Bru. Cassius, be constant. Popilius Lena speaks not of our purposes ; Cas. Trebonius knows his time; for, look you, Brutus, He draws Mark Antony out of the way. [Exeunt ANTONY and TREBONIUS. CÆSAR and the Senators take their seats. Dec. Where is Metellus Cimber? Let him go, And presently prefer his suit to Cæsar. Bru. He is addressed: 1 press near, and second him. Cin. Casca, you are the first that rears your hand. Cæs. Are we all ready? What is now amiss, That Cæsar and his senate must redress? Met. Most high, most mighty, and most puissant Cæsar, Metellus Cimber throws before thy seat An humble heart : Cas. [Kneeling. I must prevent thee, Cimber. These couchings, and these lowly courtesies, If thou dost bend, and pray, and fawn for him, 1 i. e. he is ready. 2 According to the rules of modern grammar, Shakspeare should have written his hand. Ritson thinks the words "Are we all ready?" should be given to Cinna, and not to Cæsar. 3 Pre-ordinance for ordinance already established. 4 The old copy erroneously reads "the lane of children." Lawe, as anciently written, was easily confounded with lane. 5 Ben Jonson has shown the ridicule of this passage in the Induction to The Staple of News. He has been accused of quoting the passage Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my own, To sound more sweetly in great Cæsar's ear, For the repealing of my banished brother? ; Desiring thee, that Publius Cimber may Bru. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Cæsar; Have an immediate freedom of repeal. Cas. What, Brutus! Cas. Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon. As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall, To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber. Cas. I could be well moved, if I were as you: The skies are painted with unnumbered sparks ; Cin. O Cæsar, — unfaithfully; but Mr. Tyrwhitt surmised, and Mr. Gifford is decidedly of opinion, that the passage originally stood as cited by Jonson; thus: "Met. Cæsar, thou dost me wrong. Cas. Cæsar did never wrong, but with just cause." Mr Tyrwhitt has endeavored to defend the passage by observing, that wrong is not always a synonymous term for injury; and that Cæsar is meant to say, that he doth not inflict any evil or punishment but with just cause. "The fact seems to be (says Mr. Gifford), that this verse, which closely borders on absurdity, without being absolutely absurd, escaped the Poet in the heat of composition; and being one of those quaint slips which are readily remembered, became a jocular and familiar phrase for reproving (as in the passage of Ben Jonson's Induction) the perverse and unreasonable expectations of the male or female gossips of the day." 1 i. e. intelligent, capable of apprehending. 2 i. e. "still holds his place unshaken by suit or solicitation," of which the object is to move the person addressed. catches hold of his arm. He is then stabbed by several other Conspirators, and at last by MARCUS BRUTUS. Cæs. Et tu, Brute? 1-Then, fall, Cæsar. [Dies. The Senators and People retire in confusion. Cin. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead !Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets. Cas. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out, Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement! Bru. People, and senators! be not affrighted; Fly not; stand still :-ambition's debt is paid. Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus.2 Dec. Bru. Where's Publius? And Cassius too. Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's Should chance Bru. Talk not of standing.-Publius, good cheer; There is no harm intended to your person, Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius. Cas. And leave us, Publius; lest that the people, Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief. 1 Neither Suetonius nor Plutarch furnished Shakspeare with this exclamation. It occurs in The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of York, 1600; on which he formed the Third Part of King Henry VI. : "Et tu, Brute? Wilt thou stab Cæsar too?” And is translated in Cæsar's Legend, Mirror for Magistrates, 1587 :"And Brutus thou my sonne, quoth I, whom erst I loved best." The words probably appeared, originally, in the old Latin play on the Death of Cæsar. 2 We have now taken leave of Casca. Shakspeare knew that he had a sufficient number of heroes on his hands, and was glad to lose an individual in the crowd. Casca's singularity of manners would have appeared to little advantage amid the succeeding war and tumult. Bru. Do so;-and let no man abide this deed, But we the doers. Re-enter TREBONIUS. Cas. Where's Antony? Fled to his house amazed: Men, wives, and children, stare, 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, Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life, Cuts off so many years of fearing death. Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit. Cas. Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages hence, Bru. How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport, That now on Pompey's basis lies along, No worthier than the dust! Cas. So oft as that shall be, So often shall the knot of us be called The men that gave our country liberty. Dec. What, shall we forth? Cas. Ay, every man away. Brutus shall lead; and we will grace his heels 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: Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman; I never thought him worse. Tell him, so please him come unto this place, Depart untouched. Serv. I'll fetch him presently. [Exit Servant. Bru. I know that we shall have him well to friend Cas. I wish we may; but yet have I a mind, That fears him much; and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose. Re-enter ANTONY. Bru. But here comes Antony. - Welcome, Mark Antony. Ant. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low? 1 Johnson explains this :---" Who else may be supposed to have overtopped his equals, and grown too high for the public safety." This explanation will derive support from the following speech of Oliver, in As You Like It, Act i. Sc. 1, when incensed at the high bearing of his brother Orlando: "Is it even so? begin you to grow upon me? I will physic your rankness." |