Of fantasy, of dreams, and ceremonies :
It may be, thefe apparent prodigies,
The unaccustom'd terror of this night,
And the perfuafion of his augurers,
May hold him from the Capitol to-day.

Dec. Never fear that: If he be fo refolv'd, I can o'erfway him: for he loves to hear, 3 That unicorns may be betray'd with trees,

And

the gods by means of religious rites and facrifices. A little after, where Calphurnia fays:

Cafar, I never food on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me :

The poet ufes ceremonies in a quite different fenfe, namely, the turning accidents to omens, a principal fuperftition of antiquity. WARBURTON.

Main opinion, is nothing more than leading, fixed, predominant opinion. JOHNSON.

2

for he loves to bear, &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.

3 That unicorns may be betray'd by trees,

And bears with glaffes, elephants with holes.]

Unicorns are faid to have been taken by one who, running be--
hind 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, de-
taining the beaft till he was dispatched by the hunter.
So, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. II. c. 5:

Like as a lyon whofe imperiall powre
"A prowd rebellious unicorne defies;

"T'avoid the rash assault and wrathfull ftowre
"Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applies:
"And when him running in full courfe he fpies,
"He flips afide; the whiles the furious beaft
"His precious horne, fought of his enemies,
"Strikes in the ftocke, ne thence can be releast,
"But to the mighty victor yields a bounteous feast."

Again, in Buffy D'Ambois, 1641:

"An angry unicorne in his full career

"Charge with too fwift a foot a jeweller

"That watch'd him for the treasure of his brow,

" And

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 Cæfar hard 4, 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:

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;

"And e'er he could get fhelter of a tree,

"Nail him with his rich antler to the earth."

Bears are reported to have been furprised by means of a mir ror, 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. See Pliny's Nat. Hift. B. VIII.

4

STEEVENS.

-bear Cæfar bard.] Thus the old copy, but Rowe, Pope, and Hanmer, on the authority of the latter folios read hatred, though the fame expreffion appears again in the firft fcene of the following act : I do befeech you, if you bear me hard;" and has already occurr'd in a former one: "Cæfar doth bear me hard, but he loves Brutus."

But bear it as our Roman actors do,
With untir'd fpirits, and formal conftancy :
And fo, good-morrow to you every one.

Manet Brutus.

[Exeunt.

Boy! Lucius -Faft afleep? 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 sleep'st so 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,

Stole from my bed: And yesternight, at fupper,
You fuddenly arose, and walk'd about,

Mufing, and fighing, with your arms across :
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 anfwer'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,

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

I fhould not know you, Brutus. Dear my lord,
Make me acquainted with your cause of grief.
Bru. I am not well in health, and that is all.
Por. 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 seven, 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;

To keep with you at meals, comfort your bed,

And

5 I charm you ] Thus the old copy. Pope and Hanmer read charge, but unneceffarily. So, in Cymbeline:

66

-'tis your graces

"That from my muteft confcience to my tongue
"Charms this report out." STeevens.

To keep with you at meals, &c.]

“I being, O Brutus, (fayed fhe) the daughter of Cato, was

maried

And talk to you fometimes? Dwell I but in the fuburbs 7

maried vnto thee, not to be thy beddefellowe and companion in bedde and at borde onelie, like a harlot: but to be partaker also with thee, of thy good and euill fortune. Nowe for thyfelfe, I can finde no caufe of faulte in thee touchinge our matche: but for my parte, how may I fhowe my duetie towardes thee, and how muche I woulde doe for thy fake, if I can not conftantlie beare a fecret mifchaunce or griefe with thee, which requireth fecrecy and fidelitie? I confeffe, that a womans wit commonly is too weake to keepe a fecret fafely: but yet, Brutus, 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 truft to any of thefe things before: vntil that now I have found by experience, that no paine nor griefe whatsoeuer can ouercome me. With those wordes the fhewed him her wounde on her thigh, and tolde him what she had done to proue her felfe."

Sir Tho. North's Tranflat, of Plutarch. STEEVENS. Here also we find our author and lord Sterline walking over the fame ground:

"I was not, Brutus, match'd with thee, to be
"A partner only of thy board and bed,
"Each fervile whore in thofe might equal me,
"That did herself to nought but pleasure wed.
"No-Portia fpous'd thee with a mind t'abide
"Thy fellow in all fortunes good or ill;
"With chains of mutual love together ty❜d
"As thofe that have two breafts, one heart, two fouls,
Lord Sterline's Julius Cæfar.

one will."

MALONE.

comfort 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, however 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 obedient wife, and as comfortable as I could with." UPTON.

In the books of entries at Stationers' Hall, I meet with the following: 598. "A Converfation between a careful Wyfe and her comfortable Hufband." STEEVENS.

In our marriage ceremony, the hufband promifes to comfort his wife; and Barrett's, Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1582, fays, that to comfort is," to recreate, to folace, to make pas time." COLLINS.

Of