26

A FRAGMENT

Ant. But yesterday the word of Cæsar might Have stood against the world: now lies he there, And none fo poor to do him reverence.

O masters! if I were difpos'd to ftir

you,

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,
I should do Brutus wrong, and Caffius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men :
I will not do them wrong; I rather choose
To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and
Than I will wrong fuch honourable men.
But here's a parchment, with the feal of Cæfar,
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 kifs dead Cæfar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his facred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,
And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their iffue.

4 Pleb. We'll hear the will: Read it, Mark Antony.
All. The will, the will; we will hear Cæsar's will.
Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ;

It is not meet you know how Casar lov'd you.

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men ;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæfar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad :
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ;
For if you should, O, what would come of it!

4

Pleb. Read the will; we will hear it, Antony; You fhall read us the will; Cæfar's will.

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you stay a while? I have o'er-fhot myself, to tell you of it.

] fear,

I wrong the honourable men,

Whofe daggers have stabb'd Cæfar: I do fear it.

4 Pleb. They were traitors: Honourable men!

All. The will! the teftament!

2 Pleb. 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 corpfe of Cæfar,

And

And let me fhew you him that made the will.
Shall I defcend? And will you give me leave?
All. Come down..

2 Pleb. Defcend. [He comes down from the pulpit.
Pleb. You fhall have leave.

3

4 Pleb. A ring; ftand round.

1 Pleb. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body.
2 Pleb. Room for Antony;-most noble Antony.
Ant. Nay, prefs not fo upon me; stand far off.
All. Stand back! room! bear back!

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæfar put it on ;

'Twas on a fummer's evening, in his tent ;

That day he overcame the Nervii :

Look! in this place, ran Caffius' dagger through:
See, what a rent the envious Cafca made:
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus ftabb'd;
And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæfar follow'd it;
As rufhing out of doors, to be refolv'd
If Brutus fo unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæfar's angel:
Judge, O you gods, how dearly Cæfar lov'd him!
This was the moft unkindeft cut of all:

For when the noble Cæfar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

Quite vanquish'd him: then burft his mighty heart;
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Even at the bafe of Pompey's ftatue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell.

O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilft bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O, now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel

The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.

Kind fouls, what, weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæfar's vesture wounded? Look you here!
Here is himself, marr'd, as you fee, with traitors.
1 Pleb. O piteous fpectacle!

2 Pleb. O noble Cæfar!

2

$ Pleb.

2 Pleb. We will be reveng'd: Revenge: About,feek,-burn, Fire-kill,-flay-let not a traytor live.

Ant. Stay, countrymen.

1 Pleb. Peace there:-hear the noble Antony:

2 Pleb. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him. Ant. Good friends, fweet friends, let me not stir you up

To fuch a fudden flood of mutiny.

They, that have done this deed, are honourable;

What privaie griefs they have, alas, I know not,

That made them do it; they are wife, and honourable,
And will, no doubt, with reafons 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
That gave me publick leave to speak of him,
For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth,
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To flir men's blood: I only speak right on;

I tell you that, which you yourselves do know ;
Shew you fweet Cæfar's wounds, poor, poor dumb mouths!
And bid them speak for me: But were 1 Brutus,
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony

Would ruffle up your fpirits, and put a tongue

In

every wound of Cæfar, that should move

The stones of Rome to rife and mutiny.

All. We'll mutiny.

1 Pleb. We'll burn the house of Brutus.

3 Pleb. Away then, come seek the confpirators.
Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.
All. Peace, ho! Hear Antony, most noble Antony.
Ant. Why, friends, know you go to do you not what :
Wherein hath Cæfar thus deferv'd your loves?
Alas, you know not :-I must tell you then :-

You have forgot the will I told you of.

All. Most true;-the will ;-let's stay, and hear the will.
Ant. Here is the will, and under Cæfar's feal.

To every Roman citizen he gives

To

To every several man, feventy-five drachmas.

2 Pleb. Most noble Cæfar!-We'll revenge his death, 3 Pleb. O royal Cæfar!

Ant. Hear me with patience.

All. Peace, ho!

Ant. Moreover he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours, and new-planted orchards, On this fide Tiber; he hath left them

you,

And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Cæfar: When comes fuch another?

1 Pleb. Neyer, never :-Come, away, away; We'll burn his body in the holy place,

And with the brands fire the traitors' houses.
Take up the body,

2 Pleb. Go, fetch fire.

4 Pleb. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.

[Exeunt Plebeians with the body.

Such is Shakspeare in the veil of my barbarous profe: but he is beautiful even veiled; naked, he is beauty itself.

I do not oppose this speech to any one of the three fpeeches in Homer, but to all three together. Now chuse that speech in Virgil which pleases you beft: but when I mentioned the master-pieces of Homer, I meant to include all the most beautiful paffages that the Greek and Latin poetry can produce.

I have faid, that Shakspeare equals all writers in the part in which each of them excells. Demofthenes and Cicero were orators by profeffion. one of their orations fuperior to this?

Is there any You answer,

* The French translator has adopted in this scene the tranflation of M. de Tourneur, making one or two alterations for the better. † The reader must remember that the original was written in Italian.

30

A FRAGMENT

that "there is." I afk, which it is, and how often you have read it?" Two hundred times."And mine, how often?" Once only."-Young reader, I do not accuse you of judging rafhly. I do not ask you to tranflate your favourite oration into Italian profe as bad as mine, nor to read my difcourfe two hundred times (which ftrict justice, however, would seem to require); I ask you only to read it once more, and to read it with attention?

You have then read it again, and you fill prefer fome Greek or Latin oration. Excufe me, if I venture to infinuate that you are not yet apprized of all the beauties of the fpeech of Antony. What think you for inftance, of these words,

"which (Pompey's ftatue)

"All the while ran with blood."

"It is a filly conceit," say you; "how could the mar"ble which we fee in the Spada palace run with blood? It is a manifeft abfurdity." Mighty well, this is one of the finest paffages in the fpeech. And firft, it is not Shakspeare who says thefe words; it is Antony who speaks. He does not fpeak to you, bright fpirit, profound logician; he speaks to the Roman people. Befides, the circumftance is mentioned in all hiftories, and had without doubt fome foundation. Rome was then engaged with a thousand ideas of various prodigies occafioned by the death of Cæfar.. It is poffible, that, to increase the number of them, Antony might invent this fable. But what appears to me more probable is, that fome pufillanimous fenator,, who was not one of the confpirators, terrified by the

tumult,