Cal. Here, my lord.

Cas. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,2 When he doth run his course.-Antonius.

Ant. Cæsar, my lord.

Cas. 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.

amicorum fuisset, interfector fuit, et fortunæ ex qua

fructum tulerat,

invidiam in auctorem relegabat, censebatque æquum, quæ acceperat à Cæsare retinere: Cæsarem, quia illa dederat, perîsse." Lib. II, c. lxiv:

'Jungitur his Decimus, notissimus inter amicos

"Cæsaris, ingratus, cui trans-Alpina fuisset
"Gallia Cæsareo nuper commissa favore.
"Non illum conjuncta fides, non nomen amici
"Deterrere potest.-

"Ante alios Decimus, cui fallere, nomen amici
"Præcipue dederat, ductorum sæpe morantem
"Incitat.". -Supplem. Lucani.

Steevens.

Shakspeare's mistake of Decius for Decimus, arose from the old translation of Plutarch. Farmer.

Lord Sterline has committed the same mistake in his Julius Casar: and in Holland's translation of Suetonius, 1606, which I believe Shakspeare had read, this person is likewise called Decius Brutus. Malone.

2

in Antonius' way,] The old copy generally reads—Antonio, Octavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Roman terminations, on account of the many versions from Italian novels, and the many Italian characters in dramatick pieces formed on the same originals. Steevens.

The correction was made by Mr. Pope.- At that time, (says Plutarch) the feast Lupercalia was celebrated, the which in olde time men say was the feast of Shepheards or heardsmen, and is much like unto the feast of Lyceians in Arcadia. But howsoever it is, that day there are diverse noble men's sonnes, young men, (and some of them magistrates themselves that govern them) which run naked through the city, striking in sport them they meet in their way with leather thongs.-And many noble women and gentlewo men also go of purpose to stand in their way, and doe put forth their handes to be stricken, persuading themselves that being with childe, they shall have good deliverie; and also, being barren, that it will make them conceive with child. Cæsar sat to behold that sport vpon the pulpit for orations, in a chayre of gold, apparelled in triumphant manner. Antonius, who was consul at that time, was one of them that ronne this holy course." North's translation.

We learn from Cicero that Cæsar constituted a new kind of these Luperci, whom he called after his own name, Juliani; and Mark Antony was the first who was so entitled. Malone.

Ant.

I shall remember:

When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed.

Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Musick.

Sooth. Cæsar.

Cas. Ha! Who calls?

Casca. Bid every noise be still :--Peace yet again.

[Musick ceases.

Cas. Who is it in the press, that calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the musick, Cry, Cæsar: Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear. Sooth. Beware the ides of March.

Cas.

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.

Ces. He is a dreamer; let us leave him ;—pass.

[Sennet.3 Exeunt all but BRU. and CAS. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course ? Bru. Not I.

Cas. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.

Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires;

I'll leave you.

Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late :4

3 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.

In Decker's Satiromastix, 1602:

"Trumpets sound a flourish, and then a sennet."

In The Dumb Show, preceding the first part of Jeronimo, 1605,

is

"Sound a signate and pass over the stage."

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of Malta, a synnet is called a flourish of trumpets, but I know not on what authority. See a note on King Henry VIII. Act II, sc. iv, Vol. XI, p. 258, n. 9. Sennet may be a corruption from sonata, Ital. Steevens.

4 Brutus, I do observe you now of late:] Will the reader sustain any loss by the omission of the words-you now, without which the measure would become regular?

I'll leave you.

Cas.

I have not &c.

Brutus, I do observe of late,?
Steevens.

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 hands
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru.

Cassius,

Be not deceiv'd: If I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of late, with passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,

Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours:
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd;
(Among which number, Cassius, be you one ;)
Nor construe any further my neglect,

Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion ;7

By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
Bru. No, Cassius: for the eye sees not itself,s
But by reflection, by some other things.
Cas. 'Tis just:

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no such mirrors, as will turn

5 strange a hand-] Strange, is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a stranger. Johnson.

6 -passions of some difference,] With a fluctuation of discordant opinions and desires. Johnson.

So, in Coriolanus, Act V, sc. iii:

thou hast set thy mercy and thy honour
Steevens.

"At difference in thee."

A following line may prove the best comment on this:

"Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war, —." Ma.one.

7

your passion;] i. e. the nature of the feelings from which you are now suffering. So, in Timon of Athens:

8

"I feel my master's passion Steevens.

the eye sees not itself,] So, Sir John Davies in his poem entitled Nosce Teipsum, 1599:

"Is it because the mind is like the eye,

"Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees;

"Whose rays reflect not, but spread outwardly;

"Not seeing itself, when other things it sees?"

Steevens.

Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow.

I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar) speaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself

For that 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 love1
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,
Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently :2

9 a common laugher,] Old copy-laughter. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

1 To stale with ordinary oaths my love &c.] To invite every new protester to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths. Johnson.

2 And I will look on both indifferently:] Dr. Warburton has a long note on this occasion, which is very trifling. When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent; but as the image kindles in his mind, he sets honour above life. Is not this natural? Johnson.

For, let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.-
I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as 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,
Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,3
And swim to yonder point ?-Upon the word,
Accouter'd as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did,
The torrent roar'd; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæsar cry'd, Help me, Cassius, or I sink.
I, as Eneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber
Did I the tired Cæsar: And this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,

Leap in with me into this angry flood,] Shakspeare probably recollected the story which Suetonius has told of Cæsar's leaping into the sea, when he was in danger by a boat's being overladen, and swimming to the next ship with his Commentaries in his left hand. Holland's translation of Suetonius, 1606, p. 26. So also, ibid. p. 24: "Were rivers in his way to hinder his passage, cross over them he would, either swimming, or else bearing himself upon blowed leather bottles." Malone.

4 But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,] The verb arrive is used, without the preposition at, by Milton in the second Book of Paradise Lost, as well as by Shakspeare in The Third Part of King Henry VI, Act V, sc. iii:

those powers, that the queen "Hath rais'd in Gallia, have arriv'd our coast." VOL. XIV.

C

Steevens.