Will bear no colour for the thing he is,
Fashion it thus; that what he is, augmented,
Would run to these and these extremities:
And therefore think him as a serpent's egg,

Which, hatched, would as his kind grow mischievous;
And kill him in the shell.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. The taper burneth in your closet, sir. Searching the window for a flint, I found This paper, thus sealed up; and, I am sure,

It did not lie there when I went to bed.

Bru. Get you to bed again, it is not day.
Is not to-morrow, boy, the ides of March ? 1
Luc. I know not, sir.

Bru. Look in the calendar, and bring me word.
Luc. I will, sir.

Bru. The exhalations, whizzing in the air,

Give so much light that I may read by them.

[Exit.

[Opens the letter, and reads. "Brutus, thou sleep'st; awake, and see thyself.

Shall Rome, &c.

Speak, strike, redress!".

cannot pretend to be on account of that which he now actually is, construe it in this way, that what he now is, being allowed to grow, would run to such and such immoderate degrees; and therefore regard him, &c., and kill him in the shell.

1 The ides of March.] The old copies have 'the first of March;' if that be the genuine reading, Shakspeare must either have inadvertently quoted from a passage in Plutarch not applicable here, but which refers to Cassius asking Brutus if he intended to be in the senate-house on the first of March (see Extr. from Plutarch, 20), or else the poet must have meant to represent Brutus as exceedingly oblivious, and even Lucius as rather too unobservant of time's progress.

Such instigations have been often dropped

Where I have took them up.

"Shall Rome, &c." Thus must I piece it out 2;

Shall Rome stand under one man's awe ?-What! Rome?
My ancestors did from the streets of Rome

The Tarquin drive, when he was called a king.

66

Speak, strike, redress ! "Am I entreated

To speak, and strike ? O Rome! I make thee promise 3,

If the redress will follow, thou receivest

Thy full petition at the hand of Brutus.

Re-enter Lucius.

Luc. Sir, March is wasted fourteen days.4

[Knock within.

Bru. 'T is good.5 Go to the gate: somebody knocks.

[Exit LUCIUS.

1 Brutus, thou sleep'st.] See Extr. from Plutarch, 4 and 17. The repetition of these words is in quotation form, as Brutus is supposed to read the letter a second time.

2 Piece it out.] To piece out anything is to enlarge it in order to complete what is imperfect; it is the et cetera which Brutus is going to explain to himself. So in the Chorus to Act I. of Henry V., 'Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts.'

3 I make thee promise.] Thee governed by to understood, promise being a noun objective.

4 March is wasted.] The old copies have fifteen days. Some regard the assertion March is wasted fourteen days' as an affectation in speech, unless Brutus be supposed to have said first of March; but the same mode of expression occurs in Othello, i. 3,—‹ Till now some nine moons wasted,' that is, till about nine months ago.

5 'Tis good.] This expression may be merely a mannerly acknowledgment of the servant's attention; or perhaps the pronoun it refers to the fact announced, and Brutus may be here welcoming the near termination of that hideous interim to which he presently refers.

Since Cassius first did whet me against Cæsar
I have not slept.

Between the acting of a dreadful thing

And the first motion 1, all the interim is
Like a phantasma 2, or a hideous dream :
The genius and the mortal instruments 3
Are then in council; and the state of a man 5,
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then

The nature of an insurrection.

Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. Sir, 't is your brother Cassius at the door, Who doth desire to see you.

1 The first motion.] The first suggestion, impulse, or intention towards it.

2 A phantasma.] A visionary scene.

3 The genius.] What is meant here by 'the genius and the mortal instruments' has been variously conjectured. From a comparison of the several instances in which Shakspeare speaks of 'the genius,' we believe that Brutus refers to the suggesting spirit which was supposed to actuate a human being, each man having his own peculiar genius. In the Comedy of Errors, v. 1, the Duke, speaking of the twin brothers, says, 'One of these men is genius to the other: Which is the natural man, and which the spirit?' The mortal instruments are, not the bodily powers, but the natural passions, mortal meaning natural or human, as distinguished from the immortal and superhuman genius.

Are then in council.] The genius urging considerations of a certain kind, and the passions, some opposed and others favourable to these considerations; so that the state of man, that is, the human constitution, the commonwealth of man's internal nature or principles, like a little kingdom, is agitated by a kind of insurrection.

The state of a man.] The more common reading, and, we think, a preferable one, is 'the state of man.'

• Your brother Cassius.] Cassius had married Junia, Brutus'

Bru.

Is he alone?

Luc. No, sir, there are more with him.

Bru.

Do you know them?

Luc. No, sir; their hats are plucked about their ears,
And half their faces buried in their cloaks,

That by no means I may discover them 1
By any mark of favour.

They are the faction. O Conspiracy!

[Exit LUCIUS.

Sham'st thou 2 to show thy dangerous brow by night,
When evils are most free? 3 O, then, by day

Where wilt thou find a cavern dark enough

To mask thy monstrous visage? Seek none 4, Conspiracy;
Hide it in smiles and affability 5:

For if thou path 6, thy native semblance on,
Not Erebus itself were dim enough

To hide thee from prevention.

1 That by no means I may.] According to modern usage, that would here denote in order that; but it probably means in consequence of which, as it often does in Shakspeare; so in the 1st scene of this play — ‘Have you not made a universal shout, That Tiber trembled?' The verb may with the sense of can is not uncommon in Shakspeare. Mark of favour means distinction of countenance; see note 1, p. 15.

2 Shamest thou.] An intransitive verb: art thou ashamed?

3 When evils are most free.] When things evil are under least restraint of shame.

Seek none.] Seek no dark cavern. None is the noun form corresponding to no, just as mine, thine, ours, &c., are noun forms (nominative or objective) corresponding to my, thy, our, &c.

5Hide it.] Hide thy visage under the mask of pleasantness.

If thou path.] Some would read put. The verb to path, which appears to have been in use in Shakspeare's time, but is not found elsewhere in his plays, must mean to go forth. If thou go forth in thy own natural looks, the gloom of Erebus itself would not be dim enough to conceal thee from those who would hinder thy purpose.

Enter CASSIUS, CASCA, DECIUS, CINNA, METELLUS CIMBER, and TREBONIUS.

Cas. I think we are too bold1 upon your rest: Good morrow, Brutus. Do we trouble you?

Bru. I have been up this hour; awake, all night.
Know I these men that come along with you?

Cas. Yes, every man of them; and no man here
But honours you; and every one doth wish
You had but that opinion of yourself
Which every noble Roman bears of you.

Cas. This, Casca; this, Cinna 2; and this, Metellus

Cimber.

Bru. They are all welcome.

What watchful cares do interpose themselves

Betwixt your eyes and night?3

Cas. Shall I entreat a word ? 4

[They whisper.

Dec. Here lies the east 5: Doth not the day break here?

1 Too bold.] Encroaching too rudely.

2 This, Cinna.] The line would read better by omitting the word this before Cinna and Metellus Cimber, and supposing Cassius to point out these persons by some indication of the hand.

3 Betwixt your eyes and night.] That is, to hinder your eyes from enjoying the repose of darkness.

▲ Shall I entreat a word?] May I speak with you aside?

5 Here lies the east.] The conversation which here follows, between the conspirators who are waiting the result of Cassius' private, communication with Brutus, is admirably conceived on the part of Shakspeare; it represents those engaged in it as avoiding the appearance of listeners, and, if regarded as having no reference to the intended assassination, it indicates either an anxiety of spirit