Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault, Assemble all the poor men of your sort; Draw them to Tyber banks, and weep your tears Do kiss the most exalted shores of all. [Exeunt Citizens. You know, it is the feast of Lupercal. Flav. It is no matter; let no images Who else would soar above the view of men, [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A publick Place. Enter, in Procession, with Musick, CESAR; ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS 3, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA, a great Croud following; among them a Soothsayer. 1 See, whe'r-] Whether. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks. [Musick ceases, 9 deck'd with ceremonies.] Ceremonies are honorary ornaments; tokens of respect. 3 This person was not Decius, but Decimus Brutus. The poet (as Voltaire has done since) confounds the characters of Marcus Cæs. Cal. Here, my lord. Calphurnia, Cas. Stand you directly in Antonius' way, When he doth run his course.- - Antonius. Ant. Cæsar, my lord. Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia: for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their steril curse. Ant. I shall remember: When Cæsar says, Do this, it is perform'd. Cas. Ha! Who calls? [Musick. Casca. Bid every noise be still:- Peace yet again. [Musick ceases. Cas. Who is it in the press, that calls on me? What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cas. Set him before me, let me see his face. Cas. Fellow, come from the throng: Look upon Cæsar. Cas. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him;-pass. 4 [Sennet. Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS. and Decimus. Decimus Brutus was the most cherished by Cæsar of all his friends, while Marcus kept aloof, and declined so large a share of his favours and honours, as the other had constantly accepted. Sennet.] I have been informed that sennet is derived from senneste, an antiquated French tune formerly used in the army; but the dictionaries which I have consulted exhibit no such word. It may be a corruption from sonata, Ital. STEEVENS. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? Cas. I pray you, do. Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; I'll leave you. Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have: 1 You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand3 *j* Bru. Cassius, Be not deceiv'd: If I have veil'd my look, I turn the trouble of my countenance Of late, with passions of some difference," Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours: Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ;7 By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried Tell me, good Brutus, can you Bru. No, Cassius: for the eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things. 5 strange a hand-] Strange, is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a stranger. 6 passions of some difference,] With a fluctuation of discordant opinions and desires. 7 — your passion ;] i. e. the nature of the feelings from which you are now suffering. Cas. 'Tis just: And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors, as will turn That you might see your shadow. I have heard, For that which is not in me? Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear: And, since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly discover to yourself That of yourself which you yet know not of. And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus : Were I a common laugher, or did use To stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, And after scandal them; or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. [Flourish, and shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear the people Choose Cæsar for their king. Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well:But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, 8 To stale with ordinary oaths my love, &c.] To invite every new protester to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths. Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other, The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores, And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did. Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tiber Did I the tired Cæsar: And this man Is now become a god; and Cassius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body, He had a fever when he was in Spain, And, when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake: His coward lips did from their colour fly; And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, |