And I will set this foot of mine as far

As who goes farthest.

Cas.

There's a bargain made.1
Now, know you2, Casca, I have moved already
Some certain of the noblest-minded Romans,
To undergo3 with me an enterprise

Of honourable, dangerous consequence;
And I do know by this they stay for me

In Pompey's porch: For now, this fearful night,
There is no

stir 6

or walking in the streets; And the complexion of the element

In favour 's like the work we have in hand,
Most bloody, fiery, and most terrible.

Enter CINNA.

Casca. Stand close awhile, for here comes one in haste.
Cas. 'T is Cinna, I do know him by his gait;

He is a friend.-Cinna, where haste you so?

Cin. To find out you: Who's that? Metellus Cimber? 7

1. There's a bargain made.] There's a bargain then between us with joined hands.

2 Know you.] Be it known to you.

To undergo.] To hazard.

4 By this.] By this time; I do know that by this time they are assembled in expectation of my coming.

5

Pompey's porch.] A spacious building connected with Pompey's theatre.

6 There is no stir.] There is no sound of human voices or footsteps in the streets, and the complexion of the sky is in appearance, &c. Favour means look or appearance; see note 1, p. 15; but some suppose Shakspeare to have written Is feverous.

"Metellus Cimber.] Why Cinna supposed Metellus Cimber to be now with Cassius is explained in the text a little farther on.

Cas. No, it is Casca: one incorporate1

To our attempts. Am I not staid for, Cinna?

Cin. I am glad on 't.2 What a fearful night is this! There's two or three of us have seen strange sights.

Cas. Am I not staid for? Tell me.

Cin. Yes, you are.

-O Cassius, if you could

But win the noble Brutus to our party.

Cas. Be you content: Good Cinna, take this paper,
And look you lay it3 in the prætor's chair,

Where Brutus may but find it; and throw this
In at his window: set this up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue1: all this done5,
Repair to Pompey's porch, where you shall find us.
Is Decius Brutus, and Trebonius, there?

Cin. All, but Metellus Cimber; and he's gone
To seek you at your house. Well, I will hie,
And so bestow these papers as you bade me.
Cas. That done, repair to Pompey's theatre.

Come, Casca, you and I will yet, ere day,
See Brutus at his house: three parts of him

[Exit CINNA.

1 Incorporate to our attempts.] Who has joined himself to our enterprise.

2 Glad on't.] On was a common corruption for of, when followed by the contracted form of it.

* Look you lay it.] See that you place it in the prætor's chair, where no one but Brutus may find it. See Extracts from Plutarch, 4.

4 Old Brutus' statue.] The statue of Lucius Junius Brutus who abolished royalty. See Extracts from Plutarch, 17.

All this done.] All this being done; this a nominative absolute.

• Three parts.] Three fourths is here regarded in its collective oneness, and thus takes a verb singular. Ours is nominative singular of a possessive pronoun, and again at the end of the speech it

Is ours already; and the man entire,

Upon the next encounter, yields him ours.

Casca. O, he sits high in all the people's hearts1; And that which would 2 offence in us,

appear

His countenance, like richest alchymy,

Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

Cas. Him, and his worth, and our great need of him,

You have right well conceited.3 Let us go,

For it is after midnight; and ere day

We will awake him, and be sure of him.

[Exeunt.

occurs as an objective singular in apposition to him. We have all but gained him already, and when we shall have plied him once more, the whole man will yield himself as our own; will consent to be incorporated with us.

1 In all the people's hearts.] See Extr. from Plutarch, 44.

2 That which would.] That is objective to change. His countenance being given to our cause, will, like the 'most valuable transmuting agency in alchemy, change to virtue and to worthiness that which in us would appear unjust. See Extr. from Plutarch, 19.

3 Conceited.] Conceived, estimated.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The same. Brutus's Orchard.

Enter BRUTUS.

Bru. What, Lucius! ho!

I cannot, by the progress of the stars,
Give guess how near to day.1—Lucius, I say
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly.-
When, Lucius, when! Awake, I say! What, Lucius !

Enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Called you, my lord?

Bru. Get me a taper in my study, Lucius:

When it is lighted, come and call me here.

Luc. I will, my lord.

Bru. It must be by his death 2: and, for my part,

I know no personal cause to spurn at him,

[Exit.

But for the general. He would be crowned :—
How that might change his nature, there's the question.
It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking. Crown him?-That ;-

4

1 How near to day.] Give a guess how near it is to daybreak. 2 It must be.] It has here a reference to some previous thought in Brutus' mind, and may mean the prevention of Cæsar's assumption of royalty.

3 But for the general.] The generality, the community at large. 4 Crown him?-That ;-] Crown is here an infinitive of exclama

And then, I grant, we put a sting in him,
That at his will he may do danger with.
The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins

Remorse from power: And, to speak truth of Cæsar 2,
I have not known when his affections swayed 3
More than his reason. But 't is a common proof1,
That lowliness 5 is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward 6 turns his face 7;
But when he once attains the upmost round 8,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds 9, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend: So Cæsar may;

Then, lest he may, prevent.10 And, since the quarrel 11

tion, and that a nominative of the same kind. To crown him?-Be that done, and then, I grant, we arm him with a sting.

1 Remorse.] Mercy, or pity; the disposition to relent or spare. 2 To speak truth of Cæsar.] This is an adverbial phrase of the parenthetic or interjectional kind.

3 When his affections swayed.] I cannot refer to any instance of his being influenced more by temper than by reason.

A common proof.] A thing proved by common experience.

5 Lowliness.] Modest or seemingly humble behaviour, such as Cæsar showed in refusing the crown.

6

Climber-upward.] The adverb upward modifies the noun climber, that noun involving the sense of a verb, that is, meaning one who climbs. See the Editor's 'Text-book of Eng. Grammar,' p. 119. "Turns his face.] Looks for support.

8 The upmost round.] The highest step of the ladder.

• Looks in the clouds.] The sense seems to require and before the verb looks.

10 Prevent.] Be beforehand with him; stop his further progress. Observe how delicately Shakspeare represents the temper of Brutus, by avoiding any pronominal reference to the agent who is to prevent: he does not say 'let me prevent,' but uses the imperative indefinitely. Compare the subsequent imperatives, fashion, think, kill. 11 Since the quarrel.] Since the dissatisfaction respecting him