Into the channel, till the lowest stream [Exeunt Citizens. See, whe'r1 their basest metal be not moved; They vanish tongue-tied in their guiltiness. Go you down that way towards the Capitol; This way will I. Disrobe the images, If you do find them decked with ceremonies.2 Mar. May we do so? You know it is the feast of Lupercal. Flav. It is no matter; let no images Be hung with Cæsar's trophies.3 I'll about, These growing feathers plucked from Cæsar's wing, Who else would soar above the view of men, [Exeunt. SCENE II. The same. A public Place. 4 Enter, in procession, with music, CESAR, ANTONY, for the course; CALPHURNIA, PORTIA, DECIUS, CICERO, Brutus, Cassius, and Casca, a great crowd following, among them a Soothsayer. 1 Whether. 2 Honorary ornaments. 3 These trophies were scarfs. 4 This person was not Decius, but Decimus Brutus. The Poet (as Voltaire has done since) confounds the characters of Marcus and Decimus. Decimus Brutus was the most cherished by Cæsar of all his friends, while Marcus kept aloof. The error has its source in North's translation of Plutarch, or in Holland's Suetonius, 1606. VOL. VI. 2 Cæs. Stand you directly in Antonius' way,' Cæs. Forget not, in your speed, Antonius, Ant. 1 I shall remember; When Cæsar says, Do this, it is performed. Cæs. Set on; and leave no ceremony out. [Music. Sooth. Cæsar! Cæs. Ha! who calls? Casca. Bid every noise be still.-Peace yet again. [Music ceases. Cæs. Who is it in the press that, calls on me? Cæs. What man is that? Bru. A soothsayer, bids you beware the ides of March. Cæs. Set him before me; let me see his face. Cæsar. Cæs. What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. Sooth. Beware the ides of March. Cæs. He is a dreamer; let us leave him ;-pass. Cas. Will you go see the order of the course? Cas. I pray you, do. Bru. I am not gamesome; I do lack some part Of that quick spirit that is in Antony. Let me not hinder, Cassius, your desires; I'll leave you. 1 The old copy_reads "Antonio's way;" in other places we have Octavio, Flavio. The players were more accustomed to Italian than Latin terminations. The allusion is to a custom at the Lupercalia. 2 See King Henry VIII. Act ii. Sc. 4. Cas. Brutus, I do observe you now of late. I have not from your eyes that gentleness, And show of love, as I was wont to have; You bear too stubborn and too strange a hand Over your friend that loves you. Bru. Cassius, Be not deceived; if I have veiled my look, Of late, with passions of some difference, Which give some soil, perhaps, to my behaviors; Than that poor Brutus, vith himself at war, Cas. Then, Brutus, I have much mistook your pas sion,1 By means whereof, this breast of mine hath buried Cas. 'Tis just ; And it is very much lamented, Brutus, That you have no such mirrors, as will turn That you might see your shadow. I have heard, And groaning underneath this age's yoke, Bru. Into what dangers would you lead me, Cassius, That you would have me seek into myself For that which is not in me? Cas. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to hear; And, since you know you cannot see yourself 1 i. e. the nature of the feelings which you are now suffering. So well as by reflection, I, your glass, That of yourself which you yet know not of. To all the rout, then hold me dangerous. [Flourish and shout. Bru. What means this shouting? I do fear the people Choose Cæsar for their king. Cas. Ay, do you fear it? Then must I think you would not have it so. Bru. I would not, Cassius; yet I love him well.— But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that you would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus, In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you. For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores, 1 Johnson has erroneously given the meaning of allurement to stale, in this place. “To stale with ordinary oaths my love," is "to prostitute my love." Cæsar said to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now And bade him follow; so, indeed, he did. Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder Is now become a god; and Cassius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body, He had a fever when he was in Spain, And, when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake: 2 And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans Bru. Another general shout! I do believe that these applauses are [Shout. Flourish. For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar. Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. 1 The verb arrive is also used by Milton without the preposition. 2 Some commentators suppose that the allusion here is to a coward's desertion of his standard. Probably nothing more was intended than to describe the effect of the disease on the appearance of the lips. 3 Temperament, constitution. |