We'll burn his body in the holy place,
And with the brands fire all the traitors' houses.
Take up the body.

2 Pleb. Go, fetch fire.
3 Pleb. Pluck down benches.
4 Pleb. Pluck down forms, windows, any thing.

(Exeunt Plebeians with the body. Ant. Now let it work : Mischief, thou art afoot, Take thou what course thou wilt!

How now, fellow?

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Octavius is already come to Rome.
Ánt. Where is he?
Serv. He and Lepidus are at Cæsar's house.

Ant. And thither will I straight, to visit him :
He comes upon a wish. Fortune is merry,
And in this mood will give us any thing.

Serv. I heard him say, Brutus and Calius
Are rid, like madmen, through the gates of Rome.

Ant. Belike they had some notice of the people, How I had mov'd them, Bring me to Octavius.

[Exeunt.

OS CE N E III.

Enter Cinna the Poet, and after him the Plebeians.

Cin. I dreamt to-night, that I did feast with Cæsar, And things unluckily charge my fantasy: I have no will to wander forth of doors, Yet something leads me forth. i Pleb. What is your

name? 2 Pleb. Whither are you going? 3

Plib. Where do you dwell ? 4 Pleb. Are you a married man, or a bachelor ?

. The subject of this scene is taken from Plutarch. STEEVENS,

2 Pleb.

2 Pleb. Answer every man directly.
i Pleb. Ay, and briefly.
4 Pleb. Ay, and wisely.
3 Pleb. Ay, and truly, you were best.

Čin. What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I dwell ? Am I a married man, or a bachelor? Then to answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and truly. Wisely, I say, I am a bachelor.

2 Pleb. That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry : you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed: Directly. Cin Directly, I am going to Cæsar's funeral. 1 Pleb. As a friend, or an enemy? Cin. As a friend. 2 Pleb. That matter is answer'd directly. 4 Pleb. For your dwelling :--Briefly. Cin Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol. 3 Pleb. Your name, sir. Truly. Cir. Truly, my name is Cinna. i Pleb. Tear him to pieces, he's a conspirator. Cin. I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

Pleb. Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.

Cin. I am not Cinna the conspirator.

4 Pleb. It is no matter, his name's Cinna ; pluck out his name out of his heart, and turn him going. 3 Pleb. Tear him, tear him. Come, brands, hood

firebrands. To Brutus', to Caffius', burn all. Some to Decius'

house, And fome to Casca's; fome to Ligarius's : Away :Go.

[Exeunt.

4

Аст

A CT IV. SCENE I.

THE

On ? a small Tsand near Mutina.
Enter Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

ANTONY.
HESE many then shall die. Their names are

prick'd. Oala. Your brother too must die ; consent you,

Lepidus ?
Lep. I do consent.
Ožia. Prick him down, Antony.

Lep. 'Upon condition, Publius fhall not live,
Who is your sister's son, Mark Antony.
Ant. He shall not live. Look, with a spot I damn

him.
But, Lepidus, go you to Cæsar's house ;
Fetch the will hither, and we shall determine
How to cut off some charge in legacies.

Lep. What, shall I find you here?
Ofia. Or here, or at the Capitol. (Exit Lepidus.
Ant. This is a night, unmeritable man,

? A small Ijland) Mr. Rowe, and Mr. Pope after him, have mark”d the scene here to be at Rome. The old copies say nothing of the place. Shakespeare, 1 dare say, knew from Plutarch, that these Triumvirs met, upon the proscription, in a little island; which Appian, who is more particular, lays, lay near Mutina, upon the river Lavinius.

THEOB. A small island in the little river Rhenus near Bononia. Hanmer.

* Upon condition, Publius fhall not l.ve] Mr. Upton has sufi. ciently proved that the poet has made a mistake as to this character mentioned by Lepidus. Lucies, not Publius, was the person meant, who was uncle by the mother's side to Mark Antony: and in consequence of this, he concludes, that Shakespeare wrote,

You are his filler's son, Mark Antony. This mistake, however, is more like the mistake of the author, (who has already subitituted Decius in the room of Decimus) than of his transcriber or printer.

STEEVENS.

Meet

Meet to be sent on errands: Is it fit,
The three-fold world divided, he should stand
One of the three to share it?

Ołta. So you thought him;
And took his voice who should be prick'd to die,
In our black sentence and profcription.
Ant. Octavius, I have seen more days than

you:
And though we lay these honours on this man,
To ease ourselves of divers Nanderous loads,
He shall but bear them, as the ass bears gold,
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven, as we point the way ;
And, having brought our treasure where we will,
Then take we down his load, and turn him off,
Like to the empty als, to shake his ears,
And graze in commons.

Ožia. You may do your will ;
But he's a try'd and valiant soldier.

Ant. So is my horse, Octavius : and, for that,
I do appoint him ftore of provender.
It is a creature that I teach to fight,
To wind, to stop, to run directly on;
His corporal motion govern’d by my spirit.
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but lo;
He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go

forth: A barren-spirited fellow, one that feeds

On

In the old editions,

A barren-spiritid fellow, one that feeds

On objects, arts, and imitations, &c. 'Tis hard to conceive, why he should be call'd a barrin spiritid fellow that could feed either on objects or aris : that is, as 1 prefume, form his ideas and judgment upon them :fale and objolete imitati:n, indeed, fixes such a character. I am persuaded, to make the

pout consonant to himself, we must read, as I have restored

the text,

On abject orts, i. e. on the scraps and fragments of things reje&ted and despised by others.

THEOBALD.

It

On objects, arts, and imitations;
Which, out of use, and stald by other men,
Begin his fashion. Do not talk of him,
But as a property. And now, Octavius,
Listen great things.-

Brutus and Callius
Are levying powers: we must strait make head.
Therefore let our alliance be combin'd;
Our best friends made, our best means stretcht;
And let us presently go fit in council,
How covert matters may be best disclos'd,
And open perils surest answer'd.

Osta. Let us do fo: for we are at the stake,
And bay'd about with many enemies;
And some, that smile, have, in their hearts, I fear,
Millions of mischiefs.

(Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Before Brutus's tent, in the camp, near Sardis.
Drum. Enter Brutus, Lucilius, and Soldiers : Titinius

and Pindarus meeting them.
Bru. Stand, ho !
Luc. Give the word, ho! and stand !
Bru. What now, Lucilius ? is Caffius near?

Luc. He is at hand, and Pindarus is come
To do you salutation from his master.

It is surely easy to find a reason why that devotee to pleasure and ambition, Antony, should call him barren-spirited who could be content to feed his mind with ob,ects, i. e. Jpeculative knowledge, or arts, i. e. mechanic operations. I have therefore taken the liberty of bringing back the old reading to its place, tho' Mr. Theobald's emendation is still left before the reader. Lepidus, in the Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, is represented as inquisitive about the structures of Egypt, and that too when he is almost in a state of intoxication. Antony, as at present, makes a jest of him, and returns him unintelligible answers to very reasonable questions.

STEEVENS.

Bru.