Imatges de pàgina
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And do you now put on your best attire ?
And do you now cull out an holiday?
And do you now ftrew flowers in his way,
That comes in triumph over Pompey's blood?
Be gone-

Run to your houfes, fall upon your knees,
Pray to the Gods, to intermit the plague,
That needs must light on this ingratitude.

Flav. Co, go, good countrymen, and for that fault Affemble all the poor men of your fort; Draw them to Tyber's bank, and weep your tears Into the channel, 'till the loweft ftream Do kifs the moft exalted shores of all.

[Exeunt Commoners.
See, whe're their baseft metal be not mov'd;
They vanish tongue-ty'd in their guiltiness.
Go you down that way tow'rds the capitol,
This way will I; difrobe the images,

If you do find them deck'd with ceremonies.
Mar. May we do fo?

You know, it is the feast of Lupercal.

Flav. It is no matter let no images Be hung with Cafar's trophies; I'll about, And drive away the vulgar from the streets : So do you too, where you perceive them thick. Thefe growing feathers, pluckt from Cæfar's wing, Will make him fly an ordinary pitch;

Who elfe would foar above the view of men,

And keep us all in fervile fearfulness. [Exeunt fewerally.

Enter Cæfar, Antony, for the Courfe, Calphurnia, Porcia, Decius, Cicero, Brutus, Caffius, Cafca, a Soothsayer.

Caf. Calphurnia,

Cafca. Peace, ho! Cæfar fpeaks.

Caf. Calphurnia,

Calp. Here, my Lord.

Caf. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,

When he doth run his Courfe

Ant. Cæfar, my Lord.

-Antonius,

Caf. Forget not in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurmia; for our elders fay, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their fteril curfe.

Ant. I fhall remember.

When Cefar fays, do this; it is perform'd.
Cef. Set on, and leave no ceremony out.
Sooth. Cafarem o

Caf. Ha! who calls?

Cafca. Bid every noife be ftill; peace yet again.
Cef. Who is it in the Prefs, that calls on me
I hear a tongue thriller than all the mufick.
Cry, Cafar. Speak; Cafar is turn'd to hear.
Sooth. Beware the Ides of March..
Caf. What man is that?

Bru. A footh-fayer bids you beware the Ides of March.
Caf. Set him before me, let me fee his face.

Cafca. Fellow, come from the throng, look upon Cæfar. Caf. What fay'ft thou to me now ? fpeak once again. Secth. Beware the Ides of Marchat

Caf. He is a dreamer, let us leave him; pafs. [Exeunt. Cæfar and Train.

Manent Brutus and Caffius.

Cef. Will you go fie the order of the Courfe?

Bru. Not I.

Caf. I pray you, do.

Bra. I am not gamefome; I do lack fome part
Of that quick fpirit that is in Antony:

Let me not hinder, Cafius, your defires;
I'll 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 strange 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

Merely upon myself. Vexed I am,

Of

Of late, with paffions of fome difference,
Conceptions only proper to myfelf;

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.

Cal. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your paffion;
By means whereof, this breaft 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.
Caf. 'Tis juft.

And it is very much lamented, Brutus,
That you have no fuch mirrors, as will turn
Your hidden worthinefs into your eye,

That you might fee your fhadow. I have heard,
Where many of the best respect in Rome,
(Except immortal Cæfar) fpeaking of Brutus,
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 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 fee yourself
So well as by reflexion; I, your glafs,

Will modeftly 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 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 scandal them; or if you know,
That I profefs myfelf in bahquetting
To all the rout, then hold me dangerous.

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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 I will look on death indifferently: (3)
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 fubject 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 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,

(3) And I will look on both indifferently;] What a Contradiction to this, are the Lines immediately fucceeding? If he lov'd Honour, more than he fear'd Death, how could they be both indifferent to him? Honour thus is but in equal Balance to Death, which is not speaking at all like Brutas: før, in a Soldier of any ordinary Pretenfion, it should always preponderate. We must certainly read,

And I will look on Death indifferently.

What occafion'd the Corruption, I prefume, was, the Tranfcribers imagining, the Adverb indifferently must be applied to Two things eppos'd. But the Ufe of the Word does not demand it; nor does Shakespeare always apply it fo. In the prefent Paffage it fignifies, neglectingly; without Fear, or Concern: And fo Cajca afterwards again in this act, employs it,

And dangers are to me indifferent.

i. e. I weigh them not; am not deterr'd on the Score of Danger.

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Mr. Warburton.

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The troubled Tyber chafing with his hores,
Cafar fays to me, "dar't thou, Caius, now d
Leap in with me into this angry food, VA
"And fwim to yonder point "" Upon the word
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

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And bid him follow; fo, indeed, he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
DILOW
With lufty finews; throwing it afide,
And ftemming it with hearts of controverfy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cafar cry'd, "Help me, Caffius, or I fink."
I, as Eneas, our great Ancestor,

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Did from the flames of Troy upon his fhoulder
The old Anchifes bear, fo, from the waves of Tyber
Did I the tired Cafar: and this man

Is now become a God; and Caffius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cafar carele fly 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 fhake: '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 tart of the majestic world,
And bear the Palm alone.

Bru. Another general fhout!

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 curfelves difhonourable graves.

Men at fome times are mafters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But

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