A C T I. SCENE I.

2

ROME.

A Street.

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners.

Flav. Hence; home, you idle creatures, get you

home:

Is this a holiday? What! know you not,

I

Being

Julius Cæfar.] It appears from Peck's Collection of divers curious Hiftorical Pieces, &c. (appended to his Memoirs, &c. of Oliver Cromwell,) p. 14, that a Latin play on this fubject had been written. "Epilogus Cæfaris interfecti, quomodo in fcenam prodiit ea res, acta in Ecclefia Chrifti, Oxon. Qui Epilogus a magiftro Ricardo Eedes et fcriptus et in profcenio ibidem dictus fuit, A. D. 1582." Meres, whofe Wit's Commonwealth was publifhed in 1598, enumerates Dr. Eedes among the best tragic writers of that time. STEEVENS.

William Alexander, afterwards earl of Sterline, wrote a tragedy on the story and with the title of Julius Cæfar. It may be prefumed that Shakespeare's play was pofterior to his; for lord Sterline, when he compofed his Julius Cæfar was a very young author, and would hardly have ventured into that circle, within which the most eminent dramatic writer of England had already walked. The death of Cæfar, which is not exhibited but related to the audience, forms the catastrophe of his piece. In the two plays many parallel paffages are found, which might, perhaps, have proceeded only from the two authors drawing from the fame fource. However, there are some reasons for thinking the coincidence more than accidental.

Mr. Steevens has produced from Darius, another play of this writer's, fome lines fo like a celebrated paffage of Shakespeare in the Tempest, act III. that the one muft, I apprehend, have been copied from the other. Lord Sterline's Darius was printed at Edinburgh in 1603, and his Julius Cæfar in 1607, ata time when VOL. VIII.

B 2

he

Being mechanical, you ought not walk,
Upon a labouring day, without the fign
Of your profeffion?-Speak, what trade art thou?
Car. Why, fir, a carpenter.

Mar. Where is thy leather apron, and thy rule?
What doft thou with thy beft apparel on ?-
You, fir; what trade are you ?

Cob. Truly, fir, in refpect of a fine workman, Į am but, as you would fay, a cabler.

Mar. But what trade art thou? Answer me di

Cob. A trade, fir, that, I hope, I may ufe with a fafe confcience; which is, indeed, fir, a mender of bad foals.

he was but little acquainted with English writers; for they abound with Scoticifms, which, in the fubfequent folio edition, 1637, he corrected. But neither the Tempeft, nor the Julius Cæfar of our author, was printed till 1623.

It must be alfo remembered, that our author has feveral plays, founded on fubjects which had been unfuccefsfully treated by others. Of this kind are King John, King Henry V. King Lear, Meafure for Measure, the Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra, the Merchant of Venice, and perhaps Macbeth: whereas no proof has hitherto been produced, that any contemporary writer ever prefumed to new model a story that had already employed the pen of Shakespeare. On all these grounds it appears more probable, that Shakespeare was indebted to lord Sterline, than that lord Sterline borrowed from Shakespeare. If this reafoning be juft, this play could not have appeared before the year 1607.

The real length of time in Julius Cæfar, Mr. Upton observes, is as follows: About the middle of February A. U. C. 709, the festival of Luperci was held in honour of Cæfar, when the regal crown was offered to him by Antony. On the 15th of March in the fame year, he was killed. Nov. 27, A. U. C. 710, the triumvirs met at a small ifland, formed by the river Rhenus, near Bononia, and there adjusted their favage profcription. A. U. C. 711. Brutus and Caffius were defeated near Philippi. MALONE. Murellus.] I have, upon the authority of Plutarch, &c. given to this tribune, his right name Marullus. THEOBALD. * See Dr. Farmer's note at the end of Macbeth.

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

Cob. Nay, I beseech you, fir, be not out with me Yet, if you be out, fir, I can mend you.

3 Mar. What meaneft thou by that? Mend me, thou faucy fellow ?

Cob. Why, fir, cobble you.

Flav. Thou art a cobler, art thou?

Cob. Truly, fir, all that I live by is, with the awl: I meddle with no trade,-man's matters, nor woman's matters, but with aw14. I am, indeed, fir, a furgeon to old fhoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neatsleather, have gone upon my handy-work.

Flav. But wherefore art not in thy fhop to-day? Why dost thou lead thefe men about the streets?

Cob. Truly, fir, to wear out their fhoes, to get myfelf into more work. But, indeed, fir, we make holiday, to fee Cæfar, and to rejoice in his triumph. Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conqueft brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels?
You blocks, you ftones, 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,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,

pre

3 Mar. What mean'ft thou by that?] As the Cobler, in the ceding fpeech, replies to Flavius, not to Marullus; 'tis plain, I think, this fpeech must be given to Flavius. THEOBALD.

I have replaced Marullus, who might properly enough reply to a faucy fentence directed to his colleague, and to whom the fpeech was probably given, that he might not stand too long unemployed upon the ftage. JOHNSON.

4 I ́meddle with no tradefman's matters, nor woman's matters, but with all.] This fhould be, "I meddle with no trade,-man's matters, nor woman's matters, but with awl," FARMER.

B 3

Your

Your infants in your arms, and there have fat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To fee great Pompey pafs the streets of Rome :
And when you faw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tyber trembled underneath his banks,
To hear the replication of your founds,
Made in his concave fhores?

And do you now put on your best attire?
And do you now cull out a holiday?

And do you now ftrew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone;

Run to your houfes, fall upon you knees,
Pray to the gods to intermit the plague
That needs muft light on this ingratitude.

Flav. Go, go, good countrymen, and, for this fault,

Affemble all the poor men of your fort;
Draw them to Tyber banks, and weep your tears
Into the channel, 'till the lowest stream

Do kifs the most exalted fhores of all.

6

[Exeunt Commoners. See, whe'r their baseft metal be not mov'd; They vanish tongue-ty'd in their guiltinefs. Go you down that way towards the Capitol ; This way will I: Difrobe the images, If you do find them 7 deck'd with ceremonies.

Mar.

5bis banks,] The old copy reads-her banks. As Tyber is always reprefented by the figure of a man, the feminine gender is improper, Milton fays, that

-the river of blifs

"Rolls o'er Elyfian flowers her amber stream; but he is speaking of the water, and not of its prefiding power or genius. STEEVENS.

See, whe'r] Whether, thus abbreviated, is used by Ben Jonfon. STEEVENS.

↑ deck'd with ceremonies.] Ceremonies, for religious orna

ments.

Mar. May we do fo?

You know, it is the feaft of Lupercal.
Flav. It is no matter; let no images

Be hung with Cæfar's trophies. I'll about,
And drive away the vulgar from the ftreets:
So do you too, where you perceive them thick.
Thefe growing feathers pluck'd from Cæfar's wing,
Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;

Who elfe would foar above the view of men,

And keep us all in fervile fearfulness.

8

SCENE II.

The fame.

[Exeunt.

Enter Cæfar; Antony, for the courfe; Calphurnia, Portia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Caffius, Cafca, a Soothsayer, &c.

Caf. Calphurnia,

Cafca. Peace, ho! Cæfar speaks.

Caf.

ments. Thus afterwards he explains them by Cafar's trophies; i.e. fuch as he had dedicated to the gods. WARBURTon.

66

Cæfar's trophies, are, I believe, the crowns which were placed on his ftatues. So, in fir Tho. North's tranflation. -There were fet up images of Cæfar in the city with diadems on their heads like kings. Thofe the two tribunes went and pulled down." STEEVENS.

This person was not Decius, but Decimus Brutus. The poet (as Voltaire has done fince) confounds the characters of Marcus and Decimus. Decimus Brutus was the moft cherished by Cafar of all his friends, while Marcus kept aloof, and declined fo large a fhare of his favours and honours, as the other had constantly accepted. Velleius Paterculus, fpeaking of Decimus Brutus, fays, -"ab iis quos miferat Antonius, jugulatus eft, juftiffimafque optimè de fe merito, C. Cæfari poenas dedit, cujus cum primus omnium amicorum fuiffet, interfector fuit, et fortunæ ex qua fructum tulerat, invidiam in auctorem relegabat, cenfebatque æquum quæ acceperat a Cæfare retinere, Cæfarem qui illa dederat periiffe." Lib. ii. c. 64.