HOR. It would have much amaz'd you.

HAM. Very like, Staid it long?

HOR. While one with moderate hafte might tell a hundred.

HAM. His beard was grifl'd?-no.

HOR. It was, as I have seen it in his life,

A fable filver'd.

HAM. I'll watch to-night; perchance 'twill walk again.
HOR. I warrant you, it will.

HAM. If it affume my noble father's perfon,

I'll fpeak to it, tho' hell itself should gape,
And bid me hold my peace. I pray you
If you have hitherto conceal'd this fight,
Let it be ten'ble in your filence ftill:
And whatsoever fhall befal to night,
Give it an understanding but no tongue;
I will requite your love: so fare ye well.
Upon the platform 'twixt eleven and twelve

I'll vifit you.

SHAKESPEAR.

CAS.

CHA P. XIV.

BRUTUS AND CASSIUS.

WILL

ILL you go fee 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, Caffius, your defires;
I'll leave you.

CAS. Brutus, I do observe you now of late;

I have not from your eyes that gentleness

And fhow of love as I was wont to have;

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

BRU. Caffius,

Be not deceived: if I have veil'd my look,

I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am

Of late with paffions of fome difference,
Conceptions only proper to myfelf;

Which give fome foil perhaps to my behaviour;
But let not therefore my good friends be griev'd,
Among which number, Caffius, be you one ;
Nor conftrue any farther my neglect,

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

CAS. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your paffion; By means whereof, this breaft of mine hath buried Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.

Tell me, good Brutus, can you fee your face?
BRU. No, Caffius; for the eye fees not itself,
But by reflection from fome other thing.
CAS. 'Tis juft.

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,

That you have no fuch mirror as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,

That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best refpect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæfar) 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, Cafus,

That

That you would have me feek into myself

For that which is not in me?

CAS. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear;
And fince you know you cannot fee yourfelf

So well as by reflection, I, your glass,
Will modeftly discover to yourself

That of yourself which yet you know not of.
And be not jealous of me, gentle Brutus :
Were I a common laugher, or did use
To ftale with ordinary oaths my love
To every new proteftor; if you know,
That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard,
And after fcandal them; or if you know,
That I profess myself in banqueting

To all the rout; then hold me dangerous.

BRU. What means this fhouting? I do fear the people

Chufe Cæfar for their king.

CAS. Ay, do you fear it?

Then must I think you would not have it fo.

BRU. I would not, Caffius; 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' th' other,
And I will look on Death indifferently:

For let the gods fo fpeed me, as I love

The name of Honour more than I fear Death..

CAS. know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the fubject of my ftory.-
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my fingle felf,

I had as lief not be, as live to be

In awe of fuch a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæfar; fo 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 gufty day,

The troubled Tyber chafing with his shores,
Cæfar fays to me, Dar'ft thou, Caffius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?—Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bid him follow; fo indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lufty finews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæfar cry'd, help me, Caffius, or I fink.

I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchifes bear; fo from the waves of Tyber

Did I the tired Cæfar: and this man

Is now become a god; and Caffius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæfar carelessly but nod on him.
He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when ́fit was on him, I did mark

How he did thake. 'Tis true, this god did shake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,
And that fame eye whose bend does awe the world,
Did lofe its luftre; I did hear him groan:
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his fpeeches in their books,
Alas! it cry'd-Give me fome drink, Titinius-
3

As

As a fick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,

A man of fuch a feeble temper should

So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

BRU. Another general shout!

I do believe, that these applauses are

For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cæfar.

CAS. Why man, he doth beftride the narrow world
Like a Coloffus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find curfelves difhonourable graves.

Men at fometimes are mafters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus-and Cæfar-what fhould be in that Cæfar?
Why should that name be founded, more than your's?
Write them together; your's is as fair a name :
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæfar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meats does this our Cæfar feed,
That he is grown fo great? Age, thou art sham'd ;
Rome, thou hast loft the breed of noble bloods.
When went there by an age, fince 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 walls incompass'd but one man ?

Oh! you

and I have heard our fathers fay,

There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd

Th' eternal devil to keep his ftate in Rome

As eafily as a king.

R 3

BRU.