You all do know this mantle; I remember "Twas on a summer's evening in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii. i Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through; As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd, For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel, Judge, oh you gods! how dearly Cæsar lov'd him: This was the most unkindest cut of all; For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab, Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, Quite vanquish'd him; then burst his mighty heart; And, in his mantle muffling up his face, Even at the base of Pompey's statue, Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell. O what a fall was there, my countrymen! Our 3. Our Cæsar's vesture wounded! look you here! O piteous spectacle! ANTONY. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up They that have done this deed are honourable. But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man That love my friend; and that they know full well, I tell you that which you yourselves do know; Shew you sweet Cæsar's wounds, poor, poor, dumb mouths! And bid them speak for me. But were I Brutus, And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue In every wound of Cæsar, that should move The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. ALL. ALL. We'll mutiny. ANTONY. Why, friends, you go to do you know not what. ALL. Most true, the will.-Let's stay, and hear the will. ANTONY. Here is the will, and under Cæsar's seal, To every Roman citizen he gives, To every several man, seventy-five drachmas. Most noble Cæsar! 2 PLEBEIAN. ANTONY. Moreover, he hath left you all his walks, His private arbours, and new-planted orchards, And to your heirs for ever; common pleasures, Here was a Cæsar! 1 Is there any oration extant, in which the topics are more skilfully selected for the minds and temper of the persons, to whom it is spoken? Does it not by the most gentle gradations gradations arrive at the point to which it was directed? Antony first soothes his audience by assuring them, that Cæsar loved the poor, and sympathized with their distresses by reminding them, that he had rejected the proffered crown, he removes, from their shallow understandings, all apprehension of that ambition in him, which the conspirators alledged as the motive of their act: after these managements he proceeds further, and tells them of the Will. There is a delicate touch in the observation, that Cæsar received the mortal wound in the very mantle he wore the day in which he had gained a victory over the Nervii, the fiercest of their enemies. He excites tender pity, by mentioning the stab given by his beloved Brutus. The remark that he fell as a victim at the feet of Pompey's statue, whom the lower sort considered as of a party unfavourable to them, is another happy stroke in this piece. I am sorry that I must differ from the opinion of our commentator, who thinks the words "O what a fall was there!" related to that circumstance: it seems rather to refer to what immediately follows: ANTONY. ANTONY. Then I, and you, and all of us fell down : Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. Meaning how the general state of the republic was affected by the fall ofso great a man. As the illiterate people are afraid of being imposed upon by the arts of the learned and the eloquent, he very judiciously assures them he is no orator. The refinements of the French theatre, possibly, would not endure the mob of plebeians, that appear in this scene. The fickle humour of the people, and the influence of eloquence upon their minds, are truly exhibited; and I must own, as the imitation is so just, though the original may be called mean, I think it is not to be entirely condemned: one might perhaps wish the part of the mob had been shorter. The miserable conceit of Cæsar's blood rushing out of the wound, to ask who so unkindly knocked, is indefensible. The repetition of the words, honourable men, is perhaps too frequent, as at last it is too apparently ironical. The oration of Brutus, in many parts, is quaint |