Alarum. Re-enter MESSALA, with BRUTUS, young Cato. He is slain. Bru. O Julius Cæsar, thou art mighty yet! Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords In our own proper entrails 5. [Low Alarums. Brave Titinius! Cato. Should breed thy fellow.-Friends, I owe more tears 5 populumque potentem In sua victrici conversum viscera dextra.' [Exeunt. Lucan, lib. i. 6 So when he [Brutus] was come thither, after he had lamented the death of Cassius, calling him the last of all the Romans, being impossible that Rome should ever breed againe so noble and valiant a man as he, he caused his body to be buried.'North's Plutarch. Objectum est Historico (Cremutio Cordo. Tacit Ann. lib. iv. 34), quod Brutum Cassiumque ultimos Romanorum dixisset,' Suet. Tiber, lib. iii. c. 61. SCENE IV. Another Part of the Field. Alarum. Enter fighting, Soldiers of both Armies; then BRUTUS, CATO, LUCILIUS, and Others. Bru. Yet, countrymen, O, yet hold up your heads! Cato. What bastard doth not? Who will go with me? I will proclaim my name about the field: I am the son of Marcus Cato, ho! [Charges the Enemy. Bru. And I am Brutus, Marcus Brutus, I; Brutus, my country's friend: know me for Brutus. [Exit, charging the Enemy. CATO is overpowered, and falls. Luc. O young and noble Cato, art thou down? Why, now thou diest as bravely as Titinius; And may'st be honour'd being Cato's son, 1 Sold. Yield, or thou diest. Luc. Only I yield to die: There is so much that thou wilt kill me straight; [Offering Money. Kill Brutus, and be honour'd in his death. 1 Sold. We must not-A noble prisoner! 2 Sold. Room, ho! Tell Antony, Brutus is ta'en. 1 Sold. I'll tell the news.-Here comes the ge neral: Enter ANTONY. Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my lord. Ant. Where is he? Luc. Safe, Antony; Brutus is safe enough: I dare assure thee, that no enemy Shall ever take aliye the noble Brutus : The gods defend him from so great a shame! Ant. This is not Brutus, friend; but, I assure you, A prize no less in worth: keep this man safe, Give him all kindness: I had rather have Such men my friends, than enemies. Go on, And see whe'r Brutus be alive, or dead: And bring us word, unto Octavius' tent, How every thing is chanc'd. [Exeunt. SCENE V. Another Part of the Field. Enter BRUTUS, DARDANIUS, CLITUS, STRATO, and VOLUMNIUS. Bru.Come,poor remains of friends,rest on this rock. Cli. Statilius show'd the torch-light; but, my lord, He came not back; he is or ta'en, or slain1. 1 A passage from Plutarch will illustrate this scene:- Furthermore, Brutus thought that there was no great number of men slaine in battell, and to know the truth of it there was one called Statilius, that promised to goe through his enemies (for otherwise it was impossible to goe see their campe), and from thence, if all were well, that he would lift up a torche-light in the aire, and then returne againe with speed to him. The torchelight was lift up as he had promised, for Statilius went thither. Nowe Brutus seeing Statilius tarie long after, and that he came not againe, he sayd: If Statilius be alive, he will come againe, But his evil fortune was suche that, as he came backe, he lighted in his enemies' hands, and was slaine. Now the night being farre spent, Brutus, as he sate, bowed towards Clitus, one of his men, and told him somewhat in his eare; the other aunswered him not, but fell a weeping. Thereupon he proved Dardanius, and sayd somewhat also to him: at length he came to Volumnius him selfe, and speaking to him in Greeke, prayed him for the studies sake which brought them acquainted together, that he would helpe him to put his hande to his sword, to thrust it in him to kill him. Volumnius denied his request, and so did many others: and amongest the rest one of them said there was no tarrying for them there, but that they must needes flie, Then Brutus rising up, We must flie in deede, sayd he; but it must be with our hands, not with our feete. Then taking every man by the hand, he sayd these words unto them with a chearfull countenance:-It rejoyceth my hart that no one of my friends hath failed me at my neede, and I do not complayne of my fortune, but only for my countries sake: for as for me, I thinke myselfe happier than they that have overcome, consider Bru. Sit thee down, Clitus: Slaying is the word; It is a deed in fashion. Hark thee, Clitus. [Whispering. Cli. What, I, my lord? No, not for all the world. Bru. Peace then, no words. Cli. I'll rather kill myself. Bru. Hark thee, Dardanius! [Whispers him. Dar. Cli. O, Dardanius! Dar. O, Clitus! I do such a deed? Cli. What ill request did Brutus make to thee? Dar. To kill him, Clitus: Look, he meditates. Cli. Now is that noble vessel full of grief, That it runs over even at his eyes. Bru. Come hither, good Volumnius: list a word. Vol. What says my lord? Bru. Why, this, Volumnius: The ghost of Cæsar hath appear'd to me Two several times by night: at Sardis, once; And, this last night, here in Philippi' fields. I know, my hour is come. Vol. Not so, my lord. Thou seest the world, Volumnius, how it goes; It is more worthy to leap in ourselves, Than tarry till they push us. Good Volumnius, ing that I leave a perpetual fame of our corage and manhoode, the which our enemies the conquerors shall never attaine unto by force nor money, neither can let their posteritie to say, that they have beene naughtie and unjust men, have slaine good men to usurpe tyrannical power not pertaining to them. Having sayd so, he prayd every man to shift for themselves, and then he went a little aside,' &c. 2 Hilts is frequently used where only one weapon is spoken Vol. That's not an office for a friend, my lord. Strato, thou hast been all this while asleep; Night hangs upon mine eyes; my bones would rest, [Alarum. Cry within; Fly, fly, fly. Cli. Fly, my lord, fly. Bru. Hence; I will follow. [Exeunt CLITUS, DARDANIUS, and Vo LUMNIUS. I pr'ythee, Strato, stay thou by thy lord: Thy life hath had some smatch of honour in it: Stra. Give me your hand first: Fare you well, my lord. Bru. Farewell, good Strato.-Cæsar, now be still: I kill'd not thee with half so good a will. [He runs on his Sword and dies. of. Cassius says to Pindarus, in a former scene, 'Here take thou the hilts.' And King Richard III. : : 'Take him over the costard with the hilts of thy sword.' So in The Mirror for Magistrates, 1587: That to the hilts was all with blood imbrued.' |