Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,' Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, Ant. I shall remember; When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed. Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Music. Sooth. Cæsar! Cæs. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still.-Peace yet again. [Music ceases. Cæs. Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Cry, Cæsar. Speak; Cæsar is turned to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face. Cæs. 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. 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. 1 The old copy_reads “Antonio's way;" in other places we have Octavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Latin terminations. The allusion is to a custom at the Lupercalia. 2 See King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4. Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late. I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have; You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. Bru. Cassius, Be not deceived; if I have veiled my look, Of late, with passions of some difference, Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors; Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion,1 By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried 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, Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear; And, since you know you cannot see yourself 1 i. e. the nature of the feelings which you are now suffering. So well as by reflection, I, your glass, That of yourself which you yet know not of. you know 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, Set honor in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For, let the gods so speed me, as I love The name of honor more than I fear death. Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favor. Well, honor is the subject of my story.— I cannot tell what you and other men Think of this life; but, for my single self, I had as lief not be, as live to be In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you. We both have fed as well; and we can both Endure the winter's cold as well as he. For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores, 1 Johnson has erroneously given the meaning of allurement to stale, in this place. "To stale with ordinary oaths my love," is "to prostitute my love." Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did. Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder 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: And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, Bru. Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are [Shout. Flourish. For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar. Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 1 The verb arrive is also used by Milton without the preposition. 2 Some commentators suppose that the allusion here is to a coward's desertion of his standard. Probably nothing more was intended than to describe the effect of the disease on the appearance of the lips. 3 Temperament, constitution. yours? Men at some time are masters of their fates: [Shout. That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! O! you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus 2 once, that would have brooked Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous; Than to repute himself a son of Rome, The first folio reads walks. 2 "Lucius Junius Brutus." 3 i. e. guess. 4 Ruminate on this. 5 As, according to Tooke, is an article, and means the same as that, which, or it; accordingly we find it often so employed by old writers, and particularly in our excellent version of the Bible. |