Cæf. Calphurnia,
Calp. Here, my lord.

Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' 9 way,
When he doth run his course.Antonius.

Ant. Cæsar, my lord.

Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius,
To touch Calphurnia : for our elders say,
The barren, touched in this holy chase,
Shake off their fteril curse.

Ant. I shall remember :
When Cæsar says, Do this, it is perform’d.

Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out,
Sooth. Cæsar,
Cæs. Ha! Who calls ?
Casca. Bid every noise be still :-Peace yet again.
Cæs. Who is it in the press, that calls on me?
I hear a tongue, fhriller than all the musick,
Cry, Cæfar: Speak; Cæsar is turn’d to hear,

Sooth. Beware the ides of March,
Caf. What man is that?
Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of

March
Caf. Set him before me, let me see his face,

“ Jungitur his Decimus, notiffimus inter amicos
"Cæsaris, ingratus, cui trans-Alpina fuiffet
“ Gallia Cæsareo nuper commiffa favore.
“ Non illum conjuncta fides, non nomen amici
“ Deterrere potest.”.
« Ante alios Decimus, cui fallere, nomen amici

Præcipue dederat, ductorem fæpe morantem
" Incitat,
- Supplem. Lucani.

STEEVENS. Shakespeare's mistake of Decius for Decimus, arose from the old translation of Plutarch. FARMER.

Lord Sterline has committed the same mistake in his Julius Cæfar. MALONE.

-in Antonius' way.) The old copy generally reads Antonio, Ottavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Roman terminations, on account of the many verfions from Italian novels, and the many Italian characters in dra. matic pieces formed on the same originals, STLEVENS,

Cafe

9

Caf. Fellow, come from the throng : Look

upon Cæsar. Cæs. What say'st thou to me now ? Speak once

again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. He is a dreamer ; let us leave him :-pass.

[ Sennet. Exeunt Cæsar, and Train, Caf. Will you go see the order of the course ? Bru. Not I. Caf. 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 desires ;

I'll leave you.

Caf. Brutus, I do observe you now of late :
I have not from your eyes that gentleness,
And Thew of love, as I was wont to have :
You bear too stubborn and too · strange a hand
Over your friend that loves you,

Bru. Cassius,

Sennet.] I have here inserted the word Sennet, from the original edition, that I may have an opportunity of retracting a hasty conjecture in one of the marginal directions in Henry VIII. Sennet appears to be a particular tune or mode of martial musick.

JOHNSON. I have been informed that fennet is derived from fennefie, an antiquated French tune formerly used in the army; but the Dictionaries which I have consulted exhibit no such word. In Decker's Satiromaflix, 1602 :

" Trumpets found a flourish, and then a fennet." In the Dumb Shocu preceding the first part of Hieronimo, 1605, is

“ Sound a fignate and pass over the stage.” In Antonio's Revenge, 1602: « Cornets found a cynet." In Look about You, 1600: “ Enter a finet.” In a play called Alarum for London, &c. 1602:“A signet founded." In B. and Fletcher's Knight of Malta, a synnet is called a flourish of trumpets, but I know not on what authority. See a note on K. Henry VIII. act II. sc. iv. Sennet may be a corruption from fonata, Ital. STEEVENS.

strange a hand] Strange, is alien, unfamiliar, such as might become a ttrånger. Johnson,

Be

2

Be not deceiv'd: If I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,
Of late, with } passions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself,
Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviours ;
But let not therefore my good friends be griev’d;
(Ainong which number, Cassius, be you one)
Nor construe any further my neglect,
Than that poor Brutus, with himself at war,
Forgets the shews of love to other men.
Caf. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your

paffion;
By means whereof, this breast of mine hath bury'd
Thoughts of great value, worthy cogitations.
Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?

Bru. No, Cassius : for the eye sees not itself +,
But by reflection, by some other things.

Caf. 'Tis just :
And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no such mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden vorthiness into your eye,
That you might see your shadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæsar) speaking of Brutus,

.

3

pasions of some difference,] With a fluctuation of difcordant opinions and desires. JOHNSON. So, in Coriolanus, act V. sc. iii :

-thou hast set thy inercy and thy honour " At difference in thee.” Steevens. * The eye sees not itself. ] So, fir John Davies in his poem on The Immortality of the Soul:

Is it because the mind is like the eye,

Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees ;
Whofe rays reflect not, but spread outwardly;

Not seeing itself, when other things it fees?
Again, in Marston's comedy of the Fawne, 1606:

“ Thus few strike tail until they run on shelf ;
“ The eye fees all things but its proper felf." STEEVENS.

And

And groaning underneath this age's yoke,
Have with'd that noble Brutus had his eyes.

Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Caffius,
That you would have me seek into myself
For that which is not in me?

Caf. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepard to hear : And, since you know you cannot see yourself So well as by reflection, I, your glass, Will modestly 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 stale with ordinary oaths my love To every new protester; if you know That I do fawn on men, and hug them hard, And after scandal them ; or if you know That I profess myself in banqueting To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish, and shout. Bru, What means this shouting? I do fear, the

people
Choose Cæsar for their king,

Caf. Ay, do you fear it ?
Then must I think you would not have it fo.

Bru. I would not, Cassius; 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 ought toward the general good,
Set honour in one eye, and death i' the other,
* And I will look on both indifferently :

s To ftale with ordinary oaths my love, &c.] To invite every new protester to my affection by the stale or allurement of customary oaths. JOHNSON

• And I will look on both indifferently ;] Dr. Warburton has a long note on this occasion, which is very trifling. When Brutus first names honour and death, he calmly declares them indifferent ; but as the image kindles in his mind, he sets boxour above life, Is not this natural ? JOHNSON,

For,

For, let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.

Cal. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favour.
Well, honour is the subject of my story.---
I cannot tell, what you and other men
Think of this life ; but, for my fingle self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Cæfar; so 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 gusty day,
The troubled Tyber chafing with his shores,
Cæsar said to me, Darst thou, Casius, 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 bade him follow : so, 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, Cassius, or I sink.
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so, 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 Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

? But ere we could arrive the point propos’d,] The verb arrive is used, without the preposition at, by Milton in the second book of Paradije Loft, as well as by Shakespeare in the Third Part of K. Henry VI. act V. sc. iii :

those powers that the queen
" Hath rais’d in Gallia, have arriv'd our coast."

STEEYENS.

He