Rufhing on us, fhould do your age fome mischief.
Bru. Do fo;-and let no man abide this deed,
But we the doers.

Re-enter TREBONIUS,

Caf. Where is Antony?

Tre. Fled to his house amaz'd:

Men, wives, and children, ftare, cry out, and run,
As it were doomsday.

Bru. Fates! we will know your pleasures:-
That we shall die, we know ; 'tis but the time,
And drawing days out, that men ftand upon.

Caf. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life,
Cuts off fo many years of fearing death.

Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit:
So are we Cæfar's friends, that have abridg'd
His time of fearing death.-Stoop, Romans, ftoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Cæfar's blood
Up to the elbows, and befmear our fwords:
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place;
And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads,
Let's all cry, Peace! Freedom! and Liberty!

Caf. Stoop then, and wash.-How many ages hence, Shall this our lofty scene be acted over,

In ftate unborn and accents yet unknown?

Bru. How many times fhall Cæfar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's bafis lies along,

No worthier than the duft?

Caf. So oft as that shall be,

So often fhall the knot of us be call'd
T'he men that gave our country liberty,
Dec. What, fhall we forth?

9 Stoop, Romans, floop, &c.] Plutarch, in the Life of Cæfar, lays, Brutus and his followers, being yet bot with the murder, march'd in a body from the fenate house to the Capitol, with their drawn fwords, with an air of confidence and affurance." And in the Life of Brutus, "Brutus and his party betook themfelves to the Capitol, and in their way, fhewing their bands all bloody, and their naked fwords, preclaim'd liberty to the people." THEOBALD.

.

in fate unborn,-] In theatrick pomp yet undisplayed.

MALONE.

Caf.

Caf. Ay, every man away:

Brutus fhall lead; and we will grace his heels
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.

Enter a Servant.

Bru. Soft, who comes here? A friend of Antony's.
Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel;
Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down;
And, being proftrate, thus he bade me fay.
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Cæfar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving:
Say, I love Brutus, and I honour him;

Say, I fear'd Cæfar, honour'd him, and lov'd him.
If Brutus will vouchsafe, that Antony
May fafely come to him, and be refolv'd
How Cæfar hath deserv'd to lie in death,
Mark Antony fhall not love Cæfar dead
So well as Brutus living; but will follow
The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus,
Thorough the hazards of this untrod state
With all true faith. So fays my mafter Antony.
Bru. Thy master is a wife and valiant Roman;
I never thought him worse.

Tell him, so please him come unto this place,
He fhall be fatisfied; and, by my honour,

Depart untouch'd.

Serv. I'll fetch him prefently.

[Exit Servant.

Bru. I know, that we shall have him well to friend.

Caf. I wish, we may : but yet have I a mind,

That fears him much; and my misgiving still

Falls fhrewdly to the purpose.

Re-enter ANTONY.

Bru. But here comes Antony.-Welcome, Mark An

tony.

Ant. O mighty Cæfar! Doft thou lie fo low? Are all thy conquefts, glories, triumphs, fpoils, Shrunk to this little measure ?-Fare thee well.I know not, gentlemen, what you intend,

Who

Who else must be let blood, who else is rank':
If I myself, there is no hour fo fit

As Cæfar's death's hour; nor no inftrument
Of half that worth, as those your fwords, made rien
With the most noble blood of all this world.

1 do befeech ye, if you bear me hard,

Now, whilft your purpled hands do reek and fmoke,
Fulfil your pleasure. Live a thousand years,
I fhall not find myself so apt to die :

No place will please me fo, no mean of death,
As here by Cæfar, and by you cut off,
The choice and master spirits of this age.

Bru. O Antony! beg not your death of us.
Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,
As, by our hands, and this our prefent act,
You fee we do; yet fee you but our hands,
And this the bleeding bufinefs they have done:
Our hearts you fee not, they are pitiful;
And pity to the general wrong of Rome
(As fire drives out fire, fo pity, pity *,)

Hath done this deed on Cæfar. For your part,

To you our fwords have leaden points, Mark Antony: Our arms, in ftrength of malice, and our hearts,

Of

who elfe is rank;] Who elfe may be fuppofed to have overtepped his equals, and grown too bigh for the publick fafety. JOHNSON.

I rather believe the meaning is, who elfe is too replete with blood? So, in our author's Venus aud Adonis :

"Rain added to a river that is rank,

"Perforce will force it overflow the bank."

See alfo Vol. IV. p. 560, n. 4. MALONE.
*As fire drives out fire, &c.] So, in Coriolanus:

"One fire drives out one fire; one nail one nail." MALONE, 2 Our arms, in ftrength of, &c.] To you, (fays Brutus) our fwords bave leaden points: our arms, ftrong in the deed of malice they have juft perform'd, and our bearts united like thofe of brothers in the action, are yet open

receive you with all poffible affection. The fuppofition that Brutus meant, their hearts were of brothers' temper in refpes of Antony, feems to have mifled those who have commented on this pafiage before. STEEVENS. One of the phrafes in this paffage, which Mr. Steevens has fo happily explained, occurs again in Antony and Cleopatra:

"To make you brothers, and to knit your bearts,
"With an unflipping knot."

Of brothers' temper, do receive you in

With all kind love, good thoughts, and reverence.
Caf. Your voice fhall be as ftrong as any man's,

In the difpofing of new dignities.

Bru. Only be patient, till we have appeas'd
The multitude, befide themselves with fear,
And then we will deliver you the cause,
Why I, that did love Cæfar when I ftruck him,
Have thus proceeded.

Ant. I doubt not of your wisdom.

Let each man render me his bloody hand:
First, Marcus Brutus, will I fhake with you ;-
Next, Caius Caffius, do I take your hand ;-
Now, Decius Brutus, yours ;-now yours, Metellus ;
Yours, Cinna:-and, my valiant Cafca, yours;-
Though laft, not leaft in love 3, yours, good Trebonius.
Gentlemen all,-alas! what fhall I fay?

My credit now ftands on fuch flippery ground,
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me,

Either a coward, or a flatterer.

That I did love thee, Cæfar, O, 'tis true:
If then thy fpirit look upon us now,

Shall it not grieve thee, dearer than thy death,
To fee thy Antony making his peace,
Shaking the bloody fingers of thy foes,
Most noble! in the prefence of thy corse?
Had I as many eyes as thou haft wounds,
Weeping as fast as they ftream forth thy blood,
It would become me better, than to close

In terms of friendship with thine enemies.

Pardon me, Julius!Here waft thou bay'd, brave hart; Here didst thou fall; and here thy hunters ftand,

Again, ibid:

"The beart of brothers governs in our love!" MALONE. 3 Though laft, not leaft in love,] So, in King Lear: "Although the laft, not leaft in our dear love."

The fame expreffion occurs more than once in plays exhibited before the time of Shakspeare, MALONE.

Sign'd

Sign'd in thy fpoil, and crimson'd in thy lethe+.
O world! thou waft the foreft to this hart;
And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.-
How like a deer, ftricken by many princes,
Doft thou here lie?

Caf. Mark Antony,

Ant. Pardon me, Caius Caffius: The enemies of Cæfar fhall fay this; Then, in a friend, it is cold modesty.

Caf. I blame you not for praifing Cæfar fo; But what compact mean you to have with us? Will you be prick'd in number of our friends; Or fhall we on, and not depend on you?

Ant. Therefore I took your hands; but was, indeed, Sway'd from the point, by looking down on Cæfar. Friends am I with you all, and love you all;

Upon this hope, that you shall give me reasons,
Why, and wherein, Cæfar was dangerous.

Bru. Or else were this a favage fpectacle :

Our reasons are fo full of good regard,
That were you, Antony, the fon of Cæfar,
You fhould be fatisfied.

Ant. That's all I feek:

And am moreover fuitor, that I may
Produce his body to the market-place;
And in the pulpit, as becomes a friend
Speak in the order of his funeral.
Bru. You fhall, Mark Antony.
Caf. Brutus, a word with you-

You know not what you do; Do not confent,

That Antony speak in his funeral:

[Afide.

Know you how much the people may be mov'd

4- crimson'd in thy lethe.] Lethe is ufed by many of the old tranflators of novels, for death; and in Heywood's Iron Age, Part II. 1632: "The proudeft nation that great Afia nurs'd,

"Is now extin&t in lethe."

Again, in Cupid's Whirligig, 1607:

"For vengeance wings bring on thy letbal day."

Dr. Farmer obferves that we meet with lethal for deadly in the information for Munge Campbell. STIEVINS.

By