Might fire the blood of ordinary men,
And turn pre-ordinance and first decree
Into the law of children. Be not fond,

To think that Cæsar bears such rebel blood
That will be thaw'd from the true quality

With that which melteth fools, I mean, sweet words,

Low-crooked court'sies and base spaniel-fawning.
Thy brother by decree is banished:

If thou dost bend and pray and fawn for him,
I spurn thee like a cur out of my way.

Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.

Met. Is there no voice more worthy than my

own,

To sound more sweetly in great Cæsar's ear

For the repealing of my banish'd brother?
Bru. I kiss thy hand, but not in flattery, Cæsar;
Desiring thee that Publius

38. first decree, what has been already decreed once for all.

39. law; Johnson's correction of Fflane.'

47. Know, Cæsar doth not wrong, etc. It is probable that, as first written and performed, this passage ran :—

Cæsar did never wrong but with just cause,

Nor without cause will he be satisfied.

In this form it is quoted by Jonson in a well-known criticism of Shakespeare (Discoveries, §71): 'His wit was in his own power, would the rule of it had been so too. Many times he fell into those things could not escape laughter as when he said in the person of Cæsar, one speaking to him, 'Cæsar, thou dost

Cimber may

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50

me wrong," he replied, Cæsar did never wrong, but with just cause," and such like; which were ridiculous.' Jonson was an exact man, and is not at all likely to have misquoted; while the speech, paradoxical merely on the surface as it is (since 'wrong' could mean 'injury'), is by no means one that cannot have escaped from Shakespeare's pen. The reading of the Folio text was thus not improbably due to Jonson's criticism. Whether Shakespeare or some reviser made the change we cannot determine; certainly we have no right, with some editors, to decide that he did not, or to restore to the text the reading which Jonson ridicules.

51. repealing, recalling.

Have an immediate freedom of repeal.
Cæs. What, Brutus !

Cas.

Pardon, Cæsar; Cæsar, pardon:

As low as to thy foot doth Cassius fall,

To beg enfranchisement for Publius Cimber.

Cas. I could be well moved, if I were as you;
If I could pray to move, prayers would move me :
But I am constant as the northern star,
Of whose true-fix'd and resting quality
There is no fellow in the firmament.

The skies are painted with unnumber'd sparks,
They are all fire and every one doth shine,
But there's but one in all doth hold his place :
So in the world; 'tis furnish'd well with men,
And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive;
Yet in the number I do know but one
That unassailable holds on his rank,

Unshaked of motion: and that I am he,

Let me a little show it, even in this :

That I was constant Cimber should be banish'd,
And constant do remain to keep him so.

Casca. Speak, hands, for me!

[Casca first, then the other Conspirators and Marcus Brutus stab Cæsar.

54. freedom of repeal, free recall.

61. resting, stable. 67. apprehensive, endowed with understanding.

69. holds on his rank, stands firm in his determined place.

70. Unshaked of motion, stirred by no motion.

бо

70

Cæs. Et tu, Brute! Then fall, Cæsar! [Dies. Cin. Liberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead! Run hence, proclaim, cry it about the streets.

Cas. Some to the common pulpits, and cry out 80 'Liberty, freedom, and enfranchisement !'

Bru. People and senators, be not affrighted; Fly not; stand still: ambition's debt is paid. Casca. Go to the pulpit, Brutus.

Dec.

Bru. Where's Publius?

And Cassius too.

Cin. Here, quite confounded with this mutiny. Met. Stand fast together, lest some friend of Cæsar's

Should chance

Bru. Talk not of standing. Publius, good cheer;
There is no harm intended to your person,
Nor to no Roman else: so tell them, Publius.
Cas. And leave us, Publius; lest that the
people,

Rushing on us, should do your age some mischief.
Bru. Do so: and let no man abide this deed
But we the doers.

90

Cas.

Re-enter TREBONIUS.

Where is Antony?

Tre. Fled to his house amazed:

Men, wives and children stare, cry out and run

As it were doomsday.

77. Et tu, Brute! These words, though not clearly traceable to a classical source, were assigned by popular tradition in Shakespeare's day to the dying Cæsar, a consideration which apparently overcame Shakespeare's habitual avoidance of Latin scraps. They are found (1) in the True Tragedie of

Richard, Duke of York, where Edward appeals to the hostile Clarence with 'Et tu, Brute, wilt thou stab Cæsar too?' (2) in Nicholson's Acolastus' After Wit (1600), where the same line is quoted.

80. the common pulpits, the public platforms.

Bru.

Fates, we will know your pleasures: That we shall die, we know; 'tis but the time And drawing days out, that men stand upon.

Cas. Why, he that cuts off twenty years of life
Cuts off so many years of fearing death.

Bru. Grant that, and then is death a benefit :
So are we Cæsar's friends, that have abridged
His time of fearing death. Stoop, Romans, stoop,
And let us bathe our hands in Cæsar's blood
Up to the elbows, and besmear our swords :
Then walk we forth, even to the market-place,
And, waving our red weapons o'er our heads,
Let's all cry 'Peace, freedom and liberty!'

Cas. Stoop, then, and wash. How many ages
hence

Shall this our lofty scene be acted over

In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
Bru. How many times shall Cæsar bleed in sport,
That now on Pompey's basis lies along

No worthier than the dust!

Cas.

So oft as that shall be,

So often shall the knot of us be call'd
The men that gave their country liberty.
Dec. What, shall we forth?
Cas.
Ay, every man away :
Brutus shall lead ;, and we will grace his heels
With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.

Enter a Servant.

Bru. Soft! who comes here? A friend of Antony's.

100. stand upon, concern themselves about.

101, 102. Ff give this speech to Casca (Cask.'), but he takes part nowhere else in the discussion of the leaders. Pope first gave it to Cassius.

115. on Pompey's basis, at the base of Pompey's statue. This was the actual scene of the murder, according to Plutarch. Shakespeare appears to assume that it was by the Capitol.

Serv. Thus, Brutus, did my master bid me kneel;

Thus did Mark Antony bid me fall down;
And, being prostrate, thus he bade me say:
Brutus is noble, wise, valiant, and honest;
Cæsar was mighty, bold, royal, and loving:
Say I love Brutus and I honour him;

Say I fear'd Cæsar, honour'd him and loved him.
If Brutus will vouchsafe that Antony
May safely come to him, and be resolved
How Cæsar hath deserved to lie in death,
Mark Antony shall not love Cæsar dead
So well as Brutus living; but will follow
The fortunes and affairs of noble Brutus
Thorough the hazards of this untrod state
With all true faith. So says my master Antony.
Bru. Thy master is a wise and valiant Roman;
I never thought him worse.

Tell him, so please him come unto this place,
He shall be satisfied, and, by my honour,
Depart untouch'd.

Serv.

I'll fetch him presently. [Exit. Bru. I know that we shall have him well to

friend.

Cas. I wish we may: but yet have I a mind That fears him much, and my misgiving still Falls shrewdly to the purpose.

Bru. But here comes Antony.

Re-enter ANTONY.

Welcome, Mark Antony.

Ant. O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,

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purpose, comes wondrous near the mark,' is pretty closely fulfilled.

F