Into the channel, till the lowest stream [Exeunt Citizens. See, whe'r1 their basest metal be not moved; Mar. May we do so? Flav. It is no matter; let no images Be hung with Cæsar's trophies. Will make him fly an ordinary pitch; Who else would soar above the view of men, And keep us all in servile fearfulness. [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A public Place. Enter, in procession, with music, CÆSAR, ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, and CASCA, a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer. Cas. Calphurnia,— Cæs. Cal. Here, my lord. 1 Whether. 2 Honorary ornaments. 3 These trophies were scarfs. Peace, ho! Cæsar speaks. [Music ceases. Calphurnia, 4 This person was not Decius, but Decimus Brutus. The Poet (as Voltaire has done since) confounds the characters of Marcus and Decimus. Decimus Brutus was the most cherished by Cæsar of all his friends, while Marcus kept aloof. The error has its source in North's translation of Plutarch, or in Holland's Suetonius, 1606. Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,1 When he doth run his course. --Antonius! Ant. Cæsar, my lord! Cas. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, To touch Calphurnia; for our elders say, The barren, touched in this holy chase, Shake off their sterile curse. Ant. I shall remember; When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed. Cas. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Music. Sooth. Cæsar! Cas. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still.-Peace yet again. [Music ceases. Cæs. Who is it in the press that. calls on me? I hear a tongue, shriller than all the music, Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cas. What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face. Cas. Fellow, come from the throng. Look upon Cæsar. Cæs. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cas. He is a dreamer; let us leave him;-pass. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course ? Cas. I pray you, do. Bru. I am not gamesome; I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. I'll leave you. 1 The old copy reads "Antonio's way;" in other places we have Octavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Latin terminations. The allusion is to a custom at the Lupercalia. 2 See King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4. Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late. I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have; You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. Bru. Cassius, Be not deceived; if I have veiled my look, Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors; Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your pas sion,1 By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried Bru. No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things. Cas. 'Tis just; And it is very much lamented, Brutus, Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear; And, since you know you cannot see yourself 1 i. e. the nature of the feelings which you are now suffering. So well as by reflection, I, your glass, [Flourish and shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear the people Choose Cæsar for their king. Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well. But wherefore do you hold me here so long? ; Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, As well as I do know your outward favor. 1 Johnson has erroneously given the meaning of allurement to stale, in this place. "To stale with ordinary oaths my love," is " to prostitute my love." Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber, Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man Is now become a god; and Cassius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body, He had a fever when he was in Spain, A man of such a feeble temper3 should So get the start of the majestic world, Bru. Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are [Shout. Flourish. For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar. Cas. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world, Like a Colossus; and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 1 The verb arrive is also used by Milton without the preposition. 2 Some commentators suppose that the allusion here is to a coward's desertion of his standard. Probably nothing more was intended than to describe the effect of the disease on the appearance of the lips. 3 Temperament, constitution. |