CMSAR. [Act tQ. Scene EC. — Rome. The Fomm. Ent^r Brui-UB and Cassius, and a throng of Citizens. Cit. We will be satisfied ; let us be satisfied. Bru. Then follow me, and give me audience, friends, — Cassius, go you into the other street, And part the numbers. — Those that will hear me speak, let them stay here ; Those that will follow Cassius, go with him ; And public reasons shall be rendered Of Caesar's death. 1 Cit. I will hear Brutus speak. 2 CiL I will hear Cassius ; and compare their reasons, When severally we hear them rendered. [^Exii Cassius, with some of the Citizens. Brutus goes into the pulpit. S Cit. The noble Brutus is ascended. Silence ! Bru. Be patient till the last. Romans, countrymen, and lovers 1 hear me for my cause ; and be silent, that you may hear : beiieve me for mine honour ; and have respect to mine honour, that you may believe : censuie me in joui 2.] JULIUS C^SAB. 107 vrisdom ; and awake your senses, that you may the better judge. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Csesar was no less than his. IT then tliat friend demand, why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer, — Not that I loved Csesar less, but that I loved Rome more. Had you rather Csesar were living, and die all slaves, than that Cassar were dead, to live all free men f As Csesar loved rae, I weep for him ; as he was fortunate, I rejoice at it ; as he was valiant, I honour him ; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears for his love; joy for his fortune; honour for his valour ; and death for his ambition. Who is here so base, that would be a bondman 1 If any, speak ; for him have I ofifended. Who is here so rude, that would not be a Roman 1 If any, speak ; for him have I offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his country ? If any, speak ; for him have I offended. I pause for a reply. All. None, Brutus, none. £ru. Then none have I offended. I have done QO more to Caesar than you shall do to Brutus* The question of his death is enrolled in the Capitol ; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy, 108 JULIUS CSISAR. [Act HL OCMT Mi (fences enforced, for which he soffered death. EjUer Antony and others, with O^esar's body. Here comes his body, mourned by Mark ^Vntony : who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the benefit of his dying, a place in the commonwealth ; as which of yon shall not ! With this I depart, — that, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death. All. Live, Brutus ! live I live ! 1 Cit. Bring him with triumph home unto hie house. 2 Cit Give him a statue with his ancestors. 3 Cit. Let him be Caesar. 4 Cit. Caesar^s better parts Shall be crowned in Brutus. 1 Cit. We '11 bring him to his house with shoutE and clamours. Bru. My countrymen,— 2 Cit. Peace ! silence ! Brutus speaks J Cit. Peace, ho ! Bra. Good countrymen, let me depart alone, tiSid^ for my sake, stay here %vith Antony. Scene 2. J JULIUS CMSAB.. 109 Do grace to Caesar's corse, and grace his speech Tending to Caesar's glories, which Mark Antony, By our permission, is allowed to make. I do entreat you, not a man depart, Save I alone, till Antony have spoke. [Exit. 1 Cit. Stay, ho ! and let us hear Mark Antony. 3 Cit. Let him go up into the public chair ; We '11 hear him. — Noble Antony, go up. Ant. For Brutus' sake, I am beliolding to you. 4 Cit. What does he say of Brutus ? 3 Cit. He says, for Brutus* sake, He finds himself beholding to us all 4 Clti 'T were best he speak no harm of Brutus here. 1 Cit. This Caesar was a tyrant. 3 Cit. Nay, that 's certain : We are blessed that Rome is rid of him. 2 Cii. Peace ! let us hear what Antony can say. AtU. You gentle Romans, — Cit. Peace, ho 1 let us hear him Ant. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend mf your ears ; I come to bury Cajsar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after tJiem ; The good is oft interred with their bones ; Sc let it be with Csesar. The noble Brutiw no JULIUS C-ESAJt. [Actm, Hath told you, Caesar was ambitious t If it were so, it was a grievous fault ; And grievously hath Cjesar answeied it. Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest,— For Brutus is an honourable man. So are they all, all honourable men, — Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. He was my friend, faithful and just to me : But Brutus says, he was ambitious ; And Brutus is an honourable man. He hath brought many captives home to Rome, Whohc . ansoms did the general coffers fill : Did this in Caesar seem ambitious 1 When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept j Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ; And Brutus is an honourable man. You all did see, that on the Lupercal I thrice presented him a kingly crown, Which he did thrice refuse : was this ambition ? Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ; And, sure, he is an honourable man. I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, But here I am to speak what I do know. You all did love him once, — not without cause : What cause withholds you then to mourn for him ? 8oene2.3 JULIUS CaJSAR. Ill judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, And men have lost their reason I — Bear with me ; ily heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, And I must pause till it come back to me. 1 Cit. Methinks, there is much reason in hig sayings. 2 Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, Caesar has had great wrong. 3 Cit. ' That has he, masters 1 1 fear, there will a worse come in his place. 4 Cit. Marked ye his words? He would not take the crown : Therefore 't is certain he was not am}>itious. 1 Cit. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 2 Cit. Poor soul, his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 3 Cit. There 's not a nobler man in Rome tlian Antony. 4 Cit. Now mark him ; he begins again to speak. Ant. But yesterday the word of Caesar might Have stood against the world : now lies he there And none so poor to do him reverenca masters, if I were disposed to stir Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wronj^ 112 JULIUS c^sAja. lAct in. Who, you all know, are bonourable men. I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you. Than I will wrong such honourable men. But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar ;— . I found it in his closet, — ' tis his will Let but the commons hear this testament, — Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read, — And they would go and kiss dead Cresai-'s wounds, And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ; Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, And, dying, mention it within their wills, Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy, Unto their issue. 4 Cii. We 11 hear the will : read it, Mark Antony. AU. The will, the will I we will hear Caesar's will AnL Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ; And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, It will inflame you, it will make you mad. T is good you know not that you are his heirs ; For if you should, O, what would come of it I Bcene2,J JULIUS C^SAB. 113 4 Cit Kead the will ! we '11 hear it, Antony ; 7ou shall read us tlie will, — Caesar's will. Ant. Will you be patient? will you stay awhile! I have o'ersliot myself to tell you of it. I fear, I wrong-the honourable men Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar ; I do fear it. 4 Cit. They were traitors : — honourable men ! All The will ! the testament ! 2 Cit. They were villains, murderers : The will ! read the will ! Ant. You will compel me, then, to read the will? Then make a ring about the corse of Caesar, And let me show you him that made the wilL Shall I descend ? and will you give me leave ? All. Come down. 2 Cit. Descend. 3 Cit. You shall have leave. [He comes dovjTh. 4 Cit. A ring ; stand round. 1 Cit. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 2 Cit. Room for Antony, — most noble Antony Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. Citizens. Stand back ! room ! bear back ! Ant If you have tears, prepare to shed then, now. You all do know thip mantle : I remember 114 juuus cssut. LActnL The first time ever Caesar put it on ; *T was 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-belovM Brutus stabbed ; And, as he plucked his cursed steel away, Mark how the blood of Caesar followed it As rushing out of doors, to be resolved If Brutus so unkindly knocked, or no ; For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel : Judge, 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 vanquished 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. O, what a fall was there, my countrymen 1 Then I, and you, ajid all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.— O, now you weep ; and I perceive, you feel The dint of pity : these are gracious drops. .Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold Scene 2.J JTTLinS C^SAB. 115 Our Caesar's vesture wounded 1 Look you here. Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitora 1 Cit piteous spectacle I 2 Cit. O noble Caesar 1 3 Cit. O woful day ! 4 Cit. O traitors ! villains I 1 Cit. O most bloody sight 1 2 Cit. We will be revenged. Citizens. Revenge ! about, — seek, — bum, — fire, — kill, — slay, — let not a traitor live 1 Ant. Stay, countrymen. 1 Cit. Peace, there ! Hear the noble Antony. 2 Cit. We '11 hear him, we '11 follow him, we '11 die with him. Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up To such a sudden flood of mutiny. They that have done this deed are honourable : — What private griefs they have, alas, I know not, That made them do 't : — they 're wise and honour- able. And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts : I am no orator, as Brutus is ; But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man, That love my friend ; and that they know full well 116 JDXIUS C^SAB. [Aotm, That gave me public lea\^e to speak of him. For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, To stir men's blood : I only speak right on ; r tell you that which you yourselves do know ; Show you sweet Caesar's wounds, poor poor dumb mouths, And bid them speak for me : but were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Csesar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. Citizens. We '11 mutiny ! 1 Cit. W^e '11 burn the house of Brutus ! 3 Cit. Away, then ! come, seek the conspirators. Ant Yet hear me, countrymen ; yet hear me speak. Citizens. Peace, ho 1 Hear Antony, — most noble Antony. Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know noi what Wherein hath Csesar thus deserved your loves 1 Alas, you know not, — I must tell you, then : — You have forgot the will I told you of. Citizens. Most true ; — the will : — let 's stay tmd hear the wilb Scene 2.] JTJLIUS C^SAJl. 117 ArU. Here is the will, and under Caesar's seal :— To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. 2 Cit. Most noble Caesar 1 — we '11 revenge hk death. 3 Cit. O royal Caesar I Ant. Hear me with patience. Citizens. Peace, ho ! Ant. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks. His private arbours, and new-planted orchards, On this side Tiber : he hath left them you, And to your heirs for ever, — common pleasures, To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves. Here was a Caesar ! when comes such another % 1 Cit. Never, never ! — Come, away, away I We *11 bum his body in the holy place, And with the brands fire the traitors' houses. Take up the body. 2 Cit. Go, fetch fire I 3 Cit. Pluck down benches 1 4 Cit. Pluck down forms, windows, anything I [^Exeunt Citizens, with the body. Ani. Now let it work : — mischief, thou arl afoot. Take thou what course thou wilt 1 118 zuZjIUB cacsAn. [Act nx Enter a Servant. How now, fellow 1 Sere, Sir, Octavius is already come to Rome. Ani. Where is he 1 Serv. He and Lepidus are at Caesar's housa Ant. And thither will I straight to visit him. He comes upon a wisL Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us anything. Serv. I heard him say, Brutus and Cassius Are rid like madmen through the gates of Rome. AnL Belike they had some notice of the people How I had moved them. Bring me to Octavius. [Exeunt. Scene III. — Rome. A Street Enter Cinna, the Poet Cin. I dreamt to-night, that I did feajit with Caesar, AnH things unlucky charge my fantasy. I have no will to wander forth of doora, Yet KMnething leads me forth. Enter Citizens, I Cii. What is your name I 8.3 jniTLIUS CjESAR, 119 2 Cit. Whither are you going 1 3 Cit, Where do you dwell 1 4 Cit. Are you a mariied man, or a bachelor? 2 Cit. Answer every man directly. 1 Cit. Ay, and briefly. 4 Cit. Ay, and wisely. 3 Cit. Ay, and truly ; you were best Cin. What is my name ] Whither am I going ? Where do I dwell ] Am I a married man, or a bachelor 1 Then, to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly : wisely I say, I am a bachelor. 2 Cii. That 's £is much as to say, they are fools that marry : — you '11 bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed ; directly. Cin. Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeraL 1 Cil. As a friend, or an enemy 1 Cin. As a friend. 2 Cit. That matter is answered directly, 4 Cit. For your dwellinj^, — briefly. Cin. Briefly, I dwell by the Capitoi 3 Cit Your name, sir, truly. Cin. Truly, my name in Cinna. 1 Cit Tear him to pieces, he 's a conspirator Cin I am Cinna the poet; I am Ouuu^ tSap poet 120 JULIUS CJESAR. [Act IV. 4 Cit. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses. Cin. I am not Cinna the conspirator. 2 Git. It is no matter, his name 's Cinna ; pluck but his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 3 Cit. Tear him, tear him ! Come, brands, ho ! tire-brands! To Brutus', to Cassius' ; burn alL Some to Decius' house, and some to Ca-sni's ; some to Ligarius'. Away ! go ! \_Exeunt. ACT lY. Scene I. — Rome. A Room in Antony's House. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus, seated at a table. Ant. These many, then, shall die ; their names are pricked. Oct. Your brother too must die ; consent you, Lepidus ] Lep. I do consent, — Oct. Prick him down, Antony. Lep. Upon condition Publius shall not live, Wlio is your sister's son, Mark Antony. Ant. He shall not live ; look, with a spot ] damn him. Scene LJ JTJIiIxrS GMSAS,. 121 But, Lepidus, go jou to Caesar's house ; Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine How to cut off some charge iu legacies. Lep. What, shall I find you here 1 Oct. Or here, or at the CapitoL [Exit Lepidus Ant. This is a slight unmeri table man, Meet to be sent on errands : is it fit, The three-fold world divided, he should stand One of the three to share it ? Oct. So you thought hit& j Ajid took his voice who should be pricked to die, In our black sentence and proscription. Ant. Octavius, I have seen more days th&u you: And though we lay these honours on this man To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads. He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold, To groan and sweat under the business, Either led or driven as we point the way; And having brought our treasure where we will, Then take we down his load, and turn him oft, Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears And graze in commons. Oct. You may do your will ; But he 's a tried and valiant soldier. Ant. So is my horse, Octavius ; and for that I do appoint him store of provender : 122 JULIUS CJESAB. lActrv It u a creature that I t^ach to fight, To wind, to stop, to run directly on, His corporal motion governed bj my spirit. And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so ; He must be taught, and trained, and bid go forth ; A barren-spirited fellow ; one that feeds On abject orts, and imitations, Which, out of use and staled by other men. Begin his fashion : — do not talk of him But as a property. And now, Octavius, Listen great things : — Brutus and CassiuB Are le\'ytng powers : we must straight make head : Therefore let our alliance be combined, Our best friends made, and our best means stretched out ; And let us presently go sit in council How covert matters may be best disclosed. And open perils surest answered. Oct Let us do so for we are at the stake, And bayed about with many enemies ; And some that smile have in their hearts, T fear, Millioxia of misciuuta. ^£xetml SceDfi2.] JWLXUS O.S£AEU 123 ScENi n. — Before Brutus's Tent^ in the Camp near Sardis. Drum, Enter Brutus, Lucilius, Lucius, tmd Soldiers: Titinius mid Pindarus meet them. Bru. Stand, ho ! Lucil. Give the word, ho I and stand. Bru. What now, Lucilius 1 is Cassius near 1 Lucil. He is at hand ; and Pindarus is oome To do you salutation from his master. Bru. He greets me well — Your master, Pin. darus, In his own change, or by ill officers, Hath given me some worthy cause to wish Things done, undone ; but, if he be at hand, I shall be satisfied. Pin. I do not doubt, But that my noble master will appear Such as he is, full of regard and honour. Bru. He is not doubted. — A word, Luciliua i How he received you, let me be resolved. LucU. With courtesy and with respect enough ; But not with such familiar instances Nor with such free and friendly conference As he hath used of old. Bru. Thou hast described 124 JXTLIirS C^SAJB. [Act IV. A hot friend cooling. Ever note, Luciliui, When love begins to sicken and decay It useth an enforced ceremony. There are no tricks in plain and simple faith : But hollow men, like horses hot at hand, Make gallant show and promise of their mettle j But when they should endure the bloody spur, They fall their crests, and, like deceitful jades, Sink in the trial. Comes his army on 1 Liicil. They mean this niglit in Sardis to be quartered ; The greater part, the horse in general, Are come with Cassius. [Afarch within. Bra. Hark 1 he is arrived. — March gently on to meet him. Enter Cassius and Soldiers, Cos. Stand, ho 1 Bru. Stand, ho 1 repeat the word along. 1 Sold. Stand ! 2 Sold Stand 1 3 Sold. Stand ! Cos. Most noble brother, you have done me wrong. Brti. Judge me, you gods 1 wrong 1 mine enemies 1 Scenes.] JULIUS C^SAR. 125 And if not so, how should I wrong a brother 1 Cas. BrutiTS, this sober form of yours hides wrongs ; And when you do theri.> — Bru. Cassius, be content; Speak your griefs softly, — I do know you well. Before the eyes of both our armies here. Which should perceive nothing but love from us, Let us not wrangle : bid them move away ; Then in my tent, Cassius, enlarge your griefs, And I will give you audience. Cas. Pindarus, Bid out commanders lead their charges off A little from this ground. Jj7'u. Lucius, do you the like ; and let no man "Come tc our tent till we have done our conference. Lucilius and Titinius, guard our door. [Exeunt. ScE2^fi III.— Within the Tent of Brutus. Enter Brutus and Cassius. Cas. That you have wi'onged me, doth appear in this, — You have condemned and noted Lucius Bella For taking bribes here of the Sardians ; 128 JUIilllB CMSAJR. l&jcl IV. Wherein my letters, praying on his side Becanse I knew the man, were slighted ofL Bru. You wronged yourself to writ© in auch • Cos. In such a time as this it is not meet That every nice offence should bear his comment, Bru. Let me tell you, Cassius, you yourself Are much condemned to have an itching palm ; To sell and mart your offices for gold To undeservers. Cos. I an itching palm 1 You know, that you are Brutus that speak this, Or, by the gods, this speech were else youh last. BriL. The name of Cassius honours this corrup- tion. And chastisement does therefore hide his head. Cos. Chastisement 1 Bru. Remember March, the idea of !March re- member : Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake 1 What villain touched his body, that did stab, And not for justice? What, shall one of ua, That struck the foremost man of all this world But for supporting robbers, shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes. And sell the mighty space of our large honours I Scenes.] JULIUS CiESAE. 127 For SO mucia trash as luaj be grasped thus ? I had ratiier be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman. Cas. Brutus, bay not me, I '11 not endure it : you forget yourself, To hedge me in ; I am a soldier, I, Older in practice, abler than yourself To make conditions. Bru. Go to ; you are not, Cassiua. Cas. I am. Bru. I say, you are not. Cas. Urge me no more, I shall forget myself ; Have mind upon your healtli, tempt me no further. Bru. Away, slight man ! Cas. Is 't possible 1 Bru. Hear me, for I will speak. Must I give way and room to your rash choler ? Shall I be frighted when a madman stares ? Cas. O ye gods, ye gods ! Must I endure all this*? J^ru. All this 1 ay, more : fret, till your proud heart break ; Go, show your slaves how choleric you are, And make your bondmen tremble. Must I budge 1 Must I observe you 1 Must I stand and crouch Under your testy humour J By the gods, 128 JULIUS CESAR. [Act. IV. You shall digest the venom of your spleen, Tliough it do split you ; for from this day forth, I '11 use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, When you are waspish. Cas. Is it come to this ? Bru, You say, you are a better soldier : Let it appear so ; make your vaunting true, And it shall please me well : for mine own part, I shall be glad to learn of noble men. Cas. You wrong me every way ; you wrong me, Brutus ; I gaid, an elder soldier, not a better : Did 1 say, better 1 Btvh If you did, I care not. Cas. "When Csesar lived, he durst not thns have moved me. Bru. Peace, peace ! you durst not go have tempted him. Cas. I durst not ' Bru, No. Cos. What, durst not tempt him I Bru. For your life you durst not Cds. Do not presume too much upon my love; I may do that I shall be sorry for. Bra. You have done that you should b« sorry fcp. a] JTJIilUS C^SAR. 159 There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats ; For I am armed so strong in honesty, That they pass by me as the idle wind, Which I respect not. I did send to you For certain sums of gold, which you denied me y— For I can raise no money by vile means : By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash By any indirection ; — I did send To you for gold to pay my legions, Which you denied me : was that done like Cassius t Should I have answered Caius Cassius so? When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, To lock such rascal counters from his friends, Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts ; Dash him to pieces ! Cos. I denied you not Drtu You did. Cos, I did not : he was but a fool That brought my answer back. — Brutus hath rived my heart : A friend should bear his friend's infirmities, But Brutus makes mine greater than they aim, Bru. I do not, till you practise them on m#- C««. You love me not. 180 JUUUS CESAB. [Act IV. Bru, I do not like your faults. Ccu. A friendly eye could never see guch fault& Bru, A flatterer's would not, though they do appear As huge as high Olympus. Cos. Come, Antony, and young Octavitui, come, Revenge yourselves alone on Cassiua, For Cassius is aweary of the world ; Hated by one he loves ; braved by his brother , Checked like a bondman ; all his faults observed, Set in a note-book, learned, and conned by rote, To cast into my t^eth. 0, I could weep My spirit from mine eyes 1 — There is my dagger, And here my naked breast ; within, a heart Dearer than Plutua' mine, richer than gold : If that thou be'st a Roman, take it forth ; I, that denied thee gold, will give my heart : Strike, as thou didst at Caesar ; for, I know. When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dst him better Than ever thou lov'dst Cassius. J?ru. Sheathe your dsigger : Be angry when you will, it shall have scope ; Do what you will, dishonour shall be humour. O Cassius ! you are yoked with a lamb That carries anjier, as the flint bears fir^ ; Scene 3.] JULIUS C^SAR. 131 Who, much enforced, shows a hasty spark, And straight is cold again. Cas. Hath Cassius li\'ed To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus, When grief, and blood ill-tempered, vexeth him 1 Bru. When I spoke that, I was ill-tempered too. Cas. Do you confess so much ] Give me your hand. Bru. And my heart too. Cas. Brutus ! Bru. What's the matter 1 Cas. Have you not love enough to bear with me. When that rash humour which my mother gave me Makes me forgetful 1 Bru. Yes, Cassius ; and, from henceforth, When you are over earnest with your Brutus, He '11 think your mother chides, and \e-a.vQ you so. \_Noise within. Poet. [Within.'j Let me go in to see the gener-als : There is some grudge between 'em ; 't is not meet They be alone. ^ Lucil. \Wit1iin.'\ You shall not come to them. Poet. \ Within.'] Nothing but death shall stay me. 132 JTJLITJS C^SAIt. [Actrv. Enter Poet, followed by Lucilius, Titinius, and Lucius. Cas. How now 1 What's the matter 1 Poet. For shame, you generals ! What do you mean? 'Love, and be friends, as two such men should be ; For I have seen more years, I am sure, than ye. Cas. Ha, ha ! how vilely dotli this cynic rhyme 1 Bru. Get you hence, sirrah : saucy fellow, hence ! Cas. Bear with him, Brutus ; 'tis his fashion. Br^. I'll know his humour, when he knows hie time : What should the wars do with these jigging fools ?— Companion, hence ! Cas. Away, away, be gone ! \^Exit Poet. Bru. Lucilius and Titinius, bid the commanders Prepare to lodge their companies to-night. Gas. And come yourselves, and bring ]Messah\ with you, Immediately to us. [Exetint Lucilius and Titinius. Bru. Lucius, a bowl of wine. [Exit Lucius, 3.] JULIUS C^SAE. 133 Gaa, 1 did not think you could have been to angry. Bru. Cassius, I am sick of many griefs. Cow. Of your philosophy you make no use, [f you give place to accidental evils. Bru. No man bears sorrow better : — Portia Ib dead. Co*. Hal Portia 1 Bru. She is dead. Ca8. How 'scaped I killing when I crossed you sol — O insupportable and touching loss I — Upon what sickness % Bru. Impatient of my absence, And grief, that young Octavius with Mark Antony Have made themselves so strong; — for with her death That tidings came ;— with this she fell distract, And, her attendants absent, swallowed fire. Cos. And died so 1 Bru. Even so. Cos. ye immortal gods I Re-enter Lucius with wine and tapers. Bru. Speak no more of her. — Give me a bowl — *T is better that the enemy seek us : 136 JULIUS CMZAB, [Act IV. 80 shall he waste hU means, veaiy his soldiers, Doing himself offence ; whilst we, lying still, Are full of rest, defence, and nimblenesa BrtL Good reasons must, of force, give place 60 better. The people 'twixt Philippi and this ground Do stand but in a forced affection ; For they harve grudged us contribution : The enemy, marching along by them. By them shall make a fuller number up, Come on refreshed, new-added, and encouraged : From which advantage shall we cut him off^ If at Philippi we do face him there, These people at our back. — Cog. Hear me, good brother. Bru, XJndei your pardon. — You must note bea^ That we have tried the utmost of our friends, Our legions are brim-full, our cause io ripe : The enemy increaseth every day ; We, at the height, are ready to decline. There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortuno; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Ifl bound in shallows and in miseriea On such a full sea are we now afloat ; And we must take tlie current when »*. serves, Soenea] JUUTTS CJ&8AB. 137 Or lose oar ventures. Coi. Then, with your will, go on : We *11 along ourselves, and meet them at Phiiippi. BriL The deep of night is crept upon" our talk, And nature must obey necessity ; Which we will niggard with a little rest. There is no more to say ] Ca9, No more. Good night : Early to-morrow will we rise, and hence. Bru, Lucius ! \^Re-enter Lucius.] — My gown. [Exit Lucius.] — Farewell, good Messala : — '>ood night, Titinius. — Noble, noble Cassius, Good night, and good repose. Cm. O my dear brother ! This was an ill beginning of the night : Never come such division 'tween our souls I Let it not, Brutua Brtk. Everything is welL Cos. Good night, my lord. Brtu Good night, good brother. Tit,y Mea. Good night. Lord Brutus. j5ru. Farewell, every ona. [Exeunt Cassius, Titinius, and Messala, Re-enter Lucius, with the goum. Give me the gown. Where is thy instrument t 188 JTJHU8 C^SAB. [Act IV. Luc. Here in the tent. Bru. What, thou speak 'st drowsily I Poor knave, I blame thee not ; thou 4rt o'er- watched. Call Claudius, and some other of my men ; I '11 have them sleep on cushions in my tent Lva:. Yarro, and Claudius ! Enter Varro and Claudius. Var. Calls my lord ? Bru. I pray you, sii-s, lie in my tent and sleep : It may be, I shall raise you by-and-by On business to my brother Cassius. Var. So please you, we will stand and watch your pleasure. Bru. I will not have it so ; lie down, good oirs : It may be, I shall otherwise bethink me. — Look, Lucius, here 's the book I sought for so ; I put it in the pocket of my gown. [Varro and Claudius lie down. lAUi, I was sure your lordship did not give it me. Bru. Bear with me, good boy, I am much for- getful Canst thou hold up tliy heavy eyes awhile, Ajid touch thy instrument a strain or two! 6c8ne3.] JT7IJUS C^SAJL 139 Lws. Ay, my lord, an 't please you. Bru. ^ It does, my boy : I trouble thee too much, but thou art willing. Ltic. It is my duty, sir. Bru. 1 should not urge thy duty past thy might; 1 know young bloods look for a time of rest Luc. I have slept, my lord, already. Bru. It was well done; and thou shalt sleep again ; I will not hold thee long : if I do live, I will be good to thea [MusiCy and a> Song. This is a sleepy tune : — murderous slumber, Lay'st thou thy leaden mace upon my boy, That plays thee music '\ — Gentle knave, good night ; I will not do thee so much wrong to wake thee ; If thou dost nod, thou break'st thy instrument ; I '11 take it from thee ; and, good boy, good night. — Let me see, let me see : — is not the leaf turned down Where I left reading 1 Here it is, I think. [He sits down. Enter the Ghost of CiBSAR. How ill this taper bums 1 — Ha ! who comes here \ I think, it is the weakness of mine eyes That shapes this monstrous apparition. 140 JUIJLUS C^SAR. [Act IV, It comes upon me. — Art thou anything! Art thou some god, some angel, or some devil, That mak'st my blood cold, and my hair to stare 1 Speak to me, what thou art Ghost. Thy evil spirit, Brutus. Btii. Why com'st thou 1 Ghost. To tell thee, thou shalt see me at Philippi. Bru. Well, Then I shall see thee again 1 Ghost. Ay, at PhilippL Bru. Why, I will see thee at Philippi, then. — [Ghost vani8Jie9, Now I have taken heart, thou vanishest : Dl spirit, I would hold more talk with thee. — Boy, Lucius ! — Yarro ! Claudius! sirs, awake I — Claudius ! Luc. The strings, my lord, are false. Bru. He thinks he still is at his instrument. — Lucius, awake ! Luc. My lord! Bru. Didst thou dream, Lucius, that thou so criedst out 1 Iaac. My lord, I do not know that I did cry. Bru. Yes, that thou didst Didst thou see any- thing 1 &] JTJIilTJS CJESAJt. 141 L%te, Nothing, my lord. Bru. Sleep again, Lucius. — Sirrah, OlaudiosI [To Varro.] Pellow thou 1 awake I Var. My lord 1 Clav. My lord 1 Bru. Why did you so cry out, sirs, in youi sleep 1 Var.f Clau. Did we, my lord ? Bru, Ay : saw you anything 1 Var. No, my lord, I saw nothing. Cldu. Nor I, my lord. Bru. Go, and commend me to my brother Cassius : Bid him set on his powers betimes before, And we will follow. Tor., Clau. It shall be done, my lord. [ExetmL ACT V. Scene L— The Plains of Philippi Enier Octavius, Antony, and their Armjf, Oct. Now, Antony, our hopes are answered : Fou said, the enemy would not come down. 142 JULIUS C^SAB. [AotV. But keep the hills and upper regions ; It proves not so : their battles are at hand j They mean to warn us at Philippi here, Answering before we do demand of them. AnL Tut, I am in their bosoms, and I know Wherefore they do it : they could be content To visit other places ; and come down With fearful bravery, thinking by this face To fasten in our thoughts that they have courage : But 't is not so. Enter a Messenger, Mess. Prepare you, generals, The enemy comes on in gallant show ; Their bloody sign of battle is hung outi And something to be done immediately. AnL Octavius, lead your battle softly on Upon the left hand of the even field. Oct. Upon the right hand I; keep thou the left Ant. Why do you cross me in this exigent 1 Oct I do not cross you ; but I will do so. [xl/arcA. Drum. Enter Brutus, Cassius, and their Army ; LuciLius, TiTiNius, Messala, and others. jBru. They stand, and would have parley. Scene L] JULIUS C^SAR. 143 Cos. Stand fast, Titinius : we must out and talk. Oct. Mark Antony, shall we give sign of battle ? Ant. No, Caesar, we will answer on their charge. Make forth ; the generals would have some words. Oct. Stir not until the signal. Bru. Words before blows: is it so, conntrymenl Oct. Kot that we love words better, as you do. Bru. Good words are better than bad strokes, Octavius, Ant. In your bad strokes, Brutus, you give good words : Witness the hole you made in Cassar's heart, Crying, " Long live ! hail, Caesar ! " Gas. Antony, The posture of your blows are yet unknown ; But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees And leave them honeyless. Ant Not stingless too. Bru. 0, yes, and soundless too ; For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony, And very wisely threat before you sting. Ant. Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers Hacked one another in the sides of Caesar : Vou showed your teeth like apes, and fawned like hounds. 144 JULIUS cj:sar. [Aotv. And bowed like bondmen, kissing Csesar's feeij Whilst damndd Casca, like a cur, behind, Struck Caesar on the neck. 0, flatterers 1 Cos. Flatterers I — Now, Brutus, thank your- self : This tongue had not offended so to-day, If Cassius might have ruled. Oct. Come, come, the cause : if arguing make us sweat, The proof of it will turn to redder drops. Look, — I draw a sword against conspirators : When think you that the sword goes up again 1 Never, till Csesar's three-and -thirty wounds Be well avenged ; or till another Caesar Have added slaughter to the sword of traitors. Bru. Csesar, thou canst not die by traitors^' hands, Unless thou bring'st them with thee. Oct. So I hope. I was not bom to die on Brutus' sword. Bru. 0, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain. Young man, thou couldst not die more honourable. Cos. A peevish school-boy, worthless of suob honour. Joined with a masker and a reveller. Soenel.] JTTLrCTS CSISAR. 145 Ant Old Casaius still 1 Oct. Come, Antony ; away [— Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth. If you dare figlit to-day, come to the field ; If not, when you have stomachs. [Exeunt OcfTAVius, Antony, and their Army. Cos. Why now, blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark ! The storm is up, and all is on the hazard. Bru. Ho! Lucilius, hark, a word with you. Lucil. My lord 1 — [Brutus and Lucilius talk apart Cos. Messala, Mes. What says my general ? Cos, Messalaj rhis is my birthday ; as this very day Was Cassius bom. Give me thy hand, Messala: Be thou my witness, that against my will, As Pompey was, am I compelled to set Upon one battle all our liberties. You know that I held Epicurus strong, And his opinion : now, I change my mind, And partly credit things that do presage. Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign Two mighty eagles fell ; .and there they perched, 140 JTTLIUa CiESAB. [Act V. Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' handi ; Who to Philippi here consorted us : This morning are they fled away and gone, A_nd in their steads do ravens, crows, and kitea, Fly o'er our heads, and do\vnward look on us, As we were sickly prey ; their shadows seem A canopy most fatal, under which Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost Mes. Believe not so. Cos. I but believe it psirtly ; For I am fresh of spirit, and resolved To meet all perils very constantly. — Bru. Even so, Lucilius. — (7(M. Now, most noble Bnitoi, The gods to-day stand friendly, that we may, Lovers in peace, lead on our days to age ! But since the aflairs of men rest still Lacertain, Let 's reason with the worst that may befall : If we do lose this battle, then is this Tbe very last time we shall speak together • What, are you then determined to do ? Bru. Even by the rule of that philosophy By which I did blame Cato for the death Which he did give liimself : — I know not how But I do find it cowardly and vile. For fear of what might fall, so to prevent Scene 1.] JULIUS C^SAR. 147 The time of life : — arming myself with patience To stay the providence of some high powers That govern us below. Cos. Then, if we lose this battle. You are contented to be led in triumph Thorough the streets of Rome ? Brii. No, Cassius, no. Think not, thou noble Roman, That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome ; Elr bears too great a mind. But this same day Must end that work the ides of March begun ; And, whether we shall meet again, I know not. Tlierefore, our everlasting farewell take : — For ever, and for ever, farewell, Cassius ! If we do meet again, why, we shall smile ; If not, why then, this parting was well made. Gas. For ever, and for ever, farewell, Brutus ! If we do meet again, we '11 smile indeed j If not, 't is true, this [)arting was well made. Bru. Why then, lead on. — O, tliat a man might know The end of this day's business, ere it come ! But it sufficeth, that the day will end. And then the end is known. — Come_, ho ! away ! \Exeunt, 148 JULIUB CJBSAI^ [AfltV, SciNB II— Plains of Philippl The Field of Battle. Alarum. Enter Brutus and Mess at. a. Bru. Ride, ride, Messala, ride, and give these bills Unto the legions on the other side. [Lotid AUrwrn. Let them set on at once ; for I perceive But cold demeanour in Octavius' wing, And sudden push gives them the overthrow. Ride, ride, Messala : let them all come down. [Exetmi, 6cE37E IIL — Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter Cassids and Titinius. Cos. O, look, Titinius, look, the villains flj \ — Myself have to mine own turned enemy : Tliis ensign here of mine was turning back ; I slew the coward, and did take it from him. Tit. O Cassius, Brutus gave the word too early ; Who, having some advantage on Octavius, Took it too eagerly : his soldiers fell to spoil, Whilst we by Antony are all enclosed. 8.3 JULIUS cacsAB. 119 Enter PiNDARua Pin, Fly further off, my lord, fly fui-ther off; Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord ! Fly, therefore, noble Cassius, fiy far ofil Cas. This hill is far enough. Look, look, Titinius ; Are those my tents where I perceive the firel Tit. They are, my lord. Cas. Titinius, if thou lov'st me, Mount thou my horse, and hide thy spurs in him, Till he have brought thee up to yonder troops, And here again ; that I may rest assured, Whether yond troops are friend or enemy. Tii. I will be here again, even with a thought [ExU, Gas. Go, Pindanis, get higher on that hill ; My sight was ever thick ; regard Titinius, And tell me what thou not'st about the field- — [Exit PiNDARUa This day I breath6d first : time is come round, And where I did begin, there shall I end ; My life has run his compass. — Sirrah, what nei^ 5 i*fn. [^6ortf.] O my lord 1 (7«M. What news I Pin. Titinius is encios<^ round aboat 160 JULIUS GiESAE. [Act V. With horsemen, that make to him on the spur ; Yet he spurs on : — now they are almost on hizai Now, Titinius ! — now Some light : — O, he lights too :— He's ta'en : [ShouL] and, hark I They shout for joy. Cas. Come down ; behold no mora — O, coward that I am, to live so long, To see my best friend ta'en before my £aoe t Re-enter Pindarub. Come hither, sirrali. In Parthia did I take thee prisoner; And then I swore thee, saving of thy life, That whatsoever I did bid thee do, Thou shouldst attempt it. Come now, keeg^ thine oath : Now be a freeman ; and with this good sword, That ran through Caesar's bowels, search this bosom. Stand not to answer : here, take thou the hilts ; And. when my face is covered, as 't is now, Guide thou the sword. — Caesar, thou art revenged, Even with the sword that killed thee. [Dies. Pin. So, I am free ; yet would not so have been. Durst I have done my wilL O Cassias I Scene 3.] JTJMUS CJS8AR. 151 Far from this country Pindarus shall run, Where never Roman shall take note of him. [BxU Re-enter Titinius, with Messala, Mes. It is but change, Titmius ; for Octavius Is overthrown by noble Brutus' power, As Cassius' legions are by Antony. Tit. These tidings will well comfort Cassiua. Me$. Where did you leave him 1 Tit. All disconsolate, With Pindarus, his bondman, on this hilL Mes. Is not that he, that lies upon the ground f Tit He lies not like the living. my heart ! Mes. Is not that he 1 Tit. No, this was he, Messala, But Cassius is no more, — O setting sun. As in thy red rays thou dost sink to nighty 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 I Mistmst of my success bath done this deed. Mes, Mistrust of good success hath done this deed. O hateful error, melancholy's childj l'^- JUTilUS C^SAR. [ActV. Why dost tbou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not 1 O error, soon conceived, Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, But kill'st the mother that engendered thee 1 Tit. What, Pindarus ! Where art thou, Pin- darus ? Mes. 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. Tit. Hie yon, Messala, And I will seek for Pindarus the while. [Exit Mess ALA. Why didst thou send me forth, brave Cassius i Did I not meet thy friends? and did not they Put on my brows this wreath of victory, And bid me give it theel Didst thou not heaz their shouts 'i Alas 1 thou hast misconstrued everything. 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 pari : 3.] jrrxjus CMSAM. 153 dome, Cassius' sword, and find Titinius' heart. [Dies. Alarum. He-enter Messala, ivith Brutus, Young Cato, Strato, Yolumnius, and LuciLius. Bru. Where, where, Messala, doth his body lie f Mes. Lo, yonder ; and Titinius mourning it. Bnu Titinius' face is upward. Cato. He is slaio. Bru. O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet I Tliy spirit walks abroad, and turns our sworda In our own proper entrails. [Low alarums. Cato. Brave Titinius ! Look, whe'r he have not crowned dead Cassius I Bru. Are yet two Romans living such as these 1 — The last of all the Romans, fare thee well I It is impossible that ever Rome Should breed thy fellow. — Friends, I owe mort tears To this dead man than you shall see me pay. — I shall find time, Cassius, I shall find time. — Come, therefore, and to Thassos 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.—' 154 JTTTJXrS C^SAB. tActV Labeo, and Flavius, set our battles on :— T is three o'clock ; and, Romans, yet ere night We ah&U tiy fortune in & second fight. [JExsttnL SoEKK rV. — Another Part of the Field. Alarwm. Enter y fighting^ Soldiers of both Armies ; then Brutus, Young Oato, Lucilius, and others. Bru, Yet, countrymen, 0, yet hold up your heads. CcUo, What bastard doth not? Who will go with me 1 I will proclaim my name about the jfield : — 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 ! [Charges tJce enemy. Bra. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I ; BrutuA, my country's friend ; know me for BrutuB. [Exity charging t/ie enemy. Cato is over- powered^ and falls. Lucil. O young and noble Cato, art thou down 1 Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius, And ma/st be honoured, being Cato's soil Scene 4.] JULIUS C^SAR. 165 1 Sold. Yield, or tliou diest. Lucil. Only I yield to die : There is so much that thou Avilt kill me straight ; [Offering money. Kill Brutus, and be honoured in his death. 1 Sold. We must not. — A noLle prisoner ! 2 Sold. Room, ho ! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I '11 tell the news. — Here comes the general. — Enter Antony. Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Ant. Where is he 1 Lucil. Safe, Antony ; Brutus is safe enough, I dare assure thee, that no enemy Shall ever take alive the noble Brutus : The gods defend him from so great a shame ! When you do find him, or alive or dead, He will be found like Brutus, like himself. Ant. This is not Brutus, friend ; but, I assure you, A prize no less in worth. Keep t]iis man safe ; Give him all kindness : I had rather have Such men my friends, than enemies. Go on, And see whe'r Brutus be alive, or dead j 156 JULIUS CJESAR. CActY. And bring ns word, nnto Octaviua ' tent^ How everything ia chanced. [ExeuKt. Scene V. — Another Part of the Field. Enter Buutus, Dardanjus, Olitus, Strato, and YOLUMNIUS, BrtL Come, poor remains of friends, rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius showed the torch-light ; but^ my lord, He came not back : he is or ta'en or slain. Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus : slaying is the word ; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [Whuperin^. Cli. What, I, my lord 1 No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace, then, no words. Cli 1 11 rather kill myself. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius. [ Wiispers him,. Bar. Shall I do such a deed \ Cli. O Dardanius 1 Dar. O Clitus ! Cli. What ill rf'quest did Brutus make to thee ? Scenes.] JULIUS C^SAE. 157 Dar. To kill him, Clitus. Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Yolumnius : list a word. Vol. What says my lord 1 Bru. Why, this, Yolumnius : The ghost of Csesar hath appeared to me Two several times by night, — at Sardis once, And, this last night, here in Philippi fields : I know my hour is come. Vol. Not so, my lord. Bru. Nay, I am sure it is, Yolumnius. Thou seest the world, Yolumnius, how it goes ; Our enemies have beat us to the pit : \_Low Alarums, It IS more worthy to leap in ourselves, Than tarry till they push us. Good Yolumnius, Thou know'st that we two went to school to- gether ; Even for that our love of old, I pray thee, Hold thou my sword-hilts, whilst I riui on it. Vol. That 's not an office for a friend, my lord. [Alarum still. Cli. Fly, fly, my lord ! there is no tarrying here. 158 JULIUB CJRKkJR,. tAcjfcV. BriL Farewell to you ; — and yon ; — and you, Yolumniua. — Strato, thou hast V^een all this while asleep; Farewell to thee too, Strato. — Countrymei^ My heart doth joy, that yet in all my life I found no man, but he was true to ma. I shall have glory by this losing day, More than Octavius and Mark ^ntony By this vile conquest shall attain unta So, fare you well at once ; for Brutus' tongne Hath almost ended liis life's history. Night hangs upon mine eyes ; my bones would rest, That have but laboured to attain this hour. [A larum. Cry toithin, " Fly, Jly, Jiy I" Cli. Fly, my lord, fly ! Bm. Hence ! I will follow. [Exeitnt Clitus, Daedanius, ajid VoLUMNiua I pr'ythee, 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 1 Stra, Give me your hand first : fare you well, my lord. Bru. Farewell, good Strata — Cseaar, aow be still: 5.1 JULIUS C^SAB. 159 I killed not thee with half so good a wilL [He runs on his swords and diet. Alarum: Retreat. Enter Octavius, Antony, Messala, Lucilius, and their Army. Oct. What man is that 1 Mei. My master's man. — Strato, where is thy master 1 Stra. Free from the bondage you are in. The conquerors can but make a fire of him ; J^or Brutus only overcame himself, Knd no man else hath honour by his death. Lucil. So Brutus should be found, — I thank thee, Brutus, Tiiat thou hast proved Lucilius' saying true. Oct, All that served Brutus, I will entertain them. Fellow, wilt thou bestow thy time with me 1 Stra. Ay ; if Messala will prefer me to yoo. Oct. Do so, good Messala. Mei. How died my master, Strato 1 Stra. I held the sword, and he did run on H, Mes. Octavius, then take him to follow thee^ That did the latest service to my master. 160 JULIUS CMBAR. (Act V. AnL 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 thenk His life was gentle ; an^ the elements So mixed in him, that Nature might stand np And say to all the world, ' This was a man I ' Oct. According to his virtue let us use him, With all respect, and rites of burial Within my tent his bones to-night shall lie, Most liks a soldier, ordered honourably. — Bo, caII the field to rest : and let 's away. To part the glories of this happy day. [Masuni ILLUSTEATTYE PASSAGES :WRTH'S TRAi^SLATION OF PLUTARCH. rLLUSTKATIYlB PASSAGES NORTH'S TRANSLATION OF PLUTARCH. From the Life of Julius C^sab. The chiefest cause that made him mortally hated, was th» couetous desire he had to be called King : which first gaue the people iust cavise, and next his secret enemies, honest colour to beare him ill -will. This notwithstanding, they that pro- cured him this honour and dignitie, gaue it out among the people that it was written in the Sybiline prophecies, how the Romaines might ouercorae the Parthians, if they made warre with them, and were led by a king, but otherwise that they were vnconquei'able. And furthermore they were so bold besides, that C2esar returning to Rome from the city of Albt*, when they came to salute him, they called him king. But the people being offended, and Caesar also angrie, he said he wa» not called king, but Cajsar. Then euery man keeping silence, he went his way heauy and sorrowfull. When they had decreed diuers honours for him in the Senate, the Consuls and Praetors, accompanied with the whole assembly of the Senate, went vuto him in the market place, where he waa set by the pulpit for orations, to tell him what honors they had decreed for him in his absence. But he sitting stil in his maiestie, disdaining to rise vp vnto them when they came in, as if they had bene priuate men, answered them : that his honors had more neede to be cut off then enlarged. This did not onely offead the Senate, but th^ common people also, to see that he 164 ELIiUSTBATlVIE PASSAGES FBOM should 80 lightly esteeme of the. Magistrates of the commoB wealth : insomuch as euery man that might la'vrfully go his way, departed thence very sorrowfully. Thereupon alijo Caegar rising, departed home to his house, and tearing open his dublet coUer, making his necke bare, he cried out aloud to his friends, that his throte was readie to offer to any man that would come and cut it. Notwithstanding, it is reported, that afterwards to excuse this folly, he imputed it to his disease, sajong, that their wits are not perfit which haue this disease of the falling euill, when standing on their feete they speake to the common people, but are soone troubled with a trembUng of their bodie, and a sodaine dimnesse and giddinesse. But that ffiis not true : for he would haue risen vp to the Senite, but Cornelius Balbus one of his friends (or rather a flatterer) would not let him, saying : what, do you not remember yon are Caesar, and will you not let them renerence you, and do their duties? Besides these occasions and offences, there folowed also his shame and reproch, abusing the Tribunes of the people in this sort. At that time, the feast Lupercalia was celebrated, the which in old time, men say was the feast of shepheards or heard-men, and is much like vnto the feast of the Lycccians in Arcadia. But howsoeuer it is, that day there are diners noble mens sons, yong men, (and some of them Magistrates themselues that goueme then) which run naked through the citie, striking in sport them they meete in their way, with leather thongs, haire and all on, to make them giue place. And many noble women and gentlewomen also, go of purpose to stand in their way, and do put forth their hands to be striken, as scholars hold them out to their schoolemaister, to be striken with the ferula: perswading themselues that being with child, they shall haue good deliuerie ; and also being barren, that it will make th^ra to conceiue with child- Caesar sate to behold that sport •vpon the pulpit for orations, in a chair of gold, apparelled in triumphant nianer. Antoniua who was Consul! at that time, was one of them that rann© this holy course. So when he came into the market place, the people made a lane for him to runne at libertie, and he came to Caesar, and presented him a Diadeame wreathed about with laarell. TMiereupon there ix>m a certaine crie of xeioyciiig, NO&TH'S TRANSLATION OF PLUTARCH. 165 ft«i very great, done Dnely by a few, appointed for the parpose. But when Gsej^ai refused the Diadeame, then all the people together made an outcrie of ioy. Then Antonius ofiFeriiig it him againe, there was a second shout of ioy, but yet of a few. But when Caesar refused it againe the second time, then all the whole people shouted. Ca&sar hauing made this proofe, found that the people did not like of it, and thereui)on rose out of his chaire, and commanded the crowne to be caiied vnto lupiter in the Capitoll. After that, there were set vp images of Caesar in the citie, with Diademes vpon their heads, like kings. Those, the two Tribunes, Flauius and ISIarullus, went and pulled downe : and furthermore, meeting with them that irst saluted Ceesar as King, they committed them to prison. The people followed them reioycing at it, and called them Brutes, because of Bi-utus, who had in old time driuen the kings out of Rome, and that brought the kingdome of one person, vnto the gouernment of the Senate anhem : but these pale visaged and canon leane people, I feare them most, meaning Brutus and Cassius. Certainly, destinie may easier be foreseene, then auoided : considering the strange and wonderfull signes that were said to be seene before Caesars death. For, toucLL:;;; the fires in the element, and spirits running vp and downe in the night, & also the solitarie birds to be seene at noon daies sitting in the great market place : aie not aU these signes perhaps worth the noting, in such a wonderfull chance as happened? But Strabo the Philosopher writeth, that diuepp men were seene going vp and down in fire : and furthermore, that there was a slaue of the souLliers, that did cast a mar- nellous burning flame out of his hand, insonmch as they that •aw it, thought he had bene burnt ; but when the fire was out, it was found he had no hurt. Csesar self also doing sacrifice vnto the gods, foim^d that one of the beasts which was sacrificed had no heart : and that was a strange thing ir. nature, how a beast could Hue without a heart. Furthermore, there was a certains Soothsayer that bad giuen Caesar wamii'^ NOaTH'H TR^^THLATTON OV PLDTABCH. 167 •long afore, to take hes4 of the day of the Idea of March (which {b the tifteenth of the moiieth), for ou that day he should be in great danger. That day being come, C»esivr going vnto th® Senate bouse, and apeaking merily vnto the sootlisayer, told him, the Ides of March be come : So they be, softly answered the Soothsayer, but yet are they not past. And the very day before, Caesar supping with Marcus Lepidus, sealed certaine letters as ho was wont to do at the boord : ao talk falling out amongst them, reasoning what ueath was best : he preuenting their opinions, cried out aloud, death vnlooked for. Then going to bed the same night as his manner was, and lying with his Avife Calpui-nia, all the windows and doores of hie chamber flying open, the noise awoke him, and made him afraid when he saw such light : but more, when he heard his wife Calpurnia, being fast asleepe, weepe and sigh, and put forth many fumbling lamentable speeches : for she dreamed that Csesar was slaine, and that she had him in her armes. Others also do denie that she had any such dreame, as amotigst other, Titus Liuius writeth, that it was in this sort : The ."Senat© hauing set vpon the top of Cseears house for an ornament, and setting forth of the same, a certaine pinnacle : Calpurnia dreamed that she saw it broken downe, and that she thought she lamented and wept for it. Insomuch that Csesar rising in the morning, she prayed him if it were possible, not to go out of the doores that day, but to adiorne the session of the Senate, vntill another day. And if that he made no reckoning of her dreame, yet that he would search further of the Soothsayers by their sacrifices, to know what should happen him that day. Thereby it seemed that Caesar likewise did feare and suspect somewhat, because his wife Calpurnia vntill that time, was neuer giuen to any feare or superstition : and that then he saw her so troubled in mind with this dreame she had. But much more afterwards, when the Soothsayers hauing sacrificed mtaxj beasts one after another, told him that none did like them : then he determined to send Antonius to adiorne the session of the Senate. But in the meane time came De- cius Brutus, surnamed Albinus, In whom Cassar put such con- fidenoe, that in his last will and testament he had appoLatw4 biia to ba bia next heire, and yet was of the conflpirooie witb 168 IliLUSTBATIVE PAfiSAGEH FBOM Ca«rinB and Brutus : he fearing that if Csesar did adiome the session that day, the conspiracie would be betrayed, laughed at the SoothsayerB, and reproued Caesar, saying : thathe gaue the Senate occasion to mislike with him, and that they might thinke he mocked them, considering that by his commande- meut they were assembled, and that they were ready willingly to grant him all things, and to proclaime him king of all the prouinces of the Empire of Rome out of Italy, and that he ghould weare his Diadem in all other places both by eea & land. And furthermoi-e, that if any man shovild tell them from him, they should depart for that present time, and re- turne again when Calpurnia should haue better dreames : what would his enemies and ill willers say, and how could they like of his friends words ? And who could perswade them other- wise, but that they would thinke his dominion a slausrie vnto them, and tyrannicall in himself ? And yet if it be so, said he, that you vtterly mislike of this day, it is better that you go your selfe in person, and saluting the Senate, to dismisse them till another time. Therewithal! he tooke Caesar by the hand, and brought him out of his house. Caesar was not gone far from his house, but a bondman, a stranger, did what he could to speak with him : and when he saw he was put back by the great prease and multitude of people that followed him, he went straight into his house, and put himself into Calpurniaes hands to be kept, tUl Caesar came backe againe, telling her that he had greater matters to impart vnto him. And one Artemidorus also borne in the He of Gnidos, a Doctor of Rhe- toricke in the Greeke tongue, who by meanes of his profession was very familiar with certaine of Brutus confederates, and there- fore knew the most i)art of all their practices against Caeaar : came and brought him a litle bill written with his owue hand, of all that he meant to tell him. He marking how C&sar receiued all the supplicatione that were offered him, and that he gaue the straight to his men that were about him, pressed nearer to him, and Raid : Csesar, reade this memoriall to your ■elfe, and that quickly, for they be matters of great waigLt, and touch you nearely. Caesar tooke it of him, but couJd neuer reade it, though he many times attempted it, for the ftuuber of people thai did s^i^ute him : but holding it itill in NOfiTHS TEANSliATlON OF PLiUTAJbtCH. 169 his hand, keeping it to himselfe, vrent on withall into the Senate house. Howbeit other are ot opinion, that it was some man else that gaue him that memoriall, and not Artemidorus, who did what he could all the way as he went to giue it Caesar, but he was alwayes repulsed by the people. For these things they may seeme to come by chance : but the place where the murther was prepared, k where the Senate were assembled, and where also there stood vj) an image of Pompey dedicated by himselfe amongst other orna- ments which he gaue vnto the Theater : all these were mani- fest proofes that it was the ordinance bf some god, that made this treason to be executed, specially in that very place. It is also reported, that Cassius (though otherwise he did fauour tho doctrine of Epicurus) beholding the image of Pompey, before they entred into the action of their traiterous enterprise, he did softly call vpon it, to aide him : but the instant danger of the present time, taking away his former reason, did sodainly put him into a furious passion, and made him like a man halfe besides himselfe. Now Antonius, that was a faithfull friend to Ca3sar, and a valiant man besides of his hands, him Decius Brutus Albinus entertained out of the Senate house, hauing begunne a long tale of set purpose. So Caesar comming into the house, aU the Senate stood vp on their feete to do him honour. Then part of Brutus companie and confederates stood round about Caesars chaire, and part of them also came towards him, as though they made sute with Metullus Cimber, to call home his brother againe from banishment : and thus prosecuting still their sute, they followed Caesar, till he was set in his chaire. 'WTio, denying their petitions, and being offended with them one after another, because the mor. they were denied, the mere they pressed vpon him, and were the eaniester with him : Meteilus at length, taking his gowne vath both his hands, pulled it ouer his necke, which was the signe giuen the confederates to set vpon him. Then Casca behind him strake him in the necke with his sword, howbeit the wound was not great nor mortall, because it seemed the feare of such a diuelish attempt did amaze him, and take his strength from him, that he killed him not at the first blow. Hut Cajsar turning straight vnto hin>- caught hold of hia 170 nj.USTRATTTE PASSAOKP FIK >M ■word, and held it hard, and they both cried out : Cae«iir la Latin, O vile traitor Casca, -what doeat thou? And Casc»» in Greek to bis brother, Brother, help nne. At the beginning of this stir, they that were present, not knowing of the cun- ipiracie, were so amazed with the horrible sight they saw, they had no power to flie, neither to help him, nor so mu'jh us once to make an outcrie. They on the other side that had conspired hia death, copassed him in on euery ai.le with their swords drawn in tlieir hands, that Caesar turned him no where, but he was striken at by some, and still had naked swords in his face, and was hacked k mangled among them, as a wild beast taken of hunters. For it wa» agreed among them that euery man should giue him a wound, because al their parts should be in this murther : and then Brutus himself gaue him one wound about his priuities. Men report also, that Caesar did stil defend himself against tlierest* running euery way with his bodie : but who he saw Brutus with his sword drawne in his hand, then he pulled his gowne ouer his head, and made no more resistance, and was driuen either casually o: purposedly, by the counsel of the conspira- tors, against the base whereupon I'ompeys image stood, which ran all of a goare bloud till he was slaine. Thus it seemed that the image tooke iust revenge of Pompeys enemie, being throwne down on the ground at his feet, k yeelding vp his ghost there, for the number of wounds he had vjton him. For it is reported, that he had three and twentie wounds vpon his bodie: and diuers of the conspirators did hurt themselues, striking one bodie with so many blows, ^^^len Caesar was ■laine, the Senate (though Brutus stood in the middest amongst them, as though he would haue said something touching this fact) presently ranne out of the house, and fl}ing, filled all the citie with maruelluus feare and tumult. Insomuch as some did ihut too their doores, others forsooke their shops and ware- houses, and others ranne to the place to see what the matter was : and others also that had seene it, ran home to their houses againe. But Antonius and Lepidus, which were two of Csssars chiefest friends, seoretly conueying themselues away, fled into other mens houses, and forsooke their owne. Brutus, r^d hi* couiedeijttes on ibe other aids, btu'i 5 v">f h ■* '^ith fhi* KOBTH'8 TRANSLATION OF PLUTABCH. 171 mttrther they had committed, hauing their swords drawne in their hands, came all in a troupe together out of the Senate, and went into the market place, not as men that made coim- tenance to flie, but otherwise, boldly holding vp their heads like men of courage, and called to the peoi^le to defend their libertie, and staid to speake mth euery great personage whom they met in their way. Of them, some folowed this troupe, and went amongst them, as if they had bene of the conspiracie, and falsly chalenged part of the honor with them : amongst them was Caius Octauius, and Lentulus Spinther. But both of them were afterwards put to death, for their vaine coue- tousness of honor, by Antonius, and Octauius Caesar the yonger : and yet had no part of that honor for the which they were both put to death, neitlier did any man beleeue that they were any of the confederates or of counsel with them. For they that did put them to death, took reuenge rather of the wil they had to offend, then of any fact they had com- mitted. The next morning, Brutus & his confederats came into the market place to speake vnto the people, who gaue the auch audience, that it seemed they neither greatly reproued, nor allowed the fact : for by their great silence they shewed, that they were sory for Csesars death, and also that they did reuerenoe Brutus. Now the Seriate granted gcnerall pardon for all that was past, and to pacifie euery man, ordained be- sides, that Csesars funerals should be honored as a god, & established all things that he had done : and gaue certaine prouincea also, and conuenient honors vnto Brutus k his con- federates, wherby euery man thought all things were brought tc good peace and quietnes again. But when they had opened Csesars testament, & found a liberall legacie of mony be- queathed vnto euery citizen of Rome, k that they saw his body (which was brought into the market place) al bemangled with gashes of swords : th§ there was no order to keep the multitude & common people quiet, but they plucked vp former, tables, and stooles, and laid them all about the body, and get- ting them afire, burnt the corse. Then when the fire was well kindled, they tooke the fire-brands, and went vnto their liouses that had slaine Csesar, to sot them afire. Other also raii T^ find down the citie to see if they c^nld meet with aa^' 172 rLLTJSTEATIVK PASSAGES PEOZtt of them, to cut them in peeces : howbeit they could meet with aeuer a man of them, because they had locked theselues vp lafely in their houses. There was one of Caesars friends called CinuA, that had a maruellous strange k terrible dreame the night before. He dreamed that Caesar bad him to supper, and that he refused and would not go : then that Caesar took him by the hand, k led him against his wil. Now Cinna hearing at that time, that they burnt Caesar* body in the market place, not w-ith standing that he feared his dreame, and had an ague on him besides : he went into the market place to honour his funerals. "VHien he came thither, one of the meane sort asked him what his name was ? He was straight called by hia name. The first man told it to another, and that otlier vnto another, so that it ranne straight through them all, that he was one of them that murthered Ciesar : (for indeed one of the traitors to Caesar, was also called Cinna as himselfe) wherefore taking him for Cinna the murtherer, they fell vpon him with such furie, that they presently dispatched him in the market place. This stirre and furie made Brutus and Cassius more affraid, then of all that was past, and therefore within few dales after, they departed out of Home : and touching their doings afterwards, and what calamitie they suffered till their deaths, we haue written at large in the life of Brutus. Caesar died at sixe and fiftie yeares of age, and Pompey alao lined not passing four yeares more then he. So he reapeil no other fruite of his raigne and dominion, which he had so vehemently desired all his life, and pursued with such extreame danger : but a vaine name onely, and a superficiall glorie, that procured hirn the enuy and hatred of his countrey. • But his great i>ro3- peritie and good fortune that fauoured him all his life time, did continue afterwards in the reuenge of his death, pursuing the murtherers both by sea and land, till they had not left a man more to be executed, of all them that were actors or counsel- lera in the conspiracie of his death. Furthermore, of all the chances that happen vnto men vjion the earth, that which came to Cassius aboue all other, is most to be wondred at ; for he being ouercome in battell at the iomey of Philippes, slue himselfe with the same sword, with which he strake Cfebsar. Againe of signsa in the element, tlie great comet NOETH'8 TRANSLATION OF PLUTABCH. 173 rrhidi seuen nights together was seene rery bright after Caesars death, the eighth night after was neuer seene more. Also the brightnesse of the Sunne was darkened, the which all that yeare tlirough rose very pale, and shined not out, whereby it gaue but small heate : tlierefore the ayre being very cloudie and darke, by the weaknesse of the heate that could not come forth, did cause the eartli to bring forth but raw and vnripe fruite, which rotted before it could ripe. B it aboue all, the ghost that appeared vnto Brutus shewed plainly, that the goda were offended with the mm-ther of Caesar. The vision was thus : Brutus being readie to passe ouer his arraie from the citie of Arydos, to the other coast lying directly against it, slept euery night (as his maner was) in his tent, and being yet awake, thinking of his affaires : (for by report he was as carefull a Captaine, and lined with as little sleepe, as euer man did) he thought he heard a noise at his tent doore, and looking towards the light of the lamp that waxed very dim, he saw a horrible vision of a man, of a wonderf ull greatnesse, and dread- full looke, which at the first made him maruellously afraid. But when he saw that it did him no hurt, but stood by hif bed side, & said nothing ; at length he asked him what he was. The image answered him : I am thy ill Angell, Brutus, and thou shalt see me by the citie of Philippes. Then Brutus replied againe, and said : Well, I sUall see thee then. There- withal!, the spirit presently vanished from him. After that time, Brutus being in battell neare vnto the citie of Philipj)e8, against Antonius and Octauius Caesar, at the first battell he wanne the victorie, and ouerthrowiug all them that ■withstood him, he di-aue them into yong Caisars camp, which he tooke. The second battell being at hand, this spirit appeared againe vnto him, but spake neuer a word. Thereupon Brutus know- ing that he should die, did put himselfe to all hazard in battell, but yet fighting could not be slaine. So seeing hia men put to flight and ouerthrowne, he ranne vnto a little rocke not farre off, and there setting his swords point to his brracs, fell vpon it, and slue himselfe : but yet, as it is reported; witb she k«i^ of Ilia friend that dispatched hiau 174 EEJLUSTHATIVE PASSAGES FBOM From the Life of Marcus Brutub. Marcus Bkutus came of that lunius Brutus, for whom the BUBcient Eomaines made his statue of brasse to be Bet vp in the CapitoU, with the images of the kings, holding a naked Bword in his hand : because he had valiantly put downe the Tarqvines from their kingdome of Rome. But that lunius Brutus being of a sower sterne nature, not softened by reason, being like vnto sword blades of too hard a temper : was so fiubiect to his choller and malice he bare vnto the tyrants, that for their sakes he caused his owiie sonnes to be executed. But this Marcus Brutus in contrarie manner, whose life we presently write, hauing framed his life by the rules of vertue, and studie of Philosophie, and hauing employed his wit. which was gentle and constant, in attempting of great things : me- thinkes he was rightly made and framed vnto vertue. So that his very enemies which wish him most hurt, because of hia conspiracie against lulius Caesar : if there were any noble attempt done in all this conspiracie, they referre it wholy vnto Brutus, and all the crueU and violent actes vnto Cassius, who was Brutus familiar friend, but not so well giuen, and con- ditioned as he Marcus Cato the Philosopher was brother vnto Seruilia, Marcus Brutus mother : whom Brutus studied most to follow of all the other Komaines, because he was his vncle, and afterwards he maried hia daughter. Now touching the Grecian Philosophers, there was no sect or Philosopher of them, but he heard and iiked it : but aboue all the rest, he loued Platoes sect best, and di'l not much giue himselfe to the new or meane Academie (aa they call it) but altogether to the old Academie Caesius being a cholericke man, and hating Caesar priuatly, more then he did the tyrannie openly ; he incensed Brutua against him. It is also reported, that Brutus could euill away with the tyrannie, and that Cassius hated the tyrant : soaking many complaints for the iniuries he had done UOBTH'S TKANSLATION OF PI.UTABCH. 175 liim ; and amongst others, for that he had taken away hit Lions from him. Cassius had prouided them for his sports, when he should be ^Eililis, and they were found in the citie of Megara, when it was wonne by Oalenus, and Cajsar kept them. The rumor went, that theae lions did maruelloua great hurt to the Megariana : for when the city was taken, they brake their cages where they were tyed vp, & turned the loose, break- ing they wold haue done great mischief e to the enemies, and haue kept them from setting vpon them : but the lions (con- trarie to expectation) turned upon tliemselues that fled vn- harmed, and did so cruelly teare some in peeces, that it pitied their enemies to see them. And this was the cause (as some do report) that made Cassius conspire against Cassar. But this holdeth no water : for Cassius euen from his cradle could not abide any manner of tyrants, as it appeared when he was but a boy, and went vnto the same schoole that Faustus, the son of Sylla, did. And Faustus bragging among other boyes, highly boasted of his fathers kingdom : Cassius rose vp on hia feet, and gaue him two good whirts on the eare. Faustua gouernors would haue put this matter in sute against Cassius : but Pompey would not suffer them, but caused the two boyes to be brought before him, and asked them, how the matter came to passe. Then Cassius (as it is written of him) said vnto the other : Go too Faustus, speake agaiiie and thou darest, before this Nobleman here, the same words that made me angrie with thee, that my fistes may walke once againe about tliine ears. Such was Cassius hote stirring nature. But for Brutus, his friends and coimtrimen, both by diuers procure- ments, and sundrie rumours of the citie, and by many bils also, did openly call and procure him to do that he did. For vnder the image of his auncestor Junius Brutus, (that drauo the kings out of Eotne) they wrote : O, that it pleased the gods thou wert now aliue, Brutus ! and againe, That thou wert here among us now I His tribunall or chaire, where he gaue audience during the time he was Praetor, was full of such biilea: Brutus thou art asleepe, and art not Brutua indeed. And of all this, Caesars flatterers were the cause : who beside many other exceeding and unspeaky.ble honours they daily 4L9nbed for him, in the ui$:ht timo they did put Diademoi I7t) ILLU STEATITE PASSAGES FBOM vpon th heades of his images, supposing thereby to allure tha common people to call him King, in steade of Dictator. Ho^- beit, it turned to the contrarie, (as we haue written more at large in lulius Caesars life.) Now when Cassiua felt hia friends, and did stirre them \ip against Ceesar : they all agreed and promised to take part with him, so Brutus were the chiefe of their conspiracie. For they told him, that so high an en- terprise and attempt as that, did not so much require men of manhood, and courage to draw their swords : as it stood the vpon to haue a man of such estimation as Brutus, to make euery m.an boldly thinke, that by his onely presence the fact were holy and iixst. If he tooke not this coui-se, then that they should go to it with fainter hearts, and when they had done it they should be more fearefull : because euery man would thinke that Brutus would not haue refused to haue made one with them, if the cause had bene good and honest. Therefore Cassius considering this matter with himselfe, did first of all speake to Brutus, since they grew straunge to- gether for the sute they had for the Praetorship. So when he was reconciled to him againe, and that they had embraced one another ; Cassius asked him if he were determined to be in the Senate house, the first day of the nioneth of March, because he heard say that Caesars friendes should moue the councell that day, that Caesar should be called King by the Senate. Brutus answered him, he would not be there. But If we be sent for (sayed Cassius) how then ? For my selfe then (sayed Brutus) I meane not to hold my peace, but to withstand it, and rather die then lose my libertie. Cassius being bold, and taking hold of this word : "Why (quoth he) what Romaine is he aliue that will suffer thee to dye for the libertie ? What, knowest thou not that thou art Brutus? Thiuk■^st thou that they be coblers, tapsters, or such like base mechanicall people, that write these billes and scrolles which are found daily in thy Praetors chaire, and not the noblest men and best citizens that do it ? Xo, be thou well assured^ that of other Prsetors they looke for giftes, common di«tribu- tions amongst the people, & for common playes, and to se* fencers fight at the sharp, to shew the people pastime : but at thy hands, they ipecially require (as a due dabt raxo them) TfOETH'S TRANSLATION OP PLUTAJBCH. 177 khe taking away of the tyrannie, being fully bent to Buffer any extremitie for thy sake, bo that thou wilt shew thy selfe to be the man thou art taken for, and that they hope thou art. Thereupon he kissed Brutus and embraced him : and so each taking leaue of other, they went both to speake with their friends about it. Now amongst Pompeys friends, there was one called Caius Ligarius,* who had bene accused vnto Ceesar for taking part with Pompey ; and Caesar discharged him. But Ligarius thanked not Cassar so much for his discharge, as he was offended with him, for that he was brought in daunger by his tyrannicall power. And therefore in his heart he was alway his mortall enemie, and was besides very familiar with Brutus, who went to see him being sicke in his bed, and sayed unto him : Ligarius, in what a time art thou sicke ? Ligarius rising vp in his bed, and taking him by the right hand, said vnto him : Brutus (said he) if thou bast any great enterprise in hand worthie of thy selfe, I am whole. After that time they began to feele all their acquaintance whom they trusted, and layed their heads together consulting vi^on it, and did not onely picke out their friends, but all those also whom they *hought stout enough to attempt any desperate matter, and £hat were not affraid to lose their lines. For this cause they durst not acquaint Cicero with their conspiracie, although he was a man whom they loued dearely, and trusted best : for they were affraid that he being a coward by nature, and age also hauing increased his feare, he would quile turne and alter all their pvirpose, and quench the heate of their enteq^rise the which specially required bote and earnest eiecution, seeking by perswasion to bring all things to such safetie, as there should be no perill. Brutus also did let other of his friends alone, as Statilius Epicvrian, and Faonius, that m^ade profes- sion to foUow Marcus Cato : because that hauing cast out words a farre off, disputing together in PhOosophie to feele their minds : Faonius answered. That ciuill war was worse than tyrannic ill gouernment vsurped against the law. And Statilius told aim also, That it were an vnwise part of him, to put his life in daunger, for a sight of ignorant f coles and ■ In another pla^^" they call him QntaSoa l78 ZLLUSTRATIVE PASSAGIIS FROM LiJiUjo was present at this talke, and maintained the oontr&rie against them both. But Brutus held his peace, as though it had bene a doubtful! matter, and a Laxd thing to haue bene decided. But afterwardes, being out of their companie, he made Labeo priuie to his intent ; who very readOy offered himselfe to make one. And they thought good also to bring in another Brutus to ioyne with him, sumaraed xVlbinus : who was no man of his handes himselfe, but because he was able to bring good force of a great number of slaues, and fencers at the sharpe, whom he kept to shew the people pastime \\ith their fighting, besides a'.sc- t)iat Caesar had so-,-ne trust in him, Cassius and Labeo tcU Br it'is Albinus of it at the first, but he made them no Auc»»nr. But when he had s2>oken with Brutus himselfe akm, av.d that Brutus told him he was the chiefe ring-leader of itUi i his conspiracie : then he willingly promised him the best aide he could. Furthermore, the onely name and great calling of Brutus, did bring on the most of them to giue consent to this conspiracie : who hauing neuer taken othea together, nor taken or giuen any caution or aaau- rance, nor binding themselues one to another by any religious othes : they all kept the matter so secret to themselues, and could so cunningly handle it, that notwithstanding, the gotis did reueale it by manifest signes and tokens from aboue, and by predictions of sacrifices : yet all this would not be beleeupd. Now Brutus, who knewe vei-y well, that for his sake all the noblefit, valiantest, and most couragious men of Rome diri venture their lines, weighing with himselfe the greatnesse o» the daunger : when he was out of his house, he did so frame and fashion his countenance and luokes, that no man could discerne he had any thing to trouble his mind. But when night came that he was not in his owne house, then he waA clean chaujiged : for, either care did wake him against 1 is will when he woiild haue slept, or else oftentimes of himselfe he fell into such deepe thoughts of this enteri>rise, casting in his mind all the daungers that mij:lit happen : that his wife lying by him, found that there was some maruellous great matter that troubled his mind, not being wont to be in that takiag, and that he could not well determine with himselfe. ELi* v.us Porcia (as we haue told yo" before) waa the daughter of Ctfcrt north's translation op plutabch. 17f> f7hoiB Brutua marled being his cousin, not a mayden, bnt a young widow after tbo death of her first husband Bibulu«, )iy whome she had also a young sonne called Bibulua, who afx^-r- wardea wrote a booke of the actes and gestes of Brutus, extant at tliis present day. This young Ladie being excellently well seene in Philosophie, louing her husband well, and being of a noble courage, as she was also wise : because she would not aske her husband what he ayled before she made some proofe by her selfe : she took a little razour such as Barbers occ-u]>ie to pare mens nayles, and causing her maydes and women to go out of her chamber, gaue her selfe a great gash withall in lier thigh, that she was straight all of a goate bloud : and inconti- nently after, a vehement feauer tooke her, by reason of the paine of her wound. Then perceiuing that her husband wa» maruellously out of quiet, and that he could take no rest ; euen in her greatest paine of all. she spake in this sort vnto him : I being, 6 Brutus, (said she) the daughter of Cato, wa» marled vnto thee, not to be thy bed-fellowe and companion in bedde and at boord ®nely, like a harlot, but to be partaker also with thee of thy good and euUl fortune. Now for tlfy selfe, I can find no cause of fault in thee touching our match : but for my part, how may I shew my dutie towards thee, and how much I would do for thy sake, if I cannot constantly beare a secret mischaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth secrecie and fidelitie. I confesoe, that a womans wit commonly is too weake to keepe a secret safely : but yet (Brutus) good educa- tion and the companie of vertuous men, haue some power to reforme the defect of nature. And for my selfe, I haue this benefite moreouer, that I am the daughter of Cato, and the wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding ; I did not trust to any of these things before : vntil that now I have found by expe- rience, that no paine or griefe whatsoeuer can ouercome me. With tltose wordes she shewed him her wound on her thigh, and told him what she had done to proue her selfe. Brutu* was amazed what she sayed vnto him, and lifting vp Mb handes to heauen, he beso\ight the goddes to glue him the grace he might bring his enterprise to so good passe, that lip mighi be found a husband, worthie of so noble a wife rs I'orcia ; ea- he th«'j did eing prolonged, (as you haue heard) Porciaes weakenesse waJi not able to hold out any longer, and thereupon she sodainely iwounded, that she had no leysure to goe to her chamber, but ▼aa taken in the middest of her house, where her speech and senses failed her. Howbeit she soone came to her selfe againe, uid so was laj ed in her bed, and tended by her women. ^^"heD BmtuB heard these newes, it jjrieued him, as it L* iu ba u»-«- 182 ILLUSTRATIVE PASSAGES FROM oiled his campe before his eyes. He saw also a great troupe of horsmen, whom Brutus sent to aide him, and thought that they were his enemies that followed him : but yet he sent Titinnius, ons of them that was with him, to go anil know what they were. Brutus horsemen saw him comniing a farre off. whom when they knew that he was one of Cassius chiefest friends, they shouted out for ioy : and they that were famiUarly acquainted with him, lighted from their horses, and went ami embraced him. The rest compassed him in round atout a horse- back, with aongs of victorie and great rushing of their harnesse, so that they made all the field ring againe for ioy. But this marred all. For Cassius thinking indeed that Titinnius was taken of the enemies, he then gpake these words: desiring too much to line, I haue liued to see one of my best friends take, for my sake, before my face. After that, he got into a tent where no body was, and tooke I'indarus with him, one of hi - freed bondmen, whom he reserued euer for such a pinch, since the cursed battell of tjie Parthians, where Crassus was slaine though he notwithstanding scaped from that ouerthrow : but then casting hia cloke ouer his head, and holding out his bare necke vnto Pindarus, he gaue him his bead to be striken off. So the head was found seuered from the body : but after that time Pindarus ^ras neuer seene more. ^Vhe^eupon, some tooke occasion to say that he had slaine his maister without his com maxindement. By and by they knew the horsmen that camp towardfl them, ard might see Titinnius crowned with a garland rf triumph, who came before with great speed vnto Caesiui I^OKTH S TRANSLATION OF PLUTAJRCH. LVJ Bat when he perceiued by the cries and teares of his frienda whicn tomieted themselves^ the misfortune that had chanced to bis Captaine Cassius, by mistaking : he drew out his swoid, cuTfting himself a thousand times that he had taried so long, & so slew himselfe presently in the field. , , . . The selfsame night, it is reported that the monstrous spirit which had appeared before vnto Brutus in the citie of Sardis, did now appeare againe vnto him in the selfesarae shape and forme, and 80 vanished away, and said neuer a word. Now Publius Volumnius, a graue and wise Philosopher, that had bin with Brutus fro the beginning of this war, he doth make no mention of this spirit, but saith : that the greatest Eagle and ensigne was couered ouer with a swarme of bees, and that there was one of the captaines, whose arme sodainely fel a sweating, that it dropped oile 6f roses from him, and that they oftentimes went about to dry him, but all would do no good. And that be- fore the battel was fought, there were two Eagles fought between both armies, and all the time they fought, there was a maruel- lous great silence aU the valley ouer, both the armies being one before the other, marking this fight betweene them ; and that in the end, the Eagle towards Brutus gaue ouer and flew away, . . . There v/as one of Brutus friends called Lucilius, who seeing a troupe of barbarous men malcing no reckoning of all men else they met in their way, but going all together right against Brutus, he determined to stay them with the hazard of hia life, and being left behind, told them that he was Brutus : and because they should beleeue him, he prayed them to bring him to Antonius, for he said he was affraid of Csesar, and that he did trust Antonius better. These barbarous men being verr glad of this good hap, and thinking them selues happie men; they caried him in the night and sent some before vnto An- tonius, to tel him of their comming. He was maruellous glad of it, and went out to meete them that brought him. Other* also vnderstanding of it, that they had brought Brutw prisoner : they came out of all parts of the campe to see him, some pitying his hard fortune, and others sajring, that it W£\ not done like himself so cowardly to be taken aline of the bar barous people, for feare of death. When they came neare to- getlier, Antonius staid awhile bethinking himself how he should 192 KORTH's TBiLNSLATION OF PLUTABCH. ne Bmtru. In the meane time Lncflixw was brought to fcim, who stoutly with a bold countenance said : Antonius, I dare assure thee, that no enemie hath taken nor shall take Marcus Brutus aliue : and I beseech God keepe him from that fortune. For wheresoeuer he be found, aHue or dead : he will be found like hiraselfe. And now for my selfe, I am come vnto thee, hauing deceiued these men of armes here, bearing them downe that I was Brutus : and do not refuse to suffer any torment thou wilt put me to. Lucilius words made them jJl amazed that beard him. Antonius on the other side, looking vpon all them that had brought him, said vnto them : My companions, I thinke ye are sorie you haue failed of your purpose, and that you think this man hath done you great wrong : but I assure you, you have taken a better bootie, then that you followed. For in stead of an enemy, you haue brought me a friend : and for my part, if you had brought me Brutus aliue, truly I can not t«U what I should haue done to him. For, I had rather haue sxich men my friends, as this man here, then enemies. Then he embraced Lucilius, and at that time deliuered him to one of his friends in custodie ; and LucCius euer after serued him faithfully, euen to his death And for Por<;ia, Brutus wife ; Nicolaus the Philosopht?, and Valerius IVIaximus do write, that she determining to kill her selfe (her parents and friends carefully looking to her to keepe her from it) tooke hote b\irning coles and cast them into her mouth, and kept her mouth so close, that she choked her selfe. There was a letter of Brutus found written to his friends, complaining of their negligence, that his wife being sicke, they would not helpe her, but suffered her to kill her selfe ; chusing to die, rather then to languish in paine. Thus it appeareth that Nicolaus knew not well that time, sith the letter (at the least if it were BrutuB letter) doth plainely declare the disease and Umm ol OkJM Ladie. and also the manner of her death. 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