Imatges de pàgina
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Then must 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 my felf.
I was born free as Cafar, fo were you;

We Both have fed as well; and we can Both:
Fndure the winter's cold, as well as he.
For once upon a raw and gusty day, (4)

The

(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 fpeaking at all like Brutus: for, in a foldier of any ordinary pretenfion, it should always preponderate. We mult certainly read,

And I will look on Death indifferently..

What occafion'd the corruption, I prefume, was, the tranfcribers imagining the adverb ind fferently must be applied to two things oppos'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 Cafea afterwards, again in this Act, employs it.

And dangers are to me indifferent.

i. e. I weigh them not; am not detear'd on the score of danger.: Mr. Warburton.

(4) For once upon a raw and gufty day,] This may, perhaps, appear a very odd amufement for two of the greatest men in Rome. But it appears, this was an ufual exercise for the nobility, that delighted in the hardy use of arms, and were not enervated, from this paffage of Horace, l. 1. Ode 8.

Cur timet flavum Tiberim tangere ?*

Upon

The troubled Tiber chafing with his shores,
Cafar fays to me, "Dar'it thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

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"And swim 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 controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cafar cry'd, "Help me, Caffius, or I fink."
I, as Eneas, our great Ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder`
The old Anchifes bear, fo, from the waves of TiberTM
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 Cafar carelefly 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 shake;
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 bad the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches 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 should
So get the start of the majestick World,
And bear the Palm alone...

Bru. Another general fhout

I do believe, that these applaufes are

[Shout. Flurish:

For fome new honours that are heap'd on Cæfar.
Caf. Why, man, he doth beftride the narrow world

Upon which Hermannus Figulus makes this comment: Natare. Nam
Romæ prima Adolefcentiæ juvenes, præter cæteras gymnafticas difci-
plinas, etiam natare difcebant, ut ad belli munera firmiores aptiorefq;
effent. And he puts us in mind from Suetonius, how expert a fwim-
mer Jul, Cafar was.
Mr. Warburton.

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Like a Coloffus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable Graves.
Men at fome times are mafters 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 Spirit, as foon as Cæfar.
Now in the Names of all the Gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Gefar 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 State in Rome,
As eafily as a King.

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous -
What you would work me to, I have fome aim;
How I have thought of this, and of thefe times,
I fhall recount hereafter: for this prefent,
I would not (fo with love I might intreat you)
Be any further mov'd. What you have faid,
I will confider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear, and answer fuch high things.
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this;
Brutus had rather be a villager,

Than to repute himself a fon of Rome
Under fuch hard conditions, as this time
Is like to lay upon us.

Caf.

Caf. I am glad that my weak words.

Have ftruck but thus much fhew of fire from Brutus.
Enter Cæfar and bis Train.

Bru. The Games are done, and Cafar is returning.
Caf. As they pass by, pluck Cafca by the fleeye,
And he will, after his four fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.

Bru. I will do fo; but look you, Caffiu,
The angry Spot doth glow on Cafar's brow,
And all the reft look like a chidden train.
Calpburnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with fuch ferret, and fuch fiery eyes,
As we have seen him in the Capitol,
Being croft in conf'rence by fome Senators..
Caf. Cafea will tell us what the matter is..
Caf. Antonius,-

Ant. Cæfar?

Caf. Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep a-nights:
Yond Caffius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; fuch men are dangerous.
Ant. Fear him not, Cæfar, he's not dangerous;
He is a noble Roman, and well given.

Caf. Would he were fatter; but I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,

I do not know the man I should avoid,

So foon as that fpare Caffius. He reads much;
He is a great observer; and he looks

Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no Plays,
As thou doft, Antony; he hears no mufick: (5)

(5) - be bears no Mufick :] This is not a trivial obfervation, nor does our poet mean barely by it, that Caffius was not a merry, fprightly man: but that he had not a due temperament of harmony in his compofition: and that therefore natures, fo uncorrected, are dangerous. He has finely dilated on this fentinent in his Merchant of Venice, At 5.

The man, that hath no Mufick in himself,

And is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treafons, firatagems, and fpoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus;

Let no fuch man be trufted.

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Seldom

Seldom he fmiles; and smiles in such a fort,
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit,
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease,
Whilft they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd,
Than what I fear; for always I am Cafar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf,
And tell me truly, what thou think'st of him.

[Exeunt Cæfar and his Train.

Manent Brutus and Caffius: Casca, to them. Cafca. You pull'd me by the cloak; would you speak › with me?

Bru Ay, Cafea, tell us what hath chanc'd to-day, That Cafar looks fo fad.

Cafca. Why, you were with him, were you not? Bru. I fhould not then ask Cafca what had chanc'd. Cafca. Why, there was a Crown offer'd him; and being offer'd him, he put it by with the back of his hand thus, and then the people fell a fhouting... Bru. What was the fecond noise for?

Cafea. Why, for that too.

Caf. They fhouted thrice: what was the laft cry for? Cafca. Why, for that too.

Bru. Was the Crown offer'd him thrice?

Cafca. Ay, marry, was't, and he put it by thrice, every time gentler than other; and at every putting by, mine honeft neighbours fhouted.

Caf. Who offer'd him the Crown?

Cafca. Why, Antony.

Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Cafca.

Cafca. I can as well be hang'd, as tell the manner of it it was meer foolery, I did not mark it. I faw Mark Antony offer him a Crown; yet 'twas not a Crown neither, 'twas one of thefe Coronets; and, as 1 told you, he put it by once; but for all that, to my thinking, he would fain have had it. Then he offer'd it to him again: then he put it by again; but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And

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