SCENE III.

Manent Brutus and Caffius.

Caf. Will you go fee the order of the Courfe? Bru. Not I.

Caf. I pray you, do.

Bru. I am not gamefom; I do lack fome part
Of that quick spirit that is in Antony:

Let me not hinder, Caffius, your desires;
Il leave you.

Caf. Brutus, I do obferve you now of late;
I have not from your eyes that gentleness,
And fhew of love, as I was wont to have;
You bear too ftubborn and too ftrange a hand
Over your friend that loves you.

Bru. Caffius,

Be not deceiv'd: if I have veil'd my look,
I turn the trouble of my countenance
Meerly upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of late, with paffions of some difference,
Conceptions only proper to myself;

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.

Caf. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your paffion;

By means whereof, this breast 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 reflexion from fome other things.

B 4

Caf

Caf. 'Tis juft.

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no fuch mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthiness into your eye,
That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cafar) fpeaking of Brutus,
And groaning underneath this age's yoak,
Have wifh'd, that noble Brutus had his eyes.

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

Caf. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepar'd to hear;
And fince you know, you cannot see yourself
So well as by reflexion; I, your glass,
Will modeftly difcover 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 ufe
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 profefs myfelf in banqueting

To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

[Flourish and fbout.

Bru. What means this fhouting? I do fear, the

People

Chufe Cafar for their King,

Caf. Ay, do you fear it?

Then muft 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 fo 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

--

* 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.
Caf. 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 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 Cafar, 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 fhores,

2 And I will look on both indifferently;] This is a contradiction to the lines immediately fucceeding. If he lov'd honour, more than be fear'd death, how could they be both indifferent to him? Honour thus is but in equal balance to death, which is not fpeaking at all like Brutus: for, in a foldier of any ordinary pretenfions, honour fhould always preponderate. We must certainly read,

And I will look on death indifferently.

What occafion'd the corruption, I prefume, was, the transcribers imagining, the adverb indifferently must be applied to two things oppos'd. But the ufe of the word does not demand it; nor does Shakespear always apply it fo. In the prefent paffage it fignifies negle&ingly; without fear, or concern: And so Casca afterwards, again in this act, employs it.

And dangers are to me indifferent.

I weigh them not; nor am deterr'd on the score of Danger.

3 For once upon a raw and gufty day, &c.] This was the common exercise of fuch of the Roman nobility as delighted in the use of arms. Therefore Horace, fpeaking of one enervated by love, Lays, Cur timet flavum Tiberim tangere!

On which Hermannus Figulus makes this comment-Natare. Nam Romæ primæ adolefcentiæ juvenes, præter cæteras gymnafticas difciplinas, etiam natare difcebant, ut ad belli munera firmiores aptiorefque effent. And he puts us in mind, from Suetomius, how expert a fwimmer Julius Cæfar was.

Cafar

"Cæfar fays to me, dar'ft thou, Caffius, now.
"Leap in with me into this angry flood,
"And fwim 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 afide,
"And stemming it with hearts of controverfie.
"But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,"
Cafar cry'd, Help me, Caffius, or I fink.
1, as Eneas, 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 muft bend his body,
If Cæfar careleЛly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake: 'tis true, this God did fhake;
His coward lips did from their colour fly,

And that fame eye, whofe Bend doth 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
As a fick girl. Ye Gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of fuch a feeble temper fhould
"So get the start of the majestick world,
5

" And

4 His coward lips did from their colour fly,] A plain man would have faid, the colour fled from his lips, and not his lips from their colour. But the falfe expreffion was for the fake of as falfe a piece of wit: a poor quibble, alluding to a coward flying from his colours.

5-get the fart of the majeflick world, &c.] This image is extremely noble: it is taken from the olympic games. The majeftic world is a fine periphrafis for the Roman empire: their

citizens

"And bear the Palm alone."

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe, that these applaufes are

[Shout. Flourish

For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cafar. Caf. 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 ourselves difhonourable graves. • Men at fometimes are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, • But in ourselves, that we are underlings. • Brutus and Cæfar! what should be in that Cæfar? 'Why should that name be founded, more than yours? 'Write them together; yours 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 fpirit, as foon as Cafar. Now in the names of all the Gods at once, Upon what meat does this our Cefar feed,

That he is grown fo great? Age, thou art fham'd; Rome, thou haft 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 fay, till now, that talk'd of Rome, 'That her wide walls incompafs'd but one man? Now is it Rome, indeed; and room enough, When there is in it but one only 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.

citizens fet themselves on a footing with Kings, and they called their dominion Orbis Romanus. But the particular allufion feems to be to the known ftory of Cafar's great pattern Alexander, who being asked, whether he would run the courfe at the Olym pic games, replied, Yes, if the racers were Kings.

Bru.