Casca. No.

Cin. O, pardon, sir, it doth; and yon grey lines That fret the clouds are messengers of day.

Casca. You shall confess that you are both deceived.
Here, as I point my sword, the sun arises;

Which is a great way1 growing on the south,
Weighing the youthful season of the year.

Some two months hence, up higher toward the north
He first presents his fire 2; and the high east
Stands, as the Capitol, directly here.3

Bru. Give me your hands all over4, one by one.5
Cas. And let us swear our resolution.

Bru. No, not an oath6: If not the face of men 7,

seeking relief in ordinary talk, or an intention to avert suspicion in case of any one unconnected with their enterprise being within hearing. Professor Craik, however, seems to think that the conversation involves some allusion 'to the great act about to be performed in the Capitol.'

1 Which is a great way.] Which position must be beyond east, by a considerable approach to south, when we consider the early period

of the year.

2 He first presents his fire.] That is, he rises.

3 Directly here.] Casca is pointing his sword to the quarter of which he speaks.

4 All over.] This phrase means quite over the whole, not omitting any part; all is adverbial to over, which is itself an adverb modifying the expression 'give me your hands.'

5 One by one.] The second one in this common phrase always refers to the same individual as the first; the meaning being one by that one, or by itself, each one singly.

6 Not an oath.] Not any oath whatever. tarch, 24. The modifying influence of the article an.

7

See Extr. from Pluadverb not is on the

" If not the face of men.] The word face is a disputed reading; but the meaning may be, If not the pitiable aspect of society, the vexation of our own spirits, the abuse of power which characterises

The sufferance of our souls, the time's abuse,-
If these be motives weak, break off betimes,
And every man1 hence to his idle bed;
So let high-sighted tyranny range on2,
Till each man drop by lottery. But if these3,
As I am sure they do, bear fire enough

To kindle cowards, and to steel with valour1
The melting spirits of women; then, countrymen,
What need we5 any spur but our own cause
To prick us to redress? what other bond,
Than secret Romans7, that have spoke the word,
And will not palter? and what other oath,
Than honesty to honesty engaged3,

the present time; at this point the sentence is left imperfect, but we may piece it out' by some such words as 'be strong enough to bind us.'

1 Every man.] An exclamatory nominative.

2 So let high-sighted tyranny.] And thus let tyranny, with its lofty eye proudly despising all other men, extend its encroachments, till each man fall as chance or caprice may determine. The supposition that the word lottery here is in allusion to decimation ('By decimation and a tithed death,' Timon of Athens, v. 5) does not seem sufficiently warranted.

3 But if these.] That is, these motives just mentioned.

4 To steel with valour.] To make hard-tempered armour of courage for.

5 What need we.] What here adjectively relates to the complex noun any spur; what spur of any kind need we? This explanation will appear justified by the construction of what in the line following.

• To prick us.] To urge, instigate, incite, as a horse is urged by the spur.

"Than secret Romans.] Than the fact of our being Romans secretly united, who have spoken the word and will not shuffle; who have said plainly what they mean, and will stick to it.

• Honesty to honesty.] The honesty of each of us pledged to that

That this shall be, or we will fall for it?
Swear priests1, and cowards, and men cautelous,
Old feeble carrions, and such suffering souls

That welcome wrongs; unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt: but do not stain
The even virtue2 of our enterprise,

Nor the insuppressive metal of our spirits3,

To think that, or our cause5, or our performance,
Did need an oath; when every drop of blood
That every Roman bears, and nobly bears,
Is guilty of a several bastardy 6,

If he do break the smallest particle

Of any promise that hath passed from him.

Cas. But what of Cicero ? Shall we sound him?

I think he will stand very strong with us.

of each other, that either this object shall be accomplished, or we will die for it.

1 Swear priests.] Administer oaths to priests, and cowards, and men of selfish wariness, old feeble carcases, and such patient souls as take wrongs without a murmur.

2 Even virtue.] Straightforward, honest, impartial virtue.

3 Insuppressive metal.] Insuppressive ought to mean 'not having a tendency to suppress;' and such may be the meaning here; — the mettle of our spirits not at all disposed to restrain us from deeds of honourable dangerous consequence.' Others suppose the word to be used for insuppressible.

4 To think.] This infinitive is rather awkward in its construction relatively to the verb stain. The meaning, however, is, 'Let us not so stain, &c., as to think, &c.'

5 Or our cause.] When or is used for either, it should be pronounced more emphatically than the or following. 'Our cause' has reference to the 'even virtue, &c.,' and 'our performance' has reference to the 'insuppressive metal, &c.'

• A several bastardy.] The meaning is, that every drop of blood which a Roman nobly bears, or derives from some noble ancestor, is guilty of distinctly disowning its own particular ancestral source.

Casca. Let us not leave him out.

Cin.

No, by no means.
Met. O let us have him; for his silver hairs1
Will purchase us a good opinion,

And buy men's voices to commend our deeds:
It shall be said his judgment ruled our hands;
Our youths, and wildness, shall no whit appear2,
But all be buried in his gravity.

Bru. O, name him not; let us not break with him3;
For he will never follow anything4

That other men begin.

Cas.

Then leave him out.

Casca. Indeed, he is not fit.

Dec. Shall no man else be touched but only Cæsar?

Cas. Decius, well urged5; I think it is not meet, Mark Antony, so well beloved of Cæsar,

Should outlive Cæsar: We shall find of him

A shrewd contriver, and you know,

his means,

1 His silver hairs.] Cicero was born in the same year as Pompey, viz. 104 B.C.; he was now therefore about 60 years old. Observe the play of words between silver and the following verbs purchase and buy. See Extr. from Plutarch, 23.

2 No whit appear.] Shall not at all be thought of in relation to

our act.

3 Break with him.] Break open our minds respecting the matter, let out the secret, in his company; sound him on the subject. The phrase now means 'to quarrel with one.'

He will never follow.] This, according to the reasons assigned by Plutarch, must be supposed to mean-he is always afraid of trusting to the prudence of others respecting any enterprise in which he is requested to join; and he takes too long time to deliberate.

Well urged.] That question is very properly pressed on our consideration.

A shrewd contriver.] A wicked scheming person. See Extr. from Plutarch, 33.

If he improve them, may well stretch so far
As to annoy us all which to prevent,

Let Antony and Cæsar fall together.

Bru. Our course will seem too bloody, Caius Cassius, To cut the head off, and then hack the limbs,

Like wrath in death, and envy

afterwards1;

For Antony is but a limb of Cæsar.

Let us be sacrificers 2, but not butchers, Caius.
We all stand up against the spirit of Cæsar;
And in the spirit of men there is no blood;
O, that we then could come by Cæsar's spirit,
And not dismember Cæsar! But, alas,
Cæsar must bleed for it! And, gentle friends,
Let's kill him boldly, but not wrathfully;
Let's carve him as a dish fit for the gods,
Not hew him as a carcase fit for hounds:
And let our hearts 3, as subtle masters do,
Stir their servants to an act of rage,
And after seem to chide them.

1

up

This shall make 4

Envy afterwards.] Envy, with Shakspeare, commonly means malice or hatred.

2 Sacrificers.] Lamenting the necessity of the death inflicted. 3 Let our hearts.] Let our hearts do, as artful masters sometimes do, when they first secretly excite their servants to some act of rage against another, and, after the act has been committed, pretend to be angry with the servants for having done it.

4 This shall make.] This shall characterise our purpose as necessary and not malicious. Some read mark for make. Observe the force of shall: it is not simply reference to futurity which Brutus expresses, for in that case will should have been the auxiliary; there is an idea of planning or intending involved, as if he had said, 'Let this be our procedure in order to make, &c.' The next assertion, 'we shall be called,' is simple anticipation, for which shall in the first person is appropriate. Compare the use of shall in the speech of Metellus, a little before; ‘it shall be said' means 'let us

D