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Be any further moved. What you

have said,

I will consider; what you have to say,

I will with patience hear; and find a time

Both meet to hear and answer such high things.1
Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this2;
Brutus had rather be a villager,

Than to repute himself a son of Rome

Under these hard conditions as this time3

Is like to lay upon us.

Cas. I am glad that my weak words

Have struck but thus much show of fire from Brutus.

Re-enter CESAR and his Train.

Bru. The games are done, and Cæsar is returning.
Cas. As they pass by, pluck Casca by the sleeve;
And he will, after his sour fashion, tell you
What hath proceeded worthy note to-day.

Bru. I will do so: - But, look you, Cassius,
The angry spot doth glow on Cæsar's brow,
And all the rest look like a chidden train;
Calphurnia's cheek is pale; and Cicero
Looks with such ferret and such fiery eyes,
As we have seen him5 in the Capitol,
Being crossed in conference by some senators.

1 High things.] Momentous things.

2 Chew upon this.] Ruminate; revolve this in your mind, that Brutus would sooner have himself to be a villager than acknowledge himself, &c.

3 These hard conditions as.] We would now say, such as, or those which.

Ferret.] Eyes like a ferret's, that is, red eyes.

5 As we have seen him.] As, relative pronoun, objective to look with understood: such eyes as we have seen him look with in the Capitol, when he was opposed in debate.

Cas. Casca will tell us what the matter is.
Cæs. Antonius,-

Ant. Cæsar.

Cæs. Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed' men, and such as sleep o' nights;
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much such men are dangerous.
Ant. Fear him not, Cæsar, he's not dangerous:
He is a noble Roman, and well given.2

Cæs. Would he were fatter: - But I fear him not: Yet, if my name were liable to fear3,

I do not know the man I should avoid

So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks4

Quite through the deeds of men: he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music":
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort
As if he mocked himself, and scorned his spirit

1 Sleek-headed.] Men whose hair is smoothly combed. See Extracts from Plutarch, 5.

2 Well given.] That is, well addicted, given or disposed to good. Latin deditus.

• Liable to fear.] Liable to the imputation of fear. If I could be said to have any tendency to fear.

* Looks quite through.] Penetrates to the motives and traces the bearings of men's actions.

Hears no music.] Shakspeare had a very unfavourable opinion of the tempers of those men who took no delight in music. In the 'Merchant of Venice' Lorenzo says:

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'The man that hath not music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, &c.,

Let no such man be trusted.'--Act V. Sc. 1.

• Scorned his spirit.] Was ashamed of his weakness in giving way to a smile. So Milton, P. L. i. 619, says of Satan, 'In spite of scorn, tears such as angels weep burst forth.'

That could be moved to smile at anything.
Such men as he be never at heart's ease,
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves;
And therefore are they very dangerous.

I rather tell thee what is to be feared1,
Than what I fear; for always I am Cæsar.
Come on my right hand, for this ear is deaf2,
And tell me truly what thou think'st of him.

Exeunt CESAR and his Train. CASCA stays behind.

Casca. You pulled me by the cloak: Would you speak with me?

Bru. Ay, Casca; tell us what hath chanced to-day3, That Cæsar looks so sad.

Casca. Why, you were with him, were you not?

Bru. I should not then ask Casca what had chanced.

Casca. Why, there was a crown offered him and being offered him, he put it by with the back of his hand, thus; and then the people fell a-shouting.

Bru. What was the second noise for?

Casca. Why, for that too.

Cas. They shouted thrice; What was the last cry for? Casca. Why, for that too.

Bru. Was the crown offered him thrice?

Casca. Ay, marry, was 't, and he put it by thrice, every

1 What is to be feared.] What is in itself a thing to be feared, rather than what I am afraid of.

2 Come on my right hand.] Notwithstanding Cæsar's assertion of his fearlessness, he here betrays some apprehension about Cassius. See Extracts from Plutarch, 5.

What hath chanced.] See Extracts from Plutarch, 2.

4 Ay, marry, was't.] Yes, by Mary, it was. Marry was a form of asseveration or swearing by the Virgin.

time gentler than other; and at every putting by, mine honest neighbours shouted.

Cas. Who offered him the crown?

Casca. Why, Antony.

Bru. Tell us the manner of it, gentle Casca.

Casca. I can as well be hanged as tell the manner of it: it was mere foolery. I did not mark it.1

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I saw Mark

Antony offer him a crown; yet 't was not a crown neither, 't was one of these coronets; and, as I told you, he put it by once; but for all that, to my thinking2, he would fain3 have had it. Then he offered it to him again: then he put it by again: but, to my thinking, he was very loth to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third time; he put it the third time by: and still as he refused it, the rabblement shouted4, and clapped their chapped hands, and threw up their sweaty nightcaps, and uttered such a deal of stinking breath3 because Cæsar refused the crown, that it had almost choked Cæsar; for he swooned, and fell down at it: And for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips and receiving the bad air.

Cas. But, soft, I pray you: What? Did Cæsar

swoon?

1 I did not mark it.] There is probably here a playful introduction to the mention of Antony's name.

2 To my thinking.] According to my thinking; as I thought. Adverbial.

3 Fain.]

spirit.

An adjective used adverbially; in fain or wishful

Shouted.] The common reading hooted is improper.

5 Breath.] Ejaculation.

• I durst not laugh.] Though it was mere foolery.

7

hold.

Soft.] This interjectional adjective means be soft or gentle,

Casca. He fell down in the market-place, and foamed at

mouth, and was speechless.

Bru. 'T is very like: he hath

Cas. No, Cæsar hath it not;

the falling sickness. but you and I,

And honest Casca, we have the falling sickness.2

Casca. I know not what you mean by that; but I am sure Cæsar fell down. If the tag-rag people did not clap him, and hiss him, according as he pleased and displeased them, as they use to do the players in the theatre, I am no

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Bru. What said he, when he came unto himself?4

Casca. Marry, before he fell down, when he perceived the common herd was glad he refused the crown, he plucked me ope his doublet 5, and offered them his throat to cut.—An I had been 6 a man of any occupation7, if I would not have

He hath.] He is accustomed to have; he is subject to epilepsy. The Comitia, or general assembly of the Roman people, were stopped, if any person present was seized with the falling sickness; hence this disease was called Morbus Comitialis. Suetonius says of J. Cæsar (chap. 45), 'he was on two occasions seized with the Comitial sickness during the procedure of business.'

2 We have the falling sickness.] The punning here is ingenious and happy.

3 True man.] Honest man.

• Came unto himself.] Recovered or was restored; came to his right senses, as we say. (See Luke xv. 17.)

5 Plucked me ope.] The pronoun me is here nearly an expletive, probably governed by to or before understood; see note 4, p. 96; he plucked open before me, or in my sight. See Extracts from Plutarch, 1.

• An I had been.] An is an old English word meaning if; it is sometimes found along with if redundant, and in that combination is sometimes corrupted into and, as in Luke xii. 45, 'But and if that servant say.

"Of any occupation.] That is, a mechanic, one of those ple

beians.

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