But for your words, they rob the Hybla bees,
And leave them honeylefs.

Ant. Not ftinglefs too.

Bru. O, yes, and foundless too;

For you have ftol'n their buzzing, Antony,
And, very wifely, threat before you fting.

Ant. Villains, you did not fo, when your vile daggers

Hack'd one another in the fides of Cæfar:

You fhew'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds,

And bow'd like bondmen, kiffing Cæfar's feet;
Whilft damned Cafca, like a cur, behind,
Struck Cæfar on the neck. O you flatterers!
Caf. Flatterers!-Now, Brutus, thank yourself:
This tongue had not offended fo to-day,
If Caffius might have rul'd.

Octa. Come, come, the caufe: If arguing make us sweat,

The proof of it will turn to redder drops.
Look, I draw a fword againft confpirators;
When think you that the fword goes up again?-
Never, 'till Cæfar's three and twenty wounds
Be well aveng'd; or 'till another Cæfar
Have added flaughter to the fword of traitors.
Bru. Cæfar, thou can'ft not die by traitors' hands,
Unless thou bring'ft them with thee.

Octa. So I hope;

I was not born to die on Brutus' fword.

Bru. O, if thou wert the noblest of thy strain, Young man, thou could'ft not die more honourable.

8

Casca] Cafca ftruck Cæfar on the neck, coming like a degenerate cur behind him. JOHNSON,

9

-three and thirty wounds] Thus all the editions impli citly; but I have ventured to reduce this number to three and twenty from the joint authorities of Appian, Plutarch, and Suetonius: and I am perfuaded, the error was not from the poet but his tranfcribers, THEOBALD.

Caf.

Caf. A peevish school-boy, worthlefs of fuch ho

nour,

Join'd with a masker and a reveller.
Ant. Old Caffius ftill!

Octa. Come, Antony; away.

Defiance, traitors, hurl we in your teeth:
If you dare fight to-day, come to the field;
If not, when you have ftomachs.

[Exeunt Octavius, Antony, and army. Caf. Why now, blow, wind; fwell, billow; and fwim, bark!

The ftorm is up, and all is on the hazard.

Bru. Ho, Lucilius; hark, a word with you.

Luc. My lord.

Caf. Meffala.

[Lucilius, and Messala, ftand forth. [Brutus fpeaks apart to Lucilius.

Mef. What fays my general?

Caf. Meffala',

This is my birth-day; as this very day

Was Caffius born. Give me thy hand, Meffala :
Be thou my witness, that, against my will,

As Pompey was, am I compell'd to fet
Upon one battle all our liberties.

1

Meffala, &c.] Almost every circumftance in this fpeech is taken from fir Thomas North's Translation of Plutarch":

"But touching Caffius, Meffala reporteth that he fupped by him felfe in his tent with a few of his friendes, and that all fupper tyme he looked very fadly, and was full of thoughts, although it was against his nature: and that after fupper he tooke him by the hande, and holding him faft (in token of kindnes as his manner was) told him in Greeke: Meffala, I proteft vnto thee, and make thee my witnes, that I am compelled against my minde and will (as Pompey the Great was) to ieopard the libertie of our contry, to the hazard of a battel. And yet we must be liuely, and of good corage, confidering our good fortune, whom we fhoulde wronge too muche to mitruft her, although we followe euill counfell. Meffala writeth, that Caffius hauing spoken thefe laft wordes vnto him, he bad him farewell, and willed him to come to fupper to him the next night following, bicause it was his birth-day." STEEVENS.

You

You know, that I held Epicurus strong,
And his opinion: now I change my mind,
And partly credit things that do prefage.
Coming from Sardis, on our foremost enfign
Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd
Gorging and feeding from our foldiers' hands;
Who to Philippi here conforted us :

This morning are they fled away, and gone;
And, in their fteads, do ravens, crows, and kites,
Fly o'er our heads, and downward look on us,
As we were fickly prey; their fhadows feem
A canopy moft fatal, under which

Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
Mef. Believe not fo.

Caf. I but believe it partly;

For I am fresh of fpirit, and refolv'd
To meet all perils very conftantly.
Bru. Even fo, Lucilius.

Caf. Now, most noble Brutus,

The gods to-day ftand friendly; that we may,
Lovers, in peace, lead on our days to age!
But fince the affairs of men reft ftill uncertain,
Let's reafon with the worst that may befall.
If we do lofe this battle, then is this

The very laft time we shall speak together:
What are you then determined to do?

2-our foremost enfign.] The old copy reads former, which may be right, as Shakspeare fometimes ufes the comparative instead of the pofitive and fuperlative. See K. Lear, a&t IV. fc. iii. Either word has the fame origin; nor do I perceive why former should be lefs applicable to place than time. STEEVENS.

Shakspeare perhaps wrote foremer; and I do not fee why the word (fo fpelt, to diftinguish it from former, antecedent in point of time) fhould not be admitted into the text. MALONE.

3 The very last time we shall speak together:

What are you then determined to do?]

i, e. I am refolved in fuch a cafe to kill myself. What are you determined of? WARBURTON.

Bru.

Bru. Even by the rule of that philofophy, By which I did blame Cato for the death Which he did give himself;-I know not how, But I do find it cowardly and vile,

For fear of what might fall, fo to prevent

4 of that philofophy, There is an apparent contradiction between the fentiments contained in this and the following speech which Shakspeare has put into the mouth of Brutus. In this, Brutus declares his refolution to wait patiently for the determinations of Providence; and in the next, he intimates, that though he thould furvive the battle, he would never fubmit to be led in chains to Rome. This fentence in fir Thomas North's Tranflation, is perplexed, and might be eafily mifunderflood. Shakfpeare, in the first speech, makes that to be the present opinion of Brutus, which in Plutarch, is mentioned only as one he formerly entertained, though now he condemned it.

So, in fir Thomas North :-"There Caflius beganne to fpeak firft, and fayd: the gods graunt vs, O Brutus, that this day we may winne the field, and euer after to liue all the reft of our life quietly, one with another. But fith the gods haue fo ordeyned it, that the greateft & chiefeft things amongeft men are moft vncertaine, and that if the battell fall out otherwife to daye then we wishe or looke for, we fhall hardely meete againe : what art thou then determined to doe, to fly, or dye? Brutus aunfwered him, being yet but a young man, and not ouergreatly experienced in the world: I truft, (I know not how) a certaine rule of philofophie, by the which I did greatly blame and reproue Cato for killing of him felfe, as being no lawfull nor godly acte, touching the gods, nor concerning men, valliant, not to giue place and yeld to diuine pronidence, and not conftantly and paciently to take whatfoever it pleaseth him to fend vs, but to drawe backe, and fie: but being nowe in the middeft of the daunger, I am of a contrarie mind. For if it be not the will of God, that this battell fall out fortunate for vs: I will looke no more for hope, neither feeke to make any new fupply for war againe, but will rid me of this miferable world, and content me with my fortune. For, I gaue vp my life for my contry in the ides of Marche, for the which I fhall liue in another more glorious worlde." STEEVENS.

I fee no contradiction in the fentiments of Brutus. He would not determine to kill himself merely for the lofs of one battle; but as he expreffes himfelf, (page 131.) would try his fortune in a fecond fight. Yet he would not fubmit to be a captive. BLACKSTONE.

The

The time of life:- arming myfelf with patience,
To stay the providence of fome high powers,
That govern us below.

Caf. Then, if we lofe this battle,

You are contented to be led in triumph.
Thorough the streets of Rome?

Bru. No, Caffius, no: think not, thou noble Roman,
That ever Brutus will go bound to Rome;
He bears too great a mind. But this fame day
Muft end that work, the ides of March begun;
And whether we fhall meet again, I know not.
Therefore our everlasting farewel take :-
For ever, and for ever, farewel, Caffius!
If we do meet again, why we fhall fmile;
If not, why then this parting was well made.
Caf. For ever, and for ever, farewel, Brutus!
If we do meet again, we'll fmile indeed;
If not, 'tis true, this parting was well made.
Bru.Why then, lead on.-O, that a man might know
The end of this day's business, ere it come!
But it fufficeth, that the day will end,

And then the end is known.-Come, ho! away!

SCENE II.

[Exeunt.

Alarum. Enter Brutus, and Meffala.

Bru. Ride, ride, Meffala, ride, and give thefe bills" Unto the legions on the other fide: [Loud alarm.

5-arming myself with patience, &c.] Dr. Warburton thinks, that in this speech fomething is loft, but there needed only a parenthesis to clear it. The construction is this; I am determined to act according to that philofophy which directed me to blame the fuicide of Cato, arming myself with patience. JOHNSON.

6 -give thefe bills] So, in the old tranflation of Plutarch: "In the meane tyme Brutus that led the right winge, fent litle billes to the collonells and captaines of private bandes, in which he wrote the worde of the battell, &c." STEEVENS.

Let