Bru. Let them enter. They are the faction. O Confpiracy! [Exit Lucius. Sham'st thou to fhew thy dangerous brow by night, When evils are moft tree? O then, by day, Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough, To mask thy monftrous vifage? Seek none, Confpi racy; Hide it in smiles and affability : For if thou path thy native femblance on, Not Erebus itself were dim enough To hide thee from prevention. Enter Caffius, Cafca, Decius, Cinna, Metellus, and Trebonius. Caf. I think, we are too bold upon your reft. Good morrow, Brutus: do we trouble you? Bru. I have been up this hour; awake all night. Which every noble Roman bears of you. Bru. He is welcome hither. Caf. This, Cafca; this Cinna; Bru. They are all welcome. What watchful cares do interpofe themselves Betwixt your eyes and night? Caf. Shall I entreat a word? [They whisper. Dec. Here lies the Eaft: doth not the day break here? For if thou path thy native femblance on,] If thou walk in thy true form. JOHNSON. Cafca. No. Cin. O, pardon, Sir, it doth; and yon grey lines, That fret the clouds, are meffengers of day. Cafca. You fhall confefs, that you are both deceiv'd, Here, as I point my fword, the fun arises; Bru. Give me your hands all over, one by one. Bru. No, not an oath. If not the face of men, 7 The sufferance of our fouls, the time's abuse- If these be motives weak, break off betimes, So let high fighted tyranny range on, As "No, not an oath. If that the FACE of men, &c.] Dr. Warburton would read fate of men; but his elaborate emendation is, I think, erroneous. The face of men is the countenance, the regard, the efte of the publick; in other terms, honour and reputation; or the face of men may mean the dejected look of the people. He reads, with the other modern editions, -If that the face of men, but the old reading is, -if not the face, &c.. JOHNSON. So Tully in Catilinam-Nibil horum ora vultufque moverunt ? 8 STEEVENS. No, not an oath.-] Shakespeare form'd this fpeech on the following paffage in Sir T. North's Translation of Plutarch:—“ The confpirators having never taken oaths together, nor taken or given any caution or affurance, nor binding themselves one to another by any religious oaths, they kept the matter fo fecret to themfelves," &c. STEEVENS, 9 'Till each man ep by lottery.] Perhaps the Poet alluded to the cuftom of decimation, i. e. the felection by lot of every tenth foldier, in a general mutiny, for punishment. He As I am fure they do, bear fire enough That this fhall be, or we will fall for it? Nor the infuppreffive mettle of our fpirits, To think, that, or our caufe, or our performance, If he doth break the smallest particle Of any promise that hath past from him. Caf. But what of Cicero? fhall we found him? I think, he will stand very strong with us. Cin. No, by no means. Met. O, let us have him; for his filver hairs And buy men's voices to commend our deeds: He speaks of this in Coriolanus, By decimation, and a tythed death, Take thou thy fate. This is imitated by Otway, STEEVENS. When you would bind me, is there need of oaths? &c. Venice preferved. JOHNSON. But But all be buried in his gravity. Bru. O, name him not: let us not break with him; For he will never follow any thing, That other men begin. Caf. Then leave him out. Cafca. Indeed, he is not fit. Dec. Shall no man elfe be touch'd, but only Cæfar? Caf. Decius, well urg'd:-I think, it is not meet, Mark Antony, fo well belov'd of Cæfar, Should out-live Cæfar: we fhall find of him Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Caffius, Let us be facrificers, but not butchers, Caius ; VOL. VIII. D Caf. Caf. Yet I fear him; For in the ingrafted love he bears to Cæfar,- 2 Is to himfelf; take thought, and die for Cæfar: And that were much, he fhould; for he is given To fports, to wildness, and much company. Treb. There is no fear in him; let him not die; For he will live, and laugh at this hereafter. Bru. Peace, count the clock. Caf. The clock hath ftricken three. Caf. But it is doubtful yet, [Clock firikes. Whether Cæfar will come forth to-day, or no: 2-take thought,-] That is, turn melancholy. JOHNSON. Cæfar, as well as Caffius, was an Epicurean. By main opinion Caffius intends a compliment to his fect, and means folid, fundamental opinion, grounded in truth and nature: as by fantasy is meant ominous forebodings; and by ceremonies, atonements of the Gods by means of religious rites and facrifices. A little after, where Calphurnia fays, Cafar, I never food on ceremonies, Yet now they fright me: The poet ufes ceremonies in a quite different fenfe, namely, the turning accidents to omens, a principal fuperftition of antiquity. WARBURTON. Main opinion, is nothing more than leading, fixed, predominant opinion. JOHNSON. Dec. |