4

Dec. Never fear that: if he be fo refolv'd,
I can o'erfway him : for he loves to hear,
'That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,
And bears with glaffes, elephants with holes,
Lions with toils, and men with flatterers.
But when I tell him, he hates flatterers,
He fays, he does; being then most flattered.
Let me work:

For I can give his humour the true bent;
And I will bring him to the Capitol.

Caf. Nay, we will all of us be there to fetch him.
Bru. By the eighth hour. Is that the uttermoft?
Cin. Be that the uttermoft, and fail not then.
Met. Caius Ligarius doth bear Cæsar hard,
Who rated him for fpeaking well of Pompey :
I wonder, none of you have thought of him.

Bru. Now, good Metellus, go along to him: He loves me well; and I have given him reafons; Send him but hither, and I'll fashion him.

Caf. The morning comes upon us. We'll leave you, Brutus:

-For be loves to hear, &c.] It was finely imagined by the poet, to make Cæfar delight in this fort of converfation. The author of St. Evremond's life tells us, that the great prince of Conde took much pleasure in remarking on the foible and ridicule of characters. WARBURTON.

5 That unicorns may be betray'd by trees, And bears with glaffes, elephants with boles. Unicorns are faid to have been taken by one, who running behind a tree, eluded the violent push the animal was making at him, fo that his horn spent its force on the trunk, and stuck fast, detaining the beaft till he was dispatched by the hunter. Bears are reported to have been surprised by means of a mirror, which they would gaze on, affording their purfuers an opportunity of taking the furer aim. This circumftance, I think, is mentioned by Claudian. Elephants were feduced into pitfalls, lightly covered with hurdles and turf, on which a proper bait to tempt them, was expofed.

D 2

STEEVENS.

And,

And, friends! disperse yourselves: but all remember What you have faid, and fhew yourselves true Ro

mans.

Bru. Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily; Let not our looks put on our purposes; But bear it, as our Roman actors do, With untir'd 1pirits, and formal conftancy. And fo, good-morrow to you every one. [Exeunt.

Manet Brutus.

Boy! Lucius!-Fast asleep? It is no matter.
Enjoy the honey-heavy dew of flumber :
Thou haft no figures, nor no fantafies,
Which bufy care draws in the brains of men;
Therefore thou fleep'ft fo found.

Enter Portia.

Por. Brutus, my lord!

Bru. Portia, what mean you? Wherefore rife you now?

It is not for your health, thus to commit

Your weak condition to the raw cold morning.

Por. Nor for yours neither. You have ungently,
Brutus,

Stol'n from my bed: And, yefternight at fupper,
You fuddenly arofe, and walk'd about,

Mufing and fighing, with your arms a-cross :
And, when I afk'd you what the matter was,
You ftar'd upon me with ungentle looks:

I urg'd you further; then you fcratch'd your head,
And too impatiently ftamp'd with your foot:
Yet I infifted, yet you answer'd not;

But, with an angry wafture of your hand,
Gave fign for me to leave you: So I did;
Fearing to ftrengthen that impatience,

6 Let not our looks-] Let not our faces put on, that is, avear

or fhow our defigus.

JOHNSON.

Which feem'd too much enkindled; and, withal,
Hoping it was but an effect of humour,
Which fometime hath his hour with every man.
It will not let you eat, nor talk, nor fleep;
And, could it work fo much upon your shape,
As it hath much prevail'd on your condition,
I fhould not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your caufe of grief.
Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Per. Brutus is wife, and were he not in health,
He would embrace the means to come by it.
Bru. Why, fo I do :-Good Portia, go to bed.
Por. Is Brutus fick? and is it phyfical
To walk unbraced, and fuck up the humours.
Of the dank morning? what, is Brutus fick;
And will he fteal out of his wholesome bed,
To dare the vile contagion of the night?
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air,
To add unto his ficknefs? No, my Brutus,
You have fome fick offence within your mind,
Which, by the right and virtue of my place,
I ought to know of: And, upon my knees,
I charm you, by my once-commended beauty,
By all your vows of love, and that great vow
Which did incorporate and make us one,
That you unfold to me, yourself, your half,
Why you are heavy; and what men to-night
Have had refort to you for here have been
Some fix or feven, who did hide their faces
Even from darkness.

Bru. Kneel not, gentle Portia.

Por. I fhould not need, if you were gentle Brutus. Within the bond of marriage, tell me, Brutus, Is it excepted, I fhould know no fecrets That appertain to you? Am I yourself, But, as it were, in fort, or limitation;

8

To keep with you at meals, 7 comfort your bed, And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the fuburbs

Of your good pleasure? If it be no more,
Portia is Brutus' harlot, not his wife.

Bru. You are my true and honourable wife;
As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops

That vifit my fad heart.

Por. If this were true, then fhould I know this fecret.

I grant, I am a woman; but withal,

A woman that lord Brutus took to wife:
I grant, I am a woman; but withal,

66

7 To keep with you at m ́als, &c.

"I being, O Brutus, (fayed fhe) the daughter of Cato, was ma"ried vnto thee, not to be thy beddefellowe and companion in "bedde and at borde onelie, like a harlot: but to be partaker "alfo with thee, of thy good and euill fortune. Nowe for thy"felfe, I can finde no caufe of faulte in thee touchinge our matche: "but for my parte, howe may I fhowe my duetie towardes thee, "and howe muche I woulde doe for thy fake, if I can not con"ftantlie beare a fecret mifchaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth fecrecy and fidelity? I confeffe, that a womans wit "commonly is too weake to keepe a fecret fafely: but yet, Bru"tus, good education, and the companie of vertuous men, haue "fome power to reforme the defect of nature. And for my felfe, "I haue this benefit moreouer: that I am the daughter of Cato, "and wife of Brutus. This notwithstanding, I did not trust to "any of these things before: vntill that now I haue found by experience, that no paine nor griefe whatfoeuer can ouercome With those wordes fhe fhewed him her wounde on her thigh, and tolde him what the had done to proue her felfe." Sir Tho. North's Tranflat. of Plutarch. STEEVENS.

"me.

8

-Comf rt your bed,]" is but an odd phrafe, and gives as odd "an idea," fays Mr. Theobald. He therefore fubftitutes, confort. But this good old word, how.ver difufed through modern refinement, was not fo difcarded by Shakespeare. Henry VIII. as we read in Cavendish's life of Wolfey, in commendation of queen Katharine, in public faid, " She hath beene to me a true obe"dient wife, and as comfortable as I could wish.” UPTON.

A wo

• A woman well-reputed Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no ftronger than my fex,
Being fo father'd, and fo hufbanded?

Tell me your counfels, I will not disclose them :
I have made ftrong proof of my constancy,
Giving myself a voluntary wound

Here, in the thigh: can I bear that with patience,
And not my husband's fecrets?

Bru. O ye Gods,

Render me worthy of this noble wife !

[Knock.

Hark, hark! one knocks: Portia, go in a while;

And, by and by, thy bofom fhall partake

The fecrets of my heart.

All my engagements I will conftrue to thee,
All the charactery of my fad brows:-

Leave me with haste.

Enter Lucius and Ligarius.

Lucius, who is that knocks?

[Exit Portia.

Luc. Here is a fick man, that would speak with

you.

Bru. Caius Ligarius, that Metellus fpake of.Boy, ftand afide. Caius Ligarius! how?

Cai. Vouchfafe good-morrow from a feeble tongue.

• A woman well-refuted; Cato's daughter.] This falfe pointing fhould be corrected thus,

A woman well reput ́d Cato's daughter,

i. e. worthy of my birth, and the relation I bear to Cato. This indeed was a good reafon why fhe fhould be intrusted with the fecret. But the falfe pointing, which gives a fenfe only implying that he was a woman of a good character, and that he was Cato's daughter, gives no good reafon: for fhe might be Cato's. daughter, and yet not inherit his firmnefs; and he might be a woman well-reputed, and yet not the best at a fecret. But if the was well-reputed Cato's daughter, that is, worthy of her birth, she could neither want her father's love to her country, nor his refolution to engage in its deliverance. WARBURTON.