Chapter VI: Act I: SCENE I. Rome. A street (1)

_Enter_ FLAVIUS, MARULLUS, _and certain_ Commoners
_over the stage_

FLAVIUS. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home:
Is this a holiday? what! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign
Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou? 5

CARPENTER. Why, sir, a carpenter.

MARULLUS. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
You, sir, what trade are you? 9

[Note: ACT I, SCENE I | Actus Primus. Scœna Prima Ff.--_Rome. A street_ Capell | Rome Rowe | Ff omit.--Commoners Ff | Plebeians Hanmer.]

[Note 6: CARPENTER | Car. Ff | First Com. Camb | 1 Pleb. Hanmer.]

[Note: ACT I. In the First Folio _The Tragedie of Julius Cæsar_ is divided into acts but not into scenes, though 'Scœna (so spelled in the Folios) Prima' is given here after 'Actus Primus.'--_over the stage_. This, the Folio stage direction, suggests a mob.]

[Note 3: /Being mechanical:/ being mechanics. Shakespeare often uses adjectives with the sense of plural substantives. Cf. 'subject' in _Hamlet_, I, i, 72. Twice in North's Plutarch occurs "base mechanical people."--/ought not walk/. See Abbott, § 349.]

[Note 4-5: Shakespeare transfers to ancient Rome the English customs and usages of his own time. In Porter and Clarke's 'First Folio' _Julius Cæsar_, it is mentioned that Shakespeare's uncle Henry, a farmer in Snitterfield, according to a court order of October 25, 1583, was fined "viii d for not havinge and wearinge cappes on Sondayes and hollydayes."]

[Note 9: /You./ On 'you' as distinct from 'thou,' see Abbott, § 232.]

[Page 4]

COBBLER. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but,
as you would say, a cobbler. 11

MARULLUS. But what trade art thou? answer me directly.

COBBLER. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe
conscience; which is, indeed, sir, a mender of bad soles. 15

FLAVIUS. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what
trade?

COBBLER. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: yet,
if you be out, sir, I can mend you. 18

MARULLUS. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy
fellow?

COBBLER. Why, sir, cobble you.

FLAVIUS. Thou art a cobbler, art thou? 22

[Note 10: COBBLER | Cobl. Ff | Sec. Com. Camb.]

[Note 15: /soles/ | soules F1 F2 | soals F4.]

[Note 16: FLAVIUS | Fla. Ff | Mur. Capell | Mar. Globe Camb.]

[Note 19: MARULLUS | Mur. Ff.]

[Note 10: /in respect of/: in comparison with. So in _The Psalter_ (Book of Common Prayer), xxxix, 6. Cf. _Hamlet_, V, ii, 120.]

[Note 11: /cobbler/. This word was used of a coarse workman, or a bungler, in any mechanical trade. So the Cobbler's answer does not give the information required, though it contains a quibble.]

[Note 12: /directly/: in a straightforward manner, without evasion.]

[Note 15: /soles/. The First Folio spelling, 'soules,' brings out the pun. This 'immemorial quibble,' as Craik calls it, is found also in _The Merchant of Venice_, IV, i, 123: "Not on thy sole, but on thy soul."]

[Note 16: Modern editors give this speech to Marullus, but the Folio arrangement is more natural and dramatic, the two Tribunes alternately rating the people, as Knight puts it, like two smiths smiting on the same anvil.]

[Note 17-18: A quibble upon two common meanings of 'out'--(1) 'at variance,' as in "Launcelot and I are out," _The Merchant of Venice_, III, v, 34; and (2) as in 'out at heels,' or 'out at toes.']

[Page 5]

COBBLER. Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl: I
meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's
matters, but withal I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old
shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As
proper men as ever trod upon neat's-leather have gone upon
my handiwork. 28

FLAVIUS. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day?
Why dost thou lead these men about the streets?

COBBLER. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself
into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see
Cæsar and to rejoice in his triumph. 33

[Note 25: withal I F1 | withall I F2 F3 | withawl. I (Farmer's conj.) Camb Globe | with all. I Capell.]

[Note 34: Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 39-40: Pompey? Many ... oft Have Rowe | Pompey many ... oft? Have Ff.]

[Note 25: The text of the First Folio needs no emendation. It is good prose and involves a neat pun.]

[Note 26: /proper:/ goodly, handsome. This word has often this meaning in Elizabethan literature, and is still so used in provincial England. Cf. _The Tempest_, II, ii, 63; _Hebrews_ (King James version), xi, 23; Burns's _The Jolly Beggars_: "And still my delight is in proper young men."]

[Note 27: /trod upon neat's-leather/. This expression and "as proper a man as" are repeated in the second scene of the second act of _The Tempest_.--/neat's-leather/: ox-hide. 'Neat' is Anglo-Saxon _neát_, 'ox,' 'cow,' 'cattle,' and is still used in 'neat-herd,' 'neat's-foot oil.' See _The Winter's Tale_, I, ii, 125. The form 'nowt' is still in common use in the North of England and the South of Scotland. Cf. Burns's _The Twa Dogs_: "To thrum guitars an' fecht wi nowte."]

[Page 6]

MARULLUS. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?
What tributaries follow him to Rome, 35
To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?
You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things!
O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements, 40
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear, 45
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds
Made in her concave shores?
And do you now put on your best attire? 50
And do you now cull out a holiday?
And do you now strew flowers in his way
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone!
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, 55
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs must light on this ingratitude.

[Note 39: /Many a time and oft/. This form of emphasis occurs also in _The Merchant of Venice_, I, iii, 107. Cf. _Timon of Athens_, III, i, 25.]

[Note 41: /windows/, Rowe | Windowes? Ff.]

[Note 44: /Rome/: Ff | Rome? Rowe.]

[Note 47, 49: /her/ | his Rowe.]

[Note 47: /That/: so that. For the omission of 'so' before 'that,' see Abbott, § 283.--/her/. In Latin usage rivers are masculine, and 'Father' is a common appellation of 'Tiber.' In Elizabethan literature Drayton generally makes rivers feminine, while Spenser tends to make them masculine.]

[Note 48: /To hear/: at hearing. A gerundive use of the infinitive.--/replication/: echo, repetition (Lat. _replicare_, to roll back).]

[Note 51: Is this a day to pick out for a holiday?]

[Note 53: The reference is to the great battle of Munda, in Spain, which took place in March of the preceding year, B.C. 45. Cæsar was now celebrating his fifth triumph, which was in honor of his final victory over the Pompeian, or conservative, faction. Cnæus and Sextus, the two sons of Pompey the Great, were leaders in that battle, and Cnæus perished. "And because he had plucked up his race by the roots, men did not think it meet for him to triumph so for the calamities of his country."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]

[Note 57: "It is evident from the opening scene, that Shakespeare, even in dealing with classical subjects, laughed at the classic fear of putting the ludicrous and sublime into juxtaposition. After the low and farcical jests of the saucy cobbler, the eloquence of Marullus 'springs upwards like a pyramid of fire.'"--Campbell.]

[Page 7]

FLAVIUS. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,
Assemble all the poor men of your sort;
Draw them to Tiber banks, and weep your tears 60
Into the channel, till the lowest stream
Do kiss the most exalted shores of all.

[_Exeunt all the_ Commoners]

See, where their basest metal be not mov'd!
They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way towards the Capitol; 65
This way will I: disrobe the images,
If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.

[Note 62: [_Exeunt_ ... ] Ff | Exeunt Citizens Capell.]

[Note 63: /where/ Ff | whe're Theobald | whêr Dyce | whether Camb.]

[Note 61-62: Till the river rises from the extreme low-water mark to the extreme high-water mark.]

[Note 63: /where:/ whether. As in V, iv, 30, the 'where' of the Folios represents the monosyllabic pronunciation of this word common in the sixteenth century. In Shakespeare's verse the 'th' between two vowels, as in 'brother,' 'other,' 'whither,' is frequently mute.--/basest metal./--The Folio spelling is 'mettle,' and the word here may connote 'spirit,' 'temper.' If it be taken literally, the reference may be to 'lead.' Cf. 'base lead,' _The Merchant of Venice_, II, ix, 19. In this case the meaning may be that even these men, though as dull and heavy as lead, have yet the sense to be tongue-tied with shame at their conduct. 'Mettle' occurs again in I, ii, 293; 'metal' (First Folio, 'mettle') in I, ii, 306.]

[Note 66: /images./ These images were the busts and statues of Cæsar, ceremoniously decked with scarfs and badges in honor of his triumph.]

[Note 67: /ceremonies:/ ceremonial symbols, festal ornaments. Cf. 'trophies' in l. 71 and 'scarfs' in I, ii, 282. Shakespeare employs the word in the same way, as an abstract term used for the concrete thing, in _Henry V_, IV, i, 109; and, in the singular, in _Measure for Measure_, II, ii, 59. "After that, there were set up images of Cæsar in the city, with diadems on their heads like kings. Those the two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, went and pulled down."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]

[Page 8]

MARULLUS. May we do so?
You know it is the feast of Lupercal.

FLAVIUS. It is no matter; let no images 70
Be hung with Cæsar's trophies. I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the streets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
These growing feathers pluck'd from Cæsar's wing
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch, 75
Who else would soar above the view of men,
And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [_Exeunt_]

[Note 69: /Lupercal./ The _Lupercalia_, originally a shepherd festival, were held in honor of Lupercus, the Roman Pan, on the 15th of February, the month being named from _Februus_, a surname of the god. Lupercus was, primarily, the god of shepherds, said to have been so called because he protected the flocks from wolves. His wife Luperca was the deified she-wolf that suckled Romulus. The festival, in its original idea, was concerned with purification and fertilization.]

[Note 71: /Cæsar's trophies./ These are the scarfs and badges mentioned in note on l. 66, as appears from ll. 281-282 in the next scene, where it is said that the Tribunes "for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put to silence."]

[Note 72: /the vulgar:/ the common people. So in _Love's Labour's Lost_, I, ii, 51; _Henry V_, IV, vii, 80.]

[Note 75: /pitch./ A technical term in falconry, denoting the height to which a hawk or falcon flies. Cf. _I Henry VI_, II, iv, 11: "Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch."]

[Page 9]

SCENE II. _A public place_

_Enter_ CÆSAR; ANTONY, _for the course_; CALPURNIA,
PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, _and_ CASCA; _a
great crowd following, among them a_ Soothsayer.

CÆSAR. Calpurnia!

CASCA. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks.

CÆSAR. Calpurnia!

CALPURNIA. Here, my lord.

CÆSAR. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,
When he doth run his course. Antonius!

ANTONY. Cæsar, my lord? 5

CÆSAR. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calpurnia; for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their sterile curse.

ANTONY. I shall remember:
When Cæsar says 'Do this,' it is perform'd. 10

[Note: SCENE ... _place_ | Ff omit.]

[Note 3: /Antonius'/ Pope | Antonio's Ff.]

[Note 4, 6: /Antonius/ Pope | Antonio Ff (and so elsewhere).]

[Note 3: /Antonius'./ The 'Antonio's' of the Folios is the Italian form with which both actors and audience would be more familiar. So in IV, iii, 102, the Folios read "dearer than Pluto's (i.e. Plutus') mine." Antonius was at this time Consul, as Cæsar himself also was. Each Roman _gens_ had its own priesthood, and also its peculiar religious rites. The priests of the Julian gens (so named from Iulus the son of Æneas) had lately been advanced to the same rank with those of the god Lupercus; and Antony was at this time at their head. It was probably as chief of the Julian Luperci that he officiated on this occasion, stripped, as the old stage direction has it, "for the course."]

[Note 8-9: It was an old custom at these festivals for the priests, naked except for a girdle about the loins, to run through the streets of the city, waving in the hand a thong of goat's hide, and striking with it such women as offered themselves for the blow, in the belief that this would prevent or avert "the sterile curse." Cæsar was at this time childless; his only daughter, Julia, married to Pompey the Great, having died some years before, upon the birth of her first child, who also died soon after.]

[Page 10]

CÆSAR. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [_Flourish_]

SOOTHSAYER. Cæsar!

CÆSAR. Ha! who calls?

CASCA. Bid every noise be still. Peace yet again!

CÆSAR. Who is it in the press that calls on me? 15
I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music,
Cry 'Cæsar!' Speak; Cæsar is turn'd to hear.

SOOTHSAYER. Beware the Ides of March.

CÆSAR. What man is that?

BRUTUS. A soothsayer bids you beware the Ides of March.

CÆSAR. Set him before me; let me see his face. 20

CASSIUS. Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Cæsar.

CÆSAR. What say'st thou to me now? speak once again.

SOOTHSAYER. Beware the Ides of March.

CÆSAR. He is a dreamer; let us leave him. Pass.

[_Sennet. Exeunt all but_ BRUTUS _and_ CASSIUS]

CASSIUS. Will you go see the order of the course? 25

[Note 11: [Flourish] Ff omit.]

[Note 25: Scene III Pope.]

[Note 18: /the Ides of March:/ March 15th.]

[Note 19: Coleridge has a remark on this line, which, whether true to the subject or not, is very characteristic of the writer: "If my ear does not deceive me, the metre of this line was meant to express that sort of mild philosophic contempt, characterizing Brutus even in his first casual speech."--/soothsayer./ By derivation, 'truth teller.']

[Note 24: /Sennet./ This is an expression occurring repeatedly in old stage directions. It is of uncertain origin (but cf. 'signature' in musical notation) and denotes a peculiar succession of notes on a trumpet, used, as here, to signal the march of a procession.]

[Page 11]

BRUTUS. Not I.

CASSIUS. I pray you, do.

BRUTUS. I am not gamesome: I do lack some part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony.
Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; 30
I'll leave you.

CASSIUS. Brutus, I do observe you now of late:
I have not from your eyes that gentleness
And show of love as I was wont to have:
You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand 35
Over your friend that loves you.

[Note 36: /friend/ F1 | Friends F2 F3.]

[Note 28: /gamesome:/ fond of games. Here as in _Cymbeline_, I, vi, 60, the word seems to be used in a literal and restricted sense.]

[Note 29: /quick spirit:/ lively humor. The primary meaning of 'quick' is 'alive,' as in the phrase "the quick and the dead." See Skeat.]

[Note 34: /as./ The three forms 'that,' 'who' ('which'), and 'as' are often interchangeable in Elizabethan usage. So in line 174. See Abbott, §§ 112, 280.]

[Note 35: You hold me too hard on the bit, like a strange rider who is doubtful of his steed, and not like one who confides in his faithful horse, and so rides him with an easy rein. See note on l. 310.]

[Note 36: Caius Cassius Longinus had married Junia, a sister of Brutus. Both had lately stood for the chief prætorship of the city, and Brutus, through Cæsar's favor, had won it; though Cassius was at the same time elected one of the sixteen prætors or judges of the city. This is said to have produced a coldness between Brutus and Cassius, so that they did not speak to each other, till this extraordinary flight of patriotism brought them together.]

[Page 12]

BRUTUS. 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, 40
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, 45
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shows of love to other men.

CASSIUS. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your passion;
By means whereof this breast of mine hath buried
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations. 50
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

BRUTUS. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself
But by reflection, by some other things.

[Note 52-53: Three irregular lines in Ff.]

[Note 52: /itself/ | it selfe F1 | himselfe F2 | himself, F3 | himself: F4.]

[Note 53: /by some/ Ff | from some Pope.]

[Note 39: /Merely:/ altogether, entirely. So in _The Tempest_, I, i, 59.]

[Note 40: /passions of some difference:/ conflicting emotions.]

[Note 41: /only proper to myself:/ belonging exclusively to myself.]

[Note 42: /give some soil to:/ to a certain extent tarnish.--/behaviours./ Shakespeare often uses abstract nouns in the plural. This usage is common in Carlyle. Here, however, and elsewhere in Shakespeare, as in _Much Ado about Nothing_, II, iii, 100, the plural 'behaviours' may be regarded as denoting the particular acts which make up what we call 'behavior.' See Clar.]

[Note 48: /mistook./ The _en_ of the termination of the past participle of strong verbs is often dropped, and when the resulting word might be mistaken for the infinitive, the form of the past tense is frequently substituted.--/passion./ Shakespeare uses 'passion' for any feeling, sentiment, or emotion, whether painful or pleasant. So in _Henry V_, II, ii. 132: "Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger."]

[Note 49: /By means whereof:/ and because of my mistaking it. 'Means' was sometimes used in the sense of 'cause.']

[Note 53: Except by an image or 'shadow' (l. 68; cf. _Venus and Adonis_, 162) reflected from a mirror, or from water, or some polished surface. Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, III, iii, 105-111.]

[Page 13]

CASSIUS. 'Tis just:
And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 55
That you have no such mirrors as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
Except immortal Cæsar, speaking of Brutus, 60
And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have wish'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

BRUTUS. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius,
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me? 65

CASSIUS. 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. 70
And be not jealous on me, gentle Brutus:
Were I a common laughter, 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, 75
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_]

[Note 58: Two lines in Ff.]

[Note 63: Two lines in Ff.--/Cassius/, Pope Camb Globe | Cassius? Ff.]

[Note 70: /you yet/ F1 F2 | yet you F3 F4.]

[Note 72: /laughter/ | Laughter Ff | laugher Rowe Camb Globe.]

[Note 77: /myself/ | my selfe F1 | omitted in F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 54: /'Tis just:/ that's so, exactly so. Cf. _All's Well that Ends Well_, II, iii, 21; _As You Like It_, III, ii, 281; _2 Henry IV_, III, ii, 89.]

[Note 59: /Where./ The adverb is here used of occasion, not of place.--/of the best respect:/ held in the highest estimation.]

[Note 60: /Except immortal Cæsar./ Keen, double-edged irony.]

[Note 71: /jealous on:/ suspicious of. In Shakespeare we find 'on' and 'of' used indifferently, even in the same sentence, as in _Hamlet_, IV, v, 200. Cf. _Macbeth_, I, iii, 84; _Sonnets_, LXXXIV, 14. See Abbott, § 181.]

[Note 72: /laughter:/ laughing-stock. Although most modern editors have adopted Rowe's emendation, 'laugher,' the reading of the Folios is perfectly intelligible and thoroughly Shakespearian. Cf. IV, iii, 114.]

[Note 73: /To stale:/ to make common by frequent repetition, to cheapen. So again in IV, i, 38. Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, II, ii, 240.]

[Note 74: 'To protest' is used by Shakespeare in the sense of 'to profess,' 'to declare,' 'to vow,' as in _All's Well that Ends Well_, IV, ii, 28, and _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, I, i, 89. The best commentary on ll. 72-74 is _Hamlet_, I, iii, 64-65: "But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade."]

[Page 14]

BRUTUS. What means this shouting? I do fear, the people
Choose Cæsar for their king.

CASSIUS. Ay, do you fear it? 80
Then must I think you would not have it so.

BRUTUS. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.
But wherefore do you hold me here so long?
What is it that you would impart to me?
If it be aught toward the general good, 85
Set honour in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.

[Note 79-80: Three irregular lines in Ff.]

[Note 85: /aught/ Theobald | ought Ff.]

[Note 87: /both/ Ff | death Theobald (Warburton).]

[Note 76-78: If you know that, when banqueting, I make professions of friendship to all the crowd.]

[Note 87: "Warburton would read 'death' for 'both'; but I prefer the old text. There are here three things, the public good, the individual Brutus' honour, and his death. The latter two so balanced each other, that he could decide for the first by equipoise; nay--the thought growing--that honour had more weight than death."--Coleridge.--/indifferently:/ without emotion. 'Impartially.'--Clar.]

[Note 88: /speed:/ prosper, bless. So in II, iv, 41. "The notion of 'haste' which now belongs to the word is apparently a derived sense. It is thus curiously parallel to the Latin _expedio_, with which some would connect it etymologically.... The proverb 'more haste, worse speed' shows that haste and speed are not the same."--Clar.]

[Page 15-17]

CASSIUS. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, 90
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be as live to be 95
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, 100
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in, 105
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, 110
Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink!'
I, as Æneas, 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 Cæsar: and this man 115
Is now become a god, and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain;
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 120
How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly;
And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world
Did lose his lustre. I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans 125
Mark him and write his speeches in their books,
Alas, it cried, 'Give me some drink, Titinius,'
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world 130
And bear the palm alone. [_Shout. Flourish_]

BRUTUS. Another general shout!
I do believe that these applauses are
For some new honours that are heap'd on Cæsar.

[Note 94: /for/ F1 | omitted in F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 101: /chafing/ F1 F4 | chasing F2 F3.]

[Note 102: /said/ | saide F1 | saies F2 F3.]

[Note 105: /Accoutred/ F1 | Accounted F2.]

[Note 124: /lose/ | loose F1.]

[Note 125: /bade/ Theobald | bad Ff.]

[Note 91: /favour:/ appearance. The word has often this meaning in Shakespeare. Cf. 'well-favored,' 'ill-favored,' and such a provincial expression as 'the child favors his father.']

[Note 95: /lief:/ readily. The pronunciation of the _f_ as _v_ brings out the quibble. From the Anglo-Saxon _léof_, 'dear.' See Murray.]

[Note 101: /chafing./ See Skeat for the interesting development of the meanings of the verb 'chafe (Fr. _chauffer_),' which Shakespeare uses twenty times, sometimes transitively, sometimes intransitively.]

[Note 109: /hearts of controversy:/ controversial hearts, emulation. In Shakespeare are many similar constructions and expressions. Cf. 'passions of some difference,' l. 40, and 'mind of love' for 'loving mind,' _The Merchant of Venice_, II, viii, 42.]

[Note 110: /arrive the point./ In sixteenth and early seventeenth century literature the omission of the preposition with verbs of motion is common. Cf. 'pass the streets' in I, i, 44.]

[Note 119: In Elizabethan literature 'fever' is often used for sickness in general as well as for what is now specifically called a fever. Cæsar had three several campaigns in Spain at different periods of his life, and the text does not show which of these Shakespeare had in mind. One passage in Plutarch indicates that Cæsar was first taken with the 'falling-sickness' during his third campaign, which closed with the great battle of Munda, March 17, B.C. 45. See note, p. 25, l. 252, and quotation from Plutarch, p. 26, l. 268.]

[Note 122: The image, very bold, somewhat forced, and not altogether happy, is of a cowardly soldier running away from his flag.]

[Note 123: /bend:/ look. So in _Antony and Cleopatra_, II, ii, 213: "tended her i' the eyes, And made their bends adornings." In Shakespeare the verb 'bend,' when used of the eyes, has usually the sense of 'direct,' as in _Hamlet_, II, i, 100: "bended their light on me"; III, iv, 117: "That you do bend your eye on vacancy."]

[Note 124: /his:/ its. 'Its' was just creeping into use at the close of the sixteenth century. It does not occur once in the King James version of the Bible as originally printed; it occurs ten times in the First Folio, generally in the form 'it's'; it occurs only three times in Milton's poetry. See Masson's _Essay on Milton's English_; Abbott, § 228; Sweet's _New English Grammar_, § 1101.]

[Note 129: /temper:/ temperament, constitution. "The lean and wrinkled Cassius" venting his spite at Cæsar, by ridiculing his liability to sickness and death, is charmingly characteristic. The mighty Cæsar, with all his electric energy of mind and will, was of a rather fragile and delicate make; and his countenance, as we have it in authentic busts, is of almost feminine beauty. Cicero, who did not love him at all, in one of his _Letters_ applies to him the Greek word that is used for 'miracle' or 'wonder' in the New Testament; the English of the passage being, "This miracle (monster?) is a thing of terrible energy, swiftness, diligence."]

[Page 18-19]

CASSIUS. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus, and we petty men 136
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, 140
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus and Cæsar: what should be in that 'Cæsar?'
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; 145
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
'Brutus' will start a spirit as soon as 'Cæsar.'
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd! 150
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was fam'd with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man? 155
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and I have heard our fathers say
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd! 150
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was fam'd with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talk'd of Rome,
That her wide walks encompass'd but one man? 155
Now is it Rome indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man.
O, you and I have heard our fathers say
There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
Th' eternal devil to keep his state in Rome 160
As easily as a king.

[Note 155: /walks/ F4 | Walkes F1 F2 F3 | walls Rowe.]

[Note 135: Observe the force of 'narrow' here; as if Cæsar were grown so enormously big that even the world seemed a little thing under him. Some while before this, the Senate had erected a bronze statue of Cæsar, standing on a globe, and inscribed to "Cæsar the Demigod," but this inscription Cæsar erased.]

[Note 136: It is only a legend that the bronze Colossus of Rhodes bestrode the entrance to the famous harbor. The story probably arose from the statement that the figure, which represented Helios, the national deity of the Rhodians, was so high that a ship might sail between its legs.]

[Note 140: In Shakespeare are many such allusions to the tenets of the old astrology and the belief in planetary influence upon the fortunes and characters of men which Scott describes in the Introduction to _Guy Mannering_ and makes the atmosphere of the story.]

[Note 142: /should be:/ can be. So in _The Tempest_, I, ii, 387: "Where should this music be? i' the air or the earth?"]

[Note 146-147: The allusion is to the old custom of muttering certain names, supposed to have in them "the might of magic spells," in raising or conjuring up spirits.]

[Note 152: /the great flood./ By this an ancient Roman would understand the universal deluge of classical mythology, from which only Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha escaped alive. The story is told in Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, I. Shakespeare mentions Deucalion twice.]

[Note 155: /walks./ The reasons why Rowe's emendation, 'walls,' is almost universally accepted, are that 'walls' would be easily corrupted into 'walks' from the nearness of 'talk'd,' and that there is a disagreeable assonance in 'talk'd' and 'walks' in successive lines. But 'walks' is picturesque and poetical; compared with it, 'walls' is commonplace and obvious. Cf. _Paradise Lost_, IV, 586.]

[Note 156: A play upon 'Rome' and 'room,' which appear to have been sounded more alike in Shakespeare's time than they are now. So again in III, i, 289-290: "A dangerous Rome, No Rome of safety for Octavius yet." Cf. also _King John_, III, i, 180.]

[Note 159: The allusion is to Lucius Junius Brutus, who bore a leading part in driving out the Tarquins and in turning the kingdom into a republic. Afterwards, as consul, he condemned his own sons to death for attempting to restore the kingdom. The Marcus Junius Brutus of the play, according to Plutarch, supposed himself to be descended from him. His mother, Servilia, also derived her lineage from Servilius Ahala, who slew Spurius Mælius for aspiring to royalty. Merivale remarks that "the name of Brutus forced its possessor into prominence as soon as royalty began to be discussed."--/brook'd:/ endured, tolerated. See Murray for the history of this word.]

[Note 160: /eternal./ Johnson suggested 'infernal.' Dr. Wright (Clar.) points out that in three plays printed in 1600 Shakespeare uses 'infernal,' but substitutes 'eternal' in _Julius Cæsar_, _Hamlet_, and _Othello_, in obedience probably to the popular Puritan agitation against profanity on the stage. This has been used as evidence to determine dates of composition. See Introduction, page xx. Cf. with this use of 'eternal' the old Yankee term 'tarnal' in such expressions as 'tarnal scamp,' 'tarnal shame,' etc.]

[Page 20]

BRUTUS. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter; for this present, 165
I would not, so with love I might entreat you,
Be any further mov'd. What you have said
I will consider; what you have to say
I will with patience hear, and find a time
Both meet to hear and answer such high things. 170
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager
Than to repute himself a son of Rome
Under these hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us. 175

[Note 166: /not, so with ... you/ | not so (with ... you) Ff.]

[Note 162: /am nothing jealous:/ do not doubt. Cf. l. 71. 'Jealous' and 'zealous' are etymologically the same word. See Skeat.]

[Note 163: /work me to:/ prevail upon me to do. Cf. _Hamlet_, IV, vii, 64.--/aim:/ guess. Cf. _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_, III, i, 28. Similarly with the verb in _Romeo and Juliet_, I, i, 211; _Othello_, III, iii, 223.]

[Note 171: 'To chew' is, literally, in the Latin equivalent, 'to ruminate.' Cf. _As You Like It_, IV, iii, 102: "Chewing the food of sweet and bitter fancy." In Bacon's Essays, _Of Studies_, we have, with reference to books: "Some few are to be chewed and digested." So in Lyly's _Euphues_: "Philantus went into the fields to walk there, either to digest his choler, or chew upon his melancholy."]

[Note 174: /these ... as./ See note, l. 34; Abbott, §§ 112, 280.]

[Page 21]

CASSIUS. I am glad that my weak words
Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

_Enter_ CÆSAR _and his train_

BRUTUS. The games are done, and Cæsar is returning.

CASSIUS. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you 180
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.

BRUTUS. I will do so. But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Cæsar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train:
Calpurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero 185
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being cross'd in conference by some senators.

[Note 178: Scene IV Pope.]

[Note 178-179: Four lines in Ff.]

[Note 177: In _Troilus and Cressida_, III, iii, 256, Thersites says of the wit of Ajax: "It lies as coldly in him as fire in a flint, which will not show without knocking." The same figure is found in the description which Brutus gives of his unimpassioned nature, IV, iii, 112-114.]

[Note 181: /proceeded:/ happened, come to pass. So in _All's Well that Ends Well_, IV, ii, 62.--/worthy note./ Cf. _All's Well that Ends Well_, III, v, 104. For the ellipsis of the preposition, see Abbott, § 198 a.]

[Note 186: One of the marked physical characteristics of the albinotic ferret is the red or pink eye. Shakespeare turns the noun 'ferret' into an adjective. The description of Cicero is purely imaginary; but the angry spot on Cæsar's brow, Calpurnia's pale cheek, and Cicero with fire in his eyes when kindled by opposition in the Senate, make an exceedingly vivid picture.]

[Page 22]

CASSIUS. Casca will tell us what the matter is.

CÆSAR. Antonius! 190

ANTONY. Cæsar?

CÆSAR. Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous. 195

ANTONY. Fear him not, Cæsar; he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

[Note 191: /Cæsar/? Theobald | Cæsar. Ff.]

[Note 193: /o' nights/ Capeli | a-nights F1 F2.]

[Note 192-195: "Another time when Cæsar's friends complained unto him of Antonius and Dolabella, that they pretended some mischief towards him, he answered them again, As for those fat men, and smooth-combed heads, quoth he, I never reckon of them; but these pale visaged and carrion lean people, I fear them most; meaning Brutus and Cassius."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_. There are similar passages in Plutarch's _Life of Brutus_ and in the _Life of Marcus Antonius_. Cf. _Antony and Cleopatra_, III, xi, 37. Falstaff's famous cry was for 'spare men.' See _2 Henry IV_, III, ii, 288. 'Sleek-headed' recalls Lamb's wish that the baby son of the tempestuous Hazlitt should be "like his father, with something of a better temper and a smoother head of hair."]

[Note 197: /well given:/ well disposed. So in _2 Henry VI_, III, i, 72.]

[Page 23]

CÆSAR. Would he were fatter! but I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid 200
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music:
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort 205
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous. 210
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear, for always I am Cæsar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.

[_Sennet. Exeunt_ CÆSAR _and all his train but_ CASCA]

CASCA. You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak with me? 215

BRUTUS. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanc'd to-day,
That Cæsar looks so sad.

CASCA. Why, you were with him, were you not?

BRUTUS. I should not then ask Casca what had chanc'd.

[Note 215: Scene V Pope.]

[Note 203: /he loves no plays./ "In his house they did nothing but feast, dance, and masque; and himself passed away the time in hearing of foolish plays, and in marrying these players, tumblers, jesters, and such sort of people."--Plutarch, _Marcus Antonius_.]

[Note 204: The power of music is repeatedly celebrated by Shakespeare, and sometimes in strains that approximate the classical hyperboles about Orpheus, Amphion, and Arion. What is here said of Cassius has an apt commentary in _The Merchant of Venice_, V, 1, 83-85:

The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils.]

[Note 213: This is one of the little touches of invention that so often impart a fact-like vividness to Shakespeare's scenes.]

[Note 217: /sad./ The word is used here probably in its early sense of 'weary' (as in Middle English) or 'resolute' (as in Chaucer and old Ballads). In _2 Henry IV_, V, i, 92, is the expression "a jest with a sad brow," where 'sad' evidently means 'wise,' 'sage.']

[Page 24]

CASCA. Why, there was a crown offer'd him; and being offer'd
him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then
the people fell a-shouting. 222

BRUTUS. What was the second noise for?

CASCA. Why, for that too.

CASSIUS. They shouted thrice: what was the last cry for?

CASCA. Why, for that too. 226

BRUTUS. Was the crown offer'd him thrice?

CASCA. Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time
gentler than other; and at every putting by mine honest
neighbours shouted. 230

CASSIUS. Who offer'd him the crown?

CASCA. Why, Antony.

BRUTUS. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.

CASCA. I can as well be hang'd as tell the manner of it:
it was mere foolery; I did not mark it. I saw Mark Antony
offer him a crown--yet 'twas not a crown neither, 'twas one
of these coronets--and, as I told you, he put it by once:
but, for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it.
Then he offer'd it to him again; then he put it by again:
but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it.
And then he offer'd it the third time; he put it the third
time by: and, still, as he refus'd it, the rabblement hooted
and clapp'd their chopp'd hands, and threw up their sweaty
nightcaps and utter'd such a deal of stinking breath because
Cæsar refus'd the crown, that it had almost chok'd Cæsar;
for he swounded and fell down at it: and for mine own part,
I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving
the bad air. 248

[Note 222: /a-shouting/ Dyce | a shouting Ff | a' shouting Capell.]

[Note 235: /it was/ F1 | it were F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 242: /hooted/ Johnson | howted F1 F2 F3 | houted F4.]

[Note 243: /chopp'd/ | chopt Ff.]

[Note 246: /swounded/ | swoonded Ff | swooned Rowe.]

[Note 220: /there was a crown offer'd him./ In the _Life of Marcus Antonius_ Plutarch gives a detailed and vivid description of this scene.]

[Page 25]

CASSIUS. But, soft! I pray you: what, did Cæsar swound?

CASCA. He fell down in the market-place, and foam'd at
mouth, and was speechless.

BRUTUS. 'Tis very like; he hath the falling-sickness.

CASSIUS. No, Cæsar hath it not; but you, and I,
And honest Casca, we have the falling-sickness. 254

CASCA. I know not what you mean by that, but I am sure Cæsar
fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him and hiss
him, according as he pleas'd and displeas'd them, as they
use to do the players in the theatre, I am no true man.

BRUTUS. What said he when he came unto himself? 260

[Note 249: /swound/ Ff | swoon Rowe.]

[Note 252: /like; he/ Theobald | like he Ff.]

[Note 249: /soft!/ This is an elliptical use of the adverb 'soft' and was much used as an exclamation for arresting or retarding the speed of a person or thing; meaning about the same as 'hold!' 'stay!' or 'not too fast!' So in _Othello_, V, ii, 338: "Soft you; a word or two before you go"; and _The Merchant of Venice_, IV, i, 320: "Soft! The Jew shall have all justice; soft! no haste."]

[Note 252: /falling-sickness./ An old English name for epilepsy (Lat. _morbus caducus_, German _fallende Sucht_) used by North in translating Plutarch. Another form of the word is 'falling-evil,' also used by North (see quotation, p. 26, l. 268). It is an interesting fact that the best authorities allow that Napoleon suffered from epileptic seizures towards the close of his life.]

[Note 256: /tag-rag people:/ Cf. 'the tag' in _Coriolanus_, III, i, 248.]

[Note 259: /true:/ honest. Shakespeare frequently uses 'true' in this sense, especially as opposed to 'thief.' Cf. _Cymbeline_, II, iii, 76; _Venus and Adonis_, 724: "Rich preys make true men thieves."]

[Page 26]

CASCA. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceiv'd the
common herd was glad he refus'd the crown, he pluck'd me ope
his doublet and offer'd them his throat to cut. And I had
been a man of any occupation, if I would not have taken him
at a word, I would I might go to hell among the rogues. And
so he fell. When he came to himself again, he said, if he
had done or said any thing amiss, he desir'd their worships
to think it was his infirmity. Three or four wenches, where
I stood, cried, 'Alas, good soul!' and forgave him with all
their hearts. But there's no heed to be taken of them: if
Cæsar had stabb'd their mothers, they would have done no
less. 272

[Note 263: /And/ Ff | an (an') Theobald.]

[Note 270: /no/ omitted in F2.]

[Note 261: /Marry./ The common Elizabethan exclamation of surprise, or asseveration, corrupted from the name of the Virgin Mary.]

[Note 263: /me./ The ethical dative. Cf. III, iii, 18; _The Merchant of Venice_, I, iii, 85; _Romeo and Juliet_, III, i, 6. See Abbott, § 220.--/doublet./ This was the common English name of a man's outer body-garment. Shakespeare dresses his Romans like Elizabethan Englishmen (cf. II, i, 73-74), but the expression 'doublet-collar' occurs in North's Plutarch (see quotation in note on ll. 268-270).--/And:/ if. For 'and' in this sense, see Murray, and Abbott, § 101.]

[Note 264: /a man of any occupation./ This probably means not only a mechanic or user of cutting-tools, but also a man of business and of action, as distinguished from a gentleman of leisure, or an idler.]

[Note 265-266: /to hell among the rogues./ The early English drama abounds in examples of such historical confusion. For example, in the Towneley Miracle Plays Noah's wife swears by the Virgin Mary.]

[Note 268-270: "Thereupon Cæsar rising departed home to his house; and, tearing open his doublet-collar, making his neck bare, he cried out aloud to his friends, that his throat was ready to offer to any man that would come and cut it.... Afterwards, to excuse his folly, he imputed it to his disease, saying that their wits are not perfect which have this disease of the falling-evil."--Plutarch, _Julius Cæsar_.]

[Page 27]

BRUTUS. And after that, he came, thus sad, away?

CASCA. Ay.

CASSIUS. Did Cicero say any thing? 275

CASCA. Ay, he spoke Greek.

CASSIUS. To what effect?

CASCA. Nay, and I tell you that, I'll ne'er look you i' the
face again: but those that understood him smil'd at one
another and shook their heads; but, for mine own part, it
was Greek to me. I could tell you more news too: Marullus
and Flavius, for pulling scarfs off Cæsar's images, are put
to silence. Fare you well. There was more foolery yet, if I
could remember it.

CASSIUS. Will you sup with me to-night, Casca? 285

CASCA. No, I am promis'd forth.

CASSIUS. Will you dine with me to-morrow?

CASCA. Ay, if I be alive, and your mind hold, and your
dinner worth the eating.

CASSIUS. Good; I will expect you. 290

CASCA. Do so: farewell, both. [_Exit_]

[Note 273: /away?/ Theobald | away F1.]

[Note 278: /and/ Ff | an (an') Theobald.]

[Note 275-281: A charming invention, though in his _Life of Cicero_ Plutarch refers to the orator's nicknames, 'Grecian' and 'scholer,' due to his ability to "declaim in Greek." Cicero had a sharp, agile tongue, and was fond of using it; and nothing was more natural than that he should snap off some keen, sententious sayings, prudently veiling them, however, in a foreign language from all but those who might safely understand them.--/Greek to me./ 'Greek,' often 'heathen Greek,' was a common Elizabethan expression for unintelligible speech. In Dekker's _Grissil_ (1600) occurs "It's Greek to him." So in Dickens's _Barnaby Rudge_: "this is Greek to me."]

[Note 286: /I am promis'd forth:/ I have promised to go out. 'Forth' is often used in this way in Elizabethan literature without any verb of motion. Cf. _The Merchant of Venice_, II, v, 11. See Abbott, § 41.]

[Page 28]

BRUTUS. What a blunt fellow is this grown to be!
He was quick mettle when he went to school.

CASSIUS. So is he now, in execution
Of any bold or noble enterprise, 295
However he puts on this tardy form.
This rudeness is a sauce to his good wit,
Which gives men stomach to digest his words
With better appetite.

BRUTUS. And so it is. For this time I will leave you: 300
To-morrow, if you please to speak with me,
I will come home to you; or, if you will,
Come home to me, and I will wait for you.

[Note 298: /digest/ F3 F4 | disgest F1 F2.]

[Note 299: /appetite/ F1 | appetites F2 F3 F4.]

[Note 300: Ff print as two lines.]

[Note 292: /blunt:/ dull, slow. Or there may be a quibble involved in connection with 'mettle' in the next line. Brutus alludes to the 'tardy form' (l. 296) Casca has just 'put on' in winding so long about the matter before coming to the point.]

[Note 293: /quick mettle:/ lively spirit. Collier conjectured 'quick-mettl'd.' 'Mettlesome' is still used of spirited horses. Cf. I, i, 63.]

[Note 296: /However:/ notwithstanding. Cf. _Troilus and Cressida_, I, iii, 322.--/tardy form:/ appearance of tardiness. The construction in this expression is common in Shakespeare, as 'shady stealth' for 'stealing shadow,' in _Sonnets_, LXXVII, 7; 'negligent danger' for 'danger from negligence,' in _Antony and Cleopatra_, III, v, 81.]

[Page 29]

CASSIUS. I will do so: till then, think of the world.

[_Exit_ BRUTUS]

Well, Brutus, thou art noble; yet, I see, 305
Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is dispos'd: therefore it is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes;
For who so firm that cannot be seduc'd?
Cæsar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus: 310
If I were Brutus now and he were Cassius,
He should not humour me. I will this night,
In several hands, in at his windows throw,
As if they came from several citizens,
Writings, all tending to the great opinion 315
That Rome holds of his name; wherein obscurely
Cæsar's ambition shall be glanced at:
And after this let Cæsar seat him sure;
For we will shake him, or worse days endure. [_Exit_]

[Note 306: /metal/ F3 F4 | mettle F1 | mettall F2.]

[Note 307: /that it is dispos'd:/ that which it is disposed to. For the omission of prepositions in Shakespeare, see Abbott, §§ 198-202. Cassius in this speech is chuckling over the effect his talk has had upon Brutus.]

[Note 310: /bear me hard:/ has a grudge against me. This remarkable expression occurs three times in this play, but nowhere else in Shakespeare. Professor Hales quotes an example of it from Ben Jonson's _Catiline_, IV, v. It seems to have been borrowed from horsemanship, and to mean 'carries tight rein,' or 'reins hard,' like one who distrusts his horse. So before, ll. 35, 36:

You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.]

[Note 312: /humour./ To 'humor' a man, as the word is here used, is to turn and wind and manage him by watching his moods and crotchets, and to touch him accordingly. It is somewhat in doubt whether the 'he' in the preceding line refers to Brutus or to Cæsar. If to Brutus, the meaning of course is: he should not play upon my humors and fancies as I do upon his. And this sense is fairly required by the context, for the whole speech is occupied with the speaker's success in cajoling Brutus, and with plans for cajoling and shaping him still further. Johnson refers 'he' to Cæsar.]

[Note 313: /hands:/ handwritings. So the word is used colloquially to-day.]

[Note 319: We will either shake him, or endure worse days in suffering the consequences of our attempt.--Shakespeare makes Cassius overflow with intense personal spite against Cæsar. This is in accordance with what he read in North's Plutarch.]

[Page 30]

SCENE III. _The same. A street_

_Thunder and lightning. Enter, from opposite sides_, CASCA,
_with his sword drawn, and_ CICERO

CICERO. Good even, Casca: brought you Cæsar home?
Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?