As well as I do know your outward favour. 1 In awe of such a thing3 as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you: 1 Favour.] Aspect or countenance; this is an old meaning of the word; hence Joseph is called' a goodly person and well-favoured,' Gen. xxxix. 6; and Solomon says 'Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain,' Prov. xxxi. 30. See note 6, p. 35, and note 1, p. 43. 2 I had as lief not be.] So in Hamlet, iii. 2, 'I had as lief the town-crier had spoke my lines.' Lief is a word of Saxon origin, meaning dear; the more modern sense is willingly, and the phrase by which 'I had as lief' is now supplanted, is, ‘I would as soon,' or 'I had rather.' The use of had for would have, that is, a past indicative form for a past potential, is still common. The full interpretation of the words of Cassius is, 'I would as willingly have that I should not exist.' 3 Such a thing.] One that is no better than myself. 5 Raw and gusty.] Cold, damp, and stormy. Chafing with her shores.] Dashing in irritation against its shores. Tiber is a nominative absolute. • Accoutred as I was.] Cæsar appears to have been an expert swimmer; and probably the present description was suggested to Shakspeare by his recollection of what Suetonius relates about Cæsar leaping into the sea, from a boat which was in danger through being overladen, and swimming to the next ship, holding his Commentaries in his left hand. 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 5 creature, and must bend his body 6, He had a fever when he was in Spain 7, And when the fit was on him, I did mark How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake: 1 Controversy.] Opposition. 2 Arrive the point.] An unusual omission of at, exemplified also by Milton, P. L., ii. 409, 'Ere he arrive the happy isle.' 3 Our great ancestor.] The Romans traced their origin from the settlement of Æneas in Italy. This Trojan prince was the son of Anchises and Venus. 4 Did I.] The nominative to did is here repeated on account of the assertion being so long suspended. 5 Wretched.] Contemptible, base. 6 Bend his body.] Bow in compliance with the slightest signification of Cæsar's will. A fever when he was in Spain.] Either ague or epilepsy is here supposed, as Cassius refers to shivering and mental feebleness as effects of the fever. Cæsar was subject to violent headaches and epileptic fits, and according to Plutarch had the first attack of epilepsy at Corduba in Spain. 8 His coward lips.] This quibble, in allusion to a soldier flying from his colours, though in itself forced and awkward, is expressive of the eagerness of Cassius to depreciate Cæsar. And that same eye whose bend1 doth awe the world Bru. Another general shout!7 I do believe that these applauses are [Shout. Flourish. For some new honours that are heaped on Cæsar. 1 Bend.] Frowning glance. 2 His lustre.] His for its, as usual in Shakspeare, and universal in Scripture. 3 Titinius.] An officer much attached to Cassius; see Act v. sc. 3. As a sick girl.] As a sick girl might cry. 5 A man of such a feeble temper.] The omission here of the socalled conjunction that, is no violent ellipsis, for that, if supplied, would really mean that circumstance, which is already pronominally referred to by it, the nominative to doth amaze. Temper here denotes temperament or constitution. • Get the start of.] Get in advance of, outstrip, attain the foremost place in. The image is taken from the racing competitions in the Olympic games. "Another general shout.] This hemistich and the one preceding do not together form the usual metrical line; it is, as it were, regardless of the former, and represents the interruption occasioned by the shouting. In connection with this subject, Schlegel says, 'Even the irregularities of Shakspeare's versification are expressive; a verse broken off, or a sudden change of rhythm, coincides with some pauses in the progress of the thought, or the entrance of another mental disposition.'-Lectures on Dramatic Literature, xxiii. Like a Colossus'; and we petty men Brutus and Cæsar: -What should be in that Cæsar 14 Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; [Shout. That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed! 8 1 Colossus.] The Colossus at Rhodes, an island of the Mediterranean, was one of the seven wonders of the world. It was a huge brazen statue, bestriding the entrance to a harbour. 2 Ourselves.] That is, for ourselves, the indirect object of the verb find. Not in our stars.] Not owing to any unfavourable aspect of our natal stars. A reference to astrology. In that Cæsar.] In that name Cæsar. 5 Sounded more.] Uttered more emphatically. 6 Brutus will start a spirit.] There is no such preternatural charm in the name Cæsar, but that the name Brutus will have as great magical power in adjuration, to call up a spirit from the dead, as the name Cæsar. (See note 1, p. 58.) Cassius, however, was a follower of Epicurus, and believed that no demons or other spirits existed. "In the names.] I appeal to all the gods, and beg that any one of them would tell us on what food, &c. 8 Age, thou art shamed.] O thou age in which we live, thou art an age of degeneracy and meanness ! When went there by an age, since the great flood1, 0! you and I have heard our fathers say, There was a Brutus once, that would have brooked1 As easily as a king. Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous6; I would not, so with love I might entreat you", 1 Since the great flood.] These words in the mouth of a Roman must be supposed to refer to the Deluge of Deucalion. 2 Wide walls.] The old copies have wide walks. 3 Rome indeed.] There is an intended play on the similarity of sound between Rome and room. Now is it a place of room indeed. A Brutus once.] Lucius Junius Brutus, who effected the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus, and the abolition of the kingly office. As consul he condemned to death his own sons for attempting the restoration of royalty; so that Cassius says this Brutus would just as soon have suffered the devil to reign eternally in Rome as he would have suffered a human king. The Brutus whom Cassius is now addressing was lineally descended from the Brutus who abolished royalty. 5 That you do love me.] This is a noun sentence, objective to some such understood word as respecting. See the Editor's 'Analysis of Sentences, p. 51. • Nothing] That is, in nothing; adverbial. "Work me to.] Of what you would induce me to do, I have some guess. 8 For this present.] At this particular time. 9 So with love.] If it were so that I might urge the consideration of your love for me. |