I fhould do Brutus wrong, and Caffius wrong,
Who, you all know, are honourable men.
I will not do them wrong; I rather chufe
To wrong the dead, to wrong myfelf and you,
Than I will wrong fuch honourable men.
But here's a parchment, with the feal of Cæfar,
I found it in his clofet, 'tis his will:

Let but the commons hear this teftament,
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read)
And they would go and kifs dead Cæfar's wounds,
And dip their napkins in his facred blood;
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their iffue.

4 Pleb. We'll hear the will: Read it, Mark Antony. All. The will, the will:-We will hear Cæfar's

will.

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Cæfar lov'd you.
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;
And, being men, hearing the will of Cæfar,
It will inflame you, it will make you mad.
'Tis good you know not, that you are his heirs ;
For if you should, O what would come of it!

4 Pleb. Read the will; we will hear it, Antony; You fhall read us the will; Cæfar's will.

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you ftay a while? I have o'erfhot myfelf, to tell you of it.

I fear, I wrong the honourable men,

Whofe daggers have ftabb'd Cæfar: I do fear it. 4 Pleb. They were traitors: Honourable men! All. The will! the teftament!

2 Pleb. They were villains, murderers: The will! read the will!

Ant. You will compel me then to read the will? Then make a ring about the corpfe of Cæfar, And let me fhew you him that made the will. Shall I defcend? And will you give me leave? All. Come down.

2 Pleb. Defcend.

3

[He comes down from the pulpit.

Pleb. You fhall have leave.

4 Pleb. A ring; ftand round..

Pleb. Stand from the hearse, stand from the body. 2 Pleb. Room for Antony ;-most noble Antony. Ant. Nay, prefs not fo upon me; stand far off. All. Stand back! room! bear back!

Ant. If you have tears, prepare to fhed them now. You all do know this mantle: I remember

The first time ever Cæfar

put it on;

'Twas on a fummer's evening, in his tent,
That day he overcame the Nervii.-

Look! in this place, ran Caffius' dagger through:
See, what a rent the envious Cafca made:
Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd;
And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away,
Mark, how the blood of Cæfar follow'd it;
As rufhing out of doors, to be refolv'd,
If Brutus fo unkindly knock'd, or no;

For Brutus, as you know, was Cæfar's angel':
Judge, O you Gods! how dearly Cæfar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindeft cut of all:

For when the noble Cæfar faw him ftab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms,

Quite vanquish'd him: then burft his mighty heart:
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

2

Even

For Brutus, as you know, was CESAR'S ANGEL :] This title of endearment is more than once introduced in Sidney's Arcadia.

2 And, in his mantle, &c.] Read the lines thus,
And, in his mantle muffling up his face,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell,
Even at the bafe of Pompey's flatue.

STEEVENS.

Plu

Even at the base of Pompey's ftatue,

Which all the while ran blood, great Cæfar fell.
O, what a fall was there, my countrymen !
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilft bloody treason flourish'd over us.
O now you weep; and, I perceive, you feel
The dint of pity: thefe are gracious drops.
Kind fouls, what, weep you, when you but behold
Our Cæfar's vefture wounded? Look you here!
Here is himself, marr'd, as you fee, by traitors.
1 Pleb. O piteous fpectacle!

2 Pleb. O noble Cæfar!

3 Pleb. O woful day!

4

Pleb. O traitors, villains! 1 Pleb. O moft bloody fight!

2 Pleb. We will be reveng'd: revenge: about,seek,--burn,--fire,--kill,--flay !--let not a traitor live.

Plutarch tells us, that Cæfar received many wounds in the face on this occafion, fo that it might be faid to run blood. But, instead of that, the ftatue, in this reading, and not the face, is faid to do fo; it is plain these two lines fhould be tranfpofed: And then the reflection, which follows,

O what a fall was there

is natural, lamenting the difgrace of being at last fubdued in that quarrel in which he had been compleat victor. WARB.

The image feems to be, that the blood of Cæfar flew upon the fatue, and trickled down it. And the exclamation,

O what a fall was there

follows better after

-great Cæfar fill,

than with a line interpofed.

JOHNSON.

Perhaps Shakespeare meant that the very ftatue of Pompey lamented the fate of Cæfar in tears of blood Such poetical hyperboles are not uncommon. Pope, in his Eloifa, talks of

66

-pitying faints, whofe ftatues learn to weep.

Shakespeare has enumerated dews of blood among the prodigies on the preceding day, and, as I have fince difcovered, took the fe very words from Sir Thomas North's Tranflation of Plutarch: against the very bafe whereon Pompey's image ftood, which ran all a gore blood, till he was flain " 3 The dint of pity is the impreffion of pity. F 3

STEEVENS. STEEVENS.

Ant.

Ant. Stay, countrymen,

1 Pleb. Peace there :-Hear the noble Antony. 2 Pleb. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with him.

Ant. Good friends, fweet friends, let me not stir you up

To fuch a fudden flood of mutiny.

They, that have done this deed, are honourable :
What private griefs they have, alas, I know not,
That made them do it; they are wife, and honour-

able,

And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you.
I come not, friends, to fteal away your hearts;
I am no orator, as Brutus is:

But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man,
That love my friend; and that they know full well
That give me publick leave to speak of him.
* For I have neither writ, nor words, nor worth,
Action nor utterance, nor the power of speech,
To ftir men's blood: I only fpeak right on:
I tell you that, which you yourselves do know;
Shew you fweet Cæfar's wounds, poor, poor, dumb
mouths!

And bid them fpeak for me.

But were I Brutus,

And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony
Would ruffle up your fpirits, and put a tongue
In every wound of Cæfar, that should move
The ftones of Rome to rife and mutiny.
All. We'll mutiny-

1 Pleb. We'll burn the houfe of Brutus.

3 Pieb. Away then, come, feek the confpirators. Ant. Yet hear me, countrymen; yet hear me speak.

4 For I have neither wit,- -] The old copy reads,

For I have neither writ, nor words,

which may mean, I have no penned and premeditated oration.

I have inferted the old reading.

JOHNSON. STEEVENS.

All.

All. Peace, ho! Hear Antony, moft noble Antony. Ant. Why, friends, you go to do you know not

what.

Wherein hath Cæfar thus deferv'd your loves?
Alas, you know not. I must tell you then.-
You have forgot the will, I told you of.

All. Moft true;-the will,-let's ftay, and hear the will.

Ant. Here is the will, and under Cæfar's feal. To every Roman citizen he gives,

To every several man, feventy-five drachmas. 2 Pleb, Moft noble Cæfar!

death.

3 Pleb. O royal Cæfar!

dnt. Hear me with patience. All. Peace, ho!

We'll revenge his

Ant. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks,
His private arbours, and new planted orchards,
'On this fide Tiber; he hath left them you,
And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures,
To walk abroad, and recreate yourselves.
Here was a Cælar: When comes fuch another?

1 Pleb. Never, never: come, away, away:

On this fide Tiber;] The fcene is here in the Forum near the Capitol, and in the moft frequented part of the city; but Cæfar's gardens were very remote from that quarter.

Trans Tiberim longe cubat is, pope Cæfaris hortos,

fays Horace and both the Naumachia and gardens of Cæfar were feparated from the main city by the river; and lay out wide, on a line with Mount Janiculum. Our author therefore certainly wrote,

On that fide Tyber;

and Plutarch, whom Shakespeare very diligently ftudied, in the life of Marcus Brutus, fpeaking of Cæfar's will, exprefly says, That he left to the public his gardens, and walks, beyond the Ti

ber

THEOE.

"He

This emendation has been adopted by the fubfequent editors; but hear the old tranflation, where Shakespeare's fudy lay. bequeathed unto every citizen of Rome feventy five drachmas a "man, and he left his gardens and arbours unto the people, "which he had on this fide of the river Tiber."

F 4

FARMER.

We'll