Bru. Let me tell you, Caffius, you yourself
Are much condemn'd to have an itching palm;
To fell and mart your offices for gold,
To undefervers.

Caf. I an itching palm?

You know, that you are Brutus that speak this,
Or, by the gods, this speech were else your last.
Bru. The name of Caffius honours this corruption,
And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.
Caf. Chastisement!

Bru. Remember March, the ides of March remember! Did not great Julius bleed for juftice' fake? What villain touch'd his body, that did ftab, And not for juftice? What, fhall one of us, That ftruck the foremost man of all this world, But for fupporting robbers; shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes? And fell the mighty space of our large honours, For fo much trash, as may be grasped thus ?I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than fuch a Roman.

Caf. Brutus, bait not me2,

What villain touch'd his body, that did ftab,

I'll

And not for juftice] This question is far from implying that any of those who touch'd Cæfar's body, were villains. On the contrary, it is an indirect way of afferting that there was not one man among them, who was base enough to stab him for any cause but that of jus tice. MALONE.

2 Brutus, bait not me,] Thus the old copy. Mr. Theobald and all the fubfequent editors read-bay not me; and the emendation is fufficiently plaufible, our authour having in Troilus and Creffida ufed the word bay in the fame fenfe :

"What moves Ajax thus to bay at him!"

But as he has likewife twice ufed bait in the fenfe required here, the text, in my apprehenfion, ought not to be disturbed. "I will not yield,” fays Macbeth,

"To kifs the ground before young Malcolm's feet,
"And to be baited with the rabble's curfe."

why itay we to be baited

"With one that wants her wits?"

I'll not endure it: you forget yourself,
To hedge me in 3; I am a foldier, I,
Older in practice 4, abler than yourself
To make conditions ".

Bru. Go to; you are not, Caffius.
Caf. I am.

Bru. I fay, you are not.

Caf. Urge me no more, I fhall forget myself; Have mind upon your health, tempt me no farther. Bru. Away, flight man!

Caf. Is't poffible?

Bru. Hear me, for I will speak.

Muft I give way and room to your rash choler?
Shall I be frighted, when a madman ftares?

Caf. O ye gods! ye gods! Muft I endure all this?
Bru. All this? ay, more: Fret, till your proud heart
break;

Go, fhew your flaves how cholerick you are,
And make your bond men tremble. Muft I budge?
Muft I obferve you? Muft I ftand and crouch
Under your tefty humour? By the gods,
You fhall digeft the venom of your spleen,
Though it do fplit you: for, from this day forth,
I'll ufe you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
When you are wafpifh.

So, alfo in a comedy entitled How to choose a good wife from a bad,

1602:

"Do I come home fo feldom, and that seldom

"Am I thus baited ?" MALONE.

3 To bedge me in;] That is, to limit my authority by your direction or cenfure. JOHNSON.

4-I am a foldier, I,

Older in practice, &c.] Thus the ancient copies; but the modern editors, inftead of I, have read ay, because the vowel I fometimes stands for ay the affirmative adverb. I have replaced the old reading, on the authority of the following line:

And I am Brutus; Marcus Brutus, I." STEEVENS.

See Vol. V. p. 329, n. 7. MALONE.

5 To make conditions.] That is, to know on what terms it is fit to confer the offices which are at my difpofal. Jou SON.

Caf.

Caf. Is it come to this?

Bru. You fay, you are a better foldier:

Let it appear fo; make your vaunting true,

And it fhall please me well: For mine own part,
I fhall be glad to learn of noble men.

Caf. You wrong me every way, you wrong me, Brutus ; I faid, an elder foldier, not a better :

Did I fay, better?

Bru. If you did, I care not.

Caf. When Cæfar liv'd, he durft not thus have mov'd

me.

Bru. Peace, peace; you durft not so have tempted him. Caf. I durft not?

Bru. No.

Caf. What? durft not tempt him?

Bru. For your life you durft not.

Caf. Do not prefume too much upon my love,

I may do that I shall be forry for.

threats;

Bru. You have done that you should be forry for.
There is no terror, Caffius, in your
For I am arm'd fo ftrong in honefty,
That they pafs by me, as the idle wind,
Which I respect not. I did fend to you
For certain fums of gold, which you deny'd me ;-
For I can raise no money by vile means:
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart,
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash,
By any indirection. I did fend

To you for gold to pay my legions,

Which you deny'd me: Was that done like Caffius?
Should I have answer'd Caius Caffius fo
When Marcus Brutus grows fo covetous,

than to wring

From the hard bands of peasants their wile trash,] This is a noble fentiment, altogether in character, and expreffed in a manner inimit. ably happy. For to wring, implies both to get unjustly, and to use force in getting and bard bands fignify both the peafant's great labour and pains in acquiring, and his great unwillingness to quit his hold. WARBURTON,

To lock fuch rafcal counters from his friends,

Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts,
Dash him to pieces!

Caf. I deny'd you not.

Bru. You did.

Caf. I did not :-he was but a fool,

That brought my answer back.-Brutus hath riv'd my

heart:

A friend should bear his friend's infirmities,
But Brutus makes mine greater than they are.
Bru. I do not, till you practise them on me.
Caf. You love me not.

Bru. I do not like your faults.

Caf. A friendly eye could never fee fuch faults.
Bru. A flatterer's would not, though they do appear
As huge as high Olympus.

Caf. Come, Antony, and young Octavius, come,
Revenge yourselves alone on Caffius,

For Caffius is aweary of the world:

Hated by one he loves; brav'd by his brother;
Check'd like a bondman; all his faults obferv'd,
Set in a note-book, learn'd, and conn'd by rote,
To caft into my teeth. O, I could weep
My fpirit from mine eyes!-There is my dagger,
And here my naked breaft; within, a heart
Dearer than Plutus' mine, richer than gold:
If that thou be'ft a Roman, take it forth;
I, that deny'd thee gold, will give my heart:
Strike, as thou didst at Cæfar; for, I know,

7 I do not, till you practise them on me.] The meaning is this: I do not look for your faults, I only fee them, and mention them with vehemence, when you force them into my notice, by practising them on me. JOHNSON,

8 If that thou beft a Roman, take it forth; &c.] I think he means, that he is fo far from avarice, when the caufe of his country requires liberality, that if any man should wish for his heart, he would not need enforce his defire any other wife, than by shewing that he was a Roman. JOHNSON. This feems only a form of adjuration like that of Brutus, p. 395: "Now, as you are a Reman, tell me true," BLACKSTONE.

When

When thou didst hate him worst, thou lov'dft him better

Than ever thou lov'dft Caffius.

Bru. Sheath your dagger:

Be angry when you will, it fhall have scope ;
Do what you will, difhonour shall be humour.
O Caffius, you are yoked with a lamb
That carries anger, as the flint bears fire;
Who, much enforced, fhews a hafty spark,
And ftraight is cold again.

Caf. Hath Caffius liv'd

To be but mirth and laughter to his Brutus,
When grief, and blood ill-temper'd, vexeth him?
Bru. When I fpoke that, I was ill-temper'd, too.
Caf. Do you confess so much? Give me your hand.
Bru. And my heart too.

Caf. O Brutus !—

Bru. What's the matter?

Caf. Have not you love enough to bear with me, When that rash humour, which my mother gave me, Makes me forgetful?

Bru. Yes, Caffius; and, from henceforth,

When you are over-earneft with your Brutus,
He'll think your mother chides, and leave you fo.

[Noife within.
Poet. [within. Let me go in to fee the generals;
There is fome grudge between them, 'tis not meet
They be alone.

Luc. [within.] You fhall not come to them.
Poet. [within.] Nothing but death fhall stay me.

Enter Poet 9.

Caf. How now? What's the matter?

Poet. For fhame, you generals; What do you mean?

Enter Poet.] Shakspeare found the prefent incident in Plutarch. The intruder, however, was Marcus Phaonius, who had been a friend and follower of Cato; not a poet, but one who affuined the character of a cynic philofopher. STEEVENS.